The Alestle, Vol. 76 No. 5

Preacher’s return to protest brings protest, discussion of free speech

GABRIEL BRADY managing editor

Local religious figure and preach er Tom Rayborn returned to campus last week after being barred from the area due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before the pandemic, Rayborn’s pres ence sparked controversy, including an SIUE community town hall meeting ad dressing the campus’ concerns about al leged hate speech in Rayborn’s preaching and multiple protests against his presence on campus.

Rayborn’s comments spurred calls in 2019 for him to be barred from the campus for hate speech, as Rayborn condemned the LGBTQ+ community, called students “demons” and declared they were going to hell. Students counter-protested wearing demon horns, but the university’s stance at the time was that Rayborn’s comments did not cross the line protected by the First Amendment and thus they were legally un able to ban him from campus.

RAYBORN DESCRIBES OWN VIEWS AS ‘GOSPEL-ORIENTED,’ ‘BIBLE-PREACHING’

Rayborn said, despite the claims of hateful speech, he loves every student at SIUE and was happy to return.

“I love that campus. I love the students. It’s always a joy to visit,” Rayborn said. “That morning, while I was having breakfast with my lovely wife, she said to me, ‘What are you smiling so much for?’ and I told her, ‘I’m going back to SIUE today.’”

In Rayborn’s own words, he said his views are Christian, but he would not summarize his views with any one denomination.

“I’ve attended a Baptist style of church before, so that may put me into some kind of a box, but I don’t know,” Rayborn said. “I like to say I come from a Gos pel-oriented church, a Bible preaching and believing church.”

While preaching, Rayborn said he teaches about repentance rather than oth er religious concepts, like forgiveness or penance.

“If somebody says, ‘Oh, I’ll go get bap tized,’ … Or if somebody says, ‘I’m going to go do penance,’ or ‘Oh, I’m going to go to Mecca,’ they think that is going to cure everything,” Rayborn said while on the quad on Tuesday. “You need to realize that the problem that we have is sin. Your own good works can’t cure your sin problem.”

Rayborn said although there are many reliable versions and translations of the Bi ble, he uses a version of the New American Standard edition when preaching.

While on campus Tuesday, a student asked Rayborn to tell them exactly what his copy of the Bible had to say about gay people.

“This is God’s word. In the book of first Corinthians, chapter 6, verses 9 through 10, it says, in verse 9, ‘Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived.’ Listen to his words,” Rayborn said on Tuesday. “‘Do not be deceived. Neither for nicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor homosexuals.’”

During Rayborn’s preaching on the quad on Tuesday, a large group of students — some in protest of Ray born, some in support — stood around him as he spoke. The group reached about 80 students at its peak.

STUDENTS EXPRESS OPINIONS ON RAYBORN’S VIEWS

Junior Abigail Cothran, a psychology major, said she is Catholic and her views on what sends a person to salvation and heaven are vastly different from Rayborn’s.

“Honestly, as long as you’re a good per son, you’ll end up going to heaven. That’s my kind of belief. I personally choose to be Catholic, but you can choose to be any reli gion,” Cothran said. “As long as you’re not hurting anyone, and you’re being respect ful, I think you’ll end up in a good place.”

Undeclared freshman Sophia Boone said she knows that everyone has the free dom of speech, but she also said it is not freedom from criticism.

“I’m completely for people having and celebrating their own religion. I’m not against that. But when it comes to saying hateful things about things people can’t control, like being gay, your identity, things that you can’t change, I can’t let someone just say those things, and not say anything back,” Boone said. “Because that’s not right, and you won’t change any minds. I don’t think anyone here is going to change their minds over what this man is saying.”

Nathaniel Brewster, an undeclared major freshman, walked up to Rayborn during his speech Tuesday, and, while at the center of attention, unfurled a fan with the LGBTQ+ pride flag on it. Brewster said everyone has the freedom to express themselves, including Rayborn, himself and all the students on campus.

“You can say what you say, but so can everybody else, so I can walk up to him and do what I want, and have my fan, because just as much as it’s a public campus for him, it’s a campus for me as well,” Brewster said. “A lot of people just agree with the first half of that, which is you can say and do what you want. But, the other, flipped side is ev eryone else can say and do whatever they want back. So, there’s two sides to it.”

Kaz Isibue, freshman geog raphy major, said Rayborn’s views focus on what is and isn’t sinful, and not on love.

“The whole point, with reli gion, is to treat others how you want to be treat ed, like love thy neighbor, but then he sits here and he preaches about how you should hate thy neigh bor,” Izibue said.

Junior busi ness major Sam Thomspon said, from what he had heard, Rayborn’s views were not hateful.

“I don’t think it’s hatred. I believe he has an opinion, just like I have, and they can have theirs. He’s not forcing anyone to listen,” Thompson said. “Everyone’s enti tled to their own opinion. He’s not forcing this onto them. They’re here to listen, on their own behalfs.”

Cothran also said she believes there are similarities between traditional Cathol icism and other parts of traditional Christi

anity. However, she also said the version of Christianity promoted by Rayborn is noth ing like her own perception of it.

“God calls us to love everyone and to treat them as we want others to treat our selves, and [Rayborn] is changing that, and tell them that they’re going to hell for something God designed for them. That’s not right …God made everyone the way they’re supposed to be, whether that’s gay or straight. God wanted some people to be gay. He put them here, and made them that way,” Cothran said. “You deserve to be able to live your life the way that you want it to be, the way you want to.”

Adriana Elliot, a sophomore biochem istry major, said, although she is a Chrstian herself, Rayborn’s views are not reflective of her own.

“The Bible does say, ‘Spread the word of God.’ In his defense, he is spreading the word of God, but not the full word,” Elliot said. “I feel like his views are not of their time. Maybe 50 or 60 years ago that was Christiani ty, but today, things have changed.”

Freshman busi ness major Joyce Tawdros said she also arrived at Ray born’s speech later, but, as a Christian, she would not agree with Rayborn — or anyone — preach ing hateful views.

“I didn’t get to hear all of what he said, but from what I’ve heard so far, from peo ple here, is that he was hating on people, and that’s not okay. It’s not fair, and it’s not in my definition of Christianity,” Tawdros said. “That’s just him as a person, if he truly did say those things, that’s not it. He does not represent Chrsitianity, and I hate that he even spoke about Christianity in such a hateful way. If I could go up to every single one of the people upset and apologize on behalf of Christians to them, I would.”

Rayborn said he believes his speech is

not hateful. He said he disagrees with the students who make claims about him us ing hateful speech and that he will preach despite this.

“What they say is they feel threatened, they feel it’s hate speech, they feel that I am mean, so they use those terms. But in our society today, quite honestly, they are wel come to use those words and feel that way. It does not bother me in the slightest that they say that,” Rayborn said. “It seems that something has happened in our society that says anything that is not agreement needs to be met with insults and anger, instead of an honest discussion.”

RAYBORN SAYS HE WILL RETURN WEEKLY, STUDENTS PLAN PROTESTS

After Rayborn left campus on Tues day, a smaller group of students remained and discussed what they felt was the best course of action in response to Rayborn. Benjamin Wells, a senior in mass commu nications, said he is a member of the Social ist Student Association on campus. Wells said he approached the group of students and helped calm the energy and organize the groups’ varying views on Rayborn and his speech.

Wells said he personally believes that Rayborn’s rhetoric is not unique, and al though it is harmful, it is unfortunately common at colleges today.

“Usually it always ends the same way. The pastor who comes to campus does something wrong and gets themselves re moved from campus because they did some thing stupid, like spitting on a student or hitting someone, that kind of thing. I don’t mean to trivialize it, but this is certainly not new,” Wells said. “[Rayborn] probably feels like a broken record. He just keeps coming back and saying the same things. He’ll talk about the same few verses, or maybe mix stuff up just a bit each week.”

While the group of remaining stu dents discussed their opinions, senior crim inal justice major Holley Hentz spoke up and took the crowd’s attention. She said the best course of action would be to organize the student response.

“He’s going to be here again, and we should protest peacefully. We should just stand in front of him, just block his way, so

Music professor played with Morgan Freeman at Birthday Party

Mass communications professor receives surprise award

Men’s soccer taken down by Bruins

“

In his defense, he is spreading the word of God, but not the full word. I feel like his views are not of their time. Maybe 50 or 60 years ago that was Christianity, but today, things have changed.”

Adriana Elliot, sophomore biochemistry major

Protesters gathered around Rayborn on Sept. 27 with SIUE Police observing.

| Emily Sterzinger / The Alestle

Surprise award for mass communications professor

BRUCE DARNELL reporter

Professor Gary Hicks was as surprised as the rest of the staff to find that he had been awarded the Margaret Going en dowed scholarship.

The prestigious award was an nounced during a regular fall meet ing of the SIUE Mass Communications Department.

“Typically, what they do is send you a letter that says you’ve been given this, but this year I was completely sur prised,” Hicks said. “At the end of it [the meeting], the dean just announced that I was the recipient. I was just as surprised as anyone else.”

Hicks is a professor in the Mass Communications Department at SIUE. In the past, Hicks has served as department chair, as well as worked as a reporter and associate producer for the southwestern bureau of The MacNeil/ Lehrer NewsHour. Hicks received his bachelor of science at Texas Christian Uni versity, his master of arts at the University of Missouri-Columbia, and his doctorate at the University of Texas at Austin.

The surprise of the award was in tentionally brought up by by Dean Kevin Leonard.

“Because of the strange nature of this academic year in particular, I didn’t want to inform somebody and expect them to be there if they didn’t want to be in per son in a room where someone might have felt it was taking too much risk con sidering where we are in the pandemic,” Leonard said.

The Margaret Going Award is an endowed scholarship.

The primary criteria for receiv ing the award is for the appli cant’s scholarship and is given out to staff who have applied their longstanding research into their classrooms. The re cipient of the Margaret Going award is chosen by a commit tee of former winners who determine that the person they’re choosing meets all the criteria.

Hick’s body of research focus es on the effect media has had on marginalized communities.

“I’ve been working on my research agenda, which is about mass media and how mass media can marginalize and stig matize certain communities,” Hicks said. “The vast amount of my work has been on

the LGBTQ+ community, so I’ve done significant work on both looking at the coverage itself through news, television, film, social media, but also done the type of work where I’ve asked members of the community, ‘What kind of impact has this had on your life?’”

The recipient of the Margaret Going award is chosen by a committee of former winners who determine that the person they’re choosing meets all the criteria.

One facet of Hicks’ research in volved the practice of “outing,” which involved news publications stating cer tain well-known figures are members of the LGBTQ+ community without their consent.

“It was primarily for means of being hypocritical. There’d be members of Con gress who’d vote against everything that involved gay rights, or at the time AIDS legislation, then you’d see them at night in the night clubs,” Hicks said. “Or ce lebrities. Jodie Foster was one of the first big targets of this. In the late ‘80s to early ‘90s, there was a magazine that was named Outweek, and all they did was find people they said were ‘definitely queer.’”

Hicks said, as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, that the media’s coverage of the HIV epidemic greatly in fluenced his research.

An Important Message About Gas Safety

Natural gas delivered to the University from Ameren IP through a underground piping system. It is used to provide fuel for clean efficient heat to all campus buildings and residence halls. It is also used for hot water and food preparation.

Overview of Hazards of Pipeline and Prevention Measures Used

The hazards associated with the pipeline include fires, explosions, leakage, damage to the facility and loss of service. In order to prevent these incidents, the pipeline maintained and inspected according to state and federal regulations.

Facilities employees receive ongoing training to ensure the continued safe transport of natural to the campus.

In order to prevent damage to the pipeline due to construction excavations SIUE participates in the one call system known as JULIE. Within 2 days of a call for a planned excavation SIUE will mark the location of underground gas as well as other utility lines.

Recognizing and Responding to Gas Leaks

Pure natural gas is colorless and odorless.

Before gas is delivered to the SIUE campus, an odorant called mercaptan is added to give gas its distinctive odor so you can smell a leak immediately. The odorant makes the smell like sulfur or rotten eggs.

If you smell a faint odor in any campus building

notify facilities management at 3711. If the gas odor is strong and or you hear a hissing or leaking sound, you should leave the building immediately.

If the odor is strong:

• Do not use telephones cell phones, computers, or elevators

• Do not smoke, use a lighter, match or open flame

• Do not operate vehicles near where the leaking gas could be

• Do not re-enter the building to retrieve personal affects

If you smell a strong gas smell in the air outside, or you see unusual occurrences such as: high pitched whistle or hissing sound,

blowing dust, dead vegetation in a normally green area, or ground fires, you may be observing signs of a leak in a natural gas line. Always use caution near an outdoor gas leak and recognize the possible hazards, such as fire, ignition or explosion.

In these conditions:

• Do not use any device or equipment that may generate a spark or flame

• Do not start up or shut down motor vehicles or electrical equipment

• Do not use a telephone or cell phone in or near the area

“I don’t believe that, in the 20th or 21st century, there is any institution more powerful in letting us know who we are and who other people are, tell ing us about the world, than the mass media,” Hicks said.

Musonda Kapatamoyo, professor and chair of the Mass Communications depart ment, said that everyone was happy in the staff meeting when Hicks was announced as the winner.

“The dean [Leonard] was talking about all these positive things that are hap pening within the college, and he had Dr. Hicks’ name on a big slide about winning this award,” Kapatamoyo said. “It’s like the Oscars. You’re right there in the audi ence and they tell you that you’ve won this big thing, so all of us were very happy and high fiving.”

Kapatamoyo said Hicks winning the award is prestigious for the department. “It highlights the work of the faculty and shows that we’re doing serious research in the department,” he said. “We’re very proud of his achievement, and we support him 100 percent.”

There will be a formal ceremony to present Hicks with the award, and his acceptance speech will be open to all stu dents and faculty who wish to attend. The date has not yet been set.

09.13.22

A sign was knocked over in Parking Lot 4D. Tire marks were left on the pavement and grass nearby.

A wallet was reported lost in the Cougar Lake Apartments.

09.15.22

Several items were report ed stolen from the Nature Preserve, including batteries and chargers.

09.20.22

A parking pass was stolen from a vehicle in the Vadal abene Center parking lot.

09.21.22

A wallet was found in the MUC.

09.22.22

An airpod case was found in Dunham Hall.

A hit and run was reported in Parking Lot E.

A ring was reported lost in Woodland Hall.

09.23.22

A purse was found in the Student Fitness Center.

09.24.22

Vehicles were reported in Parking Lot E doing burnouts. When the officer arrived, the vehicles were gone.

09.25.22

A dog was found in a parked car near the Simmons Base ball Field. An officer made contact with the owner and found no police assistance was needed.

Gary Hicks

SIUE professor aims to create African American poetry database with new humanities grant

LIV KRAUS reporter

The Stephen L. and Julia Y. Han sen Humanities Fund is starting off its first year with English professor Howard Rambsy and his idea for an African Amer ican poetry database.

Rambsy, distinguished research pro fessor of African American literature, said after years of studying African American literature, he was searching for better ways to share knowledge of African Amer ican poetry.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about the platforms on how poetry moves through out the world and it’s often through an thologies,” Rambsy said.

Rambsy said his goal is to create a da tabase focused on African American poet ry. He said he will start by introducing the website to students and then branching out to a wider audience.

“What it does is offers information on African American poems, how they move across various anthologies over the course of decades,” Rambsy said. “It can show people information, or how poems have been circulated, reprinted and pub lished in different places.”

Rambsy said he will be working on the content and Smith will be working on the technical side of things, such as de signing the website. He said he would like for his website to have animations to help people visualize certain poems and help them to better understand.

“It starts with research that I have to do, or have done, on African American poetry and then what we’ll do from there is start constructing a website, and they’ll show you different things,” Rambsy said.

Margaret Smith, research assistant professor of Digital Humanities, said she is working with Rambsy by transforming his ideas on the technical side to develop the website.

“He had this idea for a resource that would put all of all kinds of different questions about anthologies online, so that people could just come and ask ques tions and get answers back and create this

PREACHER | cover

no students can get here … If you’re in his face, that’s what he wants. He’s here to harass us, and he’s here to piss us off,” Hentz said. “I’m gay and I’m an gry. I want to end this. I want this to be done.”

Elliot expressed support for this decision. She said as a Black woman, she knows it’s important to organize efforts to combat bigotry, and to have a plan.

“I feel like minorities for years have been advocating for themselves, and they have done a certain approach and gotten results, like the Black Lives Mat ter movement. People respond to large, peaceful protests,” Elliot said. “I don’t think just yelling gets your point across … If we don’t allow him the attention that he wants, if we block his way and he can’t reach students, if he can’t get his message out over our heads, he’ll leave.”

STUDENTS CLAIM RAYBORN’S SPEECH CHANGES DEPENDING ON AUDIENCE

Hentz said she under stands how Rayborn speaks, because she’s a senior, so she remembers him visiting campus

kind of interactive resource,” Smith said.

Smith said her work entails asking questions and figuring out what tech nology will best serve the underlying goals of this project. She said she start ed by using a WordPress site, but is now able to explore different options because of the grant.

“That’ll be some exploring of dif ferent technologies, and maybe doing some user testing and just kind of playing around, which is a big piece of develop ment, just sort of tinkering with things,” Smith said.

Smith said her and Rambsy have col laborated on a number of projects togeth er since starting the database for African American poetry.

“He’s always got really exciting ideas about how to sort of bring technology to bear on the humanities, and use tech nology to really expand to broaden and deepen how we engage with traditional humanities sources,” Smith said.

Rambsy said he and Stephen and Julia Hansen, the couple who started the grant, worked at SIUE during the same time.

“I want to continue to be associated with something they do, because they’ve always been supportive of the arts, so it was really a big honor to get it because of them,” Rambsy said.

Kyle Moore, senior director of devel opment, said Stephen and Julia Hansen have worked at SIUE and have been heav ily involved in the humanities.

“They have a deep adoring sense for the humanities and want to see it get op portunities that some of the other pro fessional schools and things get,” Moore said. “They created a fund to provide sup port for projects that enrich faculty and student engagement in the understanding and appreciation of the humanities, with in the College of Arts and Sciences.”

Moore said there’s a committee made up of faculty from humanities depart ments that select three people to receive the grant.

“It was something that we absolute ly needed and wanted,” Moore said. “We worked with the Hansons to make sure that we could get it up and moving as fast

before the pandemic.

“I’ve listened to him. I don’t look queer, and I don’t flag as queer, though I am. I’ve walked by him, and he doesn’t start spewing this hate until someone that looks like the stereotypical gay kid walks by,” Hentz said.

Hentz said this makes prov ing that Rayborn’s activities are hateful difficult.

“To prove our side to the re ligious people who want to give him a shot, they can come, but he’ll just talk about religion, un less there’s a group of queer kids here who will subject themselves to harassment, he won’t talk about that stuff,” Hentz said. “So, the options are: subject yourself to harassment and have people believe you, or we don’t have anyone on our side if we don’t subject ourselves to it.”

Rayborn said he does not change his message de pending on who’s listening or who he sees.

Hailey Barton, a sophomore in mass communications, said she agreed with Wells, and rec ognized that figures like Ray born have visited SIUE before.

“There’s people like this, who come to campus every se mester and say really inflam

as possible and still accomplish the goal that they wanted.”

Smith said grants like the Stephen L. and Julia Y. Hansen Humanities Devel opment Fund helps faculty explore, build and test new ideas.

“We tend to privilege fully formed ideas and kind of traditional modes of scholarship because they’ve been proven, they’re established and so it can be real ly hard to carve out time and resources to support things that might fail,” Smith said. “Creating space for potential failure and potential success is really important to create those sorts of innovative spaces and innovative research projects.”

Stephen Hansen, retired history pro fessor and Interim Chancellor for the uni versity, said they wanted to provide fund ing to help faculty improve the quality of programs for students in the humanities.

Julia Hansen, retired human ities librarian, said her experience getting to know the faculty and stu dents at SIUE has made her want to support their endeavors.

“We’re really excited about the first results, just to see the variety of ways the faculty are thinking about how they can enrich their students’ experienc es with a little bit of extra funding,” Julia Hansen said.

Stephen Hansen said they strong ly believe the humanities serve as great building blocks for a good education, regardless of what profession a student wishes to pursue.

“For us, the humanities opens up so many windows to the world and to un derstanding the world around us and un derstanding even ourselves and, and how we’ve come to be where we are as people,” Stephen Hansen said. “Those perspec tives and ways of analyzing and thinking provide all of us critical insights, not only into our worlds but building blocks to un derstanding and communicating better.”

Stephen and Julia Hansen wanted the project ideas to be created by the faculty and judged by the faculty.

“We feel strongly about giving back to SIUE,” Stephen Hansen said. “It’s been a great community for us, for our careers and our families.”

matory stuff like he does, and try to stir up the pot a bit. It’s gross, and it feels like he’s do ing it for attention,” Barton said. “Giving him that attention helps him to continue to come here. They show up to campus, and they say these things, and they have cameras on them, so they can get someone punching them or something.”

Rayborn was wearing a cam era attached to his chest, which he said he has worn every time he has visited campus since he first started coming. According to him, the purpose of it is to have guaranteed proof of what is hap pening at all times, if administra tion ever needed to check.

Although he has not re turned to SIUE for some time, Rayborn said he spends much of his time visiting different college campuses to preach his perspective of Christiani ty. Rayborn said, despite the wide range of campuses he’s visited, the response at SIUE is unlike any others.

“SIUE is by far the most volatile campus I have ever been to. I’ve told the adminis tration that. I’ve been around this country, preaching very far away,” Rayborn said. “Just re cently, I was in Boston on some

NEWS IN BRIEF Students gather to honor Iranian woman killed in captivity over hijab

Protestors gathered in the quad after the killing of Iranian woman Mahsa Amini.

Amini was killed on Sept. 16 in Iran. The country soon after broke out into cross-country protests. The protests have since spread worldwide to show solidarity.

Students present said the goal of the protest was to gather Iranians and other people who thought that women’s lives were important.

The protestors had a microphone and speaker, which were open to any one who wished to say something.

Demonstrations within the pro test involved one protestor cutting their hair with a pair of scissors, a reference to Amini being arrested for some of her hair showing. Anoth er was a small circular cell made of wood and wire, within it were two protestors with their mouths taped shut. Individual protestors could each cut one wire, and once the two were freed, they yelled out “Freedom!”

college campuses, and there was occasionally a person here or a person there who wanted to discuss my views with me. I’ve never been to a campus with a reaction like SIUE’s.”

Rayborn said, however, de spite the negative response, he understands that the students at SIUE are allowed to express their views, just like he is.

Some students on campus expressed that Rayborn’s views affected how the campus viewed Christianity, including Tawdros.

“He doesn’t represent us. It’s not Christianity. All we do is love. I know there’s so many of us who don’t, and they fail with that so bad,” Tawdros said. ”But if you go to the right people, there are people who truly study this out of love, and all they want to do is spread love, but then there’s people like him, and they ruin the name of Christianity.”

Izzy Pruitt, a junior in pub lic health, is the marketing and communications officer of Stu dent Government. She said she was present for a while when Rayborn was, and she wants stu dents who have opinions on Ray born to speak up.

“From what I’ve heard from students, I am concerned about making sure every student feels

like they belong. I think it’s im portant that we recognize that there are some laws that the uni versity has to abide by. Unfortu nately, that’s how it is. There are some things the university can’t just kick people off of campus for,” Pruitt said. “But, at the same time, I do encourage stu dents that, if something is con cerning them, to figure out who to talk to and figure out what kind of resolution you can get.”

Pruitt also said regardless of how students feel, and however they do it so long as it is peace ful, it is incredibly important to make their voices heard.

“I think students have ev ery right to not feel comfortable with any guest on campus, and if so, they should make use of the ability to protest it, because they can. Students should real ize that they have that right to do those things,” Pruitt said. “I think it’s a great idea for stu dents who feel their voices aren’t being heard, and want to fix that in this situation.”

For students with strong opinions on preacher Tom Ray born’s language on campus, visit the online version of this story to take a survey on the topic, or write a letter to the editor at opinion@alestlelive.com.

lifestyles

contact the editor:

lifestyles@alestlelive.com 650-3527

Thursday, 09.29.22

Local artists bring talents to Edwardsville Art Fair

DYLAN HEMBROUGH reporter

From turquoise mines to musi cal instrument repair, the artists of the Metro East area have a wide range of backgrounds and an even wider range of talents.

Gary Rondeau’s tent was filled with dozens of folded silver figurines in the forms of earrings and necklaces. Rondeau, a resident of Barnhart, Missouri, and founder of Allegro Arts, said that metal origami was not his original trade.

“I originally was a musician, and I got into musical instrument repair,” Rondeau said. “That taught me how to work with metal, especially silver and brass.”

From instrument repair, Rondeau worked his way into jewelry repair and creation. Eventually, he fused his metal working skills with his passion for origami. Rondeau uses a material called PMC, or precious metal clay, that allows him to fold the metal much easier than would other wise be possible.

“You can work it just like paper –do whatever you want, fold it, cut it, do whatever,” Rondeau said.

Rondeau creates a variety of figures, focusing mostly on the natural world. Folding a cat, however, is far simpler than folding a bouquet of flowers, according to Rondeau.

“The complex pieces … can take weeks because you’re starting on a wire frame, and you’re firing a layer of silver over that, and then another layer, and an other layer,” Rondeau said. “Every time you want to add something, you’ve gotta fire it again.”

Rocky Pardo, an independent jewel er, said she prefers a torch to a kiln for her work. Pardo’s tent displayed several bracelets and other jewelry made of silver and gold.

“I love to use my torch to create dif ferent textures and finishes on my work,” Pardo said.

Pardo said she gets involved in the sci entific aspect of jewelry making, especially when it comes to alloys. An alloy is a mix ture of two or more types of metal, and Pardo uses these mixtures both for practi cal and creative purposes.

“I create my own in-between alloys,” Pardo said. “I’ll play with a rose gold alloy to put enough gold in there that it won’t tarnish or oxidize, but add enough cop per that it’s still pink. I think of myself as an alchemist.”

Pardo said her first exposure to met alworking was through a class at the St. Louis Craft Alliance. From there, her love for metal blossomed.

“As soon as I touched metal, it just clicked,” Pardo said.

Pardo said her journey with metal working has exposed her to many differ ent artistic techniques and aspects of de sign which work together to facilitate the creative process.

“What I really love is when I can draw on all the different aspects of my formal fine arts education, [such as] color the ory, asymmetrical balance, and heavy technique use,” Pardo said.

George Sharos, founder of Olde World Jewelers in Fairview Heights, Il linois, had a variety of turquoise jew elry for sale, as well as samples of many other stones.

Sharos said his passion for jewel ry making stems from his experience in the mines in the 1970s. He said that his grandfather and uncle worked in a mine in Nevada back then, where his decades-long adventure with turquoise first began.

“I learned to cut turquoise back when I was 17 years old,” Sharos said. “When I was in high school, I went out there and actually mined with them.”

Sharos credited his interest in jewelry making to a class he took at Collinsville High School. By the end of high school, Sharos said he would sometimes bring boxes of rings and pendants made of tur quoise and silver to sell to teachers and fellow students.

“I’m very, very particular about per fection,” Sharos said. “I try to do things that are extremely well-finished.”

Sharos said that he often buys raw materials straight from the mines and works with them until they are ready for display in the shop. The transformation from raw mineral to finished product in volves machinery such as diamond grind

ing wheels and a belt for rounding and finishing stones, not to mention a lot of time and patience.

After the work on the stone comes the rest of the jewelry. Sharos said the creative process is often directed by the shape and appearance of the stone. Sharos said that he also generally leaves a signature gold blossom pattern on his pieces.

“As an artist and a jeweler, it’s very satisfying to just create things you want to make,” Sharos said.

These were just a few of around a hundred artists who featured their work at the Edwardsville Art Fair Sept. 23-24.

Ballpark Village showcases local restaurants and cuisines

DYLAN HEMBROUGH reporter

Many local restaurants had a chance to showcase their menus at the annual “Taste of St. Louis” event in Ballpark Village.

Torre Ana Edwards, owner of Ana Creative Cakes, was selling strawberry, chocolate, lemon and vanilla cupcakes as a sample of her work.

“Instead of just wedding cakes and birthday cakes, I do sculpted cakes,” Ed wards said. “I can make a cake into a tennis shoe, a purse, or any kind of 3D figure.”

Edards said she had been decorating cakes for her family and friends for a while, but began construction on an actual shop with encouragement from her clients. Due to the pandemic, progress on the site was slowed, but the shop is set to open in 2023 in Fairview Heights, Illinois.

“I decided to buy the building my self, so the building is paid for,” Edwards said. “I’m gonna start renovating on my own finances.”

This year’s Taste of St. Louis was Ed wards’ first big event, and one she thought would be perfect for spreading word about her business.

“I decided if I go, I’m gonna go big,” Edwards said.

Trisha Bush-Lefore, a resident of Wal la Walla, Washington, was directed to the event while searching for a place to eat.

“There was no place where we could eat, and the head hostess [at the hotel]

said to come here,” Bush-Lefore said. “It’s great because there’s so many options.”

Bush-Lefore said she was excited to see what the Taste of St. Louis entailed, and was impressed by the wide variety of food options.

“I love a good farmer’s market or street fair,” Bush-Lefore said. “It’s great when you have a variety. You know you’re hungry, but you don’t know what you want.”

Brandon Shiao worked the Pokedoke stand, an area restaurant that sells a variety of Hawaiian food, most famously the poke dish. Poke is a staple Hawaiian dish con sisting of diced fish such as ahi tuna.

Shiao said that his family has been in the restaurant business for several decades, and that his favorite part of the job was al ways the people.

“We love feeding people,” Shiao said. “We’ve done it for so many generations now.”

Shiao said that when his family emi grated to St. Louis, they noticed a lack of Hawaiian restaurants and decided to bring the cuisine to the area. They had been in Hawaii for some time before coming to St. Louis and were familiar with the local food options.

Though poke traditionally uses ahi tuna, Shiao said that Pokedoke typically serves a West Coast variant of the dish with options to substitute the tuna with salmon, octopus or shrimp.

Shiao said, “This is just like an abridged version, but we have a lot more

options at our other store.”

Savannah Fedorchak, a St. Louis na tive, said she thought the Taste of St. Louis would be a perfect event to show her boy friend the city where she grew up.

“I love being down near Ballpark Vil lage,” Fedorchak said. “It’s a really fun area … always has a lot of energy down here.”

Fedorchak said she has fond mem ories of the St. Louis baseball scene, and coming back to the area brought many of them back.

“St. Louis loves their Cardinals base ball, so just being in this atmosphere, see ing all the memorabilia from the World

Series, posters, Ballpark Village, the stadi um itself,” Fedorchak said. “It makes me think of St. Louis when I see those things.”

Fedorchak and Bush-Lefore both said that the people of St. Louis were incredibly friendly, and Bush-Lefore was impressed by the city as a whole.

“The people are great, the food is wonderful,” Bush-Lefore said. “There’s so much to do here!”

Edwards said after the pandemic she was excited to get out of the house and enjoy life again.

“It’s time to get back to our old selves,” Edwards said.

Gary Rondeau set up his Allegro Arts display at the Edwardsvile Art Fair which took place over three days. | Dylan Hembrough / The Alestle

Over 30 tents tents lined the parking lot of Busch Stadium, each one with a different cuisine.

| Gabriel Brady / The Alestle

Haydon’s musical skill lets him rub elbows with locals and legends

FRANCESCA BOSTON lifestyles editor

Rick Haydon, a professor emeritus for the music depart ment, has had an impressive career as a jazz performer, meet ing celebrities such as Morgan Freeman and Ella Fitzgerald.

Still, he said it all started at home, here in the Metro East, as he was born and raised in Alton, Illinois.

“It’s kind of a wild story. Because I’m from this area. I’m from Illinois. To do everything that I did, here, right in my own backyard. That’s unusual. That doesn’t happen everywhere,” Haydon said.

Haydon said he started play ing music as a young teenager, playing mostly in rock bands, until he came to SIUE for mu sic education and became in terested in Jazz. He graduat ed with his bachelors in 1982, becoming the first person to graduate from SIUE with a jazz performance degree.

Haydon said he was hired on as a part-time guitar profes sor shortly after graduation. He said he was then hired on as a full-time professor and taught at SIUE until he retired in 2015. He still teaches guitar as a pro fessor emeritus.

“I just kept teaching guitar. So I still teach classical and jazz guitar and run a group guitar ensemble I call the wire choir. It’s a little less than a wire choir right now, but it’ll come back,” Haydon said.

Haydon said one of the greatest influences on his career

was the Mississippi River Fes tival, which SIUE used to host every summer. He said he had the opportunity to speak to Ella Fitzgerald who was the headliner for the Pablo Jazz Festival.

“One of my best friends was the editor of The Alestle and they would give out tickets and a backstage pass for the shows that were here at the MRF. No body would take the jazz tick ets, they were always available,”

Haydon said. “So one time I took them. It was the Pablo Jazz Festival. And Ella Fitzgerald was the headliner. I think I was like 19. I interviewed Ella. And she was eloquent. It was quite an experience.”

Haydon said since then he has had the opportunity to work with other famous jazz musi cians, including his most recent, playing with Morgan Freeman at his birthday party. He said he was

invited down for the weekend to Louisiana, where he played at a joint birthday party for Freeman and one of his friends.

“There’s a billionaire, one of his best friends. His name’s James Davidson and he threw this party. It was about 300 in vited guests,” Haydon said. “We did the show that night and it was great. [Morgan Freeman] was everything. He’s really a lot like a lot of the characters in his

movies. [He’a] got an incredible sense of humor.”

Zack Woodall, a sophomore biology major from Taylorville, Illinois, said he has been taking guitar lessons with Haydon for about a year and a half now. He said he is grateful for the chance to be taught by Haydon.

“He’s very personable, and it is very clear that he knows so much about the instrument and about his craft. He talked about [playing with Morgan Freeman] so normally and nonchalantly that sometimes it’s hard to be lieve,” Woodall said.

Will Saxton, a senior clas sical guitar performance major from Hazelwood, Missouri, said he appreciates being able to see that someone from the local area is able to make it as a musician without having to move to Cali fornia or New York.

“Jazz people that have come from, you know, small Illinois and Missouri towns. And he makes a point to drive that home. So it’s just nice to know it’s, it’s a thing of possibility,” Saxton said.

Haydon said he believes all things are possible and that things will happen if you prepare yourself.

“You know … a good friend of mine, Reggie Thomas says, ‘We are a sum of our experienc es.’ I just would try to get as much experience playing music and, and knowledge about how to make great music. Because whatever situation might show up — the phone rings and some body goes, ‘You want to fly to Louisiana and play with Mor gan Freeman?’ I’d say yeah,” Haydon said.

REVIEW: ‘Don’t Worry Darling,’ it turns out, does feel like a real movie

NICOLE BOYD opinion editor

WARNING: This review contains spoilers for ‘Don’t Worry Darling.’

Celebrity drama is one of my guilty pleasures, and after follow ing the “Don’t Worry Darling” Twitter buzz for weeks, I had to see it despite its score of 38 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.

Alice (Florence Pugh) and Jack (Harry Styles) live an idyl lic life in a 1950s company town. They are young, attractive and passionately in love. They and their friends in the cul-de-sac host boisterous dinner parties. While the husbands go to work – on a top-secret project in the desert known as the “Victory Project” – the wives are “free” to shop and socialize, so long as they don’t leave the confines of the town.

Of course, all is not as it seems. Earthquakes shake the town, Alice cracks an entire car ton of empty eggs and one of the wives, Margaret, (Kiki Lane) seems to have lost her mind, screaming that something is wrong and that they shouldn’t be there. When Alice sees a plane crash, she wanders into the des ert, triggering hallucinations and flashbacks of memories she can’t place, which are written off as paranoia and hysteria by Jack and the town doctor.

The message of the film is that modern men who feel dis enfranchised and emasculated become radicalized by talking heads on the Internet, who tell them they should return to “or der” and “biological reality.” They convince them that modern women are secretly unhappy with the pressures of liberation.

In contrast to picture-per fect Jack and Alice, we see them in today’s world at the end of the film, where Alice is a surgeon and Jack can’t find a job. When she is frustrated that he hasn’t cooked dinner for himself and turns him down for sex after a thirty-hour sugery, Jack blames feminism instead of himself.

One thing the movie did well was make it easier to under stand the allure of the stereotyp ical 1950s life. Through modern Jack and Alice, we saw a common way that gender roles manifest in the current era (women work ing in addition to having a larger load of domestic labor) and the isolation many young urban peo ple feel in contrast to the patriar chal bliss and stronger social net works we saw in the beginning of the movie.

Further, Victory leader and incel podcaster Frank (Chris Pine) uses many of the same dog whistles as Internet misogynists in real life. However, it would have been much more interest ing – and made a much stron

ger statement – to explore these concepts further than to spend so much time confusing the audience. If you can’t understand what’s going on, you can’t really understand the message.

Then there’s the glaring plot holes. There’s a scene in which Jack dances onstage at an ex travagant party after Frank pro motes him to the “senior advi sory board.” It’s implied that his movements are controlled, but it’s never explained or even men tioned again. The earthquakes, which seem to imply sinister do ings by the Victory Project, are also never explained.

I walked away with other questions, like why is it that if you die in the Victory Project, you die in the modern era? How does a surgeon go missing with out anyone looking for her? Why does Bunny (Olivia Wilde) know what’s going on, yet gaslights Al ice anyway? How is there a preg nant wife if the kids aren’t real?

Finally, the irony of Oliv ia Wilde making a movie about the dangers of modern misogy ny while allegedly begging Shia LeBeouf to return to the film, despite Pugh being uncomfort able filming sex scenes with a man being sued for sexual bat tery, is not lost on me.

Furthermore, Kiki Lane, the only Black actress in the movie, claimed most of her scenes were cut. While whiteness has long

been associated with “tradition al femininity” and it makes sense that there wouldn’t be many women of color in a white incel’s paradise, Lane’s character was set up to have a fascinating storyline that would have added so much depth to the movie, if only we

had gotten to see more it it. May be it’s these missteps that make the movie’s message ring hollow.

Despite the bad reviews and clumsy filmmaking, however, I have to admit that I was enter tained and couldn’t help but enjoy the movie.

Rick Haydon played for a joint birthday party between Morgan Freeman and James Davidson, where Morgan Freeman sang with the group as part of the celebration. | via Rick Haydon

| courtesy of New Line Cinema

OPINION

KIRSTEN O’LOUGHLIN Graphics Manager ELIZABETH DONALD JANA HAMADE Copy Editors BRUCE DARNELL DYLAN HEMBROUGH LIV KRAUS AHMAD LATHAN Reporters

EMILY STERZINGER Editor-in-Chief

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Crisis fatigue is one of the biggest enemies of social change

THE ALESTLE STAFF editorial board

Even though watching the evening news might be depressing, the world’s problems do not disappear when the TV turns off. Crisis fatigue, when people stop caring about crises because they have been burned out by the news updates, is very counterproductive to social change and human interest in general.

Turning off the news and refusing to take a look at the day’s headlines fosters a quiet complacency that, if widespread enough, can be devastating. Social reform can only happen if enough people care, and more importantly, if enough people show that they care.

Russia began its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Seven months later, thou-

sands are dead because of one regime’s megalomaniac ambitions. Ukrainian families are facing more than just the death of soldiers but also threats to their civilians, children and cultural heritage as a whole.

Since January of this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that over 62,000 people around the world have contracted monkeypox. Mass media has frequently used the phrase “men who have sex with men” in close connection with the monkeypox outbreak, despite the fact that anyone can contract the virus.

Black squares on Instagram did not cure racism after the murder of George Floyd, and Facebook calls for thoughts and prayers for the victims of the Uvalde mass shooting did not put a stop to gun violence. So-

letter to the editor

Concerning Pastor Tom — Counter-preaching?

SAM DIETIKER alumnus

I recently read the latest article concerning Pastor Tom, and some ideas to possibly interact with him. I think a good way of protesting him is to fight fire with fire; have someone else start preaching when he does! Get a couple of good-mannered Christians to start reading verses and ideals that everyone can get behind. Jesus was all about “Love thy neighbor” and “Treat others the way you wish to be treated.”

Doesn’t even have to be from the Bible, maybe get a collection of good morals and general things to keep in mind from a variety of other religions. Show others that what Pastor Tom spews isn’t rep-

resentative of what Christianity is all about.

This also reminds me of a time a few years back, before the pandemic, when me and a couple of theatre people stood up on one of the hills at the Quad while Tom was there and started to read the fictional sermon of Heimskr from the video game Skyrim. We certainly garnered more attention, and I think Tom himself was even a bit baffled.

I digress, but I think a counter-preach would be an interesting way to go, whether the words you speak are that of a real or fictional religion, I think it’ll throw Tom a little bit off his game. Thanks much, and praise Talos!

cial change is not brought about by passive mention of this crisis or that tragedy, but by playing an active role in targeted discussion around the topic at hand and actually taking action.

Because the U.S. is such a huge and diverse country and is not at threat of invasion from its neighbors, Americans may think they have little reason to pay attention to wars on the other side of the world.

Wars around the world involve normal people who would otherwise be working or providing for their families. Every death in every war around the world has some sort of human impact. Even without the human aspect of wars outside of the U.S., the global economy is so interconnected that the slightest disturbance can derail it for quite some time.

Even with more domestic issues, the American populace is very good at forgetting and moving on. Mass shootings are a frighteningly common phenomenon, but get little to no airtime. Even so, such indiscriminate killing has resulted in very little legislation on gun violence.

All this said, it is important to keep in mind that taking a breather is a perfectly reasonable thing to do. Activism requires rest so burnout can be avoided, especially if one’s mental health is being negatively affected.

Social reform cannot happen if people bury their heads in the sand to escape the crises plaguing the world. Viruses spread and guns fire whether or not people are paying attention. It is our job to spread awareness and deal with the crises as they come.

Witch

Men’s Soccer fall to Belmont University in Homecoming game

JANA HAMADE copy editor

The Cougars played their most recent Missouri Valley Conference home game against the Belmont Bruins on Sept. 24, which ended in a 1-0 loss.

This would mark the second time the Cougars have faced Bel mont in a Homecoming game since 2008.

In 2018, the Cougars beat out the Bruins in a shutout match with a final score of 2-0.

Head Coach Cale Wasser mann said he thinks the team benefits from creating competi tion and training during practice.

“There’s two guys tonight that made their debut; Owen Hardy and Wes Gibson both competed well in training and did well with their opportuni ties. Keeping things competi tive will certainly make for peo ple to not be complacent with their response and give them a little more of a killer instinct,” Wassermann said.

Before the Homecoming game, Gibson had appeared in a non-conference game against Southern Indiana and Hardy appeared in last night’s game against Memphis.

The Bruins secured five to tal shots, three of which were on goal, while the Cougars at tempted seven goal shots in which one was blocked by the opposing goalkeeper.

The game’s only goal, scored by the Bruins, was secured during the first period at 26:34.

“I think just as you get closer those last fifteen-twenty

minutes in games and there’s a difference of score line, one team’s going to be a little more conservative and physical and counter, and the other team’s go ing to be forward. That creates for some exciting moments for the crowd but certainly it creates last-ditch tackles for both teams,” Wassermann said.

Six fouls were called against the Bruins while nine were called against SIUE, with a red card handed to the Cougars’ ju nior defender Sam Layton from Brisbane, Australia.

“It certainly got a little physical, but I thought Sam was sent off; he’s a clean player and I thought he made a big tackle and he was a half-step late. I thought it could’ve gone either way but that’s life, and we had to play the last seven-eight minute with out a man and even with that I thought we were pushing toward the end,” Wassermann said.

Wassermann said the team’s objective for the remainder of the season is to focus on bounc ing back and recovering from the game.

“I think having the midweek game will give us a turn around to get this out of our sys tem, it’s a non-conference game so we’ll have to be ready for it, but again our conference record is not really something we’re go ing to be focused on Tuesday or Wednesday, we’re going to be focused on just playing Memphis and improving from this game,” Wassermann said.

The Cougars play their next game against the Drake Univer sity Bulldogs at 7 p.m. on Satur day, Oct. 1.

Exercise and sports psychology bridges the gap between mind and performance

BRANDON WELLS sports editor

Why do we exercise? Why do we stop? Exercise and sports psy chology aims to answer this.

According to APA Division 47, exercise and sports psycholo gy are scientific studies meant to apply psychology to the matter of performance in physical activity.

At SIUE, the master’s pro gram devoted to this study helps to introduce students to many ca reer options in both specialized psychological practice and stan dard exercise and sports careers.

The program divides both exercise psychology and sports psychology respectively into two areas of study, with respective in structors for each.

Benjamin Webb, an associate professor and the director of the program, said he primarily over sees primarily exercise psycholo gy. For his area of study, he said one of his interests is finding out why people decide not to exercise.

“Considering the moun tain of evidence we have for the health benefits of exercise, we continue to have a very low en durance rate. Most estimates say that less than 10 percent of U.S. adults adhere to physical activity guidelines,” Webb said.

Although Webb said he teaches many classes, he said the topic of theory in exercise psychology has been his favorite to teach.

“There’s two prominent theories in exercise psychology: self-efficacy theory and self-de termination theory. In layman’s terms, it has to do with people’s confidence and their ability to exercise and their motivation to do so,” Webb said. “I think those are the two most import ant factors determining whether someone is willing to adopt and adhere to an active lifestyle.”

Webb said the program at tracts a lot of students with many of them being former athletes. He said this can help with dis cussion in class but that it also

can open up to more personal discussions.

“A lot of times the problems that come up are sometimes very personal for students. In those classes a lot of times it has to do with adherence — so students who aren’t maintaining an ac tive lifestyle feel like a hypocrite learning about this stuff but not doing it themselves,” Webb said.

On the other side of the pro gram, Associate Professor Lind say Ross-Stewart said she teaches sports psychology. Unlike exer cise psychology, Ross-Stewart said sports psychology deals pri marily with athletic performance and mentality.

“The field of sports psychol ogy is really interested in how the mental side of a person im pacts sport performance and looking at the psychological side of performance versus the physi cal side,” Ross-Stewart said.

Ross-Stewart said the field focuses a lot on performance in athletics, but also focuses on what being an athlete does to a

person’s mindset and how society impacts sports and athletes.

“Sport is a microcosm of so ciety, so the same issues that exist in society exist in sports. Wheth er that’s issues related to racism or activism, gender issues [and] issues related to sexual orienta tion,” Ross-Stewart said.

Drew Dueck, a second year graduate student from Milwau kee, Wisconsin, said he studies sports psychology remotely while also helping to coach the cross country team at the Milwaukee School of Engineering.

Dueck said the program has helped him in his coaching a lot due to it having courses specifi cally tailored to the psychology of being a coach and training athletes. Dueck also said he per sonally relates to what he’s learn ing due to his experience as a col legiate track and field athlete.

Due to his focus on sports, Dueck said his thesis has to do with the topic of grit, or passion and perseverance in long-term goals and its validity

in sports due to its similarity to other concepts.

“Unfortunately it’s received a lot of criticism because it’s just so closely related to other well-established concepts such as resilience, conscientiousness or hardiness, so you question the utility of it in sports,” Dueck said.

Matthew Scott, a second year graduate student from St. Lou is and student delegate for the Association for Applied Sport Psychology, said he has interests in stereotype theory towards Black athletes using the lens of critical race theory and is doing his thesis on the topic.

Ross-Stewart said the field of sport psychology consists of many different careers for ath letics such as coaching, training or clinical practices. She said their program helps students make connections to athletes of varying sports and ages.

For more information about the program, visit their page on the SIUE website.

NEXT WEEK: VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS MAKE ALL TOURNAMENT TEAMS IN PRESEASON

Sophomore defender Max Broughton Rawtenstall, England attempts to stop the Bruins as they run the ball towards the Cougar's goal.

| Damian Morris / The Alestle

Homecoming week brings students and community together

“I’ve loved it,” Bubble Bus bubble worker Cade Robinson said. “I’ve been doing it for a couple years now, and honestly, it’s kind of fun to just hang out ... I like how every place you go is a lit tle bit different; different crowds, different people, different music. It just keeps it interesting.”

| Damian Morris / The Alestle

SIUE student feeds Asher the goat at a petting zoo on Dun ham lawn during the 2022 Paw’s Party that took place on Thursday, Sept. 22. | Clair Sollenberger / The Alestle

Students work together to create a chalk mural outside of the MUC during the Chalk Mural Contest that took place on Thursday Sept. 22 on the Quad. The event tasked students with drawing chalk murals depicting zoo animals or therapy dogs with an SIUE twist. The event also involved cash prizes for student organizations, FSL organizations, and students not affiliated with any organizations. The cash prizes ranged from $150 for first place, $100 for second place and $50 for third place.

| Clair Sollenberger / The Alestle