04 07 15

Game of cones

Sex week lecture debunks HIV myths >>See page 4

The Understood Truth revolutionizes rap music >>See page 10

UT athletics catches a break >>See page 12

Construction starts on the strip. See the full story on page 3.

Cumberland Avenue shrinks to two lanes as construction begins Monday. Taylor Gash • The Daily Beacon

Volume 128 Issue 54

utdailybeacon.com @utkdailybeacon

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

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CAMPUSNEWS

The Daily Beacon • Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Sex Week events for Tuesday STI Testing 10:30 am - 2 pm I - House

Sexual Assault Roundtable 12:30 pm, BCC 102-104

Sexuality and Literature Body Image 5 pm, UC Hermitage Stimulating Workshop Religious Roundtable Studies 2:10 pm, 7 pm, HSS 205 1- 4 pm HSS 71 Hodges Sex Toys and Pleasure Mary Greer 8 pm UC Auditorum Room THE DAILY BEACON STAFF

EDITORIAL

Editor-in-Chief: Claire Dodson Managing Editor: Hanna Lustig Chief Copy Editor: Emilee Lamb, Cortney Roark News Editor: Hayley Brundige Asst. News Editor: Bradi Musil Special Projects Editor: Liv McConnell Sports Editor: Jonathan Toye Asst. Sports Editor: Taylor White Arts & Culture Editor: Jenna Butz Online Editor: Kevin Ridder Asst. Online Editor: Cara Sanders Photo Editor: Hannah Cather, Esther Choo Design Editor: Katrina Roberts, Lauren Ratliff Social Media Editor: Alexandra Chiasson Copy Editors: Jordan Achs, Savannah Gilman, Tanner Hancock, Heidi Hill, Hannah Moulton, Faith Schweikert Editorial Production: Reid Hartsell, Justin Keyes, Teron Nunley, Alexis Porten, Steven Woods Training Editor: R.J. Vogt

ADVERTISING/PRODUCTION

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Lecturer dissects sexism in automobile, ad industries Jennifer Webb Contributor

Sex Week has hit the road running.

On Monday night, associate professor of history Lynn Sacco presented the first Sex Week lecture, titled “Road Head: The Role of the Automobile in American Sexuality.”

It focused on the history of mass-producing automobiles and its effect on American dating culture.

The big question raised during her presentation was “Why do men get all the ‘big toys.’”

“As you can see here, what does technology require?” Sacco asked, after showing a clip of a chariot race from the movie Ben-Hur. “Strength, brawn, brains. Actually only men were thought to have brains through most of history. Women were thought to have caring and nurturing stuff inside.”

Throughout the presentation, Sacco showed how clips from movies, newspapers and advertisements perpetuated the idea that women and often men of color were inferior in their ability to operate cars and other powerful machines.

Sacco used the example of heavy-weight

African-American champion Jack Johnson, who failed to appeal to consumers in a car advertisement after winning the title over a white boxer.

“How could black beat a white body. Black bodies are inferior,” Sacco said. “They (white men) couldn’t cope with it so they had riots.”

Fast forward 50 years and the same kind of ads are still running. Sacco showed an ad for Gmail accounts that implied that “even women” could figure out how to use it.

“Alright, I’m canceling my Google account,” Sacco said. “So, oh my gosh I don’t even know how to open my email. So I guess everything they say about Silicon Valley is true.”

Kyle Fenclau, senior in advertising, said he was intrigued by the role technology played in the roles of men and women in society.

“I thought it was neat to realize that the automobile industry has been catering to the masculine demographic since [its] inception,” Fenclau said.

The “Road Head” lecture marked the beginning of this year’s Sex Week. And, as the inaugural event, it began with the giving out of certain party favors.

“Because this is the first session, I get to throw out the first condoms,” Sacco said.

Around Rocky Top

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The Daily Beacon is published by students at The University of Tennessee Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and Wednesday during the summer semester. The offices are located at 1340 Circle Park Drive, 11 Communications Building, Knoxville, TN 37996-0314. The newspaper is free on campus and is available via mail subscription for $200/year, $100/semester or $70/summer only. It is also available online at: www.utdailybeacon.com The Daily Beacon is printed using soy based ink on newsprint containing recycled content, utilizing renewable sources and produced in a sustainable, environmentally responsible manner.

Keith McGee II, sophomore in accounting, recites a poem about his growth and overcoming difficult times at the Mahogany Soul Café on March 31.

Katie Truppo • The Daily Beacon

CAMPUSNEWS

Tuesday, April 7, 2015 • The Daily Beacon

Construction carries over to ‘Strip’ Tanner Hancock Copy Editor

It’s the Tuesday after Easter, and you may have already noticed some of the changes coming to Cumberland Avenue.

As of Monday, the construction process of the two year Cumberland Avenue Corridor Project was officially underway. Combine that with VolCard payment options making their way to vendors on the Strip, and you have a recipe for major change, both now and in the immediate future.

Here’s a quick guide of the changes you can expect to see coming your way.

Cumberland Avenue Project: Anne Wallace, Cumberland Avenue Project manager, answered questions pertaining to the project during an opening meeting at the UT Visitor Center on Friday evening.

Citing problems with left turns and general pedestrian safety issues with the current Cumberland Avenue setup, Wallace said she hopes the plan, which was originally drafted in 2007, will improve the overall economic and aesthetic layout of the area.

“The key to all of this is to plot a course for a more attractive, economically successful and vibrant Cumberland Avenue,” Wallace said.

The first phase of the project will last from April 6 until June 6, consisting of gas, water and sewer line installations

by Knoxville Utility Board workers.

Two lanes of traffic will be maintained on Cumberland Avenue during this time.

With a projected completion date set for Aug. 31, 2017, construction for the project will be split into four phases focusing on utilities installation and streetscape restoration. While at least two lanes of traffic will be maintained on Cumberland Avenue for the majority of the construction process, commuters can expect several temporary closures of Cumberland Avenue over the course of the project, including a six-week closure that will require a detour by way of Volunteer Boulevard and Neyland Drive.

Wallace also addressed questions pertaining to the potential environmental impacts of the project. There are two, 18-feet deep storm water filter devices positioned on a hill above Third Creek near Cumberland Avenue.

“It will actually slow the water volume down and increase the cleanliness of that water before it hits release Third Creek,” Wallace said. “We actually should see some improvements to Third Creek before the project is finished.”

A smartphone app detailing the project’s progress will be live on April 15.

VolCard Coming to the Strip: In a meeting with members of the Cumberland Avenue Merchants Association last Wednesday, Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Jeff Maples laid out the university’s plan to extend the VolCard to vendors on the Strip. The approximate start date has been set for June 1 for all vendors who wish to participate, marking the first time the university has extended that payment option beyond campus grounds.

“For most of y’all here, especially the long-time merchants on Cumberland Avenue, this is a long time coming,” Maples said of the financial move.

“We had to determine a policy (for the Volcard) for what can be used, what it can be used for, so we’ve been putting all that together.”

Vendors wanting to accept the VolCard at their establishments must pay a $250 activation fee for payment equipment compatible with the VolCard, as well as a transaction fee of 22 cents for non-food purchases made with the card.

Dining Dollars will not be extended to merchants on the Strip given that they are part of Aramark’s financial plan. Despite several merchants’ complaints that their inability to accept Dining Dollars puts them at a competitive disadvantage, Maples maintained that the university’s contractual obligations to Aramark were not unusual.

“We’re not off on some island by ourselves,” Maples said. “Most every university has an agreement with a provider for dining services. Ours happens to be Aramark.”

Currently Papa John’s is the only nonuniversity affiliated location accepting Dining Dollars as a form of payment, due to a 2001 student appeal for a pizza program.

Alcohol, tobacco products and lottery tickets also cannot be purchased through the VolCard, with university officials conducting secret shopping measures to ensure vendors are complying with the rule.

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Traffic on Cumberland Avenue has been reduced to two lanes until June 6, the projected end date of phase one of the Cumberland Avenue Corridor Project.

Taylor Gash • The Daily Beacon

4

CAMPUSNEWS

The Daily Beacon • Tuesday, April 7, 2015

UT professor explores sexual stereotypes in TV, film Heidi Hill

Copy Editor “I am not surprised at all. I’ve been to South America. I did very well there.”

For “Parks and Recreation” fans, this is just one of many responses uttered by the quick-witted Donna Meagle, played by actress Retta, to a never-seen camera man in the episode “Sister City” after a Venezuelan emissary to Pawnee requests a sexual favor from her character.

But for Nora Berenstain, professor in philosophy, Donna’s humor marks a distinct misrepresentation in today’s media, highlighting a trope of portraying black women as either “hyper-sexual” or “completely non-sexual” in nature.

As part of Sex Week’s lecture series, Berenstain’s talk entitled “On the Air: Sex & the Media” explained how such sexual punch lines are symptoms of an oppressive realm dominated by a historically white, male population.

“It seems to be that the only funny thing about that was that someone would find [Retta] sexy,” Berenstain

said. “She’s a black woman of size and a man thinks he has his choice of women there, and as it turns it out, he wants her. The idea that she might the object of someone’s desire ends up serving as a punch line.”

Berenstain also asserted that AfricanAmerican women, in particular, receive the blunt end of the mistreatment in media, noting the trend in roles a handful of black, female Oscar winners have received: slaves, maids, abusive mothers and even a phony psychic like Whoopi Goldberg in Ghost.

“As audiences, we often demand these [controlling images] and are uncomfortable with seeing marginalized groups that don’t fall in line,” Berenstain said.

Such images, evidencing other tropes like Jezebels, Mammies and the everpopular “Angry Black Woman,” became new food for thought for Melinda Marrow, a senior in art history.

“I love comedy and just hearing comedians talk about why they love comedy, and what comedy is to them,” Marrow said. “But the question of why something is funny … When you start dis-

secting it, why it’s ironic, and you get to a very stereotypical assumption, it’s something you wouldn’t have recognized otherwise.”

Marrow said she also took note of Berenstain’s brief discussion of transwomen in the media and the violence exhibited toward their community.

“It’s a terrifying thing to think about it, but I think it’s the kind of terror we need to feel just to be better people,” Marrow said. “It’s really just being interested in learning something new about sexuality beyond sort of the base level discussion.”

Citing the seven trans-women killed in 2015 so far, Berenstain closed her lecture by sharing her own thoughts on why violence is exhibited to trans women of color.

“When women don’t fulfill men’s expectations to be sexualized objects, they’re punished,” Berenstain said.

“Trans-women don’t have the option of fulfilling those expectations because the expectations are always systemically supremacist.”

The Cumberland Avenue Corridor Project got started on Monday, closing two lanes of traffic and opening a flow of frustration. Here are a few of the things the UT population had to say about construction on the Strip.

Robert Land

@RobbyLand1

@UTKDailyBeacon @utkmorrillhall bad decision. #poorchoices

True or false: Sex Week lecture takes on disease myths, stigmas Jennifer Webb Contributor

Thirty-nine million people with AIDS have died worldwide since the epidemic began, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

January Ellis-Bansode, a disease intervention specialist at the Knox County Health Department, discussed the stigma around HIV and AIDS to a group of students during Sex Week’s “Symptoms of Stigma: HIV and AIDS,” on Monday night.

“I’m always having people ask about gonorrhea and chlamydia, and they tell me they got it in the toilet seat in the gym,” Ellis-Bansode said. “I’m like, the only way they got that is if the other person didn’t get up first.”

Throughout her presentation, EllisBansode debunked a number of myths, like the idea that HIV is not a big deal because of modern medications, insects can spread HIV and only homosexuals can contract HIV.

The most commonly misconstrued myth, Ellis-Bansode said, is that HIV is the same as AIDS. “HIV is the virus,” Ellis-Bansode explained. “AIDS is the syndrome where your body just cannot fight stuff off anymore and gets opportunistic infections.”

Ellis-Bansode also said that there is no reason for HIV to become AIDS. “There is no excuse for this, none,” she said. “In this day and age you can go to [the Helen Ross McNabb Center], you can come to the health department, to your doctor.”

She also told the audience she believes it will be very difficult to eliminate the negative stigma surrounding HIV and AIDS. “I think it’s part of human nature to compartmentalize things and knock off things that we’re afraid of and people in groups that aren’t like us,” Ellis-Bansode said. “I think that’s something we have to work through as humans, but you can work on the way that you treat people.”

Tim Sparer, associate professor of microbiology, spoke to the group on the origin of the AIDS virus and the anti-

virals that are used to treat it, such as Truvada.

“So the idea is that if your partner is HIV positive and you’re HIV negative then you can prevent yourself from getting infected,” Sparer said of prevention efforts. “The idea is that you can be on these antivirals before you actually get infected but if you actually read what it suggests, you should still use safe sex as well as Truvada.”

Freshman in biology George Apreotesi said one reason he attended the event was to learn about how the stigma of HIV and AIDS affects the LGBT community.

“I wanted to learn about the biological side for a paper that I have to do,” said Apreotesi. “I’m also very aware of the history with LGBT community and the stigma. I read that they were going to address that so I just wanted to see some professionals address the stigma in the LGBT community as well as the research side and how the LGBT community is maybe responding to the research and just get up to date on what’s going on.”

Morrill Hall

@utkmorrillhall

@RobbyLand1 @UTKDailyBeacon Just 8 weeks!

But I sure wish they could have waited until classes let out.

Megan Roberts @m3ranroberts WHAT ON EARTH ARE THEY DOING ON CUMBERLAND? I’m about to lose my mind

Emileigh Harmon @EmileighHarmon The construction they are about to do the strip is stupid and about to cause an even bigger cluster f***.

ARTS&CULTURE

Tuesday, April 7, 2015 • The Daily Beacon

I tried it: Milk addict goes vegan Faith Schweikert

then while sitting on the bus on the way back to Knoxville, when I thought no one was looking (as though they’d see me and report back to my editor that I’d cheated), I drank the entire bottle in 30 seconds. It was bliss. It was chocolatey bliss.

Afterwards: This week was not hip; it was not trendy or healthy. I’ve never felt so annoying as I waited for the Chipotle workers to search for the ingredients of each and every item in my burrito bowl. I felt bad for my sister, who I made wander around a food court after my race searching and searching for something vegan (30 minutes later, we left with a sole piece of bread). And I’ve never eaten so much peanut butter in my life, desperately attempting to still function like a normal human being.

I’m sure this week would’ve gone by better if I’d spent the time and money preparing meals with artificial eggs, meat substitutes and soy milk galore, but life’s short, I’m poor and sometimes you just really want a glass of milk.

Copy Editor @got_2haveFaith Last week, my extra-large jar of peanut butter was my best friend.

Abnormal, you say? What’s really abnormal, I’ve decided after a week of trying it out, is veganism. I tried. I really did try. I wanted to better understand the people who choose this lifestyle.

Why won’t they drink milk? What does it matter if you wear wool? If you don’t shave them, the sheep will overheat, for goodness’ sake. Are vegans really healthier? And the biggest question of all, what in the world do these people eat?

I am ashamed to say that in my quest to understand vegans, I answered none of these questions. At the end of seven long days, all I learned was that I, Faith Schweikert, could never become one.

Day 1: Day 1 of anything is always exciting. I was fired up, ready to take on the world with my new title: vegan—oh, so hip, so trendy. Knowing what I was getting into, I saw no problem at all as my normal diet certainly aligned closely with veganism restrictions. I rarely eat meat anyway so that would be no problem; I’ve always regarded cheese as some disgusting form of old milk, so that has always been out too; and besides that, I love fruits and vegetables. In conclusion, it’d be a piece of cake (without butter, milk or eggs, of course).

I also decided I’d tackle this challenge using only the food the lovely University of Tennessee could provide me in the residence dining halls and P.O.D. Markets.

Simple.

Discovering that a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is vegan made me even more confident that this would be a good week.

Day 3: The fantastic photo editor, Hannah, barged into the Beacon office and exclaimed “Anybody want some pie?” to all four people sitting in the room. A freshly-baked, homemade, lemon chess pie—veganism instantly lost its cool.

By then, I was just hungry. All the time.

I’m halfway through this week’s peanut butter jar as I wonder still, “What do vegans eat?” How do they even function in society without ‘proper’ food?

The dining halls were no help with their butter-infused everything. Even the salad bar is tricky because my beloved

“By then, I was just hungry. All the time. I’m halfway through this week’s peanut butter jar as I wonder still, ‘What do vegans eat?’

How do they even function in society without ‘proper’ food?”

Faith Schweikert poured herself a glass of milk after a week of sticking to a vegan diet. Faith Schweikert • The Daily Beacon ranch dressing includes the devil himself, buttermilk, and croutons are often coated in butter to make them taste like something other than stale bread.

I pushed forward, feeling less spry but still confident I could do this.

Day 5: Silly me decided it’d be a quality idea to completely alter my food intake the week of a half-marathon I’ve been training 12 weeks for. Smart, right?

Wrong. Although, pro for the vegan lifestyle, classic spaghetti and marinara is 100 percent vegan. So, the night before the race was covered. All was well.

Day 6: That is until the second I

5

crossed the finish line and a nice man thrust a bottle of 1 percent Trumoo chocolate milk in my, apparently, outstretched arms. I had just run 13.1 miles in record time, and someone gave me my absolute favorite beverage, which also happens to be the perfect post-workout snack, and I’m not allowed to drink it?!

“Do it,” bad conscience said.

“Don’t do it, you’ve made it this far,” good conscience said.

“Drink it.” I refrained.

“Good job, Faith, you’re awesome. Go, you!”

Revision: I refrained for two hours,

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VIEWPOINTS

The Daily Beacon • Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Boys have penises, and girls have vaginas Kaila Curry

School of Sarcasm

“I know where babies come from,” Katie said. I could see her feet dangling from the toilet in the adjacent stall. “Where?” I asked curiously, the thought never having occurred to me in my five years of living.

“So a mom and dad go into a dark room, they get naked and make weird noises, and then “boom” a kid shoots out of your mom’s butthole.” Up until middle school, this was the extent of my knowledge of sex.

Flash forward to middle school and I’m in an auditorium, scratching my head at a bizarre, impregnated puppet explaining how it got that way by using phrases like “hanky-panky, pee-pee and hoo-ha.” I still knew nothing remotely correct about sex, but pretended I did to seem mature to my peers.

In high school I was simply taught abstinence, and well, “Estrogen leaking into the water supply from birth control and causing homosexuality. Fornicators go to hell if they do not repent. All forms of contraception are a sin except for planned parenthood.” Oh the joys of traditional Catholic school education.

So as one can imagine, when I took my first stroll down Pedestrian during Sex Week and was handed a condom by a woman dressed as a vagina, I went into a bit of a culture shock.

The thing is, up until college my knowledge of sex was very vague. It consisted of my teachers and parents forbidding it, and my peers trying to falsely explain it. I was in the dark about many things I thought I understood.

As it turns out, I’m not alone. Sex education in U.S. schools is a bit of a failure, with the abstinence-only approach being the biggest flaw. According to a Leftaction.com article, “The states that promote abstinence - only education are doing the worst when it comes to teen pregnancy.”

Tennessee’s unintended pregnancy rate

“The thing is, up until college my knowledge of sex was very vague. It consisted of my teachers and parents forbidding it, and my peers trying to falsely explain it.”

in 2010 was 49 per 1,000 women aged 15–44. The total public costs for unintended pregnancies in 2010 was $416 per woman aged 15–44 in Tennessee, compared with $201 per woman nationally,” according to guttmacher.org.

That’s why, despite the controversy over the past years, Sex Week at UT is so important. For those unaware of what Sex Week is, the organization’s website says, “Sexual Empowerment and Awareness at Tennessee (SEAT) strives to foster a comprehensive and academically-informed conversation about sex, sexuality, and relationships with the purpose of educating the University of Tennessee student body and the Knoxville lle community through innovative, collab -

orative, and entertaining programming and events.”

Sex Week is that opportunity that we all need. It cuts the birds and the bees talk down and calls things how they are with more open mindedness than the typical “just don’t do it,” cop-out. While it’s fun to come up with weird sounds and syllables for penis and vagina, there comes a time where one actually needs to figure out what the hell to do with these things.

Kaila Curry is a sophomore in journalism electronic media. She can ism and electroni be emailed at kcurry6@vols.utk.edu or kcurry6 tweeted @kailacurry.

Columns of The Daily Beacon are the views of the individual and do not ot necessarily reflect the views of the Beacon or the Beacon’s editorial staff.

VIEWPOINTS

Tuesday, April 7, 2015 • The Daily Beacon

Suicide is no joke RJ Vogt

Open Letters

In a year Julie Mrozinski

In Rare Forum

I see it everyday – people pretending to kill themselves.

You know, when a friend puts her hand to her head in the shape of a gun, pulls the imaginary trigger and says something like, “I could just kill myself.”

There’s even an Emoji expression for it – the cute little yellow face, open-mouthed with xx’s for eyes and a handgun next to him.

Sometimes, for good measure, people use their other hand to mime their brains blowing out the side of their head, fingers wiggling like so many shards of skull. “Shoot me in the head,” they say. “Kill me now.”

I’m sure they’re all kidding, but I guess it’s just not all that funny to me. Not since that day in April, when my Aunt Lizzie shot herself in the head. That day in April changed my sense of humor. I see things differently now.

It’s not their fault that every time people pretend to kill themselves, I immediately imagine Lizzie killing herself; they don’t know how vividly I see the car window exploding outwards.

They don’t remember the way she looked in the casket, with her hair carefully arranged to hide the hole in her head, because they never saw her laid to rest. They don’t understand what they do to me.

It’s been three years now, and I’m still too much a coward to say something to people when they pretend to kill themselves. I don’t

Tears fell from my eyes in the UT amphitheater as I sat criss-cross applesauce, aimlessly tearing grass from its roots. I felt inadequate, aimless.

I felt like I had nothing to show for my third year at UT and that I was nowhere near grasping my dream of teaching English in another country, of going to Japan.

It was a cloud of gloom that followed me for weeks. A constant gloom, chipping away at the assurance I once had that college will lead somewhere.

It felt like everyone around me was becoming accomplished. My roommates were graduating, going to live in Wilmington with a clutch job and interning over the summer to come back for graduate school. My boyfriend was, and is, continuously proving to be a modern hero. My close loved ones were showing strides in their future. I was stagnant.

It was this deeply striking fear of being unaccomplished that motivated me to do what I did in the 365 following that pathetic afternoon before the end of spring semester last year.

First thing that had to go was my attitude. The Eeyore moan gets nobody anywhere, ever.

“There must be a lot of us out there, silently observing our worst reality in the melodramatic pantomiming of the world around us.” want to make them feel awkward or guilty, and I definitely don’t want to seem oversensitive. It’s easier to act like it doesn’t bother me, like I don’t care, like they haven’t just reminded me of the moment that fractured my family forever.

But I can’t be the only one reliving the nightmare. In 2013, 41,149 Americans committed suicide; more than half of them used a firearm.

All those victims must have had loved ones who now remember them at odd times, like when

Next came direction and persistence. Looking for opportunities and capitalizing on them was key. There are so many opportunities for us here at our lovely campus, and they are everywhere: your emails, posters, friends and professors.

Finding them is easy.

Finding the right ones takes finesse. Sadly, we have reached a time in our lives when, a) you should have a job and b) it should have a connection towards your career or leads to silly money.

Then I thought about my weak resume, and then I naturally thought about my ideal employer, what sorts of ‘things’ they would want to see I have done with my time here—they are your audience and you are a piece of paper. Then I did those things.

I worked hard and I continue to work hard.

Within the past year I’ve added five lines to my resume, four of the five directly relating to not only my field but also my specific line of work.

I applied to my dream job; I had five people edit my essay. I studied for two weeks for my interview, studying harder than I ever had for a test, because it is the ultimate test.

In a few months, I will get on a plane and land in Tokyo, Japan. I will be teaching English

7

they hear a particular song on the radio or smell a certain scent in the kitchen – or when they see people joking about shooting a bullet through their skulls. There must be a lot of us out there, silently observing our worst reality in the melodramatic pantomiming of the world around us.

So forget it – I’m done pretending like it’s perfectly okay to treat suicide like a triviality.

I’m done biting my tongue. Maybe I am being oversensitive, but at least it’s not for no reason.

Stop throwing around the phrase, “I could just kill myself.” Stop pretending to put a gun to your head. Not because it bothers me or might bother others, but because the acceptance of suicide as a method of hyperbolic humor demeans the lives and memories of those who choose to commit suicide.

They weren’t joking – Aunt Lizzie wasn’t exaggerating. Suicide victims face sickness that most of us will never comprehend. Let us not pretend to start.

R.J. Vogt is a senior in College Scholars. He can be reached at rvogt@utk.edu.

“First thing that had to go was my attitude. The Eeyore moan gets nobody anywhere, ever.”

in one of their public schools. Dreams really do come true, and you can design your destiny in 365 days. It takes focus and determination and a dream.

Julie Mrozinski is a senior in English. She can be reached at jmrozins@vols.utk.edu.

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PUZZLES&GAMES

Tuesday, April 7, 2015 • The Daily Beacon

9

Get Fuzzy • Darby Conley

NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD • Will Shortz ACROSS 1 Treat similar to a Yodel 5 What RuPaul dresses in 9 Extent 14 Big name in computers

Adam Hatch • dadoodlydude

15 Gentle hill 16 “Congrats!”

17 Shoulder muscle, informally 18 He played one of the lead roles in the film version of 50-/55-Across 20 Gambler’s last words?

22 Tattled 23 Writing style popularized by 35-Across 30 Native Nebraskan 31 Flagmaker Ross 32 Misrepresent 33 Fragrant neckwear

42 “Looking at it differently …,” to a texter 43 “___ kleine Nachtmusik” 44 How some right turns are made 46 One who sniggles 47 “Toy Story” dinosaur 50 See 35-Across 53 Some Wharton degs.

54 Image on the last page of an alphabet book 55 See 35-Across 61 Flimflam 62 Aussie known for sleeping most of the day away 63 Elegance 64 Leviathan-like 65 Physicist Mach 66 Something cooked in a slow cooker 67 Summers on the Seine

34 Bone below the elbow

Cartoons of The Daily Beacon are the views of the individual and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Beacon or the Beacon’s editorial staff.

DOWN 1 Tried 2 Spotted cat

35 Author of 50-/55-Across

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE J E S T

A L T O

E Z R A

M E A N

M O O L A

E C H O S

I L S P S I E H I L L L I T E S A C A L M E T T A L S H I S E E N E X R P V T L L L A Z E L O T G O D T O S E D S A D S

A W F U L

R Y E

F L E R E L E T O B I A G N R A G I N G R A A R U S M O E T W O L L A M E Y S Y

R E L I T

A N I S E

U N D E R

D Y E R S

A L E C

M A R K

E R I E

S E C T

B L A E R O D

A M I E

G A E L

1

2

3

4

5

14

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6

7

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25

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31

36

37

13

27

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32 34

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46 51

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53 55

12

19

33 35

11

22 24

30

9 16

21

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8

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3 “Not a chance!”

4 Baseball slugger David known as Big Papi 5 N.B.A. star who started in the A.B.A. 6 1982 doubleplatinum Duran Duran album 7 Bat wood 8 Aristocrats 9 Space station that crashed in 1979 10 Get cozy together 11 Laudatory verse 12 Punch in the face, informally 13 Subj. of a thought experiment 19 Result of a 1995 Québec secession referendum

21 Aristocrat 24 Razz

41 Neighbor of the Ricardos on “I Love Lucy”

25 Soulful Redding

45 Pats lightly 26 Company that built 46 Famous flops of the Unisphere for the ’50s the 1964-65 New 47 Barbecue beef York World’s Fair choice 27 Woes of society 48 Make hot under 28 ___-Japanese War the collar 29 Signify 35 Foot for the Greek god Pan 36 ___ Reader (alternative magazine)

49 Event featuring motocross and snocross 51 Maritime org.

52 Pronoun with a slash

37 Romance novelist Roberts

55 “Likable” prez

38 Long johns

57 PC linkup

39 Big city on the Big Island

58 Eviscerate

40 Draft classification

60 Darn, e.g.

56 Neither’s partner

59 Give the boot

10

ARTS&CULTURE

The Daily Beacon • Tuesday, April 7, 2015

The sun has taken a hiatus and left us to deal with the rainy remains.

The Daily Beacon has compiled a playlist to keep your spirits high when the clouds are hanging low.

TUT, which stands for “The Understood Truth” and is also his grandfather’s nickname, is a rapper, songwriter and one of the founders of Chattanooga’s The House Band.

• Photo courtesy of TUT

Chattanooga musicians pool efforts to produce Southern rap Sterling Martin Staff Writer

It’s no secret that “teamwork makes the dream work.”

This philosophy is one of the many unspoken agreements between a group of Chattanooga musicians, collectively known as The House Band, and has led to newfound success.

“Tut, besides being my grandfather’s nickname, is an acronym for “The Understood Truth,” said rapper and songwriter TUT, one of the founders of The House Band. Alongside rapper Mikey D, producer Ktoven, singers Angel Mae and Johnny Balik, saxophone whiz Swayyvo Morton and drummer Jimmy Franklin—to name a few on The House’s roster—TUT has steadily been developing the band’s signature “Southern bounce” sound, which is a blend of jazz, funk and gospel.

Since its release in January 2015, TUT’s debut album “Preacher’s Son” has gained more than 3 million listens spanning 50 countries worldwide. The hype around the launch was answered by various websites including pitchfork.com, one notorious for its popularity.

“It’s exciting considering we are an independent movement out of a little known city in Tennessee,” TUT said. “It’s very telling of the tale that no matter where you are—when the right people come together at the right time,

with a good idea, great things can happen.”

The release, produced by Ktoven, also features many of The House Band artists while always staying true to its unique “Southern bounce” vibe.

“The inspiration was just life—certain experiences of what I was dealing with in my community. It’s a memoir of what I was going through up to this point,” TUT said. “(It was) also was heavily inspired by Outkast and UGK and the southern sound they created. Had to make my own, you know?”

The final song on “Preacher’s Son” features another Chattanooga rapper, Isaiah Rashad.

In 2013, Rashad was signed by independent hip-hop label Top Dawg Entertainment, which is home to prominent names like Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul and more.

“Isaiah and I met at MTSU through Mikey D … From there, we formed what is now known as The House, which is basically a collective of artists, producers and musicians,” TUT said. “It’s a movement birthed in relation to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Isaiah is with TDE but he is still very much part of The House.”

The release earned TUT a spot at this year’s South by Southwest festival.

“Man, SXSW is networking central,” said photographer and videographer Justin “JR” Ruffin. “I met some other dope visual artists out there and connected with other musical artists. Definitely top experiences in life as far as my craft goes.”

JR asked to film TUT’s performance in Knoxville a couple of months ago when opening for the Ying Yang Twins. This led him to follow The House Band to SXSW last month. “(TUT’s) video should be done by Tuesday, April 7, and I’m excited. This is the longest video I’ve made, so I’m beyond ecstatic to release this documentary,” Ruffin said. “I’ve got about 500 video clips I had to go through, which made the release get pushed back two weeks.”

Eric Cromartie, TUT’s manager, Ktoven and The House Band attribute much of their success to the teamwork and collaborative efforts within The House.

“I’m sort of the creative director of the projects we put forward,” Cromartie said. “I moved everyone under one roof and now we are a full blown musical commune … Isaiah introduced me to The House. He connected a lot of the dots … What started as simple friendships have now turned into meaningful business relationships. It’s been cool to see.”

Since the release of TUT’s album, The House Band is continuing to grow in size while constantly evolving its sound.

“We’re just working to make the next project better than the last,” Cromartie said. “Also want to get Angel Mae’s project in motion as well as Michael Da Vinci’s and singer Johnny Balik. Got a lot of projects in the mix—just trying to keep everyone in tune with the vision so we can continue building out this empire.”

Geronimo

Sheppard

Uptown Funk

Mark Ronson, Bruno Mars

Lips Are Movin

Meghan Trainor

Waka Waka Shakira, (This Time for Freshlyground Africa) From This Valley The Civil Wars

Be My Girl

John & Jacob

Budapest

George Ezra

SPORTS

Tuesday, April 7, 2015 • The Daily Beacon

11

SOFTBALL

Pitcher Erin Gabriel, left, and catcher Lexi Overstreet, right, high five after Gabriel's no-hitter against Illinois State on March 10.

• Photo courtesy of Randy Sartin/Tennessee Athletics

Overstreet thriving as key element of Lady Vols’ success Trenton Duffer Staff Writer

When pitchers throw a no-hitter, people flock to them and ask them what it’s like to accomplish such a feat.

Erin Gabriel has thrown a no-hitter this year. Everyone knows her side of the story and what an honor it was to pitch the no-no.

In every no-hitter, there is a second figure to the equation; a person without whom this feat wouldn’t be possible: the catcher. The catcher on that night was Lexi Overstreet.

Overstreet comes from a family of athletes. Her mother, father, older brothers and sister all played multiple sports throughout their high school years. Lexi herself has played basketball, soccer, swimming, tennis, cheerleading and softball.

“Growing up, I watched (my siblings) play sports, and I wanted to be just like them,” Overstreet said. “I had my mom throughout my life, (and she) was really driven for me

towards softball and really was there for me.”

Success is something Overstreet has enjoyed throughout her high school years.

Her team, the Buford, Georgia, Wolves, won a state championship in all four years of Overstreet’s high school career. The junior also received all-country honors all four years, and, in 2012, was named the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s 2012 Player of the Year.

Her high school career came to a close in the summer of 2012, and Overstreet had a choice to make. Softball scouts flocked to her, and she narrowed down her options.

Although Georgia seemed like a good fit, Overstreet fell in love with the family-friendly atmosphere the University of Tennessee offered.

“I really loved Tennessee when I came here,” Overstreet said. “They were familybased, Ralph and Karen (Weekly) are married, and I’m a big family person. I really liked that aspect of Tennessee.”

Her choice was clear, so she followed it.

In February of 2013, Overstreet had her first at-bat as a University of Tennessee Lady Vol. It wasn’t until May 4 against Missouri that Overstreet hit her first collegiate home run.

From then to now, Overstreet has always been a jack-of-all-trades on the softball diamond. She has played nearly every position while she’s been at UT, but even she will admit she has a favorite.

“I’ve actually caught the most my whole life,” Overstreet said. “What makes catching fun is that you get to be a part of not just one position, but you’ve got someone pitching to you, and you’re helping them not allow the other team to win. You’re always involved ...

Catching is always my favorite.”

A fan of Overstreet’s catcher capabilities is co-head coach Karen Weekly.

“Lexi’s a great catcher, and sometimes that gets overlooked by all the publicity that Annie Aldrete gets,” Weekly said. “Lexi’s a phenomenal defensive catcher. With the injury that Annie had at the end of last season, we need to have that second catcher …

We love putting Lexi behind the plate.”

Most athletes have some sort of pregame ritual they participate in to help them over the course of the game. For Overstreet, that’s putting a bow in her hair before every game.

“I like to wear a bow to match my uniform,” Overstreet said. “I’ve tried to grow my hair out long so I can have bigger bows and longer bows. I’ve gotta have a bow in my hair and make sure my hair looks good.”

Overstreet has been the main factor in some of the best moments of the team’s year.

Along with catching Gabriel’s no-hitter, she recorded her first collegiate grand slam and blasted a walk-off home run against Georgia on March 28.

“It felt really good to come out there and win. When I hit the ball, I felt really good … When I hit it, I knew it was gone,” Overstreet said. “Through our whole lineup, one swing could change a game.

“That’s why I think we are such a good team. Everybody in the lineup can hit a home run, and I don’t think many SEC teams can say that through their whole lineup.”

12

SPORTS

The Daily Beacon • Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Tennessee catches a break

David Cobb

Senior Columnist Tennessee athletic director Dave Hart said after Rick Barnes’ introductory press conference last Tuesday that UT was due a break in timing.

Forget timing. The athletic department was simply due a break of any sort.

It got one in Barnes, a proven a coach who happened to be available at the exact time that UT’s latest sportsrelated calamity culminated with the firing of Donnie Tyndall.

Detractors point to Barnes’ age and relative lack of success over his final few seasons at Texas as reasons for skepticism.

Let them.

Barnes will be 61 when the 2015-16 season tips, and his last four teams have lost 10 or more games.

Three of those four found their way to the NCAA Tournament, though, and when you consider who the Vols turned to the last two times they were searching for a coach, Barnes seems like a rock star in comparison.

Cuonzo Martin and Tyndall both came from mid-major schools and had made a combined total of one NCAA Tournament as head coaches before landing the Tennessee job.

On the contrary, Barnes has been to 16 of the last 17 Big Dances and is capable of recruiting players Martin and Tyndall could only dream of.

It’s remarkable that such a proven coach was willing to inherit this mess at UT. In a lot of ways, the ending to Barnes’ tenure with the Longhorns was like the ending of Phillip Fulmer’s time as Tennessee’s football coach in 2008.

Both coaches fell victim to their own success when fans and university brass accustomed to perennial excellence became dissatisfied with occasional lapses into mediocrity.

In both cases, respected, successful men, who had been the head coach at the same school for 17 seasons, departed with teary-eyed press conferences.

Fulmer was 58 when Tennessee let him go, and he could have coached elsewhere if he wanted to.

Barnes knew almost immediately that he would coach again and stressed his unquenched desire to win a national championship during his introductory press conference.

Around Rocky Top

“When you consider who the Vols turned to the last two times they were searching for a coach, Barnes seems like a rock star in comparison.”

Perhaps Fulmer was okay with staying out of the coaching world because he had a national championship ring and no desire to coach somewhere other than his alma mater.

Would it have made sense for Iowa State football fans to complain about having Fulmer as their coach, though?

Of course not.

The Cyclones – a middle of the road football program – were looking for a new coach after the 2008 season and would have been lucky to land Fulmer, who led UT to bowl games in 15 of his 17 seasons and a national championship in 1998.

Tennessee’s basketball program could be equated to the Iowa State football program in terms of national relevance.

If you take off your Big Orange goggles for a moment, it’s clear that UT scored a coach who really should have been out of its league with Barnes.

All it took was a fortuitous collision of fate (and the help of a search firm) for a negative situation to turn positive for the Vols.

For once, UT caught a break.

David Cobb is a senior in journalism and electronic media. He may be reached at dcobb3@vols.utk.edu.

Elle Nelson, junior in history, points to where a foul ball hit her elbow last Monday during the Lady Vols softball game against Georgia. “I haven't been to a softball game in a while,” Nelson said. “It feels like I just got hit by a softball.”

Hannah Cather • The Daily Beacon