Tuesday, April 25, 2023
‘A rich culture’
The African Student Organization hosted “African Night”
Stephanie Landaverde Staff Reporter One event combined education, trivia, comedy, fashion and food all in one. On Saturday, the African Student Organization (ASO) hosted African Night in the Student Union Theatre. The event was the third and last of the 2023 “An African Experience” events hosted by the organization. “The program was designed by us for the non Africans to have an African experience,” said Damilola Adeyemi, a graduate statistics student who played the lead role in the drama portion of the event. The event started at 4 p.m. and ran through 6 p.m. A reception at the Wesley Foundation followed, with music, dance and food, such as fufu. The vice president of the organization, Oghalo-
meno Ononeme, presented the welcome speech. Afterward, Kugbeme Isumonah gave a presentation on the geopolitical zones of North and South Africa. A dance followed the presentation. Six students, one man and five women, performed the dance. Oluwafikayo Adewumi, a graduate student in the learning design and technology program and president of the organization, was one of the dancers. “The outfits we had on had prints popularly called Ankara in Nigeria, and we call that Ankara and other cultures call that other things but we all have this unique print in common,” Adewumi said. “We are also used to wearing royal beads, like you saw on stage. We always have that, It’s a sign of royalty.” The event also had a kahoot consisting of African trivia. The top two participants won prizes. A choir followed, their first performance a song called “Kumama Papa”, or “Thank you, Father.” See Culture on 5
Carson Toulouse Dustin Plott, OSU’s 174-pounder, repeated as Big 12 champion with a 5-3 win over Missouri’s Peyton Mocco.
Rowdy’s review How college wrestling became my favorite sport Rowdy Baribeau Staff Reporter I asked Adam Engel, my co-partner on the Oklahoma State wrestling beat for the O’Colly who John Smith was. I was in my third year at Oklahoma State, from Bryant, Arkansas, (less than 20 minutes from where Pat Smith coaches) and until October 2021, I knew nothing about the sport of wrestling aside from its existence. Adam constantly preached to me. “Immerse yourself in wrestling.” Adam sent me wrestling videos explaining the simplest rules such as scoring a takedown, near fall and team points. Because I never thought much of wrestling, I didn’t know what to make of it, or what the main goal of it was. Adam told me something that I have never forgotten and it exemplifies the sport of wrestling. “When you wrestle, you’re going out on a mat to try and take someone’s manhood.” Man, It put it in perspective for me. I often look back and shake my head, sometimes with a grin followed by a
chuckle. I compare myself now, to that frazzled 21-yearold who was beyond skeptical about covering wrestling. I went along with it because I wanted to get involved in my student newspaper… not because I wanted to cover that specific sport. I chuckle because the sport I was so skeptical of covering as a young journalist, has been so impactful on my life, and my career as a journalist, for it is undoubtedly my main passion. But, other times, I shake my head in disappointment and disbelief. It is disbelief because I reflect and I wonder, “Why did it take me so long to find my passion for this sport?” I even had a coach ask me during my freshman year of high school to join the wrestling team. I never did. Because football was what everybody did, that’s what I did. I never gave it a second thought. Where I came from, wrestling wasn’t popular. Amateur wrestling at the high school, college, middle school and even youth level… is awesome. It goes deeper than just the action. As a journalist covering one of the most historically renowned Division I wrestling teams, I didn’t realize the privilege I had. I didn’t realize
that during the course of the wrestling season, I would be talking to an NCAA champion, Olympic Gold Medalist and NCAA Tournament-winning head coach on a weekly basis. It was cool. But back then, in my mind, it wasn’t a big deal. I wasn’t interviewing a world-renown person, just a guy who was good at wrestling and coaching. So, I thought. In a recent conversation I had with someone whom I can’t remember, they told me that here in the U.S. if you ask a random person on the street who John Smith is, they might think you knew their cousin or reference Jamestown. There is an unfathomable amount of “John Smiths” in the United States. But, they said if you go to the Republic of Dagestan in Russia, they only know one John Smith. On Jan. 8, 2022, I covered my first away dual for the O’Colly. It was Oklahoma State wrestling in what is basically my hometown of Little Rock. The Cowboys were wrestling the ArkansasLittle Rock Trojans. It was Christmas break, I was home, and I made it clear before the semester ended, I would cover that dual. See Wrestling on 2
File photo A dancer performing in the African Students Organization’s Cultural Night in previous years.
“An Evening with Leslie Odom Jr.” to start on Friday Isaac Terry Staff Reporter
From Hollywood to Oklahoma, Leslie Odom Jr. is set to visit Stillwater. Odom Jr., a popular face in acting from Broadway to TV, will be at the McKnight Center for “An Evening with Leslie Odom Jr.” and is set to give an encore performance on Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Odom Jr. is well-known for
playing the role of Aaron Burr in the original Broadway casting of “Hamilton” in 2015. For his singing and acting in the musical, he won a Grammy and a Tony. Odom began acting in theatre at the age of 17, performing in “Rent”. Hamilton isn’t Odom’s only call to fame, as he has landed both his acting and voice acting in various films
and television shows, such as “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,” “Murder on the Orient Express,” “Central Park” and “One Night in Miami...”. Odom will also be playing a role in the upcoming “The Exorcist”, a sequel to the original 1973 film of the same name, according to IMDB. See Odom Jr. on 6