Written in the Stars - The Marquette Journal

THE MARQUETTE JOURNAL

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Contents Letter from the Editor

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News & Projects Arts

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Opinions

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Sports

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Fashion

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Multimedia/Creative Special Thanks 4

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Letter from the Editor Dear Readers,

When I was a little girl, I loved to go star-tipping. In the backyards of different childhood best friends, I would look up at the sky, find a star and stay focused as I spun around on my tiptoes. This led to a fall; but not the kind that stings like scraped knees on pavement or the one that ends in tears spilling down cheeks. It was the kind that I welcomed because everything fell into place as I fell to the ground.

I sunk into the summer grass and let the sky swallow me whole as I laughed and caught my breath and looked around to see friends’ faces smiling back at me. I go star-tipping a lot now, just not in the same way.

But I still find something to focus on, revolve around and fall into just like I did when I was younger.

The beautiful thing about stars is that they serve as a connection point. There are constellations that show us how lovely it can be when

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different things come together.

There is a north star that guides us in the right direction and keeps us on track even when the world seems so dark, still and scary. There will always be midnights spent staying up late and drowning in our thoughts, only to wake in the morning and feel clarity wash over us. Stars burn bright, they light the way and, more than anything, they serve as brilliant affinities. Because, we are nothing without each other.

Though all people come from different backgrounds, bring in different perspectives, practice different religions, have different lovers, endure different struggles and have different stories, we are all people. We all bend and break; fall in love and fall out of it. We all need something to believe in. We all bind together in serendipitous moments.

In this journal, I hope that you feel all of this. Behind every piece of work in this magazine is a great deal of intention and purpose to tell stories

about the way that we all connect to the world, ourselves and each other. To Hope Moses and Patrick Johnson, thank you for believing in me and uplifting me each day. Your support, faith and guidance means everything to me. To my family and friends, thank you for all the time spent allowing me to star-tip my way into making my dreams come true and loving me with the force of the entire universe as I do. To everyone who helped craft this magazine, thank you for all of your hard work, vulnerability and commitment to upholding journalistic principles that matter so deeply. To all readers, thank you for reading “Written in the Stars” and I hope that you always know how bright you shine to the rest of the world.

With love and light,

Grace Elizabeth Cady

CONTRIBUTORS c i b

LEADERSHIP Hope Moses - EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Patrick R. Johnson - DIRECTOR OF STUDENT MEDIA Grace Cady - MANAGING EDITIOR OF THE MARQUETTE JOURNAL

DIGITAL

Nancy Flaherty - GENERAL MANAGER OF MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY TELEVISION EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS Andrew Hubbuch, Kristin Parisi, Caroline Bennett ASSISTANT PRODUCERS Tate Kramer, Katherine Loren, Lunden Davis, Adrian Fraga, Gabriel Sisarica, Patrick Curran, Meghan Oeste, Grace Lambertson

Erin Schneider - DESIGN CHIEF

EDITIORIAL

Phoebe Goebel - EDITOR OF DIVERSITY & INCLUSION EXECUTIVE EDITORS Sophia Tiedge, Julia Abuzzahab, Sophie Goldstein, Izzy Fonfara Drewel, Jack Albright ASSISTANT EDITORS Uzair Qhavi, Trinity Zapotocky, Sofía Cortés, Kirsten Lyons, Kaylynn Wright, Sophia Woods CONTRIBUTING REPORTERS Lauren Puthoff, Mimi Sinotte, Joseph Schamber, Clara Lebron, Raquel Ruiz, Matthew Baltz Emily Reinhardt - COPY CHIEF COPY EDITORS Briana Nelson, Erin Howard, Emma Fishback, Kara McCoy

Sam Baughn - GENERAL MANAGER OF MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY RADIO RADIO/AUDIO TEAM Clare Lindstrom, Connor Baldwin, RJ Siano, Tom Oeffling, Pat Swanson, Trevor Hilson

CREATIVE

DESIGNERS Kendal Bell, Serena Pace, Reyna Galvez Keifer Russell - PHOTOGRAPHY CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHERS Katie Craig, Forster Goodrich Emma Kroll - EXECUTIVE SOCIAL MEDIA PRODUCER Ben Hanson - ASSISTANT SOCIAL MEDIA PRODUCER

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Patron Saint of Happy Meetings Photography by Katie Craig

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Shimmering Snapshots

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TAKE ME TO THE LAKES Written by Sophia Tiedge Photography by Keifer Russell

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o some, Milwaukee is the “gathering place by the waters.” A place where the Native American nations of Potawatomi, Ojibwe, Odawa have all, at one time or another, called home.

Bryan Rindfleisch, a professor specializing in Native American history, said the city having direct access to the Menominee river and Lake Michigan has made it a great place for trade and travel for Native American communities.

On Marquette’s campus, Rindfleisch said that the land and water acknowledgment exemplifies that not only is Marquette on Native land, but also on Native waters.

Nationally, Native American tribes have created intricate trade routes, and the Midwest was no exception.

In the 18th century, Milwaukee became a hub for fur trade.

As of 1600, there were 20 “Great Lakes Tribes” who lived near great lakes. These tribes relied on the lakes for agriculture and fishing to sustain their ways of life.

Not only did the physical existence of water in the lives of Native Americans improve their ability to live, trade and travel, it also played a role in their spirituality.

The story of Turtle Island was told by the Ojibway and Anishnable people but is a well-known Native American origin story. The story

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goes that the original people, the Anishnable nation, turned on each other, and due to this, a great flood was formed and destroyed everyone except one of their central figures, Nanaboozhoo.

Nanaboozhoo decided to swim to the surface of the earth and use one chunk of the earth to create a new world, but he couldn’t do it. A muskrat was the only one to achieve Nanaboozhoo’s goal. A turtle asked the muskrat to put the piece of land on its back, and this land was called Turtle Island by the tribes, more commonly known as North America.

Water was sacred to some Native American tribes in America. Members of the Blackfeet Tribe in Montana believed that the earth, sky and water were all three separate realms of reality. These separate realms of reality all had divine beings living in them.

Due to this, The Blackfeet tribe couldn’t pollute the water or kill anything that lived in it. They took care of their water in order to protect the divine beings within it.

In Milwaukee, Rindfleisch said the history of Native American tribes is deep within the city. There are tribal burial sites under major landmarks and places like the Third Ward. He created an interactive map called the Self-guided Indigenous Milwaukee Walk & Bike Tour, that can be used to identify where some of these historical places are within the city.

“It’s not just how native people matter in the past, it’s also how they matter right now in the ways in which they continue to shape community and history in the present,”

Rindfleisch said.

By the 1870s most of the tribes in Wisconsin had been placed on reservations and the federal government created a number of boarding schools around the state to encourage assimilation.

“They [Native American Tribes] are still here but their narrative is fundamentally invisible,” Rindfleisch said.

Rindfleisch said even though Native American tribes live in Milwaukee, pushing them off their land and building a city on top of their land water, has pushed them away from the Milwaukee community. Rindfleisch wants people to know that Indigenous people are still here, and they have an influence on the city.

Several educational institutions in Milwaukee have created organizations to help keep the narrative prevalent. The indigeneity lab at Marquette is “Illuminating Indigenous presences at Marquette University, Milwaukee, and beyond,” and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee has an American Indian studies program that gives students the opportunity to study American Indian cultures and history.

Potawatomi and Oneida tribes are both still present in Milwaukee.

The Potawatomi own the Indian Community School and the Gerald L. Ignace Indian Health Center, and the Oneida tribe owns the Oneida Nation school, a public museum and library. The Potawatomi nation hosts and intertribal meeting yearly called the “Hunting Moon Pow Wow.”

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What’s your north star?

Written by Uzair Qhavi Photography by Keifer Russell 12 Nov. 2023

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midst the bustling chaos of our modern world, individuals from various walks of life seek refuge and solace in elements of nature.

Anas Alzamli, a junior in the College of Engineering, reflects on two seemingly different worlds, but for Alzamli, they converge into a single harmonious existence, where every leaf, mountain and river echo the verses of a divine script.

“I think Islam emphasizes the fact that we have one creator and it’s crazy to think about that Allah built such diverse beauty and nature where you can get desert, you can get flat land, you can get mountains, you can get rivers and Amazon forests, like all this stuff,” Alzalmi said.

To him, nature isn’t merely a spectacle but a reflection of Allah’s magnificence, manifesting in every grain of sand and every towering peak.

“I actually prayed on top of a mountain once. Like you feel so connected to God and to his creation. You’re not like in a cement block with carpet underneath you — you are on the natural ground, you feel the natural winds around you,” Alzamli said.

He said his moments of solitude and contemplation amid nature serve not merely as an escape but as a holistic therapy, allowing his senses, thoughts, and spirit to immerse fully in the beauty surrounding him.

“Anytime I’m feeling stressed or overwhelmed, like going to an area with sightseeing or like going on a walk in a forest preserve, I just feel

everything slow down. You realize what’s really important and the bigger picture of things,” Alzamli said.

His adventures, from rock scrambling to canyoneering, speak of more than physical exploits but embody a unique form of worship, a soulful exploration of the beautifully crafted terrains, rich with beauty and challenge.

“A couple of years ago, me and my family went on our first vacation together for the first time in a really long time. We went to Utah [for vacation], and we basically just went there for nature purposes. And after that, I fell in love with nature,” Alzamli said.

In the peaceful Utah mountains, Alzamli’s prayers felt especially meaningful, as they spread out with the wind under the open sky, speaking sacred conversations into the wide-open spaces.

Alzamli’s discourse goes beyond personal experience and taps into a universal concern, acknowledging the urgency of environmental issues such as global warming.

“Islam has taught us to take care of our planet and to keep it clean and to treat animals with dignity and humanity. I mean, even the way we kill animals to eat, like we have to do it a certain way or else we don’t,” Alzamli said.

Even within the urban landscapes of the Midwest, Alzamli carves out spaces where nature’s gentle whispers take part of his daily routine, offering reflection amidst the chaos of city life.

“It’s kind of hard in the Midwest

and in the city to do that, but I try my best to go near the lake every now and then or get a little bit of sun if I’m feeling down,” he said.

As his observations delve deeper, Alzamli learns a delicate yet powerful lesson from nature: a song, where different voices come together, sharing and blending without any fight or disagreement.

“Everything in nature, live in harmony together — even if they’re like completely different. And there’s no communication or anything, obviously. You know, just harmony and I think that’s beautiful,” Alzamli said.

In a moment of reflection, Alzamli said, “I feel like nature enhances your five senses you have, to a point where they’re so enhanced that you like feel something divine.”

His intertwining journeys, through the realms of faith and the earthly wonders of nature, creates a tapestry which he hopes to invite others to think upon their own spiritual and physical pathways.

“Nature to me is what allows me to get away from my responsibilities and duties that I have to do on an everyday basis,” Alzamli said. “I can just look and observe and admire the beauty of our Creator.”

Through the eyes of Alzamli, who sought and found solace and spiritual connection in the panoramic landscapes, he wants to nudge others to explore and find their own moments of communion — where their souls and nature entwine.

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Photos from Meaghan and Tyler O’Brien

n 2016, two Marquette alums walked into the Church of the Gesu to tie the knot and say “I do.” Years later, they took a trip down memory lane to reminisce on how their story began in 2011 at Marquette.

“You got a guy from Connecticut [and] a girl from Kentucky. They meet in Milwaukee,” Meaghan O’Brien, a Marquette alum, said.

Carly, Meaghan’s roommate, knew Tyler from the Marquette track and field team. From there, Carly introduced Tyler to Meaghan during Meaghan’s junior year and Tyler’s senior year.

“We didn’t really have any overlap except for Carly, my roommate.

Carly was so adamant about this guy that he would be great [for me]. Overtime, she kept forcing us to interact. One time, she was like ‘let’s go to the movies’ and she tricked the both of us into being there. Overtime, we started to spend a little bit more time together, and it just blossomed from there,” Meaghan said.

Tyler O’Brien, a Marquette alum, agrees that Carly was an important factor that ultimately led them together.

“She seemed nice but I wasn’t really looking to date anyone at the time. I didn’t really think it would turn romantic,” Tyler said.

Meaghan said there was the buildup beginning in October after a Halloween party when Tyler asked for her number, and then they officially started dating the February of her junior year and Tyler’s senior year and they have been together ever since.

Meaghan said the way they fell in love was very gradual. In college, Tyler would go to Meaghan’s

Marquette club softball games, and Meaghan would go to his track meets.

“You’re learning how to be a couple and you spend so much time together … and then as you’ve been dating for a little while, it’s like, ‘Okay,well, I’m gonna go do this with this person,’” Meaghan said.

Tyler said they probably wouldn’t have found their way to each other had they not met in the way they did.

“Meeting when we did at Marquette was really how it all happened, and staying and living in Milwaukee is really because of our time at Marquette and how much we both love it here,” Tyler said.

Tyler said he chose to go to Marquette to live somewhere new and be in a good track and field conference. Tyler will be inducted into the Marquette Hall of Fame come early 2024 for his time as a track and field athlete.

“If you really think about it so many things had to line up … he could have gone to a lot of different schools and he picked Marquette,” Meaghan said. “As corny as it sounds, it feels like that’s how it was supposed to happen. And I like to think that everything happens for a reason. I think all those things led us to Marquette for a purpose.”

Meaghan said Tyler’s been an advocate for her even when she hasn’t been one for herself.

“With the support system that Tyler and I created for one another, I don’t know where I would be without him,” Meaghan said. “I think you grow so much and I feel like meeting in college you are at a pivotal point in your life and you can either grow together or you don’t grow together.”

Meaghan said they got engaged

in May 2015, around their five-year mark of being together.

“I knew it was going to happen, I just did not know when. I was like ‘Tyler, I want to get married in the fall if we’re gonna get married.’ If we are gonna get married in the fall it has to be the next year,” Meaghan said.

Meaghan and Tyler officially tied the knot in the Church of the Gesu in 2016.

“It felt like the right place to get married. It was nice to share that with all of our friends, a lot [of our friends] went to Marquette and also our family got to come to campus and visit the city,” Tyler said.

Now, thanks to Marquette, Tyler and Meaghan currently reside in the Milwaukee suburbs, with their two sons. The O’Briens own Marquette basketball season tickets and still regularly visit campus.

Meaghan said when visiting campus with the kids, she’ll tell them their mom and dad used to practice track or softball at this location and walk this way to the library.

Meaghan said even if their paths didn’t cross through Carly, she hopes that life would still end up this way.

“In a good way, the weirdest part has been taking our kids back to campus. When they are running around, it’s kind of surreal that like they’re here,” Meaghan said. “I tell him all the time, like if you would have told your high school self you’re gonna end up with some girl from Kentucky, would you believe it?

And he’s like no, just cause you know, it just doesn’t seem fathomable.”

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Shimmering Snapshots

Reaching New Heights Photography by Keifer Russell

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Where We Stand Written by Julia Abuzzahab Photography by Keifer Russell

J

ohn Su, vice provost for academic affairs and student success, said Marquette’s graduation and retention rates are among the “highest nationally ranked institutions in the country.”

However, he said Marquette acknowledges their “equity gaps” and is dedicated to support student success.

“We need to do more and that’s why we are continuing with the student success initiative to build on the amazing work of faculty, staff and student mentors across campus,” Su said in a statement.

For the first time in at least 20 years, first-year to sophomore undergraduate retention rates is at the “highest it has been” at 91.4% according to John Su, vice provost for academic affairs and student success Su said.

In fall of 2022, first to second year retention for females was 92.3% while 90.2% for males. This is the highest percentage for each demographic since fall 2013, except

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for fall 2019 when female retention was also at 92.3%.

Su also said first-year to junior retention rates is the second highest in 20 years at 86.3%.

Fall 2021 female retention was at 86.3% only .1% higher than males at 86.2%.

“The six-year graduation rate was 80.1%, which is lower than the rolling average of 81.8% for the previous five cohorts,” Su said in an email. “This graduation rate applies to first-year students who arrived at Marquette in Fall of 2017.”

In fall of 2022 Marquette’s fouryear graduation rate was at 68.0%, which is the second highest it’s been since fall 2018 when it was at 68.5%.

Four-year graduation rates for females in fall of 2019 was at 73.0% compared to 61.9% for males. For females, this is the second highest rate that it has been since 2013, while for males this is the third highest the rate has been.

Catherine Moster, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences, said from her own experiences, she believes Marquette does a good job at ensuring students feel welcome on campus. She said things like campus events, school

unity in sporting events and clubs and organizations helps to create a “sense of community.”

“There are a decent amount of ways for students to get involved on campus and they offer various academic resources for students,” Moster said.

That being said, Moster said there are areas for improvement on Marquette’s end. She said things like more financial aid options and addressing “certain administrative challenges” that influence student satisfaction could improve retention.

However, Moster said as a firstyear, she went through a natural period of contemplating whether or not she made the correct decision to go to Marquette.

“Considering I came to Marquette during the pandemic, the ways to really be involved with other students and in class could be pretty limited,” Moster said. “I’m fortunate enough that I always felt very comfortable with my academic path, my professors, the city and my peers.”

In the end, Moster said it was her work that made Marquette a place she felt comfortable going to. She said putting in her own work was necessary alongside what

Marquette was doing on their end as an institution.

Yet, Moster said she knew “a ton” of people who transferred either during or after her first-year.

“I think an obvious reason was that it was 2020. People weren’t getting the full college experience and they took the opportunity to explore other options or take a gap year,” Moster said.

Moster said she’s a “believer” that if someone doesn’t like the university they attend, it’s “perfectly okay” to explore other possibilities.

She said within the first years is the time to do just that.

As a senior with a May graduation on the horizon, Moster said she made sure to use her resources “wisely” to ensure she graduated in four years.

“(Resources such as) sending my advisors my four year plan early on in my time at Marquette ensured I’d be able to get all the credits for my degrees in by spring 2024,” Moster said.

On the other hand, Moster said she understand if people don’t “actively engage” with similar resources it would be easy to graduate later than anticipated.

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Shimmering Snapshots

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Blurred Lines Photography by Katie Craig

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Women as Written by Grace Cady

Witches

Photography by Keifer Russell

T

here is a longstanding history of women being accused of wickedness as a result of proximity.

“Many accusations stemmed from simply being present around the time of another’s misfortune,” Philippa Carter, a historian at the University of Cambridge, said of women being accused of witchcraft throughout the 16th and 17th centuries.

Across the world, there have been different speculated motives for these accusations. In China, witch hunts were thought to be motivated as forms of punishment for women’s resistance to conform with social norms. But in European regions, it was more common for women to be thought of as “witch doctors” who caused intentional harm for personal gain or out of pure evil.

In a study published in the journal “Gender & History,” astrologer Richard Napier sheds light on how and why women were accused and blamed of witchcraft practices.

Napier treated clients in Jacobean, England using star charts and elixirs, but he also conducted thorough research in an attempt to find links between the accusations and the accused. What he found over and over was that the professions of women accused had a common thread: risk.

Most of the jobs involved either healthcare, childcare or livestock

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“Women’s work saw them become the first line of defense against corruption.”

Phillipia Carter care.

An article from the University of Cambridge wrote “all of which left women exposed to charges of magical sabotage when death, disease or spoilage caused their clients suffering and financial loss.”

Because men worked in professions more resistant to error or did not have lives dependent upon them such as labor, they were not in as vulnerable of positions to be blamed for mishappenings. But women, who often worked in nursing or teaching, were often blamed if something bad happened to one of the people in their care.

“Women’s work saw them become the first line of defense against corruption, and this put them at risk of being labeled as witches when their efforts failed,” Carter said.

In America, the most prominent of

all witch hunts were the Salem Witch trials: a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft between February 1692 and May 1693. Though, Wisconsin has its own connection to witch trials.

One of the most prominent faces of the Salem Witch trials laid their foundation in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.

The Sheboygan Press reported on this man, Cotton Mather, back in 1926: “Mr. Mather (Sheboygan resident), who is a descendant of Cotton Mather, well-known in the days of witchcraft, visited the 300-year-old house in Salem and the Paul Revere house in Boston. The latter was built for Cotton Mather and later occupied by Paul Revere. In the house portraits of Cotton and his brother Samuel hold a prominent place. The home was built about 1680 on the site of the former parsonage of the Second Church of Boston. Increase Mather, the Minister of the Second Church, and his family (including his son, Cotton Mather) occupied this parsonage from 1670 until it was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1676. A large and fashionable new home was built at the same location about four years later.”

Even in Wisconsin, connection points to the Salem Witch trials once found a home.

Beautiful Chaos

Shimmering Snapshots

Photography by Keifer Russell

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Reading Between

Written by Sofia Cortes

Photography by Katie Craig

S

ince the beginning of time, people from all walks of life and from all over the world have been drawn to spiritual practices.

According to Chopra, “Spirituality is an inward journey that involves a shift in awareness rather than some form of external activity. As such, spirituality is much more about inner understanding than outer worship.”

Originating in Europe and Asia, ancient palmistry was first used to answer questions about illnesses and diseases — a way of diagnosing before modern medicine — and it is still used for medical reasons along with fortune telling today.

Palmistry is the study of people’s lines and indents on the palm and fingers, with each part of the palm representing something about one’s life. Although today modern palmistry is being used frequently, it is derived from ancient palmistry.

According to Modern Hand Reading Forum, the art and the science of palmistry is spiritual, since it allows people to see deeper within themselves regarding a person’s health, spirit and fortune.

Deborah Voith is a spiritual advisor, tarot reader, conjurer, root worker, spirit communicator and palmist who often practices from home and at Altered State of Mind in Milwaukee. She said that many of these practices intertwine and are all influenced by spirituality by helping people reach a deeper connection within themselves.

Voith had a career as a registered nurse for a long time and with her

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the Lines

knowledge of spirituality and her knowledge that came from nursing, she was able to notice a correspondence between people’s palms and physical health.

“I was a nurse for 25 years at the psychiatric crisis service, so we had a lot of different doctors come

through for internships, and there were a lot of doctors from India actually who would have me read their palms, because it’s a lot more popular there,” Voith said.

Cheiro, often called the founder of modern palmistry, is a form more commonly used today because we

live in the modern age, so it adheres more to the current time — although this form came into existence around the 1800s.

“I think modern palmistry was really influenced by Cheiro, an astrologer and palmist, and I have a lot of his palmistry books from around the 1890s. There’s also an old palmistry book called Benham’s, and a lot of the basic palm reading information they have in there is the same as writers are putting out now,” Voith said.

According to Palmist Manish, “Modern palmistry was developed and made famous by Cheiro to the world, but at the same time, it has always been a way of life in India.

Cheiro himself learned palmistry from Indian saints and went back to Europe to present it to the world.

This is the reason why we can’t say that Cheiro invented it.”

From ancient palmistry into modern palmistry, there’s a shift from using it for mostly medical purposes to using it for spiritual reasons as well.

“My sister, Beth, has been a palm reader ever since the 70s and she was a professional palmist, so I got inspired by her,” Voith said. “By watching her, I knew enough to do

“I think that, for palms, things change more slowly...

It’s interesting because you don’t always realize how much your palms change even through those years.”

Deborah Voith basic palmistry but then I went and took this course by Sue Compton, it’s called palmistry international, and I took that for a couple of years, and I learned a lot from her.”

Voith found her knowledge of palmistry and spirituality useful in her day to day life throughout the

years.

“A lot of the time when you see divided energies on one of your palms lines, I’ll say something, and it usually turns out to be someone who gets a lot of headaches. While I worked as a nurse, when I would take people’s blood pressure I would notice certain signs on people’s palms, sometimes people with a lot of built-up anger or a hard time with impulse control,” Voith said.

The lines and indents on palms change over the years, they don’t stay the same throughout one’s life.

This is the same for ever-changing personalities and life choices which can lead people towards mental and spiritual growth.

“I think that for palms, things change more slowly, but with your palm, people usually get their palm read every couple of years.

It’s interesting because you don’t always realize how much your palms change even through those years,” Voith said.

Practices like palmistry, used by people all over the word is something that let’s people get in touch with their inner selves on a higher level, spiritual level.

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Written by Sophie Goldstein

usic means something different to everyone. It can take you on a journey, provide you comfort, make you sad or make you smile.

For Julia Asimacopoulos, sophomore in the College of Engineering, music was able to help make her relate to the world all while connecting her even more with her family.

“I have two sisters that are much older than me, so when I was a toddler, they were going through their teen years and getting really into music. Music is such a good way for us to bond, especially when I started to listen to music that they listened to as well,” Asimacopoulos said.

Asimacopoulos said she has memories of music that age all the way back to when she was four.

“I know my oldest sister has a video on her iPod Touch when I was little and she was quizzing me on band members of AFI [A Fire Inside], which is where I really remember music rubbing off on me,” Asimacopoulos said.

There wasn’t a day that went by

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ight

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Photography by Katie Craig

in her life where she didn’t listen to music, Asimacopoulous said.

According to Musical Pursuits 2023 statistics, the average person often spends 75 minutes of their day listening to music, which would total to around 525 minutes throughout the week; however, Asimacopolous surpasses those numbers.

“I have a lot of music tracking apps,” Asimacopoulos said. “I can see through the app that I normally end up listening to about 2,500 to 4,000 minutes of music a week — which varies a little more or a little less each week.”

The album “You Won’t Get What You Want” by Daughters, was the first album that really gave Asimacopoulos a sense of belonging, she said.

“In general, realizing that I wasn’t alone was such a huge part that shaped me and gave me more of a sense of belonging in life. One of my favorite albums of all time — that I don’t really recommend to many people because of how sad it is — is what really touched me and allowed me to dive into myself, because it

is such a raw and emotional album that is supposed to make you feel horrible,” Asimacopoulos said.

The way that music can relate with different audiences, Asimacopoulos said, is what really makes her feel connected.

“I always talk with my mom about music that she likes, and diving into the meaning of how it relates to us in the world,” Asimacopoulos said. “Especially how right in front of you with music there is so much evidence that people feel the same as you and go through the same emotions.”

Worrying about not knowing if you will belong, but then listening to an artist express those same emotions is something Asimacopoulos said was the most impactful thing about music to her.

“Artists pour their souls into you,” Asimacopoulos said. “You think the world is really individualistic, but music has taught me the world is a lot more communal than we think it is and we will always have something to belong to.”

Shimmering Snapshots

Under the Night Sky Photography by Keifer Russell

THE MARQUETTE JOURNAL 27

ORIGIN OF ARTISTRY Written by Reyna Galvez & Lauren Puthoff

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Arts and Entertainment reporters Reyna Galvez and Lauren Puthoff sat down to discuss their creative outlets and how they became involved in them. Listen to the full podcast episode mediated by Angelina Galullo on the Marquette Wire website.

What are your biggest creative outlets and why?

e y n a

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My biggest creative outlet is dance. I’ve been dancing since I was three years old at a small non-competitive league studio in Park Ridge, Illinois, Picture Us Different Dance Studio. Usually, I would say my favorite style of dance is ballet because it’s beautiful, technical and lets you connect with your emotions, but I’ve become fond of tap. After a number of emotional dances, the minute I get on stage to tap it never fails to put a smile on my face.

To build off what Reyna said, athletics have been a creative outlet for me. I started swimming at eight years old and swam until the end of my senior year in high school. When I stopped swimming, I felt more relaxed, for a bit, since I no longer had to wake up and swim twice a day, but it also put me in a position where I needed a new creative outlet. I began trying new things outside of athletics and found myself in love with designing and building things, leading me to my engineering major.

Although the STEM world does not seem very artistic to the outside world, it allows me to create a physical representation of an idea.

L a u r e n

How do different people inspire you creatively?

28 Nov. 2023

I have a lot of friends in the same field as me. I get really inspired by all the other dancers I dance with. They all have very different styles of dance and how they express their emotions. My whole family is filled with dancers, too.

My mom, aunt and Nana all come from the same dance studio which always inspires me to move forward.

My friends and family have always known how to inspire me, whether it’s a hard day and I’m stressed with homework and exams, I know the minute I call them it will get better. Even if I am simply waving to a friend on the street or walking into my dorm and seeing my roommate, it instantly brightens my mood.

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What types of obstacles have you had to overcome?

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I was very confident dancing when I was a little girl.

Then as I got older, I got less confident, and I was tempted to quit dance. My mom inspired me to continue dancing, and I think that helped me grow. Then I told my mom I wanted to take one more dance class. I think doing an additional dance style, contemporary, outside of the three main groups of tap, jazz and ballet helped me practice a style alone and fall in love with it which helped me become more confident on stage.

I think many people would say injuries are a difficult obstacle to overcome and as someone who has had multiple, I would have to agree, but the hardest obstacle for me was my confidence. Although gaining my confidence was a huge move for my athletic career, even though I am no longer swimming it has continued to play a huge role in my life.

How have your outlets grown with you?

The fact that we always have so many opportunities that inspires me the most. My first year of college I did not come to Marquette, I went to Belmont University. The whole year there I did not dance until second semester, and I did ballet for a college credit, but it wasn’t really dancing it was the small technical practices. I really missed all the emotion that came out of dancing on stage. Now I’m dancing here and it’s a very creative space. I love it.

It helped me find my love for dance again and it pushed me in the direction of feeling confident enough to choreograph one day.

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As a swimmer, I knew I was never going to be an Olympian, I did the sport because of the love I had for it. When I quit swimming after my senior year it was not because I grew to hate the sport, rather it was because I outgrew the sport itself. I no longer had the drive to continue going to practice twice a day and more than anything, I wanted to try new things outside of the pool.

Leaving behind my athletic career brought me some of my latest creative outlets, from journaling to coloring to spending time with friends. I think that as you grow as a person, your creative outlet changes with you.

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THE MARQUETTE JOURNAL 29 ^

SKY & SEA C

laire Osterman began her dream of owning a small business in a place she thought was home in Portland, Oregon.

Until, one day, she accepted change within her career and followed her dream to bring color to Riverwest, Milwaukee.

Osterman, an interior designer in Milwaukee, previously moved to Portland to start her career in a nonprofit organization.

Thinking back to when she was a child, Osterman said she recalls always having a love for decorating, rearranging furniture in and repainting the walls of her childhood bedroom.

“Luckily, my parents were really supportive of that, so I was always exploring interior design,” Osterman said.

Although Osterman received her bachelor’s degree in anthropology, she longed for a job that would take her back to the love she had always held for interior design.

30 Nov. 2023

Written by Mimi Sinotte “After I was kind of becoming dissatisfied with that career, I started to explore ‘How can I get back into a more creative field’ and I knew that I wanted to follow my passion for interiors,” Osterman said.

During the pandemic, Claire returned to school at The Heritage School of Interior Design in Portland, while continuing her non-profit job full time. This was the start of her goal to learn how to professionally design spaces and make it a fulltime job.

After Osterman went on a getaway trip to Princeton, Wisconsin, she was inspired by a shop called Horseradish Kitchen & Market.

Osterman said this shop opened her eyes up to the possibility of bringing a space like Horseradish Kitchen & Market to Milwaukee to

“One of the coolest parts has been interacting with customers and buiding friendships from those.”

Claire Osterman

Photography by Katie Craig make it her own.

After eyeing the same vacant storefront for eight months, Osterman bought the Riverwest gem and started curating products she was going to sell.

“From the point in time when I was like ‘I need to do this’ to signing the lease, was two weeks. So, I think it’s a lesson in feeling very passionate about something, and to just keep working towards those goals and things can happen really quickly,” Osterman said.

Now, Ebb and Flow Co. shop is located in the Riverwest part of Milwaukee at 906 E. Center Street, and it is officially five months into business. It remains full of colorful displays ranging from woven baskets to tattoo balms. Osterman also sells products for the kitchen, accessories and scents such as Blomb Parfum, incense and soy candles.

Ebb and Flow Co.’s name was inspired by the tides shifting based on the phases of the moon and Osterman said she sees this as a reminder to welcome change in life as well as in our spaces. She said she also hopes to make this a reminder for her customers and clients, as they hold a deep place in her heart.

“One of the coolest parts [of owning a small business] has been interacting with customers and building friendships from those,” Osterman said.

As the owner of Ebb and Flow Co., Osterman said there comes the fear of the unknown.

“Day to day, it can be hard to own a small business because you’re really just putting yourself out there and hoping for it to be successful,” Osterman said.

Osterman said when reflecting on the people who stuck by her side during the journey, the first people who came to her mind were her husband of nine years and her mom.

“He’s definitely my rock,” Osterman said. “He actually built all of the furniture, in the store, in our garage.”

The mission of Ebb and Flow Co. goes back to the goal of making interior design more accessible to the average person.

“I knew I wanted the products that I bring in to represent the type of

design that I like. I’m a maximalist, so I like to have more and lots of colors but when you do that, you have to be selective so that it doesn’t become overwhelming,” Osterman said.

Osterman said she is continuing to bring a piece of her Oregon roots with her back to Milwaukee. Within her shop, she sells Jacobsen Salts which are harvested on the pacific coast of Oregon.

In addition to selling decor, Claire also teaches $15 interior design workshops and hopes to elevate and grow these classes.

“We started with our color theory class, and in color theory they learn about how to use the color wheel

to build color schemes and color palettes for their home. That class has been super popular. We’ve had seven so far, they’ve all sold out,” Osterman said.

Although the shop is in its first stages of business, Claire is continually dreaming of how she can bring her love for interior design to the next level.

“I just want to continue to grow the art workshops. I’d love to start working with clients to do interior design in their homes and eventually I’d love to make my own line of products that capture my design aesthetic,” Osterman said.

THE MARQUETTE JOURNAL 31 ]

Personhood Photography by Keifer Russell

32 Nov. 2023

Shimmering Snapshots

THE MARQUETTE JOURNAL 33

Written by Joseph Schamber

Photography by Katie Craig

34 Nov. 2023

I

was raised Catholic, and in my early years, I was a very devout believer. I went to Church every Sunday with my family, I prayed almost daily and was determined to avoid sin.

As a child I was riddled with anxiety and would often use prayer to cope. I slowly came to the realization that the origin of my worries was my faith. I was deathly afraid of sinning and believed I was indefinitely guilty of some wrongdoing that led me astray from God. Nonetheless, I persisted in being the perfect Catholic boy I thought I should be.

There came a point when I encountered ideas that were contrary to my Catholic worldview. I recognized the inequity in the way my religion treated women. Despite the teachings of my church, I recognized that LGBTQ+ people were just as deserving of dignity and respect as cisgender and heterosexual individuals.

I watched my Catholic classmates torment each other with homophobic epithets and frequently make gross sexist remarks. When I witnessed the conflict in front of me, my resentment toward my faith grew.

“I needed to carve my own path”

Joeseph Schamber

Eventually, I could not handle it anymore, and I resolved to divorce myself from religion entirely. At this time, I considered myself an atheist and professed my identity to my parents and friends any chance I got.

As far as I knew, no one in my

family had questioned their faith this way. I was the only one taking this path, rejecting the religion I had inherited.

I was met with harsh resistance from my parents who were deeply worried about what this decision may mean for my soul. They fought with me over the lack of guidance I would have without belief in a higher power.

It was a constant battle to have my family legitimize my doubts about Catholicism. They validated my concerns about inequity within the religion, but they did not reciprocate the cognitive dissonance I felt. My parents were satisfied picking and choosing beliefs from Christianity that aligned with their morals, while still identifying as Catholic, but I could not handle the inconsistency.

My parents continued to bring me to Sunday Mass, much to my chagrin, but at the very least this time gave me an opportunity to think.

While I sat in the pews, I contemplated the arguments I was having regularly with my parents.

I understood that they worried that I could not be happy if I had no higher power to guide me. Was it possible they were right? Without God, would I be left miserable for the rest of my life?

However, I was miserable as a Catholic, and I did not want to deal with the anxiety and ambivalence it brought. I needed to carve my own path.

I discovered that I did not need God to see a higher purpose in my life. Every day I encountered beauty and wonder that made me feel whole. Painting a picture or walking through the woods filled me with a sense of spiritual fulfillment that I did not need religion for, and I think my parents started to recognize this.

As my head cleared from the childish innocence of my early

teenage years, I realized how I neglected to respect the beliefs of my family. As much as I felt that religion had been imposed on me, I was also imposing my lack of faith on them.

My struggle with faith, and the resistance I had from my family, taught me tolerance of other people’s beliefs regardless of disagreements I may have. Everyone’s relationship with religion is personal, and it is not my place to pass judgment on their hypocrisies and inconsistencies if they are still growing.

I learned a crucial lesson about independence. Taking your own path is going to be difficult and people are going to pull you back, but you must persevere for the things you feel strongly for.

THE MARQUETTE JOURNAL 35 U

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Written by Kirsten Lyons Photography by Katie Craig

D

oes everything happen for a reason? It’s a question we as humans have been asking ourselves since the time of the ancient Greeks.

Philosophers, religious leaders and everyday people for centuries have been trying to figure out if the universe is divinely planned out or if we’ve all just been thrown into it with no direction.

Aristotle philosophized that things happen because of four different causes explained via a metaphor about building a house. First is the material cause which represents what a house is made of. Second is the formal cause, or the blueprint.

Third is the efficient cause which is the actual manual labor put into building a house. Last is the purpose or goal. Why am I building this house in the first place? What will I get out of it?

I believe that the final cause is most important when it comes to the belief everything happens for a reason. Believing everything happens for a reason also infers that there is some kind of overall purpose or goal to life and moreover that a singular overall goal can be achieved in a life that will likely span almost a century.

6 36 Nov. 2023

But, saying that everything happens for a reason can sometimes not feel like enough in the face of senseless harm caused by people or things outside of our control. How can a natural disaster or senseless violence be explained away by a simple phrase?

The famous enlightenment philosopher Voltaire was staunchly against the claim that everything happens for a reason. He believed that there was too much evil in the world to support the idea.

In his short novel, “Candide“, he made fun of the idea by depicting a supporter witnessing an earthquake and repeating the sentiment that everything happens for a reason.

Voltaire equates the idea with naivety and ignorance about the world and the people in it and refuses the claim that some evil and injustice cannot be avoided.

Explaining away these events is rarely helpful or conducive to a better world.

As humans, it’s inevitable that we will fail and lose a thousand times over, but rationalizing it isn’t always the comfort we need. I can’t tell you the countless number of times I wanted to scream into the void “This isn’t fair. Why me?” but that’s

just it: sometimes it isn’t fair, and it is random.

In all honesty, I struggle picking a side in this debate. I’ve experienced things that somehow feel divinely planned and been through tragedy that did have a light at the end of a tunnel as a direct result. However, I’ve also experienced the senseless pain of losing a loved one or missing out on an opportunity I really wanted. This explanation can be frustrating, especially in the face of tragedy. Do we have to define everything with a single phrase? I believe it can be more complex than that a lot of times.

In the end, I resonate with the idea that everything happens for a reason as well as the idea that life is full of random experiences.

The main thing that I keep coming back to is that sense of comfort.

Sometimes it feels good to believe everything happens for a reason, but it can also be equally comforting to believe that sometimes things just happen. So, what I say to you is to find what helps you go on and accept that it will inevitably change like everything else in this random, yet at the same time planned out, universe.

m d i n i Written by Izzy Fonfara Drewel

g ht

ra i n

Photography by Katie Craig

M

y mom got married when I was 7 years old. I wore a pretty dress and walked down the aisle and then danced the night away. It was genuinely one of the best days of my life.

But I didn’t know just how much my life would change.

Before the wedding, it was just me and my mom against the world. She was my rock, the most consistent and favorite person in my life. Then she got married and I inherited a dad.

It was great, he took me shopping, we played games and we built a relationship that I didn’t really have before. Two years after the wedding, I got a sister. Three years later, I got a brother. My dog followed about six months later.

We moved into a bigger house in the suburbs and I changed schools a couple of times. I got one of those traditional ‘nuclear families’ and it’s better than I could’ve ever imagined.

I love them all so much.

But for a time, it was hard.

I always wanted a sibling, and now I had two. They’re cute and funny and I liked sharing my interests with them, but then I was confronted with the reality of being 10 and 13 years

older than them.

They annoyed me, constantly yelling and crying, stealing attention away from me. My friends all had close sibling relationships and they had so much fun together. And then I was faced with the reality of it all.

They were closer to their siblings because they were simply closer in age.

“I got one of those ‘nuclear families’ and it’s better than I could’ve ever imagined.”

Izzy Fonfara Drewel It was harder for me because I was so much older. Don’t get me wrong, I love them, but I don’t know how to love them like a sibling. At least not fully. I’ve been working on it slowly but surely, trying to find the

line where I’m more of a sibling than a parent.

On top of that, it was difficult working out how to be a daughter to not just my mom anymore but a new father figure, too. He was always supportive coming to games and concerts, helping me with homework and being my personal chauffeur. But teenage me wasn’t looking at all of that. I would get too caught up on the fact that sometimes he didn’t know quite what to say or that he was always in my business, but he just wanted to help and hang out with me. I see that now.

I’ve been slowly getting better at loving them and letting them all be themselves around me, but sometimes the girl who doesn’t know how to love them shows up.

I’m working on it and getting better, I let them tell me about their days and we bond over silly games and movies.

I could’ve never imagined this family years ago but now I’m so happy I have them, even if it took some getting used to.

THE MARQUETTE JOURNAL 37 Z

Fault Written by Clara Lebrón Photography by Forster Goodrich

I

believe twenty years ago, it was a lot harder to be alone.

There was less advanced technology, social media did not exist and allow us to connect with people anywhere in the world and being alone meant truly being alone.

Even with more avenues for connection today, we are experiencing a lot of issues in the world; an entirely new set of issues.

In recent years, with natural disasters, international conflicts and pandemics, a distrust of our surroundings and those perpetuating that information has been growing.

This kind of distrust and confusion has created a sense of isolation.

Currently, Americans are going through an epidemic of loneliness.

According to a recent advisory from the Surgeon General, a lack of social connection can cause a 29% increased risk of heart disease, a 32% increased risk of stroke and a 50% increased risk of developing dementia for older adults. Additionally, a lack of social connection increases the risk of 38 Nov. 2023

Lines

premature death by more than 60%.

Even before COVID-19, new technologies and social media helped corrode the psyches of many users. Studies have shown that there is a direct correlation between the amount of time spent on social media and an increase in feelings of loneliness, regardless of age group, marital status, employment status or health history.

“Toxic individualism is a double-edged sword.”

Clara Lebrón

I believe that this loneliness is not a direct result of being interconnected with others on social media, but by the attitudes that have been adopted in order to process all the information on social media.

Around 3.7 million videos are uploaded to YouTube alone every day. This overwhelming amount of content forces people to create mental boundaries and blocks that help protect themselves from the potential harm that the overexposure to this magnitude of content can cause.

However, for many, there is no particular off switch that can be identified and triggered before interacting with others. Instead, many individuals experience a phenomenon called “toxic individualism.”

Toxic individualism is defined as a rabid notion of individual freedom.

In its essence, it is simply an excuse for people to ignore the suffering and needs of those around them.

This attitude can be seen in the way people treat their online peers and how those attitudes create real-world consequences. Currently, we can see the selfishness and fear that this form of individualism can take through the increased levels of senseless violence within the country.

The United States is neither the biggest nor the most densely populated country on Earth.

However, our lack of care and sense of community might have us designated as the most selfish.

There needs to be a serious revamping of not only the way we use technology, but of how we interact with the world around us and with our neighbors.

Firstly, there needs to be a lot more care put into how technology is used. Although there are no “good” or “bad” technologies, there are helpful and harmful ways to

use them. As such, digital literacy courses and the effects that social media might have on one mentally should be easily accessible and prioritized information for everyone.

As digital spaces have taken up more of our day to day lives, there needs to be effort put into promoting and maintaining community spaces, activities and groups.

By strengthening these social infrastructures, it can become easier for people to get to know others around them and truly build ties within the community.

Additionally, research from professors from the University of Alberta has shown that communities that are highly socially connected generally have better population health, stronger senses of civic duty and higher resilience when faced with natural disasters.

Not only does increasing connection make those around us safer, but it makes us happier.

Toxic individualism is a double edged sword. It allows one to disregard the feelings of others and focus on themselves, but it also deprives a person from what makes life meaningful: connection.

If as a society we continue to use it as a weapon of choice, there is only a matter of time before the harm that is inflicted on others completely engulfs us as well.

Rather, we should find ways to connect in a productive and healthy way.

THE MARQUETTE JOURNAL 39 N

MAKING Written by Benjamin Hanson

Photography by Marquette Athletics

MY WAY

40 Nov. 2023

A

fter traveling 9,200 miles from Australia to play junior college basketball, Abbey Cracknell accomplished what she always wanted to: playing college basketball in the United States.

Practicing basketball for the majority of her life had been leading to joining the Marquette women’s basketball team.

“My entire family had played so I was sort of just put into it. As soon as I was born, I can remember watching my dad play games and going to all my brothers’ games when I was a little baby,” Cracknell said. “My older brothers and I would always practice together, they would challenge me and they would teach me new drills.

Just having that was really cool.”

College basketball in Australia isn’t nearly as popular as it is in the United States, so at first, Cracknell was hesitant to pursue the sport after high school. But the opportunity kept calling her name.

Gulf Coast State College head coach Rory Kuhn had just come from assistant coaching at St. John’s.

He joined the Commodores right before the school year started and only had two girls on the team. He reached out to a recruiting connection he had in Australia and theyhad someone that was willing to come o ver.

Cracknell was wary at first because of the distance, but the one thing Kuhn could promise her if she came was playing time.

One of the biggest reasons that Cracknell said she accepted the offer was because of how cool of an opportunity it would be to play in the United States. She saw how big college basketball was in the U.S. and it was always something she wanted to do.

When Cracknell started playing for the Commodores, she needed to adjust to her new life, on and off the court. Which she did. Kuhn noticed her immediately for the effort she put in, especially when no one was watching, working alone in the gym at 8 a.m.

“She really wanted to be good,” Kuhn said. “As good as she was and in the coaching system she was in here, a lot of that just built in with

who she is and the inner drive that she has to want to be successful.

She works nonstop and she was like the glue that held our team together.”

She had never been away from home for weeks let alone months at a time, so she said that aspect was difficult for her.

But with the bad comes the good.

Cracknell said she thrived in the winning culture of Gulf Coast State College. In her two seasons with the team, she started in 57 of the 59 games, scored 556 points, grabbed 280 boards, assisted on 104 baskets and got 84 steals.

“Proud,” Cracknell said about how it makes her feel. “I don’t think people really realize what a big challenge it is being away from home.

So just being able to hear those numbers… it makes me feel better that I did the right thing to come over here and that I don’t regret it whatsoever.

“You just gotta realize that with the work you’re doing, your family was gonna be proud of you.”

Although Cracknell was an essential part of his team’s success, Kuhn said he knew she deserved a shot at playing for a Division I program.

Marquette head coach Megan Duffy got a call from Kuhn and after watching some film, she immediately knew the junior forward would be a good fit for the Golden Eagles.

“There was definitely a little bit of nerves from her side, but she’s super chill, super easy to get along with.

She’s so positive,” Duffy said. “We all have a lot of respect for what she’s doing coming from across the world from Australia to play college.”

As Cracknell’s first Division I basketball season approaches and she’s halfway across the world from home, she said she finds comfort in the sport she grew up on.

“When I’m having a bad day, I just get a few shots up and it brings me a bit of ease to my mind,” Cracknell said. “I guess it is a bit of an escape, even though this journey is hard.

Sometimes you want to escape from it itself when practices are hard, but it’s just something that I’ve always done. It sort of calms me.”

THE MARQUETTE JOURNAL 41 8

H l a e t a n l e t h M

Matters Written by Kaylynn Wright

42 Nov. 2023

Photography by Keifer Russell

W

hile it was one set away from being swept, Marquette volleyball held an early 2-0 lead against thenNo. 7 Oregon.

Looking to add to her team’s momentum, defensive specialist Molly Berezowitz stepped up to the serving line. Her heart was pounding rapidly as the pressure of the moment seeped into her body.

But the first-year knew exactly what to do. She took a few deep breaths and visualized where the ball was going to go.

As the head referee blew their whistle, Berezowitz began her serving motion and watched the ball soar over the net, seeing it hit the floor for an ace.

Deep breathing and visualization are techniques that aren’t new to Berezowitz, as she has been utilizing them for over two years through an app called NeuroFuel.

Launched in October 2020, the app is designed to provide daily content for mental strength conditioning, specifically geared towards the sport of volleyball.

Athletes can listen to several different recordings that revolve around concepts like mindfulness, goal setting and having a positive mindset.

Berezowitz, an athlete ambassador for NeuroFuel, said using the app has become an essential part of her pre-game routine.

“It just makes such a difference because you feel like you’ve been in this situation before,” Berezowitz said. “That’s one of the big reasons why I’m using NeuroFuel is to prepare myself both physically and mentally for these huge games.”

Creighton volleyball head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth, one of the co-founders of NeuroFuel, said that the idea to create the app came when the COVID-19 pandemic occurred.

“For years, we had been doing visualization with the team… When COVID hit, we asked them to visualize five minutes a day, and a couple of our players called me and said we’re really struggling

doing this,” Booth said. “I called Doc Widman and said ‘Hey, do we have anything?’”

After long hours of searching for a solution, Booth said she decided to create one herself.

“I asked my assistant to make recordings, and he begrudgingly did it, that we sent to players,” Booth said. “I just remember calling Doc at that point and saying, ‘This is a need.

I mean, we can’t be the only ones that could utilize this.’”

Dr. Larry Widman, sports psychiatrist and co-founder of NeuroFuel, said the program started only as a way to help Creighton players, but became an app after realizing how useful it was for athletes.

“It turned out to be a way bigger project than probably we even imagined in our brains at the time,” Widman said. “We were just trying to help a bunch of athletes cope or focus a little bit better during a very weird time in America.”

Berezowitz learned about the app from her younger sister, Kati, who was introduced to it at a highperformance volleyball camp.

“Her coach got this app for the team to use during the whole highperformance tournament and she loved it… She showed it to me and showed me how to use it,” Berezowitz said. “From then on out, my parents bought the membership, and me and my sister have both used it for the past two years.”

During her last club season, Berezowitz found out about the opportunity to become an ambassador after meeting Scott Smith, the CEO of NeuroFuel.

“My (older) sister played volleyball at Kentucky, and his daughter is my age, so she’s a freshman that’s playing at Kentucky right now,” Berezowitz said. “I had no idea that he was the owner of NeuroFuel until at a club tournament when he had a NeuroFuel hat on.”

Smith said he remembers the conversation vividly because of Berezowitz’s excitement about NeuroFuel.

“Through that conversation, they started to connect the fact that we

had this connection in Kentucky with the fact that I was involved with NeuroFuel, and so that started a pretty interesting conversation and a lot of enthusiasm around it,” Smith said. “I had a chance to talk with her, her sister and her mom about it.

I knew there was a level of interest and familiarity with the app, and that was a neat experience.”

When she got to Marquette, Berezowitz said she jumped at the chance of partnering with NeuroFuel.

“This was a mutual thing where they wanted me, and I wanted them because we both spoke the same words. We have the same mindset about everything we do,” Berezowitz said.

Smith said that athlete ambassadors play a vital role in everything that the organization does.

“It’s one thing to hear somebody like me or a psychiatrist talking about it,” Smith said. “It’s quite another to see somebody you can relate to better. Molly’s relatable to a young female playing sports and certainly playing volleyball. When we have an ambassador, we want them to have experienced the benefits of using NeuroFuel, but we want it to be authentic and genuine. We want them talking about how they are handling situations, that thousands of other people just like them are going through.”

Since its formation, NeuroFuel has partnered with tons of high schools, colleges and even club teams. But what Booth is most proud of is how the program can apply to life itself.

“As humans, we all do this. We speak really negative to ourselves, so if we can train our athletes to talk nicer to themselves, what a transformational thing,” Booth said.

“That’s transformational in life.

That’s why we gear it toward those adolescents is so many of the club players are never going to play college athletics, but we’re really trying to build humans as we do these things.”

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Shimmering Snapshots

Reflections of the Night Photography by Keifer Russell

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LEGACY LEGACY LEGACY Written by Matthew Baltz

W

hen the Marquette men’s basketball team hoisted the Big East Tournament championship trophy last March, it was a historic moment for both the program and the university.

It was the Golden Eagles’ second ever Big East championship, as well as its first since joining the conference. Not only was it historic, but it was a legacy defining moment for that team.

Legacy is largely defined by winning at Marquette. Whether it’s having its Big East trophies scattered in display cases all around the Al McGuire Center or all of the banners hanging in Fiserv Forum, Marquette is proud of its athletics programs and their successes.

The teams that win championships always get remembered, it’s a tale as old as time. But, how does an athlete cement a legacy for themselves?

Look no farther than Dwyane Wade. The newly inducted NBA Hall of Famer cemented his legacy at Marquette just over 20 years ago when he was averaging 21.5 points per game in 2003, leading the Golden Eagles to the Final Four.

After being drafted fifth overall in the 2003 NBA Draft, Wade quickly became one of the most prominent faces of the league. Three NBA titles and 13 all star games later, Wade’s legacy extended much past his time at Marquette.

Or you could find legacy in former Marquette’s men’s soccer player Lukas Sunesson.

By the end of Sunesson’s career with the Golden Eagles, he had tallied 27 goals, a tie for the tenth most in program history. Sunesson also led Marquette to its second ever Sweet 16 berth in 2021, tied for the farthest that the program has ever gone in the NCAA Tournament.

Maybe you turn to former Marquette women’s lacrosse player Lydia Foust.

“To leave a legacy at Marquette is to leave a standard.”

Matthew Baltz

Named to the All-Big East First Team for the past three seasons, Foust had a successful career during her time as a Golden Eagle. The Redwood City, California native scored the third most goals in program history with 156 and was also named Big East Midfielder of the Year in 2023.

Foust currently sits in second place in program history for shots, all time games played and points. She was the leading goal scorer on the 2023 team that went to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history.

While on-the-field success often translates to leaving a legacy, there are other ways to be remembered as well.

Some might remember Chloe Marotta for the career she had with Marquette women’s basketball.

However, the 2023 all Big East First Team selections’ impact went way beyond the court.

This past February, Marotta started Rebounds for Research, a campaign to honor her father, Marc, who passed away in 2015 due to a brain aneurysm. Even after Marotta’s departure from Marquette, her campaign is still growing, as it has raised over $26,000 for the Brain Aneurysm Foundation.

Marotta is living proof that the legacy left behind at Marquette can extend past the playing field.

Ultimately, these are all great examples of athletes and teams whose legacies still remain throughout Marquette’s campus.

Some may be the standard of achievement within their respective programs, while others may boast a message of inspiration that there is more to having a legacy than being successful on the playing field.

To leave a legacy at Marquette is to leave a standard. Those who can reach that standard will be remembered for great reason. Who will be the next to leave their legacy at Marquette? Will Tyler Kolek do it? Maybe it’ll be Aubrey Hamilton.

Could it be Jordan King?

Only time will tell.

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Written by Raquel Ruiz

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eing college students, whether you’re a commuter or a resident, we’re all away from our families in some respect. Of the 30 athletes on the men’s soccer team, there are nine international players who have gone through the process of living without their families.

For first-year goalkeeper Renan Salum, being away from family motivates him to make them proud.

Salum grew up in Sao Paulo, Brazil and played with Sao Paulo F.C. for multiple years. While with the club, he helped them get to the Campeão Paulista Sub-15 Championship and won Best Goalkeeper Award at the 2018 youth championships in China.

After being dismissed by his prior team in Brazil due to shoulder injuries, Salum wanted to find the next best path for himself.

“I wasn’t looking for teams in Brazil, especially small teams, so I said, I might as well try something bigger, something better,’” Salum said.

After head coach Louis Bennett

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“It’s not that you forget what you left behind, but focusing on where you are now. If it doesn’t work out, you always have a home to go back to.”

Tristan Rønnestad-Stevens

reached out to him about coming to play at Marquette, Salum knew it was a no-brainer, but he also knew that leaving his family was going to be the hardest part.

Photography by Marquette Athletics “They want the best for me, and they’ve always been supporting me from the start of my career,” Salum said.

On and off the field, Salum said they keep him aligned and driven to wake up every day.

“The people waiting for you when you come back home, you say to yourself, ‘Yeah, I’m doing it for these guys’,” Salum said.

Marquette’s roster is filled with several international players. Most of these athletes are going through similar situations to Salum, which he said has made the 5,000-mile journey to the United States easier.

“If it wasn’t for them, I would be lost.

They always have my back regardless of the situation,” Salum said.

Sophomore midfielder and defender Tristan Rønnestad-Stevens said he found it difficult to leave his family behind in Australia, but being on the team made the transition easier.

“I went from living with them for 18

years of my life, as well as my friends, to hopping on that plane knowing I won’t get to see them for a year,” Rønnestad-Stevens says. “I’m lucky that I’m busy and doing something that I love, as much as I do miss them.”

When these athletes have “something to believe in” and that motivation, they can use this to better their performance. Sophomore midfielder Mitar Mitrovic, a native of Serbia, said that soccer has offered him an escape from the stress of his everyday life.

“Everything I do is football. Even when all you have to do is school, and you’re stressed, you can step on the field or turn on the TV and watch a game, and everything just goes away,” Mitrovic said. “It’s my safe space in a way, and that’s what keeps me going.”

To make this experience easier to manage, Rønnestad-Stevens and Mitrovic said that finding the right balance and immersing yourself into the culture here have helped them adapt.

“It’s easy to get homesick and caught up on what you’re missing out on, but if you really immerse yourself into the life here and the social aspects, you won’t get too caught up on what you’re missing,” RønnestadStevens said.

Salum said that by believing in yourself every day, and giving 100% effort regardless of the situation, both team and individual success will follow.

“Just keep going, that’s the main thing for me that everyone on the team has to believe in, and with that, comes other things that will make a team succeed,” Salum said.

Although Rønnestad-Stevens’ eyes are fixed on the future, he said that having a support system to lean on pushes him closer to his goals everyday.

“It’s not that you forget what you left behind, but focusing on where you are now. If it doesn’t work out, you always have home to go back to,” Rønnestad-Stevens said. “Life is good when you’re doing something you love.”

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Take My Hand Photography by Keifer Russell

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Shimmering Snapshots

fashion shoot

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Models Christopher Moore, Ellie Golko, Nathan Russell, Sam Baughn and Hope Moses 50 Nov. 2023

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Multimedia & Creative

Multimedia Website can be viewed at: https://marquettejournal04.wixsite.com/writteninthestarsdig Or, scan here:

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To bring these stories to life, we included multimedia elements including several audio and video packages courtesy of both Marquette University Television (MUTV) and Marquette University Radio (MUR.) “What’s Your North Star?” Podcast Episode by Connor Baldwin featuring Uzair Qhavi “Reading Between the Lines” Audio Package by Caroline Bennett & Patrick Curran “Origin of Artistry” Q&A Episode by Angelina Galullo featuring Reyna Galvez & Lauren Puthoff “Making My Way” Video Package by Gabriel Sisarica “Mental Health Matters” Audio Package by Trevor Hilson “Legacy” Video Package by Adrian Fraga featuring Trevor Hilson

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Also included on this digital platform is an array of creative works. Students both in and out of the Marquette Wire submitted poetry and photographs to showcase their art within “Written in the Stars.” These include submissions from Mimi Sinotte, Connor Baldwin, Hope Moses, Grace Cady, Molly Laird and Muskaan Kaur.

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SPECIAL THANKS

To those who have stayed with us through every story, each piece of the puzzle and the entire Journal: thank you. Your readership is an integral part of this process and, really, so much of why we do it. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this magazine; the reporters, editors, photographers, audio and video producers, graphic designers, interviewees and supporters. Without every single pen to paper, camera shutter and hour spent behind the computer tweaking fonts, fixtures and photos, none of this would be possible. The Marquette Wire houses breakthrough, hard-hitting content that shapes student journalism in a very magical way. And the Journal is a particularly special project. Watching all branches come together to fuse a piece of art is so dazzling. With that, thank you (and you, and you, and you) for reading, watching and listening.

Shine bright!

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