'Smoke Signals' - Volume 50, Issue 13

STUDENT MEDIA AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2018 · VOL 50 Issue 13 · BADGERHERALD.COM

Smoke Signals While Wisconsin referendum reveals voters want legal weed, lawmakers are dragging their feet in passing legislation, citing concerns about the risks of marijuana.

But what are the risks? pg. 12

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Term takes on new meaning through literature and theater all while providing insight into black motherhood.

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NEWS

ARTSETC

Chancellor Blank co-writes letter urging Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to oppose changes to gender definition.

TALES OF ‘INFAMOUS’ MOTHERS 9

Riley Liegel Austin Grandinetti Noah May

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NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION IS LOSING ITS GRIP ON POLITICS

Midterm election results show NRA endorsements no longer make or break elections.

PEELING BACK THE CURTAIN ON THE WISCONSIN FULLBACK SPORTS

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It may not be glorious, but the Wisconsin Badgers have made a habit of relying on Swiss army knife fullbacks.

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UW could see effects of low high school graduation rates in WI

While UW-Madison enrollment rates are higher than ever, other schools in UW System express concerns for recruitment

by Nuha Dolby Reporter

The number of high school graduates in the state of Wisconsin is set to hit an alltime low since the year 2000, sparking a wave of concerns regarding recruitment and finances from University of Wisconsin system schools.

According to a December 2017 report

by University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Applied Population Lab, 64,065 students are projected to be graduating from the state’s high schools in 2019-20, the lowest number of students since the 1999-00 school year. This is an 8.7 percent decrease since the 2008-09 school year, when 70,140 students graduated.

In order to calculate this data, the researchers utilized the cohortcomponent method, moving students annually through the K-12 school system until they either graduated or left school, according to the report.

This decrease in the number of students hasn’t appeared to be an issue for UW-Madison, the system’s flagship institution, according to UW-Madison’s fall 2018 enrollment report.

Meredith McGlone, a UW spokesperson, said there is no expected decline in enrollment or tuition revenue because the school attracts many out-ofstate students.

“In 2015, in response to this trend, the UW System Board of Regents lifted the cap on out of state enrollment at UW– Madison in exchange for a commitment from the university to enroll at least 3,600 Wisconsin students in each incoming class,” McGlone said. “This means that the university will actually be enrolling a growing portion of the Wisconsin high school graduating class going forward.”

However, this is not necessarily the case for many other UW System schools, which draw a much smaller out-of-state base and rely on in-state students for their applicant pool.

Corey Sjoquist, Director of Admissions at UW-La Crosse, said their in-state versus out-of-state rates have remained at a relatively stable 80 to 20 ratio for many years. Sjoquist, however, said in-state students were his priority.

“We, as a public institution, have an obligation to serve the students of Wisconsin,” Sjoquist said. “We’re going to work hard to make sure we enroll a strong number of Wisconsin students in the future.”

Sjoquist said the school has been

monitoring graduation data for years now, and while it is concerning, it hasn’t affected the institution’s admissions rates and class size. UW-La Crosse just had one of the highest freshman enrollment rates in the history of the institution, according to News 8.

He added that while UW-La Crosse had a dedication to the state of Wisconsin, they had also expanded efforts to the wider Midwestern market.

“We certainly have adjusted our recruitment efforts in light of recent data,

Heather Pearson, the Associate Director of Admissions at UW-Eau Claire, said the institution has noticed some changes in their admissions and recruitment as well.

“We know that our applications are down a little bit from last year,” Pearson said. “The number of admitted students is about even, and certain academic criteria — ACT/SAT and rank in class — are very similar to last year. This may mean that students are doing more research before they apply, and the students who apply to UW-Eau Claire are those who have a strong

Photo · Although high school graduation rates are the lowest they’ve been sine 1999, UW doesn’t expect such a drop to impact enrollment.

Marissa Haegele The Badger Herald but we have adjusted it each and every year,” Sjoquist said. “Recently, we’ve been spending time in Minnesota along the border. It complements our students instate, so we help our main market — the Midwest.”

UW-La Crosse has also been recently heralded for their high retention rates. At 86 percent, the campus retains and graduates the highest percentage of its students compared to all other comprehensive institutions in the UW system.

likelihood of admission.”

UW-Eau Claire, similarly to UW-La Crosse, draws mostly from the Midwest.

UW-Eau Claire’s biggest student markets are Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois, Pearson said.

Pearson said UWEC hasn’t made any major changes in their admissions process, but her priority was getting the information students cared about in the admissions process to them. She said the institution has developed new campus tours, with a focus on the most popular

majors, along with more streamlined ways of getting information on AP/IB and other forms of advanced credit.

Pearson added that financially, UW-Eau Claire would need some sort of backing in the face of current government-imposed tuition freezes, Governor-elect Evers’ plan to further lower tuition and potentially smaller incoming class sizes.

“If tuition remains frozen, the hope is that we’ll see some additional funding from the state government,” Pearson said.

“We want to continue to give students small class sizes and individual attention from their professors, along with opportunities to participate in high impact practices. The key to doing this is having a healthy budget for resources.”

UW-Eau Claire has made multiple enumeration requests to the UW System for 2019-21. It includes almost $280 million for projects such as work on a science/health building and utility replacements, according to the report.

Sjoquist, like Pearson, discussed concerns regarding funding.

“As campuses become more reliant upon tuition, it could be very difficult to provide the level of education our students are expecting,” Sjoquist said.

“If there is a lowering of tuition, it would be helpful to have help from other areas, be it the state government, so students can get what they need, and then contribute it back as citizens of the state of Wisconsin.”

In August of this year, UW-La Crosse presented its 2019-21 budget recommendations to the UW System Board of Regents. Five projects, totaling about $202.2 million, were recommended.

Sjoquist, however, made it clear that his primary concern is high school students heavily consider all their in-state options, whatever that UW institution may be.

According to data provided by the UW System, around a third of Wisconsin high school students enroll in a UW institution following graduation.

“I’ve worked in higher education for just over 20 years. There have been a lot of changes in the UW System in that time.

Having said that, I still firmly believe we’re one of the top educational systems in the country,” Pearson said. “I know there may be more financial challenges in our future, but I’m confident we’ll continue to deliver a high-quality education.”

November 27, 2018 • badgerherald.com • 3

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UW denounces memo calling for uniform gender definition adoption

Blank pens letter to DeVos in favor of Title IX protections amidst concerns over memo’s implications for campus life

by James Strebe Campus Editor

A memo reported on by the New York Times triggered University of Wisconsin Chancellor Rebecca Blank to co-write a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, urging her to oppose changes to the definition of gender. Princeton University President Christopher Eisgruber and Rutgers University President Robert Barchi also cowrote the letter.

UW professor Finn Enke, who specializes in the history of gender and sexuality, believes the effects of the memo can already be observed.

The memo called for certain government agencies to adopt a uniform definition of gender, which would define an individual as either male or female based on the genitalia they were born with, according to the New York Times. If such a definition were applied to Title IX, the legislation that protects against education discrimination on the basis of sex, gender identity protections would be rolled back.

“These protections are important because transgender Americans in all parts of the country, including students and others on our campuses, have faced discrimination, isolation and harassment,” the letter from Blank reads.

“Providing these protections is fully consistent with basic principles of fairness and respect for

others.”

UW administrative law Professor Steph Tai said a binary legal definition of gender could impact many parts of a transgender student’s life, including the bathroom they use, the sports team they are allowed to play for and even the health insurance coverage they are able to get.

This could lead to social pressure and anxiety for affected students, Tai said.

“There’s been documentation of transgender folks who can’t use the bathroom of their gender just holding it all day, which is not healthy for anyone,” Tai said.

Enke said it’s difficult to imagine that such a platform would gain any legal purchase if it was pursued as policy.

But even the suggestion of such a policy has raised anxiety among transgender and intersex people and even increases the threat of violence among these groups, Enke said.

“Suggesting the policy does have a profound impact on all people,” Enke said. “It makes all people very afraid that maybe they don’t conform enough and it specifically makes it more difficult for transgender and intersex people to live in our society.”

The day after the memo’s contents were disclosed, Trans Lifeline, an organization whose website said they seek to fight suicide and improve life outcomes among transgender people, reported

their hotline had received four times the average number of total daily callers.

Tai said it will be a long time before any new policy defining gender is implemented. A policy defining a person’s gender as male or female at birth would struggle to survive legal challenge because it fails to take into account the intersex community, a group that is well documented in the medical community, Tai said.

In response to the memo, the American Medical Association adopted a policy reaffirming that the AMA would oppose efforts to deny an individual’s right to determine their gender identity.

“Sex and gender are more complex than previously assumed,” AMA Board Member William Kobler said in a press release. “It is essential to acknowledge that an individual’s gender identity may not align with the sex assigned to them at birth.

A narrow limit on the definition of sex would have public health consequences for the transgender population and individuals born with differences in sexual differentiation, also known as intersex traits.”

Tai said Blank’s letter could have significance in a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration policy on gender. Challengers could cite the letter as evidence that the policy was made without legal basis or without proper deliberation, Tai said.

Blank also wrote a letter to the Group Insurance Board along with several other UW chancellors in

the summer urging GIB to lift a ban on coverage of gender affirming surgery and related treatments.

Tai said the most recent letter could be seen as a progression of this earlier advocacy, anticipatory helping with challenges to the law or a combination of both.

Enke said Blank probably chose to co-pen the letter because the policy could potentially threaten the university’s ability to operate as a public institution. With a policy change, it would be difficult for diversely gendered and intersex students to legally exist, Enke said.

“The university community and chancellor Blank values all the people who are in this community,” Enke said. “Losing trans, non-gender conforming and intersex people in this community or opening up these communities of already at-risk people to discrimination coming from any level undermines the quality of the education that’s being offered here and undermines the quality of the institution by limiting who can be here and who can’t be here.”

In an email to the Badger Herald, the Office of the Chancellor declined to comment on the letter, saying Blank is “letting the statement stand for itself.”

If the White House administration chooses to adopt a new gender policy, anyone who wishes to comment on it will have the ability to do so at regulations.gov. Tai encouraged everyone to weigh in, regardless of their position.

CALS pilot program prepares incoming freshmen for college life After completion of QuickStart’s first trial run, new UW students give almost nothing but positive feedback

by Grady Gibson City Editor

The College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at University of Wisconsin this year is trying out a new program called QuickStart, aimed at helping incoming freshmen in CALS prepare for the college experience. One hundred and three current freshmen participated in the program.

Tanya Cutsforth, QuickStart program manager, said there has been a considerable amount of positive student feedback.

“Students that went through the program gave really high marks to their experiences, and many of them said it challenged them to think in many ways about who they were and what they want that they have not thought of before ... As the semester went on, several of them said it better equipped them to deal with challenges,” Cutsforth said.

Cutsforth gave an example of the program preparing students for the road ahead, saying that a panel was held at one point about student success where upperclassmen conducted a “pretty frank” discussion about what it was like to be a student at UW and what challenges the 4 • badgerherald.com • November 27 , 2018

freshmen would face.

CALS requires students to take a first year seminar program, and QuickStart is structured in a way that fulfills that requirement. To Cutsforth, though, the benefits of the program exceed more than just the degree requirement.

The program first involves an eight-week online course called Foundations — which takes place over the summer prior to move in — and the second part is a one week course on campus after move in. QuickStart students move into their residence halls early at this stage, and do things like visit labs, hear speakers and learn more about campus resources.

Sarah Akakpo, a freshman in the inaugural group of QuickStart, said QuickStart has been instrumental in showing her the resources available to her as a UW student.

“A lot of the resources on campus that I learned about with QuickStart I now use, so I use a lot of the libraries and I use UHS a lot, as well as the job center website,” Akakpo said.

Skyler Finucane, another student involved in QuickStart, was very satisfied with her experience as a whole. She originally saw it as a means of staying involved in school over the summer, along

with an opportunity to get involved with campus and learn “the different ideas behind” UW. Aside from preparing her for the challenges of school itself, she said that she has made a lot of friends through the program and moving in early took a lot of stress out of the process.

Making resumes, learning how to email professors for research opportunities and discovering student organizations were just a few of the valuable things Finucane said the program has helped her with.

Finucane was enthusiastic about her overall experience with QuickStart and CALS, and said she would recommend it to someone else.

“A lot of people who are in [the College of Letters and Science] or are coming here next year that are not sure of which college to go to, I try to tell them to go to CALS because I think it is awesome,” Finucane said.

Cutsforth also mentioned the potential this type of program had to branch out to other areas of UW. She said that there are already programs with a similar theme amongst groups like mechanical engineering students and international students.

Cutsforth said that this program is an

opportunity to show other departments, other universities even, the positive effects of a program like this.

“If other students on campus and other schools and colleges realize that potential, then there is an opportunity for growth,” Cutsforth said.

Cutsforth sees QuickStart as a means of generating interest for CALS. More students end up in CALS than students who originally planned on pursuing a degree in CALS, she said.

Additionally, Cutsforth said one of the aims of the program was not only for students to speak positively of their experience with QuickStart but of their overall experience in CALS. One downside with QuickStart, Cutsforth said, is that it is only available to people who start in CALS, which is not something every incoming student thinks to do.

“One of the things we are hoping is that this program maybe attracts students who might not have otherwise thought to start in CALS, because this is just one of a number of opportunities for students to get a pretty tailored educational experience with a really interesting mix of majors beyond just science and agriculture,” Cutsforth said.

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UW Poultry Club sells turkeys, raises awareness for industry

Poultry Club has held turkey sale as its main fundraising activity for over 60 years, selling around 140 turkeys annually

by Mackenzie Christman State Editor

The University of Wisconsin Poultry Club has catered to the needs of its fowl-fascinated members and the surrounding Madison community since the early 1950s.

Members of the organization strive to raise awareness about poultry its surrounding industry.

There are no membership requirements, besides an interest in birds.

Poultry club secretary Annie Hudkins said the current membership board of the organization boasts a diverse range of majors and academic interests.

“Right now, our president studies entomology, our treasurer studies animal science, our CALS representative studies music education and I study elementary education and Spanish,” Hudkins said.

Hudkins said some club members have a background in raising flocks of birds, but others have never interacted with one before joining the club.

Alexis Reily, vice president, said the organization’s main focus is outreach. The club partakes in multiple campus and statewide events each year, Reily said.

Reily said one of the club’s primary events used to be CALS Day for Kids, where local fourth graders would pay the UW campus a visit to meet with agriculture-based student groups.

“Poultry club would bring pullets, young hens and teach basic chicken anatomy, as well as answer questions,” Reily said.

The event has since been discontinued, but Reily said the club continues to stay involved through participating in an event called Saturday Science at the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery.

The poultry club also focuses its efforts on fundraising. More recently, the organization ran its turkey sale. The sale is the main fundraising activity of the club and has taken place every year for over 60 years, as reported by the Wisconsin State Farmer.

According to the article, the turkey sale has undergone several changes throughout its sixdecade lifespan.

In the early years of the turkey sale, turkeys left over from research projects were both raised and processed by the poultry club, Hudkins said. After turkey research came to a close, a Madisonian grower provided the organization live turkeys for processing.

Size limitations of birds offered by the local grower led to the club’s decision to switch to buying pre-dressed, fresh turkeys from a Minnesotan grower, Hudkins said.

The club sells around 140 turkeys each year and customers can place orders based on their preferred size of bird, Hudkins said.

Reily said club members remain involved in the turkey sale despite its many changes.

“Although we don’t raise, harvest and process the Thanksgiving turkeys anymore, the snack sticks are still made by poultry science club members,” Reily said.

A springtime sale of poultry meat in the form of “snack sticks” is the club’s other main fundraiser, Reily said.

Hudkins said that some years, club members have even gotten the opportunity to participate in the preparation of snack sticks by visiting the campus Meat Lab. According to the article by the Wisconsin State Farmer, money raised from the turkey and snack stick sales goes towards funding the cost of travel for club members to attend the International Production and Processing Expo in Atlanta. “[The expo] is the world’s largest annual poultry, meat and feed industry event of its kind,”

Reily said.

Hudkins said about four to five club members get the chance to attend IPPE each year.

Interested students can partake in job interviews at the event, and a large trade show advertises new commercial poultry technology to producers, Hudkins said. “[The expo] allows those with commercial poultry interests to become informed on the latest issues facing the industry,” Hudkins said.

Monthly meetings of the organization even include meals prepared by retired UW poultry specialist professor Lou Arrington. Last month’s meal was duck fajitas using a recipe featured at the Wisconsin State Fair.

For more information on the poultry club, visit their Facebook page or their Wisconsin Involvement Network webpage.

“[The expo] allows those with commercial poultry interests to become informed on the latest issues facing the industry.”

Annie Hudkins Poultry Club Secretary

Photo · Consumers are able to custom order turkeys from the club by bird size, and while the Poultry Club may not raise and process Thanksgiving turkeys anymore, they’re still devoted to raising awareness of the industry.

Courtesy of MTSOfan

November 27, 2018 • badgerherald.com • 5

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UW class teaches history through eyes of students’ parents

Professor Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen incorporates family interviews into lessons on late 1900s in ‘The History of Your Parents Generation’ previously when studying the women’s movement, including “Our Bodies, Our Selves” by the Boston Women’s Health Collective and University of Wisconsin history professor “The Joy of Sex” by Alex Comfort.

Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen teaches history Tran also shared the story of her parents, through a familial lens in her class “The who lived in Vietnam during the Vietnam History of Your Parents Generation.”

War and ended up fleeing to Canada. Many The class is structured to allow students to of the historical stories she heard came from a interview their parents both at the beginning Western lens pertaining to the activism across and end of the class. Assignments in between North America in response to the war and allow for students to learn about historical contrasted the firsthand experiences of her movements in the 70s, 80s and parents in Vietnam.

90s through several different Tran said teaching for this perspectives. course has encouraged her to “I wanted to teach a class have a more open discussion where students could really with her parents about their grasp that history is made up of experiences during this time people just like them,” Ratnerperiod, something that RatnerRosenhagen said.

Rosenhagen mentioned as one Though the class consists of of the most rewarding parts of everything from readings and teaching the class. quizzes, the main focus lies on “Things like the Vietnam War the final paper, history teaching and the culture wars, stagflation assistant Emily Tran said. and the sexual revolution, Students develop their own deregulation and disco, as well questions for their parents to as international relations abroad create a unique angle for their to race relations at home go from paper. Through this, Tran said, seeming remote and abstract to students gain an opportunity to really concrete and powerful see their parents as artifacts of forces in history — their parents’ their time. history,” Ratner-Rosenhagen Senior Markos Uzierovic took said. the class as a second-semester Ratner-Rosenhagen also said freshman because he wanted to it was rewarding to see many learn more about the cultural of her students chose to pursue aspects of history. Uzierovic history as an academic focus after said Ratner-Rosenhagen was taking her class. Uzierovic said successful in bringing history it was after taking this class that closer to home. he decided to become a history “This class more than any major. other class put my parents in Ratner-Rosenhagen said it’s the role of history as people who also “gripping and moving” made history, were influenced by for her just to see the different history, who these political events connections students learn to in the textbook actually made draw between the life paths impacts on and in ways that they of their parents and historical may not realize,” Uzierovic said. movements in the final paper.

Photo · One of Ratner-Rosenhagen’s favorite parts about teaching her history class is how it influences her students to engage in more open As Uzierovic’s parents were She enjoys seeing the myriad conversations with their parents. She said it also feels rewarding to see students choose to pursue a major in history after completing the war refugees coming from a of different angles her students course. balkanizing Yugoslavia, his take, each of which can end in a final project focused on their new and striking observation.

Emily Hamer experiences with Western culture “I always had a pretty close The Badger Herald as observed through the “cracks relationship with my parents, in the iron curtain.” He looked at especially being a first generation how they saw culture differently American … but [this class] gave while also not buying into the trend of the as people, instead of just parents.” than the parents of his peers, whose parents 70s and 80s that individualism is the cure to Tran discussed several ways Ratner- me a lens of political events, cultural events,” grew up in Wisconsin, or other areas of the Uzierovic said. “All of these events are societal issues,” Uzierovic said.

Rosenhagen engaged with students in U.S. part of a larger societal picture, and we’re all He mentioned several topics that came the lectures, such as inserting pop culture Uzierovic found it interesting that his up in class, like White America’s reaction to “artifacts” like music videos and excerpts engaging with these things every single day. mother had an obsession with Michael Jackson, multiculturalism and changing ideas around from books students might have heard about History gives us a way of making sense of why and that his father owned albums from all these things are happening to us.” gender and sexuality. These were topics that but never had the chance to read. She brought rock bands like Deep Purple. He saw many might not come up in a more traditional up several feminist books the students read

by Mary Magnuson State Editor

6 • badgerherald.com • November 27 , 2018

similarities between his parents and those across the globe, even though their political situation differed dramatically, Uzierovic said.

He also enjoyed many of the assignments from the class, including the readings meant to highlight different historical perspectives and a field trip to the state historical society.

“Professor Ratner-Rosenhagen did a really great job of showing the stories that aren’t usually in the forefront ... [she] did a really great job of creating stories about individuals

history course, Uzierovic said, but ones he believed deserved to be discussed.

Tran, a class teaching assistant, does research on school desegregation during the 70s and said she was excited when she received the opportunity to work with Ratner-Rosenhagen.

“I think that the questions that Professor Ratner-Rosenhagen outlines are questions that we typically wouldn’t ask our parents without this excuse,” Tran said.“So I think it’s a really great way to get to know our parents

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PHOTO

A FINAL WAVE OF THE BATON

Photo ¡ Mike Leckrone was honored in his final home football game as UW band director Saturday. After 50 years and many more football games, the music veteran is turning in his baton at age 82.

Daniel Yun and Jon Yoon The Badger Herald

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Indigenous students celebrate Native November on campus Native students organize events promoting cultural celebration in response to perceived lack of UW cultural competency

by Hibah Ansari State Editor

Native American students at the University of Wisconsin are celebrating Native November — a heritage month that both celebrates indigenous culture and recognizes the ongoing struggles of Native people on campus and beyond.

Student organizations like Wunk Sheek and the Alpha Pi Omega sorority organized a variety of educational and cultural programming throughout the month like beading workshops, film screenings and a panel discussion.

Wunk Sheek external relations officer Collin Ludwig said Native November is important because Native Americans are often forgotten by the white majority.

“We’re the minority of the minority on campus, so it’s important that we get that recognition,” Ludwig said. “That we’re still here and we’re still practicing our traditions and our culture.”

But heritage month celebrations don’t dismiss the fact that Native students like Ludwig feel a lack of support from the campus community.

Ludwig recalled an incident a few years ago at the Dejope fire circle when students yelled stereotypical “war chants” out of their dorm windows during a ceremony for missing and murdered indigenous women.

Last year on Indigenous Peoples’ Day — which deliberately coincides with Columbus Day — someone also vandalized the Dejope fire circle by spray painting “Columbus Rules 1492.”

Ludwig said the university partnered with the Ho-Chunk nation in building that space.

But after this incident, Ludwig said the university responded with a “cookie-cutter apology.”

“We have to deal with racism from students and faculty members and that’s constantly on our minds,” Ludwig said.

“We have to think about that and deal with it and take a lot of time from ourselves — especially emotional time and emotional labor.”

UW spokesperson Meredith McGlone said the university is taking steps to improve campus climate for Native students and other underrepresented groups. Recently, the university launched the Elders-in-Residence program, which brings Native community leaders to campus.

The Alpha Pi Omega sorority organized a panel discussion on indigenous identity in higher education. The panel featured UW alumni like UW Native American student success coordinator Sasanehsaeh Pyawasay.

8 • badgerherald.com • November 27, 2018

“These structures weren’t built for that the university does not have enough McGlone said. native folks,” Pyawasay said.“These higher culturally competent health services for “There are other things on our mind that education and high schools were originally Native students, McGlone said UHS has we need to worry about,” Ludwig said. built for wealthy white men. So how do launched multiple initiatives.

“That should be taken into account, and that you navigate in that space and help bring UHS is working to educate their staff on wasn’t the case for Isabel. We want to make students along — particularly native providing culturally appropriate care to it better for other native students so that students?”

Native students in collaboration with experts doesn’t happen again.”

To help Native students navigate through from the Native community, McGlone said. culture shock at the university, Pyawasay UHS also plans to recruit mental health said there needs to be more of an effort to providers with experience in working with We’re all different, we all come build community.

Native students.

“We’re all different, we all come from While it’s admirable that Native students from different communities and different communities and different families were able to build spaces for themselves, different families — but this is an — but this is an opportunity for you to really Pyawasay said this responsibility shouldn’t opportunity for you to really get get together and learn about each other,” fall on the students who are simply at the Pyawasay said. university to gain an education. Instead, staff together and learn about each Fellow panelist and Menominee tribal and faculty should be the ones to improve legislator Gary Besaw said that while he the campus climate for Native students. other . often speaks with humor, that doesn’t The Multicultural Student Center has dismiss the fact that Native people have had hired an undergraduate campus community Sasanehaeh Pyawasay to live through many atrocities. organizer to help coordinate communication In the audience was Mark Denning, and community among Native students, UW Native American student success who lost two children coordinator to suicide in 2016.

Denning’s daughter Isabel Denning sought support from University Health Services for her brother ’s death, her experiences with sexual assault and the general anxiety she felt about life at UW. Denning was told by the provost’s office that the university will do things differently and support native students following his daughter ’s passing. After asking what’s changed since 2016 to the students in the audience, Denning was met with silence.

But in response, Alpha Pi Omega vice president Melissa Besaw said she too felt lost when she came to UW. It led her to the sorority and Wunk Sheek where she found a strong support group of Native students.

“I found a lot of support in these organizations,” Melissa Besaw said. “But I think it depends on the students Photo · Various student organizations, including Wunk Sheek and the Alpha Pi Omega sorority, organized several events throughout that are in leadership, the month aimed at celebrating Native culture. but I would say now that there’s a definite Katie Cooney improvement.”

The Badger Herald To address concerns

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Stories from ‘Infamous Mothers’ provide insight into black motherhood

Event lends new meaning to perceptions of infamy, leaves audience in awe of deeper understanding of black womanhood, feminism, humanism

by Tolu Igun ArtsEtc. Editor

When you think of someone who is infamous, what image comes to mind? Are they bad? Evil?

How about disgraceful?

If the way we generally interpret the word has such negative connotations, what could it possibly mean to be an infamous mother?

What started as a dissertation for Sagashus Levingston, Ph.D. candidate in the department of English at the University of Wisconsin quickly turned into a social mission, generating a forprofit business and coffee-table book which has most recently been adapted into a play performed at The Bartell Theatre on the Evjue Stage this month.

“Infamous Mothers,” published in 2017, highlights the incredible, true stories of 20 women who “went through the belly of hell and brought something good back.” For Levingston — a proud, single mother of six — and so many others who experience black motherhood, being infamous has actually allowed them to accomplish extraordinary things in return.

Written in collaboration with Coleman and directed by filmmaker Marie Justice, the play highlights six of these women’s stories which are represented by four diverse, dynamic women reading from a copy of the coffee-table book together. Also interconnected are Levingston’s real life and personal story which she narrates from

what appears to be her writer’s desk at home.

Not only do these four women learn from the stories they hear between the pages of “Infamous Mothers,” but they also learn from each other and bring a certain energy and action to the stage that provides each story with an even deeper level of meaning and purpose.

Some of the recurring themes stressed during the play include outside perception of black women and mothers which often lead to assumption or misunderstanding, and what it means to struggle as a person in the world we currently live in.

Emphasis on the disproportionate death rates black women and their babies face during childbirth was another crucial point brought up.

The performance I attended featured a talkback after the show with Levingston and Tamara Thompson-Moore, fellow infamous mother turned proactive lactation consultant and birth advocate.

The pair’s honest discussion provided audience members with further insight into many of the issues black women, all women and all humans ought to understand.

“A heightened sense of awareness helps everyone make their decisions. So when people understand the whole dynamic and the whole picture, and they work without fear — that’s what brings the calm,” Thompson-Moore said.

When we focus on the “how” in addition to the “why” things appear the way they do, there are so

many ways to rid our lives of fear and replace it with the truth. Fear, which tends to stem from a lack of understanding, is what often holds us back from progress.

Instead of remaining fearful and accepting authority as is, we must work together to make the best decisions for everyone.

“The process for me always began with understanding the truth. The truth is — and where the truth lies in the context of everything — that when you are going up against systems, you have to understand that the ways which you move through those systems has to be very intentional,” Thompson-Moore said.“And so upon first contact, you have to set the tone because there is always a dynamic of power in everything. The minute you allow yourself to be the receiver of knowledge, you’re not the giver of knowledge and you sacrifice your power. So when you walk into a space and someone takes an authoritative tone with you — you take it right back.”

This dynamic of power in everything is worth repeating. We need to work together as allies in every sense of the words as opposed to fighting for power we can all have cohesively. Commonly quoted by the late Walter Payton, “we are stronger together than we are alone.”

Levingston and Thompson-Moore’s discussion was followed by a Q&A and when asked by an audience member what the future looks like, Thompson-Moore answered with a clear and

concise, yet descriptive response.

“History tells us that whenever a small group of people gets really excited about something and they create a movement — the powers that be have a very unique way of coming in and crushing them,” Thompson-Moore said.“Until we can form enough unity to protect that and protect ourselves — safeguard our economy, our bodies, our education, sources of water, natural resources — we’re susceptible to create this sort of dynamic that repeats itself over and over. I want to be optimistic, but it’s so hard to be.”

Figuratively speaking, even the characters of “Infamous Mothers” took some time to get on the same page, so what can we all do as individuals to work towards unity as a whole?

One step should be learning from those we perceive as different than ourselves. Though “Infamous Mothers,” which ran from Nov. 7 to Nov. 24 sold out in its entirety, there are numerous ways to continue learning from the tales of such strong women.

The next time Sagashus Levingston Talks Back in Madison takes place Thursday, Dec. 6 at Table Wine at 6 p.m. She will be joined by Marie Justice and actress Tanisha L. Pyron who told ThompsonMoore’s story through the play version. The conversation will touch on the importance of pursuing intersectional feminism ranging from topics about women of color to white fragility.

For more information on the stories of Infamous Mothers, visit their website.

Photo ·Sagashus Levingston expanded on her published stories by shedding light onto the experience of being a black mother in our society.

Photo ·’Infamous Mothers’ focuses on single mothers who have gone on to lead successful lives following previous adversity.

Tolu Igun The Badger Herald

Tolu Igun The Badger Herald

November 27, 2018 • badgerherald.com • 9

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Midwest talent deM atlaS heats up mic, invigorates cold Sylvee crowd At just 25-years-old, Minnesota socially conscious poet Joshua Evans talks recent career path, from traveling solo to touring with Atmosphere

by Jake Zinda ArtsEtc. Staff Writer

To command a crowd at The Sylvee, an artist must be able to draw fans to feel like they are connecting at an intimate level with the performer on stage, going deeper than the grip of groupthink and ascending into a higher state.

This was of no issue for deM atlaS when he opened up for Atmosphere prior to our Thanksgiving feasts. The rapper turned in one of the most mesmerizing sets you could attend.

His energy was infectious, drawing the audience into a singular conscience lost within the vocal soundscape of what seemed like a full orchestral backup. As the lyrical poet bounced around the stage, he integrated the feeling of a rock show — and the crowd was loving it.

Walking into The Sylvee, the openness is the first thing that catches the eye. Some artists may have trouble in the space if they are unable to project themselves properly. It’s easy to get lost in the swell of the crowd, losing focus of the performer on stage.

Although there was an opener before the Minnesota rapper, it seemed like the fans were still shaking off the cold and kick-starting

their energy. With a voice which can only be described as “silky-smooth heat,” deM ignited the room. It wasn’t long until hands were in the air and the congregation was moving back and forth to the beat.

Outside of rap, the 25-year-old is Joshua Evans, a very intelligent individual who is constantly being inspired — but does not allow himself to conform to the fluctuations of popular culture. Evans is driven to create his own sound and occupy his own space within the culture, blending genres together to form an incredibly intriguing style.

From a young age Evans was determined to be on stage. He used to spend hours in front of a mirror dancing along to old James Brown concerts, losing himself in the flow of the dancing and music.

“It might sound crazy, but I wouldn’t see myself in the mirror, I would see myself on a stage performing in front of a crowd,” Evans said. “I would be up early in the morning before school even going at it.”

The James Brown influence can still be heard in Evans’ music today, as he frequently uses jazzier, upbeat instrumentals which drive the listener to bop around and move however they see fit. Evans has been able to channel passion

and energy, naturally imbued in disco and incorporated into his own live performances.

All of the time and effort that was put into his personal performances in the mirror served as a jumping off point for Evans.

In high school Evans was the frontman of a genre-ranging band, playing heavy metal to alternative-acid rock, a role which helped him cultivate his onstage presence. The group called themselves The Argonauts, playing at local venues in Minneapolis as well as school dances.

It wasn’t long before Evans became deM atlaS, venturing out on his own, eventually self-producing and releasing his debut album Charlie Brwn.

“I was mainly playing in dive bars and little venues with maybe 20-30 people at the show,” Evans said.

This eventually caught the attention of none other than the frontman of Atmosphere himself, Slug. For a kid who had spent many of his formative years in Minneapolis, there was no greater honor than to have a city legend sign him to the label Atmosphere founded back in 1995, Rhymesayers.

He kept working on his skills as a solo performer, honing his abilities to control a crowd and connect with them at the same time. In a

moment this all changed when deM signed with Rhymesayers and was immediately thrown on tour with Atmosphere around Minnesota.

“I’m an acute observer, it was awesome to be able to watch Atmosphere night after night rocking the crowds,” Evans said. “Their team is so skilled and proficient, they’ve been doing this for so long that they have it all down and ready to go so for me it’s pretty much just plug in and play.”

Fortunately for all of us, Evans was able to make the transition seem easy. Over the last four to five years, he has continued to refine his skills to the point where one would have to question why he isn’t headlining his own shows.

Evans says the punk scene influences the ways he performs live, bringing raw energy and emotional intensity to the stage, emptying himself out by the end of the night.

“Punk is freedom, it is come as you are, be yourself,” Evans said, an ethos clear to any follower of his music.

The remainder of the Minnesotan’s tour travels down south, and Evans can’t complain with winter looming over the Midwest like a grey wool blanket. The rapper’s latest release, Bad Actress, is available on all streaming services, including Atmosphere’s Mi Vida Local.

Photo · “Punk is freedom, it is come as you are, be yourself,” Evans said, an ethos clear to any follower of his music.

Photo · Minnesota isn’t short on talent to perform for Madison venues.

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‘Fun Home’ wins hearts with dark comedy at Overture Center Tony winner Karen Olivo took Playhouse stage at Overture Center for stage adaptation of humorous memoir, doubling as coming-of-age tale

by Ben Sefarbi ArtsEtc. Editor

An unorthodox coming of age tale told from the perspective of three different ages was portrayed elegantly at the Playhouse stage inside the Overture Center.

“Fun Home” is adapted from the bestselling graphic memoir of lesbian cartoonist Alison Bechdel. The daughter of a high school English teacher who ran the family funeral home business from a small town in Pennsylvania shared her dark yet humorous life story through the musical theatre production.

The main focus of the play was less about Bechdel’s dysfunctional family and more about the relationship she shared with her father, Bruce. The play begins with Tony Award-winner Karen Olivo depicting an adult Alison who delivers a monologue about how she is a 40-something lesbian drawing cartoons, raised by questionable parenting.

We’re then introduced to Small Alison, played by the exceptionally talented Chantae Miller. Miller depicts the childhood version of Alison, where we find how exactly Bruce (Matt Daniels) and Alison’s mother Helen (Clare Arena Haden) raised their daughter. Although neither is blatantly cruel to Small Alison or her two brothers — Christian (Tryg Gundersen) and John (Donovan Lonsdale) — the family relationships are strained by the secrets kept from Alison and Helen regarding his own sexuality.

“He begins to reveal his volatile

temperament and urgent imprtance he places on conforiming to societal expectations .”

After Small Alison and her brothers perform a Jackson 5 parody of a funeral home commercial, “Come to the Fun Home,” the morbid humor turns to show exactly what Bruce was like. Helen frantically orders the kids to clean the house to appease Bruce, who is showing the home to a historian. It becomes clear where Bruce’s priorities lie in comparison to the rest of his own family.

The setting then focuses on Oberlin College student and questioning lesbian, Medium Alison (Rachael Zientek). Medium Alison befriends a more confident lesbian

student in Joan (Solana Ramirez-Garcia) who helps Alison with the anxiety of questioning her sexuality. Joan and Medium Alison eventually have sex, followed by a hilarious number “Changing My Major” where Zientek belts “I’m changing my major, to having sex with Joan!”

Medium Alison tells Joan her father sends her books to read. Joan comically quips it’s strange of Bruce to do so, considering they already have schoolwork. She hints

“It becomes clear where Bruce’s priorities lie in comparison to the rest of his own family.”

to Medium Alison — now more accepting of her sexuality —that the books Bruce is sending her may be a sign he knows she is a lesbian. Medium Alison proceeds to draft a coming out letter and sends it back home.

Turning back to the funeral home, while Medium Alison is off at Oberlin, Bruce has invited the babysitter, a young man by the name of Roy (Andy White) to do work around the yard. Roy gets seduced by Bruce while Helen has her back to the two of them, playing the piano. This signaled Helen becoming used to Bruce’s affairs with other men, and her playing with the piano was a means of ignoring the situation.

As Olivo’s Alison begins to make connections with her coming out and the quickly revealed suicide of her father, the focus moves back to Small Alison, who is showing her father homework she will be presenting to her class. The homework is a map of all the places her family has lived.

Bruce, however, urges his daughter not to draw a cartoon but to draw in a more conventional way. He begins to reveal his volatile temperament and urgent importance he places on conforming to societal expectations.

Medium Alison, now in a committed relationship with Joan, is enraged that neither of her parents replied to her letter.

She calls home and hears her father was surprisingly accepting. When Bruce hands the phone to Helen, Medium Alison receives the plot twist, her father ’s sexual affairs with men and boys, some underage.

After another cutscene of Bruce seducing another young boy he picked up on the side of the road, Small Alison remains the focus, while she remains focused watching television. Bruce storms into the room to turn off The Partridge Family, before

Photo ·Reminiscing about the past, contemplating how to communicate the madness of our personal lives to others and create a happy life came together seamlessly in the edgy musical.

Courtesy of Forward Theatre and The Overture Center admitting he is seeing a psychiatrist. Small Alison can’t get Bruce to explain why he has to go out of town, until Adult Alison reveals Bruce got caught having relations with another underage boy. Helen tries comforting Small Alison without selling the truth, only to face her husband in a shouting match. The parents fighting becomes a small Small Alison’s fantasy of a happy family on television when the entire cast comes together on stage for “Raincoat of Love.”

“His commitment to the home

becomes a metaphor for his own desperate urge to create himself as he wishes to be.”

find her father trying to sneak out. He lies to his daughter, telling Small Alison he’s only going to get a newspaper. This tops off the overwhelming evidence that Bruce was a gay man torn between his longing to conform and his sexual desires.

The play ends with Bruce committing to restore an abandoned house nearby the funeral home. His commitment to the home becomes a metaphor for his own desperate urge to create himself as he wishes to be.

The overall theme of reminiscing about the past, how we try to communicate the madness of our personal lives to others and creating a happy life for ourselves come together seamlessly in the edgy musical.

Olivo may be the most known for her voice from the cast, but after the powerful performance, Zientek may have Broadway in her future. Directed by Jennifer Uphoff Gray, “Fun Home,” is a must-see for anyone, still exploring the world of adulthood.

Later, Adult Alison reminisces about a time Bruce took her, John and Christian for a trip. After getting settled in sleeping bags in the hotel room, Small Alison wakes up to November 27, 2018 • badgerherald.com • 11

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Wisconsin voted yes for medical and recreational marijuana, but legislation lags behind

Overwhelming popular support for legalizing marijuana fuels discussion of potential medical, economic and societal benefits and risks

by Molly Liebergall Print News Editor

Wisconsin said yes to marijuana Nov. 6. Unlike what drug prevention programs have warned America’s youth against for years, this marijuana was offered by neither a man wearing a trench coat in an alley, nor a friend who demonstrated textbook peer pressure. It was offered instead by government-issued ballots.

Sixteen counties and two cities across Wisconsin printed ballots with referenda asking for voters’ opinions on medical or recreational legalization. The results were overwhelmingly green.

According to the Wisconsin State Journal, more than 81 percent of people voted in favor of medical marijuana. As for recreational use, more than 644,000 voters approved, while less than 281,000 did not.

Dane County touted its own affinity for the Devil’s Lettuce, with 76 percent of voters supporting recreational legalization. This number was higher than recreational approval ratings in any other Wisconsin county.

Though these referenda revealed clear public support for marijuana legalization in Wisconsin, they were completely advisory, which essentially made them a “glorified straw poll,” according to the Wisconsin Elections Commission.

The results don’t inherently prompt legislative change — any decision to pass laws on marijuana still lies in the hands of Wisconsin’s legislators.

One such legislator is Rep. Chris Taylor, D-Madison.

In February 2017, Taylor, together with Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, introduced the The Compassionate Cannabis Care Act, which sought to legalize medical marijuana.

“Everyone has somebody who’s had a debilitating disease in their life,” Taylor said. “It is well past time to legalize medical marijuana for the sake of these suffering families and suffering patients.”

While Taylor also supports recreational use, she emphasized that legalization for medicinal use must happen as soon as possible so that people with certain diseases can legally alleviate their symptoms with cannabis.

Taylor urged her Republican colleagues to listen to their constituents instead of falling back on decades-old notions about marijuana, citing how the referenda showed the majority of polled voters support legalization.

“Some of these Republican legislators are back in the dark ages when it comes to thinking about marijuana,” Taylor said. “It’s still very taboo for them.”

Taylor hopes to gain bipartisan support for her

legislation. While she is looking to bridge the divide between both sides of the aisle, other supporters of legalization have taken less collaborative approaches.

Smoke them out Alan Robinson is the communications director for the Madison Chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, and he loves weed — he knows it, his coworkers know it and even his mother knows it (she called mid-interview but understandingly told Robinson to return to the other line when he told her he was answering questions about marijuana legalization).

To those who do not share his passion for legalizing pot, Robinson does not hold back. “[I say,] ‘You should be ashamed of yourself,’ and then I proceed to smoke them out because I know for a fact that their constituents are more likely to favor cannabis than them,” Robinson said, clarifying that he would like to launch a campaign to “smoke out” any elected officials who do not support legalization. “If I go door-todoor in their district, and I explain how ridiculous their representative’s position is, then I guarantee you, they will not be voting for him [or her] again, they would rather smoke some weed.”

Robinson proceeded with the slogan “#SmokeWalkerOut,” which he said is exactly what the people of Wisconsin did on Nov. 6 when they elected Democratic challenger Tony Evers over Republican incumbent Walker.

Robinson could not be happier about Walker ’s election defeat, since he historically has not supported legalizing marijuana and in May referred to it as a “gateway drug” during an interview on WISN-TV. The next elected officials in Robinson’s crosshairs are Assembly Speaker Rep. Robin Vos, R-Rochester, and Senate Majority Leader Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau.

Though Robinson said they may need to be “smoked out,” Vos is not a total opponent of legalization, according to a statement sent to The Badger Herald.

In an email, Kit Beyer, Vos’ communications director, said while the speaker does not support recreational marijuana, he has “long supported the idea of medical marijuana” and supports “a system where patients can get a prescription for marijuana from their doctor filled at a pharmacy.”

Sounds great, but don’t forget to read the fine print: Beyer said Vos wants to see change happen at the national level first, which is unlikely to happen.

Most of the country has not waited for the federal goahead. Marijuana is legal for medical use in 32 states, including Wisconsin’s neighbors Minnesota, Michigan and

Illinois.

“The most dangerous thing about marijuana is that it is illegal in Wisconsin,” Robinson said, referring to marijuana’s illegality as a public safety issue.

Robinson shared a story about a friend who ended up in the hospital because she smoked weed that had been laced with fentanyl. He said there would be no danger to using cannabis if it was legalized and regulated, since there would be less risk of obtaining product from an “unsavory source.”

Risk versus reward Although Robinson is convinced marijuana legalization would alleviate almost all risks that come along with obtaining and using the drug illegally, Donald Downs, a retired University of Wisconsin political science professor isn’t so sure.

Though he supports decriminalization, he worries about the dangers of driving high, and wonders how legalization could impact productivity. Downs said he has seen consistent marijuana usage change the way people behave, so he believes it is necessary to keep an open mind about the potential for legalization leading to a higher prevalence of what he called “stone heads.”

“Think about people sitting around getting drunk all the time — there’s a health hazard,” Downs said.

“What if you just sat around and smoked dope all the time?”

Adults 21 years and over in Colorado have the ability to do just that. Earlier this year, the state released data on its marijuana usage that showed weed-smoking was most common among those between 18 and 25.

But this group is not necessarily at risk. Despite Down’s concerns about marijuana’s health hazards, marijuana on

its own is not deadly unless someone was to ingest 1,500 pounds in 15 minutes.

Taylor acknowledged that if legalization were to occur in Wisconsin, the legislature would undoubtedly need to establish regulatory measures to prevent marijuana users from doing hazardous things, like driving under the influence.

“We can do those things,” Taylor said. “It’s not like we’ve never dealt with regulating a substance … we do that with alcohol.”

Taylor believes Wisconsin would need to see a significant change in representation in the legislature for recreational legalization to occur. If Wisconsin does eventually follow in the footsteps of Colorado and many other states, Robinson believes the capital would reap similar economic benefits.

“I think it would absolutely change the face and the complexion of Madison,” Robinson said. “We would absolutely see a revolution of industry.”

A study released by researchers from Colorado State University-Pueblo found the marijuana industry to have a net positive impact of $35 million in 2016 in Pueblo County alone.

Taylor acknowledged the enormous tax revenues collected by states that have fully legalized marijuana.

Here in Wisconsin, she believes dispensaries would have the same positive financial impact.

Benefits to the financial sector aside, marijuana legalization may also prove valuable to individuals with medical needs.

Nature’s alternative Marijuana can be prescribed as a painkilling alternative to other drugs like opioids, substances responsible

for hundreds of deaths across Wisconsin. In 2017, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services reported that fentanyl and heroin-related deaths were on the rise.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse also released information showing a general increase in deaths related to prescribed opioids in Wisconsin between 1999 and 2016.

Taylor cited a study from the University of Michigan that reported a 64 percent reduction in the use of opioidbased medication among patients who used medical marijuana to treat chronic pain. Taylor wondered why Wisconsin won’t pass legislation on medical marijuana if research suggests it could help the state’s opioid crisis.

CBD — cannabidiol — is a naturally-occurring cannabinoid found in the hemp plant. It essentially provides the medical benefits of cannabis without the marijuana high. Possession of CBD for medical purposes first became legal in Wisconsin in 2015; but as of 2018, citizens no longer need a doctor ’s note to possess it, according to a clarification from outgoing Attorney General Brad Schimel.

Apple Wellness, a nutrition store located in Fitchburg and Sun Prairie, has sold CBD since last June. Owner Tim O’Brien has seen firsthand how cannabis can wean people off of more harmful drugs.

“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t hear half a dozen testimonies of people getting off of opioids, antidepressants or NSAIDs from CBD,” O’Brien said.

If cannabis were to be legalized, O’Brien said he would highly consider selling marijuana to those with medical prescriptions. For now though, he’ll stick to legal CBD products.

Community Pharmacy is another herbal supplement store that sells CBD products. Public Relations representative Jennifer Helmer said part of their philosophy is supporting all healing modalities.

For CBD, Helmer said they recommend starting small and working up to larger doses.

“The idea is that you just feel good,” Helmer said.

“That’s the goal, that you get your functionality back.”

Disproportionate impacts Wisconsin is only starting to roll out progressive legislation on cannabis, but during the War on Drugs, which Nixon declared in 1971, the legislature passed several laws that Downs believes made the criminal justice system “way too oppressive.”

Simple possession of marijuana resulted in heavier punishments. First-time offenders are subjected to a maximum sentence of six months, second-time offenders to a maximum of one year. In 1989, the Wisconsin

legislature also added a three-year minimum sentence to existing punitive procedures for distribution of marijuana in protected zones such as schools.

In 2017, the Wisconsin Department of Justice reported that 31,182 people across the state were arrested for drug crimes. Of those, 18,924 were for possession or distribution of marijuana.

But these arrests disproportionately affect black Wisconsinites. Even though there are 11 times more white than black residents in Madison, black residents are 7.5 times more likely to be arrested for drug crimes.

“Prohibition has its own drawbacks, it creates unnecessary incarcerations,” Downs said. “When you go to war you need to win … What does it mean then when you ‘declare war ’ on your own citizens who are using drugs?”

Downs said another reason he favors decriminalization is because he supports returning freedoms to American citizens by trimming criminal laws, especially those that were established decades ago.

Looking ahead The referenda on the Nov. 6 ballots may not have changed any laws, but they did show Wisconsin representatives where their constituents stand on marijuana.

Taylor is still working to get legislation passed on medical marijuana, which she believes is something that must happen now. There can no longer be any excuse or any delay, she said, citing a pressing concern for families with ill loved ones who are being forced to “go to the back alley” to obtain cannabis.

Taylor also expressed pride in college-aged voters, who had a “huge” impact on the governor ’s race, and who have shown through their participation in the referenda that they have the ability to influence policy change.

Robinson would especially like to bring the power of the younger generation to NORML, where he said enthusiastic college students could become “ambassadors for cannabis.” While he feels medical marijuana is crucial, Robinson is still a strong proponent for full legalization.

Ideally, he wants to see “comprehensive legalization” that taxes and regulates marijuana for recreational use, and even addresses criminal records to potentially free non-violent offenders incarcerated for marijuana-related charges.

“You’re looking at medical benefits, you’re looking at a public safety issue, you’re looking at imprisonment because of a plant,” Robinson said. “I think we can do better, logically, and I think we should.”

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BadgerCare work requirement more about power than health care With record-low unemployment, Walker’s latest policy has more rhetorical meaning than political significance

by Sam Palmer Associate Opinion Editor

Gov. Scott Walker, you old rascal. We may be shorn of your governorship, but you made sure to leave us with a little parting gift — a work requirement for BadgerCare. Like many a band encore, this wasn’t asked for, needed or wanted, but you did it anyway. Because you cared. About something. Not poor people, presumably.

Anyhow, the question of why Walker and his GOP-controlled government would push such a bill is an interesting one. In cases such as this, it is helpful to distinguish between ideological reasoning and the functional effects of a policy. Let’s start with the ideological reasoning, which is fairly straightforward — those who are using public health insurance without working are leeching off the government, which is unfair. t’s a strange line of thinking. The people this policy applies to are healthy, so, for the most part, they’re not actually using the coverage and draining the public coffers.

And the good life they’re living while on the public teat is ... what? Being unemployed?

Being unemployed in Wisconsin is a miserable experience. You might lose housing, be unable to feed yourself or undergo tremendous amounts of stress.

It’s not a cake walk; it’s brutal. And what’s more, denying these people coverage doesn’t mean they won’t seek out health care if they get sick. It simply means that when they do, it will be because an issue became unbearable.

They will go to the only place in America where care is not refused — emergency rooms. There, they will receive treatment that is often too little, too late by doctors who were trained to deal with emergent medical problems, not to act as a primary care provider in a society that won’t take care of its sick. And if the patient can’t pay, the hospital will foot the bill — something they do across America to the tune of 41 billion dollars. Everyone who gets treated at a hospital or clinic pays part of that bill. As the free-marketeers are fond of reminding us, nothing is free.

The functional effect of the policy is a little more complex, but it makes more concrete sense. In a way, it is an attempt to create uniformity in Wisconsin health care, or at least the way in which health care fits into the political economy of the state. It is well-known that because American health care is so often tied to employment, workers are often forced to stick with an employer or risk losing their coverage. It’s one of the many examples of the structural power that 14 • November 27, 2018 • badgerherald.com

Photo · Walker’s new BadgerCare requirement does nothing to decrease the social cost of health care. Instead, it only bolsters the unequal power dynamic between the employer and the employee.

Alexandra Ariaga The Badger Herald employers have over their employees, and it’s used to keep people in line. If getting fired or switching jobs means not only losing income but losing health care, who dares not obey their bosses’ dictums to the letter?

Paradoxically, it used to be that as one’s hourly wage decreased, this power actually disappeared. With programs like Medicaid or BadgerCare, people with low or no incomes could receive some sort of regular health care regardless of their employment status. Losing one’s job might mean descending into a state of wretched insecurity and pain, but at least one had a shot at not dying from a preventable disease.

The Medicaid work requirement is meant

to close that “loophole” and ensure that everyone with a pulse and all their limbs is working. It does nothing to decrease the social cost of health care. In fact, because emergency room care is so expensive and inefficient, it may actually increase it. What it does do is strengthen the hand of the employing class. With this legislation, the state government strains itself, working its every sinew and muscle to expand the pool of potential workers by roping in ever more vulnerable people. It’s a financial move, too, because a larger labor pool can drive down wages.

And the damnedest thing about all this is, due to the state’s record-low unemployment, this requirement might

not even apply to that many people. So maybe the only purpose of this bill was rhetorical — to show how far the Walker government was willing to go in pursuit of power for the employing class. In that sense, it was quintessential Walker. Thanks to him, we’re living in a state run by bosses and executives, top to bottom. The number one priority now that he’s gone should be wresting away that dictatorial power and rebuilding a state that’s run for the public good. Thanks for nothing, Scotty Dubs.

Sam Palmer (spalmer4@wisc.edu) is a senior majoring in biology.

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Point Counterpoint: Future of America’s health care policies College Republicans: Health care reform relies on a free market

College Democrats: Affordable health care is a human right

Anything that the government has power to provide you, it also has the power to take away. Only 18 percent of Americans trust the government, according to a Pew Research Center study. Do we really want to put our health in the hands of a government that has proven to be incapable of providing quality and affordable healthcare to its citizens?

Under the Affordable Care Act, patients were falsely promised they would be able to keep their healthcare plans and their doctors.

They were also promised plans would remain affordable. But the monopoly that the federal government has created when it comes to healthcare has created a situation in which premiums have doubled and tripled in the state of Wisconsin for some demographics Obamacare has stripped the industry of the mediocre competition it already had and begun to replace it with a government monopoly. From 2015 to 2018, the Heritage Foundation reported that significantly more health insurers are going out of business than entering the market.

Free market ideals are an integral part of the fabric of America, where competition has always been encouraged and monopolies broken up so consumers could have access to more options. By taking away choices from the consumer, prices in the healthcare market will continue to rise because there is no incentive to keep costs low. With a government that will always meet the price of a service no matter how high it goes and no competition between different providers, we will never see a reduction of costs in the healthcare market.

Victims of state-run healthcare systems all over the world are at the mercy of the state.

They are a burden to the system, siphoning up the finite resources that were allocated.

Instead, patients in a market-based healthcare system are customers and are therefore an asset to the healthcare provider. The resources, being primarily provided by the recipient of the care, are less finite, and the healthcare providers rely on the patients as much as the patients rely on the providers. Conversely, the state-run system has turned its back on its own patients — some of whom have fled

Healthcare is unquestionably one of the most important issues for Democrats across the nation. Democrats are focused on covering every American with quality, accessible health insurance, regardless of financial circumstances or preexisting conditions. On a national scale, healthcare was the number one issue for voters in the 2018 midterms as recorded by the Kaiser Family Foundation. It was clear that both sides saw the intensity of the healthcare debate and how important the issue is to voters.

It can be argued that in the 2018 midterm elections, healthcare was on the ballot in Wisconsin. .That is why University of Wisconsin College Democrats have worked so hard to support and elect candidates like Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisconsin, who has proven her dedication to protecting people with pre-existing conditions time and again.

Based on election results, it is evident that Republicans’ misleading rhetoric on the issue was met with substance and promise for real change and expansion of healthcare.

Throughout her life in public service, Baldwin’s position on the issue healthcare can be defined by two key sentiments. First, the belief that healthcare is a right not only reserved for the financially privileged, but for all Americans. Second, no family should be forced to decide between paying their medical bills and going bankrupt. This is a real predicament that many Americans and Wisconsinites have to face every year.

For decades, one of the primary domestic policy goals for American progressives has been to establish a national healthcare system.

In March 2010, the Obama administration, with the help of a Democratic Congress, secured passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Baldwin was a member of this Democratic coalition when she served in the U.S. House of Representatives. Baldwin led the charge in the House to guarantee that young people could remain on their parents’ insurance plans until age 26. This provision has helped young people across the nation in

to America to seek better care. Healthcare is a time sensitive service — wait lists and rationing aren’t acceptable practices when someone’s life is hanging in the balance.

It can be tempting to relinquish power to politicians who claim to have all the answers to the imperfections of the healthcare system.

It’s easy to give the government more power, but it’s much more difficult to take that power back once it has been sacrificed. That said, once the state snatches control of the nation’s healthcare system, they will not let go, even when it inevitably ends in catastrophic failure.

A one-size-fits-all system will not solve our national healthcare problems. We can provide quality healthcare to our nation’s citizens while taking power out of the hands of the government and put it back in the hands of the patients. We will still be able to protect patients with pre-existing conditions without protecting the failures of Obamacare and other government-mandated health care policies.

We simply cannot afford to move toward more government control when it comes to our healthcare choices. A plan for socialized medicine backed by politicians such as Bernie Sanders and Tammy Baldwin would cost taxpayers $32.6 trillion in the first ten years alone. A study found that funding the plan could not be covered even if federal income taxes doubled.

President Donald Trump’s administration has already improved our healthcare system by reforming the Veterans Health Administration. Republicans repealed the Obamacare mandate that forced consumers to purchase healthcare plans that they didn’t necessarily need and couldn’t afford. We should support Trump and Republicans across our nation in creating a sustainable, new system which puts the patient first, not the government.

Charlie Mueth (cmueth@wisc.edu) is a junior majoring in finance. Evan Karabas (ekarabas@ wisc.edu) is a sophomore majoring in information systems and operations & technology management.

They are the Chairman and Digital Director for College Republicans respectively.

maintaining their health insurance coverage and aims at expanding the number of people insured in the United States.

Though the Affordable Care Act is not without flaws — millions of people are still without health insurance coverage and even more are underinsured — the bill has certainly gone where no other has before and has laid the groundwork for universal healthcare coverage in the U.S. Republicans in Congress and the White House have been hellbent on repealing the ACA. Republicans have thus far been successful in repealing the individual mandate which required that individuals not covered under Medicare, Medicaid or by an employer purchase healthcare coverage or pay a fine.

There is much more we must do to lower the cost of health care and protect health insurance for our most vulnerable citizens, and Baldwin is leading the charge for Wisconsin.

Baldwin helped introduce the Medicare for All act which would “... simplify a complicated system for families and reduce administrative costs for businesses. It would expand coverage to the uninsured, make healthcare more affordable for working families, and reduce growing prescription drug costs.”

When it comes to the issue of providing healthcare, Wisconsin Democrats have demonstrated a track record that advocates for insuring those with pre-existing conditions, lowering administrative and prescription drug costs and, overall, sides with Wisconsinites over private insurance companies. Following the Democrats’ landslide victories in Wisconsin over the midterm election cycle, College Democrats are excited to support our newly elected officials in the fight to insure healthcare coverage for all Wisconsinites.

Sam Schwab (sschwab2@wisc.edu) is a junior majoring in political science and English. He is also the Press Secretary of the UW College Democrats. badgerherald.com • November 27, 2018 • 15

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NRA’s political clout decreases in the era of frequent mass shootings

Changes to the NRA’s rating system and the downgrade of 15 candidates demonstrates a birpartisan shift in ideas on gun control

by Tatiana Dennis Columnist

The mass shooting in Thousand Oaks, California a few weeks ago marked the 307th mass shooting in the U.S. this year alone. As mass shootings grow more frequent, it’s natural the American public should turn to its leaders, both current and future, to create comprehensive gun reform policies. This turn does not exclude the more conservative parties, who’ve traditionally been backed by the National Rifle Association.

The NRA’s political action committee rates candidates on a scale similar to our academic scale. A candidate with an ‘A’ rating is considered to be extremely friendly to the NRA’s platform, where a candidate with an ‘F’ rating is not. These ratings are meant to guide the association’s members to vote according to their philosophy.

As a result of the increase in mass shootings, the NRA has taken it upon themselves to downgrade their rating of 15 candidates who ran in the recent midterm elections. This sudden increase from previous cycles indicates that although

the NRA plays a major role in the swing of the GOP, more Republican candidates are withholding support from the NRA, expressing a need for gun control measures, regardless of the group’s influence.

“Though Wisconsin leaned

conservative in the 2016 presidential election, it’s recently been siding with candidates that were poorly rated by the NRA.” The NRA downgraded candidates such as Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who dropped from an ‘A’ to a ‘C’ after signing a bill raising the minimum age to purchase a long gun to 21 in the wake of the Parkland shooting. Brian Mast, a Republican congressman and war veteran was elected with the help of his ‘A’ grade from the NRA. This year, he received an ‘F’ rating because he proposed a ban on AR-15 rifles and universal background checks.

Though Wisconsin leaned conservative in the 2016 presidential election, it’s recently been siding with candidates that were poorly rated by the NRA. When Judge Rebecca Dallet won against conservative Judge Michael Screnock in the Supreme Court election this past spring, it was a win against the country’s gun association.

Screnock’s endorsement by the NRA before the elections was not enough to secure his seat in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court. This trend carried on to the recent midterm elections. Of the 11 candidates the NRA endorsed during Wisconsin’s midterm elections, only five won their race — and one endorsed candidate, Jim Sensenbrenner, was running unopposed.

With more and more Republican candidates showing restraint in standing fully by the NRA, the group rewired their website. Until recently, the NRA’s website allowed members to view their ratings of past political candidates and sitting politicians on their website. Now, one has to input their individual address to see the ratings of the candidates in their area —

searching a candidate by name, or viewing the ratings of every single candidate in the country is not accessible. Once the election ends, past ratings are inaccessible to the general public.

When NRA spokeswoman Jennifer Baker was asked about these changes, she initially denied that any changes had been made. Another unidentified NRA employee indicated that they believed their enemies were using it against them.

As we attempt to navigate this new era of mass shootings, it makes sense for politicians, sitting and yet-to-be inaugurated, to represent their constituents when it comes to gun control — even if that means losing the support of the NRA. Though the NRA will continue to push their platform and rate politicians in accordance, the results of recent elections in Wisconsin and across the nation show the NRA is losing its grip on the GOP and the American electorate.

Tatiana Dennis (tldennis@wisc.edu) is a senior majoring in communications.

Rehabilitative prison program should be replicated statewide

Though the Job Center of Wisconsin benefits ex-offenders, harsh realities still remain in Wisconsin’s criminal justice system

by Keagan Schlosser Columnist

Inmates of the Oakhill Correctional Institution can now take advantage of various services provided by the Job Center of Wisconsin. By use of computers with limited internet access, inmates have the opportunity to build resumes, apply for jobs and schedule interviews so they can rejoin the workforce immediately following release. This type of reentry program, successful in states like California, allow for inmates to better adjust to life after incarceration. The Job Center assists users with how to build a resume, how to explore existing skills and how to find employers in an array of fields, including agriculture, finance, manufacturing and trucking.

The Job Center is helpful in the sense that inmates can actively search for jobs while still remaining in prison. Prisoners historically struggle with attaining a job post-incarceration, but the center better helps current convicts ensure a job after being released.

In Oct. 2018, Wisconsin’s unemployment rate was 3 percent. As a consequence, there are more openings for jobs than people to fill them, so more job centers in Wisconsin prisons make sense to fill this need.

Oakhill’s focus on rehabilitation and reintegration outshines many other incarceration systems. Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch claims this center helps the Department of Corrections truly live up to its name. “... Our folks should not be 16 • November 27, 2018 • badgerherald.com

coming to punishment department but a corrections department, where there is an opportunity to learn, to grow your skills and to return to the communities from which they came…” Kleefisch said in an interview with Wisconsin Public Radio.

While the Oakhill Correctional Institution is progressive in that fact, the same cannot be said for other Wisconsin prisons. Take the crisis at Waupun State Prison, for example. From 2014 to 2017, the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism chronicled multiple allegations of abuse by prison guards, the high rates of solitary confinement, inmate hunger strikes and all the negative mental health effects associated with them — and this is just for the Waupun State Prison. The crisis surrounding the Lincoln Hills correctional facility has been brewing since 2010, and though it will close in 2019, the closure is only a small push towards reform for Wisconsin’s correctional system.

Systems like that in Waupun are completely destructive for inmates. Their methodology is centered around punishment, which only worsens a prisoner’s mental health. When released, the prisoners may not have the mental stability to secure and keep a job.

In contrast, Oakhill’s program is changing prisoners’ lives for the better. Their job center is a forward-looking movement in the betterment of prison conditions. What is so shocking, however,

is that there is such a steep contrast between correctional facilities in one state. As long as places like Waupun continue to ignore and worsen the well-being of inmates, one can hardly say there is an overall progressive shift in Wisconsin’s prisons.

Prisons are not meant to be havens, but everyone deserves to live in an environment that Photo · Returning to the workforce immediately after release aids former promotes safety and inmates in easier rehabilitation and reintegreation into society. well-being, regardless of criminal activity.

Audrey Piehl Places like Oakhill The Badger Herald Correctional Institution are certainly making chances,” Kleefisch said. The Oakhill Correctional strides in a positive direction. Instead of isolation, punishment and Institution is well worth praising. The same can not complete detachment from the outside world, be said for other prisons in Wisconsin. the facility is focusing on inmates’ rehabilitation Keagan Schlosser (kschlosser2@wisc.edu) is a into being productive members of society. The Job freshman majoring in communications.

Center makes Oakhill’s case “... one of heart, one of investment in your fellow man, one of second

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Walker had problems besides race relations leading to his defeat

The governor may have acted poorly with regard to race, but his loss cannot easily be explained by this singular factor

by Lianna Schwalenberg Columnist

Many believed that the 2018 midterms would be a test to see whether Republicans could win by stoking racial tensions. In other words, if Republicans with a track record for undermining racial justice lose, it would be partially due to their racism or lack of attention to racial issues.

Republican incumbent Gov. Scott Walker, with his long list of offenses against minorities compiled by One Wisconsin Now, lost his bid to governorship.

Therefore, it must be, at least in part, due to his racist policies. If not his direct policies, his endorsement from Donald Trump and complacency when the president spoke poorly of migrants crossing the southern border might have also played a role in his loss.

By not condemning Trump’s rhetoric, Walker inadvertently contributed to the racist orotundity which turned off the voting bloc he needed to win the midterms — ultimately losing by only a margin of 1.1 percentage points. Or so the narrative goes.

As Republicans scratch their heads over how they failed to hold the executive seat in their trifecta of Assembly, Senate and governor control, they should consider ways in which their policies target or exclude minorities. But it is not a closed issue whether Walker ’s inaction on race issues played a significant role in his loss.

Other, more plausible factors to consider are the record-breaking voter turnout rates in Wisconsin, Walker ’s striking popularity among black voters and other issues that Walker actively promoted in this campaign cycle.

First, Wisconsin had an exceptional rate, nearly 60 percent, of eligible voters, go to the polls on election day, compared to its past midterms, which hovered around 50 percent and compared to other states, with the national average being 47 percent.

Though not as high as the 67 percent of Wisconsin voters who came out for the presidential elections in 2016, it compares favorably. It is very possible that efforts are driven by the Morgridge Center for Public Service and the Big Ten Voting Challenge helped increase student votes.

According to Pew Research looking at party affiliation from 1992-2016, Democrats held a slight advantage among college students and graduates, and in their research of post-2018 midterm results, they found that Democrats fared very well among voters aged 18-29, with 67 percent of these voters favoring their party. Tufts University’s day-after analysis of youth voter turnout confirms this relationship between increased youth votes and Democrat victories in the

Photo · Though Walker generally handled race issues poorly, factors such as high voter turnout and backlash over Foxconn played a greater role in his defeat.

Daniel Yun The Badger Herald 2018 elections.

Next, if Walker ’s track record on race issues is as bad as reports say it is, it would reasonably reflect in his popularity among black voters. But exit poll data does not reflect such a decrease in popularity. In fact, in the 2014 midterm elections, among the self-reported 143,000 black people who voted, about 14,000, or 10 percent, voted for Walker.

Compared to this year, among the 235,000 black people who voted, 35,000 voted for Walker or 15 percent. This is more than twice the percentage of African American votes that Trump received from Wisconsinites in 2016. Among the 195,000 black Wisconsinite voters, only about 11,500, or 6 percent, voted for Trump. Rather than asking how racism played a role in the governor ’s race this year, a better question to ask would be how did Walker feed into racial tensions and still

receive an increase in support from black voters?

A final thought for Republicans to consider in the aftermath of their defeat is the issues they chose to pursue. Sure, racial issues are relevant — and certainly all the small scandals can add up. But none of those issues received as much attention from the media and public eye than Foxconn.

The Taiwanese manufacturing company, the world’s largest contract assembler of electronics best known for making iPhones and other Apple devices, announced last year that they would be opening a U.S. plant in Wisconsin, a $10 billion project, incentivized in part by taxpayers, supported

by President Trump, Speaker Paul Ryan who represents the Congressional district in which the plant will be built, and to his demise, Scott Walker, who made four television ads promoting the project and its

ability to create manufacturing jobs.

A sizable amount of Democrat and Republican voters expressed doubts about the company’s promises for economic success — others challenged the legality of designating usable land as blighted, overreaching the state’s power of eminent domain. Additionally, about 29 percent of voters said they were “very concerned” over its potential negative impact on the state’s water resources.

Taken together, Walker ’s defeat is not and should not be easily explained by simply citing his silence on race issues.

Other factors, such as the record-high voter turnout and controversial issues more likely played a role in the Republican’s loss.

Lianna Schwalenberg (lschwalenber@ wisc.edu) is a fifth-year senior majoring in communication arts and philosophy. badgerherald.com • November 27, 2018 • 17

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Overlooked, rarely recognized, but vital: The Wisconsin fullback The tale of the most misunderstood position in sports, and the school that’s helping to bring it back one FB dive at a time

by Will Stern Sports Editor

Ron Dayne was one of the most talented college athletes to ever step foot on a football field.

Though, even as he embarked upon his first season in the Wisconsin Cardinal and White that would culminate with an All-American selection, his freshman year began with uncertainty.

He was adjusting to a completely new offense, and there was nowhere to hide to learn the ropes — he was to be the prized feature of Coach Barry Alvarez’ ground and pound offense.

Coming out of the huddle, Dayne had some early issues knowing which gaps to hit — or even which direction to take the handoff. Thankfully, he had fullback Cecil Martin to rely on.

Exemplifying the cliche about things that don’t show up on the stat sheet, Martin, who would line up in front of Dayne in many of the Badgers offensive sets, would stick his hand between his legs and signal to Dayne with his fingers which way he was to run. Then after the snap, Martin would take off, hitting his own marked man and aiding Dayne as he rushed his way to a 2,109 yard, 21 touchdown freshman season.

I don’t know if there is a game that goes by at Camp Randall without some sort of Dayne highlight or honor.

You can’t say the same of Cecil Martin.

A game of stereotypes.

There’s the flashy receiver, unyielding in his never-ending quest to juke defenders out of their cleats or make highlight-reel catches — the cocky cornerback, trash-talking perpetually and exuding a prideful swagger matched by few, as well as the juiced-up strength and conditioning coach, whose emphasis is quite obviously on strength rather than conditioning.

Fullbacks, despite (or maybe because of) their understated nature in most offensive schemes, are the blue-collar workhorse — doing what needs to be done in whatever capacity they are best suited.

“You gotta be a gritty player to play fullback,” former Badger and current San Diego Chargers fullback Derek Watt said. “It’s not typically a glorious position.”

Calling fullback “not typically a glorious position” is a bit like saying late-season games at Camp Randall aren’t usually balmy.

The fullback is the ugly duckling of the football field. Nobody knows whether to associate them with the lineman, the backs or the receivers.

Yet, it’s easy to romanticize the mentality of the workman-like, do-your-job fullback. Some of it could stem from all of their shared origins. Nobody is born a fullback these days and most who became great ones didn’t even play the position in high school.

18 • badgerherald.com • November 27 , 2018

The journey Current Badgers fullback Alec Ingold was a standout quarterback in high school and even had an offer to play at Northern Illinois State. Instead, he turned it down and came to University of Wisconsin as a running back, soon making the switch that so many others before him like Watt have made to fullback.

Usually, those that are good enough to play fullback at the college level were the most athletic guys on their high school teams and were therefore placed in a more ball-dominant role, most often running back.

But upon arrival on campus, those skills are transferred into the fullback position for various reasons.

“If you’re Alec Ingold, you’re also a state championship caliber wrestler in high school, a big, strong guy who maybe couldn’t throw it strong enough at the college level,” longtime radio voice of the Badgers Matt Lepay said. “But he can hit people, he can block, he has good hands and can run the ball.”

Watt’s story echoes much of the same.

He was a highly-touted linebacker and running back recruit coming into college and soon after he came to Madison he was converted. “[Former Head Coach Bret Bielema] asked me to come over and ‘hit that guy on this play,’” Watt explained. “It wasn’t like we had meetings or anything. I just went over and did it and he said ‘alright we can work with that.’”

The lack of high school players forces college teams intent on utilizing a fullback to become creative.

Former Badger fullback and assistant strength and conditioning coach Bradie Ewing said that it’s incredibly difficult to recruit with the sole intent of placing the player at fullback and a lot of those that end up there do so thanks to pure chance.

“If you look at myself, we had a fullback leave the program when I was a running back,” Ewing said. “Mickey Turner was playing a fullback-tight end role at the time, and it gave me the opportunity to develop under him.”

He also stressed the importance of having a role model like Turner to watch and learn from. It’s rare for a fullback to have a perfect mentor because as time has gone on they have become rarer and rarer.

A Badger tradition For many offensive schemes across varying levels of football, the position has been all but relegated to little more than a more mobile auxiliary offensive lineman.

“The fullback is a dying breed,” Ewing said.

“It’s become something that is unique to a few professional teams and a few college teams.”

One of those few teams is Wisconsin, who’ve become one of the last safe havens for fullbacks who are battling to stay off of the endangered species list.

From Martin to Ewing to Watt and now Ingold,

it’s become more than just a coincidence that fullbacks have thrived at Camp Randall.

“It’s a tradition that they’re pretty proud of,” Lepay said. “They don’t apologize for it. They’ve been blessed through the years to have a lot of great fullbacks over the years.”

This lineage is almost impossible to ignore.

There seems to be a theme of solidarity among fullbacks, who have formed somewhat of a fraternity as a result of their shared experiences in the unique role, keeping tabs on their peers and feeling a vicarious sense of gratification when they see one of their own make a big play.

“We’re all wired pretty similarly,” Ewing said.

“It’s cool having been in that position, knowing those that have come before me and have come after.”

And fans have begun to really take to the comparably significant role the position holds in the offense.

There have been “Fullback-U” and “Fullback City” T-shirts printed in their honor.

“Wisconsin definitely celebrates it more than most places,” Ewing noted.

Simply a trip up to the press box during a game in Madison can shed plenty of light on its popularity. There is seldom a third-and-short that goes by that excited murmurs about a fullback dive cannot be overheard from journalists neglecting to preserve their supposed impartiality, instead rooting in low tones for each first down picked up

by Ingold.

They have good reason. It’s rare in the whole of sports for a team to be able to run a play the way the Badgers run the fullback dive. The other team almost surely knows what’s coming, and the Badgers are more often than not completely derelict in any presumed duty to throw them off the scent.

Yet it works time and time again.

“A lot of times, in general, the defense can know what play we can be running but we take it upon ourselves to be more prepared, more physical so we can win that play with them knowing what we have coming,” Ewing said There’s also an element of the strategy that nodoubt lies beyond its success on the field, but also in the mind of the opponent.

It is humiliating for a defense to know what’s coming and be powerless to stop it. Being able to capitalize on a gut-punch like that will always give the Badgers an edge.

“You wanna prove you’re tougher than your opponent, and that’s a great way to do it,” Lepay said.

Twelve games into the 2018 season, Ingold is averaging a touchdown on slightly more than every four touches.

Lepay credits some of Ingold’s success in particular to his wrestling background.

“If you’re a wrestler you understand leverage and Alec gets that,” Lepay said. “If you need two yards, he’ll get you three or four.”

But the success didn’t begin with Ingold, and I would be willing to wager that it won’t end with him either.

Some of it must come from the myriad running threats the Badgers boast, particularly this season.

They have arguably the best running back in the nation in Jonathan Taylor, a top-end power back in Taiwan Deal, a pleasantly productive Garrett Groshek as well as the option to use receivers like Danny Davis or Kendric Pryor for positive yardage in jet sweeps.

Though the defense may know Ingold is getting the ball up the middle in some situations, they still must respect the talent surrounding him.

Growing recognition While at Wisconsin the fullback cult is growing, elsewhere many are far more oblivious to the Badger’s quest to save the fullback.

It’s not at all uncommon to hear slanderous language with regard to the protagonists of our story. Many see the big guy in the backfield and immediately leap to maligned assertions that they must not be athletic, or that the position has no place in today’s game.

Lepay thinks this comes from the multiple uses for the players, so they aren’t thought of as excellent in a specific area.

“A lot of it is not very sexy,” Lepay said.“But it doesn’t mean that you can’t carry the ball or touch the ball out of the backfield.”

Last year’s Orange Bowl was as close to football heaven as it gets for the fullback community. It should really be honored as a holiday of sorts. I have faith that years from now fullbacks everywhere will gather around their shrine to Jim Brown and Mike Tolbert to commemorate the day Austin Ramesh changed the world.

Dec. 30, 2017 at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami was the backdrop to an event of biblical proportions.

Badgers quarterback Alex Hornibrook dropped back to pass in the midst of the second quarter.

Looking right, he hits Ramesh on a flat route.

A Miami defender settles in a yard before the first-down marker, awaiting a chance to tackle the fleet-footed fullback.

Much to the surprise of everyone, Ramesh did the unthinkable, leaping over the defender and gaining the new set of downs.

It was the fullback equivalent of the moon landing: “One small step for a fullback, one giant leap for fullback kind.”

“It shocks people,” Lepay said of the hurdle heard ‘round the world. “People think a fullback from Wisconsin can’t jump over a phone book.”

There really is no way to classify the fullback in a grouping. They’re the Swiss Army knife. The jackof-all-trades. They’re fullbacks, there just isn’t any other way to put it.

“If you think of one position that is just football in general, you think of fullback,” Ewing said.

“Though, I’m a little biased.”

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Men’s basketball: Badgers find spark from Trice’s shooting, distributing D’Mitrik Trice was a break-out star his freshman year, and his return has fueled the Badger’s early season hot streak

by Justin Mielke Sports Writer

As the 2018-19 University of Wisconsin Men’s basketball season has gotten off to an excellent start, the return of redshirt sophomore guard D’Mitrik Trice has been a major boon.

After missing the final 23 games of the season last year due to an injured right foot that required surgery, Trice looks ready to lead the Badgers back to the NCAA tournament after missing the big dance for the first time since 1998.

“The mentality I have coming into this year is much different than I have had in previous years,” Trice said after being named a captain on this year ’s team.

Trice was granted a medical hardship waiver by the NCAA for last season after competing in only 10 games before injury.

Questions about Trice’s future production loomed heading into the season but were quickly dismissed after the first game when he sunk five three-pointers, tallying 21 total points.

Part of Trice’s success has been due to his determination to stay healthy.

“I still do rehab every day, and I still see [Athletic Trainer Enrique “Henry” PerezGuerra] every day,” Trice said.

But the biggest factor contributing to his success was visiting family and getting back to the basics.

“My confidence is at an all-time high, that has a lot to do with going back home this summer and working on my craft,” Trice said. The sophomore guard is averaging 16.8 points per game, 3.5 rebounds per game and 2.3 assists per game through the first six games of the season.

The place that Trice is really leaving his mark is from beyond the arc where his three-point shooting has been silky smooth.

“I have been working with trainers, my dad and my brother. With them constantly staying in my ear, my confidence is at an all-time high,” the sophomore captain said.

Through the first three games, Trice was shooting 65 percent (13-20 on three-point

FGs), including a perfect performance where he made all five of the threepointers he attempted on the road against Xavier. Now after six games, Trice is still shooting an excellent 57.1 percent, and has connected on 20 of his 35 three-point attempts.

Trice set his career-high this season against the Oklahoma Sooners when he knocked down seven consecutive threepoint shots to propel the Badgers to a victory over the Sooners. He only missed on his eighth attempt of the game which would have tied the school record for three-pointers in a game previously set by Bronson Koenig, who made eight in 2017 against Virginia Tech. Trice finished the game with 25 points while shooting 61.5 percent (8-11 FGs), that was already Trice’s third 20-point game of the season.

As long as Trice is shooting the ball, good things have been happening for the Badgers. The Badgers are 4-0 when Trice makes a three, and they are 1-1 when Trice does not. In the loss against Virginia, Trice only had two shots from beyond the arc, he

Photo · Trice has been lights out from beyond the arc this season, filling a gap that was a major flaw for last year’s team.

Daniel Yun The Badger Herald

missed both and finished with five points in the loss. Every other game this season Trice has shot at least five three-pointers and in those games he is averaging 19.2 points per game and the Badgers are 5-0.

“It is a long season, there [are] going to be some ups and downs but if we stay on this continued path then we can be a really great team and shock the world,” Trice said.

All of the production that Trice is bringing to the table is allowing the Badgers to elevate their all-around game as a team. For starters, the Badgers now have an experienced point guard who knows how to control the tempo of the game and can run the Wisconsin offense well.

“I need to do what good point guards need to do, and that is making everyone around me better, whether that is me knocking down shots, finding an open guy or staying in people’s ears,” Trice said.

More importantly, Wisconsin now has a major weapon to help free up forward Ethan Happ in the post.

“He can make plays with the ball, it kind of takes pressure off of my shoulders where I can get a couple easy looks at the rim,” Happ said of his teammate Trice.

Last season without Trice on the floor, opposing teams would double-team Happ on the majority of Wisconsin’s possessions which caused major offensive struggles for the Badgers.

Without the help of Trice, the Badgers finished 15-18 and missed the tournament for the first time in 19 years. The Badgers finished the year with 353 turnovers and 543 fouls while shooting only 33.5 percent from the three-point line. Trice’s injury, however, might have been a blessing in disguise for the young Badgers as it forced a lot of young guys such as Brad Davison and Nate Reuvers to grow up quickly.

“The biggest thing is experience, experience goes a long way for younger guys. We still have a young team, but they were put in the fire last year, so that helps a lot,” Happ said.

It might have been ugly last season, but it was all part of the process which is now paying off. The Badgers are off to a 5-1 start and currently ranked No. 22 in the country.

With Trice and Happ leading the charge for Wisconsin, the team’s chemistry and production are back to where they should be.

“We want to be back at the top of the Big Ten,” Happ added, and that goal is well in reach with Trice back running the point.

November 27, 2018 • badgerherald.com • 19

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Women’s basketball: Badger senior assists on and off court

Since Richardson walked on as a sophomore, her impact in the community and on her teammates has been undeniable

by Jessie Gutschow Sports Writer

Wisconsin Badgers fifth-year senior Lexy Richardson is leaving a lasting impression not only on her fellow teammates but on the community as a whole while raising the standards for collegiate athletes everywhere.

Richardson came to University of Wisconsin with no intentions of being a student athlete but knew she wanted to be around her favorite sport — basketball.

“The head manager at the time had gone to high school with me so I contacted her and became a manager my freshman year so I knew the coaches and the girls at that point,” Richardson said.“I had played pick-up games with the girls when they needed an extra sub so they had all seen me play.”

As the team began facing a growing number of injuries, the coaching staff encouraged Richardson to try out.

“The first few times I played with them in pick-up, I felt really nervous because I didn’t think I could compete,” Richardson said. “But they were all super nice and welcoming and wanted me to do well ...

I think they saw potential in me which really helped me see my own potential too ... It really boosted my confidence a lot and helped me believe I could actually play.”

Richardson quickly became a team contributor and a force to be reckoned with on the court. One September day, her career as a Badger took an unforgettable turn.

“We went to watch film one day ... and coach started talking about the legacy of walk-ons here at UW and pulling up pictures of people who ended up making a difference outside of Wisconsin,” Richardson said.“Then, he pulled up my picture and told me I was being presented with a scholarship ... The whole team was excited around me and when I turned around, I saw that he had invited my entire family to see it and it was just a really cool moment.”

She fully embraced her new position as a team leader and felt empowered to take advantage of all the opportunities that being a collegiate athlete had to offer. Currently, 44 percent of all student athletes in the NCAA volunteer around their community. Richardson however, is leading the women’s basketball team in volunteer hours and says she tries to give back to her community once or twice per week.

“It’s such a cool opportunity and we

really can help change kid’s lives,” she said. “It makes you feel so good that you can brighten someone’s day just a little bit ... It’s just fun to get out into the community and do something outside of basketball that really helps make a difference.”

Richardson goes to Randall Elementary School every Wednesday to participate in the Classroom Buddies program.

Classroom Buddies matches an athlete with a particular student who requires a little extra help and guidance in certain subjects like reading.

She enjoys building relationships with the students she gets to help and feels as though she can offer them guidance beyond the classroom as well. She spoke of a specific fifth-grade girl she’d been helping for a while who had expressed to her that she didn’t really have an interest in going to college or pursuing school for very long. But Richardson was able to offer her college experiences and convince the young girl that she could do anything she set her mind to — even college.

“It’s been fun to really build a relationship with her and get to learn

about her life ... It’s just cool to be able to plant the idea in them of what they can be and how great they can be ... it’s all been really rewarding,” Richardson said.

“It

makes you feel so good you can brighten someone’s day just a little bit.”

Lexy Richardson UW women’s basketball guard The redshirt senior guard is a huge advocate for getting into the community as much as possible. She believes it really helps her put life into perspective.

She thinks it’s easy “to get caught up in everyday things that maybe aren’t going your way ... but every time I go

and volunteer, none of that stuff seems to matter.”

Many people find it hard to believe that a D1 student athlete would have time to go out and volunteer as much as Richardson does but she fully believes that anyone can make time for the things they want to make time for. She dedicates almost all of her down time to volunteering and said that she is still enjoys everyday to the fullest.

She plans on becoming a pediatric physical therapist and views her time with the kids as precious experience for her future career. She hopes that with these experiences she’ll be able to view her future career not as a job but as just another opportunity to give back.

“When I leave here, I want people to just think of me as a good person ... helping teammates and friends on and off the court,” Richardson said.

She will be leaving a lasting impression on not only her teammates but on every single person she has dedicated her time to off the court — Lexy Richardson has set the bar even higher for all current and future UW athletes.

Photo · Despite limited minutes on the court for the Badgers, Richardson has found plenty of other ways to play an even greater role.

Courtesy of UW Athletics November 27, 2018 • badgerherald.com • 21

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Changed my username so I could make a more “professional” Twitter account :’( riley

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If you aren’t checking out what your high school classmates did for their tinder bios over Thanksgiving break, you’re doing it wrong.

Angela Peterson @angiepetey

Might start texting people “fuck I’m close” when I’m almost to their house chloe

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If your pants were buttoned during Thanksgiving dinner, you did yourself a massive disservice Ryan Jackson @ryjack29

I just watched someone....pour cream and sugar....into their latte....and I just....I don’t even know how to formulate a sentence about how strange it made me feel kayla

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I need to crack my entire body

Kleah Danielle @claysterrrr

Another annual turkey trot fueled by alcohol from last night and a granola bar Liv

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I told a guy “I’m tired but my place is a mess” and he deadass goes “your place? a mess? never” and I feel so offended omg... lavender menace @krisdicaprio

Doing laundry late at night so I’m forced to stay awake and study #samehabitdifferentcountry

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Ope! Gonna sneak this article right past ya as I get published

I’m sorry, I’m just a no good, clumsy block of text with no morals, didn’t mean to disturb the other articles in print

by Angela Peterson

Banter Editor

Ope! Didn’t see this half page of the newspaper here.

I’m really sorry to be occupying this space, ya know? Twenty-four whole pages in this newspaper and this little joke story is going to take up a whole half-a-page.

Now that doesn’t seem too bad at first gumption, but that’s 1/48 of this whole newspaper. Taking out a page for the front cover, another for the table of contents and a third for the inevitable in-house ad on the back page, it’s clear my little spot here is a little too big for its britches in relation to the rest of the real news in this publication.

I would like to make a more formal apology to the countless pieces I’ve pushed to digital publication because of my mere existence, but sadly I am mute as a mixture of ink and paper.

It’s taking all of my might simply force an “Ope!” to emerge from my fantastical mouth.

I, the article, not only had to sneak past the mushy, ineloquent brain of my writer but then two levels of editorial management. My writer’s brain is the easiest to sneak right past, as she has the misfortune of writing this when the Badgers are trailing 23 points to Minnesota.

Thiz many meak sum ov mhyr words kinde bblurry from the teras, but hopefully copy will catch it. That may not happen if I’m super sneaky though.

Some may not be aware, but I was a brown belt in karate in my youth, before I was pushed into the hard world of print journalism. People may say this leads to an extra sneak factor which will help me make it into the paper, but I think it’ll take a little extra oomph to sneak right on past each reader.

Ope! Didn’t see that new paragraph there.

Might’ve tripped a little bit on indent but no injuries were sustained. Gee whiz I am a lucky

ducky to dodge a paper cut there.

Some may say, “Hey article, if you’re trying to be sneaky, why oh why are you so dang long?” That is a question I cannot answer.

Well, actually, maybe I can. My other satire article comrades established a clear 650-word minimum to take up and justify our spot in the paper. Now, this might make us a little rambly at times, but doesn’t a good ramble add on to Midwestern charm?

Yes, I do identify as midwestern despite being an inanimate block of text, as I am in a purely midwestern publication. Just look at our opinion section, we publish at least one dairyrelated piece a week. Just think, if I wasn’t here, we might have two published a week! I dig this wholesome content all day.

Ope! I’m sorry! The football recap just bumped into me on its way through copy. It more or less maliciously knocked me over, but I’ll still say I’m sorry like it’s my fault. Have to show my hospitality. Maybe I’ll make that

article a casserole as an apology. I’ll throw in extra cheesy potatoes to show my sincerest regret of being the article they bumped into.

Oh boy, it’s going to be a little bit of a long journey before I’m able to just exist and no longer have to sneak past anything. After all, there are four other sections of content I have to live with before our lovely managing editor has to read me. Of course, I am patient to be read at his leisure. I’ll happily be pushed aside for another concert review or a comical football article. I must admit, sometimes those sports pieces give me a good chuckle. Har-de-har.

Ope! My laugh accidentally made me shift the page numbers in this week’s issue. I think I better go wrangle up those numbers so our paper looks pristine come press time. These are the times when I wish I was in the paper with eight pages instead of 24, takes a lot less time to rearrange those numbers since there’s so few.

Ope! Gotta sneak right past ya as I go get those. I’ll be back in a sec!

Thanksgiving nap receives acclaim, garners award buzz

A strong supporting cast with great direction praiseworthy in Thanksgiving break premiere of stellar napping abilities

by Angela Peterson Banter Editor

Many feature films are receiving widespread acclaim this holiday season as they compete to snag coveted award nominations. Through this hustle and bustle, one of the most exciting events of the year has widely gone unnoticed. This is a shame, as this event stirs emotions and brings many to make a difference in the world.

Last Thursday, I, Angela Marie Lucia Peterson, took respite on my familial couch and napped there for two straight hours.

It was a glorious affair in part due to splendid performances by my couch, the sherpa blanket I was wrapped in and myself.

To get the obvious out of the way, I did a fine job of lying practically motionless for two hours. It really was a treat for the audience, which mostly consisted of broken picture frames from when the siding was replaced on my house and my adorable Shetland sheepdog, Patti LuPaw. Despite her inability to speak, I could tell by Patti’s charming grin my recumbent figure was fascinating and a factor in a piece of fine art.

Of course, I couldn’t carry such a magnificent performance on my own. A great supporting cast helped to create a nap for all time. It would take countless hours to

recognize the entire cast and crew of my life who have made my insomnia so insufferable I needed to take such a long nap, so I would only like to recognize the achievements of those immediately involved with the production of my nap.

First, a special shoutout to the six pieces of turkey I ate prior to my nap. The tender white meat with crispy golden brown edges created the perfect medley of tryptophan and calories to soothe my body into a deep state of slumber. I couldn’t have done this nap without the turkey’s martyrdom. In fact, an in memoriam section scrolled through my mind at the end of my dream in order to honor his noble plight.

The couch truly supported me in all ways throughout my performance. This couch is a marked improvement over the couch in my Madison abode, as currently one of its legs sits detached from the sofa, unscrewed from any semblance of support. Upholstered to a fine degree, the couch also provided visual stimulation to onlookers while I snoozed away.

Blankets come in many different varieties, thus creating an important decision for the artistic napper when crafting a performance.

Some yearning for traditional vibes may choose a quilted blanket, whereas rustic participants may opt for a straw blanket. I chose a lovely sherpa-lined blanket to be my scene partner due to its ultimate warmth and

comfort, creating a dynamic duo for the evening which could not be forgotten.

Working as an ensemble, the team created a highly effective performance work. The nap had a few suspenseful moments, as each slight budge made it seem as if I would awaken soon.

Guarded by the warmth of my blanket, I appeared to be in heavenly peace throughout the entire evening.

While, again, the audience was sparse, the show garnered a rave review from Patti the dog, as her raucous cheers in the form of barks awoke me from my slumber. My mother was also impressed I failed to help out in any way with the Thanksgiving festivities for those two hours due to my nap.

The exhibition, while not universally praised, still looks like a success in my book.

Anticipate repeat engagements on Christmas Day, New Year ’s Day and Casimir Pulaski Day, where hopefully more of the public can enjoy the fine artistry which goes into each and every one of my naps.

Photo · A student lounges in their Thanksgiving nap formation.

Riley Steinbrenner The Badger Herald

November 27, 2018 • badgerherald.com • 23

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