The Alestle, Vol. 76 No. 8

alestle

AHMAD LATHAN reporter

The political science department will research terrorism and political violence in southern Illinois thanks to a grant from Homeland Security.

Suranjan Weeraratne, associate profes sor of political science, said the U.S. De partment of Homeland Security put out a notice back in April when he noticed that the university should apply for it.

“I and the other two colleagues got together, we submitted an appli cation in May, and they let us know about a month ago that we got it,” Weeraratne said.

He said the department was happy to receive the grant for $332,491 and how competitive the process was.

“Joe Biden talked about the DHS awarding universities, local police de partments, and corporations so the university will benefit from visibility,” Weeraratne said.

He said through their research they will talk to a multitude of groups in the area.

“We intend to talk with a bunch of people, law enforcement, community orga nizations, faith leads, college students and so on,” Weeraratne said.

Weeraratne said the program does not focus on any political spectrum.

“I don’t think the right or the left has a full monopoly on violence,” Weerarante said. “So whether you are on the right or the left you can have violent elements with your group.”

Weeraratne said their project guaran tees for a two-year period from October until Sept. 30, 2024.

“The first part of the grant is we are going to do a survey of people in southern Illinois and the second part is based on the data that we get from the survey where we do training sets,” Weeraratne said.

Weeraratne said undergraduate re search assistants are going to be in volved in each stage of the project and

they intend to hire a few from next semester onward.

“Our major expectation is increasing societal awareness so that is why we are do ing training sessions for law enforcement,” Weeraratne said.

He said his work dealing with terror ism internationally will connect well with this program’s targets.

“A lot of my work has been on inter national terrorism,” Weeraratne said. “So those are the same kinds of strategies that some of the white supremacists are using right now.”

Political science chair Ken Moffett said the university will receive benefits from the program work being conducted in the southern Illinois community.

“There will be workshops that are going to be developed for the community with respect to terrorism and political vio lence prevention,” Moffett said. “Some of those materials are going to be used in a couple of political science courses.”

Moffett said the southern Illinois region

has predictors for political violence, which is why the area is fitting for the program.

“In the 41 counties that we’re going to be examining it because a lot of the predic tors for domestic terrorism and political vi olence exist right in this area,” Moffett said. “Part of the grant is to help mitigate some of those conditions.”

Moffett said his expertise in politics will help within the survey part of the program.

“I am one of the people who is helping design the survey and analyze the survey results once we get them, then also bring ing my expertise to bear with respect to American politics,” Moffett said.

Moffett said he’s excited to begin work. He said his expectations for this pro gram are to enhance community awareness regarding political violence.

“My expectation is enhanced levels of community awareness and law enforce ment,” Moffett said. “The hope is that people will know what to do and possibly prevent an incident of domestic terrorism or political violence.”

Pharmacy faculty take on COVID and monkeypox misinformation

DYLAN HEMBROUGH reporter

With persistent COVID cases and an outbreak of monkeypox, there is a lot of information. According to pharma cy faculty, may or may not be backed up by science.

Chris Lynch has dealt with COVID vaccine myths for much of the last few years of his career. Lynch, professor of pharmacy practices and director of clin ical programs at SIUE, said pharmacists have a special role to play in the health care system.

“In our role as the most easily acces sible health care professionals – and one of the most trusted – pharmacists are uniquely positioned to answer questions to the general public about vaccines,” Lynch said.

Lynch said one of the most widespread misconceptions about COVID is that it is no longer a threat.

“While COVID is not resulting in as many hospitalizations as it did last year, the frequency is still relative ly high,” Lynch said. “In particu lar, it’s still a big risk among the elderly and immuno compromised people with underlying dis eases. I’m hesitant to say that we’re better. I think that globally, it’s true, but in specific popula tions it’s still a big issue.”

Many of the School of Pharmacy fac ulty have jobs off-campus in clinical set tings, where they can provide education and administer vaccines to the general public. Lynch said off-campus educa tion helps both the public and the health care community.

“Anything we can do to make more health care providers knowledgeable about a subject, and the general public more knowledgeable about a subject … It starts to break down those barriers to seeking in formation [and] care,” Lynch said.

Miranda Wilhelm teaches a course in immunizations and has played a direct role in educating the wider health care community on vaccine updates. Wilhelm said she and a colleague from a Chicago pharmacy school collaborated on a series of videos and lectures dispelling myths about vaccines.

“I did one on how the vaccines are made, and how they’re safe and effective,” Wilhelm said.

Like Wilhelm, Jared Sheley said he has also educated both patients and health care profes sionals on the newest informa tion and updates.

Sheley, a pro fessor in the School of Pharma cy, also does rounds in a hospital with a multidisciplinary team.

“We had a big role,” Sheley said. “Not just man aging these patients day-to-day …

But we also did several formal lectures and presentations to our medical staff, to our physicians, to inform them of lat est evidence: ‘Here’s how we think we can apply it and maybe should not apply certain things.’”

Over the last few years, Sheley said he has seen a lot of COVID patients. In his position as a health care provider to sick patients in the hos pital, Sheley said he often had to dispel common myths about the virus and treatment options.

“With COVID, everything was brandnew, so initially when we had access to these drugs none of them were FDA-ap proved for treatment,” Sheley said. “Before we could treat anybody, part of the process was that we had to go through a special ized informed consent process … That in itself can be a deterrent.”

Wilhelm said much of her recent work has revolved around informing people about the monkeypox vaccine, which goes under the trade name Jynneos. Jynneos is not a new vaccine, but supply is severely limited because this is the first time mon keypox has become this widespread. Due to undersupply and a shortage of profes sionals, the federal government has autho rized pharmacy technicians and students to administer these vaccines.

“It’s part of the PREP Act related to monkeypox,” Wilhelm said. “Some of the PREP Act is what gave pharmacists and students and technicians the right to administer flu and COVID vaccines throughout the pandemic.”

Lynch said he is always sure to draw a distinction between misinformation and

common myths. Lynch said that with misinformation, there is more agency in the spreading of falsehoods than there is with myths.

“When politicians on both sides of the po litical spectrum were getting involved in very specif ic recommen dations about drug therapy, that was really trou bling because those recommendations may or may not have been based on any val id scientific literature,” Lynch said.

Lynch said he became a pharmacist around the time AIDS appeared on the world stage, and that he sees parallels between media treat ment of AIDS back then and monkeypox today.

“When people who suffer from a dis ease begin to be marginalized because of their gender identity or sexuality … Then a segment of the rest of the public loses empathy for those people,” Lynch said. “That’s a real problem too, and it leads to people who maybe should seek care earli er being reluctant to seek care. It leads to people not wanting to be vaccinated be cause they feel that the vaccine itself will label them in some way that they’re not comfortable with.”

Lynch said the effects of misinfor mation are often more far-reaching than the individual.

“Any time you try to marginalize people who are suffering from a disease,” Lynch said, “all it does is reduce the ability of the entire public health system to re spond to a problem.”

For more information on monkeypox, visit the CDC’s website.

experiences

Scramble for air defense now key says Ukraine amid Russian attacks

ULF MAUDER HANNAH WAGNER FRIEDMANN KOHLER Deutche Presse-Agentur

Demands for better air de fense systems grew louder across Ukraine as authorities in numer ous regions — including Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Mykolaiv — reported missiles still getting on Tuesday through despite systems being active.

According to information from Kiev, more than 70 people have been killed by drone and rocket attacks in the past week and a half. More than 240 have been injured, a spokesperson for the civil protection agency said.

A total of more than 380 buildings were also dam aged, including around 240 residential buildings.

Air raid warnings have sounded across Ukraine amid fresh missile and drone attacks from Russia.

The series of Russian attacks starting early last week has “de stroyed” 30% of Ukraine’s pow er stations, resulting in “massive blackouts across the country,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted on Tuesday.

Zelenskyy added that there was “no space left for negotia tions with Putin’s regime.”

Fresh impacts on Tuesday knocked out power and water supplies to eastern parts of Kiev.

Russian attacks killed three workers at a critical infrastructure site in Kiev, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko.

He did not specify what had been hit, but called on all resi dents to save electricity and stock up on drinking water.

In the city of Kharkiv, Mayor Ihor Terekhov also reported rock et fire. “There were two series of explosions in the city within five minutes,” he said. According to initial information, an industrial plant was hit. The metro stopped train services and resumed opera tions as a shelter.

In the Dnipropetrovsk re gion, explosions were reported in Krivy Ry and in the regional capital Dnipro. In Zhytomyr, missiles hit energy infrastructure, the authorities said. The Russian military had declared that it was targeting energy facilities.

Russian military bloggers close to the Kremlin also re ported shelling in numerous re gions — and published a large number of photos and videos on social networks showing clouds of smoke over cities, supposedly documenting the new attacks.

The authenticity of these im ages, which were also broadcast on Ukrainian channels, could not

be immediately verified.

In light of the situation, Ukraine wants to ask Israel for a sophisticated air defense system.

“Today Ukraine will send an official message to the govern ment of Israel with a request to urgently equip Ukraine with air defense systems,” Foreign Minis ter Dmytro Kuleba said, accord ing to Ukrainian media.

Israel is largely holding back in Russia’s nearly eight-month war of aggression against Ukraine so as not to jeopardize its rela tions with Moscow.

But the government also made clear it is asking all of its al lies for help with air defense.

In Estonia meanwhile, the country’s parliament passed a resolution classifying Russia as a state that supports terrorism, with three members abstaining and all others voting in favor.

“The Riigikogu declares the Russian regime a terrorist regime and the Russian Federation a state supporting terrorism, whose actions must be confronted to gether,” the motion says.

Estonian parliamentari ans called on the international community to pass similar reso lutions. The new classification, which follows similar moves by the two other Baltic republics of Latvia and Lithuania, is seen as being largely symbolic in nature.

10.10.22

A passport was found in Parking Lot 5I.

Items were reportedly thrown at a car near South University Drive and P2 Road.

10.11.22

An individual was reported to be unwilling to exit a bus on Hairpin Drive near the MUC. When an officer arrived, the individual was cooperative and escorted back to Cougar Village.

10.12.22

A wallet was found in the MUC.

A laptop was found in Science East.

10.13.22

A wallet was found in the MUC.

A student ID and a credit card were found in the Student Fitness Center.

A speaker was reported stolen from the Prairie Hall social lounge.

10.14.22

A hit and run was reported in Parking Lot E.

NEWS IN BRIEF

CAS’s Retzlaff steps up as Interim Vice Chancellor for Administration

The university recently anounced Vice Chancellor for Adminstration Morris Taylor has stepped down and returned to his previous position as a full-time faculty member in public adminis tration and policy analysis on Jan. 1, 2023.

As of Tuesday, Oct. 18, Distinguished Re search Professor and Asso ciate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Bill Retzlaff will be working as the Interim Vice Chancellor for Administration.

Chancellor James Minor said he has faith in Retzlaff’s ability to fulfill these respon sibilities in a statement to the campus.

“I appreciate Profes sor Retzlaff’s willingness to serve in this role,” Minor said. “His committment to SIUE is unquestionable and his institutional knowledge is extensive.”

Despite stepping down, Taylor will continue to serve a role in launching an Emer gency Preparedness Task Force on campus, according to the statement.

Alumni Hall of Fame inductee reminisces on past as student journalist

ANNIE FULGENZI conributing writer

A 1968 edition of SIUE’s student newspaper, The Alestle, featured a frontpage story about a student swallowing a live goldfish — whole — in the campus cafeteria on a dare.

On Sept. 23, the then-student report er who covered the goldfish gulping deba cle was officially inducted into the SIUE Alumni Hall of Fame.

Terry Ganey, who went on to become a Pulitzer Prize finalist, remembers writ ing the goldfish story while serving as the sports editor for the student paper during his undergrad years at SIUE. He was among the very first class to graduate with a bachelor’s degree from the Mass Com munications Department in 1970 when the program was still in its infancy.

“SIUE gave me my start down this road,” Ganey said. “I was going to SIUE just sort of casting about as to what I might do with my future, and there was this growing department on the campus at the time — Mass Communication. So, I took some classes, met some people there who were very enthusiastic and eventually started working at The Alestle.”

It was there that Ganey found his spark.

“Journalism was a job I thought would always keep me engaged, and it did,” Ganey said.

Ganey’s expansive career has been im pressive to say the least. He authored sev eral books, including two New York Times bestsellers — “Innocent Blood: A True Story of Obsession and Serial Murder,” which covered the release of an innocent man imprisoned for a murder he did not commit, and “Under the Influence: the Unauthorized Story of the Anheuser-Bus ch Dynasty,” detailing the saga of the fam ily who at one time controlled the largest beer-brewing company in the world.

In his 28 years with the St. Louis

Post-Dispatch, Ganey was awarded a myr iad of recognitions for his investigative work. Ganey’s reporting served as a fierce foe of political corruption in Missouri, and some of his stories questioning the possi ble innocence of those falsely convicted of murder captured the public’s attention and his relentless investigative reporting helped lead to their eventual exoneration.

For Ganey, investigative reporting gave him a thrill and a sense of duty to un cover the truth.

“You have your everyday surface news, but there is more valuable news to be found digging deeper. There are some things that happen that peo ple would rather have you not re port, and those were the stories I enjoyed seeking out most,” Ganey said. “The Second Injury Fund was one of them, and probably the most important story I ever did.”

The Missouri Second Injury Fund is a workers’ compensation fund for those who had been injured on the job. In these instances, an employer’s insurance compa ny pays a benefit for that disability — but if some other circumstance aggravates or adds to that injury, the Second Inju ry Fund provides a supplemental benefit. Between 1988 and 1992, that fund had become an exploited goldmine for some political insiders.

“We found that lawyers were receiv ing higher awards if they contributed to the Attorney General [William L.] Web ster’s campaign than lawyers who did not,” Ganey said. “It was difficult to re

port, but it was very important for the state of Missouri. Over a million dollars in restitution was recovered from those who defrauded the fund, and [the Missou ri legislature] changed the way the fund worked after that.”

Ganey’s uncovering of the Mis souri Second Injury Fund scan dal earned him a finalist recogni tion for the 1993 Pulitzer Prize in investigative reporting.

These sorts of remarkable accom plishments over the span of a ca reer are exactly why Ganey was chosen to be hon ored as a perma nent fixture in the university’s Alum ni Hall of Fame, SIUE Alumni Association Pres ident Andrew Ravanelli said. “We have more than 120,000 alumni of the university. The alumni we are hon oring are the best of the best,” Ravanelli said.

Ravanelli said he hopes current students are able to see someone like Ganey, who was in their same shoes once as an undergrad student, be hon ored and feel inspired for what their own futures could hold.

“You don’t start out as a Pulitzer Prize nominee. You start out as a student work ing at your local paper. Everyone starts somewhere, and it’s so exciting to see that SIUE is a place that people who go on to do great things come from,” Ravenelli said. “Current students in the Mass Communi cations department have these same begin nings. This is the place where you set the foundations to go on to do great things.”

Musonda Kapatamoyo, chair of mass communications, says the department is thrilled to see Ganey representing the department as an honoree. Kapatam oyo even personally purchased Ganey’s books and had him sign the copies at the induction ceremony.

“We are very proud of his achieve ments. It’s a testament to his experiences here that he has done so much. I am im pressed with his career — he was an incred ible reporter for a long time. I think seeing our graduates honored helps our current students see that we see them and we are here to support them,” Kapatomoyo said.

Ganey said he feels the mass commu nications department and the mentorship he received from many of his professors with real-world experience taught him valuable lessons that set him up for success in the field:

“Kamil Winter was a Czechoslova kian broadcaster. When the Russians in vaded Czechoslovakia in 1968, he had to go underground and, after he fled, the then-chairman of the Mass Communica tions department hired him as our teach er,” Ganey said. “So, here was someone who had risked his life to report on the threats to democracy that the Russians had brought to Czechoslovakia. We really looked up to him as a real hero, and now the department even still has an award named after him today. That’s who I got to have as a mentor.”

Ganey said he holds his time as an SIUE student in high regard. Now, being chosen for the Alumni Hall of Fame is a full circle moment for his career.

“I’m very honored to have been se lected. I feel very lucky and blessed to have been chosen to be among those being inducted to the Hall of Fame. I certainly don’t think of myself as being especially famous, but it is a recognition of the work I did at the Post-Dispatch and the books I have written,” Ganey said. “It’s been a wonderful trip down memory lane to come back to Edwardsville.”

“ There are some things that happen that some would rather have you not report, and those were the stories we enjoyed writing most.”

SIUE Alumnus Terry Ganey

DYLAN HEMBROUGH reporter

Between the books he has published and his current vo cation as owner of the Second Reading, John Dunphy certain ly has a long history with the written word.

Dunphy, a native of Alton, Il linois, attended SIUE in the early 1970s. Since then, he has become an acclaimed English-language haiku poet, a published author of several books on the history of southern Illinois and still writes for the Alton Telegraph.

Dunphy was born in the ear ly ’50s in the Alton area and re called a turbulent childhood.

“I came from a very dys functional family,” Dunphy said. “Both my parents were incredibly ignorant.”

Offering a glimpse into his family dynamics, Dunphy spoke about his father’s hatred of any kind of work, as well as his re action to a yard full of autumn leaves that needed raking.

“He turned to my mother and said, ‘In the fall, the leaves are going to fall, and that’s why they call it fall,’” Dunphy said. “He went back to watching a football game on the T.V.”

Dunphy attended high school amidst the backdrop of much political and social unrest in the U.S. While the country began to boil over with coun tercultural zeal, Dunphy said he witnessed much of the begin nings of 1960s radicalism from the courtyard of a school which discouraged free thought.

“It was a Catholic high school, which made it worse,” Dunphy said. “The cruelty had a religious fervor to it.”

After high school, Dunphy started at SIUE in the fall of 1972, becoming the first of his family to attend college. Dun phy said he chose SIUE because it was affordable and conve nient – the quarterly tuition was less than $200.

“I was a graduate – or vic tim, depending on word choice – of parochial school,” Dunphy said. “SIUE was an experience of freedom after the suffocat ing conformity [and] mindless ness of Catholic school, at least in my day.”

Dunphy said his experience at SIUE was shaped both by his hunger for knowledge and his fascination with the New Left. The New Left was a movement in the 1960s and ‘70s which advo cated for a wide range of human rights, including gay rights and the end of segregation.

“It was quite a radical cam pus,” Dunphy said. “I wrote an article about my SIU days called ‘College Life was Pret ty Wild in the 1970s’ published in the Telegraph.”

SIUE had active chapters of Vietnam Veterans Against the War and Students for a Demo

cratic Society in Dunphy’s time on campus. However, even with the numerous political and so cial activist groups on campus, Dunphy said the student body could still be quite hostile to some newer ideas.

“The diversity you have at SIUE, that was incomprehensi ble in my day,” Dunphy said. “In spring of 1974, Students for Gay Liberation held a seminar in the Goshen Lounge … The Alestle ran a front-page editorial deplor ing the verbal violence [and] the threats of physical violence that marred that presentation.”

Dunphy said his mind was opened to philosophy and world religions through classes he took at SIUE. Alongside established philosophers like Plato, Aristotle and Nietzsche, Dunphy said his classes explored the thoughts of figures such as Karl Marx.

“We went into some of Marx’s really early writing,” Dunphy said. “This was suppos edly the more humanistic Marx. He wrote about the alienation of workers from their workplace,

rather than violent revolution.”

Dunphy double majored in history and political science, but left college before he could re ceive his master’s.

“I drifted aimlessly for some years, did odd jobs to earn pock et money,” Dunphy said. “And then, in the early 1980s, I real ized my lifelong dream of be coming a writer.”

It was not until the 1980s that Dunphy said he began se riously writing haiku, a poetic form of Japanese origin with a 5-7-5 syllable structure. Dun phy said he first discovered haiku during high school, by way of an English class and “The Way of Zen” by Alan Watts.

“I was introduced to haiku in freshman year English of high school. It was probably the most useful thing I ever got out of high school. I was instantly taken by it: it just intrigued me, it fascinated me, it possessed me, and I began writing haiku,” Dunphy said. “I didn’t really begin writing haiku seriously until the 1980s, but –

even though I didn’t write haiku when I was at SIU – I never lost interest in it. That seed of haiku was inside me, waiting to germi nate, and it finally did germinate in the 1980s.”

Dunphy said his relation ship with haiku poetry opened his eyes to the small beauties of the world.

“I enjoy the challenge of saying so much in just a few words, just a few syllables. Hai ku quickens your appreciation of the world all around us. Haiku poets typically see things others don’t see, because we have our eyes open,” Dunphy said. “Our eyes, our minds, and our hearts are open, and we see things that most people are utterly oblivious to. It’s like being more alive.”

While he was experiencing success as a haiku poet, Dunphy said he found a second home in an Alton bookstore which has long since closed down.

“I felt so comfortable sur rounded by these books [and] the interesting erudite people who would stop by,” Dunphy

said. “I remember thinking, ‘I would be so happy doing this.’”

In 1987, Dunphy acquired the Second Reading Book Shop on E. Broadway in Alton.

“Never made much mon ey, but I’ve been happy here,” Dunphy said.

However, 1987 did not mark the end of Dunphy’s writ ing career. Beginning in the ear ly 2000s, Dunphy moved away from articles and began writing for novel publications.

“I didn’t begin actually writ ing books and publishing collec tions of poetry in book form un til the early years of this century,” Dunphy said. “It was just time to move on, a gradual transition from articles and newspaper col umns to actual books.”

“Lewis and Clark’s Illi nois Volunteers,” Dunphy’s first published book, was released in 2003, setting the tone for his subsequent books on the topic of southern Illinois history. In the years since, Dunphy has written on topics ranging from aboli tionism to holiday traditions in southern Illinois.

“I believe the Christmas book is in a university in Viet nam, of all places. The Dachau book is in the libraries of many law schools, because it does deal with trials,” Dunphy said. “I take pleasure in thinking that my books are going to schools that I couldn’t afford to go to. They’re kind of like my chil dren, and they don’t have to pay to go to school.”

Dunphy’s Dachau book was his foray outside of Illinois histo ry into the previously-unknown stories of a group of war crimes investigators. “Unsung Heroes of the Dachau Trials” was inspired by a reunion held in the Alton area that Dunphy said he heard about.

“I couldn’t not write about it,” Dunphy said. “The gentle men were getting along in years … so I knew the time to inter view them was now.”

Today, Dunphy writes a weekly column for the Alton Telegraph, where he focus es mostly on current politics in the U.S. and writes from a left-wing perspective.

“I am loved and hated,” Dunphy said. “I’ve had people stop by the shop and tell me how much they enjoy my columns, then I have people stop by and say, ‘Why are you slandering Donald Trump? What’s wrong with you?’”

Between his decades of po etry, his chronicling of southern Illinois history and current com mentary on politics, it is safe to say that the flame of Dunphy’s love of writing burns bright to this day.

“I’ve worked long and hard to achieve what I have,” Dunphy said.

For more information on the Second Reading Book Shop, visit its website.

After limited success as a poet, Alumnnus John Dunphy found a life at Second Reading Book Shop in downtown Alton. | Winter Racine / The Alestle

LIV KRAUS reporter

After months of prepara tion, the University Concert Band and the SIUE Wind Sym phony are prepared to deliver a musical performance titled “Visual Inspirations.”

Rubén Gómez, director of the SIUE Wind Symphony, said that this concert’s theme will be visual inspirations that have al lowed composers to draw from.

“We always put the program together around a theme because I think it’s a very useful tool to engage the audience and also to have a connection between the students and the music,” Gómez said.

John Korak, director of the Concert Band, said he has taken a looser interpretation of the theme.

Korak said one of the piec es that the University Concert Band will perform was written to commemorate Judy Houdeshel, a music teacher who dedicated her life and career to the creative endeavors of her students.

“She had a dynamic energy and a glow about her,” Korak said. “She just loved music and though it’s not visible, some times we can sense or see in a different sense.”

Gómez said he started plan ning this concert during the summer and the students have been practicing since August.

“We rehearse three times a week, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, for five hours a week,” Gómez said. “We usually spend eight weeks of the semester preparing the concert and we do some sectionals, mean ing that each group of instru

ment work separated to polish some materials.”

Gómez said the Wind Sym phony is made up of 38 members, many of those who are either ma joring or minoring in music.

“The students usually have to present an audition to be a part of the Wind Symphony, then they receive the music and they have hours and hours of in dividual preparation in the prac tice rooms with their professors,” Gómez said.

Korak said there are 45 members in the concert band.

“I’m very excited about the group this year. It’s a very talented ensemble. And I think the students will do a remarkable job in presenting this music,” Korak said.

Korak said the Concert Band rehearses on Mondays and Wednesdays for a total of three

hours a week.

“Regardless of where we are in the process, I try to encourage the students to play with musical intention,” Korak said. “I’ll try to give them images or at least descriptive words that match up to passages in the music.”

Korak said his goal is to cre ate a performance that the audi ence members and students can become emotionally invested in.

“If we do it right, we start to create these images, wheth er they’re visual images, or even just images inside our head and it makes the performance some thing that is special for all of us and myself included,” Korak said.

Korak said that playing mu sic goes beyond pitches and rhythms, and is about creating an experience that affects people.

“Pitches and rhythms, in and of themselves, don’t really

do that, that’s something that a machine can do and it can be mindless,” Korak said. “But if we do it with our souls, our heart, our spirit, then it becomes a very special performance and that’s what we work towards.”

Korak said everyone who at tends the concert will find it to be special.

“For anybody that comes, I think they’re going to find that they’re going to be affected by the music and they’ll be able to see, hear, feel and sense the in vestment the students are mak ing in playing their instruments,” Korak said.

For more information, you can visit the Department of Music’s website.

The concert will take place at 7:30 p.m on Wednes day, Oct. 19 in the Dunham Hall Theater.

Taste of SIUE brings food tasting experience to students

BRUCE DARNELL reporter

COVID-19 halted the event the last few years, but this semester’s students got the opportunity to attend and vote on some of their favorites which could be added to the permanent menu.

The event was in Meridian Ballroom on Oct. 13, with stalls from many different food manufacturers such as Rich Products, which provided baked food at the event.

James Hill works for Rich Products and was attending the event as one of the vendors.

“I’ve been coming here for around eight years supporting the students and sampling the new item, which is donut holes today,” Hill said. “We current ly sell about 10 items to the universi ty here, and today they’re voting on the items they like.”

Hill made enough samples for 1,200 people and said that the event usually goes a little over a 1,000 in attendance.

Melissa McEldowney, associate di rector for Dining Services, discussed in further detail the amount of people at the event as well as which companies were in attendance.

“Between 1,200 and 1,700 [show up] between a three-hour period,” McEl downey said. “We have 16 stands with different vendors that we procure prod ucts from. A lot of them are through GFS [Gordon Food Service], where we buy our bulk food from, however we do have other companies. We have rootberry in, which is a local St. Louis plant-based company; a completely vegan company.”

McEldowney took over do ing Taste of SIUE in 2010. Slow ly, the event has grown to its current size.

“When I [took over], it was in the middle of Center Court, we had may be 300 people. We moved it to the back of Center Court, and we could get 600 people. In 2016 or 2015, we moved it to the Ballroom and that was when we could start getting much larger crowds

through,” McEldowney said.

The top three booths with the most votes will have their items added to areas within dining services for the Spring semester.

In attendance were companies such as Tyson, Pepsi and General Mills. Walking through the crowd was a Twix Bunny, who took photos with visitors.

“There’s General Mills, Rich’s, Ty son, Hormel, Pepsi is here with Gato rade as well,” McEldowney said.

McEldowney also said that an East St. Louis charter school arrived at the event 30 min utes prior to opening to get a tour of the event.

“We love how many peo ple from the SIUE commu nity come. People from the outside community also come and we love the feed back we get and the inter actions we have. Dining services is proud of this event, and I want to personally say thank you to our entire staff that put this together and thank you to all the vendors who came,” McEl downey said.

Jack London was another vendor at the event. He expressed his happiness about the event’s return post-COVID.

“The event is very nice and busy,” London said. “It’s been a couple years without doing it, so I’m glad to be back to it and being back in front of the students. They’re getting a chance to see different plant-based options and it’s always a good time to come out to Edwardsville and get in-person feedback right then and there. It’s been a great event thus far.”

A spin-the-wheel was set up at the

Ball room’s exit. Partic ipants could spin the wheel and either immediately receive an item from a nearby table such as water bottles and clothing, or have their name entered into a drawing for much larger prizes such as a T.V.

Alestle will be on break next week, but will be back with

LIV KRAUS reporter

Fuller Dome is hosting its 19th annual Spirituality and Sus tainability Awards Dinner at 7 p.m on Saturday, Oct. 22. The event will recognize Michelle Babb and Mary Gross for the Leadership Awards.

Mary Gross, a registered nurse at Anderson Hospital for 39 years, has focused on creat ing a healthier, cleaner and more equitable community.

Michelle Babb, Director of Servant Ministries at St. John’s Methodist Church has worked to connect the congregation to ser vice in the community by leading mission trips, connecting mem bers to organizations like Habitat for Humanity and organizing a garden project.

Babb said it’s great to focus on ways people can serve through vol unteer efforts.

“I don’t think it’s so much about me, I think there’s many others that are very deserving and I hope that the [Center for Spiri tuality and Sustainability] will get around to honoring all of them and recognizing them, because there are so many people that are trying to have a positive impact,” Babb said.

Babb said she hopes this event brings awareness to all the different ways people can serve the community.

“Let’s do this together and have a positive impact on a problem that we perceive as just one great exam ple of ways that people ought to be acting,” Babb said.

Vice President of Sustainabili ty Katja Kobb said the Spirituality and Sustainability Awards Dinner is to recognize those who are doing great things for the community.

“We try to find people locally or in the region who are doing ex tra work to help bring sustainability into the foreground to help activate the community and organize the community to do different sustain ability things,” Kobb said.

Kobb said events like the up coming awards dinner encour

ages others in the community to help out.

“I think encouraging com munity members and recognizing them is one of the ways that we can help promote ethical behavior towards the planet and each other’s sustainability of all living things,” Kobb said.

Kobb said the Center for Spir ituality and Sustainability Board gets together and nominates people who have greatly contributed to the community. From there, they vote on who they feel should be honored at the Awards Dinner.

“You really have to have some body who’s kind of that special per son that’s able to deal with a lot of people around them and enthuse them,” Kobb said.

Al Deibert, a volunteer at Full er Dome, said he was originally on the committee when they decided to create the Spirituality and Sus tainability Awards Dinner.

“When we started out, it was just an award for spiritual lead ership,” Deibert said. “About 10 years ago, we decided to give two awards that are recognized to people making contributions to the area, not only in spiritu ality or spiritual things, but also in sustainability.”

Deibert said seeing the effect people have on the community is inspiring and he always looks forward to hearing them speak at the event.

“When these people get up and they share their lives with you and what they’re doing you just can’t help but admire them and be grateful that you were able to recognize them the way you did and that you could give them some public attention,” Deibert said.

Kobb said the honorees get the chance to speak at the event and share their projects.

“It’s basically recognition and a chance to share your project,” Kobb said. “Sometimes there are other acts or things that are brought, but it’s usually just a nice evening going out to dinner and celebrating peo ple who have really done a lot for their community.”

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Miles Brenton folks it up at 1818 Chophouse guitar session

DYLAN HEMBROUGH reporter

Belleville native and SIUE alum Miles Brenton played a few hours of folk tunes at 1818 Chophouse on Oct. 14.

When Brenton was a stu dent at SIUE, he studied opera and vocal performance — and it shows. Even with only just a water bottle, Brenton’s voice never faltered. His style of singing was unique compared to what I’ve heard from the genre as well. His voice was incredibly refined, clear and steady.

Brenton said he first picked up the guitar at age 13, when his favorite musical genre was country.

“My mom bought me this Spanish-style guitar, and I learned a few mariachi tunes,” Brenton said.

Just before taking his sec ond break at the two-hour mark, Brenton said that he wanted to perform at least one non-English song every time he played for an audience.

“Their songs are called rancheras,” Brenton said. “It’s really like Mexican folk music, so that wasn’t too far off from the rest of the folk music.”

When Brenton played a ranchera for the crowd, all heads in the room turned to watch. His clear Spanish enun ciation and impressive voice captivated the audience. To wards the end of the song, he held out a long note with an incredibly steady voice, which earned much applause from the audience.

Brenton first got his start in playing music for others when he set up on the streets in St. Lou

is in September of 2021. He was advised to start playing inside a local restaurant, and though he had a small repertoire at the time, he made the most out of his venue.

“I only knew two songs in Spanish, so I just kept singing the same songs over and over,” Brenton said.

Despite only knowing two songs in Spanish, Brenton said he left after an hour with $100 in his pocket, which is testament to his inherent talent, in my opin ion. Brenton said he went back the next day with the same result.

“I put in my two weeks’ notice [at Starbucks] that day,” Brenton said.

Since his humble begin nings in St. Louis, Brenton has attended open-mic nights and done gigs around town. Brenton said he recently returned from

a networking event in Chicago, and later this week will be in New York for a similar event.

Just as impressive as his vocal skills was his guitar tal ent. Brenton had a pedal set up with which he could loop dif ferent rhythms, which, as he explained, allowed him to ac company himself. On top of the beat he set, Brenton strummed a variety of sounds out of the chords he played.

Sheila Thompson, who was at 1818 Chophouse with her husband Kerry, said it was obvi ous how passionate Brenton was about his music.

“You can tell he’s outgo ing,” Sheila Thompson said. “He’s going to be very good at what he does.”

Kerry Thompson described Brenton as very personable and friendly, saying Brenton

spoke before he started playing about how excited he was to be performing that evening.

“Everyone that comes in here looks forward to the sing ing on a Friday night,” Kerry Thompson said.

Kerry and Sheila Thomp son both commented about how emotional Brenton was in his music. There are few people as moved by music as Brenton, and even fewer who can extend that passion to the audience.

“It’s always been a passion of mine. I just hadn’t ever tried to pursue it as a career until now,” Brenton said. “It’s a grind, but it’s worth it. It’s what I love to do.”

Brenton said his goals or the coming year include re leasing an album and going on a small regional tour to pro mote the album.

The Alestle will be on break next week, but will be back with our print edition Thursday, Nov. 3.

OPINION

EMILY STERZINGER Editor-in-Chief

GABRIEL BRADY Managing Editor

FRANCESCA BOSTON Lifestyles Editor

BRANDON WELLS Sports Editor

DAMIAN MORRIS Multimedia Editor

NICOLE BOYD Online/Opinion Editor

HEMBROUGH

KRAUS AHMAD LATHAN Reporters

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Cougar Controversies

Chai latte or apple crisp oatmilk macchiato?

Questions

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Pardoning marijuana possession small step in reform

THE ALESTLE STAFF editorial board

The prison system in the U.S. only perpetuates crime and does nothing to help the people it incarcerates.

Drug-based crime has often been used to win presidencies: Nixon, Reagan and Clinton are all examples of presidents that campaigned on anti-drug policies. The U.S. has the highest incarcerated population in the world, with around 2 million people being held in prisons or jails—about 400,000 of that 2 million are for drug offenses.

Punishment for these crimes rarely stops repeat offenses; instead, the data shows it does the opposite. Approximately 76 percent of drug offenders commit another crime within five years of release. This is typically because of harsh prison environments as well as a lack of outside support for released inmates.

Possession of drugs is often

a felony, which can sentence any person to a year in prison as well as fines numbering in the thousands of dollars. Misdemeanors can also be an extremely harmful sentencing, as even just 30 days in jail can throw a person’s life completely off track. They may be fired from their job and have trouble getting rehired once their employer learns they have a criminal record of any kind.

The punishment of drug possessors, who likely struggle with addiction, is one of the many immoral aspects of the prison system in America. These people are forced into horrific conditions alongside inmates who committed violent crimes such as murder, robbery or assault. Once they are released, they must attempt to reconstruct their life to the best of their ability. If they fall back into their drug habits and are caught—which is likely, as they are not actually rehabilitated when they are cut off from their addictions—they will be given an even

harsher sentence.

Since the ‘80s, drug arrests have primarily affected Black people. This started with the anti-Vietnam War movement in the late ‘60s, as Black people were more inclined to organize against the government in protests. Almost all anti-war protestors smoked marijuana, both white and Black, and this caused the war on drugs to begin as a way to put down these movements. A decade or so later, the crack epidemic began, and the portrayal of Black people in the media exacerbated fears of not only drugs but Black people in general. This has led to Black people making up 40 perccent of the prison’s population and being primary targets of arrest.

There are alternatives to imprisonment. Some countries have decriminalized drug use, with the results showing much more promise than America’s current system. In July, 2001, Portugal

became the first country to decriminalize drug use and possession. Selling drugs in Portugal is still illegal, but simply drugs and using them is not. Within a few years Portugal saw success, with overdoses dropping from around 400 a year to 290 and HIV cases dropping from 1,400 a year to just 400. Incarceration also dropped significantly.

In 2020, Oregon passed Measure 110, which effectively decriminalized drug possession if it was a small amount. This has not necessarily worked in Oregon’s favor. Overdoses went up in the year since the law was enacted. However, it is an important first step into destigmatizing drug use, which plays a large role in fatalities as addicts choose not to get help out of fear or shame. If more states were to follow suit with Oregon, eventually the U.S. may see a decrease in incarceration and death, similar to Portugal.

Microtrends have made individualization old news

JANA HAMADE copy editor

The popularity of microtrends grew at the start of quarantine, with young people looking for a shared sense of community and acceptance through people of like-minded interests. However, it becomes dangerous when categorization completely inhibits self-discovery.

no one. People can enjoy what they want, but this hyper-compartmentalization hinders self-exploration. If you consider yourself ‘coquette,’ you rave about a book rooted in grooming and pedophilia, while ‘clean girls’ may think that they should go to a Pilates class because that’s what the other people in their self-identified community are doing.

things that my box did not allow for, nor would it accept.

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Especially for those with a lesser sense of self-identity, micro-labels and online personas don’t hold any authenticity to these people themselves. Instead, they’re a reflection of whatever echo chamber of ideas an app places you in. Before, we had a couple or maybe even a single main trend that dictated what we saw, and even what we were sold and marketed.

Now, there are constantly emerging subgroups so hyper-specified that they apply to

For the sake of cohesion, some take it to such a drastic extent that they take on a character, where they start subconsciously molding themselves into this persona even if it clashes with what they really want.

I began noticing that my true feelings towards certain things became suppressed because they “didn’t suit my character.” Then, if a real thought, emotion, or belief existed that didn’t match with my skewed self-perception, I ignored it because I wasn’t comfortable with it. It was taking me out of the dotted lines into new

I felt mad at myself for not fitting into my aesthetic when I realized that I didn’t need to match every aspect of my life to a certain label. Why did I care if my music taste clashed with how I wanted to decorate my apartment, or if I felt like wearing something comfortable instead of feeling obliged to fit into my style? Not because of personal preference, but because I subconsciously felt it would ‘break character.’

These feelings of comfort, false sense of having ‘found ourselves’ and contentment that we know who we are, is because when we decide, we are simply handed all our likes and dislikes from the get-go. The music people who fit our micro-label listen to, the color they paint their nails, how they dress, what they think is cool and what can’t be.

As we all know, staying in comfort is the primary thing that

hinders progression. The algorithm we seem to be stuck in is so addictive and so strong, that it caters to our biases and exposes us to people and things that are either very similar to us, or what we’re comfortable with.

This skewed perception of reality that we’re taking in daily has devastating effects on our self-identity. How are we supposed to forge our real sense of self when all the content we consume every single day intentionally leads us back to the same conclusion?

These labels we place upon ourselves are no longer based on real experience, and instead based on the content we consume and that we’re exposed to. It’s no longer about individuality, it’s about polarization. Polarization, or separation, will always be our downfall both as a community and an individual. So please, don’t be afraid to break out of your comfort zone.

@TheAlestle

sports

Stats From Previous Seasons

2019-2020 SEASON

The 2019-2020 season was the debut for Brian Barone as the head coach of the team. Throughout the season, the team scored a total of 2,073 points scored overall with a 66.9 point average per game. The final record of the team for this season ended at 8-23 for their overall games and 5-13 for their OVC games.

2020-2021 SEASON

After having a season to get acquainted with the team, Barone led the Cougars to a much better placement with an overall game record of 9-17 and an OVC game record of 9-12. The team scored a total of 1,709 points throughout the season with a 65.7 point average per game, leaving some totals down despite the improved OVC performance. This season saw the debut of guard Ray’Sean Taylor of Collinsville, Illinois. Taylor was unable to play for this season due to an injury, but has had an outstanding performance in the seasons he’s played.

2021-2022 SEASON

The Cougars did moderately well this season with a final overall game record of 11-21 and and OVC game record of 5-13. During this season, Taylor was able to be let loose and ended up going above and beyond in his perforamce with 51 three-point shots made throughout the season, surpassing the second highest three-point score by 20. Taylor continued to show a standout performance until he eventually had to sit out the rest of the season from a second tear in his ACL after the first one in 2020. During this season, the Cougars scored 2,161 points overall with a 67.5 point average per game.

Head Coach optimistic for men’s basketball’s upcoming season’s team performance

GABRIEL BRADY managing editor

Despite a long break, and an unfortunate gap in practice due to COVID-19, men’s basketball is preparing for their first game of the season.

Head coach Brian Barone said one of the big setbacks the team has had is the COVID-19 pandemic. Whereas most of the world has already bounced back from it, the basketball season runs from the fall into the ear ly spring, so the team had not met since most of the pandemic’s regulations had been lifted.

“The last few years, it can’t be talked about enough how little court time we had. In the last two years, we didn’t get an opportunity to really practice together consistently,” Barone said. “We’re preparing so much more now, since we can. It’s been a luxury to do this for the first time in two years.”

According to Barone, anoth er setback came in the form of injuries. Two of the team’s guards, redshirt sophomore Ray’Sean Taylor and red shirt senior Cam Williams, tore their ACLs during the previous seasons.

“When you look at the last couple of years, we had backto-back years with key com

ponents of the team with torn ACLs,” Barone said. “We had ourselves in a position with the conference where our guys were injured in key points. [It was] Cam and Ray’Sean both, on January 29 and January 30. Those are year long injuries, and that obvi ously limits them, but it also lim its the whole team.”

The injuries may have caused setbacks, but Barone said the team as a whole has been looking very strong coming up to their first game of the season.

“I think that having Ray’Se an and Cam back on the court is great. Ray’Sean is averag ing 17 to 18 points a game and he should’ve been Newcomer of the Year and All-Conference before,” Barone said. “We’ve also got [redshirt sophomore forward] DeeJuan Pruitt, and he’s averaging 10 points and seven rebounds a game. [Red shirt junior forward] Lamar and [redshirt junior guard] Shamar Wright are getting tons of min utes. I’m proud of all the team. When you look at the culture and what you want to build with a team after two years of pandemic, we’re looking good.”

The Cougars’ first game of the season is against Eure ka College. Barone said the pre-season games can help to show the strengths and weak nesses of teams before the season

begins. However, Barone also said this works two ways, as his own teams’ strengths and weaknesses were on display as well.

“In those pre-season games, you can see that Eureka is a very well-coached team over, at least, the last few years. You always want an opportunity to see what weaknesses and suc cesses are for your team as well as others’,” Barone said. “It’s going to be a challenge with certain guys coming off injuries, and with us starting out. We’ll all be a new team on the court, to a degree, this year. We’ll finally be at full strength for the season.”

Despite all the preparation to play the season, Barone says the biggest part of the game is getting the audience excited, and with restrictions being great ly lightened, the audience will finally be able to return to basket ball games in full effect.

“We’re excited about trying to get one of the biggest compo nents back, and that is connect ing with the fans, especially the students. I want us to do every thing we can to get out there and support them, and we’re here for the fans’ support as well,” Barone said. “That’s the next step for building the team back up.”

The team’s first game is at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 2 at home against Eureka College.

Men’s golf players achieve career records at Big O Classic tournament

NICOLE BOYD opinion editor

The Big O Classic proved to be a success for many Cougars, including Anthony Ruthey, who finished second with the lowest 54-hole total of his career, as well as Brady Kauffmann and Alex Eickhoff, who tied for 10th place with some of their career lows.

Anthony Ruthey, a senior marketing major from Port By ron, Illinois, said while he felt like he had been playing decent golf until the Big O Classic, he did not feel like he had a breakout perfor mance yet — so he tried focusing more on the mental side.

“A lot of it is mental. You ask a lot of players that play in a high competitive level, if you ask

them what percentage is mental versus physical, a lot of them will say 80 percent mental or 90 per cent mental, somewhere in that range,” Ruthey said.

Ruthey said another factor in his success was that as a se nior and having new faces on the team, he felt a need to step up in a leadership role.

“It’s definitely encouraging and I’m just really happy to be able to help the team because at the end of the day, that’s what we’re there for, is to win team titles, and if that’s the case and I play well my individual re sults will come along with it,” Ruthey said.

Ruthey said golf has been a lifelong passion, as his dad teach es golf professionally.

“Since I could walk, I had a

plastic club in my hand. I have pictures of myself of me when I was two, holding a little plas tic golf club in my backyard,” Ruthey said.

Brady Kaufmann, an unde clared freshman from Jackson ville, Illinois, said having played 36 holes in the three tournaments before the Big O helped him pre pare mentally for the 11 hour day. He said the course was not easy, but a great course to play.

“If you can put the ball in the fairway and give yourself looks for the birdie, you can shoot a decent score out there,” Kauffmann said.

Kauffmann said his first col legiate season is definitely a jump from high school golf, because everyone can shoot low scores, including players that are older

sports in brief

or have been playing golf for a long time.

“In high school there’s a select few that are decent, but in high school you get a pretty good chance of winning. [In] college, everyone can shoot low scores, so to win, you’ve got to play your very, very best, while in high school you can play al right and still win sometimes,” Kauffmann said.

Kauffmann said his broth er, who played collegiate golf at Illinois College, has been a role model for him.

“Once I saw him play ing golf, I knew I wanted to be like him, win a bunch of tro phies like he was. Then I even tually told myself I’m going to be better than him one day,” Kauffmann said.

Alex Eickhoff, a junior physi cal therapy major from Hillsboro, Illinois, said transferring to SIUE and being surrounded by a great coach and teammates helped him be successful.

“When I got here, I’ve just had a new focus, a new outlook, and I’ve been able to work harder and see some results because of that. [My] coach and teammates pushing me has helped a lot and finally some results are showing in competition, and I’m super ex cited to continue,” Eickhoff said.

Eickhoff said to prepare for the team’s final fall tournament Oct. 23-25, he just wants to stick to his typical practice plan.

“I believe consistency is one of the most important things in golf so I’ve just tried to stick to what I know best,” Eickhoff said.

Men’s Soccer faces loss to Evansville, Cougars left at 1-4 in conference both sides.

The Cougars played their second home game against the Evansville Purple Aces in the Missouri Valley Conference, which resulted in a 2-1 loss for SIUE.

The previous game againsst Evansville resulted in a 2-0 loss for SIUE after a hard fought match from

This game saw a total of 12 shots from the Aces and eight shots from the Cougars.

The Purple Aces scored 12 shots in total, six of which were on goal, while the Cougars attempted eight total shots with five of them being on goal.

The Cougars’ goal was scored at 09:36 of the game’s first period by the Cougars’ junior midfielder Oskar Lenz from Hamburg, Germany.

Nine fouls were called against the Purple Aces while seven were called against SIUE, with a red card handed to Cougars’ sophomore midfielder Myles

Sophanavong, from Peoria, Illinois, at 53:35. This caused the team to play with one less player for the rest of the game, resulting in 10 men carrying on until the end of the second period.

The Cougars play their next away game at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 29 against Bradley University.

The Alestle will be on break next week, but will be back with our print edition Thursday,