Did you miss it? Catch up on the news from Feb. 6 - Feb. 8
The earthquake spread over 100 kilometers, and people are still being pulled out from beneath rubble three days later. As of Wednesday evening, more than 11,000 people have been reported dead. This has been called the deadliest earthquake in
Feb. 7: In the hour-plus long speech, Biden spoke on the well-being of the United States, addressing issues such as the economy, recent tragedies such as the Tyre Nichols killing, America’s involvement with Ukraine, rising tensions with China and the divide between Democrats and Republicans within the U.S. government, urging the two sides to work together to “finish the job.”
Feb. 6: The Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League (CFL) announced Feb. 6 they have signed former Ball State Football defensive lineman Christian Albright. Albright is coming off a stint with the Chicago Bears as an undrafted free agent in 2022. During his time with the Cardinals, Albright was a two-time All-MAC selection.
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Feb. 6: Ball State University President Geoffrey S. Mearns introduced Jeff Mitchell as the new athletics director Feb. 6 in a press conference. Mitchell is the former deputy director of athletics at the University of Southern Mississippi, and he has also worked at the University of Santa Clara as the senior associate athletic director for external operations
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In the February 2, 2023, edition of the Ball State Daily News, an incorrect caption was used on the front cover. The photo actually showcased Hailey Maupin and students, not Erin Eads.
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CHANCE OF SHOWERS
Hi: 59º
Lo: 34º
FLURRIES POSSIBLE
THIS WEEK: Milder conditions expected for most of the week with temperatures in the 50s to low 60s. Showers are possible with the mild temperatures. Colder weather will return by the end of the week with potential for snow showers.
START CHECKING, FROM DAY ONE.
Waking Up with Cardinal Weather is Ball State University’s first and only morning mobile show focused on getting your ready for the day through local news, weather and lifestyle trends. Waking Up with Cardinal Weather airs every Friday morning at 8 a.m. at @cardinalwx live on Facebook.
Ball State University Police Department (UPD) received the report of the aggravated assault Feb. 6, but the incident was reported to have happened Feb. 4. It occurred in the Scheidler Apartments parking area around 11:15 a.m. The victim reported the attacker attempted to force the victim into the attacker’s car. If anyone has information regarding the case, call UPD at 765285-1111.
Two men were arrested Feb. 6 in connection to Laura Mitchell’s death. Indiana State Police and Noble County’s Sheriff arrested Fred Bandy Jr., 67, of Goshen, Indiana, and John Wayne Lehman, 67, of Auburn, Indiana. The case was solved 47 years and six months after it happened. Both men were charged with one count of murder and are in Noble County jail without bond.
On Feb. 7, Richard Allen filed a motion to postpone his Feb. 17 hearing, which was for Judge Frances Gull to determine if Allen gets bond or not. Gull was planning to change Allen’s trial date in the hearing as well from March 20. Gull has not ruled on Allen’s motion. Allen’s defense claims in the motion they haven’t received all of the evidence against Allen.
Reporter
Three to four inches of water. Baseboards ruined. Ceiling tiles broken. Burst pipes.
It was a heating system failure that caused Robert Bell to flood over winter break. The building uses a radiation-type heating system to keep it warm in the winter. This takes water heated through the pipes to then be radiated out into the room.
“There were three spots where the water in the pipes froze and expanded,” James Lowe, the associate vice president for facilities planning and management at Ball State, said. “It burst the pipe, and when it heats up, we have the water leak. It freezes, bursts, the pipe comes warm again, boom, water starts flooding.”
Lowe thinks because it was in three spots, one location might have caused the other two locations that were frozen to heat up and burst.
The flooding took place on the second floor where a majority of the English department offices are. Subsequently, the water flooded the second floor and ruined a good amount of ceiling tiles and baseboards on the first floor.
One of the staff members affected was Sean Lovelace, chair of the department of English and professor of English. His administrative office (RB 297) was damaged in the flood.
While eating on Christmas Day, Lovelace got a call from his dean, Maureen McCarthy. She said Robert Bell was actively flooding. Lovelace received videos of the water inches high on the second floor.
“It really impacted the professors whose offices were on the second floor because you can imagine you come off the holidays, and you’re preparing for the semester,” Lovelace said. “It just adds another stressor, like you can’t get in your office. There are so many blowers and fans, they pretty much had to do their prep away from their offices.”
Even if some offices were flooded and caused a delay to prepare for spring semester planning, Lovelace couldn’t say enough how thankful he was for the people who helped solve the problems.
“I saw the people working over the Christmas holidays when I came here several times,” Lovelace said. “With the facilities and custodial people, we’re really grateful for their work.”
Deborah Mix, professor of English and assistant chair of programs, was also affected by the flood.
“We didn’t have any personal items really in the assistant chair’s office, and so we didn’t [lose anything],” Mix said. “The office is torn up, but we
Mix said the walls were damaged from the bottom by about six to eight inches and accredited the staff and facilities for making things go as smoothly as possible.
Jill Christman, who is a professor in creative writing and director of the creative writing program, did lose some personal belongings.
Christman is also the senior editor of two literary magazines, “River Teeth” and “Beautiful Things.”
“I had a stack of banker’s boxes on one side because I didn’t have enough room in my filing cabinets,” Christman said. “The bottom one collapsed, and because the water got to about a foot and a half high in there, once it collapsed, the rest of the boxes collapsed. I lost a lot of things. I lost a lot of books, but the thing that kind of broke my heart was that I had a box of files that were my files for when I first started teaching creative nonfiction, my very first classes here at Ball State back in 2002.”
Christman has three offices in Robert Bell. One is her personal faculty office in RB270, an office for the director of creative writing in RB282 and lastly RB283, an immersive-learning office where most of the work goes on for the literary magazines.
Christman said she has been continuing to teach her classes with as much energy, enthusiasm and humor as she can. Nevertheless, it has been a challenge.
Ball State officials hired Hays and Sons, an outside contractor, to deal with the situation.
“They have more fans and humidifiers than we have,” Lowe said. “They provide us with service when it goes beyond our normal complement
It just adds another stressor, like you can’t get in your office. There are so many blowers and fans, they pretty much had to do their prep away from their offices.”
- SEAN LOVELACE, Chair of the department of English and professor of EnglishThe first priority for Lowe and the department was to ensure classrooms were ready to go and usable when school started Jan. 9. The second goal was to work hard to ensure faculty offices were being put back together, so they were usable again. Lowe said via email it is too early to tell how much the damage will cost.
This is not the first flood in Robert Bell. In early November 2018, there was another, that time on the fourth floor, but it also coincided with ceiling tiles on the third floor being damaged and falling through, similar to the most recent flood.
The incident in 2018 was due to a contractor who was testing exterior fire hydrants along McKinley Avenue. It caused pressure in the pipes leading into the building, and the ruptured section was within Robert Bell.
“For us, a 1984-86 building isn’t all that old,” Lowe said, referring to Robert Bell. “When we renovate, which we will someday down the road, it could be years and years from now, we will certainly look at a more robust heating system for that building, but I don’t believe it was because of the age of the system. It was just incredibly cold.”
Contact Elijah Poe with comments at elijah. poe@bsu.edu or on Twitter @ElijahPoe4.
Since its creation, the internet has seemingly been a land of possibility, but possibility is not always benevolent.
According to the 2021 report of the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), Indiana alone had 11,399 victims of cyber crime and a total of over $60 million in losses.
However, people are not completely defenseless on the internet with a rising hero on the scene ready to save the day—cybersecurity.
“Without cybersecurity, the internet would just be the Wild West,” Sam Looney, second-year applied cybersecurity major, said. “It is essential to a functioning internet, which is essential to a functioning world nowadays.”
Looney is one of more than 20 students in Ball State University’s new major, applied cybersecurity, that rolled out last fall. The idea for the major, however, started much earlier.
David Hua, associate director of undergraduate programs and interim director of the Center for Information and Communication Sciences at Ball State, and Lt. Colonel Kelly Rosenberger, former chair of Ball State’s military science department, began talking about creating a cybersecurity major over six years ago. Originally, the idea was for cadets to be trained for the U.S. Army’s new cyber command division, Hua said.
From the attacker’s perspective, it is finding a path that may not be defended well. From the defense, it is finding every possible route and increasing defenses before the attacker finds them first.
The game is high stakes, which is why Hua implemented a competition each semester for students to test their skills in a simulated situation. Those in the major are required to participate.
“It has you try and crack passwords and crack ciphers,” Looney said. “It is super interesting. I’ve only been to one training session, but I’m super excited.”
Another applied cybersecurity first-year student, Ke’Juan Smith, who is a part of the group that Hua helps practice for the competition, shared Looney’s excitement.
“I am actually excited about it,” Smith said. “[Hua] wants to do some courses and help us practice, and I really appreciate that. I just gotta find time in my schedule to actually go, but I plan on it.”
The competition is not just for applied cybersecurity majors, especially as some have already been participating. Brooke Bonek, thirdyear computer technology major with minors in business administration and technical theatre, is especially involved with these competitions as the vice president of the Computer Technology Student Organization.
“You’re basically put into a scenario that you would actually do in real life,” Bonek said. “You’re assigned a task by the group that runs the competition, and you have to analyze this network traffic page or look at this website and figure out how you can exploit it if you’re doing more of an offensive security type thing. It shows you what you expect to do when you actually go out into the real world and do your job.”
The competition by the National Cyber League (NCLA) creates “a safe environment for students to practice their cybersecurity skills,” according to their website.
According to a 2018 study by Information Systems Audit and Control Association, an organization focused on the industry, they found those who do not identify as white or Caucasian make up only 26 percent of the cybersecurity workforce. Women in the field make up little more than half of that number at 14 percent of the workforce.
“It’s been a lot of just myself, or like there’s been one or two other girls on the very first day, and then they end up dropping out,” Bonek said. “I’ve learned how to stick through it and make sure I can show these guys that not just guys can do it. I definitely feel like I’ve been able to show what I can do.”
Smith also shared his own frustrations and hopes for the future of diversity for the field.
“I’ve seen a wide array of people that are not the usual archetype in this field,” Smith said. “I feel like it should be like that. Every field should be able to have that flexibility and not be constrained to only, ‘You can have that job, or you can have this job.’ You should have whatever job you want to be in with the field you choose.”
Smith also had a piece of advice for any student interested in the field.
“Especially early on, if you’re struggling, really try to persevere. Stick it out because it’s a payoff thing,” Smith said. “If you like math, it’s kind of like that. It requires a lot of critical thinking, and when you finally figure out the solution to a problem, it’s very satisfying. If you like that kind of thing, you should really stick with this major.”
Students interested in the on-campus or online cybersecurity major can find more information on Ball State’s website. Students of all majors interested in participating in the NCLA competition can contact Hua for more information. Contact Abigail Denault with comments via email at abigail.denault@bsu.edu.
“Last summer, we finally got approval from the state to offer the new applied cybersecurity degree, both as an on-campus major as well as an online only major,” Hua said. “By the beginning of fall semester, without any advertising, we already had [a] little over 20 enrolled [people] in the program.” Cybersecurity, along with its other STEM counterparts, often gets put into a box, but Hua is seeking to do just the opposite with students.
“A big part of what we’re going to be trying to do with the students is to get them to think outside the box all the time,” Hua said. “Maybe not even pay attention to the most obvious path. Not to ignore it, but when you’re looking at it from an attacker’s perspective, you’re trying to find all these other ways things can be done.”
What exactly does that mean?
As Hua explained, if someone is looking to get to a restaurant in town for dinner, how many paths are there from campus? The job of the major is finding all possible routes to the destination.
There is still an understanding of the importance of the craft, and the demand for cybersecurity is high. With that, there are benefits.
“There’s the stereotypical image of this lone person sitting alone in a dark space with a hoodie on typing code outs, and while there’s still some of that, that’s not the majority of what’s happening anymore. It’s organized crime,” Hua said. “It’s being organized by nation states. We’ve got cyber warfare occurring between countries. There is a huge demand globally, and job potential is just enormous. If you have any kind of cyber skills, especially if you’re willing to relocate, you can go just about anywhere.”
The stereotypes of this rising industry have led to a glass ceiling, as women and people of color are often not as represented. Hua explained his hope for the future of the program as he looks at his first class of cybersecurity majors, who are beyond the imagery of white young men in hoodies behind a computer.
Though enrollment is not high early on, Ball State’s new applied cybersecurity degree has inspired those who are in the program.
Without cybersecurity, the internet would just be the Wild West.”
- SAM LOONEY, Second-year applied cybersecurity majorSam Looney, second-year applied cybersecurity major, poses for a portrait Feb. 3 inside the Applied Technology Building. AMBER PIETZ, DN
11,467 anti-Asian hate incidents have been reported to Stop AAPI Hate from March 2020-March 2022.
67% incidents reported were forms of
When the words “China Virus” and “Kung Flu” came out of former President Donald Trump’s mouth, he didn’t believe it caused more risk of violence toward Asian Americans, according to the Associated Press. Yet as of August 2021, 9,000 incidents of anti-Asian hate have been reported, according to AAPI Hate Crimes. A month into 2023, violent incidents of anti-Asian hate continue to plague the United States.
Lunar New Year is one of the most celebrated holidays in China. A shooter killed 11 people and injured others during a Lunar New Year celebration Jan. 21, according to the Associated Press. While this incident happened in California, anti-Asian hate happened much closer to Ball State University. According to the Associated Press, an 18-year-old Asian Indiana University student was stabbed on a Bloomington bus.
17% of Asian hate incidents
Source: Stop AAPI Hate
After these two violent incidents of Asian hate occurred, Christian Avila, first-year Ball State English education major and treasurer for the Asian Student Union (ASU), said he felt uneasy about going out into public. He said he usually feels protected from antiAsian hate because he is taller than most Filippinos but still felt unsafe after these incidents.
“[I go] out into public and walk around, and I just don’t know whether some dude is going to come up from behind me, or some giant lady is going to just hit me in the head,”
Avila said. “The Lunar New Year shooting and the stabbing in Bloomington [caused] my mom [to] reach out to me immediately after it happened asking, ‘Are you OK?’”
Avila said he has experienced a few microaggressions at Ball State, but he generally feels safe on campus. However, he said he feels different when he ventures off campus.
“If I’m in the main campus, I feel very safe, but the moment I step off going toward the Village, is where it gets a little bit [scary],” Avila said. “[I start] to hear things like people passing me by [and] looking at me. I was walking down the road by the Teachers College, and then some dude just said ‘Asian B-word’ [to me].”
While Avila has had negative experiences as a student on and off Ball State’s campus, YoungAh Lee, strategic communication coordinator and public relations professor, said she has had a positive time as a Ball State professor. She said her time spent in professional work settings protected her from any discrimination or hate she could face. She said she is surrounded by colleagues and allies who can appreciate her professional competency regardless of her race.
Lee said she has seen progress in accepting people from different backgrounds in the Ball State School of Journalism and Strategic Communication. She said she was one of the first minority and Asian-American faculty members when she started working at Ball State. Since then, she said there is much more diversity in the workplace.
Lee said Asian-Americans are attached to the stereotype that because they have a successful career, they will stay quiet when it comes to Asian hate. She said the new generation of Asian-Americans are trying to break this stereotype and be more vocal about the hate continuously threatening their community. She said she sees this activism and progression in her daughter when she responds to discrimination and hate.
Regardless of the differences in the experiences Ball State’s Asian community has faced, Lee and Avila both said they were well aware of how different they were from other people in their communities. Before moving to Indiana, Avila lived in California, where he said his experience as an Asian-American was positive.
“In California, it was a lot more [accepting],” Avila said. “There was a supermarket for just Filipinos … I’d meet a lot of Filipino people. [In Indiana], it’s very rare to come across anything remotely Filipino. My family tried our best to keep [the Filipino culture]. But in California, we didn’t have to try so hard. It was always just us no matter where we went.”
Avila said the small population of Asian students on campus has affected him. He said it is hard for him to not have many other people who come from the same background as him.
“My roommate has been my best friend for seven years now, and he’s Caucasian,” Avila said. “I talk to him a lot about the struggles my family goes through … [But] I can’t be as open or share some things that people [like me] would understand [with
The Lunar New Year shooting and the stabbing in Bloomington [caused] my mom [to] reach out to me immediately after it happened asking, ‘Are you OK?’”
- CHRISTIAN AVILA, First-year
other people]. There wasn’t much Asian presence in my life, so I had to actively work hard to find them.”
Avila said he joined ASU to be around people who come from similar backgrounds. ASU meets weekly in Ball State’s Multicultural Center where they celebrate Asian culture.
“I joined [ASU] personally because I thought I’d meet people who are like-minded like me and understand [my background],” Avila said. “[ASU] really tries to interknit the [Asian] community all together. At the same time, we also pay attention to other races. We always try to make sure they understand [Asian] culture.”
Other than ASU, the Ball State Multicultural Center houses other on-campus groups and resources available to students. Gabrielle Lloyd, interim director of the Multicultural Center, said the Multicultural Center’s goals are to provide a safe place on campus for students.
Hana Mühl has made Muncie her new home.410
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Following two matchups for No. 9 Ball State Men’s Volleyball against No. 10 Brigham Young University (BYU) where second-year Tinaishe Ndavazocheva led the team in kills, he was named the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) Offensive Player of the Week. He was also named Off The Block’s nationwide best Outside Attacker of the Week.
Fourth-year Charity Griffith received the Pridemark Construction Athlete of the Week title after a pair of program records set at the Meyo Invitational. The first record broken came after Griffith cleared a program and facility record of 1.88 meters in the high jump. Griffith set another program record later that day in the pentathlon when she earned a score of 4,179.
Third-year pitcher Sam Klein was given a nod from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association as a second team selection. Klein finished the 2022 season as an All-Mid-American Conference first team member and 18th in the nation in saves. Ball State Baseball opens the season Feb. 17 at Charlotte at 3 p.m.
Family.
That is the one word redshirt junior guard Jarron ‘Boogie’ Coleman used to describe the Ball State Men’s Basketball program. “[Ball State] just did a great job of showing me that it was gonna be a family here, and they were gonna help me get better,” Coleman said. “They just invested a lot of time and effort into getting me, so I thought that they wanted me most.”
After two standout seasons with the Cardinals, Coleman departed via the transfer portal to play for Missouri for one year before ultimately deciding to return to his basketball family in Muncie.
Coleman is known to be a very versatile guard who virtually does it all for his team. So far this season, Coleman is averaging a team-high 14.9 points per game to go with 5.1 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.5 steals.
Ball State alumnus and assistant coach Ben Botts said not only has Coleman’s talent improved since he first arrived in Muncie, but his mind and leadership skills have grown as well.
“On the court, his knowledge of the game [has improved], and he’s a very high-IQ guy. He sees plays before they happen,” Botts said. “He can help the rest of our guys, particularly younger guys, like the Payton Sparks’ [sophomore center] of the world who haven’t played as much basketball. Off the court, he’s grown up, he’s more mature.”
Coleman credits Botts for helping his progression as a player.
“Coach Botts, that’s my guy,” Coleman said. “He’s been around since I came in, so that’s my dog … Botts has the resume as a player, so he always tries to come to me and tell me what he sees and what he thinks I should or shouldn’t do, and I always value what he has to bring.”
Junior guard Luke Bumbalough, who began his Ball State career the same time Coleman began his, said when Coleman first left, he was disappointed. Once he knew he would be returning, he knew what the future held for the program.
“[It was] a new challenge and opportunity for him to play at a higher level, but I’m glad he’s back. He called me before he made the decision, and we talked on the phone, and he was like, ‘I’m thinking about coming back,’ and I was like ‘Let’s do it,’ and I was super excited because I know that with him here, we have a chance to go to the tournament,” he said. “We have a chance to be a really good team and bring more fans out.”
After a stint at the University of Missouri, redshirt junior Jarron Coleman wants to help Ball State Men’s Basketball make its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2000.Redshirt junior guard Jarron Coleman goes for a basket in a game against Buffalo Jan. 24 at Worthen Arena. Coleman scored 27 points during the game. AMBER PIETZ, DN
Redshirt junior guard Jarron Coleman dunks the ball in a game against Illinois State at the Indy Classic Dec. 17, 2022, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Coleman scored 16 points during the game. AMBER PIETZ, DN
Botts echoed this mindset, recognizing Coleman’s importance for the Cardinals.
“Jarron and I have been through a lot together, a lot of good times, and we battled through a few things. It’s nice to have him back,” Botts said. “College basketball isn’t easy, but he’s been through four seasons of it now, so it’s nice to have somebody that’s been through it, and he can use not only his talent but his experience as well to help us take the next step this year.”
Following a strong campaign at Cathedral High School in Indianapolis where he was named an Indiana All-Star his junior and senior years, Coleman arrived in Muncie in 2018 and redshirted his freshman season. After sitting out for an entire year, he knew he needed to make the most of his next one.
“My mentality going in was to not make my redshirt year be a waste of time,” he said. “So, I wanted to just come full steam ahead and just not waste our time because I already missed out on a year.”
Coleman kept that promise of making the most of his “freshman” season.
That year, he was named the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Freshman of the Year, and he placed on the MAC All-Freshman team after finishing the season as the highest scoring freshman in conference play. Coleman was an integral part of a Cardinal team that held a share of the MAC West Division title as well as the third seed in the conference tournament, which was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He believes the team could’ve won it that season.
In his redshirt sophomore year, he continued to improve. He averaged around 13.8 points per game to go with 5.2 rebounds on a 47 percent shooting accuracy (42 percent from the 3-point range).
In the first round against the one seed Toledo of the MAC tournament, Coleman went for 33 points, still his career high, in the overtime loss which would prove to be his final game with the Cardinals.
Following the season, he ended up putting his name into the NCAA’s transfer portal, being picked up by the Missouri Tigers of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). There, he started 21 games and led the team in assists.
This lone season with the Tigers was a learning affair for Coleman, and he is bringing back the knowledge he gained to Ball State.
“It was a great experience. I got to experience a lot of different things,” Coleman said. “I had to live a different lifestyle, just being far from home without really coming back. I learned a lot, grew a lot and I hope to bring back my experiences.”
Although Coleman is known for his abilities and talent on the court, he describes himself as “just a guy who wants to have fun and be there for my team, my friends and for my people in general.”
Bumbalough added he was the team joker.
“He’s got a great sense of humor,” Bumbalough said. “He’s always joking around, but on the court, he’s just a playmaker. He does a lot for the team. We can just do a lot of different things with him on the floor.”
While Coleman’s end goal this season is a MAC championship and a subsequent NCAA tournament berth, his ultimate goal is simple.
“Be successful, provide for my family and just be happy.”
Contact Derran Cobb with comments at derran. cobb@bsu.edu or on Twitter @Derran_cobb.
[Ball State] just did a great job of showing me that it was gonna be a family here, and they were gonna help me get better,”
- JARRON COLEMAN, Redshirt junior guardReporter
Around a basketball court, it’s 93,910 laps. That’s how far Hana Mühl is from her hometown of Zagreb, Croatia.
In simpler terms, it’s 4,767 miles. Muncie, Indiana, and her hometown are separated by six time zones and the Atlantic Ocean. Mühl and her family are four of Zagreb’s 806,000 residents.
Mühl comes from a basketball-rich family; both of her parents played, and so does her older sister, Nika Mühl.
Hana believes this is why she originally started playing basketball.
“I think it was genetically determined,” Hana said. “I started playing basketball several years ago because of my sister and just because my whole family was into basketball.”
On the flip side, Hana’s father Darko said he and his wife tried everything they could to get his two daughters away from basketball.
“We know there are a lot of injuries in women’s
Darko said. “We put [Hana] in swimming, tennis, and all the different sports, but she ended up playing basketball just like [Nika].”
Nika is a third-year at the University of Connecticut (UConn) and is on the women’s basketball team there. She is an elite passer and has proved it by leading the NCAA in assists per game with 9.1 per game.
“[Nika is] my role model,” Hana said. “Hers and my basketball style are pretty similar. She always has advice for me when I need it, on and off the court.”
Darko said their relationship growing up was “cat and dog-like,” but now that they’ve grown up, they are closer.
“They learned to live with each other,” Darko said. “Lately, in the last couple of years, they’ve grown to have a really good relationship.”
Hana and Nika share a handful of similarities on the court, and that may be because they both played on the same club team. Both of them are guards who can see the whole court, but at the same time, they’re very resilient.
“They’ll square up,” he said while laughing. “They’re tough kids, like they will foul just because they like the contact. They’re just physical. Both [are] pass-first kids, too. There’s a similar mindset they have that I think is very unselfish, very high IQ kids.”
Growing up playing on the same club basketball team, Hana started to develop a nickname that has grown over time: Baby M.
“Nika was getting lots of attention on social media and by top five and 10 schools,” Darko said. “At that same time, Hana’s recruiting just started, so everyone just started calling her Baby Mühl, and it kinda just developed to Baby M from there. I guess it’s kind of like she’s our baby, the youngest daughter.”
The nickname is embraced by Hana and Nika as Nika has a tattoo that says Baby M in honor of her younger sister.
Hana is not unfamiliar with high-stakes games as she played in the International Basketball Federation. She was part of the U14, U16 and U18 Croatian National teams. In her U18 season, she averaged 13.4 points per game, 3.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.4 steals a game.
“That was my favorite part of playing basketball honestly,” Hana said. “It’s like the best feeling to play and represent your own country. The adrenaline and competitiveness playing with the girls on the highest level and against all the best players over the world is amazing.”
I think it was genetically determined. I started playing basketball several years ago because of my sister and just because my whole family was into basketball.”
- HANA MÜHL, Women’s Basketball freshman guardFreshman Hana Mühl doing the Ball State hand sign in a game against Northern Illinois Feb. 1 at Worthen Arena. Muhl had one assist in the win over the Huskies. BRAYDEN GOINS, DN
The trophy case at Hana’s house is not shy of awards. In 2020 and 2021, she was named part of the All-Star Five, which is an individual award given to the best player in their respective position. She also won two national championships in 2019 and 2021.
Flying across the Atlantic Ocean to the United States and to other countries in Europe is not new to Hana. In 2017, she played in the Women’s American Basketball Association where she won the championship and was named the most valuable player of the championship game.
Hana said the barrier between basketball in Europe and basketball in America is a tough one to break.
“It’s very different,” Hana said. “I’m still adjusting to this type of basketball, and it’s really hard. The style is very different, like the way the game is played.”
In European basketball, the referees tend to hold their whistles longer and not call a foul after initial contact.
“They allow much more contact [in Europe] than they do in the States,” Darko said. “The game is more physical.”
Sallee has picked up on this and has tried to help Hana play the way he wants it played.
“She’s starting to really figure out the way we want the game played in America,” he said. “We’re starting to see the talent come through a little bit.”
Not only are the referees more lenient in Europe, but the role that each position is played is different as well.
“You don’t see people here in Europe like Caitlin Clark,” Darko said. “Yeah, she is amazing, but she wouldn’t be a point guard. Point guards are playmakers here. For example, a point guard is someone like John Stockton who passes more than they shoot. The roles are different here than they are in America.”
Even though Hana is far away from home, she still has people who have her back. Ball State has three other international basketball players that have taken Hana under their wing.
“They’re always here for me when I need help,” Hana said. “They helped me a lot, especially on the super hard days, because we are all so far away from home.”
Hana is seemingly molding into the team extremely well, Sallee said.
“She’s a great personality,” Sallee said. “Her teammate[s love] her genuineness. You get exactly what you see.”
Hana is always on the court smiling, dancing or making faces at her teammates. The Cardinals get to see a bit of Hana’s personality when she is on the court.
“She’s a happy camper,” Darko said.
The recruiting process for Hana was fairly unusual as she was originally committed to Illinois, but following a coaching change, she decommitted and opened her recruiting back up.
“I was over in Europe recruiting. I was watching stuff over there, and I saw her play,” Sallee said, “Clearly, we liked what we saw then. As all the recruiting stuff was taking place, she moved pretty quick and committed to Illinois.”
A little over a year went by, and Illinois went through a change and Hana decommitted. Following the decommitment, Sallee was fast to recruit her.
She’s a great personality. Her teammate[s love] her genuineness. You get exactly what you see.”
- BRADY“When they had the coaching change, and she went and decommitted, I mean, we reached out and got ahold of her dad and got the ball rolling,” Sallee said.
The decision to come to Ball State wasn’t easy for Hana.
“It was hard, but it wasn’t at the same time,” Darko said. “The coach didn’t say ‘You can’t come here,’ but Hana just wasn’t in their plan, so she decommitted and tried to find another home, and thankfully she did.”
Though the decision may have been a little tough, Hana is enjoying her time at Ball State.
“I’m super happy to be here because [Sallee] definitely knows a lot, and I think it shows,” Hana said. “He puts the pieces together really well and has done well this season. I think that we will do pretty well. I mean, we already are doing good.”
Sallee has used what UConn Women’s Basketball’s head coach Geno Auriemma has said about Nika and connected it to Hana.
“It’s funny, you listen to Geno talk about Nika, and a lightbulb goes off in my head as I’m learning to coach Hana,” Sallee said.
Coach Sallee said Hana has transitioned well onto the team.
“She’s been good to compete against Ally [fellow player],” Sallee said. “She can get up in her face and guard her and play her hard.”
With over half a season under her belt, Hana has plenty of time to keep developing and growing her game. Averaging just 9.8 minutes a game, her stats almost mirror her sister Nika’s first-year season at UConn, who averaged 24.4 minutes a game. If you take the number of minutes played and make them equal to each other, Nika and Hana’s stats would be roughly the same.
Hana has adapted to not only her basketball team but also American culture. Her favorite place to eat in America is Panda Express.
“I had it yesterday and will have it today,” Hana said.
The smiles and laughs Hana has on the court don’t go unnoticed by her coach.
“[Hana] is a great personality on the team, and it will be fun to watch her grow and develop as a player,” Sallee said.
Contact Brayden Goins at brayden.goins@bsu. edu or on Twitter @b_goins14.
SALLEE, Ball State head coachFreshman Hana Mühl shoots a jumper in an exhibition game against Wheeling Nov. 1 at Worthen Arena. BRAYDEN GOINS, DN Freshman Hana Mühl drives to the paint in an exhibition game against Wheeling Nov. 1 at Worthen Arena. BRAYDEN GOINS, DN
Ball State Men’s Volleyball lost to the Cougars in four sets Feb. 2 before taking down BYU in the rematch Feb. 4.
Second-year middle blocker Vanis Buckholz celebrates getting an ace in a game against BYU Feb. 4 at Worthen Arena. Buckholz had three aces during the game. AMBER PIETZ, DN
At the 65th annual Grammy Awards, Beyoncé became the most awarded artist, passing Georg Solti, Hungarian-British conductor. Beyoncé now has 32 Grammy awards. Her album “Renaissance” won for best dance/electronic music album and best dance/electronic recording. She also won best R&B performance for “PLASTIC OFF THE SOFA” and best R&B song for “CUFF IT.”
The Ball State Theatre and Dance Department announced Troy Dobosiewicz, assistant professor of theatre education, died Feb. 4 at age 51. Dobosiewicz taught at Ball State from 2014 to 2023. During his time at BSU, he wrote the Teaching Acting with Practical Aesthetics. His obituary said he enjoyed playing the organ and singing in the choir.
The David Owsley Museum of Art is hosting an anti-Valentine’s Day event called Meet Your Future Ex at DOMA after hours. The event takes place Feb. 10 from 5-8 p.m. There will be refreshments, art activities, games and a live storytelling competition. The event is free and open to everyone.
The Rizzo family works to make virtual reality accessible to the Muncie community. 15ALEX BRACKEN, DN ILLUSTRATION
Kamara Heier, an employee, stood at the front podium of SunShine Cafe Muncie. She watched customers come in and helped them pay out. The cafe wasn’t new to her; she’s been working on and off there for the last 14 years.
She’s also not the only one in her family who does. Her mother, fiancee, sister and niece work there too.
“I always call this home,” Heier said. “I’ve branched out [to other jobs] and ended up not liking it. Couple of other times, I left and tried to do other things, and [it] just didn’t work out.”
Her mother, Ronda Sweat, has been working there for 18 years and is the head cook. At first, she just needed a job, Sweat said, but she has stayed because she likes the people working there and gets along with them, especially owner Jarrod Buck.
Buck was originally a mechanic but took over at SunShine Cafe Muncie when his dad wanted to retire. His dad wanted to hand the business over to someone he could trust and knew the cafe was going to be taken with care.
“My dad did an amazing job here,” Buck said. “I mean he worked his butt off and built relationships with customers, and that kind of stuff gives good service.”
SunShine Cafe Muncie sits at 3113 N. Oakwood Avenue and started in 1972 as a Waffle House. Twenty-five years ago, Buck’s father made the decision to change the Waffle House into SunShine Cafe Muncie, and the cafe has been in the same location for 50 years. Buck said the decision to change the name came from wanting to get more people for lunch and dinner.
At a table in the front corner of the room at 1:18 p.m., Sandra Ellis and Dallas Ellis were eating a plate of cornbred, ham and beans. They come here a couple times a week, oftentimes on Mondays.
They’ve been coming, “since it existed,” Sandra
said with a laugh, “because I love it.”
She described several things at the SunShine Cafe Muncie as wonderful: the people that wait on you, the food and the service.
“And we all hug and kiss our customers,” Cheryl Schut, a waitress, said as she rushed toward the table, giving Sandra a hug.
For Gayle Skowronski, another customer, Schut is her favorite waitress because she has “great compassion,” Skowronski said via email. Schut is often referred to as the “crazy cat lady” due to her love of cats.
Skowronski comes in one to four times a month, she said via email, and she found the cafe while driving around Muncie.
“[It] just feels like a comfortable, welcoming place,” she said via email.
Skowronski’s favorite thing about the cafe is the “friendly” staff and manager.
Sandra agreed. She said the wait staff is friendly and doesn’t make you wait longer than you have to. When the food comes, she said, it is how she
wanted it.
“It’s our favorite Muncie restaurant,” Skowronski said via email, “and when we take our grandkids out separately, two say it’s their favorite too.”
On their Facebook page, the cafe has 1,300 likes and 1,400 followers. It showcases food items including beef and noodles, french toast, breaded tenderloin, pancakes, waffles, country fried steak, BBQ pulled pork and fries, spaghetti bogo and other items.
Their rating is a 3.9 out of 5 on Facebook, a 4.5 out of 5 on Grubhub and on MenuPix, it is 4.8 out of 5. The Muncie Visitors Bureau describes SunShine Cafe in Muncie as “a well known breakfast and lunch hotspot with a wide variety of home cooked meals. [It] feels like Mama comes there everyday just to cook for you, down home cooking and family friendly.”
Ball State students get 10 percent off of their order at SunShine Cafe Muncie.
When asked what makes SunShine Cafe different, there was a slight pause between Sandra and Dallas.
“Well, they take your stupid jokes,” she said to Dallas across the table, referring to his sense of humor.
Dallas also agreed SunShine Cafe Muncie is a good place to eat.
“The employees’ attitude[s have] a lot to do with it,” he said. “They’re usually really nice, joke with you and everything.”
To employees of SunShine Cafe Muncie, connection with customers is a priority.
We’re very family-oriented … We’re really into customer service … We always want to make sure [our] customers are taken care of.”
- KAMARA HEIER, Employee of SunShine Cafe Muncie for 14 yearsKamara Heier helps a customer at the front counter Feb. 6. She’s worked on and off at SunShine Cafe Muncie for 14 years. ANGELICA GONZALEZ MORALES, DN Ella Howell Reporter
From the outside, the strip mall on West Fox Ridge Lane may appear as a typical building in Muncie. However, once you step inside, you’re faced with countless possibilities.
The Rizzo family opened the virtual reality arcade, Reality Bytes, in July 2022, and their novelty idea has taken entertainment in Muncie to a new level.
“We really call it entertainment of the future, and it’s an opportunity to not just sit and watch a movie or just play a game, but you’re completely immersed in the experience,” Beth Rizzo said.
The Rizzo family got the idea for the arcade after a day with their son, Reality Bytes’ tech wizard, didn’t go as planned.
“My 13-year-old with autism, he had earned going to a VR arcade for good behavior, and so my husband drove 40 miles to go to the nearest one, and they were completely booked,” Rizzo said.
They decided to hatch a plan to remedy this problem for East Central Indiana residents.
Once the plan was in place, they still needed to come up with a name, so the family of six sat down and began brainstorming.
“We just kept hollering out different names, and my husband jokingly said, ‘Well, reality bites,’ and we were like, ‘Wait a second, that could actually work,’” Rizzo said.
With the family’s research of the area turning up empty with affordable VR options, and the convenience of their proximity, the Rizzos knew Muncie was the ideal location for their new business.
“We actually live in Delaware County, and we know that people talk about how there’s not that much new stuff to do here in Muncie, so we said ‘Well, this is certainly new,’” Rizzo said.
The Rizzos love they can provide a fun, multigenerational space for the community.
“Elementary-school-aged kiddos come in, and they have a ton of fun,” she said, “but adults come in, and they have just as much fun, so we have something for everybody.”
As members of the Muncie community take notice of the unique business, positive feedback for the family is beginning to appear online.
Jeremy Rees has lived in Muncie for over a decade and has been to Reality Bytes a couple of times. He enjoyed his time and left a five star review of the family business on Google.
“I’ve played Angry Birds, and it was kind of fun,” Rees said. “It’s just a different take on the normal mobile game, but you actually hold the slingshot. My daughter really likes [the game] where you get to be a store clerk.”
The arcade runs weekday specials occasionally and around significant events, such as 50 percent off for students in August. One of Rizzo’s highlights since Reality Bytes opened was when they were running their Free Time Friday special, which allotted 15 minutes of free game time for the community. Rizzo, who has four high-needs kids herself, was happy to help out parents with disabled children/young adults.
“They would drop them off to play, and the parents would go out and have a date night, which is really cool that we could provide them with an opportunity for them to get away and for their kids to have so much fun,” Rizzo said.
The systems Reality Bytes uses are the HTC VIVE Focus 3 headsets for quality and convenience. They’re known for their comfort, and they were a finalist for the virtual reality hardware of the year in the 2021 VR awards. They can be completely wireless, but if there’s a high volume, they can be tethered to fix latency issues.
“They’re pretty cool,” Rizzo said. “They have like eight cameras built into them, and they can track exactly where you are and where your hands are.”
One of Rizzo’s sons, Nathan Rizzo, works about 15-20 hours a week at the arcade, and he loves seeing people enjoying themselves.
“There are a lot of little kids that come in, and just seeing the smiles on their faces and seeing how much fun they have, and they’ll be talking to their parents like, ‘Do you see this?’” Nathan said, “and it just warms my heart.”
Beth invites everyone to head to Reality Bytes and experience a VR game for yourself, today. She also has a few tips for someone who has never experienced VR.
“Start slow. Don’t pick games that have a lot of movement and motion in them because if you’ve never done VR before, you don’t know if you get motion sick from VR, so we have barf bags,” Beth said. “Start easy, and then just try a bunch of different things.”
When it comes to game selection, there are over 1,000 different games to choose from.
“We really do have anything for anybody,” Nathan said.
Beth’s personal favorite game is a cooking game called Clash of Chefs.
“I also like Rhythmatic and Dance Collider, but I get motion sick really easily, so some of the shooter games, I like them, I can’t play them,” Beth said. “Hyper-Dash and Arizona Sunshine are some of the other staff members’ favorites. But I like to race the clock on cooking different things, and it really does feel like you’re there. It’s crazy.” Nathan, who doesn’t get motion sickness, personally enjoys Hyper-Dash.
Reality Bytes is open Friday through Sunday, and you can call to reserve any of their eight pods for a party, to play as a group or just to escape reality for a little while. You can access a full list of their available games on their website. With inflation and the current state of the economy, the family business is experiencing some hardships. As one of the only businesses of its kind in the area, the Rizzos hope to keep the business alive for people residing in East Central Indiana.
“The first thing to go is entertainment, and that’s totally understandable, it just also hits us pretty hard,” Beth said.
The Rizzo family dedicates a lot of time to their business to bring unique entertainment to the people of Muncie. In order for a small business like
The family behind Reality Bytes VR arcade wants to make virtual reality attainable for the residents of Muncie.
We really call it entertainment of the future, and it’s an opportunity to not just sit and watch a movie or just play a game, but you’re completely immersed in the experience.”
- BETH RIZZO, Owner of Reality Bytes
Elementary school aged kiddos come in and they have a ton of fun, but adults come in, and they have just as much fun, so we have something for everybody.”
- BETH RIZZO, Owner of Reality BytesReality Bytes owner Beth Rizzo poses in front of a poster at the entrance of the shop Feb. 4. Reality Bytes has been open since July 2022. LILA FIEREK, DN Seventh-grade student Jay Garrison plays a virtual reality game at Reality Bytes Feb. 4. Reality Bytes is the only virtual reality arcade within 40 miles. LILA FIEREK, DN
Andrew Hopkins is a second-year political science major and writes “Bread and Roses” for The Daily News. His views do not necessarily reflect those of the newspaper. Gaming is a great way to explore new worlds, take a trip to another world, another universe that allows the user to put themselves in a new environment they would not otherwise be able to experience. Video games can teach us lessons through their stories, their characters and their game mechanics that teach us how the world around us and the people in it operate. But they’re also becoming as difficult and time-consuming as possible.
From as early as I can remember, I was playing video games, my first one being the very first “Star Wars: Battlefront,” which I played with my dad as a little kid. I have continued this hobby throughout my entire life, and it has connected me with some of my closest friends who live in other states and countries, playing some of our favorite games together. They have created memorable moments I still remember to this day, and I continue to make new memories every time I get online to play with friends.
Updates to graphics and processing power that allows game worlds to be bigger and more detailed have increased people’s enjoyment of games with the Entertainment Software Association, the trade association of the video game industry, stating that “more people are playing video games than ever before,” even allowing for gamers to play with others across the world, sometimes up to 60 players at a time to create some truly exciting and fun experiences set across a variety of settings.
Over winter break, I sat down and completed the newest Lego Star Wars game, “The Skywalker Saga.” The game is expansive, covering locations and missions from all nine films and beyond, with characters from the movies and shows as well as over a thousand extra puzzles and challenges players can do to earn upgrades and complete the game. At a glance, there seems to be nothing to complain about. It’s an up-to-date Lego video game about one of my favorite film series of all time that has a lot of content and is fun to play with a lot of humor.
However, as I worked my way through the different areas of the game, trying to collect every single secret to complete the game, it became dull and boring. Many of the same puzzles and challenges were repeated throughout the game and set in different locations. By the time I finished the game, I checked how long I spent playing the game, and I was shocked to see I had spent just shy of five days trying to fully explore the galaxy.
What had it all been for? Just to see the number on the pause screen slowly tick up until it reached the triple digits?
This reflects a trend I have seen in increasing frequency in video games, with them being difficult and time-consuming. It almost serves as bragging rights if a studio can make their game super difficult. Looking at data from video games released over the years, the time it takes to finish video games has significantly increased, with “Elder Scrolls 3,” “Fallout” and “Resident Evil,” games released in 2002, taking less than 20 hours to beat. Jump to 2022, “Elden Ring” is released, and the average time to beat the game is listed at around 55 hours, according to HowLongToBeat.com.
Software’s “Dark Souls” games are a good example of this trend, including the most recent installment, “Elden Ring.” The game looks beautiful, and they are easily the most realistic graphics I have seen in a game.
My problem with this game and so many others like it is that it takes such a long time to progress, requiring the player to grind and kill enemies for hours, so they can level up and make their abilities better. When they go to fight powerful enemies known as bosses that serve as gatekeepers located around the world, many of these bosses are designed to have attack patterns and certain moves used in battle that require them to die time and time again until they learn the multiple attack patterns of the bosses, only to forget them after the boss has been defeated. According to Rock Paper Shotgun, a popular video game website, “Elden Ring” has 238 bosses, a majority of which have their own move sets, characteristics and special attributes that the player learns, so they can beat the bosses. In comparison, one of “Elden Rings” competitors in 2022, “God of War Ragnarok” has 66 bosses according to another popular video game website, The Loadout. The game isn’t blind to this fact, as it places you in control of a Tarnished, a creature able to respawn every time it is killed, as is explained in the lore. Even more so, the first true boss of the game is what I like to call a “weeder.” It is meant to filter out the players who are willing to put in the hours of work to level up, find better gear and learn how the game wants you to
play, versus those who are unwilling to learn to do these tasks. My first time playing the game, it took me around 80 attempts before I finally was able to kill the boss and progress onto the other 11 bosses of this game.
What happened to the video games that used to be centered around the idea of just having fun? Growing up, the games I played were not made to be hard just for the sake of being hard, even if sections of them were meant to be difficult. Video games were simple and fun, not full of menial tasks meant to increase the playtime and provide “content” to the player. Satisfaction and enjoyment from video games should not come at the cost of dozens of hours and smashed controllers but from just exploring the game world and having fun through meaningful progression. Gamers have become too comfortable with the grind in videos, and game studios have been increasingly filling their games with repetitive tasks to keep the player busy and distract them from the true lack of content within the game. Progression should be a thing that happens simply through playing the game, not something that happens after the player has poured hours upon hours into killing the same few enemies continuously. A good example of the kinds of games we should be expecting and demanding from video game studios is “Halo 3.” This game had an arena style multiplayer, meaning that players would spawn in with the same or randomized weapons to use, but they could find power ups or better weapons lying around the map. The game did not require hours of grinding to unlock certain guns or perks that make you better.
As a whole, we need to demand better quality products from these studios, those that are actually enjoyable, as the current state of video games is almost dehumanizing. The fact that video game developers have continued with this theory of development is borderline offensive as it regulates this style of storytelling, art and puzzles to doing repetitive tasks for hours. By buying and supporting these games, it shows developers this kind of treatment is not only OK but encouraged, especially with “Elden Ring” winning Game of the Year for 2022 at the Game Awards. It shows that we are OK with this standard of game development, that we do not value our time playing these games designed to be time-consuming and incredibly difficult just for the sake of being so.
Contact Andy Hopkins with comments at andy.hopkins@bsu.edu.
Recent video games, such as “Elden Ring,” consume players’ time and increase difficulty.
Satisfaction and enjoyment from video games should not come at the cost of dozens of hours and smashed controllers.”
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“[We want to make] sure that people know [the Multicultural Center is] a safe space for [people] to voice [their] opinions for [them] to feel heard,” Lloyd said.
Lloyd said the Multicultural Center is also connected to Ball State’s Counseling Center. She said this provides students who come into the Multicultural Center with a resource to make sure their mental health needs are getting met. She said there is a student of color support group in connection to the Counseling Center.
“It’s a students of color support group where students can come together and have conversations about what’s going on and what it feels like to be a student of color on campus,” Lloyd said. “[They talk about] how [they can] use their voice in ways to promote awareness but also get some of [their] mental health needs taken care of too.”
When it comes to dealing with being Asian at Ball State, Avila said it can be difficult at times. However, he said he isn’t letting that hold him back
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For Heier, she said there is a bond built with customers at SunShine Cafe Muncie, with the employees aware of what the customer wants.
“We’re very family-oriented … We’re really into customer service …,” Heier said. “We always want to make sure [our] customers are taken care of.”
Customers are what makes a business, Buck said. At SunShine Cafe Muncie, it’s not just repeat customers. He said they have parents bring in their kids, who then bring in their own kids. Buck referred to it as “amazing.”
from living his life.
“The stabbing and all the shootings are horrific and scary,” Avila said. “But I mean, it’s just life in general. You get to choose every single day [if you are] going to go out and live life or [if you are] going to just continue living in fear. You should still step forward no matter what, and have your friends to protect you, but also you protect them back.”
Contact Maya Kim with comments at mayabeth. kim@bsu.edu or on Twitter @MayaKim03.
At one point, a customer near the door joyfully came up to Buck and shook his hand, with Buck recognizing the person and engaging in the exchange with the same enthusiasm.
“We’ve been here so long that a lot of the employees know a lot of the customers … and we will call them by their name, and they will call me by my name,” Buck said. “… It’s just knowing people, like that personal connection, you just don’t get that at a regular restaurant.”
Contact Elissa Maudlin with comments at editor@bsudailynews.com or on Twitter @ejmaudlin. Contact Angelica Gonzalez Morales with comments at agonzalezmor@bsu.edu or on Twitter @angelicag_1107.
hope that [the Multicultural Center] is a safe space for everyone, and we do a lot of work to make sure this space is available.”
- GABRIELLE LLOYD, Interim director of the Multicultural Center(From left to right) Kamara Heier, Ronda Sweat and Jarrod Buck stand for a picture Feb. 6 at SunShine Cafe Muncie. Sweat is Heier’s mother, and other people in their family also work at the cafe. ANGELICA GONZALEZ MORALES, DN
