TU hosted a community discussion on the survey’s results, revealing the statistics for those affected by sexual assualt on campus. The Student Union was pleasantly packed with people this past Friday during lunch time, all gathered to discuss the results of the Campus Climate survey. Dr. Joanna Davis, a professor of psychology, and the co-founder and codirector of the University of Tulsa Institute for Trauma, Adversity and Injustice (TITAN), lead the crowd through the results of the campus wide survey results — and why the data matters. The key findings from the 2017 – 18 survey, Dr. Davis noted, were taken from the answers of the 652 students who filled out the survey during the time frame given; Dr. Davis was quick to mention that only so much can be inferred from the data, given it’s small response base. The Campus Climate survey, which began in 2013 and is an ongoing compilation of data, stands as one of the most important campus-wide surveys. Every year, twice a semester, the university sends out a campus wide email, encouraging students to respond. These
Emma Palmer Variety Editor
answers are all compiled into an executive summary, which is then published to the University’s website. The survey found this past year, from the sample group, that rape and interpersonal violence continues to be a problem for TU students. 19 percent of women and 13 percent of men reported at least one instance of physical assault in a relationship during their time at TU. 9.8 percent of students said they experience a forced or drug induced sexual assault during their time at TU, (11.6 percent, if including attempted sexual assault). 68 percent of reported sexual assaults occurred on campus, with 52 percent of sexual assaults taking place at fraternities. 71 percent of survivors were acquaintances or friends with the perpetrator, and the most reported sexual assaults occurred during the fall semester of freshman year. See Campus Climate, pg. 6
The Collegian: 2
Sports
17 September 2018
Difficult weekend for the Golden Hurricane After learning that they would be playing without safety Cristian Williams, Arkansas St. handed TU a tough loss. Tristan Peterson Student Writer This week has been rough for the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. After coming off a career game last week (11 tackles against Texas), Cristian Williams posted on Instagram that his time with collegiate football is over. Tulsa walked onto the field with heavy hearts to face Arkansas State (ASU) and ultimately lost 29-20. Even though Tulsa was the first to score with a one-yard run in by Corey Taylor II, the defense couldn’t hold ASU off. ASU’s Blake Grupe made a field goal from the 35-yard line. In the second quarter, ASU’s Marcel Murray rushed three yards for a touchdown, followed by Grupe with another good kick. In the last second of the half, Grupe made yet another goal kick that was good. After the half, ASU came out strong with an almost immediate touchdown from Justice Hansen. Skipper threw a pass that was intercepted by ASU’s Demari Medley who returned it 53 yards for a touchdown. Tulsa’s Nate Walker cleared a field goal from the 22-yard line. In the fourth quarter, Luke Skipper connected on a 10-yard touchdown pass to senior tight end Cole Neph. After this play, ASU had the ball in hand, but Tulsa’s defense held their ground until the fourth down. Walker made another field goal from the 35-yard line. Tulsa’s defense followed this up with some more clutch stops, before getting the ball back just a couple yards in front of their own end zone. On the first play of the drive, a busted end-around resulted in a safety, effectively sealing the game for Arkansas State. When asked to talk about the rally in the second half, sophomore quarterback Luke Skipper admitted “... we were a lot more balanced in the second half, so it helped a lot and getting that first down was huge for us. We tried to do that and keep the momentum, but it didn’t go our way.”
Trevis Gipson, junior defensive end, said, “We did see sparks of greatness in the second half. The thing with us is we just have to come out fast. So it’s not the offense’s fault, it is not the defense’s. Like I just told Luke [Skipper], defense sort of controls the scoreboard also. We get shutouts. We keep them off the scoreboard. Part of our job, but with football, it can go either way, good or bad.” They both went on to mention that they will review the tapes, work out the negatives and push the positives to become better players. Despite the rough night, Tulsa did have some highlights. Redshirt Zaven Collins saw his first action as a middle linebacker. Another redshirt freshman, Daiquain Jackson, kicked off his career at safety while true freshman Justin Wright also got into his first game as a linebacker. Shamari Brooks was at it again with his sixth career 100-yard rushing game; he finished with 115 yards on 21 carries. Jarion Anderson finished with a career-best 45 yards on five catches. Chandler Miller made his 41st career start. Miller has played in every game since his redshirt freshman season in 2015. Justin Hobbs finished the game with 22 yards on one reception, surpassing Harry Wood (1966-68) for 16th on Tulsa’s all-time receiving chart, Hobbs now has 2,162 career receiving yards. He is just 194 yards shy of Brennan Marion (2007-08) in 15th. Originally from Dallas and standing at six feet tall, safety Cristian Williams is majoring in Organizational Studies. At Dallas Lincoln High School, under coaching from John Towels, he developed quite the football resume. As a sophomore, he had 55 tackles. Junior year, he had 532 yards receiving and four TDs on the offensive side and had 88 stops and two interceptions on the defensive side. Senior year he earned second-team all-district honors, 90 tackles, five forced fumbles and three interceptions. He started all three years on defense and offense, playing receiver and safety. At TU, Cristian has made a noticeable impact. Though in 2015 he was one of several freshmen to sit out due to redshirt status, he played in 13 games as part of special teams in 2016. He was credited with 20 tackles and one fumble recovery, recording season highs of three tackles in games against Tulane and East Carolina. In 2017, he totaled 37 tackles, including 25 solos. He
photos by Dalton Stewart
Keylon Stokes gets tackled for a safety. had a career-high 10 tackles against Tulane in his most extensive playing time at the safety position, and added five stops each against Toledo, Houston and Memphis. Last week in our away game vs. Texas, he had a career-high of 11 tackles. Unfortunately, his time playing football has come to an end. After the game against Texas, Dr. Boone and other team doctors worked with Williams to pinpoint the source of symptoms that had been bothering him. Cristian had 5 MRIs that determined he had
photo by Dalton Stewart a cyst on his spinal cord, one that had been causing him health issues since fall camp. Trevis Gibson credits Williams, saying, “Cristian is one of our hardest workers. Man, he gives us a lot of energy when we need it. He was my roommate since I touched campus, but he is an extremely hard-working man. He puts an extra chip on our shoulder. We may have not shown it tonight, but going into the season we will definitely be playing for him, the fans, and everyone else that supports our team.”
courtesy Don Tomkalski
Sports
17 September 2018
The Collegian: 3
Experts disagree on who will win this year’s Premier League While predictions seem easier now that world’s most formidable league is in full swing, Chris Lierly and Andrew Noland came to the rational conclusion that getting paid was better than posterity. Chris: 1. Liverpool FC So this is anything but objective, but Liverpool will win the League because of the most dominant attack in Europe let alone England. Mo Salah is coming off of the greatest season for a player in the history of the Premier League and will be playing alongside two attackers in Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane, who never cease to surprise the world with their ferocious attack and odd antics. This year, the Gegenpress that Jurgen Klopp dominated the current champions with last year will show how dominant of a manger he is when that jovial German lifts the trophy at season’s end. 2. Manchester City In terms of talent, City remains the best team in Europe. They kept together an attack and mid that rival the powerhouses of European football, and their defense holds their own while contributing to the attack themselves. Pep Guardiola is the best manager alive and one of the all-time greats, and adding Riyad Mahrez to his arsenal of weapons only further helps his chances. That said, the Catalonian mastermind will have to manage an incredible season to stay at second in a Premier League that promises to be a bloodbath. 3. Chelsea Chelsea will be an important part of the aforementioned bloodbath. With new manager Maurizio Sarri at the helm, Chelsea will not look like the Chelsea of years past, beside the fact that they’re still owned by the same Russian oligarch. Their big change is swapping an erratic and emotional Italian manager for a cold and calculating Italian manager. Sarri’s namesake playing system will confuse teams all across England next year, but this year, it will mostly confuse his players. They will get to third mostly on Hazard and Kante’s talent alone. 4. Tottenham Hotspurs Tottenham round out the real contenders to win the title this year. Putting them at fourth isn’t slighting them. This top four will likely come down to a very small point difference, and we probably won’t have a champion until the last few weeks. Tottenham have a chance to go far in Europe this year under the leadership of the newlywed Prince’s better-looking, better-playing and overall superior name-sharing countryman, Harry Kane (sorry, Meghan, we still love you). But seriously, this Spurs defense is scary, so whether they hold back the attacks of City and Liverpool will likely decide where they land. 5. Watford If you thought my picks were comical before, you definitely think so now. Watford isn’t really a name that strikes fear into other managers’ hearts, but that could
change this year. With three teams usually in the top seven (United, Arsenal and Everton) all looking to have historically bad seasons, Watford’s early season looks hopeful. Richarlison and the rest of the Golden Boys will finish just below the real contenders this season, and while the might not turn out to be a true Cinderella team, they will look a lot better than the teams formerly known as Manchester United and Everton. 6. Manchester United
this one: pick the safe team and act like it makes you a genius if it happens. Yeah, well, it’ll see me through when Pep finally overcomes his own third season curse. With the Citizens having another year under the Catalan coach’s tactical system, and propelled by the unmatched ability of the most underrated yet explosive striker in Sergio Aguero, the vision of Kyle Walker, and the successor to Messi in Kevin De Bruyne, this team will repeat. Their championship in the
“Mo Salah is coming off of the greatest season for a player in the history of the Premier League...” Andrew really thinks Mourinho will be on his own Brexit path by the time of the break in January, but that’s because he has faith in humanity. No, Jose Mourinho will make it one more season before being replaced by the headbutting legend that is Zinedine Zidane. Until that happens, the atmosphere on the Red’s side of Manchester will remain hostile. Pogba will return to Juventus, Rashford will legitimately consider leaving, and Alexi Sanchez will have traded in Wenger for a much worse evil. Look forward to next year, Devil’s fans. You won’t have your stars, but you won’t have the man holding them back either. Surprise Placing: 7. Arsenal Wenger’s gone, so to quote the country’s real patron saint. “The bloody dog is dead.” However, Unai Emery’s move from Paris to North London, though not completely vol-
spring will spark hushed conversations in pubs all around England involving the word “dynasty.” 2. Tottenham Hotspurs This is Harry Kane’s world now, and we’re all just along for the ride. I have Tottenham as runners-up because I predict them to make the next step in their march to English domination. Christian Eriksen is the linchpin of the London side, and Heung Min Son looks better and better with each game. With their Belgian duo in the backline, and Lloris looking impassable after a World Cup triumph, Tottenham look like a team with no weaknesses. In winter, when they actually do buy players to shore up their weakness at right wing and midfield, and continue to gel under Mauricio Pochettino, I anticipate their success will largely translate to European football. Their form will carry them just short of lifting the title in England, but
“With the Citizens having another year under the Catalan coach’s tactical system... [Man City] will repeat.” untary, will not turn out near as rosy as the fans on Arsenal TV think it will. Mark my word, all of us will see “Emery Out” banners by the end of the year. They’ll finish seventh for many reasons. Aubameyang is fast, but not as fast as the BVB Aubameyang of three years ago, and he will have to rely on better passes and a better system to play as well as his past self. Mesut Ozil is currently in the worst slump we’ve possibly ever seen, and Emery will use 2018-19 as the season to prove how incompetent he is. Andrew: 1. Manchester City I know, I just went the ESPN route with
they’ll look even better for the next season. 3. Liverpool FC While many are predicting them to finish runners-up, if not declaring victory in spring for themselves, I’m predicting Jurgen Klopp to devote all his resources to European football. While this is undeniably a superteam, I don’t buy that Mohamed Salah and company can both accomplish the Herculean feat of conquering the Champions League and the ever-chaotic nature of the Premier League. Klopp will have to pick one or the other, and he wants the international trophy that has eluded him his entire career.
4. Manchester United I admit, this is a bold prediction, considering their current form and my predicted fifth-place team’s current standing, but hear me out: come December, the loyal fans of Manchester United will be rewarded by witnessing Pogba dropkick Mourinho into a plane out of England forever. With literally any other competent manager, the Red Devils should rally and storm their way out of mid-table position into the final Champions League spot. Watch out, Europe: 2019 is the Year of Marcus Rashford. 5. Chelsea A self-professed fan of the Blues, I think Chelsea need time to figure out and translate Sarri’s system into English football. Right now, they’re winning off the undeniable ability of superstar Eden Hazard, and while that might be enough for every other team, the other four teams I have placed above them possess not only the talent, but the cohesion to rob the Blues of crucial points. Come May, Chelsea will find themselves back in a Europa League position and waving good-bye to their Belgian hero. 6. Watford Okay, yeah, I picked Watford here too. Although one can say that it’s too early in the season to be putting a resource weak Watford side anywhere near title contention, this is more a comment on the weakness of my surprise ranking than the virtues of the Hornets. They look impressive under manager Javi Gracia, and it is no fluke that they beat a Son-less Tottenham. Watford should finish high in the standings, led by a topthree goalscorer at the end of the season in Troy Deeney. Surprise Placing: 10. Arsenal You can’t @ me, Arsenal fans-- I don’t have a Twitter. Paris San Germain barely survived Emery’s tenure, and I’ll tell you, there’s no eureka moment in which the Spaniard is the solution to Arsenal’s current woes. His obsession with tactics rather than people proved his undoing when he left the PSG locker room in shambles last spring, and he’ll do the same to the turbulent, egoridden London squad. I can easily see them losing every single game against any of the other “Big Six” teams, which mathematically already costs them thirty points. Ozil needs a man-manager, one that can slap him in the face and return him to his 2014 form, and Emery is more likely to stare at a whiteboard than look at the field. Arsenal will suffer their worst season in recent memory and face utter collapse as its fans riot. Although “Wenger Out” was definitely a step in the right direction, it doesn’t mean that Emery wasn’t also a step back.
Tulsa dominates Missouri Tulsa cross country emerges victorious in both men’s and women’s races. Coming off a strong showing at the Hurricane Invitational, Tulsa Cross Country had momentum going into their next meet. Saturday, September 15, the men’s and women’s teams traveled to Joplin, Missouri to compete in the Missouri Southern Stampede. The men competed against 34 teams in a 10K race after the women raced in a 5K against 27. The Tulsa women started off strong in the pack. Reagan Hausmann and Caitlin Klopfer led the entire race side by side, with Claire Mccune not far behind in 6th place. The ladies led with ease and continued to increase the distance between themselves and their opponents, who trailed behind. As they pulled farther ahead, the next five Golden Hurricane racers continued to catch up to more and more racers ahead of them. Hausmann came down the last straight in 1st place and finished in 17 minutes and 26 seconds, with Klopfer behind her at 17 minutes and 33.0 seconds. Caroline Miller trailed her in 5th place at 17 minutes and 46.6 seconds. Pulling up the rear was Alyssa Bolliger in 8th place and Alice newcombe, the 5th runner for Tulsa, in 17th for some final points for TU. There was no question that the girls had crushed the 5K course and claimed victory over all 27 teams. Tulsa’s final score was 33 total points, 77 ahead of Missouri State in second place and the Oklahoma Baptist with 160 behind them. The ladies claimed victory, building upon the momentum they already had. By the time the Tulsa men took to the starting line, the sun was boiling directly above the 34 teams. The team had to run
Devyn Lyon Student Writer
their six miles in the blazing heat through open fields. They raced several runners and started off strong. Scott Beattie and Isaac Akers lead the entire race. The two Tulsa runners were unmatched, but the TU coaches had to implement strategy in a race of less importance, but lots of heat. Somewhere between four and five miles, Beattie and Akers were pulled out in order to keep them from overheating and save them for future races. Washburn and Missouri Southern then took the lead, but Tulsa was nowhere near out of this race. Peter Lynch came in clutch for Tulsa and finished 3rd place overall in 24 minutes and 56.2 seconds. Austin Del Rosso for TU came down the final straight in 9th place in 25 minutes and 22.8 seconds. Right Behind him, in 13th and 14th place were Adam Breaux and Cameron Field in 25 minutes and 30 seconds for Breaux, and 25 minutes and 36 seconds for Field. Fifth runner for the Tulsa men was Robert Tully, who finished 24th overall in 25 minutes and 56.2 seconds. Reed Sahadevan and Mark Middleton of Tulsa were pushing teams farther back in scores as they pulled in closely behind Tully. Tulsa men finished in 1st place overall with a final team score of 59, keeping 18 points between them and Missouri Southern in 2nd place. Even pulling their top two runners, they were able to keep a very comfortable victory in this meet. Both teams put up some great times and took home lots of hardware from their races. But the focus is not in the Missouri Southern Stampede, but rather on the Nuttycombe in Wisconsin, in just two weeks.
photos by Devyn Lyon
Sports
17 September 2018
The Collegian: 4
Kovač to revamp Bayern Munich With Brennen Gray as the Feature Creature.
Student writer Chris Lierly discusses the moving and shaking that the Bayern Munich manager will have to do to leave his mark on the club. In May of 2013, FC Bayern Munich lifted the Champions League trophy in Wembley Stadium after defeating their rivals Borussia Dortmund in the final. Every season since the team has struggled to reclaim the glory of that night in London. Since Bayern Munich wins the Bundesliga title nearly every year, managers of the team need to win the Champions League to leave their mark. Two Champions League winning managers Pep Guardiola and Car-
position is interchangeable in the 2018/19 Bayern Munich squad. Up front veterans Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery will have to share time with Thomas Müller and Kingsley Coman. In the middle of the field it really gets crowded as James Rodriguez, Thiago, Corentin Tolisso, Leon Goretzka, and Javi Martinez all have good shots at starting roles. Not to mention that the defense behind this midfield has about six starting quality defenders for a team
“Kovač will make changes at the Allianz Arena this season. He will have to.” lo Ancelotti tried to bring that same success back to Bavaria since 2013 and both failed. The hiring of Niko Kovač promises, among many things, changes to the squad as it was . When Kovač was hired, he made it clear that he wanted to appraise the entire team to best build a system of his own. To help the new manager the club presented him with new signings Leon Goretzka and Serge Gnabry and recalled the former prodigy Renato Sanches who was on loan at Swansea City. Kovač then endured a summer full of transfer rumors that culminated in the midfield engine of Arturo Vidal transferring to FC Barcelona. However, Bayern thwarted a bid by the same club to buy their other anchoring midfielder, Thiago Alacantara, and a money loaded attempt by Jose Mourinho to bring centre-back Jerome Boateng to Manchester United. So luckily for Kovač, he starts this year off with many options at all levels of the game. Other than goalkeeper and striker, filled by superstars Manuel Neur and Robert Lewandowski respectively, almost every
that has historically utilized a back four set. You might have noticed that all these players add up to a few over the legally allowed eleven on a pitch at once, and there lies Kovač’s first decision. On a team with talent like this, who do you bench? Another decision the Croatian manager must make regards contracts and whether to part ways with players that have defined the last decade of Bayern Munich’s success. Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben have both come through in big moments for Bayern. However, the club really cannot continue to forfeit so much speed in the attack by starting both. Kovač will likely have to choose one, if not both, to decline signing a new contract with in favor of buying a new attacker or promoting from within. Kovač will make changes at the Allianz Arena this season. He will have to. The changes he makes and whether he utilizes the players in the ways that recent managers could not will decide whether Kovač’s tenure at Bayern will be a storied one that reclaims the glory of 2013 or one to forget.
Big Sexy Hey gang, we’re back. I’m sorry it’s been a hot second there, but there have been things to do, places to see, bleachers to creach. Don’t worry though, I promise that I won’t leave you again until the next time I do. For our first excursion back into the world of sportsatire, I’d like to make sure everyone knows about Willians Astudillo, the folk hero that baseball deserves. America’s Pastime gets a lot of flak for being boring, and let’s be honest, that’s a perfectly justifiable opinion (though let me tell you, hearing this from soccer fans makes my eyes roll so far back into my head it looks like I’m in the middle of an exorcism). But if you think Astudillo is dull, I have to question your sanity, your morals, your very existence.
Is the world of professional sports actually an anime? What makes up an anime plot other than highly talented individuals using their powers to defeat their opponents? Not to mention the backdrop of dark and despair that perpetually exists in sports as in anime. A little less than half the teams in any sports league will be in a dark time of being notoriously bad. Then the draft brings in a heroic figure with unimaginable power despite being the newest person on the squad, and that person helps band the team together to make their land a better place. LeBron is basically One-Punch Man, the second Odell Beckham Jr. turned his hair blonde he went Super Saiyan, and I’ll give up my PhD in sports if Breanna Stewart isn’t basically Sailor Uranus. Every person in the Golden State Warriors administration is just Maximillian Pegasus. I’m not crazy.
“Every person in the Golden State Warriors administration is just Maximillian Pegasus.” My man is a 26-year-old rookie who stands 5’9” and would weigh his listed 225 pounds if he lived on the moon. He’s primarily a catcher, but likes to hang around the infield and outfield corners in his spare time. Dude doesn’t hit dingers, but he also doesn’t strike out, and in today’s K-happy MLB, that’s … kinda hot. Have you seen the video of the big fella hustling his way around the basepaths, helmet flying off and bodacious belly jiggling all over the place? If not, drop this paper and go watch it, print media is dead anyway. I propose that we strip Bartolo “Two Families” Colon of the “Big Sexy” moniker and give it to Astudillo, because he’s just an amazing character and also, you know, because he doesn’t have two families. Begone Thots Speaking of infidelity, former NBA player Jason Maxiell came out recently and revealed that over the course of his 12-year NBA career, he cheated on his wife with not one, not two, but 341 different women. Basketball players are somewhat famous for their promiscuity, from Wilt Chamberlain’s “20,000 women” claim to Magic Johnson’s
The Greatest Game Ever Played Listen up, guys. It is time to get real. Two words: kick volleyball. Sepak Takraw is like Bruce Lee meets the oily volleyball game from “Top Gun.” This is the future of sports. The Southeast Asian sport would take America by storm, and we already have the perfect athletes for it. The best player in the MLB, Willians Astudillo, would be a fire Tekong with his arm strength. 2024 Presidential candidate Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. could take some time away from his coach and lifelong father figure Belichick to be the perfect Feeder. And last but not least, King James himself would be the greatest Killer this side of the world. Imagine 6’ 7 1/4” (201.3 cm) of royal leg crushing sepak takraw ball into the sand. Let’s Go Do Dat Quidditch A great man once said, “You miss 100 percent of shots you don’t take,” and that man was the world’s greatest boss at Dunder Mifflin. It is time for the world to give Quidditch a chance. The sport combines the greatest parts of all sports: athleticism, power, passion, broomsticks and a situation where the British league is the
“I propose that we strip Bartolo ‘Two Families’ Colon of the ‘Big Sexy’ moniker and give it to Astudillo...” ‘80s orgies, so I guess I can’t say this is really surprising? But man do these moments make you feel scummy as a sports fan, when you realize that a lot of these guys you root for, figures that you looked up to when you were a little kid, are actually total scumbags. The lesson is, as always, don’t go digging into the lives of your heroes, or you’re sure to come away disappointed. Even a man as seemingly upstanding as LeBron James has had…oh shit, somebody just threw a chair at my head! I’m under attack! What’s going on?! By God, that’s the Feature Creature’s music! It’s your boy the Feature Creature Sportsball is actually Anime I present to you the only question in the history of sports that armies of Reddit devotees and television personalities/sports journalists will never answer.
most competitive because of world politics. Forming the National Association of Systemized Diligent Athletes of Quidditch (NASDAQ) will be well worth the injuries and dark lords that may pop up. Back to the Bleacher Creature... Welp, I just woke up in a pool of my own blood, a sticky note with “Brennen Gray wuz here” scrawled on it stuck to my forehead. I guess I won’t be talking smack about LeBron James anymore! In the interest of self-preservation, I’ll need a new athlete to direct my vociferous sports hatred. Candidates include memelord Joel Embiid, LeastJacked-Roid-User-Of-All-Time Ryan Braun and NHL superstar Sidney “the General” Greivious. Oh, and every single person who has ever attended Bishop Hendricken High School in Warwick, Rhode Island, can’t forget about those douchebags.
graphic by Conner Maggio
Bayern Munich crest. 15
Sept. 17 - Sept. 23
Monday
Tuesday 17
Wednesday 18
Thursday 20
19
No Events No Events No Events
Saturday
Friday
Football @ Temple 6:30 p.m.
Volleyball vs Memphis 7 p.m.
M Tennis vs Oracle/ ITA Masters Malibu, CA
W Golf vs. Lady Paladin Invit. 5 p.m.
W Soccer vs. ECU 7 p.m.
22
21
M Soccer @ SMU 7 p.m.
W Golf vs. Lady Paladin Invit. 5 p.m. Sotfball vs. SOSU 2 p.m.
Sunday 23
No Events
17 September 2018
News
The Collegian: 5
A talk with Harvey: homelessness, faith, redemption
Night Light Tulsa invited The Collegian to converse with Harvey and discuss his life, chiefly about his journey through homelessness. Emily Every Commentary Editor I had been put in touch Harvey to hear his long experience with homelessness and share his perspective on how homelessness continues to affect others. I met up with him last Thursday at a volunteer event, where he had agreed to put aside some time and speak with me. Wearing a wooden cross around his neck and a baseball cap sporting the 45th Infantry Division logo, he shook my hand and introduced himself as a staff member for the event. Harvey finds employ working for Night Light Tulsa, a local non-profit that feeds and clothes people experiencing homelessness. The event takes place weekly beneath the bridge under which Harvey himself used to occasionally find shelter. We found a grassy spot to sit a bit away from the commotion of the event, and I asked him a few questions. Can you tell me a bit about yourself and your experience with homelessness? “I was born in Fort Worth, Texas. I grew up in the Sand Springs area and went to school out in Prattville. Of course, we were poor people, you know? We moved out here [to Tulsa] when I was 13. And I quit school, so I had a few years of doing nothing like somebody out of control. This is around ‘79. “I get a job working with my dad in a steel shop, and I worked there about a year before I met this woman. I found out she was pregnant. “I asked myself, ‘Now what you gonna do, smartie? What are you gonna show your kid when he goes to show-and-tell?’ That really did bother me. I had to do something about it. So, I joined the military. I served my time and got out. Of course, the first marriage I had [ended in] divorce. “I got a job at Triple A, and I met another lady while working there. They always say ‘five-diamond service.’ Well, I gave ten-diamond service; I wanted to stick out past the other employees, but that gave me bad ratings because I wasn’t zooming through customers. [...] So, I married that lady, moved to Missouri a few years, and came back here, where we got divorced. She split. I’m on the streets, right? This is where it all hit the hardest. I’ve got five brothers and two sisters. None of my family would reach out. And that’s blood. “You know, I never stayed in a shelter. Never, never. I stayed out in the wilderness. It was the only thing I trusted. I lived near
this bridge or by the river. I had a brother stay in a shelter and I’d only seen bad things come from it. He was handicapped, and they would pick on him. At one point, I was going to go down there and put a man on his back [for harassing] my brother. And that’s not good; I was going to hurt somebody. It was just a path of destruction, in all senses. My brother stopped me from doing that. If someone don’t care about nobody else, or if they don’t care about themselves, what good is going to come from it? “I met another lady [Lisa] since I’d been divorced, and that’s when I started shooting meth. I didn’t care anymore. For ten years, I drank and shot dope. I did that for a long time. “I took a long look at myself, you know? And I thought, ‘Look what you did to your-
“I had asked God to change me. I asked Him with my whole heart. I reached out from the depths of Hell to ask Him to pull me out, and he did. [...] That one prayer was my rehab. One day, I was walking around here, and I passed the Night Light Tulsa building. On the door, it said ‘Ladies’ Meeting,’ and I said, ‘Not for me.’ But I looked down on the pavement, I saw that some kid had written down ‘With God all things are possible.’ Man, that gave me a message. I rang that doorbell, and Sarah [Grounds, the founder of Night Light Tulsa] opened the door. She pulled me a seat and went and got me a cup of coffee, [and] I told her about what happened. This was two years ago. Now I’m off of dope. I see people around that I used to know, and I say, ‘There’s a better life than this. Let me pray for you. Follow me and
“One thing is, anyone living on the streets [hasn’t] been able to take a shower. They stink, you know? And people look down on them like they’re an insect. Well, that’s not right. That person can’t help it. A lot of them would go take a shower if they had [access to] a facility. And a lot of them won’t take a shower that facilities have provided because they won’t trust others. They’ll get in a shower and their belongings are just taken. I hear all kinds of stories. I’ve reflected a lot, and I thank Jesus for what he’s brought me through. “I used to smoke two packs of cigarettes a day when I could afford them. When I couldn’t, I would ask people ask people to bum a cigarette. And homeless people [do the same] every day. Some people don’t like to hear that, you know? [The people being asked] wouldn’t give the shirt off their back. They wouldn’t give a smile if asked. They won’t even speak to anyone. Man, that’s gotta stop. God wants us to find all of his children, and many of them are out here on the street. [...] If they’re homeless, they’re my family. Have a heart big enough to say to someone, ‘Hey man, you matter to me.’” If you could give any advice to the public in their treatment of people who have experienced homelessness, what would it be? “Be very patient with them. A lot of them still have trouble trusting others.”
Commentary Editor Emily Every poses with Harvey for a farewell pic.
self. You used to be a stand-tall, U.S. military, saluting-soldier, and now look at you. You’re trash.’ I really hated what I’d become. “I was willing to marry Lisa because I loved her so much, but she shot dope too. She didn’t have a job. She didn’t have nowhere, no one. All of a sudden, she got bad sick. I didn’t know what it was. She went to the hospital. The hospital told her that was she fine. They laughed at her, actually. The following year she went back and they told her she had stage-3 cancer. They didn’t get it [earlier], so it just grew and grew and grew. They couldn’t even take it out. She passed away. “I didn’t want to live, man. I wanted to die because I hated what I’d become. Right after Lisa passed away, my brother passed away. And that left me feeling even more inferior. You know, I’ve had guns pulled on me. A guy put a gun to my temple, and I laughed at him. Like, ‘Dude, are you for real? Do it.’ I didn’t care.
photo by Emily Every
I’ll take you somewhere they can help you.’ Man, I’m fortunate. “Evil steps in and takes all you have. Being freed from that brings all you love back, but it takes time for people to trust you again: My son and my grandbabies, I just got to take them to the Gathering Place last Sunday and [also] to church. I’m fortunate like that. I have siblings who are still lost.” What does the word ‘home’ mean to you? “For me, home is to be somewhere where I don’t hassle nobody — my being there is bothering no one but myself. You know what I mean? For instance, taking a shower. It’s hard to be in some big facility or someone else’s home and taking a shower when someone knocks on the door. It’s like, ‘Shower’s over. I’ve already intruded.’“ What would you want someone who’s never experienced homelessness to understand about homelessness?
Due to the formal limitations of an interview, there is a fair amount of my conversation with Harvey I couldn’t include in this edited article. Harvey spoke to me about his family, his past relationships, his favorite childhood memories and his long lasting religious journey. But above all, he spoke of his own fortune. Throughout our 45-minute chat, he kept returning to the word “fortunate” to describe his journey, especially his having found a job working to help the homeless. Pointing to his heart, where his shirt indicates that he’s a Night Light Tulsa staff member, Harvey says, “It’s like I’m tall again. It’s like I’m a stand-up, saluting soldier again.” If you’d like to volunteer for Night Light Tulsa and help the homeless community of Tulsa, the event takes place every Thursday evening beneath the bridge between the intersection of Brady and Maybelle starting at 6:15 p.m. If you do end up going, you’ll probably see Harvey among the staff working the event. It’s also likely that he’ll ask to take a picture with you with both thumbs up. I hope you’ll take him up on it. For more information, visit www.citylightsok.org/night-light-tulsa.
Seattle teachers strike for Day of Caring in Tulsa: a time pay, prolong school year of service inside and outdoors Seattle teacher Michael Cortez spoke to The Collegian about his feelings as an underprivileged elementary school teacher. Iris Ramirez Student Writer When school began on September 5, teachers in Seattle, Washington, were expecting a 10.5 – 25 percent pay increase. After four weeks of striking and threats for a delay in the start of the school year, members of the Seattle Education Association had compromised a new education contract to include at least a 10.5 percent raise in teachers salaries for over 6,000 schools. In the previous 2015 – 18 contract, the average Seattle educator would make between $50,604 to $100,763 and in the new contract will now be making $55,984 – $111,343. Michael Cortez, an elementary level music teacher at Mcgilvra and Stevens elementary school, describes being a current educator in Seattle as a stressful background with a rewarding future, stating, “I wanted to be an influential person in a student’s life and I felt that education was a great way of becoming that type of person.” According to Cortez, his high school choir director influenced him to become an educator, who he said was caring, would always make the students laugh and would always lend an open ear to the students. Becoming an educator requires multiple tests for certification, a large number of field experience hour and several courses on learning the basic structures of general
education. When finally stepping foot into the classroom, Cortez shared how difficult it can be to deal with large class sizes and accompanying students with different learning abilities while having few or outdated resources. On a normal school day, the average class size at both elementary schools can range from about 20 to 30 students. This has led to buying school supplies to support the students with money out of pocket. Cortez also shared how from personal experience, teachers are one of the only professions that take their work home with them with papers to grade, lessons to plan and practicing instructions. “It makes me feel like I have a better chance of living affordably in the city,” he said. Although this is Cortez’s first year living in Seattle, he feels that it was important for him to go out and strike in honor of his fellow colleagues who have been in the workforce for many years. Last, Cortez shared to all people who are interested in becoming educators to “be adaptive,” adding, “Becoming an educator is not simple — you will learn to read body language and change things on the fly. It is okay to fail and it is all a learning experience.” On Saturday, September 8, 2018, the Seattle Education Association and Seattle Public Schools District officially discussed and voted on the approval of the new teacher’s salary contract. All schools have started classes on the normal school year schedule, and the new payment contract took into effect at the beginning of the 2018 – 19 school year.
The Day of Caring, a Tulsa staple for most of the 2000s, proceeded as usual this year with contributions from TU. Kaitlyn Argo Student Writer This past Friday was the United Way Day of Caring in Tulsa. Day of Caring is a day where various organizations and businesses volunteer around the Tulsa area in different ways for United Way Agencies. For example, Magellan Midstream Partners had 115 volunteers helping at eight agencies. One agency was the YMCA Hutcherson Downtown. At this YMCA, the Magellan volunteers spread mulch on a playground, painted hopscotch patterns on the ground and did general clean up of the playground. They have participated in the Day of Caring for the last 15 years. Day of Caring is a city-wide event and a chance for business and organizations in the city to donate time and give back to the community through action. They volunteer
at United Way Agencies through various means including client interaction, which could be reading to children, playing games with developmentally challenged clients or helping a senior citizen with yard and house work. Organizations can help with indoor and outdoor projects, such as painting interior office walls, helping local food banks organize and clean their storage areas or building outdoor shade areas for assisted living homes. Many projects this year included planting planter boxes for gardening at the agencies. Even TU had a hand in it, as the JumpstartTU organization on campus volunteered at Archer Park in painting the basketball court, guard rails, picnic tables and general clean up of the park. There are many different ways to volunteer for the United Way, but the Day of Caring is a once-a-year focus on volunteering. If you would like to volunteer in other ways, you can visit the Tulsa Area United Way website at www.tauw.org for details of upcoming volunteer events.
“... teachers are one of the only professions that take their work home with them.” YMCA volunteers paint a hopscotch pattern on pavement.
photo by Kaitlyn Argo
News
The Collegian: 6 See Campus Climate, cover Of the data given, 61 percent told a friend, nine percent told a parent and 17 percent told no one. Of participants in the survey, only four participants used formal methods of reporting the assault, and only three participants disclosed the assault to a campus sexual assault advocate. After sharing the data found from the study,. Davis explained what TITAN recommended the university do in taking steps forward. “We are not unique in that there is sexual violence on this campus, but we are in a unique position due to the resources available,” she explained. She recommended that the university continue to expand the Domestic Violence Intervention Service (DVIS), creating new positions that are needed for an effective office. Providing more programming, especially within the first year experience courses, and partnering with Greek life. Additionally, she recommending institutionalizing the Office of Violence Prevention (OVP), as well as providing more training in violence prevention for faculty, staff and personnel. After Davis spoke, President Clancy gave a short speech about the continued commitment to efforts in creating a safer campus. He addressed the persistent talk on prevention and available resources to students, stating that “45 percent of assaults on campus occur during the first year at TU.”
He continued, saying, “Those of you who have been here for two or three years, you may be getting tired of this. But every year there are a new class of freshman, so you are going to continue to hear about this.” The talk closed with a discussion, where students wrote questions to be answered by a panel consisting of President Clancy, Dr. Davis Violence Prevention Coordinator Kelsey Hancock, and university Title IX coordinator Matt Warren. Questions ranged from how to change campus culture to how Greek life could be more involved. When asked what she wanted the students to get out of the talk, Davis noted the importance of the data gathered from the survey. “I hope that you have already, but if you haven’t, please make sure to take the survey,” she said. This data drives how the campus moves forward in addressing interpersonal violence and is a space with which to make your voice heard. There are campus resources available through phone calls and in-person. Alexander Health Center: 918-631-2241 Counseling and Psychological Services: 918-631-2200 Center for Student Academic Support: 918-631-2315 Safe Zone/Office for Violence Prevention (LGBTQ): 918-631-2324 Title IX coordinator: 918-631-4602
LIBR researcher on treating anxiety with exposure therapy Laura Garrison discusses the negatives of anxiety and the exposure therapy treatment that LIBR is researching. Brooke-Lyne Holland Student Writer LIBR, the Laureate Institute for Brain research, is working to combat anxiety. Laura Garrison, one of the researchers at LIBR, spoke to The Collegian about a study which which she is involved in that studies patients who have high anxiety and determine if exposure therapy might help them. According to the American Psychological Association, APA, exposure therapy is a “psychological treatment that was developed to help people confront their fears.” Laura Garrison works with Justin Feinstein, Clinical Neuropsychologist and director of LIBR’s Float Clinic and Research Center, on the anxiety study. Garrison explains that the study uses a simple breathing test where the patient breathes into a bag with 100 percent fresh air and another separate bag with 20 percent carbon dioxide to conclude if exposure therapy will be helpful to that particular person with high levels on anxiety. As stated by Garrison, research shows that “exposure therapy is the gold standard at helping people with anxiety.”. Garrison explained that anxiety is “such a prevalent issue” with people and can compromise people’s lives extensively. She also stated, “Anxiety disorders are the sixth leading cause of worldwide disability, and the most common mental health issue.” According to Garrison and her colleagues, anxiety usually starts in “childhood or adolescence and symptoms typically persist throughout life without treatment.” Without treatment, one’s quality of life can be affected negatively and create more problems such as failing a class due to the fear that comes with the disorder. Garrison explains that there are common anxiety disorders, such as “panic disorder, specific phobias, social phobia and generalized anxiety disorder.” Even though there are many different kinds of anxiety, many are treated with the same treatment, no matter which anxiety disorder has been diagnosed. Because of this, LIBR is trying
to find other treatments to help combat the different disorders. University of Tulsa students are invited to participate in the 10-week study and be compensated for their time. Participations entails exposure therapy and answering questions on one’s feelings before and after the treatment. The patient needs to have some sort of anxiety disorder, diagnosed or not. According to LIBR, the study is open to people who are: • 18 years and older • Can understand enough English to complete the interviews and answer questions. • Have access to a computer. • NOT an international student visa. This is due to restrictions on international students’ research compensation. • NOT currently experiencing severe/ unstable health issues that need immediate medical attention “The therapy is personalized to the anxiety issues the subject wants to work on,” explained Garrison. She also pointed out that research that was conducted previously has shown that the same type of therapy that the patients will experience “has been shown to reduce anxiety symptoms for some patients.” Garrison expresses her passion for her work saying, “I love to be able to help people who suffer from some of these mental health issues … to me, anything you can do to get patients into therapy that will actually help them is why I love my job.” Simplified by Garrison, this breathing test “could possibly predict who will get the most benefits out of therapy before making that time commitment … it’s a study that provides the benefits of free therapy, getting paid for participating in the study, and helping with research that could benefit future anxiety patients in their treatment.” If interested, call 918-502-5100. Emergency Hotlines Local Crisis Line: 918-293-2100 National 24/7 Suicide Hotline: 1-800784-2433 True Blue Neighbors Behavioral Health Clinic: 918-631-3342 Alexander Health Center: 918-631-2241 Campus Security: 918-631-5555 Domestic Violence Intervention Service: 918-585-3163
courtesy Public Radio Tulsa
LIBR hopes to gather a sizable student population for their future research programs.
17 September 2018
TU hires Amanda Chastang, new Office of Diversity and Engagement fellow Chastang’s position revolves around transparency and the goal of making TU a more inclusive and diverse institution. Brooke-Lyne Holland Student Writer Amanda Chastang, the new Office of Diversity and Engagement fellow on campus, is a staff resource and advocate/liaison for students. Chastang, alongside Jacqueline Higgs Caldwell, the vice president for diversity and engagement, is working on the University of Tulsa’s Diversity Action Plan to make sure everyone has an outstanding experience at TU. Chastang received her Bachelor’s in Conflict Studies with a focus on Race, Ethnicity and Culture Conflict and Gender Conflict from DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. After accomplishing this, she came to the University of Tulsa and received her Master’s in History with a focus on Race, Women and Gender Studies. She graduated from TU last year and is now working for the university as the new Office of Diversity and Engagement Fellow on campus. The University of Tulsa’s Diversity Action Plan involves multiple action steps toward making TU a better university in regards of diversity and hospitality. According to the TU website, the Office of Diversity and Engagement works hard when “recruiting and retaining diverse students while also developing programs on campus to cultivate resources that nurture a diverse campus community.” During an interview, Chastang talked about her goals, saying, “One of my main
objectives in this new position is to increase the transparency of communication between students, student organizations and administrators, especially in regards to diversity.” To do this efficiently, Chastang spends her days in Collins Hall and nights in the office side of Hardesty on the first floor to work with all 31 multicultural organizations on campus. Part of her job is to analyze what TU can do to be better to increase the comfortability of the campus climate and how to make that a reality. Chastang said she wants to make TU a “home away from home” so students can have an even better experience at TU, especially students with diverse backgrounds. According to Chastang, TU is trying to be “transparent” toward students so they can feel comfortable when seeking help from the department. She wants students to know that the Office of Diversity and Engagement is a safe place for them and that their voices will be heard. “Diversity has been a primary initiative on campus and my position helps to promote and engage the voices of students from diverse backgrounds with multiple facets across campus,” she said. Chastang is ready to help students with all types of backgrounds on campus, saying, “I am here if students need someone to help guide them and support them when they need it.” TU students will be able to find Chastang at the Office of Diversity and Engagement in the Collins Hall, room 2160 or in the Hardesty Hall (Holmes) in the Multicultural Resource Center on the first floor.
photo by Brooke-Lyne Holland
In addition to pursuing university interests, Chastang is available for informal counseling.
Remembering 9/11: 17 years later The terrorist attack shook the country and permanently changed American culture; here we remember the events and victims. Brooke-Lyne Holland Student Writer On September 11, 2001, 17 years ago, America suffered one of the most tragic events in national history after 19 terrorists crashed four airliners into different locations, including into both towers at the World Trade Center. Many people woke up that morning to go about their everyday lives, but thousands didn’t get to go home. Today, we honor those who were lost and the heroism of the first responders. According to History.com, on that day, four American Airline planes were hijacked in the morning by “militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaida” in a suicide attack against targets in the United States. Two of the hijacked planes were flown into the twin towers of the World trade Center in New York City; a third plane crashed into the Pentagon located outside of Washington, D.C., and the fourth crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Hundreds of people were killed immediately after the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center’s north tower. However, the numbers increased when the second plane hit the south tower shortly after. As the towers went up in flames and littered the streets below with rubble, hundreds of first responders ran into the chaos to try to save those trapped inside. As people tried to escape and help, a few hours following the attack, the towers fell into a burning heap, killing dozens of people and responders. As the towers fell, only one other plane accomplished its mission: to crash into the Pentagon. According to biography.com, the plane “crashed into the west side of the Pentagon” killing more government workers. The fourth plane, originally hijacked by terrorists, was taken back by the passengers inside. History.com tells the story of two people who contacted their loved ones right before the plane crashed because they knew
the plane was not going back to the airport, but to be used as a suicide mission. The passengers and flight attendants planned to attack their captors and sacrifice their lives to save others. History.com states the passengers fought the hijackers until the plane “flipped over and sped toward the ground … crashing in a rural field near Shanksville in western Pennsylvania … killing 44 passengers on the plane.” Later that day, according to biography. com, President George W. Bush delivered a televised address declaring, “Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shattered steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve.” After that day, according to History.com, Operation Enduring Freedom, the American-led effort to oust the Taliban and destroy Bin Laden, worked for years in an attempt to bring justice to those affected by the terrorist group. On May 2, 2011, Bin Laden was tracked down and killed by U.S. forces at a hideout in Pakistan. According to History.com, “2,996 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks, including the 19 terrorist hijackers aboard the four airlines.” Many more were injured physically and mentally after watching their loved ones fall with the towers or the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania and into the Pentagon. Also, today people are suffering from lung cancer because they breathed in the toxic air that was released from toxic minerals that were burned in the towers. Many American lives were lost on September 11, 2001, and today, they are still remembered across the country. The twin towers at the World Trade Center were not rebuilt but were renamed to “Ground Zero” and made into a large memorial plaza — a tribute to all the lives lost in the events of 9/11. The main building of the rebuilt complex is called One World Trade Center and is located in lower Manhattan, New York City. It was a day that left everyone feeling lost, confused and hurt. The events of the day effected huge cultural changes not just in the U.S., but around the world.
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17 September 2018
The Collegian: 7
TU hosts experts to discuss NPR’s Edith Chapin visits American healthcare crisis TU in The Give and Take Six speakers, including President Clancy, took the stage at the Helmerich Center for American Research to discuss healthcare. Brady Patterson Student Writer The University of Tulsa hosted “The Roots of America’s Health Continental Divide,” a speaking event, last Tuesday. It occured within the Helmerich Center for American Research at the Gilcrease Museum (technically still on the university campus). The event was put on by Dr. Jeffrey Alderman to highlight and coincide with the goals of the Institute for Health Care Delivery Sciences. It worked to “collaborate with non-traditional academic disciplines when solving health care problems, including engineering, law, business, computer science, informatics, sociology, humanities and history.” That goal lined up with the faculty members who were selected to make presentations about how their studies correlate to the problems they see with healthcare that we currently encounter on a local scale all the way up to the national and even supranational. Dr. Alderman made a short introduction, citing questions that many people have about health care in the present. “Why is it that my bills are so large? Why do I not get enough time with doctors, nurse practitioners and nurses?” he asked in example before turning to the night’s speakers. The first speaker was University president Dr. Gerard Clancy, who tackled the issue from the perspective of a medical doctor. He emphasized the importance of what he called “man-made borders” and how they cause “man-made disasters.” He cited health disparities on either side of the border of Northern Ireland and Ireland, the border of the United States and Mexico and a third border, one which is seldom considered, the Mason-Dixon line. Clancy also spoke about how human failures in response to natural disasters, like Hurricane Katrina, can lead to massive disparities in health outcomes between different areas of cities like New Orleans. The next speaker was Dr. Kirsten Oertel, head of the history department. Her talk focused on how inherent differences in the economies and societies of the North and the South led to different health outcomes for civilians and soldiers of the Civil War up to the present day. She talked about how veterans of the Union army receive free healthcare from the federal government up until WWI, while Confederate veterans had to take care of themselves as best they could. The people in the South had fears that giving free care to veterans would create a dependency problem. People everywhere feared that giving any aid to the newly freed African American slaves would cause them to become dependent on that aid. She stressed that these ideas have not exactly disappeared from the political discourse. Following her was Matt Lamkin, an Associate Professor of Law. His major point was that “we seem to have reinforced the idea that health and medicine are synonymous, but that is not true.” He said that the word “healthcare” has a connotation of being only medicine, but there are plenty of
things that people can and should do to maintain their health which have nothing to do with medicine. This includes exercising and eating healthy. He went on to list growing problems that have lead to decreasing health outcomes for the demographic group of white men, a historically privileged group. He states that, while the previously low health standards for Black and Hispanic people have risen steadily over the past 20 years, outcomes for white men have declined because more and more of them find themselves underemployed, incarcerated or alienated from civic society. He ended by saying that the decline in health standards are emblematic of “cultural and spiritual problems, not just medical, policy problems.” Dr. Travis Lowe is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and his presentation focused around health outcome disparities as a function of social class. He quipped that “our class system does more than determine who can or can’t buy a yacht.” He cited studies that confirmed that wealthy men live over five years longer than working class men on average, and among women, that gap is almost 10 years. He spoke of a need for us to “reimagine systems” throughout our society. Some examples he gave of how to make health outcomes “more fair” would be to sever the tie between employment and health insurance and to provide it to everyone with a single payer system. Finally, the chair of the Anthropology department, Dr. Peter Stromberg, spoke about how humans are unique among animals in our ability to create our own living environments. He posited the notion that we don’t exist separate from our environments, as our individuality might make it seem. Rather, we all exist as a part of the environment. He used examples of the Pima people of Arizona to show that many health problems can be inserted into our genetic code through the process of epigenetics, wherein certain factors in a pregnant mother’s environment can cause fetal genes to be expressed in different ways. One health concern caused by poor diet and passed down genetically is risk for type two diabetes. He stressed that because little research of this type has been done on any groups of people in Oklahoma, we have close to no understanding of how these factors can affect us. After the presentations, Dr. Clancy opened the floor to discussion, questions and comments. In response to a question about the fear of dependency on social assistance, Dr. Oertel said that people tend to have compassion for others in need in personal situations, but some miss that when it is in the aggregate. Someone raised a question about the Gathering Place and everyone agreed that it was a great place to get exercise and build community for people who may not have any other place to go. Dr. Oertel said that her son played a lot less “Fortnite” on the opening weekend in favor of pickup basketball. Dr. Stomburg said that our problems are exacerbated by “increasing inequality, privatization and monopolization,” adding “We have taken our money out of public resources and put it into private places.” He went on to say that “there are no easy or short-term solutions to health problems” because they have been centuries in the making.
courtesy University of Tulsa Events Calendar
Each speaker had a different perspective on the “gap” in healthcare equality, and how to bridge it.
Chapin, in conversation with Tulsa Public Radio’s Rich Fisher, discussed ethics and humanity in journalism. Brady Patterson Student Writer
On Wednesday, September 12, Public Radio Tulsa hosted one of its The Give and Take events. The guest speaker was Edith Chapin, executive editor of NPR news. The event was moderated by Rich Fisher, Public Radio Tulsa’s general manager. Edith Chapman spent 25 years working for CNN before she “saw the light” and went to public broadcasting, where she has been for six years, first as the senior supervising editor of the Foreign News Desk and then as the executive editor. She said that her current job entails “overseeing all the reporters and editors at NPR and a cursory, but broad oversight of the stories we should take and the direction [NPR] should be taking.” Chapin and Fisher spoke about how public radio serves as a voice that grabs the stories often ignored by the corporate media. That goal of covering such stories, Chapin said, is the reason, for the name of the popular NPR program “All Things Considered.” A major theme of the night was the mainstream media’s apparent fixation on news coming from Washington, D.C. Chapin made it clear that NPR understands, “There are more than three big stories a day.” She also emphasised the role of the “number of talented young reporters” who seek out stories in the realm of science
and art rather than fixating on the intrigue of the political system. One specific critique she had of the forprofit news companies that dominate the airways was the amount of time they spent covering the humanitarian disaster in Puerto Rico after the devastation of Hurricane Maria. She said that she was surprised that media outlets like CNN didn’t stay in Puerto Rico longer and said that it was a “point of pride” for her that NPR had decided to remain and continue to cover the unfolding story up until the present day. Something that came up later in the evening was a controversial interview with Jason Kessler, a white supremacist who was involved in the planning of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, South Carolina. She said that there was a lot of kick back and criticism because “people thought we were giving him a platform.” While she admits it may have not been a great idea, she maintains that “sometimes when you do a story about race, you have to talk to racists.” Near the end of the event, Chapin spoke about how she felt moments of tremendous humanity when she witnessed South Africans standing in line for days to cast their votes for Nelson Mandela, or when refugees in Bosnia, whose only food was a small ration of “two tomatoes and a can of spam,” tried to share it with the reporters covering their plight. After the discussion, Chapin thanked the Tulsans in the audience for giving her such a warm welcome, and Fisher offered her the gift of a Tulsa Drillers hat because of her affinity for minor league baseball.
Oklahoma governor candidate indicted on murder-for-hire
courtesy Santa Rosa Sheriff’s Office
The eclectic Joe Exotic, equal parts politican and safari zoo runner, holds a few dark secrets. Nate Gibbons Distribution Manager Oklahoma native, zookeeper and previous presidential candidate “Joe Exotic” was indicted on two murder-for-hire charges on September 7. A press release from the Department of Justice alleges he paid an unnamed person $3,000 in November of last year “to murder ‘Jane Doe’ in Florida.” In a second count, Joe Exotic allegedly asked an undercover FBI agent to do the same after a third party notified law enforcement. If found guilty, he could face up to ten years for each count. Joe Exotic, also known as Joseph Maldonado-Passage, previously ran the “G.W. Exotic Animal Memorial Park.” Multiple animal rights groups claimed the park was abusive. In 2006, PETA sent an undercover investigator to the park and reported multiple “horrors.” Among them included two lion cubs forced to interact with the public until their paws bled, employees using scared goats and chickens as bait to move big cats into cages, and employees striking animals with rakes and shovels. In one instance, two healthy adult tigers were killed so their teeth could be given away as gifts. Their carcasses were dumped in a garbage pit, the report states. The thousand animals in the park sometimes went without food for days while employees intentionally falsified USDA feeding records. For these and other abuses, Big Cat Rescue CEO Carole Baskin worked to expose Maldonado-Passage. Though unconfirmed, she says she is the targeted “Jane Doe.” “Because Big Cat Rescue has been a leader in working to stop what we view as abuse of big cats and been very effective in our work, I have received multiple death threats over the years, including at one point a number of snakes placed in my mailbox,” she wrote on Big Cat Rescue’s website. “[Maldonado-Passage] ran, in our view, one
of the most notorious cub petting roadside zoos in the country in Wynnewood, OK.” Her statement details how Joe Exotic used to run a traveling petting zoo to malls around the country. When she began notifying malls of the mistreatment of the animals, they cancelled Maldonado-Passage’s show. Maldonado-Passage began to antagonize Baskin in numerous ways, including running his show under the name “Big Cat Rescue Entertainment” to confuse businesses. Big Cat Rescue sued for intellectual property rights violations and was eventually granted a consent judgement for over $1 million. Maldonado-Passage is also famous online for running for President in 2016. In a video he posted on YouTube, he seemingly prided himself on “being honest.” “I’m gay. I’ve had two boyfriends most of my life,” Maldonado-Passage says in his video. “I’ve had some kinky sex. I’ve tried drugs through the younger years of my life. I’m broke as shit.” He also claims he runs one of “the nicest facilities for exotic animals in this country” before adding, “I have a judgement against me from some bitch down in Florida.” His YouTube channels are a mixed bag of zookeeping, politics and wrestling. Less than a year ago, he used JoeExoticTV to campaign for governor of Oklahoma. One video, posted in August 2017, is labeled “Joe Exposes PETA as Terrorist.” Another channel, JoeGoneWildTV, includes such videos as “Joe Exotic kicked out of Donald Trump Fundraiser 1” and “Peta spy caught in the Zoo,” in which Joe and employees follow and berate a man they believe to have recorded video for PETA. “Nat Geo screws Joe Exotic” and “Monkey love,” in which he records a monkey seemingly masturbating, are some included on a third channel. “This is what happens when your in a cage and get borde,” Joe writes in the description. Maldonado-Passage was arrested in Gulf Breeze, Florida, where he made an appearance before a judge. He has since been moved to Oklahoma for further proceedings.
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The Collegian: 8
Sept. 7 5:50 a.m. While on routine patrol University of Tulsa Campus Security Officers observed Tulsa Fire Department vehicles parked in front of the Muslim Student Association. Officers made contact with the fire department on scene and found that an alarm was triggered inside the building but no fire was present. Officers attempted to silence the alarm but were unsuccessful. 10:30 a.m. While on routine patrol University of Tulsa Campus Security Officers noticed an individual lying in the middle of the Soccer Practice Field. Officers attempted to make contact with the person, but they were asleep. When officers woke the person up, the individual became irate and left the field without cooperating. 8:50 p.m. University of Tulsa Campus Security Officers working patrol of the high school football game observed Jenks Campus Police attempting to escort a banned student fan from the game. The banned student actively resisted Jenks officers. Campus Security assisted with taking them into custody. The individual was then removed from the stadium at the 11th Street gate, and trespass-banned from University of Tulsa property.
17 September 2018
Sept. 8 12:25 a.m. University of Tulsa Campus security Officers responded to the Keplinger Hall parking lot after a student (driver) reported of two students refusing to get off their vehicle. The students claimed the other student had been drinking and climbed onto their hood to prevent them from leaving. The driver stated they had not been drinking and wanted the students off of their vehicle. The driver stated they had not been drinking and did not show signs or symptoms of being under the influence of alcohol. The driver and the student left without further incident.
volved and took a statement. Officers informed the student that a Tulsa Police Department report can be made if they feel it is necessary.
Sept. 9 9:10 p.m. University of Tulsa Campus Security Officers were dispatched to investigate a suspicious person roaming the hallways of the West Park apartments. Officers found the individual hiding under the south east staircase and attempted to question the individual. They attempted to run and officers detained them. A warrants and prior contact check returned positive for 5 traffic warrants. They also had a prior arrest for burglary. Tulsa Police were contacted and arrested the individual for their warrants. The individual was trespass warned and a contact card was created.
Sept. 13 3:30 p.m. University of Tulsa Campus Security Officers were dispatched to the Mabee East parking lot to investigate a non injury motor vehicle accident. Upon arrival Officers spoke with a TU employee who stated they had into another vehicle in Mabee East Lot. They immediately contacted security. Security was able to locate the owner of the second vehicle and information was exchanged.
Sept. 10 7:05 p.m. University of Tulsa Campus Security Officer were dispatched to Stephenson Hall to speak with a faculty member. Officers received information from a faculty member who wanted to report that there were 2 former students on campus who were no longer welcome. Officers located the former students and trespass warned them. The former students left without any issues. Sept. 12 12:00 p.m. University of Tulsa Campus Security Officers were dispatched to Mabee Gym to take a report for an auto collision. Officers met with a University of Tulsa student who was in-
Nate Gibbons Distribution Manager
Amazon chief Jeff Bezos gives $2 billion to charity Last Thursday, Amazon chief executive and founder Jeff Bezos pledged to give $2 billion to the “Day One Fund,” a fund he is establishing. In a statement, Bezos said the fund would focus on “funding existing non-profits that help homeless families, and creating a network of new, non-profit, tier-one preschools in low-income communities.” Bezos, the richest man in the world, is worth more than $164 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Last year, he asked for recommendations on what philanthropic investments he could make. Earlier investments include $33 million to support educating undocumented students and $10 million to fund a bipartisan committee that supports veterans running for Congress. Critics say Bezos has dedicated a miniscule percentage of his wealth to society. The Giving Pledge, whose signers include Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, urges billionaires to give a majority of their wealth to charity. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg recently said he and his wife would donate more than 99 percent of their Facebook shares to philanthropy.
Global community condemns Myanmar verdict Last Thursday, Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi said two Reuters reporters’ imprisonment had “nothing to do with freedom of expression at all.” She said they were jailed for breaking “the Official Secrets Act” and that they may still appeal the judgement. United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley tweeted, “First, in denial about the abuse the Burmese military placed on the Rohingya, now justifying the imprisonment of the two Reuters reporters who reported on the ethnic cleansing,” adding, “Unbelievable.” Reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who have been imprisoned for nearly a year, were investigating the massacre of Rohingya muslims when they were sentenced for possession of police documents. In the trial, a police witness backed the reporters’ claims that they were set up. The crackdown on Rohingya muslims has driven over 700,000 Rohingya out of Myanmar, leading to international condemnation and calls for Myanmar’s military leaders to be tried for war crimes. Former activist Suu Kyi, once praised as a global voice for human rights issues, has since lost multiple honors.
Russian poisoning suspects deny allegations in state-sponsored interview RT, a Russian state-sponsored news channel, interviewed the two suspects believed by United Kingdom authorities to be Russian agents responsible for last March’s poisoning of Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. The men, who give their names as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, claim their lives have been “turned upside down.” The men say they were in the area to see a famous “Salisbury cathedral, famous not only in Europe but in the whole world for its 123-metre spire and for its clock, one of the first created in the world.” Security footage sets them near Skripal’s house the day of the attack. Skripal and his daughter have moved to a safe location since their recovery. U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May’s spokesman said that “the lies and blatant fabrications in this interview given to a Russian state-sponsored TV station are an insult to the public’s intelligence.”
10:20 p.m. University of Tulsa Campus Security Officers were dispatched to the University Multi-Purpose Field in regards to a student being injured. The student had been kneed in the head while playing flag football. Emergency Medical Service Authority and Tulsa Fire Department responded to the scene and checked the student. The student was cleared by EMSA and did not need further medical attention.
8:20 p.m. University of Tulsa Campus Security Officers were dispatched to Helmerich Hall for a suspicious subject. Officers made contact with a non university individual. The individual stated that they were not from Tulsa. The individual had wondered on to campus due to the music from the Karaoke party in Detler Commons. Officers trespass warned the individual then escorted them off campus. 9:05 p.m. University of Tulsa Campus Security Officers were dispatched to John Mabee Hall for a fire alarm. Officers discovered burnt food in the basement kitchen. The alarm was reset and students were allowed back into the building.. The Collegian does not produce or edit the Campus Crime Watch except for content and brevity.
Monday, September 17 at 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Student Union, Food Court U.S. Constitution Day - Voter Registration Event Please join True Blue Neighbors and The Office of Student Affairs for a voter registration event and Constitution Day celebration. Free U. S. Constitution books will be available. Monday, September 17 at 8:45 p.m. Lorton Performance Center, Meinig Recital Hall Guest Filmmaker Russ Kirkpatrick Join us for screenings of “Boomtown: An American Journey and Unlikely Family” followed by a Q&A discussion with filmmaker Russ Kirkpatrick. You’ll hear insights from a professional in the industry, with behind-the-scenes information about the documentary process, creating timelines and budgeting. Free and open to the public.
Tuesday, September 18 at 7:30 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. Lorton Performance Center, Meinig Hall An Evening of Arias by Henry Purcell Before the turn of the century (the 18th century that is), British composer Henry Purcell was born, lived, composed and died — all in just over 30 years. While well known as a distinctly British composer, Purcell brought on a French and Italian style to his operas; composing them in English, for an English audience. This concert will feature his opera excerpts (including his famous “Dido’s Lament”) and his Abdelazer Suite for strings. TU vocal students Hope Bradford, Wyatt Cobb, Jericho Stratton and Marjorie Sheaf will perform the arias along with the Student Chamber Orchestra. Senior composition student Joshua Lowery and TU alum Megan Kepley will conduct the orchestra. The concert is free and open to the public. Wednesday, September 19 and Thursday, September 20 at 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Student Union, Pat Case Dining Center, Harvey (Online) Student Association Senate Elections Exercise your right to vote for representation on our campus. Everyone who is a student can vote! Elections will be held in the Student Union and the Pat Case Dining Center from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on September 19th and 20th. Voting will also be open on Harvey from 9 a.m. on September 19th to 9 a.m. on September 20th. Thursday, September 20 at 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Lorton Performance Center, Gussman Hall Step Afrika! at TU With its origins in African American fraternities and sororities, stepping is known for its intricate, synchronized patterns of stomps, kicks, claps and call-and-response. As the world’s first professional company dedicated to this art form, the dancers of Step Afrika! use their bodies as instruments, integrating stepping with African traditional dance and other dance forms to create a high-energy, sharply choreographed and incredibly entertaining performance. Hosted by The University of Tulsa Association of Black Collegians and Student Association Free for TU Students, Faculty & Staff: must reserve your ticket at tinyurl.com/StepAfrikaTU $5 per ticket for the public | Purchase ticket at: tinyurl.com/StepAfrikaTix
The Collegian does not produce all event descriptions in the Community Calendar. Contact us at news@tucollegian.org with events.
Commentary
17 September 2018
The Collegian: 9
Content creators need Ad-blockers don’t block ads to survive fiscally all revenue sources
Anyone who enjoys content created on the Internet has an obligation to pay the creator, and viewing ads is the best way to do so. Nathan Hinkle Student Writer Advertising has always been a key feature of media since its rise into the public sphere. Without revenue from advertising, many media sources lack the ability to support themselves in any other way. This is especially true in the Internet age, where media sources or creators are not exclusively large corporations but small groups of individuals. New creators on the Internet lack the economic and personal capital necessary to keep themselves afloat without the use of daily revenue from advertising. In the creation of free Internet content, there is an understood contract between the viewer and creator in that most Internet content is free, but the viewer is forced to look at ads in lieu of monetary payment. The Internet tool Adblocker hurts this system and creators by removing the viewers’ part of free media consumption. Using an ad-blocking browser extension could be seen in a similar vein to the fraud practice of the dine and dash in which you purchase food and then leave without paying. On the Internet, you consume the media created for public consumption and then leave without paying, but in the form of digital advertising. While there are some variance between these two actions, they both end in similar results.
In the Internet age,a major example of the modern content creation landscape is YouTube. Most of its creators are independent and lack the support of a large corporate organization to continue production without income from their video uploads. Through the use of an adblocker, independent creators lose out on their sustained revenue, if it is only a small impact per person. YouTube is a huge and growing platform that supports a wide variety of new producers. According to Omnicore, an agency that tracks online statistics, there were 30 million daily subscribers around January 2018. Each one of these subscribers spends an average of 40 minutes watching some form of YouTube content. Due to the average person’s extended time on YouTube, it is easy to see that it holds an important place in the lives of individuals. The role it plays is a large one and by stagnating growth through ad blockers, there is not only a loss to content creators but also to viewers. Viewers are hurt in the end by the loss of previously available content. Ad blockers also hinder media diversity on the Internet. Everyone who has Internet access has the ability to create media. However, not everyone has access to the resources necessary to keep themselves afloat. By removing a source of income from smaller sources, viewers eventually produce a system where only large entities have the ability to make a living on Internet media content. The variety of content on Internet is based on the ability of different people across the globe to discuss what they enjoy or find important. The economic status of media on the Internet should be based on the ability to find an audience and a source of revenue. If Internet media consumers want to continue the use of free media, there must be some sort of payment. The production of original media is not free or easy, so people should treat it as such. Through the use of ad blockers, we risk losing access to a variety of new forms of content due to the lack of financial feasibility. While certain forms of advertising may be annoying, one must accept it as a necessary burden for the creation of media content online.
Ad-blocking software provides huge amounts of utility to consumers while still allowing creators to generate income in other ways. Dalton Stewart Student Writer Advertisements on the web are annoying. They interrupt our favorite videos, block us from reading the news and sometimes can be malicious and attack our computers. In recent years there has been a booming use
annoyance because you don’t have to see the advertisement. Plus, ad blockers protect your privacy and security by helping block advertisements from malicious or unethical sources. The cons list is short; sometimes a webpage won’t load, and sometimes the ad blocker will block something that isn’t an advertisement (it should be noted that I’ve had this happen less than five percent of the time). The ethical question is whether you block a revenue source from someone while you consume their content for free. First, let’s look at how much revenue a single ad view would generate. On YouTube, while it is very hard to approximate the income from a view due to there being so many factors, top content creators make less than one cent per view. One. Cent. If you listen and chat to professional content creators, they’ll tell you, “No, use an ad blocker. If you feel bad, donate a dollar every few months.” Not only then would you make up for the revenue you’re taking by using an ad blocker, but you also make up for several other people
“If you have an ethical problem with ad blockers... donate a dollar to your favorite YouTuber...” of ad blockers, things that prevent you from seeing those pesky advertisements. They work by blocking connections from advertising domains to your computer so that the advertiser can’t send you an ad to display on your screen. It’s simple and incredibly effective, so much so some websites prevent you from visiting them if you have one installed (you should also know that there are ways around that too). However, there is a downside to using ad blockers; it slashes advertising revenue. Not just by a little either. Some websites have reported up to a 50 percent decrease from this profit stream, and one researcher has estimated that ad blockers will cost advertisers up to $35 billion by 2020. That’s a lot of dough. The pros of using ad blockers are endless. They speed up the browsing experience because you don’t have to spend time loading advertisements. They save you time and
who watch with an ad blocker turned on. Content creators have chosen another way to tackle this problem. Instead of depending on Google (in the case of many websites and all of YouTube) to provide ads and pay them, they simply sell ads directly in their video. Perhaps, at the beginning and end of every video, they sell thirty second blocks to advertisers. This allows them to create more targeted ads that their audience will enjoy while also allowing them to create even more revenue from it. Online publications don’t have this option, but this is just one example of a good solution to the ad blocker problem. So if you have an ethical problem with ad blockers, take the time and donate a dollar to your favorite YouTuber, newspaper, online publication, whatever. Not only are you helping them more than if you didn’t have an ad blocker, but you’ll be getting all the pros from an ad blocker as well.
graphic by Conner Maggio
Ad-blockers can be a major inhibitor to certain sources of revenue for content creators.
Serena Williams’ loss mischaracterized by media
Though the media has focused on possible sexism by the umpire, Serena Williams did not lose solely due to gender discrimination. Anna Robinson Student Writer Serena Williams has gathered media attention for reasons other than being one of the most accomplished tennis players of all time, with 23 Grand Slam Singles titles. This is more spotlight garnered than iconic players such as Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Rafael Nadal and even Roger Federer. She reached that number of titles before taking time away to give birth to her first child in September of 2017. Upon her return to the worldwide tennis stage, Williams gained
media attention for her candid interviews about her relatable, positive and negative experiences of motherhood. Though she has been revered for her openness and triumphant return to tennis at the professional level, the 2018 U.S. Open brought Williams controversial and negative attention. In the final round of the U.S. Open, Williams received penalties that resulted in the loss of a game. For any misconduct, players first receive a warning, then the loss of a point, and then the loss of a game. Williams received a warning for getting coached during the match. She felt that
than her calling him a thief, but do not receive scoring penalties in the name of verbal abuse. The question arose whether the umpire’s penalties were fair or sexist, as Williams believed. The matter is that her outburst of anger was rather over the top and went on for too long. If she would have addressed the reasons behind the penalties calmly after the match, perhaps her case could have been adequately handled. It seems as if Williams is coming from a space of heightened emotional vulnerability, a side of her that has only surfaced since her absence from the
“... sexism has loomed around professional tennis long before Williams began the discussion at the U.S. Open.” this was an attack on her character, claiming that she would never cheat, and demanded an apology from the umpire, Carlos Ramos. She then lost a point for slamming her racket on the court and a third for calling Ramos a thief. Ramos saw her comment as verbal abuse. The set score went to three to five instead of three to four. Williams believed that the umpire treated her unfairly because she is a woman. She argued that male players make comments to umpires that are worse
sport’s domination. Her comeback has been complicated, and she may not even enjoy that term, as suggested in her commercial ad for Chase, wherein she states, “Don’t call it a comeback.” Behind the scenes, she has battled postpartum depression as well due to the balancing act of being a parent and a professional athlete. The cheating and verbal abuse accusation added to her already underwhelming performance during the match beforehand and put her on the
defensive against both her opponent Naomi Osaka and match officials. She reached her boiling point. Personal matters and attacks upon character aside, sexism has loomed around professional tennis long before Williams began the discussion at the U.S. Open. Billie Jean King, who reached the number one ranking in women’s tennis during the 1970s, has pushed for equal prize money among male and female players. Former professional men’s tennis players have come to Williams’s defense, agreeing with her statement that men can shout rude comments at umpires and lose their cool in anger without scoring penalties. However, Ramos has been known to give such penalties to men as well, showing that he is not sexist. The biggest problem that I came across after the blow-up of the U.S. Open finals was the twisting of words by outside media that so often occurs. CBS News anchors mentioned race as a factor, a factor that Williams never once attributed to the ordeal. Hopefully, what fans and heads of tennis organizations will learn from this is that double standards cannot go unnoticed. Leave it to a figure as prominent as Serena Williams to call attention to them, even if she did so a bit ineloquently.
Commentary
The Collegian: 10
17 September 2018
Suicide awareness day a reminder to be kind
National suicide awareness day is a way for the public to decrease the stigma surrounding suicidal thoughts. Nate Gibbons Distribution Manager Reports show that nearly one million suicides occur globally each year. In other words, someone dies by suicide every 40 seconds. Using data from 2016, The World Health Organization reported that suicide is the second leading cause of death among people 15–29 years old. Despite these dire statistics, activists remind us that suicide is the most preventable type of death.
That’s why the WHO, The United Nations, The International Association for Suicide Prevention and multiple other organizations have sponsored national suicide awareness day for almost 20 years. Last Monday, supporters, whether they be politicians, teachers, bloggers or celebrities, urged people to talk about suicide prevention. Suicide survivors and those who have suffered from suicidal thoughts in the past shared their own stories. A large priority is better education on suicide statistics and how suicidal thoughts may affect those around them. At a student panel in Tennessee, one student mentioned that her brother had nearly committed suicide in the past. “I think the more we can educate people the more understanding, the more diverse and inclusive this setting will be,” she said. To those suffering, especially troubled teens, the mystification of suicide can be problematic.
The problem of the perception of suicide is double-ended. We must do away with the stigma of suicidal thoughts while decreasing the romanticizing of death by suicide. Romanticizing can come in many forms. Books, poems, movies and the like can beautify suicide. Internet-goers can glorify those have died by suicide in the past or the act itself. In some extreme cases, forums urge people to take their own life, often with the promise of extra-material happiness. Professional suicide-prevention organizations target groups like veterans or crisis survivors who are more prone to suicidal thoughts. It’s important that they have an idea of what the victim’s gone through and how to apply the right treatment. Amateur support groups, such as online “reasons to live” authors, often post a myriad of ideas to fight depression. Looking through a list of a hundred reasons, it is doubtful two very different victims would agree on more than 20.
“Consider how you’re treating those around you. Ask yourself if you’re treating others with respect.”
Feelings of depression and despair are personal issues. No one can know for certain what to suggest to those suffering from such feelings. So why do they try? Why all the cheesy inspirational quotes, the vague recommendations? Because all these people, whether they’re part of one of the aforementioned organizations, writing a blog, using a hashtag or doing one of a thousand other things, value the life of a stranger. They are trying to project this message to as many people as possible, most of whom they will never meet. That in itself is a powerful thing. September 10th is universal hang-in-there day. It’s look-outfor-someone-you-don’t-even-know day. You may have missed suicide awareness day, but September is Suicide Awareness Month. Consider how you’re treating those around you. Ask yourself if you’re treating others with respect, who might be suffering and how you could help. If you or someone you know is suffering from suicidal thoughts, call the Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255 or visit their website at www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org to speak with a professional.
courtesy Pixabay
Throughout the rest of September, take the time to check in on those around you.
Generational gaps too large to reflect common experiences
Further divisions of generations would better represent the technological advancements between them. Kaitlyn Argo Student Writer Should the generations be split into smaller groups than they are today? If you use any sort of social media or barely browse the Internet, you have undoubtedly come across articles and posts stating, “Millennials are killing X industry,” or “Gen Z kids just don’t understand…” or even “You aren’t a true ‘90s kid if you don’t remember …” Who are these posts aimed at? At first glance, they seem clearly targeted at one party. But when you look closely, the lines are blurred. For example, I was born in 1999, so technically I am a ‘90s kid, even if that isn’t a specific generation. However, half of the posts stating what makes a “true ‘90s kid” are using things from before I was born that were either pulled from produc-
tion (in the case of toys) or cancelled (in the case of shows) before I was old enough to use or watch them. So am I a ‘90s kid? Technically, one could answer both yes and no to that question, especially when you bring in the actual parameters of the years that define the generations. Most people believe that the graduating high school class of 2018 was the last of millennials in high school, but the actual data says otherwise. According to MentalFloss.com, millennials are the people born from 1981 to 1996, making them 22–36 years old. This means that half of the seniors of this year are the last year of millennials going to college, at least by the traditional educational route. From 1997 on, all children born are of Generation Z, including the children born this year. This cut-off of 1996 is important to the Pew Research Center because it “points to a generation that is old enough to have experienced and comprehend 9/11, while also finding their way through the 2008 recession as young adults,” according to MentalFloss.com. But how does this actually affect us? I know for a fact that my brother, who was born in 1998, would not consider himself in the same generation as the second-graders in the elementary schools around Tulsa. So this then begs the question, do generational divides actually matter, and are they even correct? While I can’t argue with the Pew Research Center, I can discuss how it matters. When talking to my brother, he said that the reason he doesn’t consider himself within
the same generation as the younger children today is due to great technological advances that have happened between when he was born to when the elementary kids of today were born. Even a teacher from my high school, who is technically a millennial, doesn’t consider herself one due to the technological advances of her time. She is only 32, but she said that herself and others near her age consider themselves the “Oregon Trail” generation; they are old enough to remember a time without Internet, but young enough to be the demographic audience the Internet was aimed at and have the ability to pick it up quickly when it came out.
the business industry has been evolving, the “Oregon Trail” generation want every accomplishment they can get, while the younger millennials are constantly coming up with various new businesses that they want recognition for. The older Gen Z, the “Centennials,” would be able to definitively say what was theirs as children growing up while also separating themselves from the elementary kids of today, as they are so different. Technology is advancing so rapidly that some of the technology that centennials had as children, the Gen Z kids don’t even know about it. The separation would allow for the Centennials, like my brother, to be respected for
“... do generational divides actually matter, and are they even correct?” Should generations be split further? Should there be another split between the “Oregon Trail” generation and the millennials, and between the older and younger Gen Z kids? Many older Gen Z kids have claimed the term “centennials” as the title to their generation, because they were born around the turn of the century. If they were split further, the generations would be treated differently. The “Oregon Trail” millennials wouldn’t feel blamed for allegedly killing industries while also feeling validation for their accomplishments in technology. Younger millennials would be able to use their own accomplishments to protect themselves as well. With how
Though different ages are lumped together into specific generations or decades of birth, their experiences vary wildly.
their age, as they so often aren’t. It would also allow the Gen Z kids to claim what was theirs in their childhoods as they get older. Technology is advancing at a rapid rate — so rapid that it is amazing to think that it has only been a little over a decade since the first iPhone came out, yet they have come so far with it. Due to this rapid advancement, most people do not realize that this affects the generational divides as strongly as it does. These aforementioned reasons are why I believe that the generations should be split further into these groups. With how technology is advancing, people will be more and more separated with the groups born after them and should be treated as such.
graphic by Conner Maggio
Commentary
17 September 2018
The Collegian: 11
Nike fakes social advocacy with Kaepernick campaign
The spectacle surrounding Nike’s new ad campaign distracts from its lack of political substance. Justin Guglielmetti Editor-in-Chief Grab your torches and pitchforks and strap in, everybody; it’s time for another article on Colin Kaepernick. Over the past two years, ever since the former 49ers quarterback first took a knee during the national anthem and became one of the most controversial people in the country, he has been dissected from every possible angle. You’ve heard about how he disrespected our flag and our military, how he took a stand against injustice, how he’s been blacklisted from the NFL and how he’s a no-talent bum who should never have had a starting job in the first place (easily my favorite argument since it comes almost exclusively from those who don’t actually follow football). My point is, it seemed like the story had been played out. But luckily for avid debaters like me, Nike decided to throw their hat into the ring. You’ve probably heard by now that Nike, the world’s largest supplier of athletic apparel, decided to base their 30th anniversary campaign of the “Just Do It” slogan around Kaepernick, featuring him prominently in ads alongside other socially conscious athletes and rags-to-riches success stories. You’ve also probably heard that there’s been quite a backlash to this from the mouthbreathers of the world, those self-righteous buffoons who take such umbrage with a silent, non-violent protest that they would rather destroy their Nike gear than be seen supporting a company that hates ‘Murica. This won’t be an article criticizing folks like that because there’s not much more that needs to be said about them; they are firmly on the wrong side of history and will be remembered as ignorant bigots. Rather, I’d like to take what I think is a more interesting approach and discuss Nike’s decision to take such an ostensibly risky political stance on this hot-button issue. To sum it up for you, I don’t like it. I don’t like how late they are to the game in supporting Kaepernick, who has remained under contract with Nike for the duration of his absence from the NFL. I don’t like lauding a calculated business decision for being brave when it was expected to (and has) brought about a financial windfall. I don’t like the phoniness of a corporation pretending to care about social inequity when it employs sweatshop labor in East Asia. And I don’t like the fact that under everyone’s noses, Nike hijacked the issues of police brutality and institutional racism to become just another tool for their marketers to use to sell their crappy shoes. Let’s go through this piece by piece. Kaepernick has been endorsed by Nike since 2011, when he was
first drafted into the NFL (and a year before he led the San Francisco 49ers to the Super Bowl, a fun tidbit the “He always sucked” crowd seems to forget). But over the past two years, despite his jersey sales going through the roof, despite being talked about more than any other American athlete this side of LeBron James, the company has done nothing to indicate any support. No endorsement of his position, no feature in any advertising, not even so much as a statement to show that they at least stand by the First Amendment right of their man to do as he pleases. And yet here we are two years later, with the tide of public opinion — particularly in the mainstream media and sports fandom — fully on their side, that Nike finally decides to take a stand. Why now? You can bet it’s because their market research finally said it was the time to strike. It was easy to get caught up in Trump’s critical tweets and Fox News’s hysterical coverage of their viewers’ Tiki-torch-lighting auditions and think that this was going to be a risky move on Nike’s part. Indeed, their stock took a significant hit in the first few days after the campaign was launched, lending some credence to that argument. Well, guess what’s happened in the two weeks since? Their shares are valued at an alltime high, sales have increased by more than 30 percent and they’ve gained nearly 200,000 followers on Instagram. Seems like they’re doing pretty well! I want to be clear here, my issue is not simply that Nike is making money; they are a corporation, and it is their prerogative to seek a profit however they can within the confines of the law. But nothing about this decision was courageous and worthy of praise, at least any more than is already heaped on them for being legendary advertisers capable of capturing the zeitgeist like few other businesses. Furthermore, when a move like this is so obviously made for money, it begs the question of what will happen when such a course of action is no longer financially viable. Actually, scratch that, we already know the answer to that question! They will return to being totally silent on the issue, as they were for the past two years. After all, when has Nike ever been one to put social good before profits? For nearly 50 years, the company has faced criticism for employing sweatshop labor in its manufacturing plants in countries like China, Vietnam and Indonesia, varying their stated position
courtesy Vox While Kaepernick is most commonly known for his public stance against police brutality, the subject is absent from the ad campaign.
it is unfair to ask anybody or anything to be a perfect beacon of morality, that it is possible for Nike to still be in the wrong while making the right decision in the case of Kaepernick. And this is technically true, it is certainly possible to make positive strides without redressing all wrongs. But are they really doing a social good with this new ad campaign? Ask yourself what lies at the heart of the Kaepernick-kneeling issue. Again, as long as you’re not a conspiracy theorist who believes
— like what LeBron James is for opening a school, or Serena Williams for coming out of Compton to become the GOAT, or Kaepernick himself, for becoming a martyr. Confused? That’s the point. Sure, this ad is about great athletes doing great things, and it urges future generations to strive for similar success in familiar generic platitudes. You know what it’s not about? Racism, police brutality, the very things that Colin Kaepernick knelt for and that Nike is pretending to endorse.
“This... was supposed to be about Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Philando Castile, Terence Crutcher.” from one of outright denial to a lack of control over the actions of subcontracted factories. They continue to operate in these countries, taking full advantage of looser labor laws and engaging workers for longer hours and cheaper pay than they would be allowed in America. And while advocacy groups have pointed to these issues for as long as they have existed, there has never been enough pressure from consumers to prompt Nike to give up this unethical practice. Social good is not a concern for them, only the bottom line. Even so, one might argue that
the answer is “Hating America,” you know that he was trying to bring attention to racism and misuse of power by law enforcement. I’m curious… how many references to these things were made in the two-minute commercial that kicked off the campaign? How many seconds did Kap spend addressing them in his voiceover narration? How many images did we get of fellow players kneeling in solidarity? The answer to all these questions is the same, and it rhymes with “hero.” You know, heroes
Nike doesn’t have a high regard for human rights, as evidenced by their use of sweatshop labor.
“Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything,” is the slogan of the campaign, slapped over Kaepernick’s furrowed brow on billboards. What did he sacrifice exactly? I won’t pretend that it’s been easy for the man, having faced constant criticism and harassment over the past two years and unable to play the game he loves (for reasons of legitimate collusion or otherwise), but let’s not make him too much of a victim. He’s got more star power and name recognition than he’s ever had, raking in millions
in endorsement deals as the new face of the world’s biggest sports brand. What a horrible existence! And lost in all this is the original issue that he was trying to bring to light. This was never supposed to be about Colin Kaepernick; it was supposed to be about Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Philando Castile, Terence Crutcher. If Nike really cared, faces like theirs would have been the stars of the campaign, or at the very least the images of the players who knelt to honor them. It’s possible I’m being too harsh in my criticism, that all of this outrage should be reserved for the Neanderthals like our president who want the likes of Nike and Kaepernick burned at the stake. I’ll concede that the simple act of featuring Kap has the chance to increase awareness for his cause even with the purposeful misdirection of the ad, and I suppose it’s better that they acknowledge his existence now than never. All I want is to help people think about the intentions of the forces at work here and to remind them that this ad should not, cannot, be the end of the discussion. Dispense with the platitudes. Even if Nike would rather not show them, the problems are still out there, and they deserve our attention.
graphic by Conner Maggio
The Collegian: 12
Variety
17 September 2018
Copyright: creative savior or stifler?
Using examples from history, TU professor Robert Spoo spoke on the significance of copyright law. Lizzy Young Student Writer On Friday afternoon, Chapman Distinguished Professor of Law Robert Spoo gave a presentation titled, “Copyright, Patronage, and Courtesy in Modern Literature.” This presentation was based on information from his latest book, “Modernism and the Law,” which was published in August. Professor Spoo teaches copyright law among other courses at the University of Tulsa. He received his PhD from Princeton and his JD from Yale. He has also been named Tulsa Copyright Lawyer of the year in both 2014 and 2018. I enjoyed his presentation because, as a writer, I feel like it is important to know about copyright law and how it affects me and has affected writers in the past. In addition, I appreciated the printouts of the slides he provided for his audience to help them follow along and remember what he said.
thors to request copyrights from the government for their works. This was the first time the government had moved to protect the intellectual rights of authors. However, it was very limited protection, as the copyright lasted no longer than 28 years. The United States passed a similar copyright law after it became a country. Spoo then discussed patronage. Before copyright law, authors were indebted to patrons who gave them money to live and create. The passing of copyright laws allowed authors to rely more on publishing houses and the sales of their books than patrons. It was still difficult to make a living as an author based on book sales because of lax copyright laws, so in the 19th century, many famous modernist authors relied on patrons, most notably, Ezra Pound and James Joyce. Spoo made a point that with patronage comes the debate of if the author’s creativity is limited by the desires of the patron. On the flip side, does complying with strict copyright laws inhibit artists’ creativity as well? Finally, Spoo discussed Trade Courtesy in regards to copyright law. He said because
“‘Ulysses’ did not have copyright... in the United States because it did not comply with obscenity laws.” Spoo’s presentation focused on three main ideas: copyright, patronage and courtesy. He explained how these three areas of copyright law were pivotal to the development and spread of modernist texts in the 20th century. His presentation was limited to copyright law only in Britain and the United States.. First, Spoo defined copyright as a scarecrow, because it discourages free riders from taking author’s ideas. He discussed the first copyright law was the Statute of Anne in 1710 in England. This Statute allowed au-
of the way U.S. copyright law is structured and its relationship to obscenity laws, it was very difficult for foreign authors to get copyrights in the U.S. This created a problem where U.S. publishers legally published foreign author’s works without permission. Spoo mentioned that many publishers saw how this was hurting authors and began to use courtesy. They made agreements with foreign authors and publishers and paid them royalties to publish their books. Spoo ended his presentation by talking about how the United States finally updated
courtesy Public Radio Tulsa
Pictured above: law professor Robert Spoo
their copyright laws in 1998, and today, a foreign author’s work is protected by copyright. However, because of the many intricacies of the law, over the 20th century, many famous modernists’ works were not copyrighted in the U.S. and created a problem with dissemination of their work. For example, James Joyce’s “Ulysses” did not have copyright protection for much of the 20th century in the United States because it did not comply with obscenity laws. Because of this, American publishers illegally
published his work without giving Joyce the credit and royalties he deserved. “Ulysses” is a groundbreaking text, and Joyce’s creativity and brilliance would have been stifled if he had tried to comply with the obscenity laws just to have copyright protection in America. Using Joyce and other modernist authors as examples, Spoo concluded with the thought, “Does more copyright law allow for more creativity of less?”
graphic by Conner Maggio
Acclaimed pianist’s master class a learning experience By making simple adjustments to the music, Kuleshov demonstrated his expertise in a one-on-one, open master class. Kaitlyn Argo Student Writer Located in the Lorton Performance Center, taught by Valery Kuleshov, a renowned Russian pianist, and it was astonishing. Kuleshov has won multiple prizes, including the Honored Artist of Russian Federation in 1997, the First Prize winner at the Pro Piano International Competition in New York City in 1998 and many more. He has played in more than 18 countries, in almost every continent, and is critically acclaimed in all of them. Before the Master Class even began, Kuleshov sat down and started playing at one of the two pianos that were in the room. I am only to assume it was a freestyle piece, as it did not seem to have much structure that a regular piece of music has, and yet it
okay, I know this piece. Begin playing.” He was able to take notes and give critiques in his head, based of his memory of the music, for the entirety of the roughly five minutes it took for the instructor to get a copy of the song. The first student to play sat down and began without any sheet music at all. For someone who can barely play “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” this was astounding. Each student, six in total, was given roughly 30 minutes with Kuleshov, who immediately began taking notes as they played. After they were done, he sat down at the second piano and had them start again, stopping them every once and awhile to give critiques and comments. These critiques did not seem like big differences when they were separated, only little things here and there. But when he had the student play again, incorporating his comments, it gave the pieces entire new sounds and depths. The Master Class was and invaluable experience, for both the players and just those watching, as both a learning experience and
“A student had forgotten their sheet music... Kuleshov said, ‘It is okay, I know this piece. Begin playing.’”
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still sounded as if it were being played in a performance. To give a little more insight on how brilliant Kuleshov is, a student had forgotten their sheet music, but instead of making them wait until their instructor brought them copies of their music, Kuleshov said, “It is
an opportunity to be in the presence of a great musician. Sadly, I believe this is the only Master Class he is teaching on campus this year, but if you are ever able to hear Valery Kuleshov in concert, I highly recommend it.
Nathan Gibbons Jesica Santino and Katelyn Baker copy editor
Bryant Loney
The Collegian is the student newspaper of the University of Tulsa. It is distributed Mondays during the fall and spring semesters, except during holidays and final exam weeks. The University of Tulsa does not discriminate on the basis of personal status or group characteristics including but not limited to the classes protected under federal and state law. Inquiries regarding implementation of this policy may be addressed to the Office of Human Resources, 800 South Tucker Drive, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74104-9700, (918)631-2616. Requests for accomodation of disabilities may be addressed to the university’s 504 Coordinator, Dr. Tawny Rigsby, (918)631-3814. To ensure availability of an interpeter, five to seven days notice is needed; 48 hours is recommended for all other accomodations. Advertising Policy: Advertising appearing in this publication does not imply approval or endorsement by the University of Tulsa or the Collegian for the products or services advertised. For advertising information, email the Collegian at advertising@tucollegian.org. The deadline for advertising is noon on the Friday proir to publication. Letter Policy: Letters to the editor must be less than 500 words and can be sent to tucollegian@tucollegian.org. Under no circumstances will anonymous letters be published. The name of the person submitting the letter must be published with the letter. We reserve the right to edit or reject all letters. The deadline for letters is 5 p.m. on the Friday prior to publication. Editing Policy: The Collegian reserves the right to edit all copy submitted by all writers. This editing may take place in many forms, including grammar corrections, changes in paragraph structure or even the addition or removal of sections of content. Editorial Policy: Columnists are solely responsible for the content of their columns. Opinions expressed in columns may not represent the opions of the Collegian staff, the administrative policies of the University of Tulsa, the views of the student body or our advertisers.
17 September 2018
Variety
The Collegian: 13
“Creations in Studio K”explores modern dance
The latest show hosted by Tulsa Ballet explored the boundaries of the art form and the connection between dance and visual art. Lizzy Young Student Writer Tulsa Ballet is in the midst of their 12th presentation of “Creations in Studio K.” This performance featured three pieces by different choreographers. The first piece, “Parhelia”was choreographed by Jennifer Archibald. “Parhelia” is the scientific name for sundogs. After a quick Wikipedia search, I discovered that sundogs are an atmospheric optical phenomena which consists of a bright spot to the left or right of the sun. The dancers’ metallic gold costumes reflected this meaning as well as the yellow and gold lighting. Visually, it looked like a sunset on stage. The music also was incorporated into this theme of the sun, with lots of drum beats and repetition that felt like the sun was rising and setting.
The style of this number was modern ballet. It showcased the dancers’ strength with beautiful lines and impressive lifts. The dancers glided went across the stage in groups, centered around one pair of dancers. It was a visually stunning piece that felt like watching a beautiful, fluid sunset. The second act, choreographed by Alejandro Cerrudo, was titled, ”Second to Last.” The dancers chose to perform this piece; they were allowed to vote on pieces they had performed in the previous four seasons to perform again. Because of this, the dancers seemed connected to the piece artistically. It was a simple, solemn, elegant piece. There were only six dancers, and they were paired in specific couples. One couple was on the stage at a time. It felt like watching their relationship unfold through dance. The dancers were dressed in black, and moved across the stage with spotlights on them and the rest of the stage completely black. This lighting felt intimate and truly made the piece about the dancers’ movements. In addition, the music was acoustic piano and violin, the perfect pairing with the number.
The final act was “Pentaptych,” choreographed by resident Tulsa Ballet choreographer Ma Cong. “Pentaptych” means a work of art consisting of sections. This piece brought together multiple forms of art as it was done in collaboration with visual artist Eric Sall. It opened with a blank canvas, and a dancer came and made a few brush strokes on the canvas. Sall then came out and spent the rest of the number creating an original piece of art on the stage while the dancers danced around him. It was a beautiful collaboration of two different art forms. I enjoyed seeing the painter’s process because
to see the dancer’s silhouettes on the canvases so it felt like the dancers were a work of art. The choreography was such that the dancers really felt like artwork. There were 14 dancers in the number, so there was a lot of movement. The choreography was centered around painting and making the dancers seem like moving artwork. Watching the dancers was like seeing a painting come to life. I loved the new twist on classical ballet. There is still another weekend of performances for “Creations in Studio K,” September 20–23. In addition, in their first ever collaboration with the Philbrook Museum of
“It felt like watching their relationship unfold through dance.” painting is an art not usually performed in front of people. Besides the canvas Sall was working on, there were four other blank canvases the dancers moved around and utilized as props. The lighting created the effect of being able
Art, the dancers will perform “Pentapytch” in the Philbrook gardens for one night only on Saturday, September 29. Put it on your calendar because it is an event that should not be missed.
courtesy Tulsa Ballet
In “A Simple Favor” nothing is actually simple The dark comedy keeps audiences on their toes, with plot twists at every turn. Kaitlyn Argo Student Writer “A Simple Favor,” starring Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively, is about a woman named Stephanie (Kendrick) who tries to figure out the disappearance and death of her best friend Emily (Lively). Seems simple right? Wrong. This movie has so many twists and turns in it that every time you think you know what is going on and what is going to happen, something new arrives. The movie is fascinating and captivating from beginning to end, starting and ending with a “Mommy Vlog” that Kendrick’s character runs. In her first vlog, she tells of how she and Emily met, and throughout the rest of the movie, the vlogs come up every so often as a way for more information to be shared without feeling forced. Every time an important plot point arrives, Stephanie expands on, in the guise of giving helpful hints to viewers of her vlogs. It is a rated-R movie, so there is language and mild nudity, as well as small scenes of a sexual nature, but all of this is juxtaposed with comedy from Andrew Rannells’s character (you might recognize him from “The Book of Mormon”), a stay-at-home dad who gossips with the other moms at the school. Scenes and comments that seem like throwaway lines at the beginning end up being important plot points in the end; no stone is left unturned, and basic tropes are twisted into a new and refreshing view. From how Emily likes her martinis to a painting that is only focused on for 30 seconds, every-
thing is important. Without giving too much away, if you go see it, keep an eye on that painting, as well as how Emily got it. Up until the end, I was sitting at the edge of my seat, with no idea what to expect. Every character is fleshed out, from Kendrick’s character to the secretary at the design company where Lively’s character works. Kendrick’s character has the luxury of having the entire run time to be fleshed out, but the smaller one-scene characters stand out in their own way, as the secretary gives an astoundingly funny performance in her minute long scene. The kids in the movie, while not the main characters, also play an integral part, as they are the driving force of the movie in their own subtle way. They are how Kendrick’s and Lively’s characters originally meet and how the plot is driven in certain scenes, without giving too much away. Henry Golding’s (“Crazy Rich Asians”) character, Lively’s husband in the movie, is also a driving force, but not as much as one would expect the husband to be, until roughly the last fourth of the movie. Above all, this movie is about the relationships between people and what they mean, and how you should never underestimate someone for who they are. It is about the relationship between parent and child, husband and wife, siblings to one another. How to not underestimate someone because of gender or background, or of how they present themselves. It is a fantastic movie, and I highly recommend everyone go and see it, whether by yourself or with a friend. On a side note, I also recommend reading the comments that pop up at the bottom of the vlogs, as they are also very entertaining. courtesy Lionsgate
The Collegian: 14
The State-Run Media
17 September 2018
Wingman targeted Targeted ads single out ads score me a date singles, damage self-esteem
Who needs privacy when you have Ben and Jerry’s? Madison Connell Head Propagandist
If it weren’t for targeted ads, I am not sure how I would’ve made it through my rough breakup. I was heartbroken after my boyfriend of two weeks dumped me. I had no one to turn to, so what did I do? Go on the Internet, of course. I’m not sure if it was my sudden lack of taking Buzzfeed quizzes like “Which of these unconventional animal couples are you and your bae?” or if my phone just listened into my conversation with Stacy about how I’ll probably be forever alone, but suddenly I was getting tons of targeted ads coming my way. First it was Ben & Jerry’s, which really had my back for phase two of the breakup: the pig-out. With the coupon they provided, I only spent $40 on ice cream! Next, I started noticing that I was getting ads from all of these flower companies. One of them had this nifty service called “Flowers for you, from you” where they will send you a bouquet of flowers each week to your place of business, complete with a hand-
written love note that you sent in! I can’t tell you how many death glares I got from Tracy at the gym last week. She was totally jealous. Netflix seemed to be in the loop as well, as they started giving me different recommendations than my usual “Netflix and Chill” go-tos. Out were the D-list scary movies and in were wholesome classics like “Great British Baking Show” and “Dexter.” Targeted ads even got me out doing some good in the world! When I got to my lowest of lows, the dire-need-of-cuddles stage of the break-up, I conveniently received ads for the local animal shelter. All of the fluffy faces got me out of bed for once and into the furry arms of adorable cats and dogs. It even helped me score a cute selfie for the obligatory “Look-how-good-I’m-doing-after-thebreakup” post. I was going to sign up for Tinder, but targeted ads had my back and sent Bumble ads my way instead. Now, I’m two days strong with my beau Chad! It says in his bio he’s an underwear model looking for that special someone, and after thirty combined minutes of messaging back and forth, I know he’s the one for me. Thank you, Facebook, Google, NSA or whatever stalker organization that has my back!
Russians send targeted ads to prey on this under-reproducing population. Brennen Gray Properly Lubed Targeted ads really suck, man. I have never bought even half of the items marketed to me, so this must be a spyware thing the Russians came up with. First and foremost, I am sick of the dating site ads. Every time I see a cute blonde looking at me with those devious two-dimensional eyes, I get a sick feeling in my stomach. “Hi! My name is Stacie Britney Tiffany Smithjohnsonmiller and I am in your area of MTV Studios, New York, California 69420.” Bullshit, Britney. I can smell a catfish a mile away. Next are the damn lotion ads. I smell great, I feel great, I am totally fine. I have no idea why Lubriderm sees me as their target audience, but they are convinced I need “three gallons a day” to keep up with the average person in my demographic. I think the rest of the 20-year-old males in the
world are buried in Pompeii if they are ashy enough for that amount of product. Furthermore, it makes me feel insecure about my use of cocoa-butter. People could not get enough of that stuff four years age. How lubricated must I become for optimal function? Targeting ads to young single guys like myself also perpetuates the situation. If I sit down next to a nice young lady in McFarlin and open up my laptop, a Runescape ad jumps onto my computer for the world to see. Admittedly, I bought a membership once. But I cannot seem to log into my email without Runescape saying they will give me “three Rune scimmies, five lobbies, and a dozen party hats” if I buy another membership. Even worse, it makes me buy them! The recent market has optimized for those items as tradeables for maximum XP per hour! They are draining my funds. Leave it to the Russians to make all the single people poor. They just hate the under-reproducing crowd because their population is declining. Now thanks to capitalism’s infatuation with the power of the Internet, I am single, poor, covered in lotion, and dating a girl named Stacie Tiffany who is probably also a Russian spy.
graphic by Conner Maggio
The State-Run Media
17 September 2018
the
State-Run media Producer of the only campus dating app.
Great British Porno
The newest season of The Great British Baking Show piqued the interest of many top porn companies. Sara Serrano A Family Friendly Writer
Your bag of chips is full. Your blanket nest is warm. Netflix is pulled up and you’re ready to binge-watch the newest season of “The Great British Baking Show,” never mind the fact that the only thing you’ve ever baked is a bagel (and we all know how that went). You’re all excited for this fresh batch of wholesome episodes when you see it. All is not the same in the tent. Now a Netflix original series, GBBS has some new faces on set; judge Prue Leith and hosts Sandi Toksvig and Noel Fielding have joined judge Paul Hollywood this season to critique the best amature bakers Britain has to offer. But that’s not what’s bothering you. You only have to go a few episodes deep before you spot it: a dick joke? And doesn’t that roll look a bit phallic? What’s with all these innuendoes?! What’s happened to your preferred escape from reality? You weren’t the only one to take notice of this shift in content from “The Great British Baking Show.” Only hours after the new season was released, show executives were bombarded with calls and emails from several top companies in the porn industry looking to acquire the reality program. “I swear, our phones were ringing nonstop. We had calls from Brazzers, Reality
Kings, PornHub and I don’t know how many more,” said executive producer Shelby May, “all wanting to buy the show!” Something about 12 baking Brits slaving away in a hot tent to impress with their buttercream-iced buns has seemed to attract these companies. When probed about why they were interested in the program, PornHub replied, “We’ve been looking into expanding our original programming for a while now, but when we saw the sexual tension in that baking show, we were hooked.” Content director Tanya Woolsworth added, “It’s already so much better than anything else we have in the works and has tons of potential, not to mention an already loyal fanbase. We just have to have it!” Netflix is purportedly open to the idea of selling so long as the cast is okay with the genre switch, which has left some longtime fans of the show shocked and some, well, intrigued. “I ain’t mad about it. Paul Hollywood’s already daddy,” said student Jordan Belmont, who’s been watching the show since 2015. “And his name? Practically a pornstar already.” “This is what I get for buying into this Netflix nonsense!” said baking enthusiast Carmen Henson, “Give this generation one smidge of power and they turn everything thing you love into a porno. I should have stuck with PBS.” Although it has received bids from several porn companies in the last week, experts agree that Netflix will most likely sell to PornHub, who is offering the highest bid, sometime in the near future.
Fallin’s final fail
Mary Fallin’s final mission is to see just how low she can drag Oklahoma with her as she leaves office. Madison Connell Head Propagandist
With just four months left in her position, Governor Mary Fallin decided to make the most of her time to see if she can make Oklahoma in last place in every possible measure. “We aren’t known for much,” Fallin stated. “Tornados, cowboys and frying things that shouldn’t be fried are a few that come into people’s minds, if they think of us at all. If we can’t be known for being the best at anything, fuck it, let’s at least be known for being the worst.” Fallin had a running start with Oklahoma already being 50th in female incarceration. “Why just females though? I’m all for equal rights!” Earlier this year she managed to help Oklahoma secure 50th in overall incarceration. This helped spark her decision to use her remaining time for her steep goal. Even with the state being the worst in female incarceration and in the top five worst states for the gender pay gap, Oklahoma somehow still manages to scrape by as only the 10th worst for females to live in. Education protests over the past year highlighted the fact that Oklahoma is in the bottom five for public education. As rallies heated up, so did Oklahoma’s presence
in national news. “You know you’re doing something right when your state is all anyone can talk about,” Fallin said. “As the saying goes, any press is good press!” Despite all of these low rankings, voter participation is still the seventh worst in the country. “You’d think they would start caring after a while, but it turns out no one gives a fuck what you do in this place. Maybe it’s something in the water — we are 45th in water quality after all.” Another thing the Sooner state is not known for is our healthcare. Overall, Oklahoma is 48th in healthcare, with health insurance being in the bottom five and nursing care coming in 43rd nationally. Oklahoma is also the second worst for smoking, a position which might be slipping due to the rates of smoking going from one in three people being smokers to one in five in the last 30 years. Fallin blames vapers for this significant decrease. In response to Oklahoma’s overall health crises, Fallin says, “I might not manage to bring us down to dead last in health, but with an anti-vaxxer as our next governor, it can only go down from here.” One unsurprising statistic is that the state is the 6th most affordable state to live in. “No one wants to live here. Hell, I’m already packed up myself. My next step is conquering Washington. Fallin for 2020, baby!” Rumors say that her campaign slogan will be “Keep America Shitty” and that she will be riding off the coattails of her success in her governorship.
graphic by Conner Maggio
Mary “Kobe” Fallin pulls up for a jump shot.
Hashtags spell out end of the world
With the apocalypse approaching, people show their true colors in their final hashtags. Heber Hurd Doomsday Reporter
Bruce sat alone in his garage. The previous afternoon, he had lied to his friends to convince them he could play lead guitar as well as Dave Mustaine to get into their band. They told him to prove it at the next jam session. He practiced like mad but was too stoned to get the chords of his fret hand to sync up with his pick hand when he suddenly noticed an alert on the muted flatscreen on the wall in the form of a ticker across the bottom of the six-year-old LED TV. It read #WorldsEnd, and had an image of a giant meteor headed for earth flashed on screen. Bruce panicked in his THC haze as he was gripped by a sense of impending doom. He needed to get one last hashtag out before the end was upon him. #PeaceSellsButWhosBuying sounded fitting. After all, he had been making feeble attempts at playing Megadeth songs on his guitar.
On the receiving end of Bruce’s text was Juan, who was in the middle of playing an intense session of a Pacific Rim video game. The text distracted him long enough to look out the window and see a massive trail of fire in the sky. He realized the text was meant to be a final message to the world, so Juan followed suit and sent his message, “If I weren’t piloting Jaegers while #DrunkOnJaegermeister I could #CancelTheApocalypse.” Lulu, Juan’s 20-something younger sister, was LARPing in the backyard with some pals using their phones as magic wands
at the sky to see the descending flames of the inevitable. Several readers began sending messages to friends and family. A George Orwell book was quickly replaced by a phone abused by texting thumbs that apologetically sent a math instructor #IShouldHaveSaid2Plus2Equals5, while an Aldous Huxley reader messaged her mother, #NowIDieInTheYearOfOurFord. The bloodshot eyeballs of a Philip K. Dick reader heavily engaged in “A Scanner Darkly” adjusted their focus on a backlit touchscreen and added, #ForMyFriendsAt-
receive hashtags on their computer screens. The race was on to make sure they had one final broadcast in hopes that some otherworld lifeform would view it and find a way to #LifeHackMeBackToLife so they can carry on the most important work mankind has ever undertaken: discovering life hacks. While feeling sympathetic to the dogs playing in the backyard, George and Gracie came to the simultaneous conclusion if dogs could send a final hashtag regarding a falling fireball that would destroy the planet it would be #Squirrel! Eventually, they decided to crank up the volume of Dethklok’s
“...[she] noticed the trail of fire in the sky and texted, #WingardiumLevioShootDidYouSeeThatMeteor.” when she noticed the trail of fire in the sky and texted, #WingardiumLevioShootDidYouSeeThatMeteor. Meanwhile, on the patio of the local library the ground was shaking due to the number of bookworms’ phones vibrating from incoming hashtags that would evidently be the last in the world. They too gawked
Thanksgiving to the bottom of a quickly captured image of a blue flower from the library garden. One brainiac received #PoundSign and was placed into an inescapable neural maze of contemplation distracting her from her imminent demise. In the dark, dank recesses of many a mother’s basements YouTubers began to
video of “Comet Song” to 11 on their Dolby 7.1 surround system complete with $12,000 JL Audio subwoofer. They reminisced about guitar battles over Krank amps in rainbow scenes of madness and sent a couple hashtags of their own, #EarthWasPrettyRad but now it’s time to #GoForthAndDie.