3-1-23

The Pitt News

‘A SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY’: PITT’S AFGHANISTAN PROJECT TAKES IN 10 AFGHAN SCHOLARS

Abby Lipold Staff Writer

Hasina Jalal, a longtime advocate for women’s rights in Afghanistan and a Pitt graduate student, has spent much of her time in the U.S. advocating for Afghans living under Taliban rule, in large part thanks to Pitt's Afghanistan Project.

“I have the opportunity to amplify the voices of other Afghan women and scholars here in the United States,” Jalal said. “I can collaborate with different scholars from different organizations, universities and think tanks, which would not have been possible inside Afghanistan.”

Jalal is one of 10 Afghan researchers that the program has helped evacuate to the U.S. since the Taliban took control of Kabul in August 2021. Jen Murtazashvili, a professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs who founded the program in July 2021, said its objective is to “preserve the intellectual communities of Afghanistan.”

“Because that community, which went from almost zero in 2001 to actually the most sophisticated in the region, was going to get wiped out,” Murtazashvili said. “The individuals will be okay, but our scholarship occurs in a community.”

Murtazashvili said she started funding the project with a $1.35 million anonymous donation and additional grants from foundations.

“I felt a real sense of responsibility, because many of my friends and colleagues were among those affected,” Murtazashvili said. “As a scholar, once you stop doing academic research, it's almost impossible to go back. And I just thought it would be tragic if these people had to stop doing their work because of

Jonathan Guo | Staff Photographer

PITT POLICE REVIEWS PROTOCOL FOR CAMPUS SHOOTING SCENARIOS AFTER MICHIGAN STATE SHOOTING

Alexandra Ross Assistant News Editor

In the days following a deadly mass shooting on Michigan State University’s campus on Feb. 13, students described the trauma of sheltering in place in their dorm rooms, endlessly scrolling through social media and not knowing whether any of the terrifying things they read online were real.

James Loftus, the chief of Pitt police, said the spread of misinformation during an emergency with little information available is “human nature” — and students should focus on official sources of information during emergencies.

“You have to rely on the best, most critical information, and that may not be coming directly from social media,” Loftus said. “That information is likely to come best from the police department itself or people who are working in conjunction with the police department.”

Two weeks following the MSU shooting, Loftus reviewed Pitt police’s training and protocols for shootings and other “active killer situations” on campus, including the best places for students to find emergency updates, how Pitt police prepares for active shooter scenarios, the training they offer to Pitt affiliates and how to report suspicious behavior to police.

In the event of an active shooter on campus, Pitt police will send out an Emergency Notification Service message to all University affiliates via email. Pitt also recommends subscribing to text and voice message alerts. According to Bob Chamberlain, emergency coordinator at the University, Pitt police will also send ENS messages through the Rave Guardian app and the University could communicate emergency updates to students through official social media accounts, the emergency.pitt.edu homepage or PA systems in some buildings.

“We work in coordination with University Communications, Student Affairs Communi -

cations, B&O Communications, as well as our own Public Safety Communications to ensure that we are all on the same sheet of music and put out factual information,” Chamberlain said.

But despite the importance of communicating with students, Loftus said it will come secondary to law enforcement’s primary objective during an on-campus shooting — containing and stopping the shooter.

“Our first priority is to deal with the threat,” Loftus said. “We will get the ENS out, but the communications will be secondary to that, but they will be coming as frequently and as comprehensively as possible.”

Besides containing the threat and providing communication to Pitt affiliates, Loftus said police would also focus on evacuating buildings and rescuing wounded individuals.

He said Pitt police train throughout the year, but especially during the summer. This training includes simulator training using virtual reality, which can place officers right in the middle of an active shooter scenario. Training can look different at different levels — the Special Emergency Response Team, for

example, trains “very frequently” on building searches, confrontation tactics and rescue tactics, while training for individual officers might focus more on simply being “willing and able and appropriately trained to take action,” even if they are the only officer present on the scene.

“The body of evidence is unfortunately kind of large, so we know that all of this horrific carnage is done within a very short period of time,” Loftus said. “So it just became so much more important to train towards a single-officer response, and not to wait for additional help.”

Beyond training their own forces, Loftus said Pitt police have provided training to thousands of Pitt affiliates during the past decade through its four-hour Active Killer Incident class. Launched in 2013, the class focuses on the “run, hide, fight” method. Loftus said Pitt police conduct the class in the places where people work or study, to help them apply this method in their own space.

“It's getting folks thinking about this not in general terms, but ‘This is where I work, this is where I do my thing and this is how I

can protect myself within that environment,’” Loftus said.

The training first helps people identify nearby exits and evacuation methods in the event of a shooting — the “run” strategy. If running away is not possible, Loftus said the training teaches class-takers to use the furniture in their space as barricades or places to “hide.” Finally, as a last resort, the training teaches individuals to “fight” — even if it means using an unconventional weapon like a stapler or fire extinguisher, Loftus said.

“There is some science out there that with the mentality of active shooters, when they face resistance, it's something that they're not prepared for,” Loftus said. “So resistance on any level, that becomes a last resort, becomes extraordinarily critical.”

Efforts to prevent on-campus tragedies extend beyond just police response. Student Government Board President Danielle Floyd said she advocates for community-based public safety measures as an undergraduate student representative on the Chancellor’s Public Safety Advisory Council. Floyd, a senior economics and sociology major, also said she participated in ACC Advocacy Days in Washington, D.C., where she lobbied local officials on public safety issues.

“We were able to talk to individuals such as [Representative] Summer Lee, we were able to talk to staffers within Senator [Bob] Casey's office and also Representative [Chris] Deluzio’s office, and we conveyed to the importance for them to keep investing in building a safer community, especially at the University of Pittsburgh, and just overall combating the rise of gun violence,” Floyd said.

Loftus said anyone who believes someone on Pitt’s campus poses a safety threat should report it to Pitt police by calling or using the Rave Guardian app.

“If it crosses your mind and you have just this inkling that might be the right thing to do, it's the right thing to do,” Loftus said.

Pitt police chief James Loftus. TPN File Photo

the politics inside their country. So what I tried to do was bring as many people here as I could, and to create a scholarly community.”

She said she spends a lot of time helping Afghan researchers navigate “time consuming” immigration and travel processes. She explained that since refugees can’t apply for a visa inside Afghanistan, Pitt’s Afghanistan Project must first find a way to get them to an embassy in countries such as India or China, where they then must wait for the U.S. government to approve their visa application and refugee status.

“We have one scholar who was accepted, but his wife and child didn’t get visas," Murtazashvili said. “We have another scholar who was put under administrative processing, and it's been almost a year and he's not heard back from the U.S. government. Many of these are people who are stuck in third countries.”

Omar Sadr, a political science and economics researcher in the Center for Governance and Markets and prominent intellectual and critic of the Taliban, was the first Afghan scholar to arrive at Pitt in October 2021 on a research fellowship.

“I think my application was the beginning of laying out a kind of broader program, which should not have only one or two scholars, but also provide an institutional arrangement for a

larger cohort of scholars who are looking for alternative institutional support, in order to continue the research,” Sadr said.

After evacuating Kabul, Sadr worked in the Indian embassy for about a month to get his visa approved before arriving in the US with his family.

“When he walked into the embassy, there was still the Afghan Republic,” Murtazashvili said. “He said it was a calm morning, and then while he was there all hell broke loose.”

Jalal, who is pursuing a doctorate in public and international affairs, said she arrived to the U.S. before the Taliban takeover to pursue her master’s degree. While she originally hoped to return to Afghanistan, after President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw American troops, she decided to remain in the U.S. and apply for a visa.

However, she said many of the obstacles preventing research, such as lack of opportunities to collaborate as well as unreliable electricity and internet, existed before the Taliban takeover.

“You cannot freely write about what you think or talk about what you think,” Jalal said, referring to the Taliban’s restrictions on free speech and the fear many scholars have of surveillance.

When Jalal first arrived in the U.S., she said

one of the first challenges was adapting to cultural differences and learning to speak English more fluently. Now, she spends a lot of time focusing on advocacy. She helped organize a conference this week in Washington, D.C., that will discuss ways to support Afghan researchers, and she is working to establish underground online schools for girls in Afghanistan.

Murtazashvili said she hopes the project can continue to financially support the evacuation of Afghan scholars and help them adjust to the U.S. and the University. She said she’s currently finalizing plans for the arrival of the 11th scholar in the program, who had to travel to China to apply for a visa.

“Just as we're speaking, I got the newest scholar’s plane ticket,” Murtazashvili said. “He is a political science Ph.D. student at the University of Beijing in China. We’ve been trying to get him out for about a year.”

Sadr said it’s important that the University focus on actively engaging with Afghan scholars.

“[Pitt has] been supportive enough,” Sadr said. “But I think University of Pittsburgh as an institution, and people who are engaged here, should think and engage with the scholars at risk, and those who are from other places, in order to build long term institutions.”

Omar Sadr, a political science and economics researcher in the Center for Governance and Markets.

Jonathan Guo | Staff Photographer

Turn Every Page - The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb (PG) Sat & Sun: 12:00 PM

4 ANDY WARHOL things you didn't know about

Andy Warhol is well known for his distinctive screen printing style and brightly colored pop art ranging from Campbell’s Soup Cans to famous figures like Marilyn Monroe. Unsurprisingly, his personal life was as vibrant as his art.

Grace Marston, Bloomfield resident and 11-year arts educator at The Andy Warhol Museum, explained some of the most intriguing aspects of Warhol’s life.

1. He was shot and nearly died Valerie Solanas, a radical feminist, shot Andy Warhol in the abdomen at The Factory, his studio in New York City, on June 3, 1968. The bullet went diagonally through his torso and damaged several organs before doctors declared him dead and revived him. Although Warhol lived another 19 years after the shooting, it had a lasting effect. He had to wear a surgical corset to stabilize his organs and had follow-up surgeries, medications and organ damage for the rest of his life.

Marston said unlike other feminists who believe in equality between the male and female sexes, Solanas hoped for female supremacy to “destroy the male sex,” as stated in her manifesto.

“She wanted to eradicate men from the planet and create what she called a ‘groovy, all-female world,’” Marston said. “She formed an organization called SCUM, an acronym for ‘Society for Cutting Up Men,’ and thought that, if she got enough followers, they could start this women’s revolution.”

Solanas approached Warhol at The Factory and pitched her screenplay about a man-hating prostitute who murdered her clients. Warhol rejected the obscene script, believing Solanas was a cop.

“At this time, the NYPD was raiding Warhol’s studio on the suspicion that he was producing obscene materials with his films on a very regular basis,” Marston said. “When he first looked at this screenplay, he thought it was a trap. He thought Valerie Solanas was an undercover cop and that, if he made this movie, she would arrest him.”

Then, Warhol lost Solanas’ script. Solanas, a paranoid schizophrenic, believed that he stole it. When she discovered that Warhol knew Maurice Girodias, the publisher of her “SCUM Manifesto,” she suspected a conspiracy between the two men to destroy her work. Although the men barely knew each other, Solanas decided she must kill them both to protect her writing. Girodias was out of the country on June 3, 1968, but Warhol was not so lucky.

“She thought it would be good publicity for her if she assassinated him, because then she would be on the cover of magazines and newspapers and that would motivate more women to join her revolution. She turned herself in just a few hours after shooting Warhol so she could take all the credit and get all of the media attention,” Marston said.

Prior to the shooting, The Factory was a hub for filmmaking, known for allowing anyone who entered

to star in a movie. But the emotional trauma from the shooting pushed Warhol to change his work environment.

“From ‘64 to ‘68, The Factory had an open door policy. After the shooting, they tightened security significantly. In 1969, Warhol founded Interview Magazine, which was another catalyst to change the social environment,” Marston said. “Rather than hanging out with a bunch of actors, drug addicts and people with mental illness, he surrounded himself with much more professional people.”

The court sentenced Solanas to three years in prison. Her screenplay later surfaced from a trunk in The Factory after Warhol’s death in 1987.

“It’s cooler among the people he’s hanging out with. He’s hanging out with more queer people than devout Catholics throughout his adult life, or former Catholics who had since abandoned their faith,” Marston said. “He was really interested in developing a personal brand. Being a devout Catholic doesn’t really fit in with the brand.”

3. He managed a rock band

Warhol was the manager of The Velvet Underground from 1966 to 1967, before they had achieved widespread recognition or even released an album. Interested in all forms of media, managing a band was Warhol’s way of branching into the music scene, and he injected much of his own creativity into the group, according to Marston.

“[A Velvet Underground concert] was this multimedia phenomenon called ‘The Exploding Plastic Inevitable,’ where you got the band performing on stage and several different films by Warhol being projected onto the walls, as well as psychedelic patterns,” Marston said. “Warhol’s friends and assistants would be these ‘backup dancers’ grinding and cracking whips.”

Warhol also designed the iconic cover of The Velvet Underground’s debut album, which features a yellow banana as a sticker that could be peeled off to reveal a hot pink banana underneath.

2. He was a gay man and a devout Catholic Warhol’s sexuality was not widely discussed during his life, but greatly influenced his art, including his prints, films, TV shows, magazines and nude sketches. Warhol came out before many other celebrities at the time, such as Elton John or Freddie Mercury.

One could argue that Warhol was the most famous openly gay man of his time, according to Marston.

“His homosexuality did manifest in his art projects a great deal, whether in his homoerotic films from the ‘60s or Interview Magazine with a bunch of queer writers at the helm,” Marston said. “Even though he wasn’t marching in the streets for gay rights, he tried to empower other queer people in his community through his different art projects.”

Another important facet of Warhol’s identity was Catholicism. His family came from a Carpatho-Rusyn background and he was raised Byzantine Catholic, often attending church multiple times a week, according to Marston. Warhol’s religion didn’t make an appearance in his work until late in his life, when he did a series on da Vinci’s “The Last Supper.”

“It was something he was really private about. His friends knew he was raised Catholic, but they didn’t know how often he was going to church and that there would be a rosary tucked underneath his turtleneck so no one would see it,” Marston said.

It wasn’t until Warhol’s funeral, where attendees included members of his church and the Catholic soup kitchen he volunteered in, that his devout Catholicism was more publicized. Marston speculates that Warhol was more open about his sexuality because it was viewed more positively by his peers.

4. His parents were impoverished Eastern European immigrants

By the end of the 1950s, Warhol had won almost every graphic design award in advertising and was earning $70,000 a year, a healthy amount even by today’s standards, Marston said. His childhood, however, was much less fortunate.

Warhol’s Carpatho-Rusyn parents immigrated to the United States in 1914 from the Carpathian Mountains in Eastern Europe. Born Andrew Warhola in a shack in the Pittsburgh Hill District, Warhol lived in small homes without plumbing before eventually moving to Dawson Street in South Oakland where he shared a room with his two brothers.

Despite the poverty the family endured during the Great Depression, Warhol’s mother Julia encouraged his artistic interests. An artist herself, Julia knew that Warhol couldn’t follow a path of manual labor due to a childhood sickness of St. Vitus dance. Though she encouraged all of her children to create, Warhol had an obvious talent.

“They wanted to make sure that he got an education, and that’s why he was the only one of the three brothers to go to college. They thought that he would become an art teacher,” Marston said. “Growing up dirt poor in this really desolate rural village and then coming to PIttsburgh, their aspirations were not quite as high as a doctor or lawyer.”

Warhol ultimately attended Carnegie Tech as a pictorial design major, according to Marston, where he developed the style that would make him one of the 20th century's most influential artists.

Trinity Foster Staff Writer

The Andy Warhol Museum in Northside. John Blair | Senior Staff Photographer

BRAYLAN LOVELACE, PITT FOOTBALL 2023 RECRUITING CLASS MAKE PRESS CONFERENCE DEBUTS

Brian Sherry Assistant Sports Editor

Just 30 miles from Pittsburgh lies Leechburg, Pennsylvania. Despite the close proximity to a major city, Leechburg is quaint, with a population of about 2,000.

But for incoming first-year Braylan Lovelace, Leechburg is home. The Pitt signee is the first player from Leechburg to earn a Division I football scholarship since his father, Dave Lovelace, went to Rutgers in 1993. Lovelace said he feels honored to represent his small town and inspire the next generation in his community.

“A lot of the younger kids, they look up to me,” Lovelace said in his introductory press conference earlier this month. “It’s really an honor to be a model for those guys and for them to see what I do. They can be the next people up to do it. A lot of people say because we go to a small school, we aren’t going to make it big.”

Lovelace — a three-star linebacker, according to 24/7 Sports — was one of several incoming first-years to have their introductory press conferences since national signing day on Feb. 1. Other signees introduced include quarterback Ty Dieffenbach, wide receiver Israel Polk and defensive lineman Isaiah Neal.

But Lovelace may have the most intriguing story out of the bunch. In addition to representing his rural western Pennsylvania town, Lovelace also takes his academics seriously. The three-star linebacker earned offers from three Ivy League schools and West Point. Lovelace believes he can get a similar quality education at Pitt while playing high level football.

“It was kind of a tough decision,” Lovelace said about choosing Pitt over Ivy League schools. “They say student before athlete, as it’s listed. But I knew I could get a very good education here at Pitt and I can also play Power 5 football.”

While it was tough to pass up Ivy League offers, Lovelace said Pitt was his dream school. The incoming first-year grew up watching the Panthers and often imagined himself wearing blue and gold.

“Pitt’s always been a dream school of mine,” Lovelace said. “You know, I’m from here and I’m watching the games all the time. We’ve had season tickets since I was young, I was always watching them. I’ve always imagined myself in the jersey.”

Even though Lovelace always wanted to come to Pitt, the football program still heavily recruited him. Lovelace said the team made him feel at home, which contributed to his decision to come to Pitt.

“When I came on my visit here, they brought me in like a family,” Lovelace said. “I wasn’t even committed or anything like that, I had just got the offer, but all the players and coaches brought me in like a family.”

Lovelace will likely become a fan favorite from the 2023 recruiting class, as he is one of the only local signees. Just three recruits in the 2023 class are from Pennsylvania, according to 24/7 Sports. The two players Lovelace was introduced with — Dieffenbach and Polk — are from California.

While the 2023 class may lack local players, it makes up for it in terms of talent. The class is ranked No. 51 in the country, according to 24/7 Sports. Linebacker Jordan Bass is the highestrated recruit to sign with Pitt in 2023, earning a four-star ranking from 24/7 Sports.

Dieffenbach and Polk are also immensely talented. Both earned three-star ratings from 24/7 and garnered attention from several other schools. Polk said he was previously committed to Colorado State and Washington State, but a last-minute push from Pitt ultimately influenced his decision.

“It was the weekend before signing day was coming up. I was committed to Colorado State and I actually had a home visit from Washington State and I decommitted from Colorado State and committed to [Washington State], but I hadn’t posted anything because I didn’t announce anything yet,” Polk said. “But the next morning Pitt texted me and offered, and they came for a home visit.”

Polk is a product of St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower, California, which is the No. 1 high school football team in the country, according to MaxPreps. The three-star wide receiver said coming out of such a prominent program taught him the importance of hard work.

“I feel like work ethic was a big thing over there,” Polk said. “That was what they strive [for] and just to perform when you get on the field. You get chances, you got to make the best of them.”

While Polk and Dieffenbach both came from California, they went to very different high schools. Dieffenbach hails from Agoura Hills — a small school in southern California. But despite moving across the country, the threestar quarterback feels comfortable at Pitt. Dieffenbach credits offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr. for making Pitt feel like home.

“The first thing I noticed about coach Cignetti was his hospitality,” Dieffenbach said.

“I talked to coach Cignetti and it just felt like

family from day one.”

But Dieffenbach will struggle to see the field next season, as Pitt also brought in former Boston College quarterback Phil Jurkovec this offseason. Jurkovec also has a connection with Cignetti, as Cignetti was Jurkovec’s offensive coordinator in 2020 and 2021. Dieffenbach says he

is excited to work with Jurkovec and the other quarterbacks on the depth chart.

“It’s great,” Dieffenbach said about working with Pitt’s quarterbacks. “I mean Phil [Jurkovec], Christian [Veilleux] and Nate [Yarnell], they know their stuff, they’re great quarterbacks, great leaders.”

A pile of Pitt footballs. Pamela Smith | Visual Editor

PITT WOMEN’S BASKETBALL LOOKS TO REDEEM FRUSTRATING SEASON IN ACC TOURNAMENT

Alex Porter Staff Writer

The past few seasons similarly disappointed loyal fans, as Lance White is yet to surpass the 11 wins the team earned in his inaugural season as head coach. With the unpredictability of college sports, there is still hope for the Panthers to salvage the season and quite possibly White’s job. The Panthers will soon travel to Greensboro, North Carolina, for the annual ACC tournament, playing Wednesday against No. 10 Clemson.

Last season, No. 1 NC State dominated the tournament, winning the championship by 23 points against No. 7 Miami.

Pitt qualified as the No. 15 seed last season, losing a close contest against No. 10 Duke. Junior forward Liatu King led the Panthers in that game with 13 points and nine rebounds, and they’ll need similar production from her again

this postseason.

Clemson and Pitt met once already this season, where the Tigers defeated the Panthers 72-57. Pitt controlled the game before a 22-6 Clemson run in the third quarter. Clemson senior guard Amari Robinson took over the contest with a game-leading 18 points.

Robinson is a prolific scorer, ranking No. 8 in the ACC in points, making the Panther’s ability to effectively shut her down crucial to Wednesday’s contest.

Clemson is on a hot streak, entering the ACC tournament on a two-game win streak, besting both Virginia and a ranked Florida State team. Robinson led both games in scoring with 18 and 20 points, respectively. With these victories, Clemson is regaining some momentum after dropping six of seven games prior to their streak.

Pitt, on the other hand, is trending in the opposite direction, riding a three-game losing streak going into the tournament. Prior to the losing streak, Pitt won three of four ACC matchups — it must return to that form in order to have a chance at advancing.

Amid this losing streak, the Panthers played their worst game of the year in a 85-55 loss against Syracuse on senior night last week. White had harsh words regarding his team’s performance following the game.

“This was just an awful performance by our team and again I was really disappointed in just our effort in every part of the game,” White said. “[We] didn’t play as hard as you have to play in the ACC to compete … This was one of the worst games I’ve seen us play.”

Despite losing the next game against the reigning ACC champion NC State 68-63, the Panthers seemed to respond to their coach’s comments, holding what most would consider a superior opponent under their average points scored.

For Pitt to find some success in March, it must keep up the same elite effort along with a few other key factors.

In all three of their ACC wins, at least two Panthers who started on the bench scored in double digits. Specifically, senior guards Dayshanette Harris and Channise Lewis achieved double digits in all of Pitt’s conference wins. So, if the Panthers continue on in the tournament, look for this trend to continue.

One area where the Panthers stand out is their success behind the arc. Three-point percentage is the only statistic where the Panthers rank in the top half of the ACC, coming in sixth in the league at 32.4%. First-year guard Avery Strickland is at the forefront of Pitt’s three-point success. She currently leads Pitt in made-threes with 38.

Seven three-pointers made is a realistic expectation for Pitt. During each of its conference play wins, the Panthers made at least seven three-pointers. In fact, they only lost one game this season when making that many threes.

Lastly, the Pitt needs to figure out how to win away from home. The Panthers have a 7-9 record at home, with two of their three conference wins coming in Pittsburgh. On the other hand, they possess a 2-8 record on the road and a 1-3 record at neutral sites. Since the tournament is at a neutral site, they’re statistically at a severe disadvantage.

Ethan

The Panthers need points from their bench. In his tenure at Pitt, White has never hesitated to use his bench players, sometimes to a fault. For the Panthers to have a chance at winning, they need production from their bench players.

If Pitt advances Wednesday, they’ll be back in action Thursday against No. 7 North Carolina — but considering the Panthers lack of success this season, they shouldn’t get too ahead of themselves.

The Pitt women’s basketball team listens to coach Lance White on the sideline during the game against Syracuse on Thursday.

Shulman | Staff Photographer

Q&A:

PITT ALUM REFLECTS ON JOURNEY TO HOLLYWOOD WITH COMEDY SERIES ‘THE SANTA CLAUSES’

Maria Scanga Senior Staff Writer

On a recent visit to Pittsburgh, 1999 Pitt alum Eugene Garcia-Cross enjoyed a Steelers game — as well as a stop at Hemingway's — reminding him of his old days as an English and history major.

Garcia-Cross now calls Los Angeles home, following a 10-year teaching commitment in his hometown of Erie, Pennsylvania, at Penn State Behrend and at various universities in Chicago. He lives with his wife and their three young children.

After landing a spot in the NBC writers program, Garcia-Cross is now a writer for the Disney+ comedy series “The Santa Clauses” — starring Tim Allen and Elizabeth Mitchell. The show found great success in its first season and is officially renewed for a second.

The Pitt News: Now that you have found your groove as a screenwriter, how would you say it’s worked out? What current projects are you working on?

Eugene Garcia-Cross: I wouldn't trade [teaching] for anything, but I was so happy to make the leap into TV because I have always been a fan of film and comedy. So making the switch back in 2016 was scary, because I was pretty late to the game — a lot of people come out in their 20s. And I think that's probably a better time to do it, when you're younger and braver and don't have so much to worry about.

But I came out in 2016. And I was a writer's [production assistant] for a couple of years, and then was fortunate enough to get in the NBC writers program, and then have been staffing ever since, which has been fortunate because it's a tough business. But I love it. Last year and this year, I'm working on “The Santa Clauses” for Disney+, which is a spinoff of the movie.

We were fortunate enough to get a second season, which in today's landscape with so much TV and so many streaming services felt

like a real gift. So we're doing six more episodes, and that'll be out this Christmas. And we're actually in the writer's room right now. We have two weeks left, but production started a couple of weeks ago. So that's been fun.

TPN: How did you get into that specific project?

EGC: After coming out here and hoping to get some representation, I finally got a manager and an agent. And sometimes you're the one who finds the jobs, and sometimes they're the one who finds the jobs. It's really just kind of hustling all the time and trying to stay in contact with the people who make those decisions. And fortunately enough for “The Santa Clauses,” I was submitted by my manager, and he sent up a script of mine, a sample, to the showrunner Jack Burdette, who's just amaz -

ing. Jack's been around for a while. He was on “Frasier,” “30 Rock,” shows like that, so he’s a great mentor. He brought me on for the first season, which was a fantastic experience. We worked for about 20 weeks, wrote about eight episodes, then had that reduced to six episodes, and that's what came out last Christmas. So when we got picked up for a second season, I reached back out and he said we'd be happy to have you back, which was a huge gift. I'm so fortunate and so grateful for it.

TPN: What advice would you give to current film majors who are hoping to get a job in the industry?

EGC: I was so fortunate to have really great professors when I was at Pitt, notably Carl Kurlander, who was a great mentor to me, and he was and continues to be such an

amazing guy. He's done so much to bridge the gap between Pittsburgh and Hollywood. So my advice would be to get involved in those programs offered, like Pitt in LA. I mean, hitting Hollywood is such a great opportunity for students at Pitt who are interested in media, film, TV. Not just the writing side, but the production side. I would say, just sort of immersing yourself in whatever medium you're most drawn to — for me that was comedy.

TPN: You started as a pre-med student at Pitt, and then you found that your passion was actually with fiction writing. How do you feel keeping your work passion for writing alive and balanced, especially in a competitive field?

EGC: For me, it's all storytelling. I just fell in love with storytelling, and comedy and TV are some of the best storytelling we see. I was just drawn to that. For the first 10 years of my career, yeah, it was all short stories or working on a novel, and then I came out here, and it was storytelling in a different way. And that was a big change for me, you know — there's a lot of differences between writing a script and writing a piece of prose.

Having to learn the vocabulary of a writers room — like, what's a “cold open”? What's an “act out”? All those things that I had no idea about. So it’s been a lot of fun learning that. It's hard, because sometimes I'll miss fiction, and I'll miss reading short stories and I find myself with stacks of scripts that I have to read, so I'll make a point to go back. I try and read new authors and new short story collections and new novels. And then I always get drawn back into reading scripts, because that's where I’m working now.

So just trying to make room for both has been important for me and not lose my passion for fiction, which is where it all began.

Eugene Garcia-Cross is a writer for the Disney+ comedy series, “The Santa Clauses.” Image courtesy of Eugene Garcia-Cross.

RESPONSE TO OHIO TRAIN DERAILMENT

REMINDS US THAT GOVERNMENT, COM -

PANIES TREAT LIFE AS EXPENDABLE

Lynnette Tibbott Staff Columnist

Nearly a month after the train derailment disaster, residents of East Palestine are experiencing skin rashes, headaches and severe irritation of the lungs and eyes. These symptoms persist despite the Environmental Protection Agency’s reassurance that the levels of toxins in the air are safe and habitable in the Ohio area.

However, research from Texas A&M University found evidence contradicting the EPA’s assurances. Although concentrations weren’t found at extreme levels, pollutant chemicals are still present in the atmosphere. Texas A&M’s study predicted that if the levels of hazardous toxins remain the same for an uncertain amount of time — either in the next few months or years — citizens may be at risk for long-term detrimental health effects, yet the full scope of what those detriments could consist of is unknown. However, the EPA claims that the elevated levels will not remain at that level for “anywhere near that long.”

ins are safe and the acid rain theory was “debunked,” citizens are still concerned about contaminated groundwater. Norfolk Southern, the transportation company that owned the derailed train, claimed that 15,000 pounds of soil and more than one million gallons of water were contaminated and removed from the area, but didn’t elaborate on the specific toxins. Norfolk Southern is now seemingly taking charge of the decontamination and clean-up, as the EPA is demanding. Biden posted on Twitter, “This is their mess. They should clean it up.” Although Norfolk Southern is primarily responsible for their actions, I believe the government has a duty to help protect its constituents. It should not hedge responsibility solely back to Norfolk Southern. The well-being of the country should be a government priority, and it should do all in its power to ensure the safety of all citizens, regardless of whether the government was the one to cause the incident. Findthefullstoryonlineat

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

Edited by Patti Varol and Joyce Nichols Lewis

31 Tropicana products, for short

32 Fluffy-eared marsupial

33 Zimbalist Jr. of old TV

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36

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To avoid a catastrophic explosion, authorities created a controlled explosion from the vinyl chloride gas to prevent further contamination and potential massive explosion. Although authorities considered the controlled explosion the lesser of two evils, it does not innately mean it was a safe option.

One citizen, who lives 400 miles away from East Palestine, posted a TikTok claiming that acid rain from the chemical release damaged her car. In response to this disaster and its effects, there have been incidents of alleged fearmongering on TikTok that acid rain will become a countrywide issue as a result of the incident, but experts have apparently debunked these claims. Despite the uncertainty and conflicting accounts of this disaster, one aspect remains certain — people are scared.

Even though the EPA reported that the levels of tox-

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Katie Hale

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This photo taken with a drone shows portions of a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed Friday night in East Palestine, Ohio are still on fire at midday Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023. AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File