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Checkout our special section where The DePaulia breaks down all things 4/20.
Volume #103 | Issue #21 | April 15, 2019 | depauliaonline.com
Fire, ice and negligence
XAVIER ORTEGA | THE DEPAULIA
Many DePaul students live in apartments off campus in Chicago’s North Side neighborhoods, getting their first taste of life as an independent. For some, that experience can be a nightmare.
Living off campus can mean contending with faulty heaters, carbon monoxide leaks and bad landlords
L
iving off campus signals a new phase of adulthood for many students. That idyllic Lakeview four-bedroom, fiveroommate unit with “vintage charm” now has your name to add to the lease. It’s as if nothing can go wrong — that is, until something does, serving you, the tenant, with a stark reminder that living off campus can come at a cost. Some DePaul students live in apartments with on-and-off heating, torn-down fences, carbon monoxide leaks and electrical fires, managed by landlords who do not respond quickly or thoroughly. This breakdown in communication can lead to hazardous violations of city ordinances and tenant rights. Twenty-year-old DePaul student Emma Scott had been living in a Lakeview garden unit apartment for a few months with her two roommates when their neighbor reported seeing a man peeking into their property after a storm in October had blown down their fence. “I reached out to my landlord and they said the fence wasn’t on their property line, so I reached out to my neighbors to ask them to fix it,” Scott said. “After receiving proof from my neighbors that the fence was in fact on my landlord’s property line, I reached out to the alderman to get help.” Cagan Management Group, the property group that owns Scott’s building, also maintains
By Meredith Melland, Dylan Van Sickle, Mikayla Rose Price and Maria Barragan Contributing Writers
rentals and condos in Indiana, Louisiana and Florida. They have been involved in at least 33 lawsuits within Cook County in the last 20 years, three of which they initiated, according to circuit court records. Scott’s building fence is supposed to be maintained according to the Residential Landlord Tenant Ordinance, or RLTO, which outlines the conditions tenants can expect to be kept up by landlords in Chicago’s municipal code. The RLTO does not apply if the building has less than six units and the owner or landlord lives in it. “Complaints regarding units related to RLTO are handled in within 24 hours typically,” Cagan Management Group representative Monica Kristaly said. During long Chicago winters, a pressing and frequent concern for tenants is inconsistent heating. After this year’s polar vortex, with temperatures plunging to 23 below zero, one DePaul student talked about past problems with heat. “I had to sleep with a hat on and wake up with a cold nose,” DePaul student Jenni Holtz said. The heat would intermittently go out in
Holtz’s former Lincoln Park apartment from November to January last winter. “I would turn the oven on to stay warm,” Holtz said. “Some nights I would crash at a friend’s place. I also got sick a lot.” The city’s Department of Buildings enforces the Chicago Building Code, which dictates city expectations for buildings and property. From Sept. 15 to June 15, the Chicago Heat Ordinance requires the indoor temperature be at least 68 degrees from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m if residents cannot control their own heat within the apartment. Overnight, it must be at least 66 degrees. Holtz’s roommates simultaneously sent text messages to their landlord about the issue, she said. “Our landlord would make it appear to be our fault, though we couldn’t control our heating because it was central heating,” Holtz said. “If she was home, she would come down; if she wasn’t home, she wouldn’t respond. It was never fixed immediately.” The Chicago Heat Ordinance states that landlords can be fined for every day apartment heating drops below the outlined threshold. Holtz said they all knew the heating outages were illegal, but would have done more if they knew they could have taken legal action. “If I knew she could be fined every single day the heat was out, I would have recorded it,” Holtz said.
See LANDLORDS, page 6
2 | News. The DePaulia. April 15, 2019
First Look The DePaulia is the official student-run newspaper of DePaul University and may not necessarily reflect the views of college administrators, faculty or staff. EDITOR-IN-CHIEF | Benjamin Conboy eic@depauliaonline.com MANAGING EDITOR | Shane René managing@depauliaonline.com NEWS EDITOR | Mackenzie Murtaugh news@depauliaonline.com ASST. NEWS EDITOR | Emma Oxnevad news@depauliaonline.com NATION & WORLD EDITOR | Brian Pearlman nation@depauliaonline.com OPINIONS EDITOR | Doug Klain opinion@depauliaonline.com FOCUS EDITOR | Ella Lee focus@depauliaonline.com ARTS & LIFE EDITOR | Lacey Latch artslife@depauliaonline.com SPORTS EDITOR | Lawrence Kreymer sports@depauliaonline.com ASST. SPORTS EDITOR | Vacant sports@depauliaonline.com DESIGN EDITOR | Annalisa Baranowski design@depauliaonline.com DESIGN EDITOR | Marlee Chlystek design@depauliaonline.com
Interested in writing for The DePaulia? Contact our Editor-in-Chief, Benjamin Conboy, to see your name in print and get real journalistic experience. Email eic@depauliaonline.com to get started.
THIS WEEK Monday - 4/15
Check out our campus crime database, Crime Watch. This map is updated on a weekly basis with data made available to The DePaulia from the City of Chicago data portal and DePaul’s Office of Crime Prevention.
CORRECTION: A story that ran on the front page last week said that a percentage of students and a small percentage of faculty are undocumented. That same percentage of students and faculty are “non-resident aliens,” and are in the country legally with work or educational visas.
Tuesday - 4/16
Wednesday - 4/17
Sundaes on Mondays
Spring Job & Internship Fair 2019
Campus Apartment Open House
2325 N Seminary
1 E Jackson Boulevard
Sheffield Square, Courtyard
12 p.m.
1 p.m.
4 -6 p.m.
Friday - 4/19
Saturday - 4/20
Good Friday-University Closed
No public events listed
Thursday - 4/18 Take Back the Night SAC Pit 4:30 p.m.
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News. The DePaulia. April 15, 2019 | 3
Survivors stronger after demonstration XAVIER ORTEGA | THE DEPAULIA
Grace Gubbrud, president of Advocates for Sexual Assault Prevention, carries a box in the Schmitt Academic Center Wednesday to show solidarity with victims of sexual abuse.
'Carry the Weight' aims to spark discussions of sexual violence on campus By Ella Lee Focus Editor
As students rushed through the Schmitt Academic Center on April 10, senior Grace Gubbrud stood silent and still. She took her stance on the edge of the “pit,” holding a red-and-black painted box meant to symbolize a weight she carries with her every day — the weight of trauma that follows sexual assault. The demonstration was part of an event from Advocates for Sexual Assault Prevention (ASAP) called “Carry the Weight” in recognition of Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Gubbrud held that weight from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. while other members of the student organization handed out flyers which aimed to facilitate conversation around sexual violence on campus. She says that the idea for the event came to her in January at 4 a.m. and that seeing her idea become reality has caused a lot of mixed emotions. “It is both exciting and terrifying that this is something so public,” Gubbrud said. “As a survivor, I carry that weight every day, but it’s just myself. [The event] is a very public display of me carrying that weight.” One of her primary reasons for putting on the event was to bring light to the problem of sexual assault at universities across the country. “I think our group came to this campus and got started on campus because there is not a lot of awareness,” said Martha Starkel, DePaul freshman and ASAP member. “It’s a problem on a lot of college campuses; not many institutions get the word out to the entire student body about consent and assault and its prevalence on campuses.” Gubbrud agreed, saying the events are about raising awareness and bringing attention to the topics. She also said other events have been more policy-focused surrounding Title IX legislation. Title IX is a section of the Education
XAVIER ORTEGA | THE DEPAULIA
Vanessa Garcia, a freshman secondary education and English major, signs a poster expressing her support for victims of sexual abuse.
“As a survivor, I carry that weight every day, but it’s just myself. [The event] is a very public display of me carrying that weight.”
Grace Gubbrud
Senior
Amendments Act of 1972. DePaul’s Title IX Coordinator, Jessica Landis, says its meaning can be boiled down to one sentence: “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.” “So when you break that down,
because we allow DePaul students to apply for FAFSA and you can receive financial aid, that’s why we have to follow Title IX,” Landis said. “So what that means is we have to make sure that all of our programs and activities are accessible to everyone, regardless of their sex and gender.” Title IX was not always synonymous with “sexual violence.” Landis says it used
to be applied most broadly to university sports, ensuring that women’s teams had equally good equipment, facilities and opportunities as men’s teams. It wasn’t until the Office of Civil Rights and the Department of Justice issued the “Dear, Colleague,” letter in 2011, which told universities sexual harassment and violence is also covered by Title IX that the two came to be considered interchangeable by some. In her position as Title IX coordinator, Landis says that much of her day-to-day work involves responding to reports of sexual and relationship violence, discrimination and anti-harassment. Her job beyond that is primarily to ensure that prevention and response to those issues are happening on campus, and she works closely with the Health Promotion and Wellness office to achieve that. “We really see our commitment to Sexual and Relationship Violence prevention as a response as a campuswide effort,” Landis said. “One person can not do it all alone.” But some students feel that the university’s efforts are not adequate enough given the enormity of the problem. “I know there is a lot that goes on in the dorms,” said Ellie Bradley a DePaul freshman. “I think that DePaul needs to up public safety and make counseling more available. But I do think you can easily find resources.” With such a colossal problem like that of sexual violence on campus, many say they feel that a solution is too far out of reach. Groups like ASAP aim to use their platform to raise awareness and start working toward a tangible way to combat that mentality working from the students up. “I think especially because the problem is prevalent on every college campus in the country, it feels like the university should do more,” Starkel said. “But that’s why we’re here.”
4 | News. The DePaulia. April 15, 2019
Dragged into DePaul MC Bambi Banks (left) stands with Travis Fiero (right) after a performance by Fiero at the Student Center on Friday. Fiero mentioned to the audience that they both are DePaul alumni and started a drag group during their time at DePaul.
Story by Emma Oxnevad Photos by Xavier Ortega Drag queens took the house down, boots, in the Student Center on Friday. The event, hosted by student LGBTQA student organization Spectrum DePaul, is a student favorite, with students piling in to see their favorite Chicago queens perform. Professional drag queens Bambi Banks and Khloe Park emceed the event, entertaining the crowd and presenting each performer. Banks, a DePaul alum, started a drag group while a student with fellow queen Travis Fiero, who was also present at the show. Queens took to the stage, performing and interacting with the crowd for tips. The performances included dance routines and stand-up sets, showcasing a wide array of diverse talent. The professional show follows the Student Drag Show that took place at DePaul in February.
Maureen Sandiego performs a stand up routine and gets the audience laughing by joking about her unemployment and misfortunes in life.
Drag Queen Sapphire Felicia gets handed a tip from someone in the crowd during her performance.
Travis Fiero bends backwards during their performance at the Annual Drag Show hosted by Spectrum DePaul.
Hinkypunk dances to Temporary Gold by Kate Boy on Friday at the DePaul Lincoln Park Student Center.
News. The DePaulia. April 15, 2019 | 5
Compensating for commencement A year after ticketing debacle, DePaul students are still willing to pay for extra tickets By Emma Oxnevad Assistant News Editor
For the class of 2018, the hope of a stress-free graduation was quickly squashed when a new ticketing policy was enforced. While graduates of years past were able to invite an unlimited number of guests to attend commencement in the spacious Allstate Arena, last year’s crop of seniors had to pick and choose their guests in order to accommodate the lesser capacity of Wintrust Arena. The policy was highly unpopular with the graduating seniors, with many of them taking to the Official DePaul University Class of 2018 Facebook page to express their discontent and offer high sums of money in exchange for extra tickets. The university has slightly updated their policy by allocating each graduate six tickets – as opposed to last year, when the amount of tickets allowed to each student was dependent on their individual college. “Because [Wintrust Arena] has seating limitations, a ticketing system was necessary,” said Carol Hughes, university spokesperson. “Many universities, including some in the Chicago area, utilize a ticketing system as a standard practice, so the idea of requiring tickets at commencement is not new or uncommon.” However, the debacle of limited tickets has emerged for a new graduating class, with students looking for deals on Facebook. William Hopper, a media and cinema studies major, was one such student, offering “cold, hard cash” in exchange for extra tickets to accommodate multiple family members hoping to attend his commencement. “The amount of tickets does cover the amount that my very immediate family needs, but considering how supportive my grandparents have been through my whole life— but especially my time in college, it just didn’t feel right to not have them there too,” Hopper said. “On top of that, my great-grandma wants to come too, and who can say no to their 90-year old grandma?” Sukina Hassan, a senior studying business administration, said that the number of tickets offered will cover the attendance of her immediate family. However, she remains dismayed that the same luxury has not been afforded to other important people who want to see her walk. “For this ceremony, the two people I would really appreciate to bring would be my grandfathers from both sides. That’s all I’m asking for,” Hassan said. “They have stood by my side and I want them there watching me get my diploma. I want them there watching me smile as I walk across
ANNALISA BARANOWSKI | THE DEPAULIA
the stage, but unfortunately cannot have it that way.” Hassan stated that she was offered additional graduation tickets by a fellow student, at a rate of $100 per ticket. “I would imagine kids looking out and being generous coming to this time of the year but nope,” Hassan said. “It is definitely sad to see our fellow student community treat other students like this.“ DePaul acknowledged the practice of selling tickets on its official commencement website, discouraging students from selling tickets in an attempt to capitalize on the inconvenience of other students. “Students are encouraged to share excess tickets with fellow classmates. However, students may not sell such tickets in an attempt to profit from this celebratory event,” the website reads. Students have criticized this response, claiming that DePaul has done very little to solve the issue it created. “The first email DePaul sent out said that ‘the university highly discourages students from selling tickets in an attempt to profit from this celebratory event’, which okay, I understand, but come on— they know people are going to be selling their tickets regardless,” Hopper said. “DePaul knows there’s a ticketing issue, but they haven’t said a word about the lottery yet, so what are students supposed to do other than ensure their family and friends can get in by other means?” In addition to issues with the lack of available tickets, students have also expressed dissatisfaction with a perceived lack of communication involving details relating to
commencement. “I wish there was just more information, and much more communication,” Hopper said. “If you go to the DePaul Class of 2019 [Facebook] page, there’s dozens of people posting almost every day about how they need tickets, and how they’ll even pay for them; people need their tickets, and they’re all
freaking out about getting them.” Despite the student backlash, DePaul remains by its stance that the ticket policy is an improvement. “After we hold any event, including commencement, we take a look at how things went and how we could make improvements,” Hughes said. “We covered a lot of ground last year, including implementing a ticketing system and making sure graduates, their guests and faculty participants had the information they needed for the day to go smoothly. One lesson we learned was the colleges should be paired differently in the combined ceremonies to more evenly distribute the number of graduates. Doing so would both standardize the length of the ceremonies and introduce more equity into the ticket system.” Jen Kramer, the Director of University Events, could not be reached for a comment. “I knew about how much of a mess the ticketing was last year,” Hopper said. “The DePaulia ran a piece on the issues and every senior I knew was complaining about how in prior years this ticketing issue wasn’t happening because we weren’t in Wintrust Arena back then. So I’ve been dreading this for over two years, and I was hoping DePaul would somehow fix the issues with last year’s ticketing, but it seems like there hasn’t been much change in their overall approach this year.”
6| News. The DePaulia. April 15, 2019 LANDLORDS continued from front Landlords can face up to $500 per day, per violation, regardless of the reason for insufficient heating. For DePaul alumnus Niko Ewert, there is such a thing as too much heat — something he and his roommates learned the hard way in November 2017. “Upstairs there was a ventilation fan in the shower and for some reason one of our upstairs roommates forgot to turn it off and that started a fire,” Ewert said. “ I thought it was a fluke. I went upstairs, and me and my other roommates saw that smoke was coming from the walls.” According to Ewert, the blaze progressed through the unit’s walls, destroying the ceiling and drywall of their bathroom on the main floor in the process. “If nobody was there, our house would have been gone,” Ewert said. The house survived the fire, but Ewert and his roommates’ relationship with their landlord would never fully be repaired. Ewert said he reached out via email to their management group, LaSalle Associates, to try to resolve the situation after the fire. “The actual people we encountered were nice, but when it came to the email correspondence, it was pretty harsh and always defensive,” Ewert said. The group offered them an apartment to stay in while repairs were made. Due to the lack of furniture and utilities, however, they declined. Instead, they settled for a $500 deduction in the next month’s rent. One DePaul sophomore, who asked not to be identified because of an ongoing legal case, had less luck getting financial reimbursement from LaSalle Associates when her Lakeview apartment was emitting dangerous levels of carbon monoxide in February. When she and her roommates walked in one night to prepare to host a party, gas detector alarms blared throughout the building. They evacuated and called the gas company and the fire department, according to Chicago Fire Department records. Firefighters detected dangerous levels of carbon monoxide in the air and advised the roommates to turn off their furnace and open windows to expel it, according to Office of Emergency Management and Communications records. The inspector from Peoples Gas dispatched by the fire department arrived at 1 a.m. and immediately identified their furnace as broken and leaking, according to the DePaul student. She emailed LaSalle Associates to inform them of the needed repair. “They were like, ‘okay, we’ll send someone to look at it,’ even though we had told them and sent the Peoples Gas report that said the furnace was broken and we needed a new one,” she said. “They wasted time by not ordering the parts or doing anything to fix it.” The occupants stayed with friends that night because of the lack of heat. The next morning, one of the roommates went to the hospital to be treated for carbon monoxide poisoning. “She asked them [LaSalle] to pay the hospital bill, and they were refusing,” the sophomore said. A property representative came by late the next afternoon to confirm the report and give them space heaters, but said the furnace could not be fixed until Monday. When asked to pay the difference on the roommates’ electric bill caused by multiple space heaters, they refused. The repair was completed and paid for by Tuesday, but the DePaul student is still trying to figure out the receipts. “I emailed them to try to like at least get them to get them to pay for the
things they should in this situation, and they’re still like beating around the bush and really trying to evade any sort of responsibility,” she said. LaSalle Associates has been involved in at least 23 Cook County lawsuits since 1994, including 18 the company started, usually based on claims that tenants vacated units before their leases ended or stopped paying rent. Tenants have brought complaints and lawsuits against them for short eviction turnaround time, sewage leaks, mold and failure to maintain a unit’s windows, according to circuit court documents. LaSalle Associates did not respond to The DePaulia’s requests for comment. Ewert and the DePaul sophomore both said that they mainly communicated through email with LaSalle Associates, which operates out of a Lakeview office on Southport and has no website. Neither resident had a set landlord or point of contact. Students in similar situations may have the support of the RLTO behind them, but can have a hard time getting landlords to take them seriously. However, tenants rights groups, law firms and other resources can help them take steps to get fair treatment. Michael Robin is an organizer with the Autonomous Tenants Union. The Albany Park group mostly works with immigrants and working class residents in the neighborhood who are dealing with evictions, problematic living conditions or both. “We’re a collective that works together to defend our right to dignified housing and build tenant power,” Robin said. ATU hosts assembly meetings where they talk to residents with problems, work on campaigns and build skills, according to Robin. They can refer people to resources, help them organize to pressure their landlords or connect people to other organizing groups in other neighborhoods. Tenants having landlord problems can report violations to the city through Chicago’s online or phone 311 system, Robin said. Then they can call their alderman’s office with the service request (SR) number to try to get their case tracked and possibly order inspections, according to a spokesperson from the office of the 43rd Ward alderman, Michele Smith. A representative from 44th Ward Alderman Tom Tunney’s office went to Cagan Management Group after Scott called them and told Cagan to fix her fence, according to Scott. “They even began to fine them until it was fixed,” Scott said. If this process does not work and tenants feel more action should be taken, Robin recommends what ATU calls the sword and the shield: taking direct action though protest and gathering, and getting legal protection.
MARLEE CHLYSTEK | THE DEPAULIA
Call-in campaigns where a tenant creates a script and crowdsources people to call their landlord can be an effective protest method, Robin said. “They’ll be bombarded with phone calls just blocking up their lines and not allowing them to go about business as usual,” Robin said. Robin noted social media campaigns can also provide pressure because they can “ruin a Google search.” If students are looking for legal support but cannot afford it, pro-bono law firms Lawyers Committee for Better Housing (LCBH) and Community Activism Law Alliance (CALA) and Uptown People’s Law Center work on tenant condition situations, according to Robin. DePaul students can also reach out to Croak Student Legal Services, who have gathered resources surrounding tenant rights issues and offer students free
services. They refer students to their website, where they provide next steps, such as how to end a lease or take a landlord to court. The website also provides a “Tenant Survival 101” and an “OffCampus Housing Guide” document about the rights students have as tenants. Off-campus students have good reason to know their legal rights. According to the National Low Income Housing Association, the average price of a two-bedroom apartment in the zip codes around campus was $1770 per month in 2018. Like taxes, insurance and other adult responsibilities, students often do not learn how to deal with landlord and housing issues until they experience them. Students’ tenant rights may slip through the cracks, but resources in Chicago can help them be regained.
Here to listen
News. The DePaulia. April 15, 2019 | 7
University Trauma-informed response training equips faculty and staff with survivor-focused direction executive vice president joins Lightfoot's transition team By Patsy Newitt Contributing Writer
Stories of sexual violence seem to be unsettlingly embedded in the modern college narrative, but proper mechanisms to navigate discussions between institutions and students often fall short, leaving both parties unsure of how to communicate properly and effectively with the other. April is Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month, bringing up questions on how institutions can better accommodate survivors. DePaul’s Office of Health Promotion and Wellness sought to remedy this disconnect on April 12, with traumainformed response training for DePaul’s faculty and staff. The training was navigated through the lens of sexual violence and was survivor-focused, guiding faculty on how to approach students who confide in DePaul employees. A trauma-informed approach, in regard to sexual violence, focuses on a purposeful and compassionate understanding of trauma and its effects, working to create a space where survivors feel safe to share their experience. A trauma-informed response is one that uses this knowledge and understanding to respond intentionally and carefully in order to support the healing process. “We are asking how we make our spaces accessible to those who have experienced sexual assault,” Hannah Retzkin, the Sexual and Relationship Prevention Specialist who conducted the training, said. “We are working on reframing how we handle this so that abusers are at fault, not the survivors.” The US Department of Justice reports that one in four female undergraduates will experience sexual assault during their college career. Despite this fact, only 20 percent of female survivors inform the police, and only 46 out of every 1000 reports end in arrest. The ACLU reports that 95 percent of sexual assaults don’t get reported. These statistics make training like this necessary because often times campus resources are the only way survivors feel comfortable sharing. “You may be the first person that they tell about an incidence of sexual assault, harassment, relationship violence, or stalking,” the event’s webpage said. “By educating yourself and following some simple guidelines, you can effectively support student survivors and report to the appropriate college officials.” The attendees of the training were a mixed bag — literature professors, office heads and costume designers. Trauma-informed response training isn’t mandatory for DePaul faculty and staff, but is open to all employees. Retzkin began the training with an introduction to the effects of trauma, citing how these events impair an individual’s biological, psychological and social functions. “After a traumatic experience, an individual’s vulnerability and safety are shattered, producing an emotional state of extreme discomfort and stress,” she said. Traumatic experiences alter neurobiological functions, Retzkin
By Mackenzie Murtaugh News Editor
MARLEE CHLYSTEK | THE DEPAULIA
explained, in how they trigger a survival response. The amygdala, the part of the brain involving stress response, goes into fight-or-flight mode, and the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain involved with rational decision making, is impaired. Psychologically, survivors of sexual violence are more likely to struggle with depression, anxiety and PTSD, and with that, they are also at risk of effects like hypervigilance, social withdrawal, substance abuse, chronic pain and suicidal ideation, she said. Understanding trauma is critical when responding with a traumainformed approach. By considering the effects, Retzkin said, responders are better able to understand the survivor’s actions and can better contextualize how these actions could be perceived. Trauma-informed responses involve the acronym CARE, Retzkin said. “C” for compassionate listening, activating sincere empathy from a sincere audience, “A” for affirming the responder believes the survivor, “R” for respecting choices, offering support for whatever decision is chosen,and “E” for empower, ensuring that access to resources and understanding of options are provided. The necessity of letting survivors make their own decision is one that many authority figures struggle with. “It’s important that survivors know all their options, but it’s also important that we respect choices," Retzkin said. “This is the hardest part for a lot of us as compassionate faculty members, but it’s important to let them know you support whatever decision they make.” Retzkin also stressed the importance of survivor-supported verbiage, providing phrases for responders to use that indicate survivors are believed. Avoiding victim-blaming language like “how much did you have to drink?” was encouraged. By using language that assures faculty is on their side, survivors feel safer sharing. “I think that sometimes the victimblaming comes because we don’t understand how to respond in a traumainformed way,” sai Emily Opalski, the director of Compliance and Risk Management and Deputy Title IX coordinator. “So a lot of those mistakes that we make can be avoided if we know how to respond.”
Institutions actually addressing campus sexual violence instead of ignoring the problem is a relatively new phenomenon, so understanding how to respond as faculty member of a larger institution is difficult. Trauma-informed response training helps abate that. “There are so many behaviors that have never been addressed, so then they’ve never been perceived as inappropriate,” said George Keating, an acting professor at the Theatre School. “It’s important to listen.” Trauma-informed response training isn’t mandatory, but sexual and relationship violence prevention, survivor support and bystander intervention became part of DePaul’s required training in 2014 through a partnership between the Office of Institutional Compliance and the Office of Health Promotion and Wellness. General DePaul faculty and staff are “responsible employees” by Title IX, which says that all responsible employees who have been informed of sex discrimination, including sexual or relationship violence, are required to report to a Title IX coordinator. This report results in an email from Title IX coordinator to the survivor that lays out all of the options available for preceding. Survivors can then decide if they wish to continue, whether that be through on-campus counseling, legal action or nothing at all. “The trauma-informed response goes a little deeper,” Opalski said. “I manage General Compliance Training every year, and student employees, faculty and staff are required to do that. Sexual and relationship violence is a part of that, and so I try to add factors that are missing.” As more exposure and a better understanding of how these issues should be treated from an institutional level develops, it will be important to note the role DePaul plays in this narrative. Despite the seemingly pervasive nature of sexual violence on college campuses, the training emphasizes that it is not inevitable and there are ways for institutions to meet survivors where they are. By prioritizing trauma-informed approaches, institutions can minimize adverse effects and make the healing process easier for survivors.
As mayoral-elect Lori Lightfoot prepares to take on the city of Chicago, Jeff Bethke, DePaul executive vice president and chief financial officer, will take on the role of advisor for budget and municipal finances. His task force will address budget deficit and other financial issues the city faces. Bethke was the university treasurer from March 2008 to December 2015, before he began serving as the university’s executive vice president since January 2016. He will take a fiveweek leave of absence until May 13 after Lightfoot takes office.
Lincoln Yards, The 78 funding approved By Mackenzie Murtaugh News Editor
After some deliberation on Monday, April 8, the City council approved $2 billion in tax incremental funding for the mega-development Lincoln Yards, located just under a mile from DePaul’s Lincoln Park campus, and South Loop development The 78 on Wednesday. A heated stir occurred on Monday when Mayor Rahm Emanuel asked members of the voting committee to delay the vote after months of confirming that Lincoln Yards will be approved before Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot takes over in late-May. In a surprise move, Emanuel took the side of the mayorelect and delayed the vote two days for deliberation. Lightfoot intended to delay the vote until the new City Council takes office on May 20. Lightfoot used the delay to engage with the developers of Lincoln Yards and The 78, Sterling Bay and Related Midwest respectively. She intends to work with the developers to ensure employ minorityand women-owned construction firms. “I was very clear with the developers: Enjoy this moment in the sun, because you’re never going to get a deal like this again out of the city of Chicago as long as I’m mayor,” Lightfoot said following the vote. “And I’m going to hold them accountable, and I think they recognize that.”
8 | News. The DePaulia. April 15, 2019
CAMPUS CRIME REPORT: April 3, 2019- April 9, 2019 LOOP CAMPUS
LINCOLN PARK CAMPUS
Sanctuary Hall 1
McCabe Hall DePaul Center Lewis Building
2
3
4
2 5
7
LINCOLN PARK CAMPUS
Assault & Theft
Drug & Alcohol
Other
LOOP CAMPUS
APRIL 5 1) A domestic battery report was filed for an
APRIL 4 3) An assault/criminal tresspass report was filed
incident that occured in front of Sanctuary Hall.
at the DePaul Center.
2) A disturbance was reported at McCabe Hall.
APRIL 5 4) A criminal
damage to property report was filed for graffiti on the Lewis building.
APRIL 9 5) A criminal trespass report was filed at the DePaul Center.
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
CLASSICS MADE MODERN
CLASSICS MADE MODERN
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Same stories, now in digital formats. Access all our collections on the Chicago Public Library app.
News. The DePaulia. April 15, 2019 | 9
JONATHAN AGUILAR | THE DEPAULIA
Kennedy Cadichon (left) poses with Bakange Ajax (right) as Christine Augustin takes their photo on Thursday at the Black Cultural Center as part of Natural Hair Week organized by Roots 2 End.
DePaul embraces the beauty of natural hair By Tariqah Shakir Contributing Writer
DePaul University teamed up with student-led organization Roots 2 Ends in celebration of Natural Hair Week on April 8-12. Workshops, healthy discussions, hair-care tutorials, competitions with prizes and a photoshoot were all part of the fun in embracing all hair types. Roots 2 Ends President Christine Augustine, a psychology major with a minor in sociology, said that the purpose of the weeklong celebration is to bring together those wanting to embrace their hair and identity. “It’s open for all hair types but we’re just celebrating those who are natural [and] who are trying to be natural because today, black hair is not seen as beautiful,” she said. “We’re basically a natural hair organization, but our goals are basically providing a support system, a safe space but also helping African Americans to love their hair as well as their bodies.” Christine started Roots 2 Ends in April 2018 as a blog and social media group. The organization is steadily growing in popularity on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter by empowering and educating students of African descent through their natural hair journey. “I’ve noticed through my natural hair journey I had to love myself first in order to embrace my hair but also do my hair,” she said. “So, we’re also an org that helps those find their identities and it doesn’t necessarily have to be doing hair, but it could be through their body and any entity really.” “The reason why I started Roots 2 Ends and I started blogging is because it’s all about self-care and self-love towards myself and another way that I take care of myself is doing my hair, and I want to help others find ways to just love themselves through self-care.”
Mykia Whitehead, who follows Roots 2 Ends on social media, was happy to have been a part of Natural Hair Week and said more events like it should be brought to campus. “I think this was a good class, especially for black women, black students and I hope that more black women — even black men and students at DePaul will come to these events for black students,” she said. Whitehead is a super senior at DePaul’s College of Law and is working toward a degree in criminology. She is a strong supporter of the resources and courses DePaul’s Center for Black Diaspora and Black Cultural Center offers. “I appreciate these black courses because honestly, I’m here and I didn’t know how to do hair and now here I am with more tips I can take home with me. It was very nice.” Senior English major Jacara Davis said that it’s important to celebrate natural hair as a normal part of life. “For a while I thought kinks were wrong, even my curl pattern and volume were wrong,” she said. “Things that I should have thought were scientifically proven to be normal and natural. I tried working against [it] so it’s a wonderful, inverse thing to put just as much or even more positive attention on my particular category of hair now than I did negative. […] Hair is kinda always there and does its job, but humans always find a way to prioritize other things other than it. To keep our hair happy and not causing us so much trouble on a regular basis, when we want it to behave, we need to basically develop a relationship with it.” “Let it be as wild and voluptuous as you knew it would be when you were born a person of color or someone with kinky or curly hair grade. Don’t change it.”
MARLEE CHLYSTEK | THE DEPAULIA
JONATHAN AGUILAR | THE DEPAULIA
Cory Barnes (left), a coordinator at the Black Cultural Center, and Tosin Songonuga (center) pose for photos taken by the president of Roots to End, Christine Augustin (right), at the Black Cultural Center on Thursday. This photoshoot was a part of Natural Hair Week, celebrating natural hair and bodies organized by Roots 2 End.
10 | Nation & World. The DePaulia. April 15, 2019
Nation &World
LEFT: SSG TEDDY WADE | WIKIMEDIA COMMONS; RIGHT: ALAN SANTOS | WIKIMEDIA COMMONS LEFT: Former chief of the Israeli Defence Forces Rav Aluf Binyamin "Benny" Gantz poses at a conference in 2011. RIGHT: Prime Minister-elect Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu speaks at a March 31st meeting with Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro in Jerusalem. Netanyahu was elected to a fifth term as polls closed April 10, 2019, and he appears set to head the next coalition government.
Netanyahu wins, quashes hopes for new beginning By Brita Hunegs Contributing Writer
Israelis went to bed Tuesday night wondering if the reign of their four-term Prime Minister might be falling into slumber, too. But by the time the sun rose on Wednesday, it was clear that Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu was, once again, rising with it. The Prime Minister’s main opponent was Benny Gantz. The former chief of the Israeli Defense Forces ran on a centrist platform to counter Netanyahu’s increasingly right-wing ideology. While Gantz’s Blue and White party was able to rack up an equal amount of seats as the incumbents’ Likud party, Netanyahu was able to absorb enough conservative parties into a coalition so that he ultimately won — a victory not necessarily of popularity, but logistics. Like U.S. President Donald Trump, Netanyahu relies on a nationalist base and is trying to stave off potential corruption charges. The prime ministerelect capitalized on Trump’s endorsement during the campaign, hanging a poster of himself and Trump from a building in Tel Aviv. Cécile Shea, a former diplomat and foreign policy adviser who is currently senior fellow on security and diplomacy at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, said she was surprised by how poorly Israel’s leftist parties performed. While the Meretz and Labor parties have historically constituted a powerful, liberal presence in the Knesset, this week they won just 10 seats combined. “That’s a sign of how demoralized the pro-peace left is,” Shea said. “The fact that they pulled up so few seats is a sign of the huge changes on the left.” Shea believes votes may have been pulled from traditional leftist parties and cast in favor of Blue and White.
"When people start to feel hopeless ... it can be very hard to move forward.” Cécile Shea
Senior fellow, security and diplomacy at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs Daniel Kamin, an international studies professor at DePaul who specializes in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Middle Eastern politics, said he isn’t surprised Blue and White siphoned votes from the left. He believes the party is more left-of-center than it let on during the campaign and could have helped Israel move toward peace with the Palestinians — a reason he himself was rooting for Gantz. Kamin likened the situation to one facing Democratic presidential candidates: “Which Dem[ocrat] is most likely to unseat Trump in 2020? The more centrist Democrats or the left Democrats?” While only about half of Israel’s Arab population turned out to vote amid calls to boycott the election, some commentators argue Arab-Israelis had very little incentive in the first place. “We have to be real — this is a settler colonial state,” said Riqa Ahmad, a former president and current board member of DePaul’s Students for Justice in Palestine organization. “This is an apartheid state. Do I agree you should work within an apartheid state that literally says your life is not equal to the life of another person? Should I work with that system? I don’t think so.” Past weeks have seen a surge in violence on the Israel-Gaza border. In late March Hamas, the militant Islamic group that governs the Gaza Strip, fired a rocket across the border, which injured seven Israelis, sparking retaliatory airstrikes and
more protests. Hundreds of protestors have been killed and tens of thousands wounded since March 2018, when the “Great March of Return” rallies began. A spokesman for the Consulate General of Israel to the Midwest, headquartered in Chicago, said the “Great March of Return Rallies” are malignant strategies employed by leaders in Gaza. “The protests, orchestrated by the terrorist group Hamas, are designed to destroy the state of Israel. That is the purpose of the riots,” press officer and Jewish Outreach Director Renie Schreiber said. Alexander Shawel, vice president of DePaul’s Students Supporting Israel organization, agreed. “We regret the fact that people are injured or killed at the border and we wish the situation was different, but we firmly believe that Israel has the right to defend itself,” he said in a statement. Despite the recent flare-ups, Kamin argues that justice could be attainable for both Israelis and Palestinians if each group had more moderate leadership. “The extremists in both Israeli and Palestinian camps always seem to be in bed with each other,” Kamin said, adding that, in his view, a less liberal Israeli government may be to Hamas’s benefit because it strengthens their own authority. Shea asserted that a two-state solution is the only reasonable way toward peace for the region and justice for Palestinians,
something that is unlikely to be achieved without a shift in leadership on both sides. “You are seeing a rise in just despair and hopelessness because they just don't see a future at this point,” she said, pointing to the Trump administration’s decision in August to cut $200 million from a United Nations program that aids displaced Palestinians. “And that's an enormous tragedy in this situation right now. When people start to feel hopeless, things can get very dangerous and it can become very hard to move forward.” In 2017, President Trump officially recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moved the United States embassy to the Holy City. And just last month, Trump acknowledged the annexation of the occupied Golan Heights by Israel as legitimate. Both decisions break from decades of U.S. foreign policy and the two moves were widely seen as efforts aimed at giving Netanyahu a leg up in the race. Schreiber said the consulate thanked Trump for both decisions. As for elections, Schreiber said the consulate “never take stances on elections or political parties or candidates. "The diplomats have to be and take pride in being bipartisan,” he added. While Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and top adviser, is expected to roll out his long-awaited Middle East peace plan later this month, observers are skeptical it will amount to much. Through the grapevine of scholars on international relations, Kamin has heard that Kushner’s plan will fall short of calling for Palestinian statehood. “There’s too much in the peace process of reinventing the wheel. It seems that people should be looking at the last peace talks; that is going to be the basis of a peace deal,” he said. “They can talk about [a] demilitarized state, that’s all flexible, but the notion is there has to be a Palestinian state.”
Nation & World. April 15, 2019. The DePaulia | 11
'Unwanted touching' allegations unlikely to sink Biden By Cole Bursch Contributing Writer
Former Vice President Joe Biden has been accused of sexual harassment or unwanted physical contact by seven women in the past month. The allegations come before he has officially announced whether he will enter a crowded group of Democrats already running for the party’s nomination in 2020. Biden is undeniably popular: According to a recent Monmouth University poll, more Democratic caucusgoers in the all-important state of Iowa support Biden than any other candidate. However, the question remains whether the allegations against Biden will sink his chances at the presidency. “I feel as if the allegations might hurt his chance with women, but I honestly don’t think it will affect him all that much,” said first year political science major and Women’s March DePaul founder Riley Reed. “It’s sad but it’s true. White men, especially in politics, get away with a lot.” Reed said she feels the media has “pushed aside” the story because it’s not seen as serious as the sexual harassment and assault allegations against President Donald Trump. She also believes the respect Biden commands from Democrats will shield him from any repercussions for his actions. “I’d like to think the Democratic Party would take more action than that, but he’s too respected and is seen as their main chance to win the presidency back,” she added. The controversy surrounding the allegations thickened when, at an April 5 conference for union workers, Biden joked that he had “permission to hug” electrical union president Lonnie Stephenson. Although many prominent female activists and academics have found problems in the way Biden has addressed the allegations, DePaul political science professor Wayne Steger believes Biden’s favorability ratings, which are the strongest out of all potential Democratic candidates, will remain the same as they were before the incident.
MATT ROURKE | AP Former Vice President Joe Biden departs from a forum on the opioid epidemic, at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Thursday, April 11, 2019. Seven women have so far accused the likely Democratic primary candidate of inappropriate touching and unwanted physical contact.
“In regard to the backlash, there is always potential for that,” Steger said. I would simply point out that those folks who are most disapproving and quickest to condemn will be people who didn’t want Joe Biden to be the nominee. People who like Joe will rationalize it. So, it won’t affect much his approval or disapproval ratings.” President Donald Trump was swift to ridicule Biden, releasing a doctored video on April 4 mocking Biden’s own Twitter video addressing the allegations. The president also ribbed Biden at an April 9 Republican Congressional Committee dinner. Trump, a longtime critic of Biden, has himself been personally accused by over 15 women of sexual misconduct and
harassment. Some say there is a parallel between the lack of consequences both men have faced so far. “America has a strong history of denying sexual allegations when there is direct evidence, and presidential candidates are no exception,” said Madison Hill, a freshman Women and Gender Studies major at DePaul. “Since he is an older white man, it doesn’t seem like it will stop Biden from running.” Hill added that even though many people, including young voters, will lose trust in Biden, his “circle will always protect him just like Trump’s did.” As Biden looks to both draw in
moderate voters and unify the party, experts say he will need to do more to repair his relationship with the electorate and women especially. “Biden needs to put actions behind the words in his video,” said Ron Culp, director of DePaul’s public relations and advertising graduate program. “He absolutely must stop making light of the situation and he needs to genuinely understand how women might feel about his friendly embraces. Understanding their feelings is more important for him to grasp than the need to understand his sincere and apparently innocent intentions. “In short, he needs to exhibit that it isn't about him. It's about how the women feel towards his actions.”
M87 black hole photo a first-of-its-kind scientific milestone By Brian Pearlman Nation & World Editor
It’s a revelation that has confirmed Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity at extremely strong gravitational scales and provided the first direct visual proof of a striking cosmological phenomenon. The April 10 announcement that scientists had created the firstever image of a black hole — in actuality its shadow, bending and warping a bright ring of light and gas around its mysterious center — was a triumphant moment for members of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project. The supermassive black hole lies at the center of the M87 galaxy, 55 million light years from Earth. Black holes exert a gravitational pull so great that even light cannot escape, though their gravitational bending effects distort light around them. The project was “truly a worldwide collaboration,” Institute for Radio Astronomy in the Millimetre Range deputy director Frédéric Gueth told The DePaulia. More than 200 scientists from about a dozen partner institutions contributed
to the project, which involved eight separate telescopes linking up for several days in April 2017 to capture data at precisely the same moment with the help of specialized atomic clocks. The data was then captured on heliumfilled hard drives and analyzed by massive supercomputers. According to John Barrett, who worked on the project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Haystack Observatory, each telescope had two sets of data recorders with four modules each, and each module had eight 8-10 terabyte discs — which only got them through about a day and a half of recording before they had to be switched out. That’s roughly equivalent to downloading one two-hour movie a day for 400 years; according an official press release the telescopes collectively recorded about four petabytes of data, or the equivalent of about 1 million two-hour movies. Einstein’s 1915 Theory of General Relativity predicted both the existence of black holes and postulated that gravity was a result of the warping of space-time. The detection of gravitational waves by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory
(LIGO) project three years ago was the latest evidence Einstein was right; the EHT’s measurements of the black hole at the center of the M87 further confirm his theories. The EHT image carries implications beyond just the physics of black holes: Sera Markoff, a coordinator of two EHT working groups and theoretical astrophysicist at the University of Amsterdam told the DePaulia it will also help scientists learn about the “jets” of radiation and particles that are emitted by the M87 black hole and other celestial phenomena like neutron stars, supernovae and gamma-ray bursts. “We see the jets directly and we see their effect directly, but until now we could never see their origins,” she said. One of the next steps will be to use the EHT’s findings to further explore Sagittarius A*, the black hole at the center of our own Milky Way galaxy. While the M87 black hole’s huge mass and relative proximity to Earth made it an easy choice of study for the EHT’s telescope network, Sagittarius A* presents its own unique challenges. “When you’re looking at M87 you can look at it for days
EVENT HORIZON TELESCOPE COLLABORATION VIA AP This image released Wednesday, April 10, 2019, by the Event Horizon Telescope project, shows a black hole at the center of the M87 galaxy.
and essentially see the same thing … with Sagittarius A*, because it’s varying over time and there’s also things in between us and the center of the galaxy that scatter that light, it’s much more difficult to determine what variability is due to noise, atmospheric fluctuation or the scattering in between and the actual activity of the source,” Barrett said. Markoff said that because this type of observation has never been done before, new tools had to be developed to create the M87 image. “Now we can build upon that work to study a much more
complicated, flickering source,” Markoff said. Barrett said the future of the EHT project lies, literally, in space. “As we add more telescopes to the array, hopefully we’ll be able to make better pictures,” he said. “And in the long term, it would be nice to expand off the surface of the earth and have telescopes in space that can also add to the array.”
12 | Opinions. The DePaulia. April 15, 2019
Opinions We're losing the media war As technology embeds itself into their personal lives, young people are getting overwhelmed PHOTO COURTESY OF PRATEEK KATYAL | UNSPLASH
By Stuart J. Dantoin Contributing Writer
Social media overload is the silent killer of our generation. It affects millions of us, and though many realize its danger, the average young adult does little to escape our internet prisons. Many of us gladly or unknowingly fall into its deadly clutches—and it is having a powerful effect on our daily lives. After the sexual revolution of the 1960s, rates of teens having sex shot through the roof—peaking in the 1980s at a paltry six percent of young adults having never had sex before. But that rate is closer to 15 percent now. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that from 1991 to 2017, the number of teenagers who’d had sexual intercouse had dropped from 54 percent to 40 percent. Despite the rise of hookup apps and the decrease in religious or moral objections, young adults—whether they be male or female—are simply not having sex as much. We are the most anxious generation in history. Those Generation Zers just PHOTO COURTESY OF ROBIN WORRALL | UNSPLASH becoming young adults and the late"Facebook depression" is a new concern of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which defines it as the emergence of classic millennials share this trait. We are having symptoms of anxiety and depression resulting from the intensity of online exposure less sex, attending fewer social events, hang out with friends less often, have why we’re seeing a change. on Instagram, or just five YouTube must learn to harness. And who better to fewer close friends, are more likely to “Kids these days are more videos. But even a single glance at your know the dangers of social media than report being depressed and die by suicide conservative compared to older turned-off phone can send your blood those it most affects? more than previous generations. generations in an effort to rebel,” Strunk pressure spiking. The real danger isn’t The change comes from all of us. As a business student, my first impulse said. media itself—it’s what media does to our We must use social media to support was to look at these trends from an Strunk also said that voting trends of subconscious minds. influencers and vloggers of genuine merit. economic angle. In free markets, a ratio of white 18-year-olds in 2016 and 2018 are It’s no wonder that anxiety is by far People who educate, elucidate or make 20 percent to 80 percent typically emerges more conservative. There is a common the most common untreated mental us feel happy. Swear off all media which between those who “have” and those who conception in society that generations health issue for young adults. The exists to propagate itself or to feed on “have not”—it’s a ratio that tends to exist tend to conform to the opposite trends common trend goes like this: You glance your anxiety. Use social media to better in wealth inequality, business productivity, of their parents’ in an effort to rebel. at your Instagram feed, see the carefullyyourself; not feed vicariously off as the and our most-talked-to friends (which But this cannot be true. Our generation pruned model-esque photos of a friend sole source of your worldview. One of my is to say, we talk to 20 percent of our conforms to the economic, social and more attractive than you, and you feel favorite sites is the “Instagram reality” friends 80 percent of the time). My philosophical trends of early millennials. depressed for the rest of the day. Or you forum on Reddit, which shows you the assumption was the same would hold true Further, all generations since the see a group of acquaintances on Snapchat realistic photos in contrast to what ends in a sexually liberated economy. But the boomers have continued their march at McGee’s on a Thursday night. Or up getting posted. We must learn to look historical and qualitative analysis doesn’t against perceived social injustices. For you read a story on Reddit about a cool at the world again through a realistic lens. corroborate this as a cause. Both men and all intents and purposes, Gen Z is as adventure another person went on. This may only come through living in a women alike are not having sex. liberal as millennials. Generations do not Humans are competitive by nature, realistic lens. The issue is surely not one of rebel—they go along with the cultural and we constantly compare ourselves with It is easy for us young adults to get perception because sex pervades our momentum of the time. others. This can be used to reassure us, caught up in the phlegmatic excitements every waking hour. Most of us use social The issue is not media itself, but the frighten us or, more commonly, excite our of the world. But, humans are delicate media in some capacity, and the world’s quantity in which we use it. After all, what senses. Humans crave excitement, but it is creatures. Living too long in the land sexiest models and athletes are the most use is there to have sex with someone killing us—driving us to believe that life is of broken glass and shattered things popular among us. Sex is sold in the form when Reddit, YouTube, Netflix or League passing us by. will only lead to great unhappiness and of clothing: Calvin Klein, Lululemon and of Legends tantalize us with their sirens’ Life never truly passes any of us by, anxiety with the world. We may not be Canada Goose hire extremely attractive call? Using media in such vast amounts no matter how mundane it may seem. able to control the reality we’re raised into, models. Sex is sold to us in media: Game has literally rewired our brain’s receptors, Remember that appearances of others are but we can control how we interact with of Thrones can be surmised as “sex and because humans are scientifically proven always deceiving. There is a common lie it. Think of dealing with social media war”—two topics certain to get the blood to, on average, prefer short-term pleasure told among us all through media that we as this generation’s Great War. It is not hot. Nor is the issue one of free time, to long-term benefit. Like Pavlov’s fabled are happy. The reality is, very few of us an easy battle, and it is certainly one we because baby boomers and Gen Xers dog, whenever we think of media, we are. But what can be done? One must not would prefer not to fight. But we must worked more hours than 16-to-29-yearneed only press a button to access its swear off modern life to become a neolearn to conquer this foe, or be conquered olds do. Somehow, they found time. short-term pleasures. luddite farmer on the edge of the known by it. Professor Daniel Strunk of the DePaul Perhaps you limit yourself to an hour world. Media, like the sun or the stars, is Marketing Department has an idea as to of Reddit a day, only viewing 30 pictures a tool for humans which our generation
The opinions in this section do not necessarily reflect those of The DePaulia staff.
Opinions. The DePaulia. April 15, 2019 | 13
A chance at redemption for DC movies The comic company has tried to re-launch its movie franchise countless times— with "Joker" they might finally get it right By Gianfranco Ocampo Contributing Writer
The trailer for the new Joker film starring Joaquin Phoenix was released on April 3, showcasing the Joker’s origin story and hopefully kicking off a top-tier film DC superhero movie after some disastrous mishaps in recent years. Even though most of DC’s films have been something of a financial success, the films overall have been a disappointing mess. DC’s cinematic forays have ranged from shockingly bad like “Suicide Squad” and “Batman v. Superman” to plainly competent like “Wonder Woman” and, to an extent, “Aquaman.” When the final chapter of DC’s universe is written, these early stumbles at creating a wider cinematic universe are what will keep fans cringing. “I truly believe that DC just cared about trying to beat Marvel. They just rushed out these films hoping to start off big,” said local comic fan Angel Estrada, 24. The one Marvel movie element that DC should have copied is the patience Marvel showed in slowly establishing a shared universe between their films. When the first Iron Man movie ended, we were treated to the one and only tease of a wider universe being established with Nick Fury informing Tony Stark that there are more superheroes out there. By the second installment of DC’s Extended Universe, “Batman v. Superman” attempted to quickly establish Batman and his relationships with other characters like Superman, Wonder Woman, Lex Luthor, Doomsday, Darkseid, the villain of the coming Justice League movie and the protagonists of the future films. “Especially Batman vs Superman, it’s like the director was making a Batman v. Superman movie but halfway through someone was like ‘Hold on. What if this was a Justice League movie instead,’” said Charlie Saez, a Wright College sophomore, in an email interview. “I’ve read a lot of DC comics and it felt like they were stuffing a lot of arch’s [sic] into one movie when they should have stuck to one or two.” “Suicide Squad” followed “Batman v. Superman,” and fans closely watched the film because needed to wash away the sins of its predecessor. The trailer also included the Queen song “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which made it even cooler. Behind the scenes, director David Ayer was told by the studio that test audiences wanted more comedy in the movie, resulting in reshoots that, according to The Deadline, cost the studio $22 million. That Bohemian Rhapsody allusion earlier was more important than initially thought, because the studio also felt it was very cool, resulting in the studio hiring the trailer company that produced
ANNALISA BARANOWSKI | THE DEPAULIA
said trailer to edit the film. As a result, the film came out as a tonal mess, with shots lasting as long as a blink of the eye and a lack of continuity from scene to scene. When the movie is awash in neon one moment and the color of dirty toilet water the next, it’s in bad shape. It’s obvious that the initial issues with many of these films were individual screw-ups and shoddy production choices. But the Joker trailer, in its polished magnificence, highlighted the real problem. DC Films were not really telling stories, they were selling us a product. I’d really like to stress that I’m not tackling this issue as a comic book purist or someone who wishes the movies were more similar to established cartoons. I don’t want to tear down DC or suggest that Marvel Studios produces high art. But with Marvel films, fans have a sense that everything is occurring in the same universe. It’s all tonally consistent across the board with straightforward Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures stories. Obviously, Marvel is also in the Joaquin Phoenix in the the new "Joker" trailer with full clown regalia. business of selling, but they did not put the cart before the horse. great film in its own right. story. Though less compelling to some You don’t have to be attached to the What the Joker trailer has displayed than others, I believe that creative factor comics and the lore of these characters to though is a tonal consistency. Phoenix’s can't be denied. Without the heavyhave the same thoughts. The disconnect performance not only appears top-notch, handed studio interference we’ve seen in has not been about a lack of fan service. but also defined. previous films, “Joker” is set to be a solid “Although I like Marvel comics While most of the internet will go and exciting experience. better, DC’s characters and stories can be scene by scene, dissecting every easter“Joker” is set to be released on Oct. awesome too,” Estrada said. “DC is about egg and prediction to hype audiences up, 4, and it’s safe to say to audiences that we gods trying to make sense of the world, there’s a simpler route to finding personal can expect an intriguing psychological while Marvel is about the world trying to hype. thriller. The success of the film will be gods.” What has convinced me of this film’s be dependent on solid writing and It seems like every film after “Batman potential for success is that writer and performances, but the stars appear to v. Superman” appeared to promise that it director of the film Todd Phillips was aligning nicely. would right the ship, but the Joker film is finally able to sit down, write and direct a on track to do not only that, but to be a
14 | Focus. The DePaulia. April 15, 2019
Focus
Tobacco 21 bill rises from the as Ella Lee Focus Editor
Governor J.B. Pritzker signed the Tobacco 21 bill Sunday, April 7, which raised the legal age to purchase tobacco products from 18 to 21 years old. As Tobacco 21’s most affected age group, some DePaul students say they have mixed feelings about the new law. “I don’t agree with smoking because of the health concerns it raises,” said Haedy Gorostieta, a DePaul sophomore. “But I think that raising the age could cause more problems. [The legal age to purchase tobacco] has been 18 for a long time, and those who have developed the habit will try to continue to do as they please.” “Smoking just seems riskier than drinking or marijuana,” said Simi Rasp, a DePaul sophomore. “I’m sure both of those have negative side effects, but with tobacco it’s always been drilled into me that even one can have quite the impact.” Since elementary school, the generation of students now barred from purchasing tobacco products has been told about the negative effects of smoking on the body, through programs like D.A.R.E. Medical experts say the dramatic effects “drilled into” students are just as bad as they seemed. “The science is pretty clear that smoking can lead to a number of detrimental health outcomes like cancer, heart disease, and respiratory issues,” said Lourdes Molina, a health sciences assistant teaching professor at
DePaul. “Smoking at a young age increases the risk of all of those, particularly if you become a long-term smoker.” Many college aged people already smoke. More than 95 percent of smokers begin before the age of 21, and every day, 350 teens become regular smokers, according to Tobacco 21’s website. Chicago raised the age to purchase tobacco products to 21 in 2016, and since then, smoking between the ages of 18 to 20 has decreased by 36 percent, the website reports. DePaul students are no strangers to tobacco smoking. Many of the school’s media have published articles discussing the use of tobacco on campus with titles like “Top 10 Places to Smoke on DePaul’s Campus,” and “To Smoke or Not to Smoke.” Students have even dubbed a staircase—the one directly to the right of the Levan Center’s entrance—as the infamous “smoking stairs.” Though the new law will not likely deter students who already smoke, it might discourage young people from trying it. “If you give people those three years, they could potentially go out and study those harmful effects,” said Ian Rios, a clinical assistant lecturer in DePaul’s nursing department. “If they decide at 21 they don’t want to smoke, we reduce the chance of all the highrisk diseases.” Molina says that the law might be the most impactful ways to ensure young people’s health remains a top priority. “I think one of the best ways we can regulate people’s behavior is through legisla-
tion,” she said. “And that can be a positive or negative thing. It can be perceived as government meddling or people not having a choice—you’re 18, you’re an adult and you should be able to make your own decisions— but sometimes, for some reason, people’s decision-making isn’t good for their health. If we are able to enact legislation that doesn’t give them a choice, it’s like a balance between people’s health and the government’s economy.” But not everyone is convinced that the law is the best course of action to take. For the tobacco industry, it could lead to a dent in revenue. “There have been some cities and counties who have done it, and in pretty much all cases, it has reduced the sales,” said Craig Klugman, DePaul professor of health sciences. “If you are in the tobacco industry, it will cut into your sales a little bit.” Those numbers, though, come out to be rather low. Klugman says that according to multiple studies, raising the age would only decrease tobacco sales by about 2 percent, which would have been money made from students between 18 and 20. Another financial downfall lies in where the taxes from cigarettes is recirculated into the economy--and whether beneficial programs might suffer. “At one point one of my best friends was head of a preschool program that was government funded, and she had said something along the lines of encouraging people to purchase cigarettes because part of that revenue
was going to fund is such a crazy di In 2018, the T by both chamber by then-Gov. Bru the bill was point gain access to tob Many still agree w ment. “In an ideal w from getting acce laws at the federa cocaine are bad, a hands on that.” “It’s not going smoking; it’s just pensive,” Rasp sa schoolers, are jus prices of people w and are looking t it was at my high Beyond the fin or detriments of question whether and other substan makes sense give cans are granted adult. At age 18, y get tattoos, chang the military, amo “If the law is p olds who can be s for their country, freedom to buy a man said. “You c drink. There’s a q
Focus. The DePaulia. April 15, 2019 | 15
shes
d programs like hers, which isconnect,” Molina said. Tobacco 21 bill was approved rs, but was ultimately vetoed uce Rauner, who said that tless because kids would bacco if they really wanted it. with Rauner’s original argu-
world, it would prevent kids ess,” Rios said. “But we have al level saying marijuana and and people still get their
g to actually discourage going to make it more exaid. “People, especially high st going to pay the hiked up who have access to tobacco to make a profit. That’s how school anyway.” nancial and physical benefits the Tobacco 21 bill, many r limiting access to tobacco nces for 18- to- 20-year-olds en the other freedoms Amerionce they become a legal you can vote, adopt a child, ge your birth name, and join ong other things. passed, you have 20-yearshipped off to war and die , and yet, don’t have the a cigarette or a drink,” Klugcan go die but can’t smoke or question of fairness there.”
of smokers started before age 21
Only 2 percent of tobacco sales are attributed to buyers under 21-years-old. Number of Preventable Deaths per Year by Cause
Among preventable causes of death, tobacco and nicotine related deaths far surpass that of drug overdose, car/traffic deaths and deaths by gun, including homicide, suicide, accidental shooting and undetermined cause. STATISTICS FROM TOBACCO21.ORG ALL GRAPHICS BY ANNALISA BARANOWSKI
16 | Arts & Life. The DePaulia. April 15, 2019
Arts & Life
ALL PHOTOS BY VARSHA KADAMANDLA | THE DEPAULIA
The inside of Kaathis on the corner of Lincoln and Belden avenues, infuses Indian cuisine with fast-food trends to create something entirely new.
Kaathis brings flavors of Kolkata to campus By Stacey Sheridan & Varsha Kadamandla Contributing Writer
Kaathis, a new fast casual restaurant on the corner of Lincoln and Belden Avenues, offers a highly thought-out menu of fast, fresh and healthy bowls and rolls. It takes its name from the restaurant’s specialty: kaathi rolls. Consisting of skewered meats and vegetables wrapped in a flatbread called a paratha, the kaathi roll is a beloved street food from Kolkata, India, and is now available for hungry people in Lincoln Park. Upon moving to the U.S. from India in the early 2000s, owner Aditya Burman started making kaathi rolls for friends at barbecues. “People really liked that concept.” Burman said. The idea to open a fastcasual restaurant evolved from there. “In the diverse spectrum of food in the U.S., Indian fast food has not found its space and I think there is a space.” To separate Kaathis from other Indian restaurants, Burman and his girlfriend Sandhya, some of whose recipes are featured on the Kaathis menu, stuck to what they know best. “We didn’t want to go into the traditional curries and rice; there are a lot of restaurants that do it very, very well,” Burman said. “That's not us. That's not my speciality either; this is what I’ve grown up on.” The peppered lamb kaathi roll is Burman’s mother’s recipe. “I got it from her and unfortunately she passed away in 2016,” Burman said. “I have a sentimental connection to that roll.” The mango shake is also special to Burman, who grew up eating fresh mangoes during summers in India. Made with Alphonso mangoes, the shake does not contain any added sugar.
Providing healthier options to diners in a hurry is also a priority at Kaathis. Though the menu is small, Kaathis has something for everyone, including vegan and vegetarian items. For the allergy conscious, the menu also has gluten-free and soy-free options, such as the Kaathis version of chilli chicken. Traditionally made with soy sauce, Burman’s girlfriend, who is allergic to soy, created a soyfree version of chilli chicken. None of the food at Kaathis contains nuts and nothing is ever deep fried. Before opening up a brick and mortar restaurant, Burman tested the market. “We tried delivery, we tried catering, did popups, all kinds of events and our feedback was very positive,” said Burman. “The next logical step was to find a location.” The location Above: A traditional kaathi roll served at Kaathis, the new fast-casual Indian eatery. Burman found is prime. Kaathis is Below: The entrance to Kaathis. located directly across from Halligan Bar, a spot very popular with people in their 20s. On weekends, Kaathis is open late, so hungry bar-goers can stop in for a kaathi roll after drinking. Kaathis is also great for lunch and dinner. Burman is also toying with the idea of serving breakfast. While Kaathis has very limited seating, the restaurant is very inviting. “We want people to believe they’re coming into our home and dining with us,” Burman said. Black and white pictures of India hang on red walls decorated with hand-done stenciling. For students looking for an alternative to the usual burrito bowl from Chipotle in between classes, Kaathis is also near the DePaul Lincoln Park campus offers a 10% student discount for its delicious and healthy Indian food.
Arts & Life. The DePaulia. April 15, 2019 | 17
As 'Veep' enters final season, Julia Louis-Dreyfus cements legacy fit for comedy royalty
By Lacey Latch Arts & Life Editor
For the past three decades, Julia LouisDreyfus has been on television nearly every season. As such, Louis-Dreyfus has secured over 300 episodes of comedy under her belt that delivered her seven Emmys for acting and five Screen Actors Guild awards for her singular work, let alone a slew of other awards given to the show’s as a whole. In short, not only is HBO’s hit comedy “Veep” coming to an end this year; so is Louis-Dreyfus’ welldeserved, history-making reign over awards season. Now, it almost seems unimaginable to think about the doubts that surrounded her career after her success on “Seinfeld.” For years, Louis-Dreyfus and her former castmates were deemed to be plagued by “The Seinfeld Curse,” which was essentially defined by the struggle for all of them to launch new sitcoms as lead characters. Quickly, it became clear that Louis-Dreyfus had much more comedy to offer. The perfect opportunity just had to present itself. In 2006, almost 10 years after “Seinfeld” ended, she returned to broadcast television with “The New Adventures of Old Christine,” which ran for five seasons. The show followed LouisDreyfus as a single mother who maintains a serendipitous relationship with her exhusband while running a women’s gym. After becoming both a ratings and critical success, her prowess as a comedic force was once again reaffirmed. Just a few months after the official ending of “Old Christine,” HBO announced that Louis-Dreyfus had been cast in the lead role of a new satirical comedy series. She would also serve as a producer of the show for the duration of IMAGE COURTESY OF IMDB its run. Julia Louis-Dreyfus as former President Selina Meyer in "Veep." Notably, the switch from broadcast to cable opened up a new world of viewers were introduced to a vulgar and Prior to the premiere, Gore assured the opportunities for the actress in terms incessantly selfish politician who you Associated Press that he’d be tuning in. of limitations. Without the inherent somehow always end up rooting for. That’s “I’ll give a try because I like her so much,” restrictions of broadcast, the writers and the true gift that Louis-Dreyfus brings to he said. Even a former vice president the cast were allowed to take significant her roles. She plays her characters with wanted to watch Louis-Dreyfus make fun risks when it comes to profanity and such tenacity and humanity that even of the position and our political system as subject matter. Conversely, it allowed the most abhorrent of Myer’s personality a whole. Louis-Dreyfus to display a subset of her traits can be overlooked and forgiven. Perhaps the characteristic that can be comedic skills that most viewers had yet As she initially prepared for the role, attributed to “Veep’s” widespread success to see. she conferred with two previous U.S. vice the most is the important fact that no As Elaine, she had coined a presidents, including Al Gore, to learn particular ideology or political lean is ever generation’s worth of catch phrases about the intricacies of the position that explicitly noted. Through that, the writers including “spongeworthy” and “get out” are not often the focus of media coverage. nestled their show in the ideal position as well as her iconic “Elaine Dance.” Now, where every viewer thinks “the other side”
is the butt of the joke. Importantly, this solidifies the show’s ultimate goal: to make fun of all sides, with the entire American political system as a goldmine for comedy. And what a goldmine it was. When the show first premiered, it largely delved into the everyday absurdity of politics in this country. Much of the first seasons revolve around public missteps and profanity-filled backdoor political dealings that then seemed surprising and sometimes shocking. But as President Donald Trump took the helm of the country, the show’s writers were forced to adapt and reinvent what was absurd considering what seemed to be the country’s new definition of normal when it comes to behavior in the White House. Luckily for all of us, this directly resulted in “Veep” taking great creative leaps that have directly resulted in one of the smartest, savviest and shocking comedies to ever air. Even more so, it cemented Louis-Dreyfus’ position as an actress of similar caliber to legends like Lucille Ball and Mary Tyler Moore. In September of 2017, Louis-Dreyfus stood on stage and humbly accepted her record-breaking 6th consecutive Emmy Award. Unbeknownst to almost everyone watching, she was expecting test results the next day to inform her if she had breast cancer or not. Later, she revealed on Twitter that she was in fact diagnosed with breast cancer, ultimately making a plea for universal healthcare. From then, viewers wondered what this meant for the future of “Veep.” Everyone involved in making the show, however, had no doubt that the show would carry on. Almost every profile of the actress takes care to note the precision and attention she brings to each episode, each take and each punchline. This translated directly to her approach to the show’s final season. Louis-Dreyfus scheduled her “Veep” commitments around her cancer treatments, simultaneously displaying her strength as a person and as an actress. In a recent cover story with Entertainment Weekly, Louis-Dreyfus described her role as Selina Meyer as “the pinnacle in terms of my work on television.” While Selina Meyer’s reign over the country is coming to an end, as is Louis-Dreyfus’ reign over awards season, luckily for us we can almost certainly expect more from her in the future. She added, “It’s a pinnacle thus far, shall we say.”
18 | Arts & Life. The DePaulia. April 15, 2019
omen in the ring
IMAGE COURTESY OF WWE
Female WWE superstars take to the ring for introductions prior to the start of the Women's Battle Royal match at WrestleMania on April 7.
By Gianfranco Ocampo Contributing Writer
World Wrestling Entertainment continues to expand and increase the value of women’s wrestling—after a long period in WWE where the women were neglected and mistreated—by featuring a women’s main event at WrestleMania 35 on April 7 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. WWE wrestlers Ronda Rousey, Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch wrestled in a triple threat for both the Raw and Smackdown women’s championships. Lynch won the match, with a winnertakes-all stipulation, countering Rousey’s Samoan drop with a crucifix pin to win. The match was the first time a women’s match main evented a WrestleMania, since its inception at Madison Square Garden on March 31, 1985. Women’s wrestling in the company had been around for decades in the WWE, a popular division in the early years. Throughout company history, however, there had been some black marks in the division that made it impossible for such a feat to have happened until recent times. “There was a popularity boom when Cyndi Lauper was involved in the lead up to the first WrestleMania when the company was positioning Wendi Richter as their top female star,” said Jon Pollock, owner of wrestling news site POSTWrestling, in an email interview. As WWE took an edgier approach in the late '90s, for what would be one of its most successful periods with Stone Cold and The Rock, the treatment of women shifted less toward wrestling-centric roles and became more sexualized. “The women back then were more known for their looks than their wrestling ability,” said Alex Guerrero, a WWE fan since 1993, in an email interview. “They'd hardly ever have matches, just lingerie contests or bikini contests. From the late '90s onward, many questionable moments would occur, including CEO Vince McMahon ordering one of its female talents to get on her knees and bark like a dog in front of the audience, two instances of a miscarriage storyline taking place, and Eric Bischoff featuring segments titled “Hot Lesbian Action.” “At the time I can honestly say I didn't
IMAGE COURTESY OF WWE
A moment from the match between Becky Lynch, Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair. take it as serious wrestling; I perceived it more so as a sexual sideshow,” Guerrero said. Despite many creative decisions in the late '90s and early 2000s, in the mid2000s women’s wrestling would have more wrestling-centric stories. “The second-best period would be 2002-2006, and that coincides with the in-ring quality of the female performers going through massive improvements,” Pollock said. “This was when Trish Stratus, Jazz, Molly Holly, Victoria, Gail Kim and others took a lot of pride in their match quality.” The division would take a drastic change on July 20, 2008, when the WWE debuted the Diva’s Championship for the first time on Smackdown, a secondary WWE TV program. The primary women’s championship, established in 1956, was retired on Sep. 19, 2010. Afterward, the Diva’s Championship would be the primary title for the women's division. Although some sexual undertones would continue, the women became less a sexual sideshow and more just a sideshow. By 2014, however, the landscape of women’s wrestling had begun to make some drastic changes.
“I knew they had to update the product because it was already happening in NXT and it was proof-of-concept that the women could be a big part of the show and [be] taken seriously by the audience,” Pollock said. NXT was WWE’s new developmental territory run by McMahon’s son-inlaw and former WWE Champion Paul Levesque, famously known as Triple H. The WWE Network is a streaming service, hosting a library of older WWE content and ongoing wrestling programming like NXT, launched on Feb. 24, 2014. Women’s wrestling began gaining popularity in the fanbase as a result of more emphasis and a new head of talent relations in Triple H. “These are great athletes who can perform at a high level not seen before in WWE on the female side,” said Jason Solomon, podcast host of the awardwinning Solomonster Sounds Off, on the factors that led to the rise of women’s wrestling at the time, in an email interview. “That, coupled with fan outrage at the lack of time being given to these women and social media pressure, caused WWE to look at things in a different way.” The fan outrage on social media was a different matter, that affected the main
programming of WWE programming, still run by Vince McMahon. On a Raw in Feb. 23, 2015, a Diva’s match went about 30 seconds before the match quickly ended, angering the fans by hashtagging #GiveDivasAChance. Shortly afterward, the WWE began to feature the hashtag on their own show, doubling down on pushing women's wrestling. On July 13, 2015, Becky Lynch, Charlotte and Sasha Banks were promoted from the NXT developmental program to Raw, beginning the company’s dubbed “Diva’s Revolution.” By the following years in WrestleMania, in AT&T Stadium, all three women wrestled for the debuting WWE Women’s Championship, retiring the diva championship and name. Afterward, the company would refer to its efforts as the “women's revolution” rather than diva’s from 2016 until recent times. From that time period, the women made their first PPV a main event and eventually hosted a women’s-only PPV. WWE fans have welcomed the move. “I think the WWE presents Women as capable of the same physical duress as men,” said Brandon Thompson, graduate student at DePaul. “They are viewed as powerful, strong and independent.” Although the WWE has been open about its promotion of women's wrestling both to the fans and as a public relations tactic, the move particularly to have a women's main event WrestleMania has been viewed as a momentous and significant move. “It’s a big statement because it’s more than just the order of the matches. It’s the degree to which the company promotes that match as the selling feature of the show and believing the women are the biggest catalysts to attract new subscribers to the WWE Network and drive the promotion of the show,” Pollock said. “More importantly, this isn’t a PR stunt or an empty gesture. This year, the women had the hottest program going into WrestleMania. They deserved the slot and that’s what is notable.” On both Raw and Smackdown, Becky Lynch made it clear she will be doing double duty, appearing on both shows as a defending champion. Lynch’s first challenger is being set up to be Lacey Evans.
Arts & Life. The DePaulia. April 15, 2019 | 19
Lineup leaves much to be desired By Noah Festenstein Contributing Writer
On the first four days of August, Chicago’s Grant Park looks to attract many in its 15th annual Lollapalooza music festival, but the majority of DePaul students are not attracted to it. With the lineup of acts now released, students have expressed diverse feelings toward deciding whether to go. This year’s lineup provides a wide array of genres with rap, pop and a fair amount of electronic dance music, EDM. The headliners are as follows: Childish Gambino, Ariana Grande, Twenty One Pilots, The Strokes, Tame Impala, Flume, The Chainsmokers and J Balvin. Lollapalooza is one of the biggest and more highly touted festivals not only in Chicago but the entire country, reeling in over an average of 150,000 people each year. The anticipation for the festivals act lineup are high, and college students are the most emotionally inclined to react to it. “If I were to use one word to describe this year's headliners: Yuck,” said senior Matt Melemseter of Radio DePaul Sports, who has a attended the festival a couple of times and didn’t show any surprise expressing disgust toward the lineup. Melemseter concludes his disgust by shedding light on the lineup. “A lot of the smaller acts should be paid attention to,” he said.
The smaller acts — considered to not be the headliners — include 21 Savage and Lil Wayne, and Shaquille O'Neal is DJing. Looking to attend for the fourth straight year, unior John Cotter, Radio DePaul Podcast Host and Producer and music advocate, shared his thoughts on this year's Lollapalooza. “Each year it gets more fun, and I always have had a great time. Though the lineup we have here, the headliners are a mixed bag. For example, Childish Gambino would be someone I would see, along with Tame Impala. But then you have the Chainsmokers, J Balvin, Ariana Grande, Twenty One Pilots. They are reaching much younger demographics every year.” In the past decade, tendencies have shown when Lollapalooza tickets go on sale, they sell out very quickly. Four-day passes specifically went on sale in March and have yet to sell out. Cotter offered a bit of advice for those looking to attend the festival. “Even now the four days aren’t sold out, and usually, they sell out within an hour,” he said. “For this specific year, get a oneday pass, because looking at this lineup it is too preferential. Lollapalooza needs to stop trying so hard to appeal to everyone.” Four-year Lollapalooza veteran and junior Hannah Lindenberg is strict about not going anymore. “Zero percent chance of me going again, none of my friends go,” she said.
The fun part of Lollapalooza is gone. It is so expensive now; even one-day tickets are $120. It is literally just 16 and 17-year-olds running around for four days.” Lollapalooza’s main target market is younger generation individuals; making up for the majority of the 150,000 attending. The cost is not appealing, because to buy a full 4-day pass is over $400—not including any other expenditures. We may see a decline in some of the younger population. However, this year the main issue with students is that of the festival itself. “Almost every lineup is just as good as the last or the next,” Lindenberg said. “I think that they do a great job of picking artists who are good, but I still think if you are there for the music you would be going to see the artists on tour.” The question is the worthiness of wanting to go to Lollapalooza this year. Especially if one has been going for multiple years, which fits the profile of freshman Alex Menczynski. “There’s no point in going,” Menczynski said. “I don’t know why certain bands are headlining. Lolla is supposed to be more college-centered.” With DePaul students seemingly booing this year’s Lollapalooza, there is now a much greater anticipation for anything else unexpected to happen at this year's festival. Not only that, but this sort of reaction could mean Lollapalooza may want to change its approach the next time around.
'High Life:' a touching and terriyfiying trip to space By MichaelBrzezinski Staff Writer
Space has and always will be an enthralling setting to explore on film. Whether it be the grand operatic fantasies like the “Star Wars” and “Alien” franchises, of the more avant-garde fantastical artistic expressions like “2001: A Space Odyssey” or “Interstellar,” it always proves to be a draw for audiences and the boldest way for filmmakers to approach really big ideas. So following in the footsteps of such acclaimed filmmakers like Stanley Kubrick, Alfonso Cuaron and Christopher Nolan, we have seasoned French auteur Claire Denis stepping up to the plate and batting a major home run in the space film genre with “High Life.” “High Life” follows a crew of death row inmates who have been cast out into deep space as a part of an alternate energy expedition. At the head of the expedition is Dr. Dibs, played by a very eerie Juliette Binoche, who treats all of the other prisoners as her own personal guinea pigs for her experiment regarding procreation in deep space. At the heart of this tumultuous situation is Monte, played by a very stern but sympathetic Robert Pattinson, a criminal who volunteered to be a part of the experiment who now finds himself struggling to raise his daughter and maintain his sanity in such a hostile,
oppressive space. Denis’ deeply psychological and artistic approach to this material has drawn many comparisons to that of Kubrick and “2001,” but this is something entirely of her own wildly disturbing creation. Watching this film, it doesn’t take long to understand why it drew such visceral reactions. Denis is totally unrestrained and unflinching when it comes to exploring the very violent and psycho-sexual nature of this story. She utilizes sound, lighting and the oppressive tight spaces of the ship to their fullest abilities. It all makes for a unique and frankly terrifying theatrical experience. While the form and style of this film is immaculate, it’s the core of it that makes it shine so tremendously. Denis juxtaposes the intense and brutal nature of the prisoners with the affecting and tender relationship that Monte has with his daughter to paint a beautiful yet simultaneously haunting portrait of the hell that a parent is willing to go through to make sure their children don’t have to and so that they can see the best and brightest future possible. It’s a theme that is not new to Denis’ filmography; one of her more under-the-radar works, “35 Shots of Rum,” most notably tackled this unique father-daughter bond, and it has proven very personal for her. Denis has gone on to talk about her important relationship with her father, who raised her in Frenchcolonized West Africa.
IMAGE COURTESY OF IMDB
Robert Pattinson as Monte, a volunteer for the experimental space mission. As far as genre goes, Denis has never been one to restrict herself to a very specific one. She is actively one of cinema’s greatest experimenters and her openness and daring sensibilities make “High Life” one of the most thrilling sensory experiences I’ve witnessed on a big screen in a while. This is not sci-fi, this is sci-fi subversion at its
absolute finest. Next week, Denis will turn 73 years old, but she is showing absolutely no signs of slowing down or taking things easy on her audience. If “High Life” is any indication, she is just going to keep getting bolder with her work and I for one am here for it all the way.
20| Arts & Life. The DePaulia. April 15, 2019
ASHLEY SANCHEZ | THE DEPAULIA
DePaul graduates TJ Horansky and AJ Khah on stage during their performance at Warped Tour as part of their band Sleep on It.
Grads follow rock 'n' roll dreams By Ashley Sanchez Contributing Writer
You never know who you’ll meet at your freshman year dorm social. Chicago-based punk band Sleep on It, guitarist TJ Horansky and former bassist AJ Khah weren’t expecting to make connections at a social in Corcoran Hall that could change their trajectory for the rest of their time at DePaul. “We met at a gathering meant to socialize people on different floors,” Khah said. They formed a bond through their love of music and bands they had previously been in. “I thought [TJ] was the best songwriter I’d ever heard in my life, even back in college he blew my mind with every song he wrote… then things just kind of fell into place with Sleep on It,” Khah said. Both Horanksy and Khah knew they were destined for the music industry and majored in fields they knew would help them in their careers. “I always knew I wanted to do music and felt like a communications degree had a broad scope,” Horansky said. “I was able to take a lot of PR, journalism and editing classes and things I knew would tie into what I wanted to do musically.” Khah also chose his major based on how it would help him as a musician. “I wanted to study something that I knew would be beneficial to any band I joined so to me it only made sense to study business,” Khah said about his decision to major in business. “I’ve read horror stories about bands that sign contracts that ruin their careers and I knew if I ever got to that point I wanted to be able to read and understand the contract. The more pieces of arsenal you can have for yourself is the best thing.” These two DePaul graduates made their dreams a reality when they joined the final round of the annual Vans Warped Tour this summer. While on tour, they gave some advice for current students who are looking to make it big in the music scene.
ASHLEY SANCHEZ | THE DEPAULIA
Fans crowding the stage during Sleep on It's set. The band was originally formed while Horansky and Khah attended DePaul. “Try to get internships – it seriously helped me,” Horansky said. “It was so much more about getting that hands-on experience and just networking. I took a music business class and definitely learned a lot about the basics, and it was really my internship that taught me how it actually worked behind the scenes and how to network… The guy who signed our band was actually someone I worked with while I interned.” “Another point of advice is work hard, put in the effort,” Khah said. “People will see the time and effort you put in, especially when you’re hustling in the freezing snow handing out flyers outside of concerts.” “The time we got picked up by our management was when he saw us hustling outside of a Wonder Years show,” Horansky said. “You just never know.”
ASHLEY SANCHEZ | THE DEPAULIA
Sleep on It on stage during the final round of the annual Vans Warped Tour. Fans can check out the band’s debut album “Overexposed” and at the
Subterranean on April 27 with This Wild Life.
Arts & Life. The DePaulia. April 15, 2019 | 21
The elusive path for arthouse film survival By Holyn Thigpen Contributing Writer
Over 100,000 film fans across the world signed an online Change.org petition last November to save FilmStruck. The Turner Classic Movies streaming service, which housed a library of over 1,000 classic, arthouse and international films, was discontinued by AT&T after the corporation’s acquisition of Time Warner last summer. Though the rally of online petitioners and celebrities alike failed to, in fact, “save” FilmStruck, an equally comprehensive alternative premiered this past Monday. The Criterion Channel, a streaming platform containing thousands of films, shorts and behind-the-scenes videos stored by the Criterion Collection, was announced earlier this year to wide praise from former FilmStruck subscribers and top creatives within the film industry. In fact, the site currently includes a list of notable foreign films handpicked by Martin Scorsese, with the director now partnering his nonprofit restoration organization, World Cinema Project, with the Criterion Collection. This curation by one of the most prolific directors of our time certainly ups the anticipation for what content the new channel will launch next. Is there more collaboration with eminent directors in store? Scorsese has been one of many prominent directors (among them Quentin Tarantino and Stephen Spielberg) to criticize the exceeding popularity of streaming amongst modern film fans. Tarantino has been especially outspoken in his critique of streaming services, his stance being that online film watching encourages “lazy” viewership and a lack of engagement from audiences. “You were kind of invested in a way that you’re not invested with electronic technology when it comes to the movies,” he said in a 2017 interview with The Playlist, referring to older methods of film consumption, such as movie palaces and DVDs/VHS tapes. Scorsese has been more forgiving to streaming companies: His new film, “The Irishman,” was produced by Netflix and will receive both a regular theatrical release and Netflix wide release. However,
"Criterion has been the gold standard for years going back to the days of laserdiscs, and the cinema community has been ready to embrace it since it was announced FilmStruck was being shuttered." Erik Childress
Chicago Critic's Film Festival Producer he has still expressed doubt as to the viability of streaming and the lackluster viewing experience it promotes. “You might be able to push it closer to your [face] in your bedroom, just lock the door and look at it if you can, but I do find just glimpsing stuff here or there…it is not the best way, he said in a live talk at the British Film Institute about iPad viewing in particular. “[The Criterion Channel] is another piece to the ever-expanding puzzle,” said Erik Childress, producer for the Chicago Critic’s Film Festival. “If I’m going to get a film for my collection, I don’t want to just get it through one of those streaming services. Think of the complete packages you can and have gotten for years on laserdiscs, DVDs and Blu-rays: documentaries, behind-the-scenes videos, commentaries from the filmmakers and a chance to hear their voices along with scholars of film. But to have a package to watch that’s available at any time through streaming is great, too.” Like many in the film exhibition business, Childress is torn between the accessibility of streaming and the precedence of older viewing methods. “The theatrical experience – when it’s pure and it works – is a marvelous thing that we should never want to see go away no matter what,” he said. In a way, there’s some beauty in these filmmakers who are so critical of streaming’s potential disruption of film immersion embracing a streaming
platform for the pure sake of a more pressing shared passion: the preservation and promotion of overlooked and longforgotten films. It’s a reminder that with the many viewing methods now available to us, there are life-changing stories that deserve, and are now finally receiving, more exposure. Netflix, Hulu and other popular sites have been criticized for their blatant lack of classical films. As of 2017, Netflix offered a mere 43 films made before 1970 and fewer than 25 produced before 1950. For a company with boundless profits and a profound influence on hundreds of millions of viewers across the globe, this is a disgrace. Netflix can claim all it wants to merely be catering to what its customers want to see, but the simple fact is this: no one will ever want to explore classical films if they’re never even given the option to. Exposure is everything – a concept that Netflix has failed to grasp and embrace with its content. I’m no film snob. I recognize that not everyone cares to see a 1975 Italian psycho-thriller (called “Deep Red,” by the way), but often people don’t know what they want to see until its visible and readily available to them. Netflix and so many others have missed the mark. The Criterion Channel, meanwhile, promises a welcome oasis for those who still seek (or wish to dip their toes in) films of the past and more obscure variety. Featuring special collections with themes
such as “Women Auteurs” and “Crimes of the Heart” as well as restored editions of older films, the Criterion Channel is a goldmine for the exploration of film, not only as a casual viewing experience but as a rich history and an artform. Will services like the Criterion Channel prove sustainable in the longrun? “Maybe they will, maybe they won’t,” said Kyle Westphal, programmer and film writer for the Chicago Film Society. “No matter what, a new model always comes along and saves the precarious industry in a hitherto unimagined way.” Many members of the film industry are hopeful that the name recognition of Criterion alone will grant it more longevity than FilmStruck. “Criterion has been the gold standard for years going back to the days of laserdiscs, and the cinema community has been ready to embrace it since it was announced FilmStruck was being shuttered,” Childress said. “I think they’re off to a really strong start,” said Michael Phillips, film critic at the Chicago Tribune. “There’s already a natural overlap with everybody who would’ve been partial to Filmstruck.” As Phillips sees it, the curatorial content being released by Criterion Channel is a surefire way to attract a variety of age demographics that even FilmStruck never quite procured. “I hope they continue to present groupings of films that surprise me,” he said. “Things that’ll attract diverse viewers to explore diverse concepts. That’s the way to go.” Streaming may never allow for an outstanding viewing experience, at least in comparison to the filmgoing of days’ past; however, with the launch of the Criterion Channel, we are now in the midst of a major rebirth for countless beloved film genres, filmmakers and film movements. I can only hope that even if the Criterion Channel doesn’t stick around for long, it may aid the emergence of other platforms with similar ambitions and objectives for the film community. Whether it be on streaming sites or otherwise, any type of visibility for these films is better than none at all.
Noteworthy films featured on The Criterion Channel:
"My Brother's Wedding" Pierce Mundy works at his parents’ South Central dry cleaners with no prospects for the future and his childhood buddies in prison or dead. With his best friend just getting out of jail and his brother busy planning a wedding to a snooty upper-middleclass black woman, Pierce navigates his conflicting obligations while trying to figure out what he really wants in life.
"8 1/2" Marcello Mastroianni plays Guido Anselmi, a director whose new project is collapsing around him, along with his life. One of the greatest films about film ever made, Federico Fellini's 8 1/2 (Otto e mezzo) turns one man's artistic crisis into a grand epic of the cinema.
"Brief Encounter" After a chance meeting on a train platform, a married doctor (Trevor Howard) and a suburban housewife (Celia Johnson) begin a muted but passionate, and ultimately doomed, love affair.
"An Angel at My Table" Academy Award-winning filmmaker Jane Campion brings to the screen the harrowing true-life story of Janet Frame, New Zealand's most distinguished author. The film follows Frame along her inspiring journey, from a poverty-stricken childhood to a misdiagnosis of schizophrenia and electroshock therapy to, finally, international literary fame.
22 | Arts & Life. The DePaulia. April 15, 2019
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Arts & Life. The DePaulia. April 15, 2019 | 23
what’s FRESH on Climate Change
Our Planet (Netflix)
Atomic Homefront (HBO)
In the introduction to the first episode of this new Netflix series “Our Planet,” the mission is clearly stated. David Attenborough narrates that the show will “celebrate the natural wonders that remain and reveal what we must preserve to ensure people and nature thrive.”
The HBO documentary “Atomic Homefront” reveals St. Louis, Missouri’s past as the site of uranium processing for the Atomic bomb in World War II. The remaining hazardous materials were eventually dumped in the North St. Louis suburbs and have horribly contaminated two communities.
Equipped with some of the most breathtaking nature videography to ever exist, “Our Planet” authentically presents the world as it is today — at once bustling with unmatched environmental diversity and fighting for its life against the realities of climate change. The series is unapologetically honest, often presenting the harsh consequences of the damage already done to our environment, which makes for a uniquely mesmerizing and heart-wrenching tale of the obstacles facing the most innocent among us.
The film follows the residents as they organize and push for environmental justice. A group of mothers formed Just Moms STL, an advocacy group who are demanding the EPA remove the waste or relocate families near the radioactive site. At the same time, a grassroots organization works to educate the community about the risks of exposure to radioactivity and attain support for the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.
While similar to the wildly popular series “Planet Earth,” “Our Planet” takes the extra step to urge viewers to do more for those who cannot do more for themselves. One viewing will both sadden you deeply as the suffering of a wide array of animals across the globe takes infinite forms and inspire you to change that reality for the next generation.
LACEY LATCH | THE DEPAULIA
“Atomic Homefront” highlights the current state of government and private mismanagement of hazardous and radioactive sites in certain communities throughout the country. Further, it uplifts the importance of community organizing and self advocacy in the face of injustice.
LACEY LATCH | THE DEPAULIA
In theaters & upcoming films April 5 “Shazam!” A 14-year-old has the ability to transform into adult superhero Shazam at a moment's notice. Stars: Zachary Levi
April 17 “Breakthrough” Based on a true story, a 14-year-old boy miracualously comes back to life after a horrible accident. Stars: Chrissy Metz, Topher Grace
April 5 “Pet Sematary” A young couple discovers a mysterious burial ground near their new home. Stars: Jason Clarke, Amy Seimetz
April 19 “The Curse of La Llorona” After ignoring the warning of a troubled mother, a social worker and her kids are sucked into something supernatural in their home. Stars: Linda Cardellini, Raymond Cruz
April 12 “Little” A women transforms into a version of her younger self as the realities of adulthood beging to pile up. Stars: Regina Hall, Issa Rae, Marsai Martin
April 26 “Avengers: Endgame” The universe was left in dissaray after the battle against Thanos. Now, the Avengers have returned to restore order. Stars: Brie Larson, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson
24 | Arts &Life. The DePaulia. April 15, 2019
St.Vincent’s
D e JAMZ “Spinning fresh beats since 1581”
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Explore Reckless Records for these DeJamz and more By Lacey Latch Arts & Life Editor
As the saying goes, the young people of today are the better people of tomorrow. Or something like that. So when you apply that to music, it’s clear that there is destined to be a musical renaissance on the horizon. Considering that right now, young artists are leading the charts in nearly every category and reinventing music in new and exciting ways, who knows what they’ll be capable when they have a few years in the industry under their belt. This week, we’ve highlighted a few young people who have already made their mark but still have plenty of road ahead of them.
1. “bad guy”- Billie Eilish Admittedly, I was in no rush to sit down and listen to 17-yearold Billie Eilish’s new album, “When We Fall Asleep Where Do We Go.” I had heard great things but it just wasn’t on my radar. But as the NPR interview I was listening to rolled into a review of the album, the instantly catchy beat of the first song had me hooked. After the endlessly engrossing “bad guy” came to an end, I had every instinct to continue to the rest of the album. I did. And you likely will too.
Crossword
2. “Hear Me Calling" – Juice WRLD In his new album “Death Race For Love,” 20-year-old South Side native Juice WRLD checks in a year after the success of his debut album “Goodbye & Good Riddance” last year. Similar to the sing-along style of his biggest hits, “Hear Me Calling” pairs a hip-hop beat with lyrics sung casually enough that they match any occasion. If you’re anything like me and the discovery of his first album felt like a blessing, then Juice WRLD’s second act is well worth your time.
Across 1. Virgil put him through hell 6. Cold War concern 11. Cousin of calypso 14. Mountaineer’s tool 15. Partner of video 16. “___ Gun” (1986) 17. Check cancellation 19. Heavy-metal rock? 20. Time for a break 21. “___ your instructions ...” 23. Worked like a dog 26. Kind of ticket 27. Apportions 28. 1990s Chevy 30. Coin aperture 31. Husbands and wives 32. Roof material, sometimes 35. Lumber mill fixture 36. Barefaced 38. Wine label word 39. “And what have
3. “Right Back" – Khalid Khalid has unmistakably been on the rise for the past few years, resulting in his debut at Lollapalooza just last year. Now, the 21-year-old from Georgia is performing at Coachella on the heels of his new album, “Free Spirit,” which he released just last Friday. Staying true to the R&B-infused tunes we’re used to, Khalid delivers a cohesive and cool music experience. As is custom with most of his songs, with each song you’ll want to dance in a crowd and relax with friends at the same time.
we here?” 40. “Planet of the Apes” planet 41. Unit of loudness 42. Crunch maker 44. Like Newton’s bodies, sometimes 46. Protective case 48. Builds a fire under 49. Pasta sauce with basil 50. Confrontations 52. Long. companion 53. One-horse town 58. Commotion 59. Staff assistants 60. 100-dinar coins 61. 1/6 of an ounce (Abbr.) 62. Like a doubting Thomas 63. Like people from Mecca Down 1. Prefix with “solve” or “respect” 2. Make a scene? 3. Classic
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4. “Old Town Road”- Lil Nas
Let’s be honest. Almost everyone has heard this song and if you haven’t listened to “Old Town Road” yet, you probably never will. So this serves as much less of a suggestion than of an acknowledgement of how impressive Lil Nas X’s rise has been is. After breaking through with his unique mix of country and hip-hop conventions, he just beat Drake’s record for most streams in a single week. Oh, and he just turned 20 and only started uploading music to SoundCloud last year.
introduction? 4. Carrot, e.g. 5. Kind of witness 6. Made a bundle on the farm? 7. Brooklyn Dodgers, affectionately 8. English 101 reading 9. Time piece, briefly 10. Plant scientist 11. Many timers 12. 38th parallel country 13. Clownish miming 18. Bullets, in Vegas 22. Capitol VIP 23. Wonder Woman’s weapon 24. Islam’s deity 25. Hit the ceiling 26. Fortune-teller’s sign 28. Coffee, the milky way 29. Jazz quintet’s home? 31. Soft, crumbly earth 33. Didn’t hit the
snooze button 34. Half-pints 36. The act of conferring an honor 37. Builder’s backing 41. Frederick the Great’s realm 43. “Dig in!” 44. Seed enclosure 45. Copier fluids 46. Sound of a falling egg 47. Coin-toss call 48. Likely to fidget 50. Merry-go-round, e.g. 51. Mouse manipulator 54. Hotfoot it 55. Greek “T” 56. Prehistoric 57. Trident-shaped Greek letter
Sports
Sports. April 15, 2019. The DePaulia | 25
New jerseys inspire women ahead of World Cup By Luc Fougere Contributing Writer
The FIFA Women’s World Cup kicks off this summer in France, with the top 24 international teams battling it out to find who will be the next World Cup champion. With the tournament right around the corner, Nike has unveiled the home and away uniforms for their 14 Nike federations. The 2015 Women’s World Cup saw the United States Women’s National Team lift the cup, leaving this summer’s competition as the team to beat. The U.S. National Team has gone out in a Nike kit since before the turn of the century, celebrating two of their three first place victories repping the swoosh. However, since 1995 Nike has only provided a slight derivation of the men’s kit for the women’s national team. Their three reigning titles have been represented on their new kits with three golden stars above the U.S. crest. Compared with their less patriotic 2015 black and white kits with neon green socks, Nike and the USWNT have created a more classic look for this year. DePaul Women’s soccer player Jade Eriksen-Russo thinks it’s about time the USWNT and Nike connected more with the U.S. heritage. “I remember watching the [2015] World Cup and seeing the team lift the trophy in their weird black-and-green outfits that the men wore and thought that it didn’t represent what the country or team is about. I’m really excited about these new kits though; they look amazing,” Eriksen-Russo said. The clean all-white home kit with redand-blue trim on the sleeves is complemented with a symbolic back panel. From afar, the back just looks a little off-color, but as you get closer, you see the extensive detailed print spelling out each of the 50 states. Three red stars are on the side of the shorts, also paying homage to their 1991,1999 and 2015 World Cup wins. As for the away kit, the all-red is juxtaposed with accents of blue on the swoosh, top of the back and covering the socks. Faded stripes and stars resembling the American flag subtly adorn the whole top, creating for a unique twist on the American spirit. Gwen Walker, another member of the DePaul women’s soccer team said she would purchase the red jersey. “It looks so sleek,” she said. “The faded flag is a really nice touch; I think it completes the American look. Our girls will look great lifting the cup again this year.” Apart from the U.S.,Nike represents 13
RUNNER-UPS, continued from back page
most premier college basketball teams in the country. Since head coach Chris Beard took over in 2016, he has accumulated a 76-31 record in three seasons and has led the Red Raiders to two straight tournament appearances, including finishing runners-up in the National Title game against Virginia on April 8. “The Big 12 looks forward to competing against the BIG EAST in this scheduling series," Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said. "It will provide both conferences with high-quality intersectional matchups on an annual basis that will be of interest to basketball fans across the country." With Texas Tech expected to have
PHOTO COURTESY OF NIKE
(left to right) Mallory Pugh, Crystal Dunn, Alex Morgan, Carli Lloyd and Megan Rapinoe wear new USA women's World Cup jerseys. out of the total 24 teams in the competition, most of which are unique from their respective men’s teams. The outliers who, by the athletes request, did not change from their male counterparts look from the 2018 World Cup kits are Chile, Nigeria, South Africa and Korea. Professional graphic designer Wendy Lapchick said the new kits are a step in the right direction. “The next [step] is equal pay for female athletes,” Lapchick said. “Regarding the jerseys themselves. I’m glad Nike took into consideration the differences in the
cut of the shirts and kept them professional looking.” The most notable kits for this upcoming World Cup include the host nation France. The French are going out in an all-white shirt and socks with a hexagonal burst of blue polka dots, which are complimented by their classic navy blue shorts. England this year features a new handdrawn floral print on a crush burgundy top used to represent the numerous plants native to the country. The home kit also features this print on their all-white socks with plants like
poppies and roses being most prominent. In recognition of their easily recognizable winter sweaters, Norway has a snowflake pattern that fades all the way down to their home shorts from red to blue. China also has a very unique and symbolic pattern on their away jerseys. The bright orange trim displaces an all-gray top around the sleeves with all orange shorts and socks. The upper has a special white tonal pattern that depicts beautiful birds drawn in a traditional Chinese
another strong season next year, they will provide the Blue Demons with a good test early on in the season. DePaul, who had a weak non-conference schedule this season ranking 351th out of 353 schools, will not only be able to test themselves against an elite program, but their strength of schedule will also be stronger going into next season. Other notable games include Kansas visiting 2018 National Champions the Villanova Wildcats and Marquette paying a visit to Kansas State. The two conferences combined to send nine teams to the NCAA Tournament this season Dates and times haven’t been announced for the 10 games yet, but will be closer to the start of next season.
DePaul head coach Dave Leitao argues a call during the second half against USF in game two of the CBI championship series. The Blue Demons won the game 100-96.
ALEXA SANDLER | THE DEPAULIA
26 | Sports. April 15, 2019. The DePaulia
Blue Demons exceeding expectations in new era By Evan Sully Staff Writer
When Eugene Lenti suddenly retired June 2018 as the head coach of DePaul’s softball program after 37 years during which he gained over 1,300 wins, there was some uncertainty as to who would take over the renowned program that had established a culture of winning. The following month, DePaul Athletics hired former DePaul student athlete and softball player Tracie Adix-Zins to become the new head coach. Adix-Zins had relatively big shoes to fill when taking over a program that captured four Big East Tournament titles in 2008, 2014, 2017 and 2018. But now that the softball team ranks No. 2 in conference play (28-9, 8-1 Big East) directly behind St. John’s, things have slowed down a bit for the rookie under the helm. “It’s been pretty smooth,” Adix-Zins said. “You expect challenges coming in and taking over a program that you played for, but I think our staff has done a good job and the team has done a great job of adapting to any type of changes that we try to put in, so it’s been good.” Adix-Zins has brought a coaching style and culture to Lincoln Park that’s slightly different from what Lenti brought to the table. Much of this stems her experience playing softball at DePaul and knowing the ins and outs of what it takes to be a successful ALEXA SANDLER | THE DEPAULIA student athlete. DePaul head coach Tracie Adix-Zins visits the mound to talk with her sophomore pitcher Natalie Halvorson during the second game “Obviously, I’m a female, so there’s that of a double-header with Providence on Saturday at Cacciatore Staduim. The Blue Demons won both games against the Friars. difference right away,” she said. “But I think the biggest changes for [the players] is I’ve To illustrate, DePaul had the opportunity lived their life to a T, so I have more insight to mercy rule Texas Southern in the early on the day-to-day of what they go through stages of its 7-0 victory on March 1 at the and how long the season can wear on you Red and White Showcase in Houston, Texas. as an athlete and as a student. So, I think Because the offense endured a cold stretch just from the fact that I did it before them in the batter’s box as the game progressed, impacts it a little DePaul could not quite bit differently.” complete the game as early One factor that as Adix-Zins would have has played into the liked. cultural shift that “We had the Adix-Zins brings opportunity to eight-run comes from the [Texas Southern], and it program having was like, if you have the just two pitchers opportunity to run-rule on the roster this somebody, we need to runseason. Junior rule them,” Adix-Zins said. Krista Dalgarn “When you’re playing five and sophomore games a weekend [and] transfer Natalie five games between two Halvorson have pitchers, it’s a lot of pitches. split time on It’s a lot of wear and tear on the mound this their arms, so if you have season and have DePaul junior catcher the ability to score runs combined for a and get out early, then let’s 2.75 ERA, which is get out early.” second-best in the With nine games Big East behind Providence. remaining in the regular season, Adix-Zins As a result of being short-handed on hopes that her team can continue to stay the depth chart, the philosophy in the locker focused by paying attention to the little room has transitioned to the mindset of being things. This includes softball fundamentals able to limit the amount of runs allowed. like taking care of the ball, not giving up Additionally, Adix-Zins has stressed that if extra bases and fielding the routine ground her players can get more runs and put less ball while also making an extraordinary play innings on the pitchers’ arms, then the rest of every now and then. game will take care of itself. For the pitching staff, fine tuning the “I feel like this coaching style, it’s very little things translates into limiting walks much more of an attack mentality from and home runs. On offense, the little things start to finish,” said Jessica Cothern, a junior entail getting out of the batter’s box early infielder who has started every game this when facing an opposing pitcher that has big year. “As before it was just ‘hopefully let’s aim strikeout numbers and not waiting until there to get some big innings in there.’ So, with that are two strikes in the count to attack, because attack mentality, I feel it’s really helped us this at that point, Adix-Zins said, the advantage is season grow as players and just being able to in the opposition’s favor. clinch some wins that I don’t think last year “We definitely know we have to fill a we would have been able to do.” bigger role and we have to put the ball in The attack mentality that Adix-Zins is play a lot more and we have to make things implementing, such as being able to get more happen,” junior outfielder Angela Scalzitti runs for the offense and being able to limit said. “Either running-wise or making things the amount of pitches that the two pitchers happen a little more is a bigger emphasis this throw per inning, has come on a trial and year.” error basis.
"I feel like this coaching style, it’s very much more of an attack mentality from start to finish."
Jessica Cothern
Sports. April 15, 2019 The DePaulia | 27 SWEEP, continued from back page East Conference. “That’s not us, that’s not the team that we have, yes we have a new coaching staff, yes we have a new look on the mound, but we’re getting it done and we need to believe in ourselves like we’ve been doing.” DePaul made a trio of skilled catches in the outfield in the top of the fourth inning, one by Scalzitti and two by right fielder Erin Ambris. In the bottom of the inning, DePaul’s bats were clicking once again as Hilger connected on the first pitch of her at-bat and a groundout from Rodriguez brought her home. Gutierrez singled and then scored on catcher Cothern’s double. Morgan Greenwood concluded the inning with a single to center, that scored pinch-runner Madison Fisher, and extended the Blue Demons lead to 6-2. DePaul added two more insurance runs when Cothern hit a monster home run that also scored Rodriguez and gave the Blue Demons a six run lead going into the last inning of the game. “We focused a lot on just staying through the ball and hitting it opposite field,” Cothern said. Halvorson was able to end the game strongly with five straight strikeouts and a short bloop out to first base that secured the six run win. She now has a 16-5 record in 21 starts. “I think [it is] just doing the small things, taking care of the ball, making sure that we are making adjustments at the plate,” head coach Tracie Adix-Zins said when asked how the team has started conference play so well. “As pitchers limiting the amount of pitches that we’re throwing, obviously with two, that’s the biggest thing, making sure if we can runrule people, we run-rule them so we can
ALEXA SANDLER | THE DEPAULIA
DePaul senior Alysia Rodriguez hits a home run in the bottom of the second inning to tie the game at two against Providence. take some innings off our pitchers’ arms.” The third game of the series scheduled for Sunday at noon was cancelled due to inclement weather. DePaul have won 20 straight games against Providence and sit one game
behing St. John's in the conference standings. The Blue Demons are now 28-9 overall and 8-1 in Big East play before they face Illinois State at home on Tuesday afternoon. After that DePaul
will travel to Queens, New York to face St. John's in a vital three game series that can decide the top spot in the standings going into the Big East Tournament.
NBA, continued from back page filled with emotions. “Honestly, I was just speechless for a while I couldn’t find the words to say anything,” Garrett Jr said. “I told [Craig Robinson] thank you and called my family to let them know and my emotions just all over the place.” “He said ‘I got a call up’ and I said ‘a call up where?’ And he was like ‘I’m playing for the Knicks,’” said DePaul assistant coach Billy Garrett Sr. after he found out that his son was signing with the New York Knicks. “I didn’t know if it was an April Fool’s joke, so I didn’t really buy into it. I wasn’t going to get too excited. The next day, when I saw it on Twitter, I knew it was true.” When Garrett Jr. came to Chicago with the Knicks on April 8, his father was not going to miss the opportunity to see his son play in an NBA game. But there’s a caveat. “I probably looked at the first game, when I went to watch him in Chicago, more like a coach,” Garrett Sr. said. “I wouldn’t say I was critical, but that’s how I looked at the game. Then when I went to go visit in New York just being in the Garden and the atmosphere with him being the home team, sold out game it was just electric at the Garden. It was more from a fan perspective. But I was really, really happy for him because that’s one of his goals and he worked for that all his life.” When Garrett Jr. was at DePaul from 2013-2017 he went through, arguably, one of the worst stretches in DePaul basketball history and suffered through personal health problems. His father, however, believes being at DePaul has helped grow his son and taught him valuable lessons that he might not have gotten from going to another school. “He’s been a worker all his life, I know it’s a cliche but you have to get better everyday,” Garrett Sr. said. “I think he’s a better person
PHOTO COURTESY OF NBAE/GETTY IMAGES
Former DePaul basketball player Billy Garrett Jr. brings up the ball for the Westchester Knicks during a game this season. and player because of his experiences at DePaul. I don’t think he would be where he’s now being able to go that route if he hadn’t learned what he learned at DePaul. I think the growth at DePaul both on and off the court set him up to be successful in his grind toward the NBA.” While Garrett Jr. was grateful for his time at DePaul he didn’t exactly echo those exact sentiments from his father. He believes that winning a little bit more at DePaul would
have helped his draft position. Garrett Jr. went undrafted in 2017 after spending four years with the Blue Demons and accumulating a losing record. “It would have helped, but I can’t guarantee that would have happened,” Garrett Jr. said. “I’m happy for them and the success they have had, but I’m happy for me also. So, I can’t say that I would have been drafted. But it would definitely would have helped, I’ll say that.”
In the four games that Garrett Jr. played with the Knicks’ this season he averaged 6.5 points per game while playing an average of 15.8 minutes per game for a rebuilding Knicks team. The 6-foot-6-inch guard hopes to be in the NBA permanently starting next season and is going to take these four games as an learning experience to make himself a better player.
Sports
Sports. April 15, 2019. The DePaulia | 28
Clean sweep
ALEXA SANDLER | THE DEPAULIA
DePaul sophomore infielder Maranda Guiterrez hits her second home run of against Providence on Saturday. The Blue Demons won both games on Saturday 8-0 and 8-2.
DePaul makes easy work of Providence in double-header on Saturday By Joshua Gurevich Asst. Sports Editor
Junior pitcher Krista Dalgarn dominated out of the gates and her team backed the pitcher up by scoring eight runs to win the front-half of the doubleheader 8-0. The junior pitcher threw a gem, allowing 3 hits and no runs to improve to 12-4 on the season. The Blue Demons couldn’t have gotten off to a better start against the Friars. Maranda Gutierrez started things off with a solo home run to dead center field to give DePaul a 1-0 lead. “As with any game, our goal is to score first and score early, so it just gets the entire team motivated,” Gutierrez said. “It keeps us wanting to press on and get the run rule like we did.” Sophomore Kate Polucha then sent
another one over the left field wall to give the Blue Demons a 2-0 lead after one inning of play at Cacciatore Stadium. After that, the pitchers dueled until the bottom of the fifth inning when DePaul’s bats started to heat up and Providence’s pitchers had issues with their control. The inning started with a bunt to get on base by sophomore Skyler Hilger, who scored on a double steal attempt and an error by the Providence infield which allowed right-fielder Erin Andris to get to third. She then made her way home after an infield single by Gutierrez. Polucha came up and hit a sacrifice fly to make it 5-0. Centerfielder Angela Scalzitti was then hit by a pitch which allowed another run to score because of the bases being loaded. Hilger walked to score Morgan Greenwood and the inning finally came to an end for Providence. DePaul finished
Runners-ups meet in Big East-Big 12 challenge By Lawrence Kreymer Sports Editor
DePaul’s 2019 non-conference schedule already has its first test of the season, with the Blue Demons taking on Texas Tech at Wintrust Arena in the first ever Big East-Big 12 challenge. The plan to begin the Big East-Big 12 challenge was officially announced last October, but the matchups were finalized on April 3, with all 10 teams from each conference participating in the challenge. The challenge is slated to last for four years, with games being played in December starting next season. “This full-participation series assures our schools of premier nonconference competition that will
only add to the strength of our two conferences,” Big East commissioner Val Ackerman said in a statement last October. “We look forward to working with the Big 12 to create an exciting new set of rivalries for our players, coaches and supporters.” DePaul holds a 2-0 lead over Texas Tech in their two previous meetings. But the last time these two sides met was in 2011, with the Blue Demons coming out on top 76-70 in Orlando. That year, however, the Red Raiders finished with an 8-23 record and won only one conference game in one of their worst seasons in program history. Since their last meeting with DePaul, Texas Tech has completed a 180 and turned their program into one of the
See RUNNER-UPS, page 25
off the job in the bottom of the sixth with Jessica Cothern hitting a rocket to dead center field and end the game because of the eight-run rule. “I think the biggest thing was just staying together and making sure she was doing her mechanics and just driving through me the whole game,” Cothern said when speaking on Dalgarn’s shutout performance. “I think she did a really good job of working with me and it was a real team effort today.” With the win, Dalgarn improved to 12-4 on the season. In the second game of the doubleheader, Blue Demons pitcher Natalie Halvorson got into some trouble in the top of the first inning, with the Friars getting on second and third with no outs. She then got a pop-out and a strikeout before Providence’s center fielder Mackensie Compton singled over Greenwood’s head at first base to score
two runs. Halvorson then had to pitch around a lead-off single from the Friars in the top of the second and a brilliant double-play helped her eliminate the threat. The Blue Demons got their bats going in the second inning with a leadoff single from Scalzitti, who was brought home by a crushing home run from third baseman Alysia Rodriguez, which was her first of the season. Gutierrez then continued her stellar day at the plate by hitting a massive homer off the right field scoreboard which gave DePaul a 3-2 lead at the end of two innings. “[We were] Playing with a chip on our shoulder because when we were ranked 4th we were like no way.” Gutierrez said when speaking on the fact that DePaul was picked to finish fourth in the Big
See SWEEP, page 27
Billy Garrett Jr. reaches NBA, reflects on DePaul By Lawrence Kreymer Sports Editor
When the Westchester Knicks’ G-League season ended after a second round loss in the playoffs, Billy Garrett Jr. was all but ready to head back home to Chicago. He didn’t believe that he was going to get called up by an NBA team so late into the season, and that’s why he had a flight a ready back to Chicago the next day. “Our G-League season had ended a day before that, so I got back to New York and I thought I wasn’t going to get called up by any team,” Garrett Jr said. “[I was] just chilling and trying to figure out what I was going to do next. So, I started packing up things and it was Thursday and they got me a flight to go back home Friday.” Garrett Jr. had everything ready for his flight the night before, all his bags and
belongings by the door prepared to go to the airport the next day. He then received a call at around 9:30 p.m. from vice president of player development and G League operations for the New York Knicks Craig Robinson, telling him that he was going to get signed by the New York Knicks. “I’m ready to go, my bags are by the door because I was leaving the next morning,” Garrett Jr. said. “Then I get a call at like 9:30, 10 o’clock that night, it was Craig Robinson telling me that they were going to sign me. So, it came out of nowhere. I thought I had a chance of getting signed with New York, but once our G-League season ended I thought my season was over.” Once Garrett Jr. found out that his dream signing with an NBA team was becoming a reality, he was speechless and
See NBA, page 27