The Observer, Volume LV, Issue 18, 02/09/24

NEWS

Punxsutawney Phil calls early spring, Cleveland’s pierogi cat disagrees

Zachary Treseler News Editor

On the morning of Feb. 2—Groundhog Day—Punxsutawney Phil woke up and did not see his shadow. Punxsutawney Phil expects spring to come early even though January is the third cloudiest month in Ohio’s history.

Punxsutawney Phil is not the only season-predicting animal in the country, let alone in Northeast Ohio. Cleveland has Concord Casimir, an orange pierogi-eating cat. Concord Casimir predicted that Cleveland will experience “mild weather for a while but don’t be fooled.”

According to Saint Casimir Church, where Concord Casimir was first found as he continued to eat the pierogi while it got colder, it was a clear sign that the weather will remain the same. FreshWater Cleveland, a local newspaper, noted that it all depends on how Casimir eats the pierogi. When he eats them slowly, Cleveland’s spring is predicted to be a long and sloppy winter. A normal eating of the pierogi means a normal winter, but if Casimir swallows one whole, then spring will come early.

John Niedzialek, a part-time professor at Lake County Community College

and a resource protection specialist at Lake County Soil & Water Conservation, said his previous cat was the

John Niedzialek, who started the tradition 15 years ago with his former cat, holds up Concord Casimir.

Courtesy of John Niedzialek/Saint Casimir Church

founder of this tradition.

“My previous cat Concord Abby actually started it all about 15 years ago when it became obvious that the rodent in Pennsylvania was doing so poorly in his predictions. I knew my cat had a sense for the weather so that is where it all began,” Niedzialek said. He credits Marian McMahon from the Lake County Tribune, who started reporting about Abby for the tradition of Concord Casimir.

Casimir took over Abby’s weatherpredicting duty in 2014.

Niedzialek said he found Casimir while volunteering as a lawn mower at St. Casimir Church. He said, “I stopped the mower [and what I saw] was a little critter sitting at the same spot we prayed for two and a half years outside the gate of the front of the church.”

Upon taking him to the vet, he learned that Casimir’s birthday was on July 15, exactly one year after the church reopened. In 2009, St. Casimir Church and 54 other churches were closed by the Vatican, and only some

given the green light to reopen in March 2012.

Last year Casimir’s prediction was correct, and the church says that Casimir is undefeated in his predictions.

So far, Casimir is the only weatherpredicting animal in Ohio who can rival Punxsutawney Phil. However, Ohio’s official weather-predicting animal is groundhog Buckeye Chuck, according to a 1979 bill.

Prior to 2023, WMRN-AM radio station was accused by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) of allegedly using an unlicensed company to exhibit the groundhogs during its annual festivities on Feb. 2. In 2023, the radio station used a stuffed animal instead of a real groundhog.

This year, Murray, a groundhog who currently resides in the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, was given the title of Buckeye Chuck.

Cleveland is now home to two different weather-predicting animals that can rival the likes of Punxsutawney Phil.

SPORTS Fans propel men’s basketball to unde

-

feated weekend and No. 10 ranking

Marvin Lee Staff Writer

After two straight losses away from home, it was great to be in the friendly confines of Horsburgh Gymnasium once again. After losses to the University of Chicago and Washington University in St. Louis, the Case Western Reserve University men’s basketball team faced both squads again over the weekend.

The first match was on Friday, Feb. 2 against UChicago, who were receiv-

ing votes in last week’s D3hoops.com

Top 25. The Spartans had a couple of things on their mind going into the contest, most importantly the sour taste that a 75-85 loss just one week prior in Chicago left in their mouths. The bigger picture was key too, as every game played down the stretch against UAA foes matters so much more because the UAA does not have a conference tournament. Entering Friday night, UChicago stood tied for the second spot in the rankings with CWRU. The game was critical to pulling ahead of the Maroons and secur-

ing the UAA crown. Head Coach Todd McGuinness emphasized starting and finishing strong against UChicago, who had caught the Spartans sleeping at the wheel in the second half of the last game and erased CWRU’s 9-point halftime lead to upset the Spartans.

Despite having McGuinness’ message in mind, CWRU stumbled out of the gate and was down 14-15 around 7 minutes into the game. After a timeout and some encouraging words from coach McGuinness, CWRU went into overdrive. Reminded of the loss last week, the Spartans went on a

blistering 20-4 run that culminated in a 3-pointer from graduate student guard Anthony Mazzeo at the 6:56 mark that sent the packed student section in Horsburgh into a frenzy of cheers. The student section was key all night, fooling UChicago into multiple ill-advised shots as they erroneously counted down the shot clock to zero several seconds before it would have actually expired.

Continue reading on page 7

Cleveland’s very own weather-prognosticating feline, Concord Casimir, is undefeated in forecasting Cleveland weather by the way he eats pierogi. Courtesy of John Niedzialek/Saint Casimir Church were

“Mamma Mia!” in Cleveland dazzles viewers with ABBA music, production leaves a lot to be desired

Zachary Treseler News Editor

“Mamma Mia!” returned to the stage in Playhouse Square last week. The iconic jukebox musical consists of songs by the Swedish band ABBA. The show, while definitely fun, lacked most of the magic typically found at Playhouse Square, resulting in a lackluster viewing experience.

For those unaware of the plot, “Mamma Mia!” might resemble, at first glance, the TLC reality TV show “Say Yes to the Dress.” The show opens the day before the wedding of the main character, Sophie, on the small Greek island of Kalokairi. We quickly learn that Sophie’s mother, Donna, is incredibly involved in her life, yet she is unsure of who exactly her father is. Sophie finds her mother’s diary from the year she was born and locates entries for Sam, Bill and Harry, who all had romantic relationships with Donna within the same month. Knowing this information, she invites all three of them to her wedding without telling her mother. When the three men show up at the small hotel that Donna runs, Donna flips out. Furthermore, Donna’s relationship with her old flames is far from perfect: For example, Sam led her on and then left her to get engaged to someone else. We later learn that he divorced his now ex-wife and has lusted for Donna ever

since.

The first act ends with Sophie’s hen night, or bachelorette, party. Over the course of the party, Sophie ends up telling Sam, Harry and Bill individually that he is her father, and each of them offers to walk her down the aisle and give her away.

The second act opens with Sophie having a fever dream involving her three dads, stressing about all three of them walking her down the aisle at the same time. Disturbed by this, she comes clean to Sky, her fiancé, about what she did, creating a fight that Sam attempts to mediate. In the run up to the wedding hour, the fathers all attempt to talk to both Sophie and Donna, wanting to be more involved in Sophie’s life and her decision to get married. Sophie makes the decision to have Donna walk her down the aisle instead, which is treated with heartbreak and confusion by the potential dads.

Having arrived at the wedding, which started with Bill and one of Donna’s friends nearly making out on the floor, Donna interrupts the priest by mentioning to Sophie that she has three fathers, all of whom are in attendance. Sophie then comes clean, admitting why all three of Donna’s former situationships ended up on the same obscure Greek island. In the spur of the moment, Sophie decides to postpone the wedding, though she is still clearly in love with Sky. Sam then

takes this opportunity to propose to Donna. She says yes, and next thing you know, they are married.

The show ends with the cast singing various ABBA tunes, dressed in increasingly whacky ’70s-era costumes. In fact, hearing so many songs by ABBA live that I had previously only heard on Spotify was a joy and the highlight of my evening. The vibes throughout the show were on point, with the crowd even singing along at times.

The number “Lay All Your Love on Me” was definitely a highlight and had ridiculously good choreography. The groomsmen interrupt Sky and Sophie’s romantic moment, dressed up in snorkeling gear and marching with their fins on across the stage. This scene was done incredibly well; it was both hilarious and got an emotional message across as well.

However, some of the other parts of the show felt a tad elementary. Even if there were only two people onstage, you could hear other voices singing that were not other characters. I am unsure where these voices were coming from—my guesses are either ensemble members backstage or a backtrack. If it was the former, I wish they brought them on stage, as that’s where the beauty of live theater comes from. If it was the latter on the other hand, it is just disappointing and greatly detracts from the experience for the same reason.

Furthermore, the set design was just mid. There was one set piece that the show turned around to represent scenes inside and outside, which felt very basic. While it makes touring companies a lot easier to move around, many other traveling shows— for example, “Les Misérables”—have multipart elaborate sets that are far more complex than turning around a small structure on wheels.

The lighting too felt basic and cookiecutter. When it was not perfectly bright, the actors were often covered in shadows, making them hard to see— especially from the back of the theater where I was sitting. The overuse of solid covers also felt uninspired.

Lastly, the show’s acting was all over the place. While I adored the portrayals of Tanya and Rosie, Donna’s best friends, the men’s performances were confusing. Harry had an obnoxious and clearly artificial British accent. Also, Bill was apparently supposed to be Australian, but this was never communicated to the viewer. This just goes to show how generally uninspiring some of the performances were—they were beyond similar.

Now, no matter what I’ve said, I will always recommend that Case Western Reserve University students go check out any show playing at Playhouse Square. It is such an underused cultural site in my opinion, and students should take more advantage of it more often.

“Poor Things” delivers a visual journey, not a moral one

Kethan Srinivasan Staff Writer

“So, does anyone want to stop by CVS?”

That was the first response I heard from a group of seven people and myself following a blind Saturday night viewing of Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things.” Following his previous criticallyacclaimed feature, “The Favourite,” there was certainly a lot of anticipation for Lanthimos’ latest feature film, which contained all the intriguing visuals, storylines and star power you would expect of an 11-count Academy Award nominee. And at first glance, it seemed quite certain that the film would be a strong contender for any one of these awards. But after its near two-and-ahalf-hour runtime, you’re left wanting more from the sum of the film’s parts, despite its many strengths.

“Poor Things” is a seemingly liberationist Bildungsroman of sorts that blends elements of Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” with that of Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Emerald Fennell’s “Saltburn.” Beginning in Victorianera London, the film centers around the reanimated woman Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), who is revealed to have received a brain transplant from the child she was found to be carrying after jumping off a bridge. The scarred and troubled surgeon who revived her, Dr. Godwin “God” Baxter (Willem Dafoe) asks a student, Max McCandles (Ramy Youssef), to assist with containing her as

her mind rapidly develops. At first, Bella is fascinated by smashing plates and assaulting newborns, but later embarks on a voyage of full-on self-pleasure and discovery of the wider world. She’s aided by the lascivious and pompous lawyer Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), who seeks to control her just as much as her creator and his protégé.

What follows is a sequence of feasting on oysters and pastries, inebriation and immediate cuts to sequences of sexual activity, or as Bella prefers to put it, “furious jumping.” But moving past all the steampunk visuals, the quirky Victorian costuming and the transition

from black-and-white to oversaturated color, you start to notice that despite there being clearly highlighted societal ills, the film does not posit any kind of resolution for them.

All the exposure and discovery merely serves as a tool to influence Bella’s character development as she continues her sex-focused odyssey. One starts to wonder what sort of point the film is making to the audience, if it is purporting to make any point at all. It feels as if the story is being opened up to the audience as some sort of intellectual exercise, which seems to me like a lazy choice.

Then there’s the acting: only a few performances are really worth mentioning as I felt that many of the cast members did not mesh well together. Stone is in an entirely different realm than in her previous stint with Lanthimos in “The Favourite,” yet delivers the same comedic timing that is recurring in his work. She showcases the mental development of a woman unlike any other, who despite her uncouth beginnings, learns to seek agency with clarity and class. Ruffalo’s attempted comedic interpretation of the disreputable and arrogant Duncan lacks the same bite Stone delivers, but still rouses some chuckles nonetheless. But the true gems are found in the film’s later arrivals of Kathryn Hunter and Christopher Abbott, each of whom have characters whose eccentricities, wit and unsettling menace help keep your attention afloat during the last minutes of the film.

“Poor Things” is one of the more arthouse-adjacent features I have had the opportunity to see this year. It’s a twisted yet comical story about a woman whose journey could elicit empathy and relatability for some people, all thanks to Stone’s drive to provide in a possibly career-defining performance. But the story does make you wonder if the men who try and fail to keep Bella in line are the “poor things” mentioned in the title, or if the “poor thing” is the viewer, whose only way of processing the 140-minute movie is by pacing the aisles of the convenience store across the street.

Emma Stone (left) delivers an impressive and nuanced performance in Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things,” while Mark Ruffalo’s (right) performance falls short.

Courtesy of Atsushi Nishijima/Searchlight Pictures

Fun

Weekly Horoscope

How are you spending your Valentine’s Day?

Aquarius

Alone in your bedroom, crying while watching rom-coms

Pisces

Prepping for an exam

Aries Instagram stalking your crush

Taurus Getting a sexually transmitted disease

Gemini Scrolling on Tinder

Cancer

At production night with The Observer

Leo Galentine’s Day

Virgo

Gaming at the Kevin Kranzusch Gaming, Simulation, and Visualization Lab

Libra

Drinking away the pain

Scorpio

Study date at Kelvin Smith Library

Sagittarius

Finding out that your partner is cheating on you

Capricorn

On a Little Italy dinner date

Valentine's Day card cutouts! Cut one out for that special someone

Across

1 Tear open final letters (3)

3 Son wearing split small pants (5)

6 Grub put right into hot liquid (5)

7 Farm animal heading off for grass (3)

8 Carried on cooking aromatic herb (9)

10 Get through in audition (3)

11 Little bird's egg left in rain (5)

12 Club made with tungsten rim (5)

13 Okay, wife was ultimately right (3)

Down

Crossword

1 Historic object cleric almost lost (5)

2 Depicted a Yankee opening two wines (9)

3 Guard, avoiding road, came across round large dip (9)

4 Using "epee" in second part of clue (9)

5 Model is returning with shirt (3)

Across

9 Considers 100 missing from boxes (5)

1 Tear open final letters (3)

10 Weapon's front (3)

3 Son wearing split small pants (5)

6 Grub put right into hot liquid (5)

7 Farm animal heading off for grass (3)

Across:

8 Carried on cooking aromatic herb (9)

Overheard CWRU

Crossword Solution 2/2

Down

1 Historic object cleric almost lost (5)

2 Depicted a Yankee opening two wines (9)

3 Guard, avoiding road, came across round large dip (9)

4 Using "epee" in second part of clue (9)

1 B[ackers] LACK BI(R)D

10 Get through in audition (3) Little bird's egg 5)

6 ([opti]CAL IL[lusion])<

7 FE W

TENLASERS*

Club made with tungsten rim (5)

Okay, wife was ultimately right

5 Model is returning with shirt (3)

Compilation of out-of-pocket things heard across campus Tyler

9 Considers 100 missing from boxes (5)

"Are you like ... married or something?"

"The LGBT center does craft circle and LGBT things."

10 Weapon's front (3)

"Did you know that the squirrels are free to take back to your dorm."

"Who's got a sugar mommy?"

"I don't want to be your RA baby."

What We've Been Listening To

Down: 1 ABRAILLE* around N WONDROUS*

Son of Sam Elliot Smith Clay Preusch

Renaissance Girl alybob

Zachary Treseler

I'm Jealous Labyrinth Anjali Bhuthpur

Self Love (Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse) Metro Boomin, Coi Leray Beau Bilinovich

The romanticization of school is a double-edged sword

Aambar Agarwal Social Media Editor

Engineering education has a problem—an apathy problem. This apathy varies, of course, but especially in the classes more focused on math and theory, students treat engineering education as a pill they have to swallow. I remember when I took dynamics that the general sentiment among students was one of passing by any means necessary.

Why does this sentiment exist among students? Well, ask them. The most common answer you’ll get is that “we won’t need to know most of this in our actual careers,” which is honestly true. I’m not an expert on the “real world,” being a college student myself, but I’ve talked to engineering graduates. Most of them would agree that when you start a career in engineering, you know nothing. What you learn in college is simply the “language” of your field. That language is the tool required to learn the concepts and skills you actually need to know for your job.

But this disconnect between curriculum and career has widened as software and technology keep improving. Engineering software is so complicated, the theory so complex, that you don’t just need a master’s in engineering to understand it. You need a master’s in multiple kinds of engineering, and probably a master’s in a very specific type of computer science as well. In the face of that complexity, is it really worth your time to fully understand the process?

And, to touch on possibly the most over-discussed subject in the past year, another important factor in the specialization and automation of engineering is machine learning language models such as ChatGPT. To be clear, the likes of ChatGPT will never replace engineers because machine learning models cannot themselves be legally held liable for mistakes, which means that they cannot—legally or morally—be given a professional engineer’s stamp.

However, a much more realistic concern is the inevitability of machine

EDITORIAL

learning models being used as tools to supplement design. This introduces the “black box” problem, the idea that the process by which machine learning models reach their conclusions is almost impossible to figure out, which makes catching mistakes much more difficult. What this means is that in engineering design the importance of critical thinking is about to increase. It’s no longer critical to understand the steps to reach an output from an input. Today, the much more important concept to understand is how the input and output are related, and, critically, which inputs are selected and why. To meet the requirements of the current day, an engineer must know not just what they’re designing or how, but also why.

To understand the importance of “why” in engineering, let’s talk about an important example: highways. To tell it one way, the history of highways in the United States has been one of connection. If your grandparents lived in the U.S., you could ask them about road trips, and they’d probably tell you about the first cross-country road trip they ever took on the brandnew Interstate Highway System. It’s possibly the most critical piece of infrastructure that we have; not only do commuters and travelers rely on it, but American shipping via trucks would also be impossible without it.

And yet, to tell it another way, the history of highways has been a history of destruction. Those highways had to go somewhere, and whatever was in the way had to be demolished. This footprint is larger than you may think: In addition to direct spatial conflicts, living near a highway can lead to longterm respiratory problems, and it massively drives down quality of life and property values. Now, if you were an engineer in 1950s America, and you had to choose which neighborhood to demolish in order to build a highway, where might you choose? Here’s a hint: Go to Google and search up the name of any city and “black neighborhood highway construction.”

We’ve got our own story of destructive highways in Cleveland with an ironic twist: One of the only

stretches of highway that got canceled due to community backlash, the Clark Freeway, was to run through the comparatively rich and white suburbs of Shaker Heights. The sad truth about highways in the U.S. is that the engineering design decisions about where they should go were not apolitical. The decision makers failed to rise above the political biases of their time.

This story will have been familiar to anyone who took ENGR 398: Professional Communication for Engineers, but I’d like to go one layer deeper. Adjusted for inflation, the U.S. Interstate Highway System as a whole cost more than $500 billion, not counting the money spent maintaining it. In comparison, the International Space Station has cost somewhere near $100 billion. Why did politicians and engineers decide that the largest highway network in the world was worth the price tag? Why not, say, an equally expensive and robust rail network accompanied by much smaller and cheaper highways? Whom has that fateful decision served, and how has it affected the collective and individual decisions that we’re able to make today?

These are the questions that every

engineer should ask and answer. Sometimes, I get asked why I have a major in civil engineering but a minor in sociology. The answer is because the built world and the social world inform each other. Our design decisions influence our social beliefs, and, in turn, our social beliefs influence our design decisions. The emphasis on “why” that I’ve been discussing has a name among sociologists; they call it “sociological imagination.” Just like how a scientist should be able to justify the intellectual value of their research, an engineer should be able to justify the political and social value of the world they want to build.

However, returning to our curriculum here at CWRU, I don’t think that we should abandon all our technical standards and instead take only classes on software and sociology. But we should be shifting the way we think about our education. When you learn equations, you should not just be thinking about how they work, but also about what purpose they serve. College may end up being the only time in your life when you need to know what the fourth order Runge-Kutta method is, but it certainly won’t be the only time in your life when you need to be curious. So never ever stop asking why.

It’s okay to not have it all figured out

Editorial Board

Coming back to school after a month-long break can be a drastic transition. Having to get back on track and navigate a new schedule can throw us all for a loop. For Case Western Reserve University’s spring admits, this transition can be even more jarring. There are, however, ways we can all stay engaged and active now that we’re back in school.

First, CWRU offers a plethora of wonderful and exciting student organizations and clubs to engage in. The Student Activities Fair (SAF) took place this Thursday, allowing all interested students the opportunity to explore the diverse areas of student involvement. There are organizations such as CWRU Film Society, which offers movie showings every Friday

and Saturday throughout the semester. CWRU Footlighters provides students the opportunity to engage in their love of musical theater. Their musical this year is “9 to 5,” based on the 1980 movie starring Dolly Parton. There are also academic clubs such as the Case Rocket Team, which participates in student rocket-building competitions. And of course, there’s us, The Observer, which is always welcome to new and interested students.

This list is certainly not exhaustive. CWRU has many more organizations to offer—and even if you weren’t able to make it to the SAF, you can still sign up for clubs throughout the year. Visit their websites or browse CWRU’s listing of its student organizations on CampusGroups.

Additionally, the winter weather at the start of this semester can challenge our ability to get engaged on campus.

But that doesn’t have to stop us from making the most of the weeks ahead.

There’s nothing wrong with staying in with your friends or roommates and watching a movie or catching up on a show you’ve been binging. These can act as relaxing moments when you can enjoy a shared interest with the people you care about. As we move further along in the semester and face increasing academic challenges, these simple moments can help keep us motivated and allow us to live in the present moment. If you’re itching for competition, consider learning a new board game or even joining CWRU’s Tabletop Empire, which is dedicated to tabletop games such as Warhammer 40,000 and Catan. Card games are another college staple—Euchre is certainly a midwestern favorite.

Getting engaged can also mean exploring your own hobbies, or even

developing new ones. If you’re a writer, pick up a pen or pencil and a piece of paper and write that story you’ve had in your mind that wants to get out. If you’re musically inclined and have an instrument that you haven’t played in a while, pick it up again. Learn some new songs on guitar or piano, or try writing your own. CWRU is home to a vibrant musical community and is right next to Severance Music Center; there are bound to be plenty of students who are as excited about music as you are.

No matter your interests and how you express your hobbies, there are many ways to get involved on campus. While the year is still new and there are many more months ahead of us before the semester ends, let’s all find ways to get engaged in student life. There’s a place for all of us; you just have to find yours.

Lucas Yang/The Observer

The price of love

Hannah Johnson Staff Writer

“Who cares if I’m pretty if I fail my finals?”

It’s likely you may have seen this quote attached to vision boards, scribbled in daily affirmations, or referenced like the Bible by online study blogs, but the quip originates from a “Gilmore Girls” episode. Rory Gilmore utters the now-famous line after her mother recommends she get some sleep instead of exhausting herself with schoolwork. To the audience that knows better than to accept Rory’s intense dedication to her grades as harmless, this comment simply functions as a joke in the show.

To others who view academics and grades as a reflection of selfworth, though, it becomes more of a mantra.

In modern media and culture, Rory has become something of an icon—an academic bookworm with a cute preppy style in a small, sleepy town. She’s an image of academic capability that many aspire to emulate, dressing in chunky sweaters, sliding on headbands and toting around a backpack full of books. The problem with this image, though, lies in the unrealistic academic expectations an audience may begin to project onto themselves as a result. Whether aware of it or not, they may come to believe that channeling the essence of a

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TV show character will help them to become an academic weapon— and Rory certainly isn’t the only source of inspiration for this ideal.

In recent years, there has been a steady growth of studyfocused content creators. This phenomenon gained early popularity on the blogging website Tumblr with “studyblr,” a subsect of the platform filled with aesthetic studying content. As the pandemic hit, more video content began to pop up on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. People found themselves watching real-time “study with me” videos, and sometimes even 12-hour-straight study streams, some of which continue to garner hundreds of thousands of views.

I found myself turning to study-focused YouTubers such as Breanna Quan, chelseaa and typicallyychloe at the time. I was inspired not only by their dedication to doing work but also by the way they seemed to romanticize getting said work done. Their desks were filled with colorful notes and pictures, like a cozy haven. They used different colored pens for all their reports and drank delicious-looking coffees and teas. I was impressed by how long they seemed to be able to work on completing their schoolwork without growing visibly tired, and as a result, I pushed myself even more in my academic life. I’d come home from school and start to work, staying up late to get everything done and rarely participating in anything outside of what I believed could help my academic improvement.

Eventually, I found myself growing more and more anxious while locked inside. My stomach began to twist up into knots more than normal around upcoming exams and quizzes. It felt like a lot was riding on my academic success, and I was neglecting to put my own health and well-being before that of my grades. In order to distract myself from this feeling, I’d continue to watch this content, hoping that it would help me find the spark I needed to keep putting in hard work; for the most part, I found the videos helpful.

Without the ability to go out and be surrounded by other people, studying could get lonely. Many times, learning material is a group effort—and even if it’s not, it can just be more fun to work while surrounded by friends. During the pandemic, many students found comfort in live “study with me” videos. My friends would play them in the background of their own studying to hold themselves accountable for their work.

Another benefit of consuming this content is that prioritizing the aesthetics of mundane events can make them feel like less of a chore. I’ve found that for studying in particular, the environment I’m in has a huge effect on how optimistic I feel about the tasks I set out to accomplish. Bright lights are usually too distracting and dull colors make me feel less motivated. If adding colorful pens and notebooks to my daily routine would make life feel a little more cinematic, though, who’s to say I wouldn’t be able to succeed more, too?

While I believe that the romanticization of student life can have some merit in terms of productivity and enjoyability,

I also think it toes a thin line between the realms of harmful and beneficial studying practices. The creation of recent aesthetic study content has created a strange influx of consumerism for stationary materials—just look at the Muji and Daiso hauls on Instagram and TikTok. There are pages dedicated to showcasing certain materials that will, supposedly, help you become a better student. You’ll see notepads, pens, highlighters, whiteouts, erasers: There’s an entire culture built around people swearing by Muji pens, and I’m not going to deny that the products are visually appealing.

The problem with the promotion of a vast assortment of aesthetic materials for studying, though, encourages the idea that once you have these products, studying will become easier for you. In fact, studying will even be fun. So much of this content refuses to address the struggles of not knowing how to study for something, or the possibility that studying is not even necessary to be successful at learning something. It cuts human contact out of learning and frames studying as a solitary effort that mimics relaxation. While I believe that studying could be calming for some people, I don’t necessarily think that it should be normalized as an excessive-hour endeavor that will always result in higher grades and a smarter person.

This content, while motivating in many ways, also pushes the narrative that America so often exemplifies through hustle culture: Hard work always pays off. In this way, people who tune in for inspiration may find themselves experiencing the euphoria of high grades—or the expectation that anything other than that is impossible—and the crash of low ones. Students may allow studying to take the place of actual hobbies meant to separate work from personal development.

Tangentially, I’m interested in the drink culture surrounding study content. In the wide world of academic romanticization, a study session always warrants a sweet treat, more specifically a drink. When I sit down to study, I usually find myself craving a coffee or a matcha, whether I wanted it before or not. While it is likely that this craving could be caused by many different factors—being on a college campus surrounded by coffee shops and American culture, for instance—I think this desire and even dependence on some form of caffeine during studying is alarming. Study culture implicitly reinforces the idea that caffeine can act as a substitute for sleep. Many highly caffeinated drinks are made to taste good, and to many students across America, drinks like coffee are simply a part of a routine. A routine that could entail three or four cups a day for some people, particularly when paired with long study routines.

All in all, I think content that romanticizes school can be used in a way that is more motivating than harmful. It can be a tool for motivation and accountability. It can even be a way to make a task that does not seem that appealing halfway enjoyable. The responsibility of being able to disentangle the harmful from the helpful, though, falls on us, the students.

Men’s basketball from page 1

Chicago whittled down CWRU’s lead slightly before halftime, leaving the Spartans with a 47-32 lead at the half after Mazzeo made three free throws after being fouled at the buzzer. Coach McGuinness brought the Spartans back to earth in the locker room, reminding them of the way that the Maroons had overcome a sizable deficit last game and shot 75% from beyond the arc in the final period.

This time, however, it would be the 3-point shooting of the Spartans that would prevail. Graduate student guard Richie Manigault put the final nail in the coffin at the 10:51 mark after making back-to-back three pointers, eliciting a roar from the students. UChicago called a timeout after that bucket and never got closer than 11 points for the remainder of the contest.

As the final buzzer sounded, the score was 81-70 for the Spartans. Coach McGuinness picked up his 100th win with CWRU, becoming just the third coach in program history to reach that mark, and the fastest by far. Mazzeo was the engine behind the victory, matching his season high with 30 points on 10-23 from the field while adding 4 assists and 3 rebounds. Graduate student forward Colin Kahl had a great night as well with 16 points and 8 rebounds. Recorded attendance was 1006, easily the most to watch a CWRU home game all season.

The Sunday matinee at noon versus No. 17 ranked WashU was much less eventful than the 86-87 overtime heartbreaker in St. Louis a week prior. It was a good old-fashioned beatdown out of the gate as CWRU sprung out to a 14-0 lead early and held WashU without a field goal over the first 5:46 of the game. Kahl fueled the early run, scoring 9 points in the first 4:17. CWRU led by as many as 16 in the first half, going

ahead 23-7 with 9:07 left in the half.

WashU threatened late in the half, pulling within 2 points in the final 90 seconds. Kahl came in clutch again, converting a layup at the buzzer to put the Spartans ahead 34-30 at the break. Third-year forward Umar Rashid was key in the first half, scoring 11 of his eventual 13. Despite the late momentum for the Bears, CWRU knew they were the better team and came out of the locker room with a changed attitude.

Determined to not blow yet another lead and have the game ever in question, the Spartans got hot from distance and pushed the lead back to 10 with 15:25 left to play. A 3-pointer from third-year guard Sam Trunley at the 10:22 mark put the Spartans back in the driver’s seat as they took a 56-41 lead. Trunley had a bounce-back performance on Sunday, recovering from an off-night against UChicago to score 16 against WashU. Trunley has been a key weapon off the bench for coach Todd McGuinness’ squad, and there’s no better catch-and-shoot marksman in the UAA when Trunley gets in his groove.

The Bears pulled within 8 points late in the contest but lacked the time to mount a comeback as CWRU made 7-of-8 free throws down the stretch to seal the deal for the Spartans. CWRU had won a statement 74-59 victory over No. 17 WashU. The Spartans’ defense and effort on the boards were key to the victory, forcing 17 turnovers and leading the Bears in second-chance points 18-2. Kahl was tremendous in the matchup, matching his career-high with 29 points. Kahl went 10-15 from the field and 7-9 from the free throw line while adding 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season.

For his excellent performances over

Determined to remedy their previous losses against WashU and UChicago, the CWRU men’s basketball team went all out and defeated both universities in a gratifying weekend.

Courtesy of CWRU Athletics

the weekend, Kahl was named UAA Athlete of the Week for men’s basketball, his second such honor this year and the seventh time that a Spartan has claimed the title this season. Kahl led all CWRU players with 22.5 points and 9 rebounds over the two games, while shooting 65.2% (15-23) overall, 50.0% (4-8) from behind the threepoint line and 84.6% (11-13) from the free throw line.

CWRU now stands at No. 10 over-

all in the D3hoops.com

Top 25 and rose to second place in the UAA at 6-3, just one game behind 7-2 NYU. The Spartans’ overall record stands at 17-3. CWRU will now embark on their final two road contests of the season, including a critical game at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 9 at NYU that might very well decide who wins the UAA championship. The Spartans will then travel to face Brandeis University at noon on Feb. 11.

Swimming and diving teams fall to No. 2-ranked Kenyon

Tanishka Mhaskar Staff Writer

Case Western Reserve University’s swim and dive team traveled to Gambier, Ohio on Saturday, Feb. 3 to participate in the dual meet held by host college Kenyon College. The Spartans No. 13-ranked women’s team lost to the No. 2-ranked Owls by a mark of 228-108 while the Spartans No. 15-ranked men’s team lost to the No. 1-ranked Owls by a mark of 206.5111.5.

However, there were multiple individual performances that the Spartans

should be proud of. Third-year diver Abigail Wilkov set two school records and won all four of her events. Wilkov is the first diver in Spartans history to cross 500.0 points in the 11-dive versions, and set pool records in both the 11-dive versions of the 1-meter and the 3-meter. Wilkov scored 552.70 on the 3-meter in 11 dives to beat her previous program record of 459.65 set in 2021. On the 1-meter board, Wilkov hit a mark of 509.25 in 11 dives to improve upon her own program record of 477.15 from 2021.

Other than Wilkov’s four victories, the Spartans won five events and finished second in 13 others. Second-

year Claire Kozma finished first in the 200 butterfly in 2:04.49. Among second-place finishes, third-year Gabriella Chambers finished second in the 50 freestyle in 24.01 seconds and 100 freestyle in 52.01 seconds, and second-year Eliza Dixon and thirdyear Kelly Vann finished second in the 200 freestyle relay. Additionally, third-year Amelia Myhrvold was the runner-up in the 100 backstroke in 59.29 seconds as well as first-year Ava Ellis in the 1000 freestyle.

On the men’s side, second-years Emil LaSida, Ben Borvendeg and Mason Bencurik, and third-year Jackson Pollard had a first place finish in the 200 freestyle relay, finishing the race in 1:23.49. Additionally, LaSida was the runner-up in the 100 backstroke, with a time of 49.58 seconds.

Another pair of Spartans finished first in their respective events. Second-year Adam Khatib brought home a first-place finish in the 200 butterfly, posting a mark of 1:53.57, and third-year Peter Meng finished first in the 500 freestyle. Another pair of Spartans were the runners-up in both of these events: second-year John Drumm finished 0.36 seconds after Khatib, and third-year Stephen Hogeman touched the wall around nine seconds after Meng.

The final individual first-place finish of the day was second-year William

At a meet at Kenyon, Abigail Wilkov set two school records and recorded three pool records, contributing fours wins to the teams’ nine total event victories.

Courtesy of Tim Phillis/CWRU Athletics

Froass who won the 100 butterfly in 50.57 seconds. Additionally, the Spartans won the mixed 200 medley relay on the backs of fourth-year Ethan Chuang for breaststroke, LaSida for backstroke, Kozma for butterfly and Chambers for freestyle.

Next up for the Spartans is the 2024 UAA Championships at the University of Chicago from Feb. 14-17.

Despite losses against Kenyon, CWRU’s teams still saw remarkable achievements in the individual and relay events, finishing the season 5-1. Courtesy of Tim Phillis/CWRU Athletics

Browns finish season with 7 Pro Bowlers, most since 1988

Trevor Wood Contributing Writer

The Cleveland Browns recently concluded one of their most successful seasons, finishing with the third-highest win total in team history and securing a playoff spot for the second time in four years with an impressive 11-6 record. Despite suffering a crushing defeat to the Houston Texans in the wild card round of the 2024 playoffs, the Browns have redefined their legacy by turning winning into a new standard.

This year’s success was further highlighted by the selection of seven Browns players for the Pro Bowl, the second-highest by any AFC team this season and the most for the Browns since 1988. This year’s selections include wide receiver Amari Cooper, tight end David Njoku, left guard Joel Bitonio, right guard Wyatt Teller, defensive end Myles Garrett, cornerback Denzel Ward and linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah.

Cooper’s ascension as a starter in this year’s Pro Bowl marks a significant milestone in his illustrious career. This is his fifth Pro Bowl appearance and his first with Cleveland. Cooper set a personal best this season, amassing an impressive career-high 1,250 receiving yards. He etched his name in Browns history as the first receiver to record backto-back seasons with over 1,000 receiving yards. His remarkable performance peaked in Week 16 against the Texans when he set the Browns’ single-game receiving record with a staggering 265 yards. Remarkably, Cooper achieved this feat amidst the challenge of adapting to five different starting quarterbacks throughout the season.

Njoku, Cooper’s fellow passcatcher, earned his first-ever Pro

Bowl nod, cementing his status as a Pro Bowl-caliber talent since being drafted in the first round by the Browns in 2017. Despite previous setbacks due to inconsistent quarterback play and a preference for run-heavy offenses, Njoku broke through this season with 882 receiving yards, ranking second on the Browns and sixth among tight ends. Njoku also led the team in receptions (81) and receiving touchdowns (6). His six receiving touchdowns mark the best of his career.

The outstanding seasons of these two receivers wouldn’t have been possible without the exceptional play of Bitonio and Teller. Despite the Browns grappling with seasonending injuries to right tackle Jack Conklin and left tackle Jed Wills, Bitonio and Teller’s Pro Bowl-caliber performance kept the offensive line formidable, contributing significantly to the team’s playoff berth. Bitonio, with six Pro Bowl selections, ties for fourth-most in team history and was also voted a starter in this year’s Pro Bowl. Teller, on his part, has earned Pro Bowl honors for three consecutive seasons.

On the defensive side, Garrett stands out as a likely NFL Defensive Player of the Year and All-Pro. Garrett was a force to be reckoned with, finishing the season with 14 sacks, the seventh-highest in the league. Garrett also finished the season fifth in forced fumbles with 4. His five Pro Bowl selections since being drafted first overall by the Browns in 2017 are tied for the most in franchise history for a defensive player.

Joining Garrett in the Pro Bowl is three-time selectee Ward, the fourth overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. The Ohio State product justified his high draft selection with a stellar season as a cornerstone in one of the NFL’s elite defensive back groups. Ward was among the best in the

After a successful season, the Cleveland Browns sent seven players to the 2024 Pro Bowl, which was broadcasted from Feb. 1-4. Courtesy of the Cleveland Browns

NFL in man coverage.

Owusu-Koramoah (JOK), another Browns Pro Bowl selection, has been a revelation since his secondround selection in the 2021 NFL Draft. JOK captivated fans with his ferocious tackling and exceptional speed, fully realizing his potential under the guidance of new defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz. This ultimately led to JOK being fourth in the NFL for tackles for loss with 20. This year is JOK’s first Pro Bowl selection.

Cooper and Bitonio were not able to participate in the Pro Bowl due

to injuries, but these other standout athletes proudly represented the Browns and the AFC in the Pro Bowl Games, a thrilling showcase of skill and sportsmanship. The Pro Bowl Games, a dynamic mix of traditional and innovative challenges, featured exciting events such as dodgeball, kick-tac-toe, tug of war and flag football. The Pro Bowl was a fourday spectacle, broadcasted from Thursday, Feb. 1 to Sunday, Feb. 4, where the NFL’s finest talents displayed their versatility and competitive spirit in a unique and entertaining format.

Scores and Upcoming Games

Men’s Basketball

CWRU vs UChicago (2/2) - W 81-70

CWRU vs WashU (2/4) - W 74-59

CWRU at NYU (2/9)

CWRU at Brandeis (2/11)

Track and Field

CWRU vs 15th Annual Battle for the Obelisk (2/3)

Men’s team: L 40-96

Women’s team: L 58-77

CWRU at GVSU Big Meet (2/9)

CWRU at Crimson & Gold Invite (2/9) CWRU at Indoor All-Ohio Championships (2/10)

Swimming and Diving

CWRU at Kenyon (2/3)

Men’s team: L 111.5-206.5

Women’s team: L 108-228

CWRU at UAA Championships (2/14-17)

CWRU at Midwest Invitational (2/23-24)

Women’s Basketball

CWRU vs UChicago (2/2) - L 43-59

CWRU vs WashU (2/4) - L 74-84

CWRU at NYU (2/9)

CWRU at Brandeis (2/11)

Wrestling

CWRU at Penn State Behrend (2/2) - W 40-9

CWRU at Gannon (2/2) - L 21-25

CWRU at John Summa Invitational (2/3)12th of 13 (25.5 points)

CWRU at Ohio Wesleyan (2/10)

CWRU at JCU Open (2/11)

CWRU at UAA Championships (2/17)