No. 6 (Nov. 14, 2019)

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VOL. XCVIV No. 6 / November 14, 2019

Ministry Transcends Border in El Paso

THE UNIVERSITY NEWS

2019-2020 Basketball Preview Page 9

NEWS

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Photo Courtesy of Jessica Trout

BREAKING BREAD ACROSS THE BORDER SLU students and faculty travel to El Paso to participate in annual border Mass

By CONOR DORN Associate News Editor

or the past twenty-two years, three dioceses of El Paso, Las Cruces and Ciudad Juarez—all situated around the U.S.-Mexico border— have hosted an annual border mass in El Paso, Texas in a show of international unity, peace and solidarity.

This year, a contingent of SLU students and faculty, sponsored jointly by Campus Ministry and the Center for Service and Community Engagement, packed into two chartered buses to El Paso in order to experience firsthand the stunning display of solidarity that takes place at the border mass.

Leaving in the afternoon of Wednesday Oct. 30, the group spent nearly a day on the road, arriving in El Paso midday Thursday. The group spent two days in El Paso before the actual border mass, educating themselves on the issues that migrants and refugees face at and around the border through conversation and interaction with those whose ministry brings them face-toface with the marginalized on a daily basis.

Kevin Khuel, S.J., a Jesuit scholastic currently studying philosophy at SLU, said it was this face-to-face encounter that that made the trip such a worthwhile experience. Khuel stressed that experiences with the “gritty realities of life” are the hallmark of a true Jesuit education, saying “part of a Jesuit education is the knowledge that comes

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with the encounter with people that are suffering and people that are on the margins. The classroom can lay the foundation but it is only in that physical encounter that our hearts start to be transformed.”

Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, an outspoken advocate for comprehensive immigration reform that affords migrants, refugees and asylum seekers the basic human dignity they deserve, delivered a presentation to the group that outlined the efforts of his diocese to minister to the marginalized individuals fleeing violence and seeking economic opportunities.

The group also spent time in one of the oldest neighborhoods in El Paso, El Segundo Barrio. Dubbed “the second Ellis island,” this neighborhood is home to the Sacred Heart parish, where the SLU contingent met Rafael Garcia, S.J., who spoke on his experiences with outreach and ministry efforts to migrants and refugees.

Throughout the trip, the group learned about the myriad ways that the El Paso diocese and El Paso’s sister city, Ciudad Juárez, have worked closely to minister to the marginalized migrants and refugees arriving at the border, engaging in cross-border dialogue and international solidarity in a refusal to be divided by a man-made border. As the El Paso Diocese said in their invitation to the border mass: “We are missionary disciples of Christ, that we are primarily called to live in communion.

For our Catholic faith, there is no “us

and them”, but one family of God.” Saturday morning, hundreds of parishioners from both sides of the U.S-Mexico border gathered for mass.

The mass was held in the middle of the Rio Grande canal near the Santa Fe Street Bridge, a bridge that connects El Paso and Ciudad Juarez. A wooden bridge was constructed specifically for the event that connected both sides of the canal.

This year, the mass was held in honor and in memory of the migrants and refugees who have lost their lives on the journey to the border, often fleeing brutal violence and environmental and economic catastrophes. Those who have died in United States detention facilities and those children who have been separated from their families, and the 22 individuals murdered during the El Paso Walmart shooting three months ago, were also honored.

Those in attendance were especially struck by the sense of community and solidarity that accompanied the celebration of mass. Kevin Khuel emphasized the overwhelming atmosphere of the mass, stating: “A big takeaway was the sense of solidarity that came with the border mass itself. Coming together in that very unique space, right on the border, with the altar literally in the middle of the river that marks the border, as people from the US and Mexico that are divided by this man-made border were brought together as one … that’s an image I won’t soon forget.”

Bishop Peter Baldacchino of New Mexico and Bishop Guadalupe Torres of Ciudad Juarez joined Seitz at the mass, urging those in attendance “to remember that they too are refugees who must open doors to others in need.” This message of unity and solidarity aimed to combat the divisive politics of fear and rhetoric of hate that often characterizes dialogue on the U.S.-Mexico border.

The SLU contingent left El Paso soon after the mass concluded, spending another twenty hours on the bus before arriving back in St. Louis Sunday afternoon. As students and faculty re-enter the SLU community, the hope is that they continue to draw on their experiences at the border for advocacy and educational work. Khuel said: “We have just had the experience of solidarity with a suffering humanity” asking, “Now, can we convert that into action for systemic change and put our voices, our power and our privilege to work for the good of other people?”

News

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MONICA LEWINSKY COMING TO SLU: CANCELLING ‘CANCEL CULTURE’

By RILEY MACK News Editor n Monday, Nov. 11, the Great Issues Committee announced that Monica Lewinsky will be speaking at SLU in early December. The GIC came to this decision based on Lewinsky’s content, which will cover topics like the price of shame and her life in the public eye.

Lewinsky, an activist, TV personality and fashion designer was made famous through a sex scandal with President Clinton in 1995 when she was an intern at the White House. After the scandal, 22-year-old Lewinsky became a figure of popular culture, her name constantly dragged through the mud by news outlets. Now, she tours college campuses across the country speaking on bullying and the dangers of “cancel culture.”

Cancel culture is a recent phenomenon that takes place on social media platforms, a typical offender being Twitter. Users boycott a celebrity after learning about a problematic action in their past, usually involving xenophobic behavior. While bigotry is not an acceptable reaction in any context, many people, including Lewinsky, believe that cancel culture is also harmful in its own way.

Chair of GIC and SLU junior, Beatrice Beirne, says that Lewinsky has always been on a short list of interesting speakers to bring to SLU. The decision was finalized the first few weeks of the semester—since then, Beirne’s excitement has only grown. She believes that the subject matter is very relevant to SLU’s campus culture today.

“Being college students, we can all kind of relate to [cancel culture],” she says. “There’s been

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a situation for all of us where we’ve cancelled someone without knowing the full story, or we’ve been cancelled without someone knowing the full story.” Either way, Beirne states, “we’re all participating in it.”

As there is a chance for her to interview Lewinsky at the event, Beirne states that it would be daunting to interview someone that’s been interviewed by some of the greats, like Jake Tapper and Katie Curic. At the same time, Beirne says, “it will be cool to be in that proximity and to see this person that is in rap songs, for who she really is,” she said.

Beirne also believes that SLU students will have an interesting perspective of Lewinsky, as the 1995 scandal happened before most of the current students were even born. “We got to see the second wind of her career,” she said.

The GIC chair thinks that it is unfair to hold Lewinsky to the same standard she was held to in her twenties—she hopes that the audience shares this outlook at the upcoming event. “We might have the opportunity, because of the generation we’re a part of, to see her as who she is, and not just her sex scandal,” to which Beirne describes her real personality as “overcoming” and “resilient.”

Lewinsky will speak to the SLU community in the Wool Ballroom on Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. with free entry provided to students with a SLU ID. The audience will be given a chance to ask questions after the interview.

Ultimately, Beirne hopes that the audience will learn “the effect of their actions” from Lewinsky’s speech. “I hope that they come away with being more intentional with preventing themselves from participating in cancel culture, public shaming and hurting people who are celebrities—but also people they go to school with,” she said.

Photo Courtesy of Diane Richter, P.h.D.

CENTER FOR AUTISM SERVICES: A VALUABLE STL RESOURCE

By KLAUDIA WACHNIK Staff Writer n July of 2019, the lower level of Fitzgerald Hall opened its doors to the public as the Interdisciplinary Center for Autism Services.

The center is designed to be a safe, reliable space where children can be tested for autism or any type of autism spectrum disorder. Families then will receive consultation from various experts in their fields to make a plan for the future.

“It’s a place where families can come and get a very thorough and in depth evaluation” says Diane Richter, Ph.D., a Director for the Center.

The Center for Autism Services at SLU first got its start with inspiration from counterparts like the Knights of Columbus Developmental Center at Cardinal Glennon. Directors of the program also noticed a need for more centers.

“When we look at families besides the [ones] in the St. Louis metropolitan area, we’re getting referrals from Illinois. There seems to be a lack of services right across the river”, Richter stated about the decision to adopt a center at SLU. Various departments stepped in to make the center a reality and to offer more advice and expertise for clients. “We’ve

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had a lot of support from different Chairs, our Dean, the School of Education, Travis Threats, Ph.D.” In order to provide efficient and accurate diagnostics for their patients, the center has their patients go through various tests with different disciplines. All patients will go through the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule , which is a play-based assessment.

Patients will then go through a cognitive assessment, a language assessment, sensory processing and occupational therapy assessments and academic achievement tests if they are of school age.

Richter adds to the depth of testing saying, “We also take a look at adding if there’s a need that shows that there are concerns or challenges in motor [development] and we’ll bring in our physical therapist.” The Center will also bring in students that are studying applied behavior analysis under their respective...

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News SLU COMPUTER SCIENTIST LEADS CUTTING-EDGE RESEARCH

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Photo from of St. Louis University

By CAROLINE LIPSKI Staff Writer Photo from St. Louis University

HOMELESS FIND ROOM AT THE WINTER INN

By LEAH GEORGE Staff Writer ver a decade ago, Teka Childress founded the St. Louis Winter Outreach program after she encountered a homeless man trying to stay warm near a bus stop on a freezing night. She gave him blankets and offered him help but he refused it. Despite calling the police and a bus driver, asking them to keep an eye on the man, Childress found out the next day that he had passed away from exposure to the bitter cold.

These tragic events inspired Childress to found the Winter Outreach program, which has expanded throughout metropolitan St. Louis. Different outreach groups drive around areas of St. Louis, and they pick up those living on the streets then bring them to different churches and faithbased organizations where they stay through the night. St. Francis Xavier College Church has been hosting the homeless at the Winter Inn on Wednesdays and Thursdays for seven years now.

When the homeless arrive to the Inn, they are greeted by the volunteers and are brought to the eating room for dinner with the volunteers. Anne Osdieck, volunteer coordinator, said, “After they eat, the students usually play games with them like cards, uno and chess.” After this, they

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go to sleep in the cots that are set up for them. In the morning they get up and enjoy a home-cooked breakfast.

The students that volunteer at the Winter Inn benefit from the opportunity because they are able to establish personal relationships with the visitors. In fact, Osdieck said, “Most of the homeless people that are in the shelters are not that far removed age-wise from the students.” Because there is not a wide age gap, the experience is especially eye-opening for the student volunteers.

The Winter Inn runs from Dec. 1 to March 1 on nights when the temperature drops below 20 F including during SLU’s winter break. Nicole Neisen, freshman, said, “I think it’s a great opportunity to give back to the St. Louis community and support those who are in need.”

Students are given an opportunity to see and learn about the harsh realities that many face in their own St. Louis community. Students can get involved and volunteer at the Winter Inn by reaching out to Tess Sanders, at outreach@sfxstl.org to learn more about their program and sign up to volunteer.

All volunteers involved in the Winter Inn can find meaning in the volunteer experience, whether it be through eating, playing games, or simply just talking to the visitors and hearing their life stories. All are warmly welcomed to come and be a part of the Winter Inn here at SLU.

ew investigations into software applications by SLU researcher and assistant professor of computer science Flavio Esposito, P.h.D, has proven that the sky is the limit when it comes to technology.

Esposito was recently awarded with a $206,206 grant from the National Science Foundation to study distributed computing systems like the Cloud, as well as edge computing capabilities.

As the leader of this cutting-edge research, Esposito aims to study how decomposition, or breaking up, of complex problems in computer science can be applied to improving application software performance and capabilities via cloud computing. He plans to investigate how to best apply these insights to a wide variety of software, including Virtual and Augmented Reality “Several applications today (on our phones, watches or computers) rely on cloud technologies. The future is, however in distributed computing. This means, taming big datasets, as well as reducing the time to obtain a response from a computer.

This emerging paradigm is called “edge or fog computing,” or computing at the edge of our end-users, not far away in the Cloud somewhere.”

Joined by researchers at Bentley University and Boston University, their team plans to push the boundaries of computing power to better understand how to partition an application to drive cost efficiency and usability for the user.

Esposito points out the possible technological, as well as so-

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cietal implications of this work, “The purpose of this study is to improve the way we can speed up very large computations with distributed (networked) systems.

The results from this grant will have an impact on several fields, from the search of a genome sequence in bioinformatics, to increasing the revenue in an eCommerce application, to predict when the next tornado is going to hit and where”.

He adds that, “We will produce and release publicly code and publications that could help advance other research, and could help increase the profit for some computer science based companies that deal with large datasets and artificial intelligence.”

The project also plans on providing educational opportunities for high school students and populations underrepresented in the computer science field to learn about, and become trained, in application software and cyberstructure management through interactive tutorials and mentorship.

Esposito brings several years of experience performing cloud computing research to this project, and is grateful for another opportunity to learn about, as well as develop, software applications of the future.

News

FINDING COMMUNITY THROUGH GAMING: SLU'S NEW E-SPORTS TEAM

By SAVANAH SEYER Staff Writer eginning next semester, Saint Louis University will have an official varsity e-sports team.

E-sports, a competitive organized video gaming league, has become a growing industry—especially on college campuses. Many universities have e-sports teams that have their own gaming labs, recruit high school students and offer scholarships— in some cases full rides—in order to join the team. E-sports players compete against teams and other individuals both locally and nationally. Popular games in e-sports leagues include: Overwatch, League of Legends, Smash Bros and Fortnite, among many others.

This year, SLU will become the next college to join the world of varsity Esports.

The origins of the new e-sports team began a few years ago with a small group of friends who enjoyed playing video games together. Senior Nicholas Chiu, the new Director of SLU’s e-ports program, was a part of this group.

“When I was a Freshman, we had a small gaming club. It was like 6 kids,” said Chiu. “I went to a tournament and really fell in love with the community. The group grew and more students wanted to play more games.”

The gaming group applied for chartered student organization status last year and grew to around 100 members, and this rapid growth meant that it was difficult to find space for members to set up equip-

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ment and play together. When Chiu would speak to university officials about space they seemed a bit skeptical. “I took some members of the administration to the Spring Split, which was happening at Chaifetz Arena, which was then the biggest League of Legends event in North America,” said Chiu.

“They saw how big it was and how fast it sold out, and that was hard to ignore.”

E-sports is extremely competitive, and the SLU team hopes to build a team that competes at the same level as other high-class programs in the area, such as Maryville University and Mizzou. According to Chiu, this is a likely scenario, giving that SLU’s Overwatch team has already beaten several schools and at the last competition, lost only to Maryville’s team. The team is currently coached by students who Chiu hopes will stay on as leaders because as the some of the original players, they know the team better than anyone.

SLU junior Matthew Brandtjen began playing e-sports seriously in the summer of 2017, and is now a coach for the team. “My job involves making sure players know the optimal strategies in certain maps or situations and practicing those to get better at them, as well as finding practices versus other schools and managing the logistical stuff,” said Brandtjen. “[Also] reviewing gameplay from players and networking with other schools to try and build relationships.”

In January, the e-sports team will have a new space to play and work together in the old IT lab of the Busch Student Center. The current plan is to have 12 computers and gaming console setups. For the first year, both competitive and

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DPS REPORTS recreational players will be able to utilize the gaming lab. After that, Chiu says, the team hopes to move the recreational equipment to another place on campus for students to use and allow the gaming lab to be solely for the varsity team’s use.

The team is currently recruiting SLU students to join. The applications are due on Nov. 16 and are open to any student who is interested. Chiu and Brandtjen are holding tryouts and interviews for potential members. Chiu said that no one should be discouraged from applying, because even students who don’t make the varsity team will have other outlets to play, including the club team and the new e-sports intramural leagues that have opened this semester.

“Whatever skill level you are, there is a place for you,” said Chiu.

In the future, Chiu hopes that the e-sports team will work in a similar fashion to the athletic programs on campus. The team could potentially be used as an admissions tool, recruiting students to come join the SLU team. There are already scholarships available for students who make the varsity team and Chiu hopes that even bigger ones could become available as the team grows.

Chiu also said that he hopes the team can dispel some myths about e-sports.

“There’s a stigma around gamers,” said Chiu. “The purpose of e-sports is to defeat the stigma that gamers just want to stay in their room and play games. We want to get out and play together,” he said. “There are a lot of really bright and smart students playing games, and we want them to come get a degree and prepare for the future while playing e-sports.”

During the evening of Nov. 5, the vehicle of a SLU faculty member was hit by one of SLU’s shuttle buses as it was driving down Lindell Blvd. The vehicle’s driver side mirror was knocked off. A SLU student witnessed the incident and left a note on the windshield, and the faculty member opened a report with SLMPD

At 11:23 a.m on Nov. 6, DPS responded to reports of a student who had sustained an injury to their head after a fall in Marguerite Hall. The student was alert and conscious after the incident, and was transported by DPS to Saint Louis University Hospital.

On 10:44 a.m on Nov. 6, a student returned to their car, which was parked in the Fordham Parking lot on Grand to find that her windshield had been shattered. A report was filed with the St. Louis Police Department.

Arts and life

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Photo Collage Courtesy of Jack Johnston

St. Louis’ hidden architectural gems

By JACK JOHNSTON Staff Writer hile some may babble on and on about the architecture of Chicago or New York, St. Louis has been keeping to itself the culturally rich stories told by our own buildings. From our beginnings as one of the first cities west of the Mississippi to our current expansion in 2019, these buildings showcase the uniqueness of what it means to be a St. Louisan. Here are six buildings to seek out to better understand the history and future of St. Louis and its inhabitants:

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Wainwright State Office Building: As one of the first modern skyscrapers in the world, this downtown state office building is very detail-oriented with intricate designs on windows and throughout the interior. But on a grander scheme, the building itself is a testament to the strength of the city, as it almost vaults into the sky through its solid base and its angular roof.

Lafayette Square Houses: The streets of this National Historic District are lined with colorful Victorian mansions that are still in use today. These houses are some of the oldest in the city, and current owners have kept them up to their original splendor. Strolling through this neighborhood takes one back in time as the houses, referred to as the “painted ladies,” are built in a way that harks back to former American glory.

The Old Post Office: A beautiful example of the French Second Empire architectural style through its strong facade and rectangular dome, the Old Post Office was designed in 1872. Though it is currently used both as an event venue and for law offices, the history of the Old Post Office is entwined with

the history of St. Louis and the nation, as it was the location for many famous court cases. It stands out as one of the older buildings downtown, but it testifies to some of the more nuanced history of the city.

Holy Corners Historic District: This little-known area is actually a large hub for religious worship. At the intersection of Kingshighway and Washington Avenue, only a few blocks from the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, this area is home to Temple Israel, St. John’s Methodist Church, Second Baptist Church and the Tuscan Temple. All of these buildings have a unique style, but all serve as witness to American religion and how it is expressed in St. Louis.

City Hall: In a design similar to the City Hall of Paris, this building enunciates the tumultuous history of St. Louis. Designed by George Mann, it was never fully completed, as many decorative aspects of the design are still missing today. Weathering over time and exposure to coal smoke has also turned the building to a tarnished black color. Even still, this has caused the building to be beautiful in a unique way, similar to the inner workings of the city itself.

One Hundred Luxury Apartments: Once completed, the One Hundred apartment building will be the most ambitiously designed projects in the city.

Studio Gang, a design company making their St. Louis debut with this development, is behind the design of the tallest building in Central West End. One Hundred is a modern style of design, as it takes inspiration from nature, but it will also be one of the more environmentally-conscious and energy-friendly buildings in the city. It will open in the summer of 2020 and will start a new era of St. Louis architecture.

Arts and life

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Cozy spots to beat the winter chill

By SYDNEY COMPTON Contributor As the temperatures start to drop and snow suddenly falls, many of us will be in search of cozy environments to have a meal, grab a drink or just relax. Here are a few comfortable places that will give you a heated patio or frothy warm drink to beat the rapidly approaching winter cold.

Baileys’ Chocolate Bar: A restaurant dedicated to desserts? Sign us up! With a dark, romantic interior, walking in feels like being wrapped in a warm hug of chocolaty goodness. Some of the best items on the menu to warm you up on a cold night would be the brownie, served hot and fudgy with a scoop of house-

made ice cream, and the specialty hot chocolate, batched in house. For those over the age of 21, the Milk Chocolate cocktail is basically boozy chocolate milk and offers the perfect excuse to drink a warm martini.

Narwhal’s Crafted: Just a few steps west of SLU, this unique bar offers a heated patio to continue enjoying your crafted ice and other cocktails.

And for those interested in a little challenge, Narwhal’s hosts trivia every Tuesday starting at 8 p.m. Favorite seasonal menu item currently?

Poached Pear Sangria crafted ice.

Vicia: If you’re looking for a cozy place to celebrate or enjoy a really nice meal, Vicia is the place for you.

At a higher price point, Vicia offers a vegetable-forward menu with con-

stantly changing dishes that are sure to get every foodie in a frenzy. With options for sitting both inside and out, their outdoor patio is closed in with large windows during the winter and heat lamps are turned on full force. And in all honesty, there’s not a bad item on the menu.

MoKeBe’s: Don’t want to break the bank but want a cozy spot to study?

This inclusive, queer-owned coffee shop offers a plethora of interesting and warm coffees that just taste better when there’s a chill in the air.

It’s a great place to study and grab a delicious comfort meal. It also houses one of my favorite brunches in the city on Sundays, chock-full of vegetarian and vegan options, buffet style. A great place full of cozy coffeehouse vibes.

Photo Courtesy of Sydney Compton Pictured: The Lovers’ Plate at Bailey’s Chocolate Bar.

‘Let it snow’ makes more slush than snow

By CELIA SEARLES Arts Editor “Let it Snow,” a movie adaptation of the novel by John Green, Lauren Myracle and Maureen Johnson, was released on Netflix last Friday and left viewers wondering where the plot of the story actually went. Trailers gave excited viewers a glimpse into a small snowy town in Illinois, where a fresh blanket of snow is the catalyst of change for the lives of the high schoolers (and a pop star) who live there.

It promised a nostalgic glance into what the holiday seasons of youth felt like, yet, when brought to Netflix in a full-feature film, crashed and burned drastically.

The movie follows several main storylines, each involving two characters doing the modern mating dance of navigating the changing dynamics of their relationships. With so many characters at play, the producers had the enormous task of fitting adequate character development

Photo Courtesy of Netflix for each pair into the storyline while not compromising any other characters. It resembled a small-town high school version of “Valentine’s Day” in a way. However, the downfall of “Let It Snow” was its lack of character development beyond the main conflict for each pair.

It offered little to no backstory on how the characters got to where they were when the movie began, and aside from the uniting kiss between char-

acters at the end, there was little indication of what would get them from point A to point B. Despite the poor script, the setting and actor choices were strong and refreshing. None of the actors were recognizable by name and were played by people who actually fit within the age range of adolescents. Though the characters were rather one-dimensional, the actors did a good job bringing the words to life. The setting was also

one of the movie’s strengths, giving viewers a glimpse into what a nostalgic, kitschy, smalltown adolescence looks like.

Overall, beyond the cat-andmouse storyline between characters who end up getting together with a cinematic kiss, the movie has little to offer.

Would it be worth going out of your way to watch? No. But did it provide for an evening full of laughs when watching with friends? Absolutely.

Arts and life

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in defense of “jesus is king”

By DANIEL BERNAS Contributor

irst came “Yandhi,” the first release date, the next one, the Sunday services, the leaks, the new name, the next Sunday services, the next release date…and now we’re here. This is it: Kanye West’s long awaited gospel album.

Followers of West know that being a fan is less like being part of a fanbase and more like being part of a religion. We’re constantly defending him and patiently waiting for the record he announced the day after he released the last one. I can’t wait for Christmas morning to be ruined for all of us when he doesn’t deliver on his promised “Jesus Is Born” project.

For someone who claims to be a perfectionist, he sure loves to share his imperfections. A true perfectionist would sit on something, sleep on it for a night or two and then decide if it’s worthy of being released. Kanye doesn’t often do that, and in this case, he didn’t even give it a night. He tweeted “We not going to sleep until this album is out!” and they finished it that night. There are times you can tell that his work is rushed, which annoys fans more than it excites. This leads to uncertainty about the quality of his work more often than not.

This seems to be the case with “Jesus Is King,” unfortunately. It wasn’t even an hour after its release before the thousands of negative reactions from fans hit the internet. If endorsing Trump started to tip the scale, this record flipped it upside down. Fans are starting to criticize him, some even turning on him.

Shocking, and I don’t understand why.

The record is roughly 27 minutes long, but after putting out two fantastic short bodies of work in 2018, I don’t think we had reason to expect anything else. It’s far from perfect, but picky issues in the mixing and the occasional rough edge don’t make it as bad as fans have been saying.

West’s production and creatively curated album experiences are more of a sell-

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ing point than just about anything else.

However, even with that in mind, “Jesus Is King” offers just as much density and creativity as the best records in his discography. Whether it’s the glistening Pi’erre Bourne production on “On God,” the hyper-twisted vocal manipulations on “Hands On,” the old-Kanye-esque boom bap on “Follow God”, the mellow, acoustic “Closed on Sunday” or the stunning, larger-than-life orchestral arrangements on “Selah,” there are too many moments of genius to disregard. Who else could g e t Clipse

“If endorsing Trump started to tip the scale, this record flipped it upside down.” a n d Ke n n y G on the same gospel track and have it sound amazing? No one.

Lyrically, West isn’t doing anything too special on here besides focusing more on his faith and doing so in a beautiful way.

I don’t find it preachy; I find it earnest. I don’t find it fake; it seems honest. I don’t see it as pandering, especially when being Christian hasn’t been “cool” for a while.

West has tackled a lot of topics in his career, often personal and self-reflective. This record is not only a continuation of his consistency, but also a wonderful breakdown of

his ego, only separating itself from those efforts on “ye” and “KIDS SEE GHOSTS” by incorporating an added layer of spirituality.

If those records were searching for something, “Jesus Is King” is what he was looking for. I don’t see lyrical highlights such as “Follow God” and “Use This Gospel” as any less intriguing than what he’s given us on his recent output. It’s also very head scratching to see the Christian perspective turn off so many listeners when “Jesus Walks” and “Ultralight Beam” are two of his most celebrated songs to date. Most of West’s records have a few eye rolls, and I practically have to force my eyes out of the back of my head after the line “That’s why I charge the prices that I charge ... No, I cannot let my family starve.”… Are you kidding me? But, again, that tone-deaf line alone does little to destroy any song on here.

While some religious listeners are likely to criticize, I don’t see how someone can listen to “Water” and hear anything other than someone seriously praying for Jesus’ protection and strength. How can someone listen to “God Is” and hear anything other than somebody passionately praising God? It’s not in a hateful, condemning type of way, but in a way that truly proves his love for God. These are some of the countless songs that have references to Bible verses that only someone who reads their Bible religiously could pen.

It’s still sad to imagine how good this project could’ve been if he had decided not to get ahead of himself, but at the end of the day, I don’t see what’s so different about this record from any of his others. In fact, I think it’s one of his most lush, beautiful and tastefully experimental projects yet. Even if I’m the only one, I don’t see what’s not to love.

Best Tracks: Selah, Follow God, On God, Closed On Sunday, Hands On, Use This Gospel

Rating: 8/10

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sports

MEN’S BASKETBALL LOOKS TO RETURNERS FOR A-10 CHAMPIONSHIP REPEAT

By JEREMIAH KIRSCH Contributor he Billikens were picked to finish 7th in the A-10 this season by the league’s coaches and media. With many new faces, the Billikens are like a penny stock—they could shoot up and be very successful, or they could spin their tires and stay in the middle of the pack.

The style of play will look different for the Billikens this year as they will employ a very deep bench, “possibly using 10 guys,” head coach Travis Ford said. Ford anticipates pressing for the majority of contests in hopes of wearing down opponents. The Bills will also be a much better shooting team with newcomers Gibson Jimmerson, Yuri Collins and Tay Weaver capable of hitting shots. The team will still be defensively minded, but they are much more talented at the offensive end than in the past.

Team Blue could struggle against the experienced teams on its schedule, but it would not be surprising to see Jordan Goodwin lifting another A-10 trophy come March. It is tough to count out the Billikens.

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Players to Watch

After losing key contributors to graduation from the 2018-2019 campaign, the Billikens welcome eight newcomers, including five freshmen to the roster. The team will be led by the familiar faces of juniors Hasahn French and Jordan Goodwin, both central pieces to the NCAA Tournament team. The most experienced Billikens will assume leadership roles.

Senior transfer Tay Weaver is expected to contribute as a shooter and up-tempo guard. Returning underclassmen are led by the defensively poised Fred Thatch Jr., who looks to make the jump offensively and impact the game from the “2” guard spot.

Guard Demarius Jacobs will be a significant player, using his length to affect the game at both ends. Sophomore for-

ward KC Hankton will play a more significant role at the “4” for head coach Travis Ford and looks to blend his inside-out game in the offense.

Finally, the freshmen are Ford’s most talented and deepest class at SLU. Local point guard Yuri Collins will step in and run the Billiken offense. With great court vision and quickness, Collins is a potentially program-changing player.

6-foot-5-inch Gibson Jimmerson can impact the game with one shot. He has killer range and will leave Billiken fans fired up many times this season. Give him space, and he will sink a three.

NFL-body and post-player Jimmy Bell Jr. can dominate the block on both ends.

Anticipated Games

SLU’s non-conference schedule is filled with “resumé-builders.” Home games against Belmont, SIU and highly-ranked Seton Hall, a trip to Boston College, and neutral sites against Auburn and Kansas State provide many opportunities to bolster the “Selection-Sunday” resumé. In conference play, the Billikens hope to compete with the “Big Dogs” in VCU, Davidson and Dayton. The Bills only play top dogs VCU and Davidson once while having a home-and-home against Dayton. They travel to Davidson in January while hosting VCU on Feb. 21 and Dayton on Jan. 17.

Infographic by Ashlee Kothenbeutel

sports

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WOMEN’S BASKETBALL POSTED FOURTH IN A-10

By MISHAL MUSTAQUE Staff Writer Ciaja Harbison was named in the A-10 All Conference First Team, and despite having five sophomores and four freshmen on the roster, expectations are high for Saint Louis’ young guns. Qualifying for the NCAA first-round would be a dream, but the Billikens will first hope to bank on their youthful vigor taking them past the A-10 quarterfinals where they lost to Duquesne last year.

Players to Watch

Predictions are hardly facts, but if the preseason prediction that has Saint Louis nailed to finish fourth place in the A-10 is to turn into reality, Harbison will have something to say about it. The 2019 Rookie of the Year led Saint Louis to a quarterfinal berth in the A-10 last season, and will be determined to at least one-up her prior achievement.

Brooke Flowers, the sophomore center, is another one to watch after her breakthrough last season, where she established her status as one of the mainstays on the team.

After being named in the division’s All-Rookie and All-Defensive teams, Flowers will hope to shore up the

backboard to give Saint Louis more opportunities to spring forward.

Myia Clark, the 5-foot-7-inch sophomore guard, is also one to watch out for, as she was touted by Coach Stone as the “most improved player on this team.”

And last but certainly not least, there’s Hannah Dossett, who played softball at Syracuse for four years before deciding to bring her basketball IQ to Saint Louis. The graduate student is backed by coach Stone as a skilled shooter. “Put a zone on us and see,” Stone said.

Anticipated Games

Road games against Vanderbilt and Mizzou on Nov. 17 and Dec. 5, respectively, will be tricky scenarios for the Billikens with records favoring the opposition. KU’s visit to Chaifetz on Dec. 22 is a must watch with the pedigree of the Kansan institution—a fantastic measuring stick for the state of Billikens basketball. The visit of VCU at the turn of the year on Jan. 12 should be a great game to watch, as the visitors were almost unanimously picked as the top dog for A-10 during pre-season.

Infographic by Ashlee Kothenbeutel

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sports

PLEASE EXCUSE OUR FRENCH

By SAM GLASS Sports Editor

W

hen I get a block, it gives me energy,” said junior forward Hasahn French. “Hearing the crowd go ‘oo ah’ … It feels like a dunk.”

Ian Vouyoukas, in 2007, holds the all-time block record at 135.

French, who started the 20192020 campaign with 125 career blocks, is easily on pace to become the best Billiken blocker in history.

A known name among Billiken basketball fans since his arrival in 2017, French has become a critical piece for Team Blue. As a junior, his new role is to bring together other pieces and to be a leader on and off the court. “I feel like we had great leaders before us,” said French talking about Billiken alumni Javon Bess, Davell Roby and Aaron Hines. “Seeing the things that they did and their work ethic and what they put in really helped us. That’s what we’re trying to give to the new guys this year.”

French is not only a defensive presence, but also an all around monster to play against, saying he looks to impose his will on the court. Head coach Travis Ford looks for that from French, telling him he expects “20 and 12,” points and rebounds—a goal French says is realistic for him.

Pushing French throughout his robust career at SLU has been junior guard Jordan Goodwin. The pair were looking at SLU and played each other in a high school game. After the game, French told Goodwin about Saint Louis, saying, “if you go, I’ll go.” The duo are now prominent Billikens, and Good-

win’s play pushes French to be even better.

It is not just Goodwin and French that make Team Blue such a formidable force. French credits all his teammates. “Each guy brings something to the team, and if we all play to our strengths each night, we’ll be unstoppable,” French said.

The phrase Team Blue always comes up when talking about Billiken basketball, but what makes Team Blue? French said Team Blue is a culture that Ford started and really focused on his freshman year. Team Blue is about being a brotherhood and trusting in the shared vision for the program, French said.

“The basketball is going to stop bouncing one day,” said French.

“At the end of the day, the people you are with … you’re going to have that relationship forever.”

French is looking to be a top player this year. He said one of his goals is to be Atlantic 10 MVP, but also to be a top player in the country. Going against Seton Hall on Sunday, French and the Billikens will have the opportunity to show they are contenders on the national level. Seton Hall is ranked No. 12 in the nation, and a strong showing could prove French has what it takes to meet his goals. “This year I feel like a totally different player. I feel like my mindset out there is to just be the best at all times,” French said.

With leaders like French at the helm, the Billikens look to build on last year’s success where they won the A-10 Championship and made it to the NCAA Tournament. “It was just a taste,” French said with a smirk.

“Some people are at home watching the games. I don’t want to be that team.”

sports

By ERIN MCCLELLAND Associate Sports Editor he “Championship Mentality” is pushing above expectations and going into every game wanting to win. “It’s being a family,” said Ciaja Harbison about what makes her team unique in their success.

Ciaja Harbison has become a household name among Billiken women’s basketball fans after only one season in blue.

The 2018-2019 A-10 Rookie of the Year and 11-time A-10 Rookie of the Week made her mark early in her career and doesn’t show any signs of letting off the gas. As just a sophomore, she has stepped into a role as a team leader on the young Billikens squad, and she is embracing her new role and bringing her teammates with her.

It was a main goal of the season for her this year to become more of a vocal leader on the court. The team only has one senior, so it has become more necessary for the younger members to step up and take more of a leadership role. The team has taken on the motto #OneMore for the year to inspire them to go above and beyond in everything they do.

“We have to shoot a number of shots per week,” said Harbison, “but [we strive] to go above that and push each other every day.”

Having a mantra that the team can buy into is something that has worked well for the team in the past. It creates a sense of team unity that they can all buy into and live out every day. One of the things that has made Harbison’s first year and a half so memorable are the events she has gotten to at-

T

15

HARBISON LOOKS TO LEAD AS UNDERCLASSMAN ON YOUNG TEAM

tend and the opportunities the team has presented her with.

Some of the most memorable have been going to the movies, sleepovers and doing an escape room together.

Harbison, the sophomore guard from Louisville, Kentucky, has decided to declare a major in Public Health. She has grown up playing basketball since fourth grade when she started playing for both her school and for the travel team Lady Legends.

When she wasn’t playing with her travel team or at school, Harbison could be found playing in the community center with the boys. She liked playing with the boys because she’s a very competitive person and it gave her the opportunity to pick up new things, and at some points in time, she was the only girl on her team. She attributes most of her success on the court to her parents and their support of her playing.

Since coming to SLU, she has started in every game of her career and hopes to use her experience to help motivate her team to their ultimate goal this season: an Atlantic 10 Championship. Harbison believes that the team’s chemistry, trust, accountability, championship mentality and desire to win are just a few of the qualities that they are going to bring to make this dream a reality this season.

The team hopes to see SLU’s student body turn out to Chaifetz Arena this season to create a great atmosphere for the home games. You never know what could happen; you might get a triple overtime win like last year’s first game against Dayton!

Harbison still has three years to positively impact SLU women’s basketball, and she definitely has a very bright future ahead of her.

16 1. Myriama Smith Traore dribbles into the arc in the Billikens home opener against UT Martin.

2. Jordan Goodwin clapping after Billikens win over FGCU. 3. Yuri Collins looks to pass to Jimmy Bell Jr. under the basket.

4. Ciaja Harbison dribbles past UT Martin player to drive to the basket.

5. Dre and Alex Smith pump up student section during the Billikens home opener.

6. Kendra Wilken goes up for opening tip-off to start the regular season for SLU.

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Photography

Photos and Story By JOSHUA KANG Staff Photographer As a person who earned two undergraduate degrees, cloned orchids and now teaches at a top-100 U.S. school, Anneke Bart, Ph.D. has done it all. Bart is an associate professor of math here at Saint Louis University, where she teaches both calculus and topology. She was born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands into a family of seven kids, graduated from a college in the Netherlands and worked as a botanist in Holland. She worked in a personal lab, where she cloned her dad’s unique, hybrid plants (made in his own lab) in order to ensure that if any of his foliage was stolen, there would be an exact copy of the plant still intact.

After working several years in Holland, she wanted more explorative opportunities, so she gave her family the lab and moved to the United States, where she has stayed for 33 years. Since her degree from her former alma mater was in botany and she wanted to pursue a mathematics career, she decided to go back to college in California. While living there for 12 years, she found a love for tutoring and an understanding that everyone learns material differently. After acquiring a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and Doctorate in Mathematics from the University of California Santa Barbara, she moved to Missouri, where she accepted a job at Saint Louis University, and has loved teaching ever since.

Anneke Bart, Phd

University Spotlights

Mathematics Professor

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In the classroom, Bart’s sense of students’ learning styles has led her to an interactive-style classroom, where she experiments with multiple ways of teaching, from using powerpoints to group assignments. She also wants to ensure that students stay comfortable in her classroom because she believes that once people are frustrated, it leads to people quitting on the material.

Now, she lives with her three children and cat (who she occasionally carries with to her workplace) in St. Louis. The one concept that Bart wants everyone to take from college is to use this time to discover their interests. “Use this time to explore opportunities,” she says, “...take risks and explore options for the future.”

Photography

University Spotlights

LCA Board Representative

Sydney Horn

Find more University Spotlights on the Newsletter.

Photos and Story By JULIANA CORTESE Staff Photographer Sydney Horn is a freshman studying political science and history and is one of the Learning Community Activities Board representatives for the Leadership for Social Change learning community. She helps plan events for her LC and others, like Big Pink Volleyball and the Learning Community Night at the City Museum. Getting to help plan events to build communities, taking in feedback and implementing new ideas are some of the reasons she loves LCAB. Horn also considers herself to be an activist in the making, participating in as many marches and demonstrations as possible, as well as staying up to date on news and world events. It isn’t uncommon to find her engaging in political debates about topics like climate change, political figures, gun control, etc.

She also enjoys making signs for when she goes to protests and collects them to remind her of all the demonstrations that she has participated in.

In accordance with the social change theme, she is also heavily involved with Students Demand Action, a grassroots organization of students seeking to end gun violence. Along with other students, she helped to create a St. Louis branch of SDA. If you are interested in getting involved or wish to contact her, you can reach her through email (Sydney.horn@slu.edu).

19

Opinion

20

Dear Reader, You are not Alone

By LENYA GODA Staff Writer

"D

ear Evan Hansen, today is going to be a good day and here’s why. Because today, you’re you.” This is the closing line of the Broadway musical, “Dear Evan Hansen.” While it might sound a little cliché, the musical itself is anything but. It was performed at the Fox Theatre these past few weeks. It was a fantastically produced musical that tackled many themes often avoided in society. The main character, Evan Hansen, is a teenage boy with severe social anxiety. He is tasked by his psychologist to write letters to himself about why that day will be a good day. Within the first few minutes of the musical, they directly address mental illness and the negative effects it can have. Later in the musical, another character takes his own life, further accentuating this point. Another theme that plays throughout the musical is loneliness and its effect on teenagers in today’s society. According to the American Society for Suicide Prevention, for 2015, there are, on average, 121 suicides per day in America. “Dear Evan Hansen” addresses mental illness and loneliness in a visceral and personal way, proving that society needs to take greater action in it’s handling of the rising mental illness and suicide rates among teens.

Within the first few minutes of the musical, before even the first musical number, the main character, Evan Hansen, is shown to have crippling social anxiety, takes medication for it and consistently goes to counseling. This shows that he is doing everything “right.” He is trying to get better, and yet he still has severe anxiety. The second musical number, “Waving Through a Window,” displays this. As someone with anxiety, this song almost made me cry. Evan hates himself and he hates that no one really wants to be friends with him. He hides the worst parts of himself, or at least tries to. The beauty of the musical is that they refuse to dance around the issues of mental illness, specifically anxiety.

While society attempts to hide those who feel this way, and make it seem unnatural and irregular, “Dear Evan Hansen,” refused to listen to the status quo. While mental illness is by no means an easy subject to tackle, by discussing it, the musical makes it a little less taboo. It refuses to flinch, deciding instead to stand firm and make a strong statement about mental illness. It says, we, as a community, need to take notice of

those who are struggling.

High school is a prime example of people struggling, and yet people choose to look away. Many teenagers go through high school feeling isolated and alone, just like Hansen. We try to hide what we consider the worst parts of ourselves, but that just inevitably leads to greater isolation. While so many people dance around to try to avoid the issue, this play decides to attempt to tackle this issue and give a solution to such a giant problem. They show that even when you feel alone, no one is ever truly alone, and it will be okay.

They normalize this feeling of loneliness and hopelessness, so that people watching it know that they are not alone and they will survive. In the song, “You Will be Found,” one of the singers says, “Every time you call out, you’re a little less alone.” And she could not be more correct.

Every time someone stands up and admits to feeling lonely or anxious, everyone feels a little less lost. By creating a conversation about these issues, the shame that normally follows these issues fades. This allows for people to gain courage in themselves and know that they are not alone or broken because of these feelings. “Dear Evan Hansen” created a platform for people to start discussing isolation and mental illness in a way that doesn’t shame those who have been affected by it. Starting this conversation is the first step in creating a community that gives mental health the same validity as physical health.

“They normalize this feeling of loneliness and hopelessness, so that people watching it know that they are not alone and they will survive”

Opinion

21

BOOK OF LIES

By COLIN THIERRY Staff Writer

arlier this month, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared in a hearing before the House Financial Services Committee. The hearing was meant to be about Facebook’s Libra crypto project, but instead Zuckerberg was questioned by members of the Committee concerning any issues on the social media platform . One of the main issues of concern to members of Congress and the general public was Facebook’s policy that allows politicians to lie in their political ads. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the first-term Democrat from New York, grilled Zuckerberg on this matter. Ocasio-Cortez asked Zuckerberg whether under Facebook’s political ad policy if she could pay to target predominantly black zip codes and advertise the wrong date for an election. In response Zuckerberg said, “If anyone, including a politician, is saying things that can cause … that is calling for violence, or could risk imminent physical harm, or voter or census suppression, when we roll out the census suppression policy, we will take that content down .” After asking if there is a threshold where Facebook and Zuckerberg would fact-check political advertisements, Ocasio-Cortez then followed up concerning a different scenario. She asked Zuckerberg if ads targeting Republicans in primaries saying that they voted for the Green New Deal, a cause that the Congresswoman has notably championed, would be allowed. In response to Ocasio-Cortez pressing him further concerning whether Facebook would take down ads containing outright lies Zuckerberg said, “In most cases, in a democracy, I believe that people should be able to see for themselves what politicians that they may or may not vote for are saying and judge their character for themselves .”

Facebook’s political ad policies have come under heavy criticism and scrutiny in the past few weeks. Many politicians, members of the media and the general public have criticized Facebook and other social media platforms for refusing to take down political ads containing false information. In light of this pushback, Facebook and Zuckerberg have stuck to their approach in regard to political advertising on the platform. Zuckerberg has maintained that “banning political ads favors incumbents and whoever the media chooses to cover.” While this may be true in a vacuum, this still

E

does not cover the issue of fake political ads being put out on the platform, and who Zuckerberg uses to fact-check the political advertisements that appear on Facebook. In defense of his social media platform’s political ad policy, Zuckerberg seems to be willfully ignorant of the fact that fake or misleading political advertisements can be even more harmful to democracy than banning political advertisements altogether. Allowing American citizens to see political ads on the platform and decide which candidates they want to support from there may be a nice soundbite for Zuckerberg, but this argument does not really apply when Facebook allows political ads containing outright lies.

An interesting aspect of Facebook’s political ad policy is that the platform does not even need to run political ads in the first place. Political advertisements are simply not a significant portion of Facebook’s business . With this in mind, Facebook and Zuckerberg are still determined to leave their political ad policy unchanged. In my eyes, allowing these untruthful ads to be run on the world’s most popular social media platform is extremely misguided and only harms our democracy. There are millions of people in this country who use Facebook, many of who could be potentially persuaded to vote a certain way or could receive untruthful information about a candidate because of the platform’s political ad policy. As Ocasio-Cortez had made clear in her questions towards Zuckerberg, it could be very easy for a party or politician to use this ad policy to suppress and mislead many potential voters. While Zuckerberg claims to have fact checkers for political ads, they obviously have not been doing a great job considering how large of an issue this has now become. The fact that these huge tech corporations like Facebook, Twitter and even Google have so much control over the information we consume is quite dangerous. Facebook’s willingness to allow propagandic ads on their platform shows that these corporations don’t have our best interests in mind as American citizens. Ultimately, by allowing political ads full of lies to persist on the platform under Facebook’s ad policy with the guise of being “unbiased,” Zuckerberg comes off as even more untrustworthy to the public than ever before.

“Fake or misleading political advertisements can be even more harmful to democracy than banning political advertisements altogether.”

Opinion

22

WHAT THE MEDIA CAN LEARN FROM 2016

By JAKOB BENEDETTI Staff Writer

In 2016, one of the major developments was the changing nature of political media in the face of increasing use of social media and “alternative” news platforms.

Media entities reliant on traditional forms of publishing journalism— print media, television, radio—began feeling pressure to adapt, and to find new ways to attract consumers to their content. In addition, increasing political polarization and division over domestic issues meant that media outlets increasingly came to be seen as either being generally on the political right or left. This perception was amplified when Donald Trump became the Republican frontrunner, despite being universally dismissed by the “mainstream” media pundits— except of course for Fox News. Many of Trump’s supporters accused the media of being part of some sort of vast, left-wing conspiracy to unfairly smear Trump.

But here’s the problem: the media was biased against Trump in 2016.

When he first entered the primary in 2015, he was met with universal scorn by the pundit class, and his campaign was dismissed as a sideshow meant to boost Trump’s personal brand. That

may be true, but the media’s mistake was believing that the rest of the country felt the same way. Clearly, it did not. Their arrogance backfired, and Trump’s populist message of “America First” resonated with large sections of the electorate.

The media’s first mistake was to not take Trump and the populist anger he represented seriously. Their second mistake was to reverse course after it became clear that Trump would be a real contender in the primary. We know from Politico reporting on the personal accounts of Hillary Clinton staffers and memos sent to the DNC that the Clinton campaign instructed their allies in the media to present Trump (as well Cruz and Carson) as more preferable than Jeb Bush, who they really feared, believing a Trumplike candidate would be easy to beat.

The Clinton camp even went so far as to hold off on attacking Trump during the primary in an effort to harm the establishment candidates. In addition, the imperative of the media companies to attract consumers meant that all Trump had to do to get free advertising was something outrageous, knowing that the voters he needed to win the primary already

believed the media was biased against conservatives.

See, the media’s mistake with Trump ultimately was that although most of their coverage of him was negative, he was the only candidate in 2016 who represented the sort of antiestablishment message that so many voters wanted to see. Well, except of course for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, an Independent who ran as a Democrat, and is doing so again in 2020. But while the media had reasons to cover Trump, they had every reason to ignore Sanders, who represented an anti-establishment movement on the Left. Not only did Sanders have a “radical” agenda based on progressive values and pro-worker policies, but he was willing to call out the corrupt politicians and their donors by name.

In 2020, the media is not going to make the same mistakes. Although they’ve been forced by his successes in 2016 to cover Sanders more, it’s clear that Biden has received the lion’s share of coverage despite raising less money and having fewer volunteers than Sanders and others. In addition, when you look at how positive the media’s coverage of the candidates are, it’s clear that there’s a handful

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the pundit class pretty unanimously likes, including Mayor Pete and Amy Klobuchar, and at least one, Tulsi Gabbard, that they unanimously hate.

Instead of totally ignoring Bernie or having wall-to-wall negative coverage of him, they’ve simply chosen to cover other candidates more and better than him.

But if the media are all liberals, why would they be propping up the more conservative candidates in the race?

I would argue because the media in general does not have a liberal bias, they have an establishment bias.

Many people who are on these cable shows or who write these editorials used to be politicians and/or work for one of the two parties. They’re friends with the people in power, or if not, they desperately want to be, at least so they can drag some vaguely familiar face on their show from time to time. Everything the media did in 2016—ignoring Sanders, cynically propping up Trump, etc.—was with the goal of getting Hillary elected President. Ironically, if they’d just covered Bernie and Trump fairly, a Democrat named Sanders might be president now instead of Trump.

Opinion

23

Fire without Fault: Can We Blame Anyone for California?

By LEXI KAYSER Staff Writer

Susie Cagle writes in The Guardian that, “California’s fire season has been bad. But it could have been much worse.” And boy, was she right. So far this year, only 81,000 hectares of land have burned across the state—which may sound like a lot, until you compare that to the 765,000 burned in 2018, or the 525,000 burned in 2017. For a place susceptible to drought, which is a high risk factor for forest fires, any improvement is good improvement.

Unless, of course, you’re Donald Trump.

On Nov. 3, Trump took to Twitter to criticize California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, and blame him for the state’s fire. He wrote, “The Governor of California, @GavinNewsom, has done a terrible job of forest management. I told him from the first day we met that he must “clean” his forest floors regardless of what his bosses, the environmentalists, DEMAND of him. Must also do burns and cut fire stoppers.....” and then continued, “Every year, as the fire’s rage & California burns, it is the same thing-and then he comes to the Federal Government for $$$ help. No more. Get your act together Governor. You don’t see close to the level of burn in other states…”

There are a plethora of reasons why

Trump’s response to such a domestic crisis is wrong. We can start with the fact that he’s using a catastrophe that has displaced over 100,000 people as a way to make political digs at environmentalists. There’s a time and place to voice your concern with certain groups—especially those concentrated in the political party that outright opposes you. But a time or place where people are suffering and dying is really not ideal.

On the topic of environmentalists— they’re exactly the type of people who are fighting to end wildfires in ways that Trump refuses to. Kristina Dahl, a senior climate scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, has stated that at least half of wildfire activity in recent decades is attributable to “human-caused climate change”—climate change that Trump vocally does not believe in. The Center for Climate and Energy Solutions state that earlier snowmelt caused by a height-

ening global temperature “[lead] to hot, dry conditions that boost this increase in fire activity in some areas.” As little as a one degree Celsius rise in global temperature can cause the median burned area to increase by 600 percent.

As if this wasn’t glaring irony enough, NBC cites that 57 percent of California’s land is federally controlled.

Even if forest management was the root of the issue, and not predisposed conditions of the region or a changing climate, over half of the blame would fall on Trump’s shoulders—not Newsom’s.

On Aug. 1 of this year, NPR’s Tamara Keith reported that Russia announced a call between Putin and Trump, in which Trump “offered Putin assistance fighting wildfires in Siberia.” If Trump is able to help a foreign country, there is absolutely no reason why

“When one state in a nation is struggling, our priority should be to uplift them in any way possible, in order to save the most precious lives and protect the most precious land.”

he should stop providing aid within his home country, especially as someone who has been known to fixate on the slogan “America First.” The reality is that lives are at stake right here, and Donald Trump is willing to put those lives in jeopardy just to fuel a feud.

When one state in a nation is struggling, our priority should be to uplift them in any way possible, in order to save the most precious lives and protect the most precious land. This is not the time for placing blame, especially blame that is unwarranted or under researched. Trump should help California with the same enthusiasm that he is giving to Russia. It should not matter what we have or have not done to prevent the fires. What matters right now is that they are there.

And people are suffering. And people need the government’s help.

Governor Newsom responded to Trump’s tweet by simply saying, “You don’t believe in climate change. You are excused from this conversation.” And you know what? He’s absolutely right.

UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITORIAL BOARD 2019-20 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF EMMA CARMODY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF eic@unewsonline.com MEREDYTH STAUNCH eic@unewsonline.com MANAGING EDITOR REBECCA LIVIGNI managing@unewsonline.com

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