Life in Color | Fall 2022

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Editor’s Note

Editor’s Note

Dear Reader,

We often hear people say “live life to the fullest” or “live your best life,” but what does that sentiment really mean? When I think about life and the experiences I have had thus far, it would be naive of me to say that I have counted every moment, every memory for all that it was worth — when in reality, I’ve made my fair share of bad calls, seen more than a few shades of gray.

I am reminded of an experience that I had a couple of months back. I was driving down I-94 on my way back to Milwaukee after a weekend at home when an old RV, probably a late ’90s model, passed me on my right-hand side. It was a dirty, dusty white and as it passed, I noticed its back spare tire cover read “live a great life.”

The vinyl cover was tattered and worn, like it had been many places, exposed to thousands of miles of the open road and the elements of mother nature, but still the notion of “live a great life” stood prominent in bold black letters. We continued down the road for another five miles or so before the RV veered off on an exit, probably on its way to its next great destination, and I made it back to Milwaukee not really giving it too much thought.

Looking back now, I see this story as a poetic metaphor for life. When you’re driving down the expressway, everyone is headed

toward a different destination, a different experience. The makes and models of cars, the colors of their paint, whether you follow or pass other drivers, is in a way synonymous with the different people you meet every day; they either stay with you for the entirety of the ride, or exit when the time is right.

Put simply, “living a great life” doesn’t necessarily mean that everything is going to be happy all the time; things break down, you get stuck in emotional traffic and things happen that are out of your control. Life happens when you least expect it, but it’s the growth that comes from those moments of hardship that create the kaleidoscope of human existence. And to me, that is what “Life in Color” symbolizes.

This issue of the Journal is a collection of stories that reflects the lives of the Marquette community and the university as a whole. Each experience that we have, the personal stories of growth and change, our highest highs and lowest lows shape every shade of who we are as individuals, as a community and as a society.

“Life in Color” chronicles the lives of individuals around campus as more than who they appear to be on the surface. Stories focus on the importance of empathy in the ever-changing state of the world and the realization that individuality is an essential piece to creating

a world of understanding and balance.

We live in a world that is being swallowed up by gray with every minute that passes, and isn’t it about time that changes? The world we should be striving for is one where every laugh, every cry, every stumble and every moment of confident pride is welcomed and accepted by those around us.

To the Marquette Wire staff: You have no idea how proud I am of you all. The work that you have done and the time that you have devoted to making “Life in Color” a reality is something that I will cherish for the rest of my life. I am continually amazed by you all and am blessed to work beside you. Thank you.

I would like to end by saying that the colors of our experience — of our individuality — are too important to let fade. My hope, as you read these stories, is that you come to see that yellow or blue, red or green, black or white, we are all a part of each other’s experience in this life, so let’s make it a great one.

Sincerely,

Kimberly E. Cook Managing Editor of the Marquette Journal

Photo courtesy of Kimberly Cook kimberly.cook@marquette.edudu

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE MARQUETTE WIRE

ANDREW AMOUZOU

MANAGING EDITOR OF THE MARQUETTE JOURNAL KIMBERLY COOK

EDITORIAL EDITOR OF DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

Hope Moses

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Julia Abuzzahab, Grace Cady, Skyler Chun, Izzy Fonfara Drewel, John Leuzzi

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COPY EDITORS

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Maeve Nolan

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FLASH FIVE

PHOTO BY ALEX DEBUHR

The Milwaukee Art Museum sits vacant as the sun sets near Lake Michigan in Milwaukee, WI, October 15, 2022

FLASH FIVE

PHOTO BY KATIE CRAIG

An Autumn leaf reaches its colorful peak in the wilderness of suburban Minnesota, late 2021

FLASH FIVE

PHOTO BY FORSTER GOODRICH

A Kehr’s Candies worker prepares to close the shop at the Milwuakee Public Market, Milwaukee, WI, October 17, 2022

FLASH FIVE

PHOTO BY ISABEL BONEBRAKE

Flowers bloom in the gardens at Villa Terrace in Milwaukee, WI, September 24, 2022

FLASH FIVE

PHOTO BY KEIFER RUSSELL

The Northern Lights show off their colors over Parent Lake in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, early September 2022

STORY BY JULIA ABUZZAHAB

“I think when it comes to someone’s gender, romantic or sexual minority identity, that’s really personal and everyone’s experiences are different,” Emma Wuetrich, assistant director of Marquette’s LGBTQ+ Resource Center, says. “Everyone’s going to have their own valid experience.”

Nicole Ferch, a first-year at Marquette’s law school and member of Out & Allies, says that although Marquette is a Jesuit institution, she’s felt welcomed on campus and says this university has offered the most resources for her and an LGBTQ+ organization.

Out & Allies is an organization in the Law School that supports LGBTQ+ community members and advocates for LGBTQ+ views in legal studies.

“Here at Marquette, I think a lot of people are intimidated because it is a religious university, so I think there might be stuff in people’s

mind about maybe they’ll be biased against you because you’re a part of the community, but I’ve not felt that at all,” Ferch says.

Ferch says that Marquette has always been supportive of other organizations on campus, so she just hopes that the university will show its support for Out & Allies and everything that the group wants to accomplish.

Jonah Debeir, a first-year at Marquette’s law school and member of Out & Allies, says a big part of feeling welcomed at Marquette is discovering a community with people like yourself. Debeir says if he ever had an issue with homophobia, he would most likely turn to the people in his organization since they’d be the most understanding.

“I think resource-wise, there’s really good communication between the students and the upper-level deans,” Debeir says.

“If you ever need anything from

any of the deans, no matter what their position is, their office is always open, and you can go and talk about whatever you want confidentially.”

Ferch says a big part of her application for Marquette’s law school was her personal statement, where she discussed being part of the LGBTQ+ community. In the past, she says her education was impacted because she didn’t have a safe environment due to her sexuality.

“I was very forward with that and with them,” Ferch says. “They chose me to come to the school and I was very clear about what my situation was and I think that’s very telling about who they want representing their law school, so it made me feel even safer here because I was very blatant about my situation and what I wanted out of a school.”

Also using his personal

statement in his application for law school, Debeir says that he wrote about his sexuality too and the growth he’s made being a pastor’s child.

Despite being at Marquette for a couple months, Debeir says that his experience has been positive. He says that the people and professors have been really supportive of everything that an LGBTQ+ student could face. However, his experience in higher-level education wasn’t always positive.

Debeir first attended the University of Missouri and transferred after a semester to DePaul University after not realizing how conservative the school was, despite being from Missouri.

“I think the biggest turning point for me at Mizzou was walking around and I would see on the sidewalks someone just scribbled the ‘f’ slur in chalk and I’m like ‘Cool, okay, I’m just going to fill

EVERYONE’S EXPERIENCES ARE DIFFERENT

out my transfer application now,’ but I think going to DePaul definitely helped me a lot more like explore my sexual identity and be more comfortable with myself,” Debeir says.

Rosa Aguilar attended Marquette until November 2021. She says she decided to leave because of mental health reasons.

Aguilar says she received a lot of support from her professors and especially from Phillip Rocco, associate professor of political science, when she had to take medical leave and when she eventually decided Marquette wasn’t the best fit for her.

Although Aguilar says she had a lot of support at Marquette and people respected her gender identity, part of her reasoning for leaving did have to do with her being trans.

“I think in general, when I was at Marquette, the university didn’t

really promote LGBTQ+ events as much,” Aguilar says. “Our funding was very limited, especially compared to other clubs or especially for sports teams.”

Aguilar hopes to attend the University of Illinois Chicago in the future as she feels UIC offers more LGBTQ+ resources for the community than Marquette does.

Marquette also offers resources for faculty and staff who are part of the LGBTQ+ community. Rick Boyd, adjunct professor of physics, and Patrick Correia-Harker, assistant director of national recruitment, are co-chairs of the LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Group. Correia-Harker says the ERG hopes to bring a bigger sense of community and inclusivity across campus.

“We are perhaps a little bit unique compared to some of the other employee resource groups on campus where we have the population that does identify and the mixture of

others that are allies and we try to always be really sensitive to that,” Boyd says.

When Boyd was first deciding if he wanted to work at Marquette, he says he wondered if this would be a good place for him as part of the LGBTQ+ community. Boyd says the LGBTQ+ ERG is comforting.

“We really are designed to help create community among faculty and staff, which then again creates visibility on campus and then in light of how we are operating as a group, naturally we are more visible,” Correia-Harker says.

Correia-Harker says the ERG focuses on supporting everyone on campus, trying to grow visibility and making Marquette more inclusive.

Wuetrich, whose office is located in the center, says the center offers resources like the queer library, queer closet, educational training and social programming to build community and belonging as well as herself. The queer closet is a free resource for students to find gender-affirming clothing.

Marquette University Student Government’s LGBTQ+ initia-

tive group is also working on creating a rainbow floor for a space for queer students to find community and safety in Living Learning Communities.

“I think there are plenty of students that struggle with the culture. There’s a lot of harm that comes from peer students. There’s homophobia, transphobia and moments of exclusion that are harmful kind of all the time. I think some of the systems can keep growing with what our students need,” Wuetrich says.

Wuetrich doesn’t think the spaces are perfect, however, throughout her time at Marquette, she says she has seen Marquette grow and improve its inclusivity of the LGBTQ+ population on campus.

“As much as there is growth and things I could put down on a piece of paper, that doesn’t mean students don’t have difficult times here. There are plenty of individual students who’ve had tough times here. I would love to see more of the culture support those folks,” Wuetrich says.

Wuetrich says she hopes Marquette will support those students who have not publicly come out yet. Wuetrich says there aren’t

many people officially “out” on campus so she hopes to see more accountability for students to minimize any possible harm they may experience.

Wuetrich says it’s great to see students not visit the resource center as much as they continue through college.

“Sometimes it’s great that they’re getting so busy, they’re getting so involved they have so many other leadership opportunities that I don’t see them as much anymore. That’s sad for me, but also it reminds me that they’re doing the thing that they’re supposed to be doing and that’s really sweet to see,” Wuetrich says.

Wuetrich says although she tries to help all LGBTQ+ individuals have a good experience at Marquette, every student is going to have their own valid experience on campus whether that be positive or negative, everybody’s is going to be different.

Photo by Keifer Russell keifer.russell@marquette.edu

STORY BY HANNAH HERNANDEZ

Photos by Katie Craig katherine.craig@marquette.edu

Students come from around the world to join in the phrase “We are Marquette.” From basketball games to soccer matches, from clubs and organizations to the classroom, the colors blue and gold can unite the Marquette community.

Paola Velazquez, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences, is from Caguas, Puerto Rico. She came to the U.S. to get a better education.

Velazquez says there are a lot of things, like protests and hurricanes, that can happen during the school year in Puerto Rico, and she wanted to avoid that. One of her friends could not attend school for two weeks because of those.

“You always see universities in the United States in movies, and I was like ‘I want to go there.’ Also, my grandfather went to school here and my mom too, so they really encouraged me to come here so I can get a better education than I would find in Puerto Rico,” Velazquez says.

Her high school advisor told her about Marquette, and she liked it after doing initial research. Even though she couldn’t tour Marquette in person, a friend sent videos and pictures of the campus.

Velazquez says since she arrived at Marquette everyone has been friendly.

“Orientation week, everyone was very nice,” she says. “Since I’ve been here nobody has been really mean and that makes me have a sense of security.”

Coming to the U.S. was a hard

she wasn’t accustomed to speaking English all the time.

“It definitely helped that everyone here is very friendly,” Velazquez says. “It also helps to have people from when you were from like Puerto Rico. I feel like if I didn’t have like all those people that I could talk to in Spanish, I probably would be going crazy.”

Velazquez says at times people will approach her if they hear her speaking Spanish to engage in conversation, but mainly she finds her community through the club she created, Celebrating Puerto Rican Culture Club.

Donny Robbins, a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences, is from southern California. He and his mom looked at colleges all over the United States, and his mom discovered Marquette.

Although he is from California, Robbins says he has been a Green Bay Packers fan since he was a 10-year-old.

“Wisconsin has always kind of been on my radar. So, if I go to Marquette, there should be a lot of Packers fans, and that would be pretty cool,” Robbins says. While touring Marquette, Robbins was hesitant if Marquette was the college for him. One of the reasons is that it did not have the major that he was looking for: statistics. While on the tour, his tour guide was a data science major and that appealed to him, he says.

A month later, Marquette became more of a better choice for him.

“I think the three big things

then the religious affiliation,” Robbins says.

From touring Marquette to now, Robbins says he has enjoyed Marquette more than he would have thought.

“My outlook on Marquette has completely changed for the positive. A big thing is my freshman year I ended up converting to Catholicism, which probably wouldn’t have happened, at least that fast, if I didn’t go to Marquette,” Robbins says.

Michelle Gomez, a senior in the College of Communication, is from Guatemala City, Guatemala. From a young age, Gomez wanted to be a doctor, but those plans changed during her senior year in high school.

“I’m going to med school, that was my decision. Then

It’s not about the place, but it’s about the people and what you make of it.

there for my kids, and I don’t know if I want to study for the next 10 years of my life,’” Gomez says.

After deciding not to pursue medical school, Gomez took a path similar to the one which her parents thought she would pursue.

“I was like ‘No mom.’ From a young age I always told her I don’t see myself in any communications field, and little did I know that I was going to end up loving editing,” Gomez says. Gomez then decided to come to the U.S. for her education because she was no longer going to medical school. After learning information about Marquette at a college fair, Gomez applied.

“If I go to the U.S., I want to

make sure I’m going to study a market that’s not as common or as advanced as it is in the U.S.,” Gomez says.

Gomez says she received a good scholarship and then decided to attend. Another reason why Gomez says she decided upon Marquette is the similarities to her high school.

“I don’t want to be a number in the class. I want to actually be a student because that’s how it was for me in high school. There were 20 kids in the class,” Gomez says. “So I know I would feel overwhelmed at UWM for example.”

A lot of her friends came to the U.S. for schooling, but she didn’t want to go where they are. Gomez says she wanted something different.

“I love Marquette, I really do. I think it’s a different school,” she says. “I like that it’s close to downtown, I really like the academics, I like the environment and I like the Midwestern culture.”

Although it is difficult being away from home, Gomez says she is making the most out of her time.

“It’s been a good experience. I’ve met wonderful people from all around the world. My group of friends has people that come from almost every continent,” Gomez says. “It’s not about the place, but it’s about the people and what you make of it. That’s not something I understood until I had my group of friends here.”

Photo by Katie Craig katherine.craig@marquette.edu

Photo by Alex DeBuhr

Service can mean different things to different people. For Rachel Piscoran, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences, it means breaking boundaries.

Piscoran is a part of Marquette’s M.A.R.D.I. G.R.A.S, a student-run organization focusing on delivering disaster relief. The acronym stands for “Making A Difference In Gulf Regions and Areas Surrounding.”

“When we were doing service in Louisiana, we saw lots of people mentioning how local university students didn’t do anything to help. I think that we need to try so that’s not how Milwaukee sees us,” Piscoran says.

The group is mostly focused on helping relieve the damage that still persists from Hurricane Katrina, and the additional damages caused by the hurricanes that continue to fall in the surrounding regions.

The organization sends several students a year to areas such as Texas, New Orleans and Panama City.

Piscoran was active last year, when the organization sent a group of 33 students to New Orleans to help mitigate the damages left by these natural disasters.

“It felt like we were really making a difference, specifically one day that we helped a grocery store owner paint his storefront. Every time I saw the kids going in and getting ice cream and they saw us and smiled, it felt like I

STORY BY CLARA LEBRÒN

was doing more than painting,” Piscoran says.

While M.A.R.D.I. G.R.A.S. provides opportunities for many students who wish to conduct service off campus or out of state, other service organiza-

I’m really helping the people around me,” Berentson says.

The organization usually functions by assigning each volunteer to a participant. The two will usually schedule one-onone meetings apart from the activities that the group plans.

Additionally, Best Buddies opts to plan official club activities in different spaces, such as day trips to the pumpkin patch, afternoons in bowling alleys and nights at basketball games.

Jada Williams, a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences and co-president of Best Buddies, defined the experience as a great leap.

“I’ve done service before, but going from only working with kids to working with adults has been an awesome experience. You learn so much about how others think and feel,” Williams says.

While Williams does her service in the Milwaukee community, some, like Jordan De La Hunt, a junior in the College of Health Sciences, wants to see where in the world their service can take them.

City on a Hill is a faith-based Milwaukee organization aiming to help reduce the effects of oppression and increase education and hope in Milwaukee. The organization partners with several groups on campus.

“I think partnering with City on a Hill is what really got our students into the community. I think a big part of breaking the bubble has to do with really getting out there and actually meeting the Milwaukee community,” De La Hunt says.

The “Marquette bubble” is a term that’s used often when talking about the university’s effect on the greater Milwaukee area.

tions are based partially or completely in Milwaukee.

Best Buddies is an organization that aims to create safe environments for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities, and educating volunteers on their needs and abilities.

Gracie Berentson, a senior in the College of Health Sciences and co-president of Best Buddies, explains why she chooses to do service on campus with Best Buddies.

“Being out in the community has really helped me sink into Milwaukee better. I’m confident when I walk around campus, I feel engaged and I feel like

De La Hunt is a co-leader of Global Brigades, a service organization providing medical aid and resources locally and internationally.

The group tries to work on a semester-to-semester basis. In the first semester, students start planning for international aid trips. The students are accompanied by licensed medical professionals, ensuring ethical and professional care for patients. In the second semester, students start planning service work for the Milwaukee community.

The organization is partnered with six countries. Locally, the organization is partnered with City on a Hill.

“You know how everyone talks about the Marquette bubble? I think service has helped me pop the bubble, or at least my bubble,”

Berentson says.

Piscoran also mentions how service has helped her connect with the community.

“Even when we did service in the community, it felt like we were building something bigger than just an activity. It felt like we were making a real difference in people’s lives,” Piscoran says.

I saw the kids going in and getting ice cream and they saw us and smiled, it felt like I was doing more than painting.

FINDING

SECOND CHANCES

STORY BY SKYLER CHUN

About eight years ago, Shanyiell McCloud would walk over to Marquette University Law School wearing a Marquette T-shirt and hat, pretending to be just another student enrolled at the school. As a student at Milwaukee Area Technical College and a member of the paralegal club at the time, McCloud had big dreams of attending law school someday.

“Do I get a chance to be a lawyer? Do I get a chance to go to Marquette? Is this for real?” McCloud would wonder

while sitting at empty tables in the law school. “I had just chalked it up in my brain that I just couldn’t do it. I wasn’t gonna be able to do it because of my record. I just … I thought I was out, I really did. I thought it was over.”

As a survivor of domestic violence in 2005, McCloud chose to fight back. But in doing so, both she and her abuser were arrested in 2006.

“It was a big fight,” McCloud says. “One-time occurrences can last you a lifetime of opportunities.”

After being convicted in 2007 and sentenced to sev-

cally designed for providing incarcerated individuals a second chance at educational or professional advancement through blended courses. So far, she has taken classes in surveillance law, Native American history and creative poetry writing.

“It’s like a dream, you know? I feel like somebody is going to wake me up and be like, ‘Yeah, you know, that’s over with,’” she says. “It’s indescribable.”

Shar-Ron Buie, the community liaison for EPP, connects with various community organizations to provide resources and build connections

“At first they were afraid to speak to me. They were afraid to talk to me, But by the end of the semester, we’re hugging each other, and that’s the same thing that happens with our students here when the new cohort begins,” Buie says.

McCloud and Christal Roman, another formerly incarcerated EPP student, took the

Photos by Isabel Bonebrake isabel.bonebrake@marquette.edu

creative writing class together.

“I’m learning that poetry doesn’t necessarily have to rhyme. It just can kind of blend in,” Roman says. “It’s very interesting and I like it because, with the lived experiences that we have from different backgrounds and our cultures, we’re able to get to know each other by how we express ourselves in our writing. And also, it’s really therapeutic.”

The course is taught by Angela Sorby, an English professor at Marquette, who inspires students through creative writing. Sorby says she decided to teach incarcerated individuals because she felt like it was a waste to have such highly intelligent and dedicated people facing countless barriers to reintegration.

“This can sound really bleeding heart, but it wasn’t just because I felt sorry for them, but because it struck me as being so silly,” she says.

“It’s as if the worst thing that they ever did in their life then comes to define them forever. I think none of us would want our worst moment to be the thing that was our sole social identity.”

While she understands many of these incarcerated

individuals had committed grievous offenses in the past, Sorby says most had committed these offenses when they were 18, 19 or 20 years old, and are much older now.

Roman was convicted in 2001 and served nine years of confinement and 10 years of extended supervision. She was released from the district court in 2010. However, more than 10 years after her release from prison, Roman says she still struggles to find her place in the education system.

“I still face the challenges and barriers as if it was yesterday,” Roman says. “It’s just hard to navigate life like a person who is truly free.”

After receiving her realtor certification from MATC, Roman discovered that she could not get licensed because of her record. Roman says she also had to petition to receive

an education and a paralegal diploma while incarcerated.

“I was reading some theory about incarcerated people and the theory used the term ‘social death’ to describe what people go through in prison … They are taken away from society and their personhood is kind of taken away,” Sorby says. “I felt like teaching poetry enabled them to explore and express other sides.”

In their final project for the class, students wrote about a variety of topics, from rescuing animals to arts and crafts.

Sorby says it was inspiring to see how both formerly incarcerated and traditional Marquette students connected.

“I was really proud at how surprised the audience was at the quality of the poetry,” Sorby says. “This was not amateurish poetry. This was powerful stuff and tears were shed and I think we were all quite happy and proud of ourselves at what we were able to accomplish.”

Catherine Lehmkuhl, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences, says she signed up for the EPP because she was interested in different areas of social work and social justice.

“I say that I went in with an open mind, but yeah, everyone has their prejudices and perceptions, of course,” Lehmkuhl says. “I would say my perceptions of a person in a correctional setting were definitely like what I had seen in movies. I’ve never been inside of a correctional institution like this one.”

Lehmkuhl says the collaborative learning environment helped them see each individual as a whole person.

“We got to hear some of their really heartbreaking experiences,” Lehmkuhl says. “And the complexity of those people … it’s not just that they either feel shame … or feel hopeless, but they really had a passion for learning and improving themselves.”

Buie says while there is a broad spectrum of experiences, the one experience these formerly incarcerated students have is that there is some legal impact.

“It’s just overwhelming to see the metamorphosis that happens from the beginning, to the middle and to the end. And as we bring in the other members of the team, each member of the team delivers a unique perspective … It’s just so rewarding,” Buie says.

MARQUETTE HISTORY

STORY BY CONNOR BALDWIN

As the ivy covering Marquette Hall transforms from a lively summer green to the vivid red, orange and yellow hues of autumn, another season has come and gone. As another year comes to a close, Marquette alumni take a look back on their time on campus and how the university has transformed over the years.

For Sheena Carey, internship coordinator for the College of Communication, her time at Marquette was anything but “run of the mill.”

Carey graduated from Marquette in 1981 back when Johnston Hall housed the College of Journalism, now the College of Communication. This was a chance for Carey to pursue her passion for reading and writing.

While juggling college classes, she had to handle being a single mother.

“My daughter and I would walk down Wisconsin Avenue and she would point

to Marquette and say, ‘That’s where you live,’ and ultimately she was right,” Carey says.

Carey says it was the community she felt while on campus that really helped her grow into loving the school.

“For me it was a very nurturing environment. There were moments when I had to bring my daughter on campus. She was embraced by everyone. I could drop her off at the associate dean’s office and she could hang out with him,” Carey says.

After getting her degree, Carey went back to Marquette for graduate school and had

her second child at the time. She joked saying that her children had come to know the faculty on campus better than she did.

Socially, Carey was making friends on campus but because of her living situation, being older than her average class age and having a child, she wasn’t going out and experiencing the night life. But she says she is thankful for the friends she met, who she still keeps in contact with today.

Although Carey lived off campus for a majority of her time here, her first year she

Photos courtesy of Liz Angeli

lived in O’Donnell hall.

Patrick McNamara, professor in the College of Engineering, also had his first year in O’Donnell hall. McNamara, graduated in 2006 and although he was at Marquette during a different time than Carey, his experience was just as unique as hers. At the time, Engineering Hall wasn’t around so he was working on classes in Olin Engineering and the Haggerty, now the art gallery on campus.

McNamara’s first year on campus was filled with a lot of highs. Living in O’Donnell he said was a great time socializing and meeting new people.

“At first I was pretty upset that I was living in O’Donnell, I wanted to live in McCormick,” McNamara said, “But it [O’Donnell] was good. It was a good place to study, hang out. Madden was big and we had tournaments. And there happened to be a good amount of engineers there so there was a place to study, have fun and meet friends.”

McNamara said that some of the people he had met at O’Donnell would become lifelong friends. He attended their weddings and now they meet once every year to come to Marquette and reminisce about the “good

old days.”

McNamara remembers his first-year at Marquette fondly and remembers when Dwayne Wade had led Marquette to the final four in the NCAA tournament.

“We heard on the TV that it was a tradition to run to the lake. We had no idea cause we were freshman at the time but we went outside…and I

remember congregating at 16th and Wells and then the whole mass moved down Wisconsin avenue and everyone pulled over and honked and cheered, it was a neat moment.” McNamara says.

Elizabeth Angeli, associate professor of English, graduated in 2006 as well. Although Angeli’s wasn’t running down Wisconsin Avenue, her fa-

vorite moment at school was traveling somewhere off campus.

Angeli studied abroad during her time and she said trip to Rome was full of thrills and wonders. Angeli’s general love for Italian culture was able to spearhead the Italian minor at Marquette. Angeli said her academic experience at Marquette was like no other. Her teachers were very nice and when she returned as a staff member her old teachers would remember her from when she was a student.

But socially, she said she had a difficult time settling in. Angeli at the time was also a commuter so she wasn’t always in the know. But it wasn’t just living off campus that made it difficult to settle in.

“I had friends who seemed like they had their lives made together … and I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do,” Angeli says. “I saw people were having ‘the ideal college experience’ and it was just never my experience.”

Another thing she didn’t know about herself at the time was that she was gay. Seeing her heterosexual friends fall in love and get married added another element of pressure to the already stressful time.

“I didn’t talk about my sexuality in college because I didn’t know how to figure that out… I felt more comfortable with my professors and the people I worked for because

I felt seen. I felt seen in a way that my own classmates weren’t able to see me or I would get brushed off,” Angeli says.

But she will always be fond of the education she received at Marquette, which is why she came back as a faculty member. She said her experience of being queer at Marquette has aided her in being a resource for other students on campus who might have anxieties about their sexuality.

“It is important for me to be out so students feel safe and free to have these conversation and know

there are people on campus who once felt like they didn’t belong either,” Angeli said.

STUDENT MAJOR CHANGES

STORY BY JOLAN KRUSE

For many, college is a time of discovering themselves and experimenting with career paths. This often includes switching majors. The process of switching majors varies in difficulty depending on the person, students say. Some describe it as a breeze, but for others, it is described as a headache.

Summer Luna, a first-generation sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences, is currently in the process of switching to biomedical sciences in the College of Health Sciences. Her current major is undecided.

“For me the process of switching is hard, I need to have a B or higher in all class-

es which can be difficult to accomplish,” Luna says.

Luna also mentions the effect of being a first-generation student on her mental health.

“As a first-generation student, you already have imposter syndrome and it forces academic pressure and I feel like it’s every other day that I’m facing an ‘I’m not good enough’ mentality,” Luna says.

Luna comes from a lower-income family and pays her own way through school. She discussed how this changes her outlook on switching majors.

“There’s a lot of guilt that comes with it because my parents would want to help me as much as they can but with the amount of money that has to be spent each semester on textbooks, they can’t,” Luna

says. “I also have a younger sibling they need to take care of.”

Brieana Murillo, a former Marquette student in the College of Arts & Sciences, also mentions the effect of switching majors both financially and mentally. Murillo was a first-year majoring in physiological sciences in the College of Arts & Sciences before switching to the College of Education.

Murillo says from the beginning she knew physiological sciences wasn’t for her.

“I was relieved to get out of something that wasn’t for me but also stressed thinking I would let down my family. I was also very anxiety-ridden trying to find a new major so my parents wouldn’t think I

Photo by Katie Craig katherine.craig@marquette.edu

was confused and going in undecided,” Murillo says.

After switching her major and still not feeling comfortable, Murillo ended up deciding by the end of the spring semester of 2022, that she was going to take a break from school. After summer ended, she came to a new conclusion.

“While taking the fall semester off, I realized that college just wasn’t for me and I had to

was really hard for me since the beginning. It was an insane amount of time doing stuff. I didn’t know how to use computers until coming to the U.S. which was also stressful,” Krstulovic says.

Other students, like Sam Robertson, a sophomore in the College of Communication, says switching majors is an overall simple process.

Robertson switched his major from communication film and media studies to digital media his first year.

“I realized I wanted more handson experience,” Robertson says.

coming in not knowing much about majors. Once I came here, I was really confused,” Krstulovic says. “It was a new environment, a totally different world. For a few months, I was totally lost.”

Luna also mentions another

help myself realize that was perfectly okay,” Murillo says.

There are also students who aren’t from the United States who face the struggle of navigating an education system that is new to them.

Tin Krstulovic, a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences, came to Marquette from Slovenia. Krstulovic was an biomedical engineering major who switched to applied mathematics.

“Biomedical engineering

“I thought the process of switching wasn’t too tough, the transition made sense and I was coached all the way.”

However, for Krstulovic, the process of switching his major was one he described as something he didn’t know anything about.

“The most stressful part about switching majors was

concern among students who switch majors is the

cost.

“A lot of times, it’s not just textbooks that are required. My professors will also recommend outside resources like molecule kits and flashcards. As classes get harder, it takes

I was relieved to get out of something that wasn’t for me...”

Photo by Keifer Russell keifer.russell@marquette.edu

a lot more resources to be successful,” Luna says.

Luna describes this as a loss of investment.

“All that money could’ve gone towards the books for the major that you actually end up pursuing,” Luna says. “It’s a big loss on money that you don’t have.”

Robertson says switching majors can also affect students mentally.

“I was stressed a little before the process. It is a potential career change, it’s a potential life change. When you change majors, you go into something new,” Robertson says. “So, the learning process is always tough, but the support I got

Robertson is not the only student faced with emotional challenges from switching majors. Murillo says people are often pressured by society’s expectations to attend college.

“People feel it’s an obligation to attend college so sometimes they go in without having a clue what to do. This leads to them switching majors which can negatively affect them financially in the long run,” Murillo says. “I bet that kind of financial stress could send someone mentally spiraling.”

from my advisor made me feel very secure.”

Photo by Katie Craig katherine.craig@marquette.edu

STORY BY WILL EIKENBARY

An ornate Celtic cross on top of a dazzling emerald armband. A cryptic black and white crest around an ominous white eye. A light spectrum arranged in a waveform to show all of the colors of the rainbow.

To some, these may seem like random images, but to Chris Stockdale, associate professor in the department of physics, these pictures are more than just skindeep. To Stockdale, these pictures – his tattoos – represent his identity. “One of the tattoos I have on my arm is from a character in a graphic novel called ‘Starman.’ The character got tattoos at some point in his life to signify certain meanings. That’s where the idea came from [for me],” Stockdale says. “Sort of making a statement to yourself and others about where you’re at in your life.”

Over the last 22 years, Stockdale has acquired 12 or 13 tattoos – he couldn’t recall which – all symbolizing a different event or important aspect of his life. One of them, a Celtic cross, symbolizes his Irish heritage. Another, an upside-down Texas Longhorns logo, symbolizes the archrival of his alma mater, University of Oklahoma.

The most recent tattoo Stockdale acquired is a pink triangle with barbed wire around it, which he got last summer.

“In recent years, there’s been a lot of people saying mean things

about other folks, especially about LGBTQ+ [people]. The [tattoo comes] from the time of the Nazis; if you were gay, they’d put a pink triangle on you,” Stockdale says. “I just wanted to give a little bit of heritage with that design by adding barbed wire around the edges of it. A ‘Let’s not do this again,’ kind of thing.”

As unique as his tattoo is, Stockdale isn’t the only Marquette faculty member who uses tattoos as a means of describing his experiences. Jennifer Henery, teaching assistant professor in the department of theology, says her tattoo, a pansy on top of a cross along her Achilles tendon, is “very small, very faded and very meaningful.”

The inspiration for Henery’s tattoo was her experience of coming to terms with her life path as she got older.

“When I was a senior in college, I had the first of my midlife crises,” Henery says. “Everybody had always said, ‘What do you want to do when you grow up?’ My senior year of college, I had this epiphany that I wanted to be asking different questions. I dropped out of the academic programs I was in, cut my hair short and got a mountain bike and a tattoo. Most of my friends thought I had lost my mind.”

Instead of her previous major, Henery began taking philosophy and theology courses to help her answer the question of who she

wanted to be. Henery says she got her tattoo as a symbol of her relationship with God and her devotion to her faith.

“In the space I was in, I wanted to get a tattoo of the cross, the physical reminder of being marked as Christ’s own, forever,” Henery says. “On top of that, there’s a legend of the pansy, that the pansies were the flowers around the foot of the cross. If you look at pansies, they’re all different colors and looking upwards and have a human-like face, so the idea is that they’re the flowers that Christ’s blood dripped on.”

Similar to the cross and pansy, Henery chose to get her tattoo on her ankle due to the myth of Achilles, and how when he was dipped in the River Styx to make him immortal, the one place that could kill him was where he was held by his ankle.

“I had it placed there because it was the one thing I was willing to die for,” Henery says. “Everything I got is intentionally symbolic and connected to my faith journey.”

Faith and remembrance is a shared theme between Henery and Joshea Davis-Joiner, a junior in the College of Nursing. Davis-Joiner has seven tattoos, all of which symbolize a part of her life so far. One of them, the first tattoo she got and a memorial for her brother, Joshua, is featured on her arm.

“It’s just our names with a heart,” Davis-Joiner says. “I wanted a place that wasn’t going to hurt that bad, which is why I picked [my arm]. It’s a reminder of why I do what I do and I see it all the time [when] I write.”

In addition to her memorial for her brother, Davis-Joiner says her other tattoos show aspects of her as well. Her senior quote, “You do not just wake up and become a butterfly. Growth is a process,” is tattooed along her spine as a

way to remember how much has changed in the past few years.

“My senior year was kind of a lot with COVID-19. To pick a quote that resonated with that period and how we’re still living currently in a pandemic just reminds me where I was and how far I’ve come,” Davis-Joiner says. “I don’t just go to college and it all happens – growth is a process, you never stop growing. I think that transition from being a teenager to an adult is something that really stuck with me.”

In terms of getting more tattoos in the future, Davis-Joiner says she would be willing to, just so long as she has a reason for it.

“When I become a mother, I want to tattoo my children’s names and initials,” Davis-Joiner says. “When I get married, obviously I can’t wear my ring everywhere because I’m a nurse, so I want my husband’s initials tattooed on my finger. I also want a leg tattoo, but I’m not sure where.”

While Davis-Joiner is interested in acquiring more tattoos in the future, Henery says she will likely hold off recoloring her tattoo or getting a new one for now.

“My 18-year-old self at the time really needed this outward, visible sign of this transition in my life,” Henery says. “Nowadays, not so much.”

that instance, well, if someone is offended, that’s who I am and I’m not hiding it.”

Photos by Katie Craig katherine.craig@marquette.edu

EMPATHETIC ENGAGEMENT:

The mission of Narrative4 stresses empathy and how it can be used by young people to change their lives.

“When we talk about empathy we talk about … not necessarily responding to understand but to let people’s stories sit with us and we can hold each other’s stories for a brief period of time,” Alex Gambacorta, a graduate student, says.

While Narrative4 has international ties, its board is currently focused on facilitating exchanges between Marquette students and faculty within classrooms.

STORY BY IZZY FONFARA DREWEL

Emotions fill the air as students share personal stories about their hardships, their successes and their lives. Together they learn from each other’s lessons that will stay with them for years to come.

Narrative4 is a global nonprofit that focuses on storytelling and the way it can influence students. Their website states that “By inhabiting someone else’s story — even for a moment — we are better able to understand each other and better equipped to change the world.”

The organization coordinates story exchanges, events where students pair up and share a personal story that follows the prompt they’re given. Students then come back to the full group and share their partner’s story as if it were their own.

Mara McAndrews, Marquette alum and founder of the Marquette chapter of Narrative4, defines it as the real-life equivalent of stepping into someone else’s shoes.

“It’s a lot of being responsible for someone else’s story and telling it, but also hearing your own story and being able to have more empathy for yourself through hearing your story from someone else’s voice. We tend to not have as much empathy for ourselves,” McAndrews says.

McAndrews collaborated with the Education Preparedness Program, an initiative that works to help formerly incarcerated individuals gain their degrees. While the class had been in session for a few months, the students didn’t know each other, at least not until after the exchange.

“It was just so incredible, and I think it’s situations like that are why I made Narrative4,” McAndrews says. “These 19-year-olds are going to know what the prison system is like, they’re going to know what these people have gone through, what their situation is like and how amazing it is that they’ve gotten here, but before the story exchange it was a poetry class.”

Throughout these exchanges, the board spreads N4’s mission to incite empathy, and it also works to bring in new members. Elizabeth Andrzejewski, junior in the College of Arts & Sciences and president of

NARRATIVE4

N4, aims to up their recruitment for this year.

“Our biggest thing right now is trying to get more undergrads involved because we have a lot of faculty and a lot of graduate students. That undergraduate pull hasn’t been as strong,” Andrzejewski says. “Outreach and trying to bring people together, that’s the main thing because we’re pretty new as an organization.”

While faculty isn’t the recruitment focus currently, students have enjoyed learning about their professors.

“Some of my favorite exchanges have been with faculty which is kind of surprising because I think there’s a separation between students and faculty,” Andrzejewski says.

The story exchanges can create emotionally-charged situations where participants share intimate details of their lives.

“One of the community norms we have is ‘When the exchange is finished, stories stay and lessons leave.’ It’s following that privacy aspect of ‘I’m not going to tell your story to anybody else, but you taught me so much that I’m going to hold onto this forever,’” Andrzejewski says.

Throughout their short time together, the group has created something they are proud of. McAndrews says her proudest moment as the founder was when she facilitated exchanges at the Symposium on Diversity, Inclusion & Social Justice.

“We were coming off from a time that was so close to COVID when a lot of people were starting college and were immediately online and didn’t have the community at Marquette that I love, but it was just such a time of disconnect,” McAndrews says. “We did [the exchange] and people were like ‘I’m going to start walking out of my apartment in the middle of the day and just walking around campus because it became home to me today.’”

Narrative4 is planning exchanges throughout the rest of the year in classes spanning English and poetry to STEM and health, and the goal is to encourage “radical empathy” in the classroom.

Andrzejewski says, “Empathy is about being on the edge of vulnerability, that’s where that power comes out of you.”

Photo by Isabel Bonebrake isabel.bonebrake@marquette.edu

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STUDENT ARTISTS EXPRESSION

Photo by Keifer Russell keifer.russell@marquette.edu

STORY BY PHOEBE GOEBEL

“Art is what you make it. There can’t be a textbook definition of it because whatever way you chose to express yourself is art,” Geena Brumm, a sophomore in the College of Communication says.

Brumm, along with other students and faculty at Marquette, uses art as a form of expressing themselves outside of the classroom. Whether its picking the right brush, choosing the word that created deeper meaning in a sentence or visiting a museum as a way of escaping everyday life, art lives and thrives on campus through passion, fascination and desire.

Brumm is a self-taught nail technician on campus. With a large following and crowded schedule, Brumm says that she never expected to be so successful.

“It was never supposed to be a full thing. People started to reach out to me about it and offered to pay me. My family thought I could make good money, so I made an Instagram account and now I have people messaging me all the time asking for appointments,” Brumm says.

Scrolling through Brumm’s Instagram posts, a variety of different colors, styles and detailed designs are featured in her nail art. Brumm says that she has the most fun doing nails when the client comes in with an open mind.

“I usually come up with my designs on the fly,” Brumm says. “I can explore my creative freedom and that’s one of my favorite parts about it.”

Christine Fleming, the manager of community engagement at the Haggerty Museum of Art, fills her role at the museum by organizing community events to further interaction with the museum. Flem-

ing says that because Marquette does not offer a comprehensive art education, she believes the museum is a large part of students’ progression.

“We are a flexible space because Marquette doesn’t have art history or studio art,” Fleming says. “We refer to the museum as a third space. People can just walk through and have a little study break. People can come and spend an hour with one artwork.”

Fleming says that the staff wants people to experience the museum due to how the art inside has affected people in the past.

“Everyone and their different roles are all working towards this shared goal of really bringing students, faculty and staff from the Marquette and Milwaukee communities into the museum for a transformational experience,” Fleming says.

Fleming started her career as a K-12 art teacher. When she saw schools offering less opportunity for students to express their creativity, Fleming knew that this would have a negative effect on students’ development. Now, she hopes to encourage student creativity through the museum.

“All those creative and fine arts areas are really lacking in students. The skill set that they bring of being flexible, being a problem solver and even group collaboration are important life skills. Art is central to the human experience and is connected to all subjects,” Fleming says.

Molly Laird, a junior in the College of Nursing, uses art in the form of words. At Marquette, Laird participates in creative writing courses which she is able to express herself through.

Laird says that she sees art ex-

pressed through students and faculty in different forms all over the Marquette campus. She admires the passion that her peers put into their artworks and believes that this is what makes Marquette a special place to be.

“At Marquette, I see art through the study body and different structures around campus. The talent of my peers honestly amazes me. The stories conveyed through both visual art and creative writing from the student’s perspective are powerful and influential,” Laird says. “The mural on the varsity theater is one of my favorite pieces of art on campus. I love walking past those women and the vivid colors.”

Flemming believes art to be a subjective process in which individuals decide what is art to them. Through activities at the museum, she sees students identifying art in many different ways.

“I think there is no definition of art. Every person should be able to define that differently,” Fleming says. “We had a post-it note response board for people to say what is versus what isn’t art. We noticed people sparking conversations just within the notes on the board.”

Laird interprets art also as a subjective process and emphasizes the message and impact art can create. No matter the medium that is used to create, Laird believes that you can find some type of story through every piece of art.

“I would define “art” as the creative expression of one’s own experience,” Laird says. “Art is universal and gives creators the freedom of personal expression. Emotion and a story are communicated through every piece of art.”

THE ART OF ESCAPISM ACTIVITIES

Stiff paper, vibrant paints and sharpened pencils littered tables in the Haggerty Art Museum.

“You could create whatever you wanted,” Serena Determan, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences, recalls Marquette Art Club’s first meeting this school year. “I really liked how there was a group of people. Even though we were separate, we were doing things together.”

Art can be a form of escapism. A 2016 study shows approximately 75% of participants’ stress levels lowered. A 2018 American College

Health Survey survey found only 1.6% of college students reported feeling no stress in a semester.

When stressed, Determan experiences headaches and makes rash decisions, while Art Club’s Secretary Elise Storoe, a sophomore in the College of Nursing, feels a tight knot forming in her chest and starts chattering. Art Club’s Vice President Gabby Chun, a junior in the College of Engineering, knows she’s under pressure when sleep evades her no matter how tired she is.

While their symptoms differ, they all enjoy turning to art to escape life

Storoe cherishes drawing realistic images because she likes to pinpoint the differences in features.

“Someone could draw a cat, I could draw a cat, but my cat’s different. That difference is what makes me me,” Storoe says. “With that expression, you really get to focus on yourself and do something

At home in Naperville, Illinois, a framed mandala spreads across an entire wall of her bedroom. During the pandemic lockdown in the spring of 2020, Storoe spent 43 hours creating the

While art does not directly impact her field, Storoe says creativity

“As nurses, you focus a lot on what they call individual-focus care — just being a very divergent thinker and being able to come up with multiple solutions,” Storoe mentions. “That’s definitely more of a creative mindset rather than

As a physics major and engineering minor, Determan also likes to

“I think it (art) helps keep you a little more well-rounded,” Determan remarks. “When you’re doing math and science all day, that can get exhausting. Being able to do something else, whether that’s reading, art or music, it can really help reset your brain and then

come back stronger and focus more on your studies.”

As someone who focuses so intimately on details in her mandala etchings, Storoe admits art can become stressful.

“It’s upsetting when you have a vision inside your head, and you can’t put it on paper,” Storoe confesses. “I think it’s a goal for a lot of artists to try to get whatever they’re feeling and expressing the perfect way on paper.”

Sometimes the escapist activity needs an escape as well. In those times, Determan tries to find ways to calm themself down.

“I try to find little things I can do that help me calm down, whether that’s taking time with a meal or going to art club or doing a little bit of reading,” Determan comments. They adore science fiction and is currently reading “Star Wars” books, but they also occasionally enjoys historical nonfiction.

If her color-coded planner doesn’t help, Chun turns to her faith. She attends daily noon Mass on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in addition to Sunday Mass.

Storoe can relate; she keeps track of her responsibilities with digital calendars accessible on her phone and laptop along with a paper planner. If she’s upset or can’t focus on her assignments, she takes a lap around campus to reset.

For all, when classes and jobs and life overwhelm, art supplies are sure to lead to an escape.

STAGE LEFT

STORY BY ANGELINA GALULLO

Human connection and communication are the core of Marquette Theatre’s 48th annual season, “Expectations,” where characters’ strong beliefs of victory reflect real life.

The season began with a musical comedy, “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” in October. On the horizon is a pair of shows: “The Wolves” and “From White Plains” in December, and in the spring “The Importance of Being Earnest” before wrapping up with “Detroit ’67,” a Voices Included for People of Color Theatre production.

Jamie Cheatham, head of Marquette’s theatre arts program, emphasizes the hard work that goes into these productions to make each show as truthful as possible.

“We rehearse for a span of seven weeks,” Cheatham says. “There is a lot of work outside of rehearsals in terms of designing and building the sets and costumes, which is extremely time-consuming.”

Cheatham makes sure Marquette actors are exposed to well–rounded seasons.

“We try to introduce students to a good variety of genres, each with unique challenges. This not only grows skills but allows for connections to be made with real life,” Cheatham says.

Despite the challenges that come with putting on a show, Cheatham describes it as a labor of love.

“We’re all pretty exhausted by the time a show opens. But per-

forming is our outlet for our creative sensibilities and imaginations, and it is our duty to share these lessons to the audience,”

To Cheatham, it is not about the audience’s applause at the end of these shows, but the amount of growth from the cast, crew and audience.

“Theater is an art form that teaches us to empathize actively with characters who lead different lives or come from different worlds than us,” Cheatham says. “When a show comes together, it is magical.”

In “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” Matthew Read, junior in the College of Arts & Sciences, portrayed 10-yearold William Barfee. Faced with putting himself in the shoes of a new character, Read prioritizes alone time.

Cheatham says.

Cheatham mentors Isabella Andress, senior in the College of Arts & Sciences, currently directing shows for Marquette’s Players Society.

Andress introduced the club’s current show, “The Amish Project,” where she is using her creative power as director to express lifelong values.

“It’s based off a real story about a shooting in Pennsylvania at an Amish school, and how the closeknit and faith-based community grew to forgive the man who did it,” Andress says. “We are learning that in unfathomably difficult circumstances, we should still show mercy and love.”

Andress aims to convey important messages to the audience when directing.

“I’ve taken a lot of different courses on how to build character. It helps me grow personally when I can decide who a character is to me,” Read says.

Cheatham works make sure his shows accurately depict reality, creating a diverse platform to tell the stories of all people equally.

“At Marquette, we try to present shows that correlate to what is going on in the world. Each season, we try to include a show highlighting a social justice issue. This year that is, ‘From White Plains,’ which deals with LGBTQ+ bullying,” Cheatham says.

To prepare for the important task of communicating these messages, Read strives to communicate efficiently in his own life off-stage.

“In my personal life, I know myself better. I have learned to

When a show comes together, it is magical.”

connect with people I’ve never met in the form of an imaginary and non-existent character,” Read says.

Read identifies as a storyteller, while Andress has discovered her place backstage due to her love for technology. Andress explains this connection helps to aid her stage fright.

“I grew to love the ability to create a mental image and have my thought process take life on

STAGE RIGHT

stage,” Andress says.

Read acknowledges that everyone involved in Marquette Theatre, no matter the role, is tasked with expressing their own perspective.

“I love acting because each character has a different story, as do the actors, directors and audience. This is my fourth show at Marquette and each one has been so different,” Read says.

Andress learned the impor-

tance of empathy through Marquette Theatre, one of the most important lessons she has learned over the past four years.

“To put yourself in someone else’s shoes and carry that character and their lessons with you in your day-to-day life has a strong impact to me,” Andress says. “I think that is the best thing about modern theater.”

Photo by Isabel Bonebrake isabel.bonebrake@marquette.edu

Erin Horkavi, Ryan Lascano, Meghan Oeste and Grace Kadonsky express themselves through their wardrobe.

Photos by Alex DeBuhr alexander.debuhr@marquette.edu and Isabel Bonebrake isabel.bonebrake@marquette.edu

“Ring out Ahoya” reverberates through the stadium while mascot Iggy the Eagle soars around flapping his wings encouraging the crowd to sing even louder especially for men’s basketball, where you have 17,000 to 18,000 people screaming with Iggy.

From the flash of the blue and gold color smoke bombs at the soccer game and the Gruber Law T-shirt toss at the basketball games, enigmatic Iggy is always the first one on hand to cheer on the various Marquette men’s and women’s athletic teams and pump up the students. Director of marketing and ticket sales Brian Morgan oversees Iggy the Eagle. Morgan calls Iggy the face of Marquette and hopes to keep the mythical feature of Iggy alive from sporting events to community activities.

“You will never see Iggy at more than one event on campus as it is important to maintain the allure of Iggy,”

STORY BY CATHERINE FINK

Morgan says.

Marquette men’s soccer firstyear midfielder Mitar Mitrovic says the first time he saw Iggy was when he was working the crowd at a men’s basketball game.

“I think mascots are great because every team has one of their own and it represents the whole college,” Mitrovic says. “Mascots are fun to be around, there is great energy from them.”

It is not just members of the sports teams that enjoy Iggy being at their games, but the fans as well. Not only do the students flock to Iggy, but kids of all ages want to be seen with him. At one of the recent soccer games, Iggy was the goalie and kids were shooting on goal at him. He even made a few saves with the help of its wings.

Iggy, who shall remain anonymous, is full of personality and turns it on at the right time to fit every situation.

“It’s a really unique opportunity to be able to think to yourself and talk to my family and just say, ‘Hey, I’m the Marquette mascot.’ It’s kind of just a cool thing to think about and it’s something I’ll never forget from my time here,” Iggy says.

Matthew Valentino, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences, was not aware of Marquette’s

mascot before he got on campus.

“I didn’t know Iggy, but thought he was a really cool mascot. I saw him at a (women’s) volleyball game. He was going around taking pictures with all the new students and it made everyone more enthusiastic,” Valentino says.

Lukas Sunneson, a senior forward on the Marquette men’s soccer team, reflects on having Iggy at soccer games.

“I think having Iggy is important for our team. It makes fans come together and join in with the mascot and be more engaged,” Sunneson says. “I don’t notice it when I am on the field, but it definitely makes everyone more involved and that makes a difference.”

Whether it is down at Valley Fields, inside the Al McGuire Center or down at Fiserv Form, Iggy says each venue brings a different experience and some are easier to connect with fans than others.

“If you’re at Fiserv at a men’s game, you’re really hyping up a full arena of people, whereas if you’re at Valley Fields, it’s that more intimate setting where you can have more positive interactions with fans and children,” Iggy says.

Cullen Duffenbach, a sophomore in the College of Engineering, who learned about Iggy at Student Orientation, says Iggy provides an eccentric atmosphere at events outside of Marquette Athletics events.

“If you look at the Marquette basketball record from last year, you can see they did play a lot better at home when they had the student section, and I think Iggy played a big role in that,” Duffenbach says. “I think this is why

Marquette lost to Madison last year as they didn’t have Iggy and a big student section cheering them on as the atmosphere was totally different.”

Iggy can be seen out in the community at events, and people can request an Iggy visit to an event. This especially happens in the summer and at unique events too.

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Photos by Isabel Bonebrake isabel.bonebrake@marquette.edu

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STORY BY BEN SCHULTZ

BE THE DIFFERENCE

Be the Difference NIL is helping Marquette men’s and women’s basketball players fulfill Marquette’s tagline to “Be the Difference” in the Milwaukee area while putting some money in their pockets.

“What we’re trying to do is provide a benefit that currently exists and is allowed by the NCAA to the Marquette student athletes,” Director of Be the Difference NIL Steve Novak says.

The collective isn’t affiliated with Marquette University and

has signed every scholarship player from both the men’s and women’s basketball teams. With help from donors, Be the Difference NIL is able to pay the signed athletes as allowed by name, image and likeness laws and rules.

It was launched May 3, 2022, and it’s still new to those involved and to those who the collective will be working with in the future.

Executive Director of Be the Difference NIL Travis Diener says

its goal is to include Marquette’s values into the collective by getting the student athletes out in the community and not just pay them for being who they are.

“It was a concerted effort to create this so that these kids had a chance, had more opportunities to be the difference, to go out in the community to have these chances to be impactful,” Diener says.

Those on the board include Rob Jackson, Cam Marotta and Kiesha Oliver-Hayes, former men’s and women’s basketball players. They all wore the Marquette jersey when they were in college, but weren’t able to make money on their name, image and likeness.

“It just means a lot to us that they are taking the time and effort to give us this opportunity, even though when they were here they didn’t get to do it,” men’s basketball sophomore guard Stevie Mitchell says. “It’s very

Photos courtesy of Marquette Athletics

thoughtful of them and we’re very appreciative.”

Those on the board want to make sure to the players they’ve signed that they only want the best for them and that they’ve been in their shoes before.

“We wanted to make sure that the athletes understood that our whole intention was to positively benefit them, not for us to have them signing long-term marketing contracts with us or to sign their rights to us,” Novak says.

Diener says the inclusion of the women’s team was important as he knows the impact that the team has on the community and even within his own home.

“We’re creating opportunities for these women’s players

because we know what kind of impact they have in the community as well,” Diener said. “Me selfishly, I have three young daughters so when those girls [Marquette women’s basketball players] are around my little girls, I know how they look up to them too.”

The opportunities that the players are getting through the collective have been with community partners such as All-In Milwaukee, Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee, Sharp Literacy and others. Players and those on the board will go to events and interact with the young students.

Sometimes both teams will show up at events and sometimes it’s just a couple of players. Either way, the athletes are building memories with the kids and their teammates.

“Every time there’s a new memory it’s getting us closer,” women’s basketball senior forward Chloe Marotta says. “We have a lot of great memories from the Al’s Run and the Boys & Girls Club that we still talk about today, like about that one kid who was making a TikTok with us, she was so funny (and) he was so cool. There’s little memories like that, and that always can bring us closer.”

Novak says that the early feedback they’ve gotten from the signed athletes has been encouraging and that going and seeing the interactions has been enjoyable.

“Their feedback has just been, ‘Hey let me know when the next one is, we’re really enjoying it,’” Novak says. “Just sitting back and watching their willingness to interact and have fun and to also just kind be loose and be themselves. It’s been the best part.”

As for Marotta, there’s been one event that’s stuck out more than the rest.

“The most impactful moment was giving the students resources for school to start,” Marotta says. “Something we really wanted the students to focus was, it’s not all about basketball. It’s about how much of the student side we have to focus on as well.”

Me selfishly, I have three young daughters so when those girls (Marquette women’s basketball players) are around my little girls I know how they look up to them too.

Blue and gold lights flash around Fiserv Forum and the Al McGuire Center seconds before men’s and women’s basketball games tip-off. As coaches give final instructions to their players, the Marquette pep band blasts the tune of a song that brings out the best in Marquette: “Ring out Ahoya.”

Marquette sports inspire people to travel to Milwaukee every year to watch their teams battle in the Big East.

One fan, Monica Dombrowski, Class of ‘91, travels from her

STORY BY JACK ALBRIGHT

house in West Allis almost every year for National Marquette Day. She has been a college basketball fan since she was in high school, something she has in common with her parents.

To Dombrowski, Marquette basketball is a family love.

“I really liked college basketball ever since I was in high school. And both my parents are huge college basketball fans,” Dombrowski says. “When I got into Marquette, they were very, very excited. I just feel like I’m carrying on that legacy.”

She started going to basketball

games with her roommate at the time and has continued that tradition.

“As a Marquette student, we went to games together when I wasn’t working,” Dombrowski says. “We also went to games after college as time allowed. We went to the 2003 Final Four in New Orleans and have since gone to so many games.”

Dombrowski says her favorite part of the basketball season are the National Marquette Day festivities.

Photo by Alex DeBuhr

“It’s a way of bringing the Marquette community together. It’s a way to really enjoy each other’s company,” Dombrowski says. “I just think that’s really important to do as part of your college experience.”

Dombrowski says being a fan is more than going to games, but actively supporting players and teams around campus.

“When you see the players around campus, say, ‘Hey, good game last night,’” Dombrowski says. “It’s a way of connecting as a community.”

Dombrowski’s first Marquette men’s basketball game was during her junior year and has since fallen in love.

She says she doesn’t see herself missing a game anytime soon, even if she leaves Milwaukee, but doesn’t see that happening as of now.

“I married somebody who is local to the area. I have family who’s in the area,” Dombrowski says. “I have children who I hope to go to Marquette, at least one child that I hope to go to Marquette one day.”

Brandon Nakamura, a first-year student in the College of Arts & Sciences, is new to Marquette. And unlike Dombrowski, he has not been a Marquette fan for long, but is looking forward to attending more athletic events.

Nakamura has been to volleyball games this season. He went to the first home game against Loyola University-Chicago.

“As soon as I walked through those doors, and saw the whole arena, I

was like, ‘Wow, this place is a real deal over here,’” Nakamura says. “I think I saw Iggy walking around a couple of places. So it was a good scene. I liked it.”

Nakamura’s favorite part of the volleyball experience was the music played in between points by the pep band.

“Every time Marquette got a point, they (pep band) played,” Nakamura says. “They kept playing this victory chant, and that was really great.”

In the future, Nakamura is looking forward to seeing Marquette basketball at Fiserv Forum.

“Since Marquette is really big on basketball, you got to say that you at least went there (basketball games) once,” Nakamura says. “Especially in the whole city of Milwaukee. Because that’s in the heartland of the city. If you see a banner of your school in the middle of the city, that would be worthwhile to go pose or take a picture.”

Another Marquette fan, Joshua Coe, a first-year student in the College of Health Sciences, has been a Marquette fan since he was in the seventh grade. It was then, Coe says, he experienced his first Marquette basketball game.

“I went with my grandpa and

one of my uncles,” Coe says. “My grandpa went to Marquette and my uncle went to the Dental School.”

Along with his grandpa and uncle, Coe’s sister and mother also went to Marquette.

He remembers walking into the Bradley Center and seeing the sea of gold and blue in the stands.

“I’m going to be real, the hype was insane. You could even see it while people were waiting for Dippin’ Dots,” Coe says. “It’s a lot of school spirit. People are always cheering, people have their faces painted, their hair is dyed. It went crazy.”

Coe says his favorite part of Marquette is men’s basketball. “Honestly, I’m not a fan of basketball, I just like the hype,” Coe says. “People are cheering, shouting, the mascot has a T-shirt cannon. It’s a great time.”

Coe says what will motivate him to walk the 0.7 miles down to Fiserv Forum in the cold during January is the culture amongst fans.

“A lot of the first-year (students) haven’t seen it yet, but the entire campus is cheering,” Coe says. “Everybody’s hype, everybody’s cheering, people got the school colors on.”

Stavros Sardella was raised by the game of soccer. As a child, Sardella recalls coming down the stairs each morning for breakfast to the Premier League on the television.

“My dad always kept on the TV,” Sardella says. “My dad introduced me to the sport, and all my siblings played, so there was no other choice but to play too.”

As Sardella grew up, soccer remained as a constant in his life.

“I played soccer in both club and high school, and I was originally going to play in collegiate soccer too,” Sardella says. “But if I did (play collegiate), it would be close to home and at a small school.”

But, the Rhode Island native decided that he would rather attend a larger school in the city.

“I started looking at Marquette and I loved it, so I had to make a sacrifice,” Sardella says.

Sardella says that looking back, he couldn’t have made a better decision for himself. Through Marquette, Sardella has been able to experience a game from a whole different lens.

“Being a manager is a whole different beast,” Marquette men’s soccer head coach Louis Bennett says. “He has the accountability for everything, for our players to have what they need when we go on the road, make sure we got the right balls, make everything so it goes smoothly, he prepares us.”

Sardella has been on the manager squad since spring 2021 when the “COVID season” was on full blast.

“I wasn’t allowed to go to any games or any practices. All I did was laundry in the locker room,” Sardella says. “I only knew the guys by their jersey number and their last name, so

it was pretty frustrating.”

Now Sardella has worked his up to the role of head manager.

“Now I think ‘Thank God I don’t do that anymore,’” Sardella says. “If you give them (the team) respect, they’ll give you respect back. It doesn’t come right away, you just have to build a connection.”

One strong connection that Sardella has built in the past years is with senior forward Lukas Sunesson.

“He (Sardella) is a great guy,” Sunesson says. “We (the team) also hang with him outside of soccer, outside of the locker room. He’s one of us now, you know?”

Behind the white lines, Sardella supports the players in any way he can, after the pregame meal of course.

“I usually get all the jerseys organized and hang them all up, make sure everything is good,” Sardella says. “Then I go back to the locker room and make sure that the guys have everything they need, from socks to extra gear to wear in the game, I make sure it’s ready.”

Sardella also assists in the social media aspect of the team, which involves creating player content.

“I always ask the team a question of the day when they enter the locker room. It’s good banter to have and then during game time, I’m recording content for social media,” Sardella says.

With all the behind-the-scenes work Sardella fulfills to make sure practice, games and road trips go off without a hitch, he makes sure his priorities are in order.

“It’s definitely hard, but I have my priorities set,” Sardalla says. “School first, then managing, then homework, my bartending

job (at Mecca Sports Bar & Grill) and extracurriculars.”

When Sardella isn’t on the green of Valley Fields, or playing in his own contest for Marquette men’s club soccer, chances are he is behind a DJ booth.

“He’s an up-andcoming talent in the DJ world,” Sunesson says.

Sardella, also known as “Staux,” has begun booking DJ gigs around Milwaukee and Marquette’s campus.

“The coaches have started calling me by my DJ name, which is very funny,” Sardella says. “It’s been a lot of fun and all the guys have heard me DJ.”

Whether prepping for a gig or a game, Sardella has a positive attitude.

“He brings good energy, he’s always there when you need him, always cheering us on,” Sunesson says.

Sardella takes a lot of pride in his role as not only a manager but a friend.

“A strong friendship has developed from mutual respect. We’ve all built a good friendship from going on road trips, going out to dinner together and all those small things that make big memories.”

BEHIND THE PAINTED WHITE LINES

STORY

BY AVA MARES

Photo by Keifer Russell keifer.russell@marquette.edu

GROWTH AND CHANGE

STORY BY TREVOR HILSON

Abby Gilleland has rejoined Ryan Theis on the bench after initially playing for him on the court.

“We had a strong player-coach relationship, an understanding of the game and the culture that he put in place at Ohio. When I was there and recruited, that was something I wanted to be a part of. It’s weird being on the other side of it and sitting on the bench with him now,” Gilleland says.

Gilleland first began playing volleyball in elementary school.

“I grew up with two older brothers, so sports around our household were pretty ongoing. Volleyball came around fourth or fifth grade. I went to a private school, and volleyball was introduced a little bit earlier than in the public school world,” Gilleland says.

As she continued playing in high school at Marian Central Catholic High School, Gilleland says her competitive fire grew, which is something she credits to her success.

“Any opponent put in front of me, I just worked my butt off to be better and hopefully be a great teammate,” Gilleland says. These qualities helped her stand out to Marquette volleyball head coach Ryan Theis, who was then the head coach at Ohio University.

“Her aggressive style is pretty engaging for teammates (and) for coaches, as well as her competitiveness,” Theis says. “She refused to lose.”

Gilleland’s competitive nature allowed her to have a successful college career. She was a twotime conference player of the year, an All-American honorable mention selection and a consistent member of the All-MAC First Team. She played at Ohio from 2012-2016.

Theis says it was Gilleland’s natural leadership that stood out to

him early on.

“As a first-year, I was always asking her to deal with certain things with teammates or players, classmates of hers,” Theis says. “(These were) things that I wanted her to be responsible for that I thought would help the program.”

Gilleland says she knew that coaching would always be in the cards for her after her playing career.

“People would tell me that I should be a coach growing up. It was just that feedback I would get, whether it was my dynamic or court presence or how I thought about the game,” Gilleland says. “I never really thought that it would evolve into my profession and I’d be sitting here six, seven years in as a college coach.”

UConn head coach Ellen Herman-Kimbal had Gilleland on her bench for the Huskies from 2019-2021. She sees Gilleland’s maturity and hard work as a coach.

“She was always thinking and disciplined. Combining this with her work ethic helped her gain the respect of our players as a coach,” Herman-Kimball says. “I can see that she has these qualities at Marquette, and it is exactly what you want as an assistant.

Gilleland says she has learned a lot so far in her coaching career.

“As a young coach, I was too focused on winning. And as much as I still love winning, now I can take a lot greater perspective into ‘What does the experience look like? How am I helping develop

the players for later in life?” Gilleland says.

Theis says he has seen this play out with his team at Marquette this year.

“Abby knows what’s happening when the team knows what’s happening. That’s important because I’m usually the last to know, and I’m okay with that because Abby’s got a good handle on it. So on a day-to-day basis, I think she’s interconnected with them much more than I am,” Theis says.

This dynamic is similar to Theis and Gilleland’s relationship since she was a player for him at Ohio. Since then, not much has changed according to Theis.

“Her ability to handle things with maturity as a first-year in college is similar to how our relationship works now. There are things in our program that I asked for her help with that I think she’s better at dealing with than I am,” Theis says. “She also has great ideas, which was something she shared as a player. That part hasn’t changed.”

As for her goals at Marquette, she wants to become a part of the culture.

“As a coach coming in, just being able to meet and blend with a new group of young women and surround myself with them,” Gilleland says. “I want to fit into the culture of what we have and what Ryan’s built here.”

Photo by Katie Craig katherine.craig@marquette.edu

Life in Color

STORY BY LAURA NIEZGODA

University Club Tower, the U.S. Bank Building or Kilbourn Tower and you will see glass, grey and white in a stick straight fashion. There is nothing architecturally stimulating about these buildings which blend together through unremarkable, modernist design choices.

Architecture is not the only art form minimalism has fallen victim to. Top designers such as Yves Saint Laurent and Balenciaga have redesigned their iconic logos into what looks like a standardized, bolded font on Microsoft Word. Previously, designers crafted logos that were unique. Burberry London once looked classic and feminine with a looping font that felt effortlessly elegant. Yves Saint Laurent held an edge with sharp letters, poking with a European chicness to elicit feelings of prestige.

With my laptop, I do everything I can to separate myself from the current design.

On top of my MacBook, I have

A world without color would be expressionless”

stickers that range from the poster of David Bowie in Labyrinth,

ulating and vibrant to our experiences as an individual. A world without color would be expressionless. It wouldn’t make us angry, happy, sad, surprised. It would make us neutral: numb.

I don’t want to live in a world where I feel nothing.

Color is so intrinsic to our livelihoods, our individuality and our identity.

There lacks individuality in colorless minimalism.

MacBook valued an extremely different design in the early 2000s with big, bulky colors of blue, orange and pink. Apple, like the rest of society, lost their vibrancy. The design for MacBook has evolved into a minimalistic design with a gray body, black keys and a white logo.

skeletons, climbing brands, places that I have visited and an Otter dressed in Ottoman Empire armor. It is a mess of colors; it is a chaotic jumble of things that represent me.

Creativity starts with color. Across the spectrum of color, the largest impact it has is how to shape our perceptions. Color, chaos and creativity are stim-

One of the first things we are taught as children is how to identify color. We are asked what our favorite color is throughout our life. We dress in colors that complement our features. Memories and dreams are colored by the vivid hues of our past, present and future. Our everyday is surrounded by objects geared to stimulate our lives, yet fewer are continuously designed to be visually stimulating. Color is disappearing by our own choices. Bland objects are easier to look at, they’re easier to forget about. It is time that we forget about ease and colorless cohesion. It is on us to make active choices about our environment to bring color back before it fades. We deserve to live in a world painted with color, complimenting our experiences as human beings.

Photos by Katie Craig katherine.craig@marquette.edu

WHO AM I?

STORY BY HOPE MOSES

With two leaps, a twirl and a plie-like gesture, seven-yearold me exclaimed, “I am a ballerina.” Every morning, my pajamas turned from sleepwear to a tarlatan tutu and my socks to pointe shoes as I danced around the house. In the same way a tornado answers to no one, I would leap and twirl. Sometimes into furniture and walls, knocking family photos out of frames, but when I danced, even ungracefully, the world seemed full of color and promise. Shades of blue, yellow and green came in new hues and the sky, contrary to popular belief, was not the limit.

But, as I grow older, the world doesn’t seem to be full of color as it once was. In light of recent events, when I enter public spaces like grocery stores, school buildings and retail shops, I find myself creating immediate exit plans should something happen. I have also trained myself to get from one side of campus to the other in under ten minutes because

I have heard stories about women of color that disappear, never to be found again. Being in your twenties is a beautiful place to be and yet, I spend so much time worrying about the world I once saw in color and ruminating on who I am and what is to come of my life.

Like all good journalists, I sought to find an answer to these difficult questions.

In the quest to find out who I am, I decided to take a personality quiz. According to this quiz, I am ambitious but practical and kind with boundaries. It claimed I am destined to be a writer, an artist or potentially a mother and wife. Considering all of this was decided based solely on my zodiac sign, favorite fruit and time of day, it’s safe to say the results of this quiz were unreliable.

So, I did what most students do: I looked at my resume. On paper, I am a student, a student journalist and a volunteer. I maintain a high grade point average which landed me on the dean’s list of my college a few times. I’ve been awarded for my journalism –both as a columnist and an investigative reporter.

I am a proud citizen of Milwaukee and give back to a community that

has given much to me, but even my resume forgets to tell the story of the girl whose dreams are bigger than her fears, of the girl who became her mother’s dream. On paper, you can’t tell how much I love to laugh or how afraid I am of the dark or the depths of the sea. My resume doesn’t inform me much on who I am, and I imagine most people my age can relate, so I got a bit creative; I interviewed those in my life about who I am.

My mother, Simone, described me as gentle unless woken up from a nap unexpectedly. My sister, Ashley, described me as witty – I always have a comeback for her. Some of my closest friends described me as reliable, free-spirited and thoughtful. In talking with my family and friends, I realized that I am not just the seven-year-old girl I once was or the twenty-something woman I am today; I am every person I was in between. I am the nineyear-old version of myself that loved Taylor Swift and riding bikes with my family across town. I am the angsty, fourteen-year-old teenager who loved writing and spoken word. I am also 18 at the convenience store, buying my first lottery ticket which symbolized a new-found freedom and independence. It isn’t always pretty or perfect and sometimes the colors bleed and mix into each other, creating unrecognizable tones, but this is me; this is my world of color.

Photo by Isabel Bonebrake isabel.bonebrake@marquette.edu

FINDING YOUR PEOPLE

STORY BY TRINITY BURGESS

Everyone has their own definition of what a friend is. For some, it’s someone you tell things only you and that person would understand. For others, it’s someone you can vibe with for hours or someone that may be the shoulder you can cry on.

I’m not really a people person. I never really cared about having friends. I was completely fine with being alone; I like time to myself.

Over the years, I grew to meet a lot of people, but friends? Not until I got into high school and met a lot of people. Some of us went to football games, went to the mall, went to get bubble

tea, played video games and more. It was fun, but they never stuck.

But you know who did? My friend Je’Nai, who I’ve known since junior high.

The only class we had together was orchestra, she was a violinist and I was a cellist. We’ve been friends ever since. We ended up continuing orchestra in high school and became lifting buddies. We especially connected more after we graduated high school.

We started talking and hanging out more because we kept in touch.

Having Je’Nai as a friend is great. I never thought having friends was this much fun or

how much they influence me as a person and my life, especially now that I am in college. And it’s not just friends that are important, but a social life outside of books and pencils.

As college students, our main focus is supposed to be our studies and pursuing our passions.

But the great thing is that it’s not all about that. We have the freedom to hang out with our friends, go to parties, go to games and get involved with groups on campus. We will only get to be young and do crazy stuff for so long.

We need to surround ourselves with good people, people we consider great influ-

ences, people that build each other up and have fun. Even if it’s just one person.

But with this freedom, we must understand how much of an influence the people we surround ourselves with make in both our personal and college lives. If we’re not surrounded by the right people, it could impact us in ways that hurt ourselves and others.

Drinking or being out late on a Tuesday night when you have class at 9 a.m., that’s going to affect your mental and physical health if you’re not being careful. Now with that, one must understand how important it is to maintain our social lives.

There is no perfect method to maintain and balance your social life and your studies. Each person must find their own way that works for them but here are a few ideas you can try:

1. Schedule your time, and strike the balance between studies and sociality.

2. Choose the right living environment. Where you live can impact how you not only maintain your social life but balance it with academics. What kind of atmosphere can you feel from one dorm versus another? Consider who might live there and your needs and wants.

3. Coordinate free time with your friends. This bounces off of scheduling your time, so as you meet new people and find your group, figure out what works best for everyone and schedule some free time together.

As college students, having a social life outside the classroom is very important for one’s own well-being and those around us. Being able to maintain and balance it with academics is even better. You’re getting the best of both worlds.

Photos by Keifer Russell keifer.russell@marquette.edu

STORY BY KRISHA PATEL

Despite the majority of movies showing in color now, the history of black and white film has not ceased. The film industry still remains very black and white in terms of diversity. Oftentimes, this mentality overlooks talent and passion for acting and film. As the film industry continues to evolve, it needs to understand that true talent does not come from the color of one’s skin.

The film industry has been around for over a century. Despite its longstanding history, diversity has only become a priority in recent times. In 2011, 89.5% of the actors were white. That number would drop to 61.1% in 2021. While the data has shown that the film industry is incorporating more

diversity, it needs to do much better.

Hollywood began making space for more Black actors in television and film in the 1950s. Despite this new progressiveness, many Black actors still face racism in the film industry.

Emerging Black actors face much more hardship in the industry than white actors. This is due to less diversity as is in the film industry and bias toward white actors.

The most common issue is not enough appreciation for their talent, which often gets overlooked because of implicit bias.

For example, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” is a popular movie that came out in 2019 and is directed by Quentin Tarantino. This movie reflects

the golden age of Hollywood in the 1960s.

The movie was very well acclaimed and it has won several accolades such as Academy Awards. However, the majority of the cast is white, which is rather concerning since the movie came out in 2019. This was a year that saw a 7% increase in diversity from the year before, and having a popular movie that lacked representation took away from all that effort to diversify films.

Similarly, in the movie “The Avengers,” most of the superheroes are white. It would take more sequels to be developed to further diversify the cast.

Eventually, Marvel would create the movies “Black Panther” and “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” two successful movies that reflected a cast

Photos by Alex DeBuhr alexander.debuhr@marquette.edu

filled with minority actors and showcased their talent.

By increasing diversity in film, it will strongly influence diversity and opportunities for people of color in society. People of color have already gone through much oppression in the past, and changing the film industry is integral to changing that for the future.

When it comes to depicting a historical event, many directors have shown that they don’t necessarily need an all white cast to be historically accurate. It all comes down to acting ability.

For example, Lin Manuel-Miranda, the director of the Broadway play “Hamilton,” chose several actors who identified as people of color despite the fact that the historical events of the film involved white people. Miranda, who is Puerto Rican, played the role of Hamilton himself.

This further proves the point that race does not have anything to do with talent.

In the new live action “Little Mermaid,” the role of Ariel went to Halle Bailey, who is a Black actress. While Ariel has been portrayed as a white female in the animated films, Bailey represents a change in film by showing how important talent is.

Film allows us to show what a world could be and offer a space to provide a voice to the experiences of several people. Increasing diversity in upcoming films can shift the mindset of film to focus more on talent rather than race.

The film industry showcases talent and passion that draw in a large audience. However, in the past, it has focused more on race. Acting is a talent that

not everyone can showcase and unfortunately, bias has dictated who gets to be on the big screen.

By having implicit bias and racism on set, the film industry is not setting a positive example for people wanting to pursue their passion for acting. Having increased representation in films will show more talent and make actors feel worthy of all their hard work. It proves to be very progressive in terms of how the world is combating racism. More importantly, it will inspire many people to follow their dreams in acting and show how film is truly about talent and not race.

...race does not have anything to do with talent”

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