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mini marshmallows on one side of your cupcake’s rainbow. This creates the pot of gold at the end of the cupcake’s rainbow. Enjoy your Over the Rainbow cupcakes
Immanuel Simon teaches his cardio hip-hop class Mondays and Thursdays at the Jo Ann Gora Student Recreation and Wellness Center. Simon said he does not come to class with songs picked out. He asks his students when he gets to class what they are feeling that day. JACOB MUSSELMAN, DN
SIMON Continued from Page 09
Eventually, Simon told his students shooting for their dreams and overcoming their fears is the only way to move forward. One could hear a pin drop as Simon talked about never having too big of dreams and how his students should never be afraid to fall while shooting for their dreams.
When asked what he is scared of, though, Simon said he fears never achieving his own dreams. Though this fear lives within him, Simon pursues many different avenues to ensure he achieves his dreams of becoming a performer and entertainer.
“I’m an actor, I’m a singer and I’m a dancer. I want to be a talk-show host,” Simon said. “The big goal is to be able to be a creator, make money off of my creations and also have people remember my creations as something bigger than myself.” In addition to teaching cardio hip-hop and being a part of Ball State’s Theatre and Dance program, Simon also juggles being a member of Black Student Alliance, running an Instagram campaign to try to convince Ellen DeGeneres to let him host the show with her and helping his friends with their various projects.
Among all of Simon’s responsibilities, he said, dancing has always remained at the core of who he is. Growing up in New Orleans, Simon expressed himself through African-style dance in church from a young age. Those early beginnings led him to a creative arts high school where he focused on musical theatre, dance and hip hop.
“Since I’ve been alive, I feel like I’ve been dancing,” Simon said. “[It was] not even a question [in my life] — movement and dance. People say, ‘I can’t dance.’ Maybe I can’t dance well, whatever that ‘well’ means, but you can dance.” So, when he saw an opening for an on-campus job as a Rec Fit instructor in fall 2017 for a cardio hip-hop class, Simon said, he knew it would be “up his alley.” The hiring process involved an interview, an audition with a few dance routines and a cool-down song and a shadowing process with the instructor at the time.
Eric Matcha, coordinator of fi tness and wellness programs, fi rst met Simon in August 2018, and he said Simon is one of the most highly-praised instructors Matcha has had.
“He has great energy, a great personality and always comes to class with a great attitude,”
- IMMANUEL SIMON, Senior acting major and Rec Fit instructor
Matcha said. “He works multiple shifts a day on some days and is still always on time for his classes. He is always willing to sub classes and work extra events on top of his own classes as well.” Each instructor can run their class differently, Simon said, but his class is fueled by his passion for music. Simon thinks of the history of hip hop in the streets of New York when he dances, as well as issues brought up by groups like NWA who felt the police were using their power to oppress minority groups.
Proud of the diversity and voice he brings to his Rec Fit class and Ball State as a nonbinary black person, Simon said, he takes pride in the fact that not everyone is doing what he is.
“The essence of what this class is — I’m doing this for action. It’s a call to action,” Simon said. “I go off of emotion and also feeling how I feel in that moment, how I feel that day … I live in the moment. [I say], ‘This is the song that I feel like doing, this the song that I think needs to be in the room at that time.’”
Junior early childhood and special education major Natty Good danced in high school, and Simon and his cardio hip-hop class helped spark her interest in dancing again in college. Now, she takes his cardio hip-hop class, a Zumba class and joined the belly dancing club. “His class always makes my day a lot better,” Good said. “After we cool down, he has everyone lay down and close our eyes, and he does his little motivational speech with a song. It’s one of the best things ever.” That same speech is the one where Simon dwells on and thinks about his dreams each week. Right now, he said, he dreams of leaving Ball State with an artistic legacy, but, of course, his fears still linger.
Ultimately, though, Simon overcomes these fears by practicing self love and grace for himself. If he messes up, he forgives himself, and if a task makes him happy, he fi nds a way to take it on. He does it all for a reason — he believes it helps him grow. “Each thing is a lesson in the work that I want to create,” Simon said. “If I’m choosing to do it, it’s because I think it’s going to help me, and it can help someone else.”
Contact Demi Lawrence with comments at dnlawrence@ bsu.edu or on Twitter @DemiNLawrence.
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Loud and Clear The in-betweener I am biracial, and I should not have to feel like I am not enough for either side of me.
Elena Stidham poses March 10, 2020, in a Ball State photo studio. Stidham’s mother was born in Iraq, and her father was born in Michigan. JACOB MUSSELMAN, DN ILLUSTRATION
Columist, Loud and Clear Elena Stidham
Elena Stidham is a senior journalism and telecommunications major and writes “Loud and Clear” for The Daily News. Her views do not necessarily refl ect those of the newspaper.
When I studied abroad last summer, I took a class on Japanese animation. In this
class, we learned about the different roles animators play, and one key role stood out to me: the in-betweeners.
With animated fi lms, there are key animations with pivotal scenes and frames the lead animators draw. However, a whole movie could not be made with just key animations
and animators.
That’s where the inbetweeners come in — they draw what’s between each key animation to make the scene one single, fl uid piece.
They recognize each other’s importance; one cannot exist without the other. However, I noticed this mindset is not
carried over to real people, to someone like me who considers myself what I would call an in-betweener.
To people who are biracial. Like me.
My mother was born in Iraq, and my father was born in Michigan. I got my mother’s never-aging complexion, and
from my father, the fairness of my skin. I got my eyes from my white side, but I got my thick hair from my brown side. I am from two different worlds that, at one point in time, were never allowed to collide with each other. Yet, they still collided and met in the in-between where they made me, and I am here.
I used to think I was so cool, despite the fact that I didn’t fully understand what I was. I knew my mother wasn’t born in the United States, but I had no clue conditioner, my hair is always too thick for the products for white girls but not thick enough for the products for black girls. It’s not just hair products. Basically everything, including discussions about diversity, is made for people who are white or people who are black. I’m white enough to be immediately classifi ed as Caucasian at fi rst glance, but I’m not white enough to walk through an airport without being the one “randomly” selected. I’m Middle Eastern their tones, and I can see it in their eyes.
They’re disappointed because I can’t speak any Arabic or Aramaic. They’re disappointed because I don’t know what box to tick off in every form I fi ll out. They’re disappointed because I’m not easily labelled one or the other. They’re disappointed because I’m confused about who I am.
Why should people like me have to live like this? Why do I have to act like I’m on one side
They’re disappointed because I can’t speak any Arabic or Aramaic. They’re disappointed because I don’t know what box to tick off in every form I fi ll out. They’re disappointed because I’m not easily labelled one side or the other.” - ELENA STIDHAM, Columnist, Loud and Clear
what race was. I didn’t know how I was different, I just knew I was different, and I loved it. I used to think I was somebody special because of my differences, but as I grew older, these differences started to turn against me.
I was the girl caught between two fi sh hooks sinking into her cheeks, and I can’t pry them out no matter how hard I try. One of these days, I fear these fi shing lines will pull on me harder than I can bear, and I will be ripped apart.
This is my reality of being biracial. This is where I grew up — in the in-between. My worlds don’t exist solely in the home. They are prominent everywhere I go. When I shop for shampoo and enough to pronounce the culture’s locations and food correctly, but I’m not Middle Eastern enough to be allowed into groups with other people like me because I don’t have brown skin.
I’m never enough to fi t in just right on either side.
I don’t fi t in with Americans because I was raised with a family of Chaldeans who spoke Aramaic and ate rice with literally every meal. Yet, I don’t fi t in with Chaldeans because I was raised with a family of Americans who spoke their mind and were allowed to be pulled over by a cop without the fear of being shot.
The only thing I feel I’m “enough” of on both sides is disappointment — I hear it in or another? Why can’t I exist on a plane where I’m allowed to be both?
It wasn’t until I came to college when I actually met other people like me in the inbetween. During my freshman year, my RA was half black and half white. I could not tell you the immense joy I felt during our dorm’s Thanksgiving party when she told me about the food she ate on her “white side” and the food she ate on her “brown side.”
I had never heard anyone besides me use the term “brown side” before. I almost cried. No matter how much I explained it to someone, they didn’t know what I was talking about whenever I said my family would have curry one night and hot dogs with macaroni and cheese the next. Nobody could relate to me whenever I called my Chaldean grandmother “Nana” and my white grandmothers “Grammy” and “Mamaw” in the same breath. No other person was able to relate to that until I got here. We were mixed. We were in-betweeners. We were what happens when two worlds come together and then are ripped apart by fi sh hooks.
We’re here, we’re prominent, we’re important, we’re alive — even if we had to make space for our own selves to do so. Just like in the world of animation, a whole movie could not be made with just key animations. There needs to be in-betweeners. The whole narrative surrounding diversity and the world as a whole cannot exist with just one or the other. There needs to be in-betweeners.
When there’s in-betweeners, suddenly, there’s a whole movie. Without people who are mixed, you can’t complete the whole picture — you can’t hear the whole story of diversity.
I’m tired of living in a world where I am identifi ed as one or the other, and I am not accepted as either or. I am both, and I should be accepted as both because being both is enough. There is nothing wrong with being an in-betweener. I had to learn this on my own. In-betweeners are the ones who narrate your movie, and in-betweeners are the ones who fi ll the missing roles. In-betweeners are the ones who are often overlooked and never recognized, and that needs to change.
People like me are the inbetweeners of everyday life, and we’re not going away.
Contact Elena Stidham with comments at emstidham@ bsu.edu or on Twitter @ elenastidham.
Events For more information on the events listed here, visit BallStateDaily.com/Events Albert Cummings • Thursday, March 12, 7:30 p.m. • Pruis Hall
Men’s Basketball vs. Central Michigan • Friday, March 13, 7 p.m. • Worthen Arena
The Price is Right LIVE • Saturday, March 14, 7:30 p.m. • Emens Auditorium
Baseball vs. Dayton • Sunday, March 15, 1 p.m. • Ball Diamond
American Red Cross Blood Drive • Tuesday, March 17, 11 a.m.- 4 p.m. • Pruis Hall
Skerryvore • Sunday, March 22, 7:30 p.m. • Pruis Hall
T-shirt Thursdays at Brothers • Free shirts on Thursdays • Brothers Bar and Grill
Indoor Farmers Market • Every Saturday, Nov. 1- April 30, 9 a.m.-12 p.m. • Minnetrista
EMENS auditorium
PLAN Continued from Page 5
Here are some facts about the virus and how to avoid spreading the disease. How is the disease spread?
According to the CDC website, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can be spread from people who are in contact with one another or within six feet of one another. The disease is spread through “respiratory droplets” that are produced when an infected individual sneezes or coughs, according to the CDC’s website. The website states, “these droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are
PINTER Continued from Page 08
“For a local kid to get a chance to go play in the NFL — to just get an invitation to the combine — is hard enough,” Newman said. “Then, to really think that somebody who, while they’re pursuing their dreams, takes even the fi ve minutes to say, ‘You know what, I want to give something back to the kids of this community’ is great.”
When deciding what organization to partner with, Pinter said, he wanted to make sure it meant something to him. Through Ball State Football, he had volunteered with many local organizations, and the Boys and Girls Clubs was fi rst on his list.
“We had a lot of different volunteer opportunities, which all meant something and all were cool, but I think that was my favorite one,” Pinter said. “Just seeing kids engaging in stuff like sports, being active and that type of stuff … It was an opportunity to be able to help them and give back to them.”
Johnson said he wasn’t surprised to see Pinter pair with the community because that’s just who he is.
“You talk about guys that are good people and come from a good place in their heart — that’s him,” Johnson said. “He could nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs.”
The virus can be spread through contact with a surface an infected person has touched, but it is not thought to be the main form of spreading, according to the website. What are the symptoms? The symptoms of COVID-19 may appear two to 14 days after exposure, which may include coughing, a fever and a shortness of breath, according to the website. How can you help prevent the spread?
According to the website, the CDC recommends people practice the following to not be exposed to the disease: • Avoid close contact with people who are sick. • Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth. • Stay home when you are sick. • Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash. • Clean and disinfect frequentlytouched objects and surfaces using a regular household cleaning spray or wipe. Follow fi ve steps to wash your hands the right way
While there is no vaccine to prevent COVID-19, the best way to prevent the spread is to not be exposed to the disease, according to the website. Washing hands, according to CDC’s website, is one of the most-effective ways to prevent the spread of germs. Clean hands, it states, can stop germs from spreading from one person to another and throughout an entire community. • Wet your hands with clean, running water (warm or cold), turn off the tap and apply soap. • Lather your hands by rubbing them together with the soap. Lather the backs of your hands, between your fi ngers and under your nails. • Scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds. Need a timer? Hum the “Happy Birthday” song from beginning to end twice. • Rinse your hands well under clean, running water. • Dry your hands using a clean towel, or air dry them. Contact Charles Melton with comments at cwmelton@bsu. edu or on Twitter @Cmelton144. Contact Rohith Rao with comments at rprao@bsu.edu or on Twitter @RaoReports.
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have easily just gone into this thing and did it for himself. Yet, like Danny, it’s more than just about him, and it will always be more than just about him.”
Pinter told Johnson before his bench press test he was expecting to put up around 24 or 25 reps. Johnson said he thought Pinter might be able to squeeze out a few more with all the adrenaline surrounding the combine, but he was encouraged with how well he did.
“When you hit that number, it shows people that you’re strong, you have the muscle endurance and you’re only going to get stronger as you go on,” Johnson said. “Danny has, I think, a lot of capacity to grow … He’s a great athlete, and 24 reps on the bench press just shows me that he’s defi nitely strong enough to compete in the NFL.”
Pinter’s 24 reps have made the Boys and Girls Clubs of Muncie $2,160 richer, and Newman said he’ll have a warm welcome when he returns to Muncie.
“If we can play any little part in … giving him the recognition he deserves ... we want to play that part,” Newman said. “Our kids will be doing something, maybe making a day for him during Boys and Girls Clubs Week, which will be coming up at the end of March, just so we can let him know how much his work has meant for us.”
Pinter said his chest and arms are doing OK, but he defi nitely won’t be benching 225 pounds anytime soon.
Contact Zach Piatt with comments at zapiatt@bsu.edu or on Twitter @zachpiatt13. Former Ball State offensive lineman Danny Pinter walks into the media room Feb. 27, 2020, at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis. Pinter was one of the 52 offensive lineman selected to participate in the NFL Scouting Combine. JACOB MUSSELMAN, DN
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