Cincinnati Cinema
Cinema studies and EMB professors share their favorite films shot in the Greater Cincinnati area page 7
NKU Volleyball Selection Sunday page 8
Edition 64, Issue 14 Wednesday, December 4, 2019
thenortherner.com @northernermedia
Gen Z vs. Millennials ‘OK BOOMER’ AND GENERATIONAL IDENTITY
See more on pages 4 and 5 ILLUSTRATION BY NOËL WALTZ
02 Happenings
Wednesday, December 4, 2019
NORTHERNER STAFF
WWW.THENORTHERNER.COM EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Natalie Hamren [hamrenn1@mymail.nku.edu]
WHAT TO DO Check out the hottest campus happenings and can’t-miss events in Greater Cincinnati.
MANAGING EDITOR Josh Kelly [kellyjoshua17@gmail.com] NEWS EDITOR Billy Keeney [keeneyw1@mymail.nku.edu] NEWS EDITOR Josh Goad [goadj2@mymail.nku.edu] ASST. NEWS EDITOR Noelle Horn [hornn3@mymail.nku.edu] ARTS & LIFE EDITOR Kane Mitten [mittenm1@mymail.nku.edu] ASST. ARTS & LIFE EDITOR Corinne Byrne [corinnefaith217@gmail.com] SPORTS EDITOR Sierra Newton [sflnewton@gmail.com] PHOTO EDITOR Colin Johnson [johnsonphotography6626@gmail.com] ASST. PHOTO EDITOR Maya Shaffer [mayakat1998@gmail.com] VIDEO EDITOR Abby Behrens [behrensm1@mymail.nku.edu] VIDEO EDITOR Megan Mixon [mixonm1@mymail.nku.edu]
Downtown Cincinnati skyline featuring Carew Tower and PNC Tower. PHOTO BY BILLY KEENEY
6-7
DEC
thru -31 DEC
CINCINNATI MUSICAL LEGENDS: ART FROM THE FIRST DECK | PUBLIC LIBRARY OF CINCINNATI | FREE Local music enthusiasts will want to head over to the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County to check out an exhibition of 36 trading cards, designed by ArtWorks, featuring local musicians. These artists include Rosemary Clooney, Lonnie Mack, Katie Laur, Mamie Smith, Heaven Gillespie, Caldonia, Hobo Jack Adkins and The Cotton Club.
thru - 4 JAN
CHRISTMAS NIGHTS OF LIGHTS | CONEY ISLAND | $6 | DUSK THROUGH 10 P.M. With the amount of Christmas light shows Cincinnati has to offer, Coney Island’s Christmas Nights of Lights is a great contender. You’ll get to experience the magic of Christmas without leaving your car, driving through two and a half miles worth of lights, glowing snowflakes, dancing candy canes and more. The light show is synchronized with the Christmas music coming through the speakers in your car, so it’s time to sing through the light show while staying warm.
thru -13 MAR
SUPERPOWER DOGS | ROBERT D. LINDER FAMILY OMNIMAX THEATER | $9 | TIME VARIES Dog lovers searching for a short film: look no further. Superpower Dogs tells the stories of lifesaving canines all around the world. It’s 47 minutes of heart-warming dog content, narrated by the human equivalent of a golden-retriever: Chris Evans. Bring the tissues and be sure to hug your dog when you get home.
DESIGN EDITOR Billy Keeney [keeneyw1@mymail.nku.edu] ASST. DESIGN EDITOR Noël Waltz [hailee.waltz@gmail.com] WEB EDITOR Laine Harrett [nicholasharrett25@gmail.com] ASST. WEB EDITOR Sean Gibson [seanpgib@gmail.com] SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR Kate Fulmer [fulmerk1@mymail.nku.edu] ADVERTISING Samantha Brown [northerneradvertising@gmail.com] ADVISOR Michele Day [daymi@nku.edu]
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REDSFEST 2019 | DUKE ENERGY CENTER | $17 - $25 | TIME VARIES Batter up! Round the bases and head to Duke Energy Convention Center for December’s annual Cincinnati Reds convention. Meet current and former Reds players, view and purchase hard-to-find memorabilia or head to the batting cages and get your swings in. Tickets are $17 a day or $25 for both, and all proceeds go to the Reds Community Fund.
What you missed at SGA Dec. 2 Noelle Horn
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
SGA’s last meeting of the fall semester was full of holiday cheer as the senators wore their best ugly Christmas sweaters at Monday’s meeting. During the meeting, President Jarett Lopez announced the creation of two new Ad-Hoc committees. The two committees created were the Design and Artistic Endeavors Committee and the Philanthropy and Service Committee. Lopez said the committees came after a discussion by the executive board. Lopez said the committees were created to “better execute [SGA’s] goals” and “make sure that we have enough attention on these areas.” Secretary of Public Relations Jessica Archer was selected as chair for the Design and Artistic Endeavors Committee. Justice Lauren Goodwin was selected as chair of the Philanthropy and Service Committee; both were approved.
The Design and Artistic Endeavors Committee will be tasked with the redesign of the All Card, the art competition and the creation of tee shirts for Admitted Student’s Day—as well as other activities in the spring, according to a letter from Lopez. The Philanthropy and Service Committee is responsible for organizing the “NKU-WSU philanthropy event coinciding with the rivalry game” as well as other opportunities in the spring, according to Lopez. SGA will need to fill eight vacancies in the spring, including a new chair of the University Improvement committee.
Student Government Assocation will meet at 3:30 p.m. the first Monday after winter break in SU 104.
Ed 64, Issue 14
Happenings/News 03
YOUR SCHEDULE FOR FINALS
Professor: ‘If you believe in diversity, there’s no way around it’
Chelsea Livers Gowdy REPORTER
NKU’s black studies program (BLS), one of the various minors on campus, investigates the multiple cultural identities and explores the contributions that black people have given to America. According to The Smithsonian Institution and Carter G. Woodson, an American historian and one of the first scholars to study African American history, black history is a beacon of change and hope and is needed still to this day. “Anyone can be a black studies minor,” Janae Cofield, junior public relations major and black studies minor said. Similar to other black students on campus, Cofield was first introduced to the BLS program in her freshman year during NKU R.O.C.K.S. (Responsibility, Opportunity, Community, Knowledge and Success), an NKU program that helps black freshmen students transition into college life. For some students, their first introduction to BLS is their last encounter with the program.
“When I came in freshman year, that was the first and last time I heard about it. Once I had taken one class for it with [Dr. Michael Washington] and that was it. I had no idea it could be a minor or focus of study,” Medina Muhammad, senior public relations major said. According to Cofield, the program is beneficial for all students, not just black students. It breaks down black literature, leadership, literacy, advocacy and more. Cofield is intrigued by black feminism and the contributions black people have made to sociology and psychology. “People focus on sociology and psychology, but they don’t ever focus on the black people who made contributions to those fields of studies. I thought maybe I should learn more about my people and what they did because they keep getting erased out of textbooks,” Cofield said. Professor of history and black studies director Dr. Eric Jackson said that black history and black experiences are a large part of the fabric of this nation.
BLS is vitally important for the NKU community. According to Jackson, if African American history and experiences are taken out of the U.S., it will be a different world. “From the beginning, the White House was literally created and built by enslaved African Americans. It is part of the basic framework and the development of the country—good, bad or otherwise,” Jackson said. According to Cofield, the program is sometimes overshadowed by more prominent minors. “[NKU needs] to make it more normalized than just a black thing. I see so many people who have the same minors, but at NKU it is rare to find someone with a black studies minor,” Cofield said. According to the NKU Office of Institutional Research, about 14,000 students were enrolled for the fall semester. To make the program more prominent, Cofield suggests that it should be a larger part of the freshman and transfer student
orientations. Furthermore, she suggests NKU’s community to ‘normalize’ black history and black experiences. Black studies programs are prominent in many universities such as University of Cincinnati, University of Pennsylvania, Emory University and more. Compared to NKU, these universities offer majors with intense exploration for students. Students can get doctoral degrees and masters in black studies. Studying black culture can introduce students to black experiences that are different from the status quo. “It’s like something breathes. If you believe in diversity, there’s no way around it. It has nothing to do with your skin color or who you are,” Jackson said. According to Jackson, at a time when diversity is being attacked on so many levels, black education and cultural education is extremely important. “African American people are not all the same. They are just as diverse as any other group,” Jackson said.
04 Arts & Life
‘OK Boomer’: Are you a The confusing generational c Noël Waltz ASSISTANT DESIGN EDITOR
Have you ever used a fidget spinner? Do you have a TikTok account? Do you remember 9/11? These are questions that can answer a query many born between the years 1995-2000 have—are you a millennial or part of Gen Z? Pew Research Center defines millennials as someone born between 1981 and 1996—meaning that Generation Z, as they view it, starts at 1997. Dividing people into these categories depends on a variety of factors, such as the technology that was available to them, the state of the economy and global politics. Michael Dimock, president of the Pew Research Center, said in an article “Where millennials end and Generation Z Begins,” that the cen-
ter expects to collect more data on this topic and adjust the threshold as needed for research purposes. However, they expect new data to establish more of a continuum than a hard threshold. John Alberti, chair of NKU’s English department, has spent time studying pop culture and how it has changed over the years. He said it’s important to remember that people who exist in the same generation are incredibly diverse in lived experience. He views the concept of generations as a “chicken or the egg” situation. What comes first, being told you’re a millennial or being one? He relates this to gender performance, a topic discussed in his Feminist Punk Rock class, which questions whether people experi-
ence gender as something that is intrinsically true or something taught through gender roles. “We internalize those ideas to the point where it’s really difficult for us to even tease out—am I acting and feeling this way because that’s how I really feel or is it because that’s what I’ve been taught to do? At a certain point it’s become so ingrained in our experiences that the whole circle is hard to pull apart,” Alberti said. On the topic of the latest “Ok Boomer” meme, Alberti said this attitude isn’t new. “The people we call the boomers have been dominating American life for so long. Even the presidential politics, ‘it’s the boomers again, they never go away no matter how old they get,’” Alberti said. “But it’s not
like you dislike them. Bernie Sanders has a big following among Gen Z and millenials, and he’s like 75 years old.” On NKU’s campus, Generation Z dominates in terms of undergraduate degree-seeking students. According to data from the Office of Institutional Research, in Fall 2018, they took up 58.34% of that population. As it goes, this is only expected to increase each academic year. Millennials only made up 34.8% of that population in the Fall 2018 semester. “I believe I’m Gen Z because I was told the true cut-off is if you can remember 9/11,” AJ Vest (2001, Gen Z) said. “I was alive, but I was like six months old so I don’t remember it.” Colin Hudson (2000, Gen Z) said
Arts & Life 05
a millennial or Gen Z? cusp on campus ILLUSTRATION AND GRAPH BY NOËL WALTZ
Data sourced from the Office of Institutional Research.
Gen Z had the best cartoons growing up. “I’m Gen Z because I identify with the ‘cool guy’ culture of Gen Zers,” Hudson said. Some students were not too sure what generation they belonged to. Eden Fischer (1996, Millennial) is one of those people. “I find myself relating to both millennials and Gen Z, but I don’t think I completely fit into either,” Fischer said. They said they feel too young to be a millennial because there are certain experiences that they do not have that many millennials do. At the same time, they aren’t into the same things that Gen Z is into. Katelyn Vinius (2001, Gen Z) said she was told she was Gen Z in high
school, but she isn’t aware of the stereotypes that come with that distinction, other than the fact that Gen Z is very digitally oriented. “I definitely relate to that, because I’ve grown up surrounded by technology, so I can’t imagine life without it. I think that a lot of people in this generation relate to that,” Vinius said. Celeb Wears (1998, Gen Z) said despite having “millennial tendencies,” he identifies most with Gen Z. “I feel like now, ever since coming to college, I’m more socially aware. There’s a lot of stuff going on,” Wears said. He mentioned that Gen Z really needs to be tech-savvy because people can’t get away with not having an email or not having their phone on
them most of the time. While there is certainly conflict between generations, despite the differences in technology and political circumstances, Alberti said steady expansion of the frontiers of freedom show more of a continuity between them. This is shown explicitly in the analysis of the different waves of feminism. “The media would say ‘the second generation feminists from the ‘60s are at war with the third generation feminists.’” Alberti said. “But the reality is the third generation feminists were the daughters of the second. They aren’t at war with each other. They were raised by the second generation, yet their historical circumstances are different.” He said generations in general have
manifested in a similar way. Younger generations do not have to deal with certain realities because of the work that was done before them. However, issues have morphed into other areas, and there is more solidarity between them than conflict. With the generation after Gen Z, which Pew Research Center has estimated to be those born after 2012, reaching their teen years, who knows what society will be able to accomplish.
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06 News
Wednesday, December 4, 2019
Breathing life into classrooms with STEM
Rachel Smith
STAFF REPORTER
Termites. Toads. Mealworms. Madagascar hissing cockroaches. These animals are considered pests in a home, but in P-12 science classes across Kentucky and Ohio, they are essential teaching tools for NKU’s Next Generation STEM Classroom Project. The university’s Center for Integrative Natural Science and Mathematics (CINSAM) has been visiting school districts to promote better STEM teaching practices since 2013. According to CINSAM director Madhura Kulkarni, the project is a professional development exercise for P-12 science teachers to learn how to better engage students and meet the national standards of STEM education. The Next Generation STEM Classroom Project (ngSC) is divided into three segments: pre-cap, fishbowl and recap. Kulkarni said the pre-cap portion of the project has just been implemented this year. Prior to engaging the students in the classroom, the CINSAM Outreach Team meets with the science teachers of the school district to inform them on what aspects to pay close attention to and equips them with an observation checklist. According to Kulkarni, the team then follows the teachers into a classroom of their own students for the fishbowl section. The team performs lesson plans with students while the teachers observe the lesson model silently. “While our teachers teach the lesson, [the school teachers] can observe the students—how they’re reacting and how they’re engaged,” Kulkarni said. After the class, the team regroups with the teachers to go over how the lesson was successful in the recap segment. Kulkarni said CINSAM was motivated to create this project when the Next Generation Science Standards were first introduced nationally to U.S. schools in 2010. According to CINSAM’s STEM Outreach Director Ella Bowling, teachers were expected to revise their entire teaching strategies and lesson plans to fit the new standards. “No longer could we do the cookbook labs where a kid gets a worksheet and they have to follow the instructions and fill out the data tables,” Bowling said. “Now we were really pushing more of the student-driven instruction in the classroom.” Bowling was a middle school science teacher for 11 years before she was hired by CINSAM for their Outreach Team in late 2013. Since then, Bowling has been visiting school districts in Ohio and Ken-
CINSAM’s STEM Outreach Director Ella Bowling and school students.
tucky with new lesson plans designed to reach the national requirements while also breathing new life into the classroom. She described using termites and ink pens in a fourth grade classroom to teach students about pheromones. In another activity, she used cockroaches to teach speed and velocity. “Our project is very unique in that we actually model lessons in a live classroom with real students,” Bowling said. In other professional development programs, Bowling said teachers are usually given a slideshow presentation and test the labs out on one another in an isolated environment. When the teachers take those activities into the classroom, they become disappointed when the lesson doesn’t translate well to the students. “I think the best part [of this project] is being able to deliver really high-quality resources to teachers because I know firsthand the struggle that’s out there to really get good lessons and activities that work in the classroom,” Bowling said. For ngSC, Bowling said she spends months crafting new lesson plans each year for the schools as the needs of science teachers continually evolve. Before introducing the lessons in ngSC, Bowling tests the student response in classrooms
of other teacher associates. “Before we even roll out the labs, [practicing in another classroom] allows us to really work out the kinks and make sure that we’re delivering a high-quality product,” Bowling said. It’s a high-quality product that is also delivering high-quality results, according to researcher Patricia Bills from Oakland University. Bills has been leading research on ngSC since 2013 while she was a former faculty member at NKU. She continues to work closely with CINSAM to monitor the long-term effects of ngSC on science classes. According to Bills, she collects survey data and conducts personal interviews with teachers throughout the process. Bills said her results have found a straight correspondence of teachers finding the strategies easy to apply in their own classrooms. “In other words, it’s working,” Bills said. According to Bills, teachers are more likely to try ngSC’s teaching strategies and lesson plans because they are able to witness firsthand how the models help students learn. Since the new standards have been in use since 2013, Kulkarni said ngSC is
PHOTO PROVIDED BY ELLA BOWLING
now focusing more on how to engage all types of students in STEM learning. “Every student walks in with their own background knowledge, with their own strengths, and with their own ways of doing things,” Kulkarni said. “So how do you teach science, especially in a way that all students can really engage with?” Bills and Kulkarni have presented ngSC at national conferences, such as the National Association of Research on Science Teaching. “To my knowledge, there is nothing like ngSC in this country,” Bills said. During the first year of ngSC, Kulkarni said CINSAM was servicing two districts in Northern Kentucky. In 2019, ngSC is involved with nearly 30 school districts in Northern, Central and Western Kentucky and Southwestern Ohio. Kulkarni said she is hopeful that CINSAM’s program will be able to reach even more STEM educators on a national scale.
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Ed 64, Issue 14
Arts & Life 07
The Asphalt Jungle
Fresh Horses
Traffic
Carol
Rain Man PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY BILLY KEENEY
Professors on their favorite Cincinnati films
Billy Keeney NEWS EDITOR
Cincinnati has been home to a growing amount of critically acclaimed films this past decade. Most notably is Todd Haynes’ 2015 indie darling “Carol” starring Rooney Mara (The Social Network, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and Cate Blanchett as two star-crossed lovers, featuring Cincinnati as a stand-in for 1950s New York City. “Carol” has consistently found itself in the top 10 of many outlets’ best films of the decade lists, such as IndieWire and Vanity Fair. Slate called it “the best movie of 2015, if not the decade.” Joining “Carol” in many of those best of the decade lists is Yorgos Lanthimos’ 2017 psychological thriller “The Killing of a Sacred Deer.” Set in modern-day Cincinnati, it stars Colin Farrell as an acclaimed cardiovascular surgeon at The Christ Hospital and Nicole Kidman as his wife as they both battle an unsettling fatherless teen who intrudes into their lives, played by Bary Keoghan (Dunkirk, Chernobyl). Other recent films that showcase the Greater Cincinnati area on the silver screen are Robert Redford’s 2018 swan song “The Old Man & The Gun,” based on the true story of Forrest Tucker—a notorious escapee and heistman that enthralled
the public with his indiscreet robberies throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s, and Emilio Estevez’s “The Public,” which mostly takes place entirely within downtown’s main public library as Cincinnati’s homeless population seeks shelter from a snow storm. “Carol” director Todd Haynes returned to Cincinnati earlier this year to film “Dark Waters,” the true story of a corporate defense attorney’s environmental lawsuit to expose a lengthy history of pollution from the DuPont chemical company, starring Mark Ruffalo and Anne Hathaway. In honor of “Dark Waters” slowly expanding this week to larger cinema chains throughout the Greater Cincinnati area, NKU electronic media and broadcasting and cinema studies professors shared their favorite Cincinnati movies. Dr. John Alberti, Cinema Studies “My pick is an easy one: the brat pack non-classic “Fresh Horses” from 1988. It’s got it all: Molly Ringwald; local cultural stereotypes (she’s lower class and from Kentucky! He’s a child of privilege from Indian Hill!); and ‘80s soundtrack. And lots of great area location shots.”
Dr. Andrea Gazzaniga, Cinema Studies “My favorite Cincinnati movie is a film noir! “The Asphalt Jungle,” directed by John Huston in 1950, opens with a shot of the Roebling bridge. The film is set in an unnamed Midwestern city, but shots of the bridge, Carew Tower, and the old riverfront tell us it’s Cincinnati. There is also a scene at the end that nods to Cincinnati’s German immigrants. The film ends with a poignant scene from a horse farm in Kentucky.” Dr. Caryn Connelly, Cinema Studies “I would have to say that my favorite Cincinnati movie is “Traffic.” I think one of the main reasons is that I love Benicio del Toro and back in the day, when she was doing more movies, I was also a fan of Catherine Zeta-Jones. But it is also a sad and engaging story that gave us another view of the ‘war on drugs.’” Chris Strobel, EMB “I’d probably go with “Rain Man” as my favorite. I love Barry Levinson’s light touch, aesthetic and how he deals with relationships, character and story. And
this movie is one of his best. But “Traffic” and “The Old Man & The Gun” and “Ides of March” are also all quite good. I expect that I would like “Carol” and “The Public,” but I haven’t seen them, even though we own copies. There is just so much good media out there, and good movies made in Cincinnati! I expect I’ll be adding “Dark Waters” to that list.” Sarah Drabik, EMB “Favorite movie for the movie itself was probably “Traffic.” Favorite “filming” of a movie … “Carol” or “Ides of March.” It was fun hearing about Clooney and Gosling sightings all around town, and super cool to see our student’s names in the credits of “Carol.”” John Gibson, EMB “I think my favorite movie shot in the Cincinnati area is probably going to be a film called “Chilluminati.” It was a movie produced and directed by Mark Borison, one of our NKU alumni, and it killed at the 48-hour film competition a year or so ago. It also featured the talents of a lot of our grads.”