1 October 2018

News

The Collegian: 2

1 October 2018

TEDx at the university Rod Rosenstein lands

Applications for TEDx at University of Tulsa are open. TEDx at University of Tulsa is a yearly event that students host for various speakers and performers to come and present in front of an audience. Applications have been open for roughly five weeks now, but you can still apply. You just need to go to www.tedxuniversityoftulsa.com, click on “Give a Talk” at the top of the page and then either nominate yourself or others to be either a speaker or performer.

The application process is simple. After filling out the appropriate forms, the TEDx Team will contact either you or whomever you nominated in the following weeks for the interview portion. Applying does not mean that you are guaranteed a spot. Applications are open until October 10. You can also see how progress is going by following the TEDx team on Twitter at @TEDxuTulsa or by subscribing to an email list for updates at the website.

TEDx occurs anually at TU with an event in the spring semester.

courtesy Flickr

LIBR at work on depression An ongoing LIBR study focuses on the connection between the immune system and mental state. Brooke-Lyne Holland Student Writer Nour el-Sabbah, a research intern and recent TU graduate, works on multiple studies at the Laureate Institute for Brain Research. Her job is to help conduct studies run by Principal Investigator Jonathan Savitz that focus on the role of the immune system and how it relates to depression symptoms. Dr. Savitz is a principal investigator at LIBR and also a faculty member of Community Medicine at the University of Tulsa. According to the LIBR website, he graduated with a Ph.D. in Human Genetics from the University of Cape Town in 2006 and later completed “post-doctoral training in neuroimaging” at the National Institute of Mental Health. el-Sabbah spoke of the research that Savitz is conducting, which studies and monitors patients’ immune system and CRP, the C-reactive protein levels to see how depression affects the body. According to el-Sabbah, CRP in blood indicates inflammation somewhere in a person’s body and the study looks at patients at a more “molecular level” by drawing multiple samples of blood to scan CRP levels. The study also looks to see if different forms of depression result in different abnormalities of the immune system and what the “underlying mechanism” is that creates these irregularities. el-Sabbah says that one way they do this is by using lipopolysaccharide, LPS, to “trigger an immune response,” which then causes mild symptoms to trick the immune system into fighting what it thinks is a foreign substance. Symptoms only last a few hours until they fully disappear, and the types of symptoms range from person to person.

University of Tulsa students are invited to participate in the study and be compensated for their time. Participation entails blood samples, experiencing mild symptoms, MRIs and answering questions on one’s physical and mental states before and after the treatment. Patients do not have to be medically diagnosed with any type of mental disorder to sign up for the study. 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. Simplified by el-Sabbah, this study “sees how immune system reactions relates to depressive symptoms by challenging people’s immune system in a safe and well-practiced manner” and will help develop strategies to combat depression. According to the LIBR website, these tests will one day determine if patients who suffer from depression and “compromised immune function are less likely to benefit from the influenza vaccine.” 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 If interested, call 918-502-5100.

in hot water amid leak

Rosenstein’s career is in jeopardy after the New York Times leaked a conversation with the Deputy Attorney General. Andrew Noland Student Writer

This week, Rod Rosenstein found himself the subject of President Trump’s scrutiny. Last Friday, the New York Times leaked that the Deputy Attorney General may have attempted to record conversations with Trump and invoke the 25th Amendment to remove the president from power, both of which Rosenstein denied. The news cycle exploded, and expectations grew that Rosenstein would be forced to resign or be fired by the president. The White House called Rosenstein in for a meeting last Tuesday, and while the press followed the former U.S. attorney for Maryland under George W. Bush into what seemed to be the end of his current tenure, Rosenstein was granted another meeting on Thursday for reasons unknown. The White House postponed the meeting until the following week, not wanting the Rosenstein story to overshadow Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s hearing. Rosenstein has been under fire since early 2017, thrust into the national spotlight by Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s recusal from the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 Trump campaign. Since that shocking announcement, Rosenstein has overseen the investigation along with Special Counsel and former FBI director Robert Mueller. Republicans and right-wing media have, for more than a year, claimed that Rosen-

courtesy Flickr

Rod Rosenstein’s future was put on hold in light of the nation’s other great scandal: the Kavanaugh hearing.

@TUCollegian

tucollegian@tucollegian.org editor-in-chief

Justin Guglielmetti managing editor

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Ethan Veenker sports editor

Brennen Gray variety editor

Emma Palmer commentary editor

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courtesy Laureate Institute for Brain Research

Principal investigator Dr. Jonathan Savitz is working on a LIBR study in the hopes of developing physiological treatment for depression.

stein has withheld important information from the public and perpetuated a “witch hunt.” In July, a group of conservatives in the House took the measure of drawing up articles of impeachment for Rosenstein. Citing his refusal to hand over documents from the investigation, the idea caught steam before Paul Ryan stifled this effort by denying his support. Democrats, on the other hand, realize that Rosenstein might be the only obstacle standing in the way of Trump firing Mueller and ending the Russia investigation. Democratic senators Kamala Harris and Corey Booker have sought to protect Mueller, to no avail, by labelling the investigation quasi-legislative; thus, Trump could not fire Mueller without Senate approval. If Rosenstein finds himself out of a job next week, the implications could be catastrophic for Republicans; it will likely spark a political and media frenzy unseen since Nixon’s “Saturday Night Massacre,” and this will assuredly spill over into the midterms. The 2018 Congressional elections are perhaps the most important in recent memory, and anything to secure the House for the Democrats while also disrupting their thin majority in the Senate will signal disaster for Republicans. Rosenstein’s firing could mean Trump will find himself under trial in a year’s time. If Rosenstein keeps his job next week, Mueller will continue his investigation unimpeded, save the occasional Trump tweet. The Special Counsel’s report, whenever it is released, will be another historic moment in a presidential term that seems to be full of historic moments.

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.

News

1 October 2018

The Collegian: 3

als that were camping out on Deitler Commons. It was discovered that the two individuals were TU students. Officers advised the students that they could not camp out all night.

Sept. 21 8:30 a.m. University of Tulsa Campus Security Officers were dispatched to 6th and Delaware Lot to investigate a possible larceny of vehicle. Officers made contact with the reporting party who stated they parked their car in the lot the night before and came out and found it missing. The victim reported incident to the Tulsa Police Department who arrived on scene. Sept. 22 5:00 p.m. University of Tulsa Campus Security Officers were dispatched to investigate a possible stolen bicycle in Norman Village Apartments. Upon arrival, the victim stated they locked their bike up at Norman village and noticed their bike was missing. Officers advised the victim that a report would be filed and that this would be an ongoing investigation. Sept. 23 1:25 a.m. While on routine patrol University of Tulsa Campus Security Officers conducted a pedestrian check on two individu-

2:15 a.m. University of Tulsa Campus Security Officers were dispatched to the 6th & Delaware Lot in regards to an individual pulling on vehicle door handles. Officers made contact with the individual who was not affiliated with the University of Tulsa. Tulsa Police Department was contacted for attempted burglary from vehicles. TPD searched the individuals vehicle and found items that belonged to a student on campus. The student was contacted and it was determined their vehicle had been burglarized. The suspect was arrested by TPD. Sept. 24 8:05 a.m. While on routine patrol University of Tulsa campus Security Officers spoke with a TU employee who had heard another employee make inappropriate comments. 3:55 p.m. While on routine patrol University of Tulsa Campus Security Officers observed emergency vehicles on the west bound lane of 11th street south of the Tucker entrance. Officers made contact with a Tulsa Fire Department (TFD) official. The TFD Official stated that there had been an accident. Both drivers were in ambulances prepping to take the drivers to the hospital. Officers identified that one of the vehicles belonging to a current student. Due to the late stage that officers came upon the accident no further information is available at this time.

patched to the turf gym in regards to a injured student. Upon arrival, officers spoke to the victim and contacted EMSA. EMSA arrived on scene and transported the victim to a local hospital due to back pain. Sept. 25 10:15 a.m. Officers received a report of a student possibly receiving a threat from a non University affiliate at an off campus location. Sept. 26 2:30 p.m. University of Tulsa Campus Security Officers were dispatched to the University School to receive information. Upon arrival Officers made contact with a University employee who stated they had received threats towards them and their children that attend the University School. The threat was made by a Non- TU affiliate. They were advised to contact Tulsa Police Department to file a report. Sept. 27 7:15 a.m. While in the Mabee East parking lot University of Tulsa Campus Security Officers observed 2 University of Tulsa affiliates fighting. Officers separated the individuals and interviewed them. Both individuals filled out a witness statement and both did not want medical attention. Incident will be classified as student misconduct for both individuals and will be reviewed by dean of students at a later time. The Collegian does not produce or edit the Campus Crime Watch except for content and brevity.

9:50 p.m. University of Tulsa Campus Security Officers were dis-

Nate Gibbons Distribution Manager

Authorities disarm entire police force of Acapulco in Mexico Mexican state and federal authorities disarmed the police force of Acapulco during an ongoing investigation into possible gang infiltration. The state government said they took the action “because of suspicion that the force had probably been infiltrated by criminal groups” and “the complete inaction of municipal police in fighting the crime wave.” The police were reportedly stripped of their vests, guns and radios and taken for background checks. Last year, the Washington Post labeled Acapulco, once a resort for foreigners, as “Mexico’s Murder Capital.” Authorities consider Guerrero, the state where Acapulco is located, one of the most violent areas in Mexico. The U.S. Embassy of Mexico City issued a warning last Tuesday that U.S. citizens should avoid the region of Guerrero. Acapulco Mayor Evodio Velázquez Aguirre, who warned of the unruly police force in 2015, is offering the city’s full cooperation with investigators, according to Mexico News Daily.

Indonesia earthquake and tsunami kill hundreds The Indonesian island of Sulawesi suffered devastation last weekend as earthquakes, aftershocks and tsunamis struck the island’s cities. Damaged roads, downed buildings and broken communications slowed rescue efforts. At least 384 people were confirmed dead in the city of Palu alone, according to disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho. Officials say a magnitude 7.5 earthquake last Friday triggered multiple aftershocks and a tsunami. The tsunami struck the city of Palu as an unknown number of people, possibly hundreds, were attending a beach festival. The chief of the meteorology and geophysics agency, Dwikorita Karnawati, said, “The situation is chaotic, people are running on the streets and buildings collapsed,” adding, “There is a ship washed ashore.” One air traffic controller reportedly died in a quake after staying in the air tower to make sure a flight left safely, AirNav reports. Palu prison warden Adhi Yan Ricoh reported that more than half of the prison’s 560 inmates escaped when the prison’s walls collapsed. He told security staff to focus on search and rescue efforts. “Don’t even think to find the inmates,” he said. Indonesian President Joko Widodo is instructing the security minister to oversee the government’s response to the devastation.

Senator Jeff Flake delays Kavanaugh vote Before Republicans voted to favorably recommend the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court last Friday, Arizona Senator Jeff Flake announced he would not vote for Kavanaugh without an FBI investigation. The Republican later told reporters, “I’ve felt that this delay is as much to help him as us,” he said, adding, “My hope is that some Democrats will say, ‘Hey, we may not change our vote, but this process was worthy of the institution, and we feel satisfied.’” The nation listened last Thursday as Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Kavanaugh gave competing testimonies. Ford alleges that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in high school. According to Ford, Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge locked her in a bedroom while Kavanaugh forcefully laid on top of her and tried to remove her clothes. She says what “terrifies [her] the most” is that, when she attempted to scream for help, Kavanaugh placed his hand over her mouth. “It was hard for me to breathe,” she said, “and I thought that Brett was accidentally going to kill me.” She appeared visually uncomfortable throughout the testimony. When asked for her most enduring memory of the event, Ford, who is a psychologist, said, “Indelible in the hippocampus is the laughter, the uproarious laughter between the two and their having fun at my expense.” Democratic Senator Dick Durbin acknowledged allegations of mistaken identity. “Dr. Ford, with what degree of certainty do you believe Brett Kavanaugh assaulted you?” He asked. She answered, “100 percent.” In his opening statement, Kavanaugh denied all accusations and said, if Ford was assaulted, he was not the attacker. “This has destroyed my family and my good name, a good name built up through decades of very hard work and public service at the highest levels of the American government,” Kavanaugh said. Republican Senator Lindsay Graham came to Kavanaugh’s defense, arguing passionately that the whole hearing was “an unethical sham.” Turning to Democrats, he argued, “If you wanted an FBI investigation, you could have come to us,” he said. “What you [Democrats] want to do is destroy this guy’s life, hold this seat open and hope you win in 2020.” He added, “To my Republican colleagues, if you vote no, you’re legitimizing the most despicable thing I have seen in my time in politics.” At the request of the Senate, President Trump approved a limited FBI investigation into the allegations against Kavanaugh last Friday.

Monday, October 1 at 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Helmerich Hall, HELM 2nd Floor Student Lounge and HELM 121 Helmerich Hall Employer Showcase & Information Session with American Airlines HELLO BUSINESS STUDENTS! Stop by and welcome recruiters from American Airlines who will have a table set up in Helmerich Hall in the morning to meet and greet you. At noon, you are invited to an Information Session and free lunch to learn more about internships, full-time positions and on-campus interviews this fall. Please RSVP for the info/lunch session on Handshake or email tawny-crone@utulsa. edu.

Monday, October 1 at 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. Hardesty Hall, Center for Global Education Conference Room Spring Break 2019 Rio de Janeiro Info Session Join the Center for Global Education for an information session (lunch provided) about a faculty-led program during Spring Break of 2019. Professor Mike Trolio will be leading “Topics in International Business” in Rio de Janeiro. Tuesday, October 2 at 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Reynolds Center Black Hole Blues with Janna Levin The fall 2018 TU Presidential Lecture Series features author Janna Levin, professor of physics and astronomy at Barnard College of Columbia University. Levin’s latest book, Black Hole Blues, named one of Kirkus’ best non-fiction books of 2016, provides a fascinating, firsthand history of the Nobel-Prize winning scientific pursuit to detect gravitational waves: the holy grail of modern cosmology, the soundtrack of the universe. “If what we witnessed before was a silent movie, she says, “gravitational waves turn our universe into a talkie.” On stage, Levin expands on her mind-bending yet concrete ideas: From black holes to creativity to the union of art and science, she shows audiences just how far science has come – and where it’s headed. She reopens long-dormant questions about the nature of reality and makes cutting-edge science accessible to anyone willing to expand their mind. Her debut book, How the Universe Got Its Spots, fused geometry, topology, chaos and string theory to show how the pattern of hot and cold spots left over from the big bang may one day help reveal the true size and shape of the universe. Her next book, A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines, bridged fiction and nonfiction to tell a strange story of coded secrets, psychotic delusions, mathematical truth and age-old lies. Book signing to follow lecture. Thursday, October 4 at 7:00 p.m. Tyrrell Hall, Auditorium An Evening with Author Aminatta Forna Aminatta Forna was born in Scotland, raised in Sierra Leone and Great Britain and spent periods of her childhood in Iran, Thailand and Zambia. She is the award-winning author of the novels Happiness, The Hired Man, The Memory of Love and Ancestor Stones, and a memoir The Devil that Danced on the Water. Forna’s books have been translated into 18 languages. Her essays have appeared in Freeman’s, Granta, The Guardian, LitHub, The Nation, The New York Review of Books, The Observer and Vogue. She has written stories for BBC radio and written and presented television documentaries including The Lost Libraries of Timbuktu (BBC Television, 2009) and Girl Rising (CNN, 2013). Forna is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a member of the Folio Academy. She has acted as judge for the Samuel Johnson Prize, the Bailey Prize for Women’s Fiction, the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award, the Caine Prize and the International Man Booker Prize.

Friday, October 5 at 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Harwell Field, Tennis courts IEEE Dodgeball Tournament IEEE is hosting their annual dodgeball tournament at the Harwell Tennis Courts. Josh’s Sno Shack will be provided! Teams can sign up at goo.gl/FTRE8j The Collegian does not produce all event descriptions in the Community Calendar. Contact us at news@tucollegian.org with events.

The Collegian: 4

Commentary

1 October 2018

Court packing hampers SCOTUS not representative progressive decisions of American diversity

The nine-justice system accelerates decison making within the judicial branch and has been responsible for many landmark cases. Chris Lierly Student Writer Due to the absolute madness that the Kavanaugh confirmation has become, the Supreme Court has reentered the forefront of the American political debate. Setting aside the drama of the past week and a half, the current SCOTUS situation looks grim. Trump is now appointing his second justice to the highest bench, and even if Kavanaugh isn’t confirmed, Trump will appoint someone equally as conservative. That would make the divide on the court lean conservative by a margin of 6-3, and for that reason, court packing has been brought into the discussion. Court packing, which refers to the strategy of filling the Supreme Court with enough justices to push the court onto the desired side of the political spectrum, is a dangerous idea, but it’s an idea that many on the left have mentioned considering once a Democrat is living in the White House again. Strictly speaking, the Constitution does not limit the number of justices who can sit on the Supreme Court, but such a partisan move would be an ill-advised attempt born out of the need to change the current situation. Yes, everything in politics looks hopeless right now, but for three reasons, courtpacking will hurt more than would help.

choice to make her own medical decisions at a time when not one woman had a seat in the Senate and Obergefell v. Hodges settled the issue of marriage equality once and for all, but these would likely fail to pass in the current House of Representatives. All three of these decisions protected minorities and those unrepresented long before a bill or constitutional amendment could have been passed to do the same. However, Congress was not alone in its inability to progressively move America forward. In each of these three cases, the president in office either didn’t agree with the Supreme Court’s forward-thinking view on an issue or felt too constrained by a divided government to act himself. The judicial branch was the only branch that could have made these decisions, and it took the most honored court within that branch to issue such wide and sweeping changes. The Supreme Court’s legitimacy was what granted it the power to make these changes, and packing the court would only limit its ability to make similar decisions in the future. Third, the design of the Supreme Court insulates its justices from both the opinion of the other two branches and the public at large. Supreme Court justices write their opinions without having to worry about what the middle-class suburban male in Ohio thinks about immigration. This is not to say that justices don’t hold their own biases but making decisions based more on how the Constitution is written rather than how a certain demographic feels lends them a level of objectivity that the president and Congress could never possess. The way the Constitution partially shields the judicial system from public opinion also lends the Supreme Court a level of energy that Congress lacks. Court packing would not give the public much more of a say about who sits on the bench. However, to give the court the liberal slant that Democrats want it to have, it would require increasing the total number of justices to 13. With 13 people

“No branch... has affirmed the progressive nature of American politics more than the Supreme Court.” First, court packing would further divide the nation and take away the Democrats’ legitimacy. Though Republicans currently have governmental control, the party loses legitimacy day by day. They stand behind a president who makes unwarranted partisan attacks without thinking about the consequences. If the Democrats decided to court pack, they would further polarize the nation and would stoop down to the level of an opposing party that they claim to hold a moral superiority over. Additionally, the Republicans could then justify court packing for themselves once they won the White House back again. Second, no branch of government has affirmed the progressive nature of American politics more than the Supreme Court. Brown v. Board of Education made segregation illegal at a time when Democrats still considered the South an electoral stronghold, Roe v. Wade protected a woman’s

debating the way we interpret our founding document, decisions would take much longer to make. This would prevent the court from making important rulings on matters that require the utmost urgency and allow the president to make those interpretations instead. Court packing would effectively hamstring the Supreme Court and the judicial system that depends on it. The Supreme Court has not been perfect and has made some bad choices in its history. Nonetheless, many of America’s proudest moments after World War II came as a result of a Supreme Court decision. To court pack simply for political purposes would prevent any future decisions like the ones elaborated on earlier. Minorities and those unrepresented in Congress would have to rely on the executive branch and state governments to protect them — two parts of government that have failed at that duty time and time again.

Leaving the nine-justice structure of the Supreme Court in the past would end the arms race of parties nominating justices. Andrew Noland Student Writer On July 10, several weeks after Anthony Kennedy’s retirement and Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination, Roosevelt University political science professor David Faris wrote for the Washington Post a call for Democrats in 2021 to begin adding more justices to the Supreme Court. The strategy, known as court-packing, dates back to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. While Roosevelt failed at his attempts, Faris argues that Democrats succeeding in 2021 will be imperative to the survival of the American democracy. With a conservative bench, the Supreme Court has the opportunity to overturn landmark cases such as Roe v. Wade and Obergefell v. Hodges (although the latter is unlikely) and set back social progress by nearly a century. Faris says that, by adding liberal Supreme Court justices, the new judges can prevent this irreparable disaster from occurring. I agree; we need more justices to prevent tyranny from the judicial branch, especially from a conservative one. However, I do not believe Faris goes far enough. We need to add so many Supreme Court justices that the judicial branch becomes as deliberative as its legislative counterpart. The underlying issue is that his strategy produces an arms race of nominating and appointing Supreme Court justices. As each president takes the office and nominates justices, an allied Senate will continue approving each nominee. How far are we willing to go? 15? 30? 100? While his methodology is sound, he misunderstands what he is arguing against. Instead of asking how we curb a conservative court, I’m questioning the underlying assumption that so few people should wield this immense power. The current iteration of the Supreme Court should be blasted into the rubbles of history like every other outdated American political institution that we have overcome. The story of the American political experiment has been one of evolution, a transformation geared toward gradually adopting more democratic practices. Once an aristocratic republic, the United States has taken centuries to emerge from its original qualifications of white land-owning males; it took a war and a century to break the stranglehold of the South over the meaning of Black humanity, a century and a half for women to vote and the struggle continues over voter suppression and various American colonies. The Supreme Court is the most powerful of the remaining anti-democratic institutions left standing from the Founders’ greatest mistakes. Nine people are charged with deliberating, formulating and making judgement on cases that not only possess the definitive stance on what is constitutional, but what is American. It virtuously adjudicated some of our greatest moments in Brown v. Board, Obergefell v. Hodges, Roe v. Wade,

The Supreme Court has historically made some progressive decisions, including the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges case which legalized same-sex marriage.

Gideon v. Wainwright, Worcester v. Georgia and Miranda v. Arizona. However, the Supreme Court also established and/or perpetuated America’s greatest moral failings in Dred Scott v. Sandford, Plessy v. Ferguson, Korematsu v. United States, Kelo v. City of New London and Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. Nine people that have been predominantly white, male and rich have determined the soul of our nation. By the time this is in print, it’s possible we will have another justice with those same attributes on the Court. I don’t meant to say that it is impossible that nine people can definitively determine and rule on the public good in the United States; I’m arguing that, thus far, they have screwed up catastrophically and allowed hundreds of thousands to suffer for decades before fixing their mistakes, all under the guise of “precedent.” The stakes cannot be higher and pretending that presidents choose the wisest, most scholarly and impartial Americans to the highest court in the land to make these decisions is not only laughable, but inherently flawed from its mechanical assumptions. I’m going to ruin Nietzsche for every edgy pseudo-philosopher out there: there is no ubermensch, no human being so perfect they could justify the Supreme Court’s limited power. The reason why there never can be is that human beings are so much more than an amalgamation of knowledge and degrees from Ivy League schools; they are individuals filled with unique experiences that cannot be categorized into neat boxes. In the same way I will never be able to fully appreciate Justice Sotomayor’s extraordinary life, she can never understand my journey as a half-Thai millennial, born on Saipan and living as a student in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Democracy infuses your story into a conversation of how we rule ourselves and each other; this is not something, regardless of how brilliant its members, the Supreme Court can ever facilitate and actualize on its own. The democratic process is slow in the United States, and others have argued that without the Supreme Court segregation might have never ended or the legalization gay marriage would not have been realized. But through a more responsive, non-gerrymandered Congress, or even a direct public referendum, segregation would have never happened in the first place; the South simply lacked the numbers in 1896 like it does today. Gay marriage, under this same token, would have passed with a national vote in 2015, if not earlier; most of the homophobic prejudices of the Greatest Generation and the Baby Boomers are dying along with them. While democracy can be frustratingly inert, especially in the American constitutional system, it means we produce right or wrong decisions together; no one should be able to steer us without our consent. When nine partisan and biased people can determine that an integral part of you prohibits your participation in the noble pursuit of living as a free being, the Supreme Court fails the democracy it is sworn to defend. The United States has an opportunity to reassert itself as the world’s mightiest and most successful democratic experiment in history by admitting its most unsettling truth: most of the Founding Fathers were nothing more than a conglomeration of male, rich, white aristocrats who created a government of, by and for that demographic. The Supreme Court stands as an enduring testament to their political and social shortcomings, and packing the Supreme Court with more justices injects a collaborative element into the most tyrannical branch of the United States.

courtesy Flickr

1 October 2018

Commentary

The Collegian: 5

Okla. needs better sex education Though it has the second highest percentage of teen pregnancies in the nation, Oklahoma’s sex education is lacking. Anna Robinson Student Writer Like Salt-N-Pepa once said, “Let’s talk about sex, baby.” Or not. As college students living in Tulsa, Oklahoma, we have become familiar with the conflicts that Oklahoma schools face. From the teacher walkouts earlier this year to battles over education funding, we’re often reminded of the low ranking of Oklahoma schools out of all 50 states. Though at the forefront of educational problems are adequate teachers’ salaries and viable budgets, the subjects taught are also limited — one of these being sex education.

In middle school, we did have a speaker address this through a series of class sessions, but nothing similar occurred in high school. My fellow students and I comically received a birds-and-the-bees talk from our world and U.S. history teacher. Other than a couple of videos on HIV/AIDS, this onetime, lighthearted discussion was the extent of our high school sex-ed. I can think of three out of a little over 1,000 students with whom I had classes who became pregnant and gave birth before their high school graduation. There could have easily been others who I never met as well. The Tulsa World reported that Oklahoma experienced a 29 percent decrease in teen pregnancies from 2012 to 2016. Though this is a positive change, our state is still ranked second in teen pregnancies in the United States. Arkansas currently occupies the number one spot on this list. Teen families are more likely to receive welfare than other age demographics and see more health issues in their children. Other than pregnancy, about one third of high schoolers were sexually active in 2011, and STD prevalence has increased. Programs in Oklahoma such as the Take Control Initiative stress the importance of education as preventative measures for this issue. Oklahoma does not require sex-ed to be taught in schools. When it is taught,

“Oklahoma has not established a consistent, effective sex-ed program for schools statewide.” I grew up in Tulsa and attended Tulsa public schools (TPS). My time in middle and high school did not feel severely affected by the low budgets and low-quality scores. But looking back, I now see things that were missing. One of these was indeed a gap in sex education for TPS students.

classes focus on abstinence more than other preventative measures against pregnancy. What is and what is not included in sexed has come under scrutiny in Oklahoma. Parents of a seventh grader in Jay, Oklahoma, claimed that a sex-ed lesson disturbed their child. They did not go into detail about

Abstinence-only sex education is instituted in less than half of the U.S.

the lesson’s content in their report to News 9, but they believed that it was too graphic and inappropriate. The school had approved the program, but not all of the parents were aware of it beforehand. What this conflict demonstrates is the fact that Oklahoma has not established a consistent, effective sex-ed program for schools statewide. Additionally, when students do receive sex-ed lessons, they come from outside agencies rather than from within the schools themselves. Given that Oklahoma still has the second highest percentage of teen pregnancies, abstinence is obviously not wholeheartedly

courtesy Huffington Post

practiced by high schoolers. Schools need to stress healthy and safe lifestyle choices, as most students don’t avoid sex forever. We show young people what to do in situations like intruders on campus, natural disasters and medical emergencies. We do not tell them to avoid these situations. They are inevitable. So why not show and equip young people with the tools to stay safe in a world of raging hormones as well? Sexual situations are not as unavoidable as my aforementioned examples, but the statistics of sexually active high schoolers and teen pregnancies speak for themselves.

Okla. insulin cost due to lack of affordable healthcare

A 500 percent increase in the cost of insulin over the last 15 years should be counteracted with a state-wide expansion of Medicaid. Nathan Hinkle Student Writer Diabetes is a constant medical problem across the United States, especially in Oklahoma, where the rate of diagnosis is higher than the national average by around two percent. It affects a large majority of Oklahoma citizens, and it continues to grow every year. Data by the Oklahoma State Department of Health states that 329,100 Oklahomans had some form of diabetes in 2012. This number continues to rise.

However, Oklahomans who have diabetes may face troubles paying for the necessary insulin required to treat the set of diseases classified as diabetes. Insulin prices have grown 500 percent over the past 15 years. According to the Bureau of Labor, inflation has only reached 37.04 percent in the similar period. Therefore, the massive price jump has to come from the source: medical companies. The best solution is an expansion to the Medicaid system, seen in other states across the U.S.

enough. Many are unable to work due to it being more financially viable to stay at home with their children. New work requirements for Medicaid, however, may hurt these individuals by requiring them to report at least 80 hours of work each month to qualify for Medicaid coverage. The best solution to help fix these problems would be to expand Medicaid in Oklahoma, similar to other states. After the creation of the Affordable Care Act, the federal government encouraged states to expand ac-

“The increase in Medicaid in Oklahoma would help people receive the drugs they desperately need...” The major issue is the lack of healthcare that properly fits people’s complete needs. While some receive a form of healthcare, it does not currently provide them with enough insulin to fit their regular needs. In interviews with the Frontier, diabetics explain how they are forced to pay massive fees out of pocket to get the necessary resources that they need. One of the interviewees, Clayton Cook, stated that he has to pay an additional $20,000 dollars every year to have enough insulin for his daughter. While some Oklahomans have a source of insurance, it is not

cess to Medicaid to people up to 138 percent over the poverty line. The federal government would pay the whole bill, and eventually the state would help pay 10 percent. According to a joint study by the University of Chicago and the University of Southern California, “prescription fills for insulin increased by 40 percent, and newer medications increased by 39 percent in Medicaid expansion states, while trends in non-expansion states were essentially unchanged.” This expansion of Medicaid helped improve the lives of citizens across these states due

Despite its higher-than-average usage in Oklahoma, insulin’s skyrocketing prices have restricted access for those in need.

to their ability to receive better treatment and easier access to medicine. Additionally, the main author of the study, Dr. Rebecca Myerson, stated that “our data shows that uninsured patients used newer medications at less than half the rate of privately insured patients, but with Medicaid insurance, that gap completely disappeared.” Through the expansion of Medicaid, people who need essential medicine can be properly cared for. However, some fear that the Medicaid increase would be a terrible burden on Oklahoma. Oklahoma would face a $200 million bill for the program, and it would have cut in half the money used for teacher salaries. While the bill may be drastic, it is important to help those in need to receive the medicine they need to survive. The increase in Medicaid in Oklahoma would help people receive the pharmaceuticals they desperately need without having to pay high out-of-pocket fees. People could rejoin the workforce and would be able to live a normal life. The skyrocketing price of insulin in the United States is a serious issue, and we should provide for Oklahomans who are unable to acquire the necessary amount of insulin.

graphic by Conner Maggio

The Collegian: 6

Commentary

1 October 2018

Serena Williams’ catsuit Lowering refugee cap necessary for her health symptom of xenophobia

Williams’ catsuit has fallen under public scrutiny despite the fact that the suit was designed to help combat her blood clots. Kaitlyn Argo Student Writer Controversy surrounds Serena Williams, and not just for her recent loss in the U.S. Open. The catsuit that she wore to the French Open has been the subject of many an argument. On the one hand, catsuits are not the traditional outfit one wears to a tennis match. On the other, Williams needs the catsuit for her health. When talking with Reuters.com, Williams confessed that she had been having trouble with blood clots, saying, “I don’t know how many I have had in the past 12 months.” The suit helps with her blood flow, she said, and that she needs it to keep playing. However, the French Open had other ideas. “It will no longer be accepted. One must respect the game and the place,” said French Tennis Federation President Bernard Giudicelli. Not letting one of the most successful and phenomenal players in the world

wear what she needs to continue playing the sport she loves is astoundingly disrespectful. Serena has won each of the Grand Slam events and is a four-time Olympic Gold medalist. And yet, instead of wanting to keep this amazing player in the game, the French Open wants to control what she wears, therefore limiting how often she can play due to medical reasons. These blood clots are not minor. After the birth of her daughter, Williams had a sixday medical crisis from blood clots in her lungs, which she says she almost died from, according to NPR. She needs this suit to simultaneously keep living healthily and play the sport she loves. Without it, she cannot do both for long. This is not the only issue that Williams has had to deal with in her career in tennis. From being called a man to being compared to an animal, Williams has been persecuted in her sport. The racism surrounding these taunts is not to be overlooked, either. It is common for black women to be put down in their sports and told that they are too aggressive. Williams is no exception. However, the jeers she has received have now bled over into her health. They are trying to stop her from playing the sport she loves. She should be able to wear the suit if she wants, as it is a necessity for her health. It is not anymore revealing than any other outfit or uniform other players wear. If anything, it is less revealing! The need for rules or a dress code is understandable, but there should be exceptions for health needs. Serena Williams should be allowed to wear her catsuit, and anything less is disrespectful to her.

“The need for... a dress code is understandable, but there should be exceptions for health needs.”

Reducing the number of refugees permitted into the U.S. furthers the Trump administration’s desire to isolate the nation. Chris Lierly Student Writer Last Monday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the United States would only accept 30,000 refugees into the country this year. It was a disheartening but in no way a shocking announcement. That is down from the cap of 45,000 refugees allowed by the administration into the United States this year. This does not mean that in the next year America will receive 30,000 refugees, only that we will not take in any more than that. The lower refugee cap fits into Trump’s broader xenophobic view on immigration, but it also provides another example of the United States failing to lead the way in matters of foreign policy under Trump. The refugee crisis facing the world cannot be understated. People fleeing South Sudan, Syria and Myanmar make up almost 88 percent of those 68.5 million people who have were forcibly displaced from their home country in 2017. The majority of those displaced find sanctuary in countries near the one they just fled. However, Turkey, Bangladesh and Sudan (the countries who accepted the most refugees in 2017) cannot fix the entire refugee crisis alone by

providing a new home for all refugees. This is the world’s problem, and the world must find a solution. In theory, this is where the world leader should step in. A hegemonic power with an unrivaled military, an economy on the upswing and a relatively low population density needs to lead by example. The United States is better suited to tackle this problem than any other nation, but instead, we have turned inward and away from a world in need. The worst part of this decision is that it fits perfectly in with the other foreign policy decisions of the Trump administration. The Trump administration’s most drastic departure from the norms of the presidency has been on foreign policy. Trump has made three major decisions that highlight this abdication as the world leader: instituting a ban of Muslim immigrants to the United States, withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accords and abandoning the Iran Nuclear Agreement. All of these decisions show a contempt for the international order at large, but the refugee cap and the Muslim ban prove that Trump’s foreign policy is motivated just as much by a fear of immigrants as it is by a contempt for the decisions of Barack Obama. Trump and the administration officials inherently fear people they view as different. That xenophobia played an important role in getting Trump elected, and like many presidents before him, he governs much like he campaigned: by decrying people of cultures different than his as national security threats. Not all refugees come from countries that Trump views as dangerous, but since a majority do, the administration has no problem with denying many refugees into the United States. Trump views both the international community and refugees as hindrances to his neo-isolationist foreign policy, and he, with the newest cap on refugees, has turned America’s back on both.

Vinyl revolution a dishonest revival of the medium

Vinyl record sales are outnumbering digital downloads despite the record industry’s transition from analog to digital recording. Ethan Veenker News Editor I received my first vinyl record in 2014. Tame Impala’s “Innerspeaker,” a relatively overlooked debut in the Australian psychrocker’s now-household catalog. A few days later, I spent $50 on a cheap, beginner Jensen turntable. The first record I purchased of my own volition and with my own money a couple of weeks later was Arcade Fire’s “Funeral.” My collection grew. Some months after, I was gifted a better turntable and sound system. I kept purchasing vinyl, amassing my collection to somewhere over 100 records with box sets, seven-inch singles and 10-inch EPs mixed in with those classically designed 12-inch vinyl LPs. I had picture discs, see-through, glow-in-thedark, limited edition, hand-numbered … the list goes on. I speak in the past tense because I no longer collect vinyl, and not for any ethical reasons, but because it’s simply too expensive. In high school, after getting my first job and not thinking too hard about the future, every payday was a record store day. I spend my money differently now and only pick up a record when it’s something special. I also get my music in differently, though I don’t stream (but that’s a topic for a different time). A Digital Music News article from July claimed that vinyl record sales are up in 2018. 19.2 percent, specifically. The article pulls this info from Nielsen Music and also claims that the ancient format is beginning to outstrip digital downloads at the market, though they neglected to provide actual numbers on this point. A March article from The Verge gives some more concrete stats, pulled from the Recording Industry Association of America’s 2017 end-of-the-year report, stating that “digital downloads fell to $1.3 billion last year, whereas physical media, while also falling, only declined to $1.5 billion.”

There are two important things to pull from that quote: one, digital sales truly are lower than physical sales, and two, physical sales are falling as well. If these two things are falling, where is the money going? How are people consuming their music? “Last year, nearly two-thirds of all revenue — over $5.7 billion — came from streaming, an increase of 43 percent,” the same article states. Streaming, from Spotify to Apple Music and Google Music, even to Pandora, is just too convenient, too cheap to warrant a purchase of the record. For less than the cost of your average digital album, you can get unlimited access to tens of thousands for a month. It just makes more sense. People like me, who purchase CDs and the occasional record, do it for stupid reasons, like the lyric sheets and the satisfaction in having the physical format, in having purchased an artist’s creation at a level indicating far more devotion than a simple stream. I won’t argue the point right now, but that’s a big motivation. Of course, there’s another reason: audiophilia. Self-proclaimed “audiophiles” desire to hear music in the highest fidelity (sound quality) possible. They spend hundreds on headphones and amplifiers, and some fork over another few thousand dollars on audio systems and, wouldn’t you know, turntables. It’s worth mentioning here that the physical format can’t compete in any way with digital when it comes to sound quality. CD will always sound better than the best vinyl

Record collectors often prefer the medium for its warm sound.

are some hard-to-understand technicalities here, but some vinyl records give a different sound to the music than the cold, calculating digital files. It’s described as “fuller,” “more organic” and other buzzwords by audiophiles. There is something of a difference, though, and some people spend thousands of dollars in pursuit of hearing this difference. In addition to this quality, audiophiles also tend to reject streaming because their favored levels of fidelity are usually not supported by the streaming service.

“Too many remasters are converted digitally before being pressed... this completely removes the point.” pressing, and the best digital file (in huge, lossless formats) will always sound better than the CD. There are larger arguments in favor of vinyl for the “warmth” of its sound and what-not, but I’ll set that aside for a moment. There are also detractors from the audiophile philosophy who claim that lossless formats only take up more hard drive space and don’t offer any immediately noticeable change in sound quality. There’s a truth to this. Put on your best headphones and try listening to a song (say, from Spotify) in an MP3 format, then try to find a lossless file of the song somewhere and listen to that. Can you really hear the difference? Most people can’t, so audiophiles tend to be rare and contained to their own circles. If you can’t hear the difference, they say, your music player or your headphones or your computer’s sound card simply isn’t good enough. Some, paradoxically, actually prefer vinyl, not because of its warmer sound, but because it’s of a different nature. There

Notice that I said “some vinyl records” and not “all.” That’s because the vinyl industry, in the wake of its meteoric recent popularity, is doing something that a lot of audiophiles consider dishonest. I’m not an audiophile, but I agree. Many vinyl factories are opting to press the records from digital sources rather than analog. Before going on, I admit that I’m no sound engineer and that I don’t understand all the intricacies, but this is the basic knowledge I’ve acquired since browsing various vinyl forums all throughout high school. To simplify a process that I don’t truly comprehend, there are two terms to understand: “digital,” which refers to the electronic and computer-encoded, and “analog,” which refers to things that aren’t necessarily electronic. Old four-track recorders, for example, are analog, whereas the microphone in your laptop is digital. Before the rise of the computer, everything was analog. In the music industry, this meant that the devices

courtesy Flickr

on which one recorded the music to the methods by which they listened (the vinyl record) were all analog. Analog is generally considered superior to digital (especially by audiophiles), though this remains a point of contention. “Vinyl” is an adjective; “record” is a noun. “Vinyls” is not an appropriate way to refer to vinyl records. The ideal vinyl record is pressed from what’s called the analog master tape. Essentially, you want as few things between the recording studio and the record as possible. Ideally, what the artists belt out and what the initial sound engineers mix and master is what goes directly to the wax, but this isn’t always the case. Especially regarding remasters, things can get dicy. A popular subject of music commentary is the “loudness war” of the late ‘90s, in which remasters of classic albums were notoriously bad due to poor mastering techniques. For this, audiophiles are forever suspicious of remasters, and a trend in vinyl pressing renders this suspicion somewhat valid. Today, many remasters (or even original masters) are converted digitally before being pressed to vinyl. To most people, including myself, this completely removes the point. With vinyl like that, you just get a digital file that’s been made objectively poorer in its transition to an intrinsically flawed physical format. Vinyl-lovers can’t even claim the “different” or “warmer” sound at that point, because the sound isn’t different in any way. At least when the analog master was pressed to vinyl, things had the potential to sound different. With this new influx of digital masters ending up in the grooves, well, it’s disingenuous.

1 October 2018

Sports

The Collegian: 7

TU sports mashup: it’s in the ‘cane!

TU sports journalist Tristan Peterson delivers a comprehensive summary of Golden Hurricane volleyball, tennis, rowing and soccer. This Wednesday, Tulsa Volleyball struggled in the match against Northern Texas University, but ultimately came out victorious in the five-set battle to close out nonconference play. They struggled offensively in the first set, but Emily Thorson and Taylor Horsfall managed seven and eight digs respectively. North Texas still won the set. The teams would prove to be an even match; Horsfall dominated with nine digs so Thorson could smash out seven kills. This continued in the third set with 12 digs from Horsfall and eight kills from Thorson. Callie Cook also nudged her way into the action, earning four kills. Tulsa was quiet in the fourth set, allowing a win by North Texas 25-11. In the end, Tulsa roared on the court, winning the fifth set 15-9. Elyse Savadove stepped up to the the net with five kills matched by five digs from Horsfall. Horsfall finished the match with 39 digs, which matches her second-best effort in her career. She currently owns the team record with 44 digs in a match, which occurred in a set against UCF in October 2017. As a team, Tulsa tallied a season-high 108 digs, to go along with 61 kills. Saturday was a real nail-biter, with fans unsure of the match against undefeated Wichita State University after Wednesday’s rocky performance. Tulsa came to fight and left WSU in the storm, giving Wichita State its first conference loss since joining the American Athletic Conference in 2017 and destroying their 29-match conference winning streak. Tulsa continued its perfect status at home for this season, 7-0. The first set was a dangerous battle royale, resulting in a 41-39 Tulsa loss. The 39 points from the Hurricane ties the most by TU in a set in program history, equaling a 39-37 firstset victory in a 3-0 win over Stephen F. Austin in 2003. Tulsa followed that up by dominating the second set 25-20. Despite dropping the third, Thorson had six kills while Mariah Pardo and Horsfall each accumulated five digs in the set to bolster the defense. Maggie Hembree led the Golden

Hurricane in the fourth with six blocks on their way to a 25-15 victory. The final set played out with lots of long rallies, similar to the ones before. Fans were on the edge of their seats after each play before Tulsa clinched the match 19-17. In a game that saw 49 tie scores and 17 lead changes, the Golden Hurricane accumulated 106 digs, 70 kills and 13 total team blocks. The team has a week to rest before it travels to Florida for conference matchups with UCF on Oct. 5 and USF on Oct. 7. Tulsa Men’s Tennis took the court at the Saint Francis Health System ITA AllAmerican Championships this weekend. TU has been the official host of this tournament for the past 14 years. On day one, Tom Thelwall-Jones, a freshman from Wales, entered the Pre-Qualifying Draw all alone. Unfortunately, he fell to Henrique Osorio (Fresno State), 7-5, 4-6, 6-0, though he didn’t go down without a fight. Later on Sunday, Thelwall-Jones fell to Emile Hudd of Oklahoma State, 6-4, 6-3. Though Thelwall-Jones couldn’t find his rhythm in these matches, the team is waiting to see if he will be entered into the qualifying draw with doubles partner, Boriss Kamden. Kamdem, Daniel Siddall, Jarod Hing and Joshua Goodger are set to play singles in the qualifiers on Oct. 1. The women of the Tulsa Rowing team tamed the waters and sailed to victory this week in the first day of racing at the Head of the Oklahoma on Saturday on the Oklahoma River in Oklahoma City. First to finish in the Collegiate 8+ category was the Tulsa Hurricane ‘A’ team at 14:13.11: Sam Barber, Lucy Coleman, Ellie Russell, Helen Leigh, Veronique Ulrich, Daniela Fusco-House, Paige Hallam, Sophia Camara and Julia Herrel. In the Collegiate 4+ event, Katie Shin, Russell, Fusco-House, Ulrich and Camara captured a first-place time of 15:40.80. Alessia Ruggiu and Elisa Vandersloot tallied a top time of 16:58.67 in the Open 2x and in the Lightweight 2x, Meredith Galloway and Sydney Pirkle posted a top mark with a time of

Busy offseason for NHL

Hockey expert Jourdon White gives an overview of the most significant changes in the 2018 NHL offseason. When we last left the NHL, we saw the Washington Capitals do the (nigh) impossible and finally win their first Stanley Cup, leaving Pittsburgh and mostly-bandwagon Vegas fans salty. Aside from Alexander Ovechkin’s lengthy celebration binge, trades, rumors and intrigue filled the offseason. With the official season starting back up this Wednesday, here’s a quick roundup of major offseason stories. Summer is free agency time, where many teams either extend their players’ contracts or see some big names move to unlikely places. This summer, many star players were traded due to their impending free agency. Two of the biggest names were defenseman Erik Karlsson and center John Tavares. Both were star players on their respective teams and some of the best in the game at the moment. After a couple of weeks of speculation and rumors, the New York Islanders traded Tavares to the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs are making moves to steadily improve their lineup, but still need that extra push to get past the first round of the playoffs. Around mid-July, Karlsson was in talks for a trade to either Tampa Bay or Dallas,

though these went silent after a week. After a month of “will they, won’t they,” the Ottawa Senators traded Karlsson to the San Jose Sharks. It will be interesting to see how Karlsson can fit in the Sharks’ more offensive dynamic, but I think we can confirm Ottawa will be out of playoff contention until the Senators’ upper management can clean up their act. Aside from these large trades, the offseason was, well, the offseason. There were other small happenings in and around the league. The current head of the NHL, Gary Bettman, was formally inducted into the Hall of Fame this summer despite the controversy surrounding he and his high-up cronies. The Philadelphia Flyers introduced their newest mascot, Gritty, which looks like the physical manifestation of Philly’s rage as a sports city. His bizarre appearance and kooky antics have taken the hockey world by storm. The regular season starts on Wednesday, Oct. 3. I am more than excited. Though this offseason was filled with more big names traded than usual, it will hopefully pay off for most of the teams in the regular season.

17:57.45. On the final day, Leigh, Ulrich, Fusco-House and Russell captured a firstplace finish in the Open 4x race in a time of 15:16.90. Ten seconds behind Kansas’ boat: Lindsey Smith, Madeline Oleksiak, Paige Hallam, Elizabeth McCabe and Nicole Workman recorded a second-place mark in the Open 4+ with a time of 16:22.24. Tulsa blocked out third through seventh place in the Open 1x: Lucy Coleman (17:53.78), Bobbi Forster, Sarolta Papp, Elisa Vandersloot and Karen Undset, respectively. In the Open 2-, Amy Pitzel and Sydney Pirkle turned in a third-place mark with a time of 17:09.4. Tulsa ended the racing at the

courtesy Don Tomkalski Head of the Oklahoma with seven top-three marks. The Golden Hurricane men’s soccer team fell 3-2 this week in a double overtime match against the University of South Florida. Joe Ruiz connected with Miguel Velasquez who sent the ball into the lower right-hand corner of the goal to put Tulsa up 1-0. Tomasz Skublak of USF later headed in a goal evening out the score. Neither team found the back of the net in the first overtime frame, but Skublak picked up his fourth goal on the year and second of the night to give the Bulls the win in the second overtime.

courtesy Don Tomkalski

The Collegian: 8

Sports

1 October 2018

Browns win a game

NFL expert Lindsey Prather covers the stunning triumph of Cleveland breaking their losing streak.

For the first time in years, Cleveland Browns football has a spark of hope again. On Sept. 20, the Cleveland Browns (0-1-1) faced the New York Jets (1-1) on Thursday Night Football. Coming off a tough loss in New Orleans against the Saints, Tyrod Taylor and the Browns were looking for their first win of the season. They found it, but not in the way anyone could have expected. After an abysmal performance early on, Taylor was pulled from the game following a questionable hit in the second quarter, clearing the way for former Oklahoma quarter-

team to throw Mayfield into the fire. Due to this questionable history with starting young quarterbacks too early, the decision to bench Mayfield initially is probably the best decision they could have possibly made. Allowing him to develop behind a veteran quarterback helped him greatly, and the payoff is obvious from his performance against the Jets. Baker Mayfield elevated the team following his NFL debut. Behind an offensive line that forced Tyrod Taylor to run for his life just one quarter earlier, Mayfield ex-

“What resulted was a fairytale for Mayfield, snapping a 19-game winless streak...”

Mayfield looks downfield.

courtesy aol.com

back Baker Mayfield to take the field. What resulted was a fairytale for Mayfield, snapping a 19-game winless streak on behalf of the Browns and beginning his audition for the cursed role of Cleveland Browns starting QB. Following his entrance just before halftime, the first-overall draft pick helped the Browns overcome a double-digit deficit and energize the crowd as they rallied toward their first win since 2016. Following some brief struggles with completing his reads, Mayfield settled in and passed for 201 yards on 17 of 23 attempts, looking to be every bit the franchise quarterback the Browns have been searching for. Mayfield was patient and poised in the pocket and precise with his throws, leading the comeback that convinced Cleveland they had finally found their man. Mayfield looked absolutely unflappable, rallying his team better than some veteran quarterbacks. So why didn’t Mayfield get the nod sooner? The Cleveland Browns have a history of chewing up and spitting out young quarterbacks. Colt McCoy, Deshone Kizer, Johnny Manziel and Brandon Weeden are all prime examples. After spending another high draft pick on Mayfield, the organization’s decision to sit him behind Taylor was justified. Considering their history, combined with their lack of faith in the quality of the offensive line, it wouldn’t be unusual for the

ecuted reads and threw pinpoint-accurate passes. On the defensive side of the ball, a star-studded, solid defense that previously had trouble containing the Jets found themselves capable of making plays and creating opportunities. The entire Browns team was responsible for the win over the Jets, although the question remains as to whether they will maintain the level of play that Mayfield somehow teased out of them. Named officially as starting quarterback, Mayfield now has an opportunity to repeat his success against the Jets as they look toward their next game against Derek Carr and the Raiders in Oakland. With his first career start in the NFL and all eyes on him, the odds of replicating the same energy and success are unknown. Ideally, the Browns’ poor performance on both sides of the ball can be alleviated by improved quarterback play. This early in the season, it’s hardly sinkor-swim. Nonetheless, consistency and the ability to execute will be vital to the continued success of the Browns, however long or short-lived the success of Baker Mayfield turns out to be. If he is able to muster half of the charisma and confidence he showed against the Jets, the Browns might be something more than a punchline this season, and one thing is for certain: it’s about time.

Sarri, Marinho and Klopp stalking the pitch.

graphic by Conner Maggio

Premier League update Soccer journalist Chris Lierly reports on this week in England’s cutthroat competition. Man City: The Citizens return to the Premier League with the potential to top the table for the second year in a row. Their record is 6-1-0 and they have 19 points after the seventh matchday. Their biggest win was against Arsenal at the Emirates to open their season, and they have yet to play any team that can stand up to their dominating attack. With Kevin De Bruyne injured, City’s record going forward will depend on how well they are able to run Pep’s system with the motor to that system sitting on bench. Major upcoming matches: Oct. 7 at Liverpool, Oct. 29 at Tottenham, Nov. 11 at Manchester United Liverpool: Jurgen Klopp’s Reds have looked phenomenal this season. They began the season with six wins before drawing with Chelsea in a late thriller at Stamford Bridge to give them a record of 6-1-0 with 19 points. Liverpool looks much deeper this season in every part of the field. They have one major win against Tottenham, but defending against City next week will be a major test for a defence that looks much improved. Major upcoming matches: Oct. 7 vs. Manchester City, Nov. 3 at Arsenal, Dec. 1 at Everton Chelsea: If the early part of the 2018/19 season acts as any indicator for the Sarri era, then the Blues have little to worry about. Chelsea begins the year with a new manager at the helm and a slightly different lineup than last season. Like Man City, Chelsea’s only major win is against Arsenal, and no one should count that as a major win. However, Chelsea has looked like a legitimate contender this year and will likely join Liverpool and City in a tight race for the title with their 5-2-0 record with 17 points. Major upcoming matches: Oct. 20 vs.Manchester United, Nov. 24 at Tottenham, Dec. 8 at Manchester City Tottenham: Spurs enter the 2018/19 season with a solid squad and a more impressive

stadium. Nonetheless, it is more likely the Pochettino will manage a match at the new White Hart Lane before he spends any of the club’s money on a player that could make the team better. Tottenham has one major win with their 3-0 thrashing of United and two losses with their slip ups against Liverpool and Watford. Harry Kane’s health will likely determine where Tottenham finishes, but their record of 5-0-2 and 15 points, Spurs look to ride most of the season just behind the leaders. Major upcoming matches: Oct. 29 vs. Manchester City, Nov. 24 vs. Chelsea, Dec. 1 at Arsenal Arsenal: The 2017/18 season was not kind to Arsenal. However, the current form of Alexandre Lacazette should give Gunners’ fans hope. Arsenal dropped key points by losing to City and Chelsea in the opening weeks of the season, but since then, they have consistently won against mid and lower level teams. As mediocre as that sounds, it is a major accomplishment for Unai Emery’s squad. Arsenal doesn’t really have a chance to compete for the cup this year. Still, their 5-0-2 record gives them 15 points, which is level with Tottenham. Major Upcoming Matches: Nov. 3 at Liverpool, Dec. 1 at Tottenham, Dec. 4 at Manchester United Manchester United: Manchester United’s dismal situation at the beginning of the season looks a lot better seven weeks in. Somehow, the Red Devils found a way to make their fans’ worst nightmares come true and gave sports journalists around the world a punching bag. Mourinho’s men have lost to West Ham, Tottenham and Brighton in a season where they currently sit at 10th in the Premier League with a record of 3-1-3 with 10 points. Mourinho cannot seem to get any traction in the young season, and if he doesn’t soon, he won’t be the manager much longer. Major Upcoming Matches: Oct. 20 at Chelsea, Nov. 11 at Manchester City, Dec. 15 at Liverpool

Sports

The Collegian: 9

1 October 2018

MLB playoff predictions: division series Editor-in-Chief Justin Guglielmetti discusses his picks for the first round of the 2018 Major League Baseball playoffs. What’s that? It’s finally not 90 degrees outside? October is here, and you know what that means: the baseball playoffs are upon us. It’s been a bizarre year lacking in baseball’s characteristic parity, full of more juggernauts and tankers than any season in recent memory. But this isn’t the NBA, and in what’s gearing up to be an epic postseason, the champ is far from a sure thing. American League Division Series: Houston vs. Cleveland: Though this first-round matchup represents a meeting of the last two AL pennant winners, it doesn’t look at first like a contest between equals. The reigning champ Astros have followed up their first-ever World Series victory with a campaign nearly as dominant, winning 100 games and ranking first and second in all of baseball in ERA+ and OPS+ respectively. The Indians, on the other hand, may have run roughshod over a historically terrible Central division, but could finish with only the sixth-best record in the American League and have struggled all year with

es, it will be the highest combined win total of any two teams in a first round series in MLB history. The Sox have been the story of the season and should be the favorites after a team-record 108-win season, but giants are slain every year. Boston is going to score plenty of runs with their league-best offense, led by probable MVP Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez, that’s almost made fans forget about the glory days of Manny and Papi. And they have one of the most raucous and passionate home crowds in all of sports behind them. The only problem is: who are they putting out there on the mound? Chris Sale isn’t fully healthy, no matter what manager Alex Cora says, while Rick Porcello is aggressively mediocre and David Price looks like a JV pitcher called up to the big leagues when he faces New York. Against the New Age Murderer’s Row that the Yankees are fielding in their starting lineup, you can expect a shellacking. To be fair, the Bronx Bombers have had

with absolutely filthy stuff, but their starting rotation leaves a lot to be desired. Who is starting in a one-game playoff if that’s what it comes to? Does anyone trust Jhoulys Chacin, who even in a career year has just a 3.53 ERA and 1.18 WHIP? Milwaukee may be better off emulating the Athletics and going for an all-reliever game to give themselves the best chance to move on. Atlanta Braves: This exciting group of youngsters has arrived on the biggest stage a couple of years earlier than anticipated, and they look primed to make a lot of noise. If you’re a casual fan and don’t yet know Ronald Acuna Jr. and Ozzie Albies, get ready to watch two of the brightest faces in baseball’s future. Another relatively unknown name, Mike Foltynewicz, leads a decent staff that did an excellent job at suppressing the long ball, allowing the secondfewest home runs in the majors. This could be a crucial advantage if they face Los Angeles or Milwaukee in the first round (both of which rank top-five in the majors in home

“The Sox have been the story of the season... but giants are slain every year.” inconsistent offense and a leaky bullpen. Don’t be fooled though — this series could go either way. Houston’s Justin Verlander is probably the best individual pitcher between the two clubs, but Cleveland will counter with four starters who could be the ace for most teams: Corey Kluber, Trevor Bauer, Carlos Carrasco and Mike Clevinger. That quartet became the first ever group of teammates to each top 200 strikeouts, and crucially, they’re all righties. Houston’s lineup contains seven right-handers, including all of their heavy hitters like Jose Altuve and MVP candidate Alex Bregman. That said, you’re thinking way too hard about this thing if you’re picking a winner based on batter matchups. Cleveland will still need to score runs to win this thing, and that is not going to be easy given Houston’s own impressive rotation and flamethrowing pen. If Jose Ramirez and Francisco Lindor’s recent struggles continue, the climb will be almost insurmountable. Astros in four. Boston vs. New York: Oh, you thought I needed to justify the Yankees making it through the Wild Card game to the ALDS? You must be one of my new readers. The Yanks’ faceoff with Oakland is certainly going to be an interesting one, especially if the A’s opt for an all-reliever game, but New York is a 100-win team that just set the major league record for home runs in a season, and they’re playing at home with a matchup against the Red Sox on the line. Please, huh? Once we get to that juicy rivalry in the division series, it will have the makings of an all-time classic. Even if you disregard the storied enmity between these two franchis-

their own difficulties on the mound with ace Luis Severino only recently rediscovering a semblance of his first-half form and Masahiro Tanaka’s continuing maddening inconsistency, but the tale of the tape for the bullpens favors the Yanks by a considerable margin. Yankees in five. National League Division Series: So here’s the thing about the Senior Circuit. While the American League’s playoff teams, and even most of its seeding, have largely been decided since late August, the NL’s entire bracket is up for grabs going into the season’s final day. As such, I won’t be able to provide any specific series predictions, but I will run through all five teams briefly. Chicago Cubs: The 2016 World Series champs look like the National League equivalent of the Indians, armed with an excellent pitching staff, top-of-the-line defense and mediocre bats behind superstar utility infielder Javy Baez. After leading the Central division for most of the second half of the season, the surging Brewers could knock the Cubbies into the Wild Card game, but the experienced trio of Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks and Cole Hamels (any one of whom could start the elimination game) should make the team favorites to advance into the second round regardless. Milwaukee Brewers: Pulling into a Central Division tie on the season’s final day, the Brew Crew has been one of the biggest surprises of the year. Their dynamic offense led by MVP favorite Christian Yelich is one of NL’s best and most viewer-friendly, ranking first in stolen bases in an increasingly power-driven game. Milwaukee has a bullpen

runs) or if they end up traveling to the thin air of Coors Field. Colorado Rockies: Colorado loomed on the outskirts of the playoff race for most of the year before surging past the Diamondbacks and pulling even with the Dodgers in the final month. Their advantage in the season series with LA means that they control their own destiny going into the season’s final day, which would tend to favor the offense-heavy teams of the franchise’s past. But these aren’t your grandfather’s Rockies, as they boast one of their all-time deepest pitching staffs. This team can beat you in a lot of ways, and their core, an even mix between youngsters and veterans will be hungry to bring the World Series trophy to Denver for the first time Los Angeles Dodgers: Even though LA will likely find itself in the Wild Card game, you can count this team out at your own peril. Amidst all the noise about Clayton Kershaw’s demise, he still finished the year with a 2.73 ERA, and the Dodgers have a bevy of other options behind him. In addition, the midseason acquisition of Manny Machado to stars Cody Bellinger and Justin Turner, as well as the unexpected breakout of Max Muncy, have given Los Angeles the best offense in the National League. Most in the Dodgers organization feel the team has vastly underachieved with six consecutive division crowns and nothing to show for it; perhaps this is the year they finally break through. Too-early World Series pick: Astros over Cubs

graphic by Conner Maggio

MLB playoff team logos. 15

Print memery is dead Kevin Durant recently came out with his latest attempt to justify leaving the Oklahoma City Thunder for the Warriors, which could also be a precursor to his jumping ship to the LeLakers following the 2018-19 season. Quoth the snek: “You can’t learn about life if you’re the only player on the team.” That makes so much sense now that he says it, and it’s honestly a little shocking that people are only just now realizing that he played one-on-five for the first nine years of his career. Well, maybe shocking is too strong a word, because to be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Kevin Durant. The lack of self-awareness is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of Parseltongue, most of the hesi pull-up jimbos will go over a typical hater’s head. There’s also KD’s nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his inferiority complex — his personal philosophy draws heavily from Donald Trump literature, for instance. The stans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these career moves, to realize that they’re not just bad for the league — they say something deep about his TOTAL LACK OF UPPER-BODY STRENGTH. As a consequence people who dislike Kevin Durant truly ARE idiots — of course they wouldn’t appreciate, for instance, the logic in Kevin’s existencial catchphrase “Now everybody wanna play for the heat and the Lakers? Let’s go back to being competitive and going at these peoples!” which itself is a cryptic reference to Kobe Bryant’s American epic “Dear Basketball.” I’m smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Durant’s serpentine body unfolds itself on their television screens. What fools… how I pity them. And yes, by the way, I DO have a Kevin Durant tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It’s for bandwagon fans’ eyes only — and even they have to demonstrate that they’ve gotten into five internet arguments with middle schoolers as KD has (preferably lower) beforehand. Did you know he went to Harvard? So, uh, is anyone going to talk about what’s going on in Tampa Bay? No, I’m not talking about gators eating old people and drug dealers on the side of the road, I mean what’s going on with the Buccaneers. Specifically Ryan Fitzpatrick, aka “sexy Conner McGregor.” The 35-year-old career backup quarterback, who played college ball at Harvard just became the first QB ever to throw for more than 400 yards in three consecutive games. He wasn’t even supposed to be starting, only getting the nod while Jameis Winston served a three-game suspension for allegedly groping an Uber driver. So how exactly is a Harvard alumnus pulling off such an unprecedented feat? Some might credit the work ethic and intelligence that he showed in graduating from Harvard, but I think it’s more about the NFL’s increasing emphasis on protecting the quarterback and minimizing receiver/ defender contact past the line of scrimmage. Such changes, in addition to the Bucs’ porous defense, are giving Fitzpatrick (who, as an aside, went to Harvard) free rein to sling it to his talented receivers, all of whom are highly regarded deep threats. Of course, this won’t last forever, and to his fantasy owners and Tampa Bay fans alike, I say to you that it won’t be long before Fitzmagic throws five picks and becomes Fitztragic once more.

Oct. 01 - Oct. 07

Monday

Tuesday 1

Wednesday 2

No Events No Events

Thursday 4

3

Sotfball vs. RSU 5 p.m.

Football @ Houston 7 p.m. W Soccer vs. SMU 7 p.m.

Saturday

Friday

6

5

Volleyball @ UCF 6 p.m.

Sunday 7

Softball vs. NEO 12 p.m.

W Golf vs. Ron Moore Intercollegiate @ Denver

W Golf vs. Ron Moore Intercollegiate @ Denver

Softball vs. Arkansas 6:30 p.m.

M Soccer vs. UCF 7 p.m.

No Events

Variety

The Collegian: 10

1 October 2018

A fall film round up to spice up your season We have scary and not-so-scary movies that pair well with popcorn and an autumnal night in. Nate Gibbons Distribution Manager Scary/violent ones: “Hereditary” The Graham family balances grief and relief after a cruel grandmother passes away. To Annie Graham’s horror, her mother’s lingering presence may be more than emotional. This movie sets a new bar for contemporary horror movies.

“The Fly” Jeff Goldblum tests a teleporter, but he learns too late there may be a bug in the system. His mistake gives him superhuman strength and agility, but as time passes, some changes aren’t so pretty. In Cronenberg style, body horror and practical effects make this a perfect gross-out flick.

way out is through. Which would be a lot easier if they were alone. A claustrophobic setting for a tense movie. “The Shining” Aspiring author Jack Torrance, his wife Wendy and their son Danny all move into the Overlook Hotel to manage it until spring. The seclusion doesn’t inspire Jack as he’d hoped it would. Wendy becomes increasingly worried as the boys of the family don’t take too well to the place. Director Stanley Kubrick loves details, and this movie is full of them.

comedy or not. Watch the remake if that’s more your thing. “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” Stranded newlyweds come upon a castle whose inhabitants are hosting the Annual Transylvanian Convention. The castle’s mad scientist, Dr. Frank N. Furter, leads the castle’s inhabitants and the captive couple through an outlandish night of musical numbers. Look into seeing a special showing of this one

courtesy Universal Studios courtesy Warner Bros.

courtesy FOX

“Evil Dead 2” Fresh from the first film, Ash Williams doesn’t get a moment’s rest before hell begins pouring into his isolated cabin from all sides. Bloody and stupid fun. Starring Bruce Campbell’s chin and personality. Go ahead and watch the whole trilogy if you’re feeling groovy.

“The Thing” In remote Antarctica, an isolated group of research scientists is met by a fluffy dog and a screaming Norwegian with a gun. After the Norwegian seemingly shoots at their base, the scientists kill him and keep the dog. When they finally realize what all the fuss was about, they’re neck-deep in paranoia and extraterrestrial trouble. Using a variety of effects, this icy flick is a stomachchurning creature feature. “The Descent” A year after Sarah loses her family in a car accident, she reunites with a group of thrillseeking women to do some caving. Thanks to a small cave-in, they soon find their only

courtesy Cartoon Network

Not scary/violent ones: “Over the Garden Wall” Brothers Wirt and Greg find themselves lost in the Unknown.With the Beast trailing behind, their search for a way out brings them to new places and to discover their courage. A great cast of voices that includes the likes of Elijah Wood and Christopher Lloyd helps make this better than your average cartoon. A short and very sweet series. “Ghostbusters” You know this one and if it’s your kind of

“Gremlins” Randall Peltzer gives his son a pet mogwai, Gizmo, and tells him never to get him wet or feed him after midnight. When he accidentally breaks the rules, Peltzer’s adorable new pet suddenly produces clones. They’re loud, disgusting and mischievous. On Christmas Eve, they’re unleashed on the unsuspecting small town of Kingston Falls. This one’s perhaps a little too slapstick at times, but it’s the most iconic mini-monster movie out there for a reason. Save it for November.

The ‘90s are the new ‘80s We are now old enough to have our childhoods repackaged and sold to us. Thomas von Borstel Student Writer Gestalt theory has this seminal approach to thinking that defines itself with the word “Now.” There is all this screaming about end of days and then the nuclear spring in which humanity engages in the ultimate deep ecology of mass suicidal apocalypse. All of this simulated for us so deliciously in our thoughts, which language will redirect us to the image of “Mad Max” desert battles with Fidel Castro’s neon Stalinist corpse shouting Swahili profanities. The great holy Prophet Baudrillard proclaims with the frenetic fervor of post-capitalist Marxist ire: “Nostalgia assumes its full meaning.” Consumerism killed its darlings and Now it has to call Ra’s al Ghul to dip his greasy sausage fingers into the Lazarus Pit, pulling out all of your favorite childhood TV shows. This is the “mass” in mass-consumerism. Information overwhelms the self, so much so that I have lost all identity and now see myself as an amalgamation of Surge and Baby Bottle Pops, which for Christ’s sake should have been discontinued the moment it was conceived. We are getting the “Stranger Things” treatment. It’s this sense that if we let our #ThrowbackThursday slip away, we lose ourselves, which is probably true. The information tidal wave forces a time loop on us where the temporal distortion is riptidal and sucks us into this constant dopamine euphoria complex. If we stop the blood-letting, we

lose ourselves. So to clot is to not be daydreaming of our Busch-light mountain-man adventure complete with jumping salmon and hungry grizzlies. So Baudrillard calls this the Simulacrum, the simulation of simulations, in which our lives become an aspiration of the image of our desires, which is certainly not formed by us; and this is happening early for us millennials. Our parents got the nostalgic marketing schtick in the early 2010s, and we are getting it Now. 10 years following the end of a generation-bending TV show, as opposed to the Total Recall and “Mad Max” reboots coming 30 years after, we get “Avatar: the Last Airbender” in live action. People, are you listening? The same exact show with sweaty new writers and sexier new characters is coming back for you to binge-watch this time. This is happening en masse: Pepsi has a beet sugar throwback, “Runescape” still makes you pay $12 a month for 90 percent of the same game and every dadgum box of cereal has slapped on the old two-tone ‘70s design. Look at Jimmy Neutron; he has aged like a Botox-ridden Frankenstein. Perhaps everything we think we love is a matter of mass culture, or maybe you’re beyond all this and you didn’t buy the Dunkaroos reboot. I’m still gonna tell you, your childhood hero, George W. Bush, would probably beat you senseless on “Mario Kart 8.” Santa Claus is not real no matter how many times you watch “Miracle on 34th Street.” Ed Helms is lying to you, because the good ol’ days never existed. The point is, getting all worked-up on the reboot of your childhood favorite is just nostalgia marketing. You’re a target audience, not the recipient of an art form.

graphic by Conner Maggio

courtesy University of Tulsa

Nimrod Conference exciting opportunity for students The list of authors featured at the upcoming conference is long and illustrious. Thomas von Borstel Student Writer The Annual Nimrod Conferences hits TU on Oct. 19 and 20 Featuring award-winning authors, the conference gives writers guidance and insight into their craft. Students will receive a largely discounted rate of $10. This year’s Nimrod Conference for Readers and Writers is sure to be a barn-burner. Spanning two days, the weekend is composed of a collection of workshops and panel discussions lead by award-winning authors. The conference has a unique advantage for its attendees: it gives writers an opportunity to sit down with working editors to analyze their prose or poetry. The kick-off event, on Oct. 19, is Write Night at the Tulsa Garden Center just south of Woodward Park at 21st and Peoria. It is certain to be a serendipitous occasion featuring distinguished authors Rilla Askew, a TU graduate, and Patricia Smith, a former Guggenheim fellow. The immediate draw is a free light reception and the cash bar opening at 6:30 p.m.; then, it’s time for Smith, a four-time National Poetry Slam champion, and Askew, an inductee of the Oklahoma Writers Hall of Fame. A scheduled authors’ chat, a reading and a trailing book signing will take place starting at 7:00 p.m.. Write Night, co-hosted by Magic City Books and sponsored by TU’s creative writing program, is free to the public. The conference itself will start at 9:30 a.m. on Oct. 20; the events will be held in the Allen Chapman Student Union. It is an all-day affair, lunch provided, with a expansive workshops and talks to attend including such topics as: “How Do I Know When

I’m Done?: Strategies for Revision;” “Making History, Taking Place: Historical Fiction;” “Poetry: Using Emotion Effectively, Bravely, and Responsibly;” “Using Weakness to Build Strong Characters;” “Choose Your Own Disaster: Worldbuilding for Fantasy, Science Fiction, and More;” and “Your Agent, Your Editor, and You: Understanding Publishing’s Gatekeepers.” These will be intimate sessions where attendees are in direct contact with experienced authors and editors explaining the ins-and-outs of the literary world. Some of the main topics of discussion are investigations and explanations of specific genres, such as magical realism, memoir, historical fiction and fantasy. Others will be more narrow and topical discussions centered around specific fictional elements. The list of notable authors and editors leading the workshops is long . Jill Bialosky is a New York Times-best selling author of memoir and is currently the executive editor at W.W. Norton & Company. Francine Ringold is a former two-time Oklahoma Poet Laureate. Kaveh Bassiri is an award-winning Iranian-American writer and translator who writes for the Michigan Quarterly Review. Many more remarkable authors will lay bare their wisdom for hungry learners during the weekend’s activities. Students receive a $40 discount off of the traditional $50 registration fee. For $10, a student can attend all of these workshops, receive one-on-one criticism from professional editors and receive lunch. The deadline for submitting work for the individual editing sessions and novelpitch critiques is Oct. 13. Those who wish to submit can send up to two to three pages of poetry or four to five pages of prose. For registration and information, please contact Nimrod by phone at 918-631-3080, e-mail (nimrod@utulsa.edu) or online at www. utulsa.edu/nimrod.

1 October 2018

Variety

The Collegian: 11

“Mandy” a gloriously fun bloodfest

Gory and stylistic, “Mandy” is a sometimes-clunky thrill ride that is not for the faint of heart. Alex Leeper Student Writer

It is very often that I find the fault of a movie embedded in its pacing issues. Most of the time, a movie comes to a close too quickly, but in some cases, it feels too long. I anticipate that many moviegoers will have this same critique about “Mandy” (2018) by Panos Cosmatos. “Mandy’s” first act in particular is characterized by excruciatingly slow scenes, some of which take up to 10 or 15 minutes. However, “Mandy” uses additional characteristics that make the entire viewing experience an unforgettable one. “Mandy’s” uses of stylistic techniques are completely original, and yet they feel familiar. The color scheme is harsh and unforgiving; almost every scene incorporates black, red and blue, giving the film a dark, grit-your-teeth-until-they-bleed aesthetic that matched its tone. The production is beautiful, and every shot is a composition that could live in a museum. This, accompanied with the drawn-out pacing of the film,

the main character, and Andrea Riseborough as Mandy, his girlfriend. The first act develops the main characters, as well as the antagonists, a group of hippie cult members led by Jeremiah (Linus Roache). When Jeremiah sees Mandy, he orders his cult members to capture her and tries to seduce her into joining him. When she refuses, he becomes angry and kills her, burning her in front of Red. This first act was met by many of the other moviegoers with silence —nobody knew how to respond. The first 30 minutes of this act was paced very slow, and since we did not know the characters well enough, it seemed a bit out of place. However, what kept me going was the breathtaking cinematography, the stylistic choices like the color palette and lighting and the acting, which was elusively minimal, sometimes to the point of being creepy. The second act is where this film finally picks up the pace and begins to resemble more fast-paced films: Red, filled with rage, tracks down the “Black Skulls,” three ominous humanoids that the cult had hired to kill Mandy. After getting captured, then killing them, Red consumes experimental LSD, which the Black Skulls lived on, and hal-

“The color scheme is extremely harsh and unforgiving; almsost every scene incorporates... black, red and blue.” felt exceptionally relieving, like a breath of fresh, unhurried air. With the current attention- (and money-) grabbing blockbusters from large studios like Marvel and Disney that seem too cautious to ever release a film that fully develops interesting shots, it is inspiring to see a movie like this get a theatrical release, albeit a limited one. This film features Nicolas Cage as Red,

lucinates a tower on a hill. He finds the hill and interrogates a chemist, who then tells him the location of the cult. This act was extremely entertaining and fulfilling because I finally understood the meaning of this film. It was not meant to be taken seriously, its purpose was to revel in the irony of its purported seriousness.The

image courtesy Legion M

film is aware of its comedic seriousness, as is evident by Red nonchalantly snorting a line of crack after killing one of the Black Skulls. From then on, this film was fantastic. The pacing quickened, the style was still present but more bearable and the scenes, although still drawn out, were now met with laughter by the other moviegoers. The final act centered on Red’s revenge. As if in a video game, axe-wielding Red walks up to the “final boss battle” as an intense, droning metal guitar track plunges into our hearts. This sent shivers down my spine, and I knew the rollercoaster of a film was at its final ascension. After killing most of the cultists, Red finds Jeremiah, and after a lengthy monologue, crushes his head in his bare hands. Afterward, Red sets the

entire church ablaze and leaves it in an epic fashion. Finally, he sits in his car and looks over to the passenger seat, where we see he is hallucinating Mandy there with him. She is beautiful and carefree, and he is deranged. The film ends as he drives off, the atmosphere around him alien and warped, much like the entire film. It isn’t perfect, nor is it going to please most people. But this film is a shining example of expectation-based value. That is, if you watch it with the expectation that it will be cohesive, serious and realistic, you won’t appreciate it. Only when you accept that this film is trying to have fun with you as you watch it can you fully understand it in all of its glory, comedy and beauty. That is the purpose of “Mandy.”

courtesy Kevin Abstract

Brockhampton’s “iridescence” best listened to on shuffle The beloved, self-proclaimed boyband returns with a new sound. Ethan Veenker News Editor The six-performing-member rap collective BROCKHAMPTON skyrocketed in popularity after last year’s “SATURATION Trilogy,” a collection of three albums titled “SATURATION,” “SATURATION II” and “SATURATION III” released over the course of 2017. This wasn’t the selfproclaimed boyband’s first venture into the music industry (that was 2015’s single “DIRT” followed by 2016’s mixtape “ALLAMERICAN TRASH”), but the trilogy really placed them on the map for their progressive lyricism, eclectic membership and expert production.

sequent cessation of their North American tour, the album was cancelled. The album, presumably complete as it was near release, will forever be known as the “lost BROCKHAMPTON album.” Over 10 minutes of it exist as snippets that fans recorded from frontman Kevin Abstract’s Instagram livestreams. The first public appearance and new music following Vann’s departure was the song “TONYA” as performed on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” It appears as the penultimate track on “iridescence” and stands as a gut-chilling testament to sorrow, doubt and regret “My life is ‘I, Tonya,’” raps Abstract in his verse on the track, reflecting both the song’s namesake — the film “I, Tonya,” a dramedic biopic of figure skater Tonya Harding, who ruined her career after getting involved in a plot to break a competitor’s

“Perhaps my biggest complaint with the record is the under-utilization of certain members.” “Iridescence” (stylized in all lowercase, a contrast to their typical caps-lock aesthetic) is the group’s fourth album, the first lacking a core member (Ameer Vann was booted from the band after sexual assault allegations) and most fans, myself included, are just glad it came at all. Just after “SATURATION III,” another album, “TEAM EFFORT,” was announced and subsequently pushed back before complete radio silence. Following a deal with RCA Records, this fourth record was renamed “PUPPY” and set for a summer release date. Suddenly, following the Ameer Vann allegations and sub-

legs — as well as the dramatic fall from grace the whole group felt following the Vann allegations. One could look at all the verses on the record and wonder just how many relate to Vann, but I won’t undertake such a project. Over the summer, the group released three new tracks through their Beats 1 radio station “Things We Lost in the Fire.” The singles, which surprised me by not being on “iridescence,” were titled “1999 WILDFIRE,” “1998 TRUMAN” and “1997 DIANA” and released in that order. Their unabashed darkness and spunk foreshad-

owed the tracks that would comprise “iridescence.” “Iridescence,” released September 21, 2018, is in short a ridiculously well-produced (if a somewhat uneven) record that clocks in at just under 50 minutes. The opener “NEW ORLEANS” starts things off strong and fast with a pounding beat and some intensely spat vocals from member Dom McClennon. The track continues in its rage, not stopping even when member Bearface, who usually slows things down with his electric guitar and boyband-esque vocals, surprised everyone by sort of pseudorapping along in the song’s bridge. After a final rendering of the chorus from feature Jaden Smith, the track ends by drifting straight into the second song, “THUG LIFE,” a track immediately indicative of the album’s unevenness. It’s soft, balladic and ends with a drawn-out and personal spokenword line that doesn’t necessarily have to feel out of place after the raging opener — indeed, I think juxtapositions like that can be quite effective — but such personal digression is just not earned at this point of the record. The listener, who’s been hyped for the record by the first track, is allowed to drift back down a little. Not something you want by the second track. This is something of an omen for the rest of the album’s progression. There’s nothing particularly wrong with any of the tracks (except for the autotuned annoyance of “SOMETHING ABOUT HIM”) but the way in which they’re constructed and allowed to flow together makes for a listening experience that might be better on shuffle. If anything, the album is full of highlights, such as “WHERE THE CASH

AT,” “WEIGHT” and the aggressive “J’OUVERT,” which features a practically screamed verse from member Joba that figures to be one of my favorite verses from any member of the group in any track. Perhaps my biggest complaint with the record is the under-utilization of certain members. Whereas I think that the “SATURATION” trilogy didn’t feature enough Joba, he feels well-represented in “iridescence” but perhaps at the expense of some other members. For example, I can’t remember a single verse from member Matt Champion off-hand. I seriously can’t. Is this a reflection on my memory or the songs on which he was included? Another seemingly absent member is fan-favorite Merlyn Wood, with the exception of “WHERE THE CASH AT,” a track which, when trying to think of what I could compare it to the night before writing this review, kept reminding me of the satisfaction one gets in hearing a bunch of darts driven into a dartboard across the room. There’s just something satisfying about the “thump” in the track. This record is bound to disappoint some fans because, in short, it’s not “SATURATION IV.” BROCKHAMPTON sounds different. They’re minus a member and their sound reflects that, and our long wait for the emotional, electrifying response album hasn’t quite paid off because, while BROCKHAMPTON clearly has something to say, they’re stumbling a bit in saying it. The original “SATURATION” albums took me some time to get into, so there’s no telling if “iridescence” won’t take the same repeated exposure. At first listen, though, it’s a technically impressive record that feels lacking in organization and direction.

Variety

The Collegian: 12

1 October 2018

Local McDonald’s remodels with fast-casual look

McDonald’s has a new look, fresh beef and some pretty futuristic technology in the works. Sara Serrano Social Media and Web Manager I frequently drive by the McDonald’s at 13th and Harvard on my way to and from TU, noting with each pass that it’s still partially closed for renovation. That’s why I was intrigued by the invitationto be invited to tour their newly designed lobby and taste their new fresh beef burgers; I hadn’t even realized that they had fully reopened. Hungry, but not enough to eat multiple burgers in one sitting, I asked Satire Editor Madison Connell to join me on my fast food adventure to Mickey D’s. As soon as we entered the restaurant, I noticed how stylish it was. It reminded me of a coffee shop; lots of wood, cool light fixtures and a rad leather couch. Very different from the McDonald’s of my youth. I later found out that this design was unique to this particular location.

I tried the Signature Crafted Recipe Smokehouse Burger, and Madison had their Quarter Pounder with cheese. I hadn’t had McDonald’s, let alone a McDonald’s burger (I’m a nuggets kind of gal), in a very long time, and this burger was much better than I remember them being. The sauce was yummy, the french fried onions were a great addition and the actual patty was good too. Oh, and the fries were A+, but what’s new there? Those are addictive. It feels weird to review food from McDonalds, but this burger felt like something I would get at a fast casual place rather than a fast food joint. Regarding her Quarter Pounder, Madison told me that “for the cheap price, it is worth it, but it’s not something I’m going to be craving anytime soon.” She remarked that the beef did indeed taste fresher, but that you’re never going to get restaurant quality from McDonald’s because “that’s not really their game.” And I agree with her. The burgers were good for McDonald’s, for fast food standards. We also tried their pumpkin pie and strawberry creme pies. The pumpkin pie

“The burgers were good for McDonald’s, for fast food standards.” Greeted and given my burger and fries to taste, I sat down to eat and listen to Manager Bob Wagner talk about the restaurant, their new products and how they want to improve their relationship with TU.

was great and seriously pumped me up for Thanksgiving. (Fun fact: they source them from the Bama Pie right next to TU.) In his speech, Wagner relayed information about the place that I was surprised I

photo by Sara Serrano

wasn’t previously aware of. TU students apparently get a 10 percent discount at this particular restaurant. They now have kiosks inside the lobby that you can order from if you don’t feel like talking to people that day, which I can relate to on a spiritual level. The most interesting thing, however, are their plans for their app. Currently, you can order from the McDonald’s app and get coupons based on your ordering history, but they plan to integrate this with facial recognition technology to streamline the process. The idea is that you’ll order from your phone at home and

come pick it up from the drive-thru, where a camera will then recognize your face, give you your order and charge your PayPal account. This technology isn’t ready to roll out yet, but even if I never use it, it still sounds amazing. So, if you’re looking to eat some fresh beef at a good price in a fast food joint that kind of looks like a coffee shop, why not check out McDonald’s on 13th and Harvard?

photo by Sara Serrano

McDonald’s is implementing new technology in its recently renovated store.

Paul McCartney still relevant with“Egypt Station” McCartney once again tops the charts with his solo album — his first in 36 years. Anna Robinson Student Writer Paul McCartney is one of the most influential and successful musicians of the past five decades. You may know him from a little band called The Beatles. Now at the age of 76, McCartney has topped the charts once again. His new album “Egypt Station” dropped last week and landed at number one on the Billboard 200 chart. This is his eighth Number One album — but the first one in 36 years. As with artists of a similar age such as Don Henley from The Eagles or Stevie Nicks, reliving the success of the past as McCartney has is rarely achieved. “Egypt Station” generated buzz with McCartney’s appearance on “The Late Late Show with James Corden,” wherein he helped create an iconic episode of “Carpool Karaoke.” Corden even added a one-hour prime time special devoted entirely to his time with McCartney and their filming for the episode. The leading single from “Egypt Station” is titled “Come on to Me.” The song brings McCartney and listeners back to youthful thoughts and settings with the cheeky sto-

Know” brings back McCartney’s epic piano accompaniments from his older ballads like “Live and Let Die” and “Maybe I’m Amazed” from the 1970s. Even during McCartneys time with The Beatles, his lyrics held deep meanings. The song “Dominoes” on this new album sounds like advice from McCartney himself on how to live life: wait for things to fall into place and live in the moment. Looking back on the ups and downs of McCartney’s music career and personal life, it feels as if this song reveals how he has chosen to live life, or perhaps how he wished he would have in the past. 76 years of wisdom from a man with extraordinary experiences comes across as lighthearted and inspirational. However, the song “Fuh You” is different from McCartney’s usual sound in that it resembles contemporary pop with a gripping chorus. Of course, along with The Beatles, McCartney helped define the term “pop music” itself. This new album blends the early days of pop music with that of today. At the same time, he is not trying to keep up with the times or relate to a younger audience. His fans, who have been with him since the 1960s and ‘70s, would be disappointed in any drastic change of direction in his music. Young people would see him simply as an old guy trying to be hip and relevant, like a dad hoping to seem cool to his children.

“This new album blends the early days of pop music with that of today’s.” ryline about a new fling. It’s as whimsical as McCartney has always been described. Another well-known track titled “I Don’t

The interesting thought behind some of McCartney’s solo music after the breakup of The Beatles is that he goes into making an album without the intent or assumption that

graphic by Connor Maggio

courtesy Capitol Records

it will hit number one. He knows that he is one of the most successful musicians to ever live; he makes music for his own pleasure rather than treating it as an occupation with deadlines to meet and obligations of fame, as many of today’s artists seem to do. Like other old-timer music icons such as The Rolling Stones and Tony Bennett, Paul McCartney does not need to retire. He is

lucky enough to have what some people do as a hobby be his actual occupation. If you only know Paul McCartney from the song “Four Five Seconds,” which he released in 2015 with Rihanna and Kanye West, I would encourage you to delve into this man’s five decades of music and marvel at the fact that he is still number one.

The State-Run Media

1 October 2018

the

State-Run media Serving up cutting-edge product.

Coke puts coke back in Coke Nothing says Coca-Cola like cocaine! Sara Serrano Addicted to Chai Coming soon to supermarket shelves near you, Coca-Cola has announced a new line of cocaine-infused beverages. “There’s a massive hype around CBD [cannabidiol, a pain-relieving compound found in marijuana]- infused products these days and companies are making a killing putting it in everything from water to protein powder, all with questionable efficacy. It would be easy for Coca-Cola to cash in on this craze, but we don’t jump on bandwagons,” said Coca-Cola spokesman Karl Rimm in a press conference for the new release. “Instead, we wanted to offer people alternative medicine that actually works. So what better place to start that journey than in our own history books?” Rimm is referring to when the recipe for Coca-Cola used to contain coca leaves, or cocaine, which was eliminated in 1929. Even back then, Coca-Cola only had about 1/400 of a grain of cocaine per ounce of syrup, which had little to no effect. The modern product is dramatically more potent.

Price will vary with cocaine content, but will start at about 5 dollars a bottle Not yet out on the market, the beverage is already being praised by those who have tested it. “We have nothing but praise for CocaCola. Sugary soft drinks, like regular CocaCola, are a major culprit in childhood obesity epidemic,” said Martha Martinez, head scientist at the Center for Disease Control, “But their addition of cocaine completely counteracts the sugar. With a harmless dose of coke, kids will run around for hours and hours, burning off whatever calories were in the drink and then some. Cocaine-Cola is going to improve quality of life for millions.” “I love Cocaine-Cola. It’s great. I love it.” said Liz Dubner, a Cocaine-Cola taste tester. “I used to be really addicted to caffeine. Three cups of coffee a day. Sometimes more. Like five. The jitters were awful. This has really helped me cut back. My life is so much better now. Much much much much better.” At TU, you can look forward to finding Cocaine-Cola stocked in all vending machines next semester. “We’ve gotten some backlash for selling Cocaine-Cola on campus when we don’t

“... their addition of cocaine completely counteracts the sugar.” “In low dosages, the benefits of cocaine are amazing and instant. Moments after your first sip of new Cocaine-Cola, you’ll feel a surge in mental capacity, confidence and energy as well as relief from your aches and pains,” Rimm explained. “And longterm users can expect weight-loss benefits as well!” Cocaine-Cola will come in several different strengths for different effects. Five percent strength, the only dosage level approved for children by the Food and Drug Administration, 10 percent strength, for adults looking for a boost or a quick pick me up, and 20 percent strength, for those looking for intense relief from their ailments.

allow students to have medical marijuana, but it all comes down to the fact that one requires a prescription and one does not.” said “And besides, from an academic standpoint, do we want motivated and energized students? Or mellow lagabouts? It’s not a difficult decision.” Cocaine-Cola is scheduled for release in December of 2018, in time for Coca-Cola’s holiday campaign. The campaign will feature a skinnier Santa to reflect the beneficial effects of the beverage, as well a look into the increased productivity of his elves and workshop, all powered by Cocaine-Cola.

Sexy advice for your sexy life Try these tips at your own risk… of pleasure. Brooke-Lyne Holland Amateur Sexpert Are you and your loved one having trouble in the bedroom? Does there seem to be something missing when doing the deed? If so, here are some tips and tricks to shake things up during your sexy time and rebuild your relationship into something great. Send pics of your junk to your partner randomly throughout the day to build tension What is a better way of showing your sexual desire to your partner than showing them how much you are missing them down there? The answer is nothing, because this is the most straightforward way to express your feelings. The best time to send them pictures of your junk is when your partner is in the middle of class, at an important meeting or with their family. Double the condoms mean double the protection Wearing two condoms decreases the chance of getting your girl pregnant and decreases your chance of contracting sexual transmitted diseases. On top of this, two condoms means double the fun because of the increased safety! Riding raw is right Having sex with your partner without wearing proper protection feels so much better than wearing a condom. Best part is, if you have a disease, both of you can share the experience together. Sharing is caring.

Play the game “Bop It” The iconic game that almost everyone played when they were younger can also be incorporated into your private time. It is just like the original game, but instead of using the game, you will be using his penis. For example, when the game calls out “Bop it!,” you bop the tip of his junk, and when the game calls out “Twist it!,” you twist your hands around his shaft. Easy activity to do and up the game in the bedroom and leave your man speechless after. Call your girl mommy Screw stereotypes and call your girl mommy while going down on her. She will feel dominant and enjoy the changeup in the bedroom. It will give her the feeling of empowerment because it will make her feel like you need her more, like a mother, and she will make sure you leave the room satisfied. Best thing is if you get hungry in the middle of your “fun time,” she will probably have food with her like all mothers do. So no need to make a sandwich run! Vape juice is great lube Have you ever tasted the sweet tang of heated, flavored liquid while feeling cool in today’s crowd? If you said yes, you probably own a vape or juul and have experienced the high of heated vape juice. Good news: you can still feel the same effects of the juice when you use it as lube during intercourse. Just add a few drops to the desired area and go at it. You will feel a difference almost immediately. Follow this advice and your sex life will be like no other.

graphic by Conner Maggio

State-Run creates virtual assistant “That Bitch!” Move over Siri and Alexa, there’s a new bitch in town. Madison Connell Head Propagandist The creators of The State-Run (Social) Media and Dating App bring you an all-new virtual assistant, “That Bitch!” On Sept. 20, Amazon released their newest line of Alexa products, including a new speaker, clock and microwave. We at The State-Run have decided to up the ante with our new product line. The State-Run completely independently decided on Sept. 21 to also release a speaker, clock and microwave. But wait, there’s more! Have you ever been taking a shit and realized you forgot your phone in your room? Now with the “That Bitch! Toilet” you can listen to music while you produce seemingly impossible noises. Or, take the time while doing your business to make some business calls! Multi-tasking is the way of the future. Were you ever on a Netflix-and-pizza binge in your bed but were too lazy to get up and clean the crumbs off the floor? Never worry again about tidying up with the “That Bitch! Vacuum.” Disclaimer: will not pick up the mess that you are inside. Bored of the typical fake news bullshit? Simply ask “That Bitch!” to turn on the “That Bitch! TV” and watch our continuous stream of State-Run Media propaganda. Who needs reality TV when you have the entertaining reality of our nation?

Think this is all that and the kitchen sink? Guess what, we thought of that too! “That Bitch! Sink” is just a sink, but it has our name on it, so you’ll buy it anyway for the low, low price of *$200! (*For each of 10 payments, shipping, handling and installation not included.) Feeling lonely? Simply stub your toe, vent about your ex or yell at your computer screen freezing, and a chime of virtual assistants will be there at your beck and call, albeit with a little sass. Common responses to their name include “What do you want, you little piece of shit?” “Did you have to wake me up from my goddamn nap?” and “Fuck no!” Unlike other virtual assistants, The StateRun Media shoots for equality and plans to release in a future update a male robot named “Son of a Bitch!” and a gender neutral virtual assistant, “You Fucker!” At The State-Run Media, we are always honest with you. That’s why we tell you up front we will be using everything you say and do within the range of the camera and microphone for our choosing. This includes for future development, profit, to help the government track you or when we get bored and want some entertainment. Don’t worry, it’s totally legal and in the terms and conditions that you didn’t read. Buy the lot together before they all run out! Order now and get the TU student and faculty special discount of one percent off.

graphic by Conner Maggio