DePaulia 2.6.2023

TheDePaulia

Police killed at least 1,192 people last year in the United States — the most in a decade

‘We are not afraid’

Chicagoans protest killing of Tyre Nichols

By Una Cleary and Samantha Moilanen Focus Editor and Asst. News Editor

Close to 100 protestors crowded the streets of Chicago’s downtown Federal Plaza, Monday, Jan. 30, in light of the recent death of Tyre Nichols at the hands of Memphis police officers.

Memphis police pulled over Nichols, a 29-year-old Black motorist, on Jan. 7, according to NPR. Police body-cam footage released on Jan. 27 shows officers beating Nichols to death after he attempted to flee on foot that evening.

The protest was held to demand justice for Nichols, along with Manuel “Tortuguita” Teron, Keenan Anderson and all victims of police brutality.

“We’ve seen time and time again that the system is not meant for us, and the police do not protect us at all,” said William Guerrero, a youth organizer who was at the protest. “Even though it did not happen here in the city of Chicago, It doesn’t mean that things like this… [don’t] happen in Chicago. It happens in Chicago, and we’re here to hold the police accountable.”

Bishop Tavis Grant, acting national executive director for the Rainbow PUSH

Coalition, spoke at the protest and began his statement by urging the crowd to “say his name.”

The protestors shouted in response, “Tyre Nichols, Tyre Nichols, Tyre Nichols…”

Grant went on to speak about institutionalized racism within the Memphis police force and across the U.S.

“One of America’s most brutal acts of institutionalized racism on a 140-pound body, bears the spirit of Tyre Nichols,” Grant said. “As a native of Memphis, I know what it’s like to confront racism in the Memphis Police Department. We were raised and taught to be afraid of them. But the night [has] stopped. We are not afraid.”

CBS News reports five former Memphis police officers were fired and charged with the murder of Nichols, two other officers have been relieved of duty and three fire department personnel have also been fired. However, Grant claims nearly 25 people were reported at the scene of Nichols death, including deputies in the Sheriff’s Department.

Grant calls for the termination and indictment of all officers and first responders who were at the scene of Nichols killing.

“These groups of organized criminals…are able to detain without probable cause, profile without probable cause, arrest without probable cause and cure without probable cause,” Grant said. “But the life of Tyre Nichols will not go in vain.”

With the sound of police sirens and ambulances honking their horns behind him, Guerrero stepped up to speak.

In his opening statement, he said, “All those people that are dying by the police [who] were supposed to protect and serve us, they’re not doing their job.”

Guerrero went on to urge protestors to continue to organize, gather and speak out against cases of institutionalized racism within the criminal justice system.

Soon after, Arewa Williams, a candidate for the 15th police district council stepped up to speak.

See PROTEST, page 9

(From left) Arewa Karen Winters, LaToya Howell and Flora Suttle all had loved ones killed by police. In the wake of Tyre Nichols’ killing in Memphis, the three spoke Wednesday outside of the Chicago Police Department Headquarters on S Michigan Avenue at an event hosted by the Chicago Activist Coalition For Justice. See Focus story on Page 14.

PHOTOS BY PATRICK SLOAN-TURNER | THE DEPAULIA

Student health insurance plan postponed despite approval

Joanna Buscemi, an assistant professor of psychology, has worked with graduate students, gathering information about insurance needs and demand at DePaul.

“Our graduate students, particularly members of our Graduate Student Association (GSA) have been working to push for a university-sponsored health insurance option for the past 5 years or so,” Buscemi said. “They have collected their own data to show the need for health insurance and have tried to advocate for this at multiple levels of ad-

Several students spoke out against the university’s decision to delay the plan without further reasoning. Though he opted not to conduct a phone interview, Kevin Holechko, president of the Student Government Association and senior, said in an emailed statement to The DePaulia that he was initially confused but now believes it was for the right reasons.

“The key reason the plan is not ready is the cost that would have been put on the students who would need the insurance the most would be astronomical,” Holechko said. “The plan itself would be completely unaffordable and it would not help address the problem.”

The main problem Holechko references is the possible financial impact the cost would have on low income and marginalized

Colleges and universities like University of Illinois Chicago charge $697 for their plan per semester. At Urbana-Champaign, it’s $712 per semester.

In 2018, 7.9 % of college students were uninsured. The survey, conducted by Lookout Mountain Group, showed Hispanic and Black college students are among the most affected, with 14.8% of Hispanic students and 11.5% of Black students being unin-

Administrators are worried the requirement that students show proof of insurance, whether that is from the marketplace, Medicaid or their parents, could be a barrier.

Buscemi confirmed that administrators like President Robert L. Manuel expressed concern about how it will impact vulnerable communities at DePaul.

She thinks this is an “unfair argument.”

“It is not insurmountable with the right administrative infrastructure to help support these students financially,” she said. “Many in our department believe this argument unfairly pits students of low-income against each other in ways that do very little to promote social justice overall and in fact causes harm to all students who have limited or no access to healthcare.”

The university is looking to shift its focus towards assisting students navigate the marketplace and find accommodations for international students, according to Buscemi.

“We've heard that the priority is shifting to helping students navigate the ACA Marketplace for health care which is what they've already been doing in the absence of a university-wide plan and is insufficient as many Marketplace options are inadequate and/or expensive for students,” she said. “Which is extremely important but does not address the entire problem for all of our unor under-insured students.”

Holechko assured students that if the university seemed like they did not care, it is the opposite.

“If I'm being honest, if this wasn't a priority of theirs they most definitely could have launched the plan in the fall and premiered a health insurance plan that cost those who enrolled in it a number that is rivaling what they would have paid out of pocket,” he said.

At other universities where a student plan is offered, the costs are included in students’ insurance, giving those who receive coverage the ability to pay for it through financial aid or student loans.

As the plan sits in limbo, graduate students like Saquib and Samuels will dive head first into the marketplace without any guidance. They will continue to balance how to afford living costs while working and attending school full-time without university assistance.

“Some of our students are faced with very difficult decisions like these and it impacts their overall functioning as people and students,” Buscemi said. “Providing a health insurance option through the University is consistent with ‘Take Care, DePaul’ and our Vincentian mission as an institution.”

President Robert L. Manuel's office is located in the Lincoln Park Arts and Letters building on the second floor.

Down to the dean

College of Communication search continues, to announce in Spring

By Kiersten Riedford News Editor

The College of Communication has not had a permanent dean for over three and a half years.

From July 2019 to June 2021, Alexandra Murphy served as acting dean to fill the space Salma Ghanem left after being appointed interim provost. Since July 2021, Murphy has served as interim dean. But now, with the College of Communication undergoing a dean search, the question of if she will remain the dean of the college lingers.

Konner Gross, a graduate student in the Public Relations and Advertising (PRAD) program who completed his bachelor’s degree at DePaul, said Murphy has been the dean of the College of Communication for most of his college career. Gross said he does not want that to change, even when the search is over.

“I think there's just something to be said for being there for four or five years,” Gross said. “Calling a spade a spade, if Lexa was able to lead the college through Covid, social unrest [and] declining enrollment ... I think that she can really put on her thinking cap and work with the connections she has built [and] get some shit done.”

Murphy told The DePaulia she is honored to be a finalist for the dean of the College of Communication. But, out of respect for the process and the other candidates, she said would prefer not to comment beyond that.

The search process

The search process began in June 2022 and will soon come to a close.

Over the last two weeks, the college brought in four candidates, including Murphy, as finalists. Starting on Jan. 23, candidates presented every Monday and Wednesday until Feb. 1.

Each candidate prepared a 15-minute presentation on what they see for the future for the field of communication. Following the presentation, the college invited students, faculty and staff to ask questions during the open Q&A.

“Somebody asked about degree program restructuring,” Gross said. He said restructuring could let more students take program-specific classes without needing all the prerequisite classes under their belts. “[The prerequisites are] kind of building these walls between programs that don't necessarily need

to be there, especially as communication as an industry is becoming more like one big bubble rather than all these separate bubbles.”

When it comes to the college’s student body — which is around 1,056 students annually, according to DePaul’s most recent Institutional Research and Market Analytics report — Gross said many of the students do not interact with students in programs other than their own. He said he would like for the next dean to help break down those barriers so students can crossover more frequently.

Jorge Villegas, a finalist for the dean search and current Associate Dean of the College of Business and Management at the University of Illinois Springfield (UIS), said issues like these from students are ones that he would use a beginner’s mindset with, if he is selected for the role.

“A leader should not come up with ideas before they understand what's going on,” Villegas said. “[If] you look at the website [and] you talk to people for five days, you cannot get a sense of what DePaul is. You need to spend time talking to people and then come up with: Okay, these are areas of interest for us. Let's see what we can change? What can we reinforce? What should we stop doing?”

Realities of the future

Villegas said enrollment is at the forefront of everyone’s minds in higher education, regardless of the institution.

The enrollment cliff, a term many in higher education are using for this issue, refers to the population decrease of 18 to 21-year-olds from around 2025 to 2028 as a result of the 2008 recession.

This cliff comes with the reality that as enrollment decreases, so will university revenues, meaning schools like DePaul will need to make budget cuts where they can. President Robert L. Manuel said in his Design DePaul speech that faculty and staff layoffs and salary cuts will be made if nothing changes in the financial region of the university.

Gross said out of all the things to happen to the university, faculty cuts would cause a detrimental amount of damage, especially to the College of Communication. Gross said one of the best parts about DePaul faculty is that they are hired, usually, with more experience than education.

“Some of my most valuable professors have been adjuncts,” Gross said. “[They] had a career in PR or advertising or what have you. And they're either doing this on the side or they had a career for 30 years, and now decided to teach it.”

Gross said aside from the issue of enrollment, diversity throughout all levels of the college needs to be focused on.

“As much as I love the faculty, they often tend to look the same,” Gross said. “Of course, I don't know how the College of Communication compares to some of the

other colleges, but I think we can always strive to do better.”

Within the College of Communication, there are around 95 white faculty and staff, around 25 faculty and staff of color, and around 15 unknown, according to DePaul’s website.

These big ticket items need to be addressed and solved by the College of Communication. While hopes are high for problems within the college being solved, candidates cannot make empty promises.

Villegas, advocating for himself, said his main interest is to use his managerial leadership style to help address the concerns people in the community are raising.

“I'm here to serve,” Villegas said. “I am not interested in the ego trip. It just happens that I'm interested in the position. I'm not attached to the ‘power’ or the position or anything like that, I just want to serve.”

What’s next?

With the conclusion of the candidate presentations, emails have been sent out to the College of Communication community, as they have been sent throughout the entirety of the search, asking members to complete a survey on the candidates.

Each candidate’s survey form is located under their name on the SharePoint website. The forms are available until 5 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 6.

“Then the committee’s charge is to submit a report to the provost presenting the finalists in alphabetical order and listing each one’s strengths and weaknesses,” Caryn Chaden, chair of the College of Communication Dean Search Committee, said via email. “The provost then consults with the president, who makes the final decision.”

Chaden said though she cannot be certain, she anticipates there will be an announcement of the dean appointment early in spring quarter.

Until then, Chaden said the best thing students, faculty and staff can do is complete the surveys, “be patient and let the process play out.”

For other colleges at DePaul, the College of Education, the Jarvis College of Computing and Digital Media and the School of Music remain dean-less.

ERIN HENZE | THE DEPAULIA

Jorge Villegas, one of four finalists for the College of Communication dean search, gave a presentation about future of the com munication field on Wednesday, Feb. 1.

Alexandra Murphy, interim dean for the College of Communication and dean search finalist, has led the college since July 2019, when Salma Ghanem was appointed to interim provost.

JEFF CARRION | DEPAUL UNIVERSITY

Utility bills rise significantly across city

By Olivia Zimmerman Contributing Writer

Eighty-three percent of DePaul’s student body lives off campus. Many students are already pinching pennies to pay rent in Chicago, and with increased utility prices, students’ budgets are only getting smaller.

Gas companies Nicor and People Gas are requesting an increase in the cost of distribution from Illinois. This change could cause customers in Chicago to pay more for utilities.

“On top of rent already being expensive, it will definitely affect me,” sophomore Sophie Thongvanh said. “Being a college student, [I] already [have] to budget out groceries and new spaces of living.”

Utility prices usually have a set amount for the commodity itself, and on top of this price companies, such as Nicor or People Gas, charge for the distribution of this gas. This distribution charge includes the cost and maintenance of infrastructure for gas and electricity. "The 'Gas Charge' on your monthly bill is the market price of gas times the amount you used. The utility doesn't directly control that. What Peoples and Nicor are trying to increase is the 'distribution' part of the bill, but that's still a lot of money,” explained Eric DeBellis, General Counsel for Citizens Utility Board (CUB).

However, for Peoples Gas company in particular, the charge of the commodity itself has increased in recent years.

“Service [from] Peoples was not always this expensive,” said DeBellis. “10 years ago, it was a normal utility. Now, your fixed charge before you use a single therm of gas. We get calls all the time from people saying, ‘I was on vacation, I didn’t use anything, everything was off, and my bill was almost $50.’ That’s the fixed charge.”

While the cost of gas itself has fluctuated in the last several years because of global events such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the current cost of the gas itself is not as high as it was when the peak of these events first began. However, in the last several years, utility companies have increasingly asked for more money for the distribution.

Currently, Peoples Gas is seeking an increase of $402 million.

“A huge, huge, huge driver of most of that is their increased cost of capital, so building stuff, basically,[as well as] trying to increase the rate of return that they get on financing that infrastructure,” DeBellis said.

However, that number does not reflect the total cost, rather the costs of new infrastructure are broken up into multiple years, similar to a payment plan.

“When they build some long-term project that is going to be used for decades, that full cost isn’t reflected immediately in that year’s bills, it’s amortized over the life of the accent,” DeBellis said.

In an 2020 article from Chicago Business, nearly one-third of Chicagoans struggled to pay for gas in the summertime, when gas is not used as much.

CUB, along with other organizations, are accelerating efforts to replace gas with other methods.

“CUB is supporting the Better Heat pilot proposal and a proposed ordinance pending before the Chicago City Council right now that would set an emissions standard for new construction (with some exceptions) that would effectively prohibit new homes from being hooked up to Peoples gas network in the first place (Their appliances would be electric),” DeBellis wrote in an email to The DePaulia. “Peo-

Fast Facts

2.5%

Americans allocate 2.5% toward home heating and other home energy needs

$20 billion to $30 billion

Household utilities (gas and electric) could cost consumers an added $20 to $30 billion this year

7% to 12%

Household utilities (gas and electric) are experiencing an approximate 7% to 12% increase since last year

14.8 cents

Chicago area households paid an average of 14.8 cents per kilowatt-hour of electricity in December 2022, comparable to the 14.6 cents per kilowatt-hour paid in December 2021.

$1.334

ple charges customers roughly $50 a month just to be connected to the system, so that's a lot of headroom for the additional electric costs to still be a net savings.”

While organizations like CUB fight utility increases in the political arena, DeBellis says there are things students can do to cut costs.

“The simplest is, especially when you’re not home, setting the thermostat [lower],” DeBellis said. “Some people, this isn’t [as] suggested for renters, own things like smart

thermostats that can schedule usage. Your utility has a rebate program on those [technologies].”

In short, stocking up on sweaters and turning down the thermostat is one of the most effective ways for students to cut costs.

Students can also live in on-campus housing, where housing rates “have not been raised more than the normal inflation costs for next year,” said DePaul Director of Housing and Residence Life Rod Waters.

In December, the average cost of utility (piped) gas was $1.334 per therm, up from its average price of $1.228 per therm a year earlier.

SUBMITTED PHOTO | GAVIN WOODGERD

SOURCE | U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

"On top of rent already being expensive, it will definitely affect me. Being a college student, [I] already [have] to budget out groceries and new spaces of living.”

Sophie Thongvanh DePaul sophomore

Save a Lot to move into Englewood Whole Foods

By Jana Simovic

Contributing Writer

After less than seven years of operation, the Whole Foods grocery store at the intersection of 63rd St. and Halsted had shut down operations and boarded up its windows on November 13th of last year.

The large green fluorescent lettering was removed and now has a Save-A-Lot advertising tarp garnishing the building instead, signaling a bleak and controversial near future of the space.

Before the official opening in September 2016, on April 2, 2014, former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said, “I am proud to move forward on this critical investment in the Englewood neighborhood and to work to ensure that all Chicagoans have access to fresh, healthy groceries in their communities,” alluding to the new store.

Almost nine years after this announcement, easily accessible, healthy and fresh food in the Englewood community is still scarce in comparison to other parts of the city. Following the controversial response to the planned opening of Save-A-Lot, there is not much certainty among residents that this problem will see many positive changes.

“It almost was like the Whole Foods was supposed to be like some beacon that Englewood wasn't the neighborhood that people thought it was. But I don't think that that's the way to necessarily, like show people outside of our community what our community is necessarily,” Ashley Johnson, the Re-Up Program Manager at the Resident Association of Greater Englewood (R.A.G.E.) said. “It's just like, ‘Oh, well we have an upscale grocery store.’ That doesn't show who we are as people.”

Being in a position where her workplace is located near the former Whole Foods location, Johnson mentions that she used to shop at the store often. Now, to purchase goods at the same price point and caliber, residents are required to travel much further.

Johnson mentions that in terms of the new store specifically, she does not believe that problems of food insecurity will see solutions, specifically, because Team Englewood – a non-profit organization that has been serving their community for over 20 years – conducted a survey to see what stores residents of the community did or did not want.

“They overwhelmingly did not want Save-a-Lot,” Johnson said. “So it just doesn't seem that if that's not what people want, they're not gonna go there. I know that I will never step foot in that store.”

This is a familiar rhetoric though, as companies and organizations are already disconnected from the communities they aim to properly serve. Determining the outcome of how and what kind of foods will be accessible to residents without engaging with the community, something that proves to be more harmful in the long run.

“If they had just gone to the community and said, ‘Hey, what grocers should we lease out in this space?’ We probably would've been able to voice our opinions about the ones that we wanted,” Johnson mentioned the grocer names that frequently came up in the survey were Mariano’s, Pete’s and Cermak Fresh.

An Englewood resident who wished to remain anonymous mentioned that before the opening of the Whole Foods in 2016, the community was looking for a more accessible grocery store, like a Jewel-Osco or Mariano’s.

“Residents feel like; ‘Oh, so this is all we're worth. It's a Save-A-lot’,” they said. “You guys take away Whole Foods where we can actually get quality, and put something where it's cheap and generic.”

Fresh, good food is widely available in

many parts of Chicago, and yet the Englewood community has had to turn to community driven initiatives such as urban gardens and community markets. Although such resources do provide support to the neighborhood, they don’t replace the need for a full service quality grocery store.

“They feel as if this is all that we are able to, you know, receive. It is everyday life. It's everyday life for, you know, for communities like this. They take away good things and you know replace them with watered down things,” the resident said.

Calvin Wheeler is another Englewood resident and owner of the iconic Chicago’s Chicken Shack, located just a few blocks away from the former Whole Foods at the intersection of 63rd and Racine. Wheeler mentions that the community does not know why the Whole Foods had left in the first place, but does know that his community needs access to healthy and quality foods and the opening of the Save-A-Lot has left many unanswered questions.

“Right now, it's like a toss up. What do you get? Do you tell Save-a-Lot not to come? Then if they don't come, who do we have to come? What's our next option? Who at all wants to come?’ That plays a big part in what goes there and how it helps and works with the community,” Wheeler said.

These questions are far from new, yet they continue to be at the forefront of continuously underserved Chicago communities. Wheeler also makes a note of the high senior population currently living in the community, further emphasizing that the availability of fresh and quality food items is incredibly important.

In 2014, when the first steps of development were first announced, the City of Chi-

cago released a news release on its official website that stated, “A commercial complex anchored by a Whole Foods grocery store will move forward in Englewood through $10.7 million in Tax Increment Financing (TIF) approved today by City Council.”

According to the City of Chicago, TIF funds “put vacant properties back to productive use, usually in conjunction with private development projects,” aiming to address neighborhoods’ needs citywide. However the Englewood communities' needs are still not being sufficiently met.

As Johnson explained, since the development was made with TIF money, residents initially hoped to see that their need for easy access to healthy, quality and affordable food was going to be adequately met.

“It's like, so you took our money that is supposed to for our needs, and developed your personal want that does not satisfy any need, and has basically been contested ever since it was built,” Johnson said. “I mean, there are people who shop there, but I don't think that in anyone's eyes, Whole Foods was the adequate solution for that space.”

Dr. Winifred Curran is an urban geographer and professor at DePaul University’s geography department, whose research has focused on understanding the effects of gentrification on communities and the urban landscape. When asked if there was a better way for developers and policymakers to go about approaching the initial development in the first place she notes that community engagement is a key piece missing in this case.

Approaches like being more responsive to neighborhood needs, improving the lack of accountability, better marketing and ac-

tively trying to fix issues rather than ignore them, are all measures that could have been taken into account to provide Englewood residents with solutions to their needs and wants.

Curran notes the importance of having both more accountability regarding the use of TIF funds and community engagement between residents and developers. Ensuring that developers keep prior promises made is important, she suggests, while additionally proving observations as to how this specific allocation of TIF funds may not have been the best example of addressing community needs.

Curran also mentions the importance of the store holding itself accountable in terms of addressing community needs, whether it is through cultivating a welcoming space as a brand or directly engaging with neighbors.

“What do developers owe for having this very measurable public benefit? What very measurable thing can they give back, and have they given back? And if they haven't, then maybe they have to pay back some of that money, for example,” Curran said. “I think accountability here is really the big missing piece.”

Johnson makes note of the fact that since Englewood is not necessarily a food desert according to the R.A.G.E. CEO, it is rather the lack of accessible healthy food options that makes this a prevalent issue. After conducting surveys with neighbors and regularly meeting with developers, community members and organizations like R.A.G.E. and Team Englewood were hoping to see more changes in the way future developments are approached.

“We are finding out now, and this is the piece, that the developer and Whole Foods may have, and it seems like we got kind of close to kind of cracking this nut, but it's not 100%, but we do know for sure because the developer said it, that a Save-A-Lot was actually in the lease,” Johnson said when explaining the process of the initial Whole Foods opening. “That Whole Foods signed that SaveA-Lot would take and occupy the space if Whole Foods were to fail or leave. So they knew this all along. Like we've been having these conversations for almost a year since they announced the closing in April.”

A quit claim deed available on the Cook County Clerk's online records shows that on September 15, 2015 the City of Chicago conveyed ownership of vacant property to Englewood Square LP, stating “From the Opening Date through the expiration of the Initial Compliance Period, a lease between Grantee and Whole Foods Market for the Grocery Store is in full force and effect, or another full-service grocery store has entered into a lease with Grantee to replace Whole Foods Market, has opened for business, and is fully operational.”

The lack of transparency and engagement with residents mirror the additional lack of accountability, all which point to questions being left unanswered.

“So why do you have us running around and spinning our gears and doing all this legwork and trying? For what? For what?” Johnson said.

Although residents are left with far too many questions, they note that it is important to be talked about. “I'm glad to see that debate is worldwide, that people want to know what the community thinks about what's coming here, that's the best part about it. So that's good,” said Wheeler. “What we would like to know is what are our options? Do we have any options? Or if we stop Save-A-Lot, then so it'll just be nothing? That's what we need to know.”

PHOTO | FLICKR

Englewood residents said those in charge of filling the retail space did not speak with them about their preference of grocery stores.

YAMINI BANGARUSAMY | THE DEPAULIA

South Side neighborhoods are more susceptible to being in food deserts. The former Whole Foods provided more fresh produce options.

of accountability'

Student veterans share their experiences with the Department of Veterans Affairs

When DePaul junior and West Pull man native Richard Malone enlisted in the army in 2002, he felt honored to serve his country. Coming from a lineage of veterans dating back to World War II, Malone always knew he was destined for the grueling, yet rewarding, life of service.

However, when his honorable dis charge as a sergeant came and went in 2007, Malone found himself ill-prepared for the transition back into civilian life, especially with his new-found diagno ses of PTSD and depression. When he reached out to the Department of Vet eran Affairs (VA) for guidance and the benefits and special hiring authority he earned from his service, Malone expected a straightforward encounter.

"I think one of the biggest disconnects [with the VA] is how veterans are able to access their benefits,” Malone said “A very simple process somehow becomes like pulling teeth.”

In order for veterans to be eli gible for benefits, they must serve a minimum of 24 consecutive months or the entirety of time they are on active duty. Benefits can range from the Post 9/11 GI Bill, which financially assists veterans enrolling in higher education, to VA-backed home loans and disability compensation.

"Somehow someone did not file something properly and [the VA] said I was not entitled to all of my ben efits even though I had five years of direct service," Malone said.

What fol lowed this mis communication could only be de scribed as a night mare for Malone.

"No one talks to each other … there was just a huge lack of accountabili ty," Malone said. "It's almost like wage gar nishment. They took it [financial entitlement] out of my benefits that I was getting … that's one of the battles I'm still fighting."

Originating in 1811, the VA once stood as a champion of veterans' rights, providing anything from medical care to pen sions and benefits to service members and their families. Yet, two decades later, ac companied by severe un derstaffing and under funding, the VA has become another ob stacle for veterans transition ing back to civil

The department has been plagued by excessive spending due to insufficient health care and a backlog in processing benefits, shaking veterans' dwindling

Program which pays for out-of-state tuition.

Furthermore, Carroll, alongside the veteran student he encountered as a peer adviser and liaison in the office of Veteran Affairs, revealed a pattern in the VA's urgency toward those no longer on active duty.

"They had direct access to all your medical records and because you're still in, they were able to prioritize you,” Carrol said. “Once you get out, things slow down, it gets harder to get appointments. The biggest thing people talk about is hurry up and wait.

It always feels like a hurry up and wait."

However,

not all veterans view the VA the same.

Carl Castro, University of Southern California professor and retired Army Colonel expressed his satisfaction with the department.

"I think overall the VA does a good job," Castro said. "That doesn't mean there's not war stories … that's the nature of large organizations so I don't like to condemn large organizations for that because you know, human beings run them."

According to a 2019 study conducted by VA, 80% of veterans were satisfied with their VA health care and more than 90% would recommend VA care to fellow veterans.

Acting as the director of military and veteran programs at USC, Castro believes the VA's treatment toward veterans, especially students, has significantly advanced in terms of quality and compensation.

"They've really improved, " Castro said. "No organization's perfect, people aren't perfect. They're going to make mistakes … People are going to fall through the cracks, paper works gonna be lost … so this is understanding the process and the magnitude of the job and they're human beings. We're going to make mistakes."

While missteps and indiscretions may define the VA's past, veterans like Malone are confident in one day re-writing the narrative.

"I think that's why I'm more invested in Veterans right now because ultimately I just want to help people function and live a healthy life," Malone said.

'There was just a huge lack

Biden, Pritzker to end Covid-19 public health emergency

By Rose O’Keeffe Contributing Writer

Gov. JB Pritzker plans to end the public health emergency classification of Covid-19 in Illinois later this spring, according to NBC 5 Chicago.

This news comes after President Joe Biden announced on Jan. 30 that he will lift the public health emergency declarations of Covid-19 on May 11. Amid these decisions, the World Health Organization still classifies Covid-19 as a global health emergency, as do Chicago residents who are immunocompromised.

Amita Rao, a Chicago actress with a weakened immune system, said she is frustrated with the government’s response to Covid-19. Rao said ending the public health emergency (PHE) will make people careless.

“I feel like the government has decided to take a survival-of-the-fittest approach to Covid,” she said.

Rao, who has contracted Covid-19 three times, believes that state and local governments are making decisions based on popularity rather than science.

Dr. Phillip Funk, professor of immunobiology and microbiology at DePaul University, believes that ending the PHE is a sensible call, considering the effectiveness of the vaccine and reliability of test results.

“The virus is going to be with us,” Funk said. “It’s endemic now. It’s going to be there, it’s going to be mutating.”

He compared the current state of Covid-19 and the state of the flu each year.

“Similar to what we do with Influenza A, there’s going to be continued surveillance that’s going to be fed into the CDC,”

Funk said.

Covid-19 in Chicago continues to be closely monitored and shows significant signs of improvement. Chicago’s latest Covid-19 data shows the city’s risk level is low, with an average of 329 confirmed cases daily and 31 daily hospitalizations.

“Covid could still surprise us, but all signs right now are looking good across the country and locally,” the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) said in a statement.

The CDPH is in full support of Pritzker and Biden’s decision to lift the Covid-19 public health emergency status.

“CDPH will continue to monitor and respond to Covid every day, and take the steps needed to protect our city, with a continued focus on equity,” it said.

The cost of treatment and testing is where the issue of equity comes into play. Under the public health emergency declaration, first issued by the Trump Administration in March 2020, the government required insurance companies to provide up to eight free Covid-19 tests per month. Vaccination and treatment with antiviral medications was also covered. Under the Affordable Care Act, this coverage will likely continue after the PHE expires.

For the nearly 30 million uninsured Americans, however, managing Covid-19 safety precautions will become more difficult.

The Health Resources and Services Administration reports that under the PHE, the uninsured have access to free testing, treatment and vaccines. Now that the PHE is set to expire, free access will no longer be readily available.

Chicago Covid, an organization that offers Covid-19, RSV and flu vaccines

across the city, offers free testing and treatment but only with accepted insurance. A spokesperson from Chicago Covid said that vaccines will remain free for uninsured people who come to treatment centers, but tests will come at a cost. The spokesperson said that Chicago Covid has lowered the price of PCR tests from $325 to $110 to accommodate the need of uninsured Chicagoans.

Even though the official “emergency” status of Covid-19 will end this spring, some say this term is subjective. Rao still views Covid-19 as a significant threat.

“People respond to the environment they’re placed in,” Rao said. “If the environment is telling them that nothing is wrong, they will acclimate to that and they will believe it.”

She said it is up to Pritzker and Biden to create an environment of caution, concern and continued safety surrounding Covid-19.

Funk, on the other hand, is more hopeful.

“You’re going to see that people will continue to choose to wear masks and that’s a good thing,” he said.

Funk is confident that people will continue to get tested and vaccinated after the PHE expires in May.

He said the city and nation are now equipped with increased knowledge and preparedness that will inform better responses in the future if necessary.

“We can put a number of these [health and safety measures] back in place, hopefully, fairly quickly,” Funk said.

David Smith, center, an assistant director of the Office of Investigations at the U.S. Secret Service, testifies before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee about waste and fraud in COVID-19 relief programs, at the Capitol in Washington, on Feb. 1.

J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE | AP

President Joe Biden announced on Jan. 30 that he intends to lift the public health emergency declarations of Covid-19 on May 11

J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE | AP

In his opening statement, he said, “All those people that are dying by the police [who] were supposed to protect and serve us, they're not doing their job.”

Guerrero went on to urge protestors to continue to organize, gather and speak out against cases of institutionalized racism within the criminal justice system.

Soon after, Arewa Williams, a candidate for the 15th police district council came forward to speak.

“CPD publicly executed my 16-yearold nephew, Pierre Laurie, on April 11, 2016, and… as a secondary survivor of police violence… there is no law, training or policy to prevent what happens too often to Black men, women and children in this country,” Williams said. “Our bodies, our Black bodies have been used for vehicles of violence and hatred [since] the [first] African set foot here.”

For Williams, those wearing the badge of a police officer should have a better relationship with the communities they protect. She believes they should be tolerant and honest and have unwavering respect for human life, no matter someone’s race, gender or sexuality.

“And no matter how much we think that we have achieved the American dream, we must continually confront systemic and institutional constructs of racism in all forms,” she said. “Some officers should have physically intervened to save Tyre’s life.”

Williams shouted, “It is our duty to fight for our freedom.”

The crowd echoed her words, responding with, “It is our duty to fight for our freedom.”

Although protestors said they found the speeches inspiring, some thought the turnout was not enough and were saddened by the need to be protesting against police brutality once again.

One of the protestors, Mara Lynne, felt more people should have come out for Nichols the same way they did for George Floyd in 2020.

“When the whole George Floyd thing happened in 2020, everyone was out,” Lynne said. “And now, no one's really here. I mean, I'm thankful for just one person, but it all died down pretty fast.”

Marcelo Muro, another native Chicago-

an who attended the protest, said because it was Black officers who killed Nichols, it shows how police brutality is a result of the flawed system, and not just a few individuals.

“The fact that it was a lot of Black cops, I think, makes a lot more people realize that it's not just white cops killing Black people, it's a lot more nuanced than that,” he said. “It's an obvious attack on the structure of

the police.”

One of the speakers at the protest, Cassandra Greer Lee said the people must hold the officers involved in Nichols' death accountable.

“I'm a little broken tonight, but I'm here,” Lee said. “I'm not gonna stop fighting. So with all five of those [officers], I want you to hold them accountable.”

Following the death of Tyre Nichols, Gloria Pinex, mother of Darius Pinex, a man who was killed by Chicago police officers in 2011, spoke at a press conference outside of the Chicago Police Headquarters on Feb. 1 to protest against police brutality.

PATRICK SLOAN-TURNER | THE DEPAULIA

Nation & World

How is the U.S. celebrating Black History Month?

By Ruchi Nawathe Nation & World Editor

February marks the start of Black History Month, and cities around the country are celebrating differently. According to the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), Carter G. Woodson started the concept of Black History Month as a Black literature week that turned into a Black achievement week in 1924. Woodson chose February because both Abra

ham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass were born in February, and it was a common practice in Black spaces to celebrate the former president’s birthday.

Black history week shifted into Black History Month around the 1960s, but was not formally accepted until 1976, when President Gerald Ford recognized it, according to History.com.

Washington, D.C.

Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis is the setting for many monumental Black American history moments and is also where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel, which has been converted into the National Civil Rights Museum. The museum has a variety of different artifacts from Black history. The room where King stayed the day of his assassination is kept in the same condition that

it was on the day of his assassination on April 4, 1968. Memphis is also home to the “Mother of Black churches,” Beale Street Baptist Church, and is home to the first Black newspaper, The Memphis Free Speech. There are many other Black history museums in Memphis, from the Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum to the Blues Hall of Fame.

Atlanta, Georgia

Our nation’s capital holds one of the largest Black populations in the country, as well as many monuments, landmarks and museums commemorating Black history. On Feb. 1, the authors of “His Name is George Floyd” spoke at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, and the nightclub DC9 invited Black artists to perform sets, according to Washingtonian.

On Feb. 5, there was a Black History Month celebration concert at Howard Community College featuring several genres whose invention is credited to Black artists. For the entire month, the great hall of the Thomas Jefferson building in the Library of Congress will have a Black History Month exhibit, with the theme “Black Resistance.”

Los Angeles, California

New Orleans is another city that held many moments in Black history. There are many tours, including the New Orleans Slave Trade Tour and Audio Guide, where people can learn about the slave trade in New Orleans, which was one of the largest hubs of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. The New Orleans African American Museum

contains history and art by African Americans. Bayou Road is a strip of Black-owned shops, restaurants and bars, where people can go to support Black business owners. On Feb. 4, the Algiers Mardi Gras festival took place, and on Feb. 20, the Zulu Lundi Gras festival will take place.

New Orleans, Louisiana

Los Angeles is near the movie capital of the country and has been a hub for American media for several decades. The Open Arms Food Pantry Community Resource Center is presenting the Los Angeles Black History Month Festival at the Michelle and Barack Obama sports park. The festival will feature a line up of many different Black artists, performers and authors on Feb. 19.

There will also be booths for vendors to sell both food items and merchandise. On Feb 25, there will be a Black History Month Prosperity Market that has booths of Black farmers and artisans. The Department of Cultural Affairs will be hosting a multitude of different events in celebration of Black History Month.

Atlanta is often regarded as the Black capital of the United States, and its population is more than 45% Black, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The Atlanta History Center has three online exhibits about Black history, named “Explore Black Atlanta,” “United States Colored Troops” and “Black Citizenship in the Age of Jim Crow.” There are a variety of Black owned restau-

rants and businesses to frequent, including For Keeps Bookstore that holds a variety of literature from Black authors. From Feb. 16 to Feb. 19, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater will be performing five shows at the Fox Theater.

U.S. downs Chinese balloon, drawing a threat from China

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military on Saturday shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the Carolina coast after it traversed sensitive military sites across North America. China insisted the flyover was an accident involving a civilian aircraft and threatened repercussions.

President Joe Biden issued the order but had wanted the balloon downed even earlier, on Wednesday. He was advised that the best time for the operation would be when it was over water, U.S. officials said. Military officials determined that bringing it down over land from an altitude of 60,000 feet would pose an undue risk to people on the ground.

China responded that it reserved the right to “take further actions” and criticized the U.S. for “an obvious overreaction and a serious violation of international practice.”

In its statement Sunday, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that “China will resolutely uphold the relevant company’s legitimate rights and interests, and at the same time reserving the right to take further actions in response.” China’s Ministry of Defense echoed the statement later in the day, saying it “reserves the right to take necessary measures to deal with similar situations.”

The presence of the balloon in the skies above the U.S. this week dealt a severe blow to already strained U.S.-Chinese relations that have been in a downward spiral for years. It prompted Secretary of State Antony Blinken to abruptly cancel a high-stakes Beijing trip aimed at easing tensions.

“They successfully took it down and I want to compliment our aviators who did it,” Biden said after getting off Air Force One en route to Camp David.The giant white orb was spotted Saturday morning over the Carolinas as it approached the Atlantic coast. About 2:39 p.m. EST, an F-22 fighter jet fired a missile at the balloon, puncturing it while it was about 6 nautical miles off the coast near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, senior defense officials said.

The spectacle had Americans looking to the skies all week, wondering whether the mysterious balloon had floated over them. On Saturday, Ashlyn Preaux, 33, went out to get her mail in Forestbrook, South Carolina, and noticed her neighbors looking up — and there it was, the balloon in the cloudless blue sky. Then she saw fighter jets circling and the balloon get hit.“I did not anticipate waking up to be in a ‘Top Gun’ movie today,” she said.

The debris landed in 47 feet of water,

shallower than officials had expected, and it spread out over roughly seven miles and the recovery operation included several ships. The officials estimated the recovery efforts would be completed in a short time, not weeks. A salvage vessel was en route.

U.S. defense and military officials said Saturday that the balloon entered the U.S. air defense zone north of the Aleutian Islands on Jan. 28 and moved largely over land across Alaska and then into Canadian airspace in the Northwest Territories on Monday. It crossed back into U.S. territory over northern Idaho on Tuesday, the day the White House said Biden was first briefed on it.The balloon was spotted Wednesday over Montana, home to Malmstrom Air Force Base, which has fields of nuclear missile silos.

The Americans were able to collect intelligence on the balloon as it flew over the U.S., giving them a number of days to analyze it and learn how it moved and what it was capable of surveilling, according to two senior defense officials said. The officials briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.

The officials said the U.S. military was constantly assessing the threat, and concluded that the technology on the balloon didn’t give the Chinese significant intelligence beyond what it could already obtain from satellites, though the U.S. took steps to mitigate what information it could gather as it moved along.Republicans were critical of Biden’s response.

“Allowing a spy balloon from the Com-

munist Party of China to travel across the entire continental United States before contesting its presence is a disastrous projection of weakness by the White House,” said Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., tweeted: “Now that this embarrassing episode is over, we need answers from the Biden Administration on the decision-making process. Communist China was allowed to violate American sovereignty unimpeded for days. We must be better prepared for future provocations and incursions by the CCP.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., was more positive: “Thank you to the men and women of the United States military who were responsible for completing the mission to shoot down the Chinese surveillance balloon. The Biden Administration did the right thing in bringing it down.”

China has claimed that the balloon was merely a weather research “airship” that had been blown off course. The Pentagon rejected that out of hand — as well as China’s contention that it was not being used for surveillance and had only limited navigational ability.

The Chinese government on Saturday sought to play down the cancellation of Blinken’s trip. “In actuality, the U.S. and China have never announced any visit, the U.S. making any such announcement is their own business, and we respect that,” China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

The Pentagon also acknowledged reports

of a second balloon flying over Latin America. “We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon,” Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement. Officials said the balloons are part of a fleet that China uses for surveillance, and they can be maneuvered remotely through small motors and propellers. One official said they carry equipment in the pod under the balloon that is not usually associated with standard meteorological activities or civilian research.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a question about the second balloon.This isn’t the first time Chinese spy balloons have crossed into U.S. airspace in recent years, one of the officials said. At least three times during the Trump administration and at least one other time during Biden’s time as president they’ve seen balloons cross, but not for this long, the official said.

Blinken, who had been due to depart Washington for Beijing late Friday, said he had told senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi in a phone call that sending the balloon over the U.S. was “an irresponsible act and that (China’s) decision to take this action on the eve of my visit is detrimental to the substantive discussions that we were prepared to have.”

Uncensored reactions on the Chinese internet mirrored the official government stance that the U.S. was hyping the situation. Some used it as a chance to poke fun at U.S. defenses, saying it couldn’t even defend against a balloon, and nationalist influencers leaped to use the news to mock the U.S. China has denied any claims of spying and said it is a civilian-use balloon intended for meteorology research. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized that the balloon’s journey was out of its control and urged the U.S. not to “smear” it because of the balloon.

In preparation for the operation Saturday, the Federal Aviation Administration temporarily closed airspace over the Carolina coast, including the airports in Myrtle Beach and Charleston, South Carolina, and Wilmington, North Carolina. The FAA rerouted air traffic from the area and warned of delays as a result of the flight restrictions. The FAA and Coast Guard worked to clear the airspace and water below the balloon as it reached the ocean.Television footage showed a small explosion, followed by the giant deflated balloon descending like a ribbon toward the water.Bill Swanson said he watched the balloon deflate instantly from his house in Myrtle Beach as fighter jets circled around.

“When it deflated it was pretty close to instantaneous,” he said. “One second it’s there like a tiny moon and the next second it’s gone.” Swanson added that a trail of smoke followed the balloon as it dropped.

By Zeke Miller, Michael Balsamo, Colleen Long, Aamer Madhani and Lolita C. Baldor Associated Press

ANDY WONG | ASSOCIATED PRESS

An American flag is flown next to the Chinese national emblem during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

CHAD FISH | ASSOCIATED PRESS

A large balloon drifts above the Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of South Carolina, with a fighter jet and its contrail seen below it.

Opinions

COLLEGE BOARD SHOULD NOT GIVE INTO REVISIONIST HISTORY

By AsiA Thom As

If history cannot be taught completely, it should not be taught at all. Fla. Gov. Ron DeSantis refused to implement College Board’s new Advanced Placement (AP) African American Studies course unless it was reworked, but College Board should not have given in to this request as it rewrites history and contributes to the larger issue of erasing Black history in America. Removing these topics causes teachers to teach an incomplete history that goes against the purpose of the course.

The College Board is a non profit organization that prepares students for college through its standardized tests and curriculum. The College Board worked on the course since March 2022 and has continued to make changes as it is tested in a certain number of schools via, CBS News. On Feb. 1, the official curriculum of the course was modified to exclude the topics DeSantis disagreed with.

DeSantis refused the course after passing the Individual Freedom Act that banned Critical Race Theory in Florida public schools. DeSantis said Florida schools are allowed to teach Black history but claimed the topics that AP African American Studies was originally set to cover are a part of a political agenda and “lack educational value,” via CNN..

Topics the class included were Black feminist literary thought, intersectionality and activism, Black struggle in the 21st century, movements for Black lives and Black queer studies. Now, rather than being a part of the curriculum, College Board has listed them as the suggested end-of-year topics.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker wrote a letter to the College Board and said they

should not give in to DeSantis's request to change the course because it would falsely represent our nation’s history.

“I urge you to maintain your reputation as an academic institution dedicated to the advancement of students and refuse to bow to political pressure that would ask you to rewrite our nation's true, if sometimes unpleasant, history,” Pritzker said. “One governor should not have the power to dictate the facts of U.S. history.”

Redesigning this course to please DeSantis would be pretending as though these parts of African American history do not exist or did not occur.

Erasing history in high school settings has the potential to create a dangerous slippery slope as these students could grow into adults who may not believe the history actually happened.

Professor Hilary Conkin works in the department of teacher education

and said teachers should be able to talk about the country's collective past with all the good and bad parts. Conkin said while it would be possible to teach history without topics involving critical race theory, it would not give students a whole picture of history.

“Particularly for students whose identities are reflected in the aspects of history that they are trying to remove, it becomes really detrimental, potentially damaging to not see,” Conklin said, “One of the things I talk about a lot in my classes is the importance of seeing yourself reflected in history. It’s essential for young people’s mental well-being as well as their historical understanding.”

College Board’s AP program is designed to give high students the chance to learn and get credit from rigorous, college-level courses. Shying away from important and integral topics

such as intersectionality and feminist literature takes away from the complex, well-rounded education these courses are made to offer.

DePaul senior Jaylen Grigsby said he took 10 AP courses in high school, and that he does not understand why courses such as AP European History and AP United States History are allowed but AP African American Studies is not.

“I think this whole thing is really silly,” Grigsby said. “Expecting the College Board, who is already busy with SATs, to change their whole curriculum is insane. What he wants to change is out of his own hate and bias against the groups.”

When the College Board considered changing the course, they should have made the decision that would best benefit students and their education.

Students benefit most from being offered a complete view of the history of the country they live in. Modifying history to hide certain parts is harmful to young people because they would not be able to learn from the mistakes of the past.

DePaul junior Jana Simovic said removing course content from AP African American Studies would not be the right way to go about teaching history because it would give a skewed view of events.

“It really wouldn't be education if it’s not broad and if it’s not inclusive and intersectional for everyone,” Simovic said.

The College Board will continue to roll out the course across the U.S. until 2024. During this time, they should reconsider this curriculum and add back these topics that are necessary for a full view of history.

Contributing Writer

ALICIA DEVINE | TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT VIA AP

Attorney Ben Crump stands with three high school students who plan to sue Fla. Gov. DeSantis over ban of AP African American Studies course.

By LiLy Lowndes Social Media Editor

It has been over one year since the beloved candy brand M&M’S launched its “For All Funkind” campaign.

Sound unfamiliar? To candy fans and the general public alike, Jan. 20, 2022, marked the day that the green M&M lost her charm.

As a part of the campaign, Mars, the candy company that makes M&M’S, redesigned its iconic candy spokespeople as a part of a “new global commitment to create a world where everyone feels they belong.” It revamped its candy mascots with a more “modern” and inclusive look.

While most of the characters, including the red, yellow, orange, brown and blue M&M’S did not undergo major changes, it was almost as if the green M&M lost her essence.

What did Mars do? The candy company stripped away her signature white go-go boots, replacing them with lace-up sneakers.

I do not understand this decision. How are sneakers any more inclusive than go-go boots? Some people may feel more represented by an athletic shoe style, but that does not mean that people felt excluded by the green M&M’S shoe choice.

Hyejin Kim, a public relations and advertising professor at DePaul, said that because the green M&M has been around for decades, it has become somewhat of an iconic character for consumers. They accept her at face-value.

“Maybe people just want to accept the

character as is … instead of perceiving it as a symbol of female stereotypes,” Kim said.

Changing the green M&M made the rebranding campaign go viral, albeit not for the reasons Mars may have hoped. Instead of celebrating the changes, the internet was baffled by Mars’ seemingly random decision to create an “inclusive” shoe rebrand for something that was not exclusive in the first place.

It almost seemed like they wanted to attach themselves to diversity and inclusion efforts and this was the only way they knew how.

Kim said that the brand could have explained more about why they chose to support inclusive values.

“I don’t see the cohesive connection between their specific rebranding strategy and the rationale for supporting diversity and inclusion values,” Kim said.

In a poll, The DePaulia’s Instagram followers had mixed reactions to the rebrand. Some were in favor of the new design, but the majority of people just wanted the old green M&M back.

“I don’t like it,” one respondent wrote.

“She was slaying with the boots but now she’s boring,” another respondent replied.

Other people were more apathetic to the changes.

“It feels unnecessary, but I also think it’s weird that people are upset about it,” wrote one student.

When I compared the original and rebranded M&M’S, I understood why Mars felt like it needed to change its mascots. If you look up the first versions of the candy characters, you can see that these anthro-

pomorphic chocolates are white. Not white the color, but white the skin tone.

Their arms and legs used to be a pale peachy color. The “For All Fun Kind” rebrand removes race from the candy mascots, changing their arms and legs to be a pale version of their body color.

In my casual research on the internet, for better or for worse, people were more focused on the green M&M and her new footwear.

Whether dressing down the green M&M was a planned part of the rebrand or whether it was a distraction from the fact that the M&M’S had a race, we might never know.

The boots went unaddressed until a statement from the brand two weeks ago.

“America, let’s talk,” M&M’S wrote in a statement on Twitter. “In the last year, we’ve made some changes to our beloved spokescandies. We weren’t sure if anyone would even notice.”

The brand continued to say that they did not expect the campaign to be so polarizing, or even “break the internet.”

It was “the last thing M&M’S wanted” because they are “all about bringing people together.”

M&M’S ended its statement with a shocking announcement. They were removing the candy characters from its messaging and replacing them with a new spokesperson for the brand, comedian Maya Rudolph.

While this was an “indefinite” break from the character mascots, I doubt that the announcement will become permanent. M&M’S recently teased its upcoming Super

Bowl ad featuring Rudolph in a press re lease. This is probably yet another publicity stunt for the candy and I have no doubts that the M&M’S will return soon.

&M's statement via Twitter

“For All Funkind” has a positive message, but poor execution. This campaign struck a nerve with people and showed that maybe people already feel represented by M&M’S. In trying to make the green M&M more relatable, M&M’S clearly did not understand its consumer base. People already related to the green M&M. There was no need to make a shoe change that no one asked for.

When the candy spokespeople return, I hope that green is wearing her boots again.

"America, let's talk... now we get it even a candy's shoes can be polarizing. Which was the last thing M&M's wanted since we're all about bringing people together" M

Arewa Karin Winters didn’t watch the footage of Tyre Nichols being beaten to death by five Memphis police officers in January. She didn’t have to.

Pierre Loury, who was just 16 years old when he was shot and killed by Chicago police in 2016, was Winters’ great-nephew. Whether or not she watched the video, the Tyre Nichols story is one she knows all too well.

“I don’t have to see it,” Winters said. “Once you hear what happened, trust me, I’ve seen it in my head. I can’t not [see] it.”

Winters was joined by other families impacted by police violence outside the Chicago Police Department Public Safety Headquarters on Wednesday night. Each one shared stories of losing their loved ones in the wake of Nichols’ shocking death at the hands of Memphis police officers.

go Activist Coalition For Justice orga nizer, prepared the event, attended by The DePaulia and other Chicago news organizations. His coalition advocates for police accountability and criminal justice reform.

After years of working with countless other families like Winters’, Yosef knows how painful it can be for them to see what happened in Memphis.

“Families who have gone through this, most of them are traumatized yet again,” Yosef said. “Every time a murder happens, they’re retraumatized.”

Video shows Nichols was beaten by Memphis police officers on Jan. 7 after being stopped for reckless driving. He was taken to the hospital and died three days later. The city of Memphis released the surveillance video of the confrontation on Jan. 27.

The video included the violent altercation between Nichols and the five officers. Major broadcast channels publicly played the 13-minute video.

“I can’t watch that. I can’t watch that,” said Pansy Edwards, mother of Dakota Bright. “I had nightmares for years… I just don’t know what to do. I

Bright was shot and killed by a Chicago Police Department officer in 2012 when he was 15 years old. His killing was widely covered by Chicago and national media. Edwards had to cope with the death of her son while his story was thrust to the forefront of nationwide discussion.

“I’d be so mad with the internet, saying ‘it’s not a race thing.’ It’s a race thing,” Edwards said. “It’s always about race. We don’t matter. My son was 15, and I’m getting all these comments saying I should have checked his sock drawer because he had a gun in his sock drawer. He didn’t get caught with a damn gun. People get down on us as the family, like we did something wrong. I just pray for his family to have to see that and go through that, because it’s heartbreaking.”

In 2018, the CPD officer that killed Bright was cleared of wrongdoing and allowed to remain on the force, according to the Tribune. Edwards continues to fight for justice for her son.

“I thought stuff’s going to change, stuff’s going to change,” she said. “But the more I fight, ain’t nothing’s changed.” One by one, these mothers, fathers, families and friends told their stories. Some were well-known and well-covered, like Edwards’. Others were overlooked or overshadowed in the media by other tragedies.

According to Mapping Police Violence, U.S. police killed at least 1,192 people in 2022. That’s the most since 2013, when experts first started tracking police killings nationwide. This comes after George Floyd’s murder in 2020, which prompted widespread support for police reform in the U.S.

Yosef says he’s tired of lawmakers insisting that police brutality is an unsolvable issue.

“You can do something. Put forth legislation to end qualified immunity,” Yosef said. “The George Floyd Act has not been passed. How disrespectful is that?”

Qualified immunity, introduced in 1871, gives state and local officials, including police officers, protection from individual liability that civilians do not have. This can make it difficult to sue police officers for violating civil rights. Qualified immunity is banned or limited in Colorado, Connecticut,

Dozens of other states have attempt ed to end it, but lobbying efforts from police officers and unions squashed those efforts.

Restricting the use of qualified immunity is one of several reforms included in the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, for which Yosef also advocates.

Yosef said he was encouraged by the Memphis Police Department’s quick action taken against the five officers involved in Tyre Nichols’ death. The five officers were fired and charged with second-degree murder, two counts of official misconduct, two counts of aggravated kidnapping, one count of official oppression and one count of aggravated assault.

Yosef hopes the CPD follows suit for the families that joined him on Wednesday.

“We witnessed the Memphis Police Department bring swift justice,” Yosef said. “It didn’t take weeks. It didn’t take years… We’re now standing in front of the Chicago Police Department demanding the same service for these families.”

As he made his closing remarks, Yosef looked to the families that surrounded him.

“This is a fraternity that no one wants to be a part of,” he said.

Nadia caroliNa HEr Na NdEz Editor in Chief & Print Managing Editor

Chicago Activist Coalition For Justice activist Freddie McGee grieves over the loss of his son Freddie Latrice Wilson.

PATRICK SLOAN-TURNER | THE DEPAULIA

“People get down on us as the family like we did something wrong. I just pray for his family to have to see that and go through that...”

Pansey Edwards Mother of Dakota Bright who was killed by CPD

2022 Police Brutality Statistics:

Black people were more likely to be killed by police and more likely to be unarmed.

97% of people killed by police in 2022 were killed in police shootings.

Officers were charged with a crime for 1% of all killings equating to only nine cases.

1,192 people were killed by police in 2022 more than any other year in the past decade.

NADIA CAROLINA HERNANDEZ | THE DEPAULIA

Top: Flora Suttle shared the story of her son Derrick Suttle’s murder by Chicago Police.

Above: Protesters chant at Federal Plaza in below temperature weather at the protest for Tyre Nichols.

PATRICK SLOAN-TURNER | THE DEPAULIA

La DePaulia

ERIN HENZE | THE DEPAULIA

Votantes latinos cuestionan la capacidad de Jesús ‘Chuy’ García para construir coaliciones entre comunidades

By Jacqueline cardenas Jefa de Redacción, La DePaulia

Lenin M. Plaza, alumno de ciencias políticas de DePaul, tenía apenas 15 años cuando despertó su interés por la política. Se ofreció como voluntario de la campaña del representante de EE.UU. Jesús “Chuy” García en 2015. Como ex beneficiario de DACA y originario de Ecuador, Plaza vivió con el temor constante de ser deportado.

“La política siempre ha afectado mi vida en cuanto a: si pudiera obtener una identificación estatal, si pudiera obtener el Seguro Social, si pudiera conseguir un trabajo, si pudiera estar aquí”, dijo Plaza.

Su experiencia ayudó a dar forma a su apoyo para el representante para el 4° distrito del Congreso de Illinois, Jesús “Chuy” García, un inmigrante mexicanoestadounidense de primera generación que tiene un historial de apoyar iniciativas que ayudan a las comunidades de inmigrantes latinos. García aprobó una ordenanza que puso fin a la cooperación del Condado de Cook con la Agencia de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas ICE, por sus siglas en inglés, en 2011.

Plaza aún no es elegible para votar en las próximas elecciones para alcalde de Chicago, pero dijo que si pudiera él apoyaría a García.

Plaza dijo que la historia de García de ayudar a construir una coalición— una alianza temporal de diferentes partidos, personas o estados para la acción conjunta — entre votantes afroamericanos y latinos cuando el primer alcalde negro, Harold Washington fue elegido, es una de las razones por las que fue atraído a García.

Los esfuerzos de García para formar una coalición impulsaron a que Washington ganara en 1983, cuando las comunidades afroamericanas y latinas se sentían excluidas del proceso político, según The Chicago Reporter.

“Tiene la historia y el trasfondo para

demostrar que hará el trabajo”, dijo Plaza en inglés.

La experiencia política de García lleva casi 40 años. García fue miembro del Concejo Municipal de Chicago, Comisionado de la Junta del Condado de Cook y actualmente se desempeña como congresista en la Cámara de Representantes.

Aunque Plaza dijo que no está basando su voto en su identidad étnica dijo que él resonó con García por ser latino.

“Siento que es mi responsabilidad y deber apoyar a alguien que ha hecho mi vida más fácil o que ha seguido mi camino”, dijo Plaza.

La política de identidad - la tendencia de las personas de un determinado origen social, étnico y religioso de formar alianzas políticas - no es el único factor que algunos latinos consideran al seleccionar un candidato.

William ‘KiD’ Guerrero, un candidato que se postula para un escaño en el Consejo del Distrito de Policía 12, que incluye partes de West Town, West Loop, Pilsen, Ukraine Village y East Garfield Park, recibió recientemente el respaldo del comisionado del Condado de Cook y candidato a alcalde Brandon Johnson.

Guerrero dijo que reconoce el trabajo que García logró con Washington, sin embargo, no está convencido de que García pueda abordar las preocupaciones apremiantes de la comunidad.

Los temas que más les importan a los residentes de Chicago incluyen el crimen, la Autoridad de Tránsito de Chicago o CTA, por sus siglas en inglés, y el desarrollo económico, según una encuesta realizada por WBEZ.

Guerrero dijo que aunque “sería histórico tener el primer alcalde latino”, apoya a Johnson por su apoyo a la propuesta del programa ‘Tratamiento, no trauma’.

La propuesta reduciría el presupuesto de $1.94 mil millones de dólares del Departamento de Policía de Chicago y reubicará recursos para reabrir clínicas de salud mental y establecer un programa que enviaría profesionales de la salud a las llamadas de ayuda de quienes están en crisis, de acuerdo a WTTW Noticias.

Aunque García ha respaldado partes del plan, Guerrero dijo que una de sus prioridades es reducir el crimen y siente que García no está haciendo lo suficiente para abordar ese problema.

“Pasamos por mucha violencia, ¿sabes? Ojalá no la tuviéramos”, dijo Guerrero.

El profesor de ciencias políticas y experto en votaciones latinas Dr. Joe Tafoya, dijo que las comunidades afroamericanas y latinas deberían tratar de “estar en sintonía con lo que está mal en sus co munidades”, refiriéndose a temas de desempleo y educación para formar una coalición más fuerte.

Pero Tafoya dijo que las dos comunidades tienen “quejas compartidas”. Al luchar por la reubicación de inmigrantes de Texas a Chicago se harán más difícil sus posibilidades de formar una coalición, dijo.

El gobernador republicano de Texas, Greg Abbott, ha enviado a migrantes a ciudades santuario como Chicago desde agosto pasado, en medio de críticas al intento de la administración Biden de levantar el Título 42—una ley federal que autoriza la denegación de asilo a los solicitantes de asilo en los EE. UU. durante la pandemia de Covid-19.

La llegada de migrantes ha provocado que funcionarios de la ciudad y comunidades discutan sobre cómo lidiar con dónde alojarlos.

Miembros de la comunidad en Woodlawn, un vecindario de South Side donde casi el 83% de los residentes son

negros, según la Agencia Metropolitana de Chicago para Datos de Planificación, recientemente se opuso a convertir la Escuela Primaria Wadsworth en un refugio temporal para los migrantes. Tafoya dijo que la reciente crisis migratoria está llevando a los afroamericanos y latinos a salir en defensa de sus comunidades mientras compiten por los recursos que la ciudad no ha proporcionado adecuadamente a ninguna de ellas, dicen.

Añadió que cuando las comunidades han sido históricamente desatendidas son colocadas “bajo la mesa, van a estar luchando por las migajas”.

Él dijo que se necesitará “un buen comunicador público” para ayudar a unir a las comunidades afroamericana y latina.

La profesora de Estudios Latinos de DePaul, Lourdes Torres, dijo que vale la pena apoyar a cualquier político que tenga un historial de trabajo en varias comunidades.

“Nada de lo que sucede en esta ciudad o cualquier estado, o en este país sucede por el poder de un solo grupo”, dijo Torres. Aunque los latinos son un bloque central de votantes, constituyen casi el 29% de la población de Chicago, según la Oficina del Censo de EE.UU. Tafoya dijo que Chuy necesitará crear una coalición entre otros grupos étnicos para ganar las elecciones.

“Ningún candidato puede ganar usando [solo] a su comunidad”, dijo Tafoya.

García ocupa el tercer lugar en las encuestas para la alcaldía, según un informe de enero, seguido por Brandon Johnson y el empresario Willie Wilson. El ex director ejecutivo de las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago, Paul Vallas, lidera las encuestas con un 19,5 % de apoyo por delante de la alcaldesa Lori Lightfoot.

El representante del cuarto distrito Jesús “Chuy” García hablando en el Templo de Chicago durante el Foro de Mujeres de Chicago para la Alcaldía.

Alejandro Zendejas aún no decide para qué selección jugará

By Santiago Gonzalez Tijerina Editor de Deportes, La DePaulia

El futbolista mexicano Alejandro Zendejas tiene que decidir para cuál selección jugará gracias a su doble nacionalidad.

México y Estados Unidos han tenido una rivalidad en el fútbol internacional por serlas dos potencias de Norteamérica. Sin embargo, Zendejas no sería el primer jugador con doble nacionalidad que ha enfrentado este dilema, Brandon Vazquez y Ventura Alvarado son otros mexicanos americanos que decidieron jugar para EE.UU.

Desde que empezó a volverse un jugador clave en la liga mexicana, Zendejas empezó a llamar la atención de la selección mexicana de fútbol para tener la oportunidad de representar al país de forma oficial. Dada la doble nacionalidad de Zendejas, esto habría sido más complicado de lo normal al tener que tomar la decisión de a qué país decidiría representar.

Zendejas nació en Ciudad Juárez, pero se mudo a El Paso, Texas a temprana edad; gracias a esto, tiene doble nacionalidad, tanto la mexicana como la estadounidense.

Actualmente juega en el Club América en México como extremo derecho y a sus 24 años, se está convirtiendo en uno de los jugadores más importantes de la liga mexicana.

Zendejas ha jugado con el equipo juvenil de ambos países. Él empezó su carrera profesional en el club F.C. Dallas en Estados Unidos, que lo llevó a ser convocado a los equipos Sub-15 (de 15 años o menos) y Sub17 de este país durante su adolescencia.

También, participó por primera vez en un torneo oficial de la FIFA con la selección Sub-17 de EE.UU en el mundial Sub-17 en el 2015. Después de este torneo, dejó de ser convocado por este país, en cambio fue convocado por la Sub-21 mexicana en el 2017 y después por la Sub-23 para tres partidos amistosos, en el 2021.

En el 2022, Zendejas llegó al Club América y empezó a ser de los jugadores jóvenes más prometedores en la liga mexicana llamando la atención del equipo nacional de este país previo al mundial de Catar.

Meses antes del mundial, Zendejas fue

llamado por la selección mexicana mayor para un par de partidos de preparación amistosos. Después de estos, la Federación Mexicana de Fútbol (FMF) buscó a Zendejas para hacerlo firmar el documento de “One time switch” donde oficialmente renunciaría a la selección de EE.UU para tener la oportunidad de participar con México en el mundial.

Según reportes, Zendejas pidió tiempo para pensar en su situación antes de firmar el documento, lo cual la FMF no permitió y gracias a eso se quedó fuera del mundial de Catar 2022.

Después de esto, ya que no firmó el “one time switch”, Zendejas quedó elegible para ser convocado por la selección de EE.UU, y en enero de este año lo hicieron.

La FIFA multó a la selección Mexicana por haber alineado a Zendejas en los amistosos con la Sub-17 y previo al mundial, ya que tenía que haber renunciado a la selección estadounidense para poder participar con México. Además de la multa, la FIFA decretó que los partidos que jugó Zendejas con México quedaron oficialmente como derrotas.

Después de la aclaración y la multa a la FMF, la selección estadounidense llamó a Zendejas al primer equipo para dos amistosos, contra Serbia y Colombia. El

primer partido tuvo lugar el 25 de Enero, en el cual Zendejas jugó todo el partido pero perdió con EE.UU 2-1. Zendejas no tuvo actividad en el segundo, el cual empató EE.UU 0-0 contra Colombia.

Aunque las veces que Zendejas ha participado con México han sido ‘indebidas’ y ya está participando con EE.UU de manera oficial, el jugador todavía puede ser convocado a la selección mexicana, pues aún tiene la oportunidad de firmar el “one time switch.”

Según el reglamento de la FIFA, un jugador puede cambiar una sola vez de federación si ya tenía la nacionalidad del segundo país cuando jugó para el primero, y que no haya disputado partidos de categoría A con el primer país.

En este caso, el primer país es Estados Unidos, y Zendejas ya tenía la nacionalidad mexicana cuando jugó para ellos, pues nació en México. Zendejas tampoco ha jugado un partido de categoría A con EE.UU, ya que los partidos con equipos juveniles no son categoría A, los cuales al igual que los partidos amistosos (no parte de ningún torneo oficial), como el que jugó este enero contra Serbia.

Al entrar en estas reglas, Zendejas todavía puede firmar su renuncia a la selección de EE.UU y participar con México, pero sería

antes de participar en un torneo oficial con el equipo americano.

En una conferencia de prensa previo al partido entre EE.UU y Serbia, Zendejas fue cuestionado sobre si ya tomó una decisión sobre cuál selección quiere jugar, a lo que Zendejas respondió vagamente pero dejo la puerta abierta para jugar con México en el futuro.

“Ahorita ando disfrutando el momento, aprovechando la oportunidad que me dieron (representar a EE.UU). Estoy feliz de estar con gente que conozco desde hace muchos años”, le dijo Zendejas a ESPN.

Rodrigo De la Cruz, un aficionado mexicano del fútbol opina que si Zendejas es Americano, está en su beneficio el jugar para EE.UU.

“Al elegir [otro país] tienen esos derechos. Hay personas que se han nacionalizado para jugar un mundial porque saben que en ese país es más fácil [ser seleccionado]”, dijo Rodrigo.

Mientras tanto, los jugadores que han convivido con Zendejas pueden verlo de diferente manera.

Claudio Zamudio, un ex-jugador profesional mexicano de fútbol, quien jugó en la liga mexicana con el club Monarcas Morelia y fue convocado a la selección Sub21 junto a Zendejas en el 2017, dio su punto de vista a través de un mensaje directo en Instagram.

“En lo personal siempre lo vi como mexicano. Creo que el grupo de igual manera, no había esa distinción a pesar que su primera nacionalidad es la estadounidense”, escribió Zamudio.

A pesar de su punto de vista, Zamudio también dijo que él no jugaría para otra selección nacional, aunque tuviera la oportunidad de hacerlo.

“Hubiera peleado hasta poder estar [en la selección Mexicana]”, dijo Zamudio.

La selección de fútbol de EE.UU juega de manera oficial el 24 de marzo contra Granada en la liga de naciones de norteamérica. Si Zendejas es convocado para participar con el equipo, tendrá que tomar una decisión final sobre su futuro con el fútbol internacional.

Pedro Pascal en ‘The Last of Us’ es un símbolo de representación latina

By Logan Sriharatsa y Diego Vargas Reyes Escritor Contribuyente y Editor de Nación y Mundo, La DePaulia

El nuevo papel del actor chileno Pedro Pascal en “The Last of Us”, que es una adaptación en televisión del videojuego homónimo en HBO, solidifica su estatus como superestrella de la televisión latina.

La historia toma lugar en un mundo post-apocalíptico, 20 años después de que un hongo convirtiera a la población mundial en zombis.

El primer episodio de “The Last of Us” obtuvo 4,7 millones de espectadores en la primera noche que se estrenó el 15 de enero, haciéndolo el segundo debut más grande de HBO en la última década, sólo detrás de “House of the Dragon”.

El segundo episodio de “The Last of Us” recibió 5.7 millones de espectadores en los EE. UU. el 22 de enero, según Datos de Nielsen. Incluso las métricas internas de transmisión de HBO confirman que “The Last of Us” ya es uno de los programas más populares de la plataforma.

Después de renovarse para una segunda temporada, Pascal continúa superando las expectativas, ya que el episodio tres obtuvo 6,4 millones de espectadores, lo que representa un aumento del 12 % con respecto al episodio dos, según datos de Nielsen y métricas internas de transmisión de HBO.

En la serie, Pedro Pascal interpreta a Joel, un contrabandista que intenta sobrevivir en el mundo post-apocalíptico. Llega a conocer a un grupo de personas gracias a sus habilidades, y juntos intentan luchar contra la in-

fección que persiste en el mundo.

Desafortunadamente, algunos fanáticos no estaban contentos con el casting para Joel, ya que Pedro Pascal no es “blanco”, lo cual es lo que muchos fanáticos asumieron sobre la raza de Joel en los videojuegos. Sin embargo, muchos otros fanáticos están extasiados con el casting.

“Definitivamente aplaudo a los creadores de “The Last of Us” en HBO por elegir a Pedro Pascal para el papel principal de Joel Miller”, dijo Jess King, profesore de cine en DePaul.

“Blanquear la representación latina, asiática o negra es dañino porque el panorama de los medios ya es abrumadoramente blanco. Quita la posibilidad de representación para personas marginadas. Finalmente, no me sorprende en absoluto que cierto contingente de fans de “The Last of Us” estén angustiados por el casting de Pedro Pascal.

Son los mismos hombres que perdieron la cabeza cuando el segundo juego se centró en dos mujeres”.

En el año 2013, a pesar de comprometer el 17% de la población, ninguno de los actores principales entre las diez mejores películas y programas de televisión eran latinos, de acuerdo al reporte The Latino Media Gap.

La representación latina en los medios era casi inexistente, y solían desempeñar papeles estereotipados, como sirvientas y criminales. Un ejemplo de esto es el actor Noel

Gugliemi y cómo ha interpretado papeles titulados “Cholo 2” y “Gangbanger 1” a principios de la década de 2010.

Luego, en el 2014 muchos actores latinos aterrizaron en escena con grandes papeles interpretando personajes no estereotipados.

Algunos de ellos son Gina Rodríguez como Jane Villanueva en Jane the Virgin, Oscar Issac como Poe Dameron en Star Wars: The Force Awakens y Pedro Pascal como Oberyn Martell en la cuarta temporada de Game of Thrones.

Este fue un comienzo para ver más actores latinos en roles más importantes y mejor recibidos.

“La representación latina positiva se puede ver en todas partes; sin embargo, los principales medios de comunicación no enfatizan su riqueza y belleza”, dijo el crítico latino de cine , Jack Rico.

“La actriz mexicoamericana Jenna Ortega, del exitoso programa de Netflix Merlina, es una de las estrellas más populares hoy en día, ya que el programa es uno de los más vistos. En cine, el mexicano Guillermo del Toro y la actriz cubana Ana de Armas están nominados a los premios Oscar este año”, dijo Rico.

Pedro Pascal se ha convertido en un gran nombre en la industria del cine y la televisión desde su papel destacado en la temporada 4 de Game of Thrones, uno de los programas más importantes de la última década. Desde entonces, ha tenido papeles en “Narcos”, “Kingsman: The Golden Circle”, “The Mandalorian” y “Mujer Maravilla 1984”.

“Me encanta Pedro Pascal en The Last

of Us hasta ahora. Creo que es un excelente Joel. Imita muy bien sus gestos del juego y el hecho de que se parezca a Joel en el juego es una ventaja”, dijo la estudiante de segundo año de la Universidad DePaul, Anabelle Rivera.

“Es desalentador ver a la gente molesta por su carrera. Yo también soy latina y no recuerdo si alguna vez se mencionó el origen étnico de Joel en el juego, pero incluso con un apellido como Miller puedes ser hispano. ¡Además, tienes cosas más importantes de las que preocuparte en un apocalipsis zombie!”

Alejandro Zendejas a la izquierda, jugando con la selección estadounidense contra Serbia.

Pedro Pascal actuando como Joel Miller en la serie de HBO, “The Last of Us” basado en el videojuego.

ASHLEY LANDIS | AP

Arts & Life

By A mBer StoutenBorough

Bob Kabeya isn’t just another 22-yearold who grew up in the Midwest. Under his stage name “Miloe”, Kabeya has produced songs with over 7 million plays on Spotify, had an opening act tour with The 1975 and an upcoming solo tour in the United Kingdom.

On Feb. 2, Miloe performed in front of a full house at Thalia Hall in Pilsen.

Kabeya was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo and moved with his family to Minneapolis. When he was 8 years old, Kabeya started playing the drums in a middle school band and from there focused most of his time on music.

“I joined a band in like seventh grade, and I feel like that really solidified what I wanted to do and what I envisioned for myself,” Kabeya said. “I've gotten lucky in like, 1000 ways. But I've just put all my efforts towards this.”

While Kabeya’s traces his musical aspirations back to the pews of a church in Congo. His performing career began with a middle school talent show and a favor for a friend.

“My friend Ferguson walked up to me during lunch and he was like, ‘Yo, you play drums?’” Kabeya said. “And I was like, ‘What about it?’ And he asked me to play the talent show. He was in eighth grade, and it was his last chance to make a mark in middle school. And so and then it continued into high school. And then by senior year, I started writing music. I mean, that's kind of how it evolved.”

In high school, Kabeya continued with band but also played in church and an outside of school guitar club.

“When I went to join my high school, my friend was in a club called guitar club. But it was just him and the janitor, just doing riffs at each other. I joined in on drums, and then it became a rock band club,” Kabeya said. “And then because it was a club with three people, they gave us money to buy a real drum set. I was probably going to be a soccer kid, too, but I would always end up on benches, so I committed to music instead.”

From there, Kabeya started to produce his own music under the name “Miloe”, a brazen tribute to the Coldplay indie pop album “Mylo Xylo” that he listened to a lot in eighth grade.

Lillie Mills, a Minnesota native who moved to Chicago for college, has been following Miloe since her junior year of high school.

“I remember all of my friends and I hearing about him, and I love supporting local artists,” Mills said. “Having him here in Chicago almost feels like bringing a piece of home with me and I’m so proud of where he’s gone.”

Amaya Peña, one of Miloe’s photographers, met Kabeya back in Nov. 2021 in the Minneapolis local music scene. The two quickly became friends through shared love of making music and photography.

“He asked me to do a shoot for him for his last vinyl cutter,” Peña said. “We did some more shoots here and there and then he asked me to do The 1975 tour with him so it's all been a blur from there.”

‘I've worked with a lot of artists just like in Minneapolis obviously, but I will say it’s easier to work with somebody you're friends with and not just somebody you're getting paid to take pictures for,” Peña said.

While the music scene in Minneapolis is ever-growing according to Peña, she remembers hearing about Miloe back in 2019

when his first EP came out.

“Entering the Minneapolis scene, I feel like Bob was kind of like the small artist in 2019,” Pena said. “Everybody knows someone who knows someone who knows each other, but everybody knows about Miloe, and I wasn't able to see his show yet but I heard so many great things about his live performances.”

Working with Miloe since 2021, Peña followed along for many of the pivotal moments in Kabeya’s career.

“There’s been so many great moments, like when Bob got a tattoo during The 1975 tour and Matt Healy was comforting him through it,” Peña said. “I never thought I would be hanging out with the lead singer of The 1975 before, so that was really cool.”

Next for Miloe is a UK tour before coming back to work on his next album.

“I can’t say too much, but I have so much planned for the next couple of years,” Kabeya said “I’m really excited for what's to come and I am so grateful for all the support I have.”

AMBER STOUTENBOROUGH | THE DEPAULIA

Bob Kabeya, also known on stage as Miloe, performs one of his most popular songs, "Winnona," during his opening act at Thalia Hall on Feb. 2nd.

Up-and-coming artist Miloe visits Chicago

BLACK OWNED

From breakfast to books, here's where to support Black History Month and beyond

By JonAh WeBer

Asst. Arts & Life Editor

Chicago is home to a plethora of family owned, independent businesses. For Black History Month, the DePaulia wanted to put the spotlight on some fantastic Black-owned establishments.

Some of these spots have been around for years, and others are new to the Chicago scene.

Batter & Berries - 2748 N. Lincoln Ave

This iconic brunch spot is a staple in the Chicago restaurant scene. Dr. Tanya Richardson and Craig Richardson opened Batter & Berries in Lincoln Parkin 2012. Their goal was to bring a vibrant menu and restaurant to the city, which is exactly what they have done.

Located on Lincoln, there are no reservations required, and the fact that there is almost always a line down the block should tell you their french toast flight is well worth the wait.

Semicolon Bookstore - 515 N. Halsted St

This Black, woman-owned space is not just a bookstore but an intersection of literature, art and community. Since opening in 2019, Semicolon has worked to bring books and art to Chicago.

The shop also collaborates with a variety of nonprofit organizations and works on a variety of community outreach programs. For example, its #ClearTheShelves program invites Chicago Public School students to the store once a month to take home whatever books they choose. Community is incredibly important to Semicolon as stated in its mission statement: “Semicolon Bookstore is committed to nurturing the connection between literature, art, and the pursuit of knowledge; while also using the power of words to better our community.”

Kyoto Black Coffee - Flagship Location: 1445 W. Devon Ave

Kyto Style cold brew is delicious. Kyoto Black Coffee has perfected and enhanced the intense, slow drip process.

The cold coffee is rich, smooth, and has clear flavors. It has become quite the staple in the widely diverse coffee scene in Chicago. The coffee can be found at a variety of stores, restaurants and coffee shops throughout the city. Check out the map here.

Luella’s Southern Kitchen - 4609 N. Lincoln Ave

This Black-owned restaurant comes with plenty of beautiful family history and flavors. Darnell Reed is the owner and chef.

His grandmother Luella Reed traveled the world, gaining culinary inspiration, but the core of this restaurant is what he learned from Luella herself. Luella’s cuisine is southern comfort food cranked up a notch. Located in Lincoln

Square, this vibrant and delicious restaurant brings plenty of southern ambience to Chicago.

Third Coast Comics - 6443 N. Sheridan

This Black-owned comic store promotes diversity, quality, inclusion and community. Third Coast has been around since 2005 and has always cared about delivering the best comics to Chicago fans. Located by the Loyola Lakeshore Campus, Third Coast offers a wide variety of stories and comics for curious, casual and hardcore comic fans. The store is cleanly tailored for a diverse community of fans. Check them out!

Love Periodt - Online Shop

This boutique has a wide variety of products, from stationary items and mugs to Chicago-based merchandise. Although this Black woman-owned shop is only online at the moment, the owner and curator of the store, D’Cher, works hard to bring the best products to her customers.

Coffee, Hip-Hop & Mental Health Cafe - 1051 W. Belmont

Christopher LeMark is the founder of this cafe and organization. The shop’s vision is described beautifully in their mission statement: “Our mission is to bring awareness to the importance of mental health, emotional intelligence and self-awareness to one’s quality of life, particularly in the black community. Our primary service is to provide access to mental health and therapeutic services

Semicolon Bookstore on N. Halsted St. hosts a variety of curated texts of various genres

by removing the financial, systemic and emotional barriers which prevent healing.” Not only do they offer phenomenal

mental health services and counseling, but great coffee too. They can be found in the Lakeview neighborhood on Belmont.

JONAH WEBER | THE DEPAULIA

CREDIT TO @BATTERANDBERRIES ON INSTAGRAM

A local hotspot, Batter & Berries, serves an array of pastries and breakfast items.

CREDIT TO CREATIVE COMMONS

Since its 2005 establishment, Third Coast Comics on N. Sheridan Ave. has supplied North Siders with comics and other memoribilia.

CREDIT TO @ SHOPLOVEPERIDOT ON INSTAGRAM Love Periodt is an online boutique specilizing in gifts and stationary.

CREDIT TO @YOTOBLACKCOFFEES ON INSTAGRAM Kyoto Black Coffee is an online premium coffee delivery service based on Devon Ave.

'IT’S POWERFUL IN ITS OWN RIGHT:'

By nA diA CArolinA hernA ndez & lilly K eller

Print Managing Editor & Arts & Life Editor

When Dr. Pauli Murray – civil rights activist and Episcopal priest – published her only book of poetry titled “Dark Testament and Other poems” in 1970, readers paid little attention to the collection.

Five decades later, Murray’s work stands at the forefront of the American Writers Museum’s latest exhibit “Dark Testament: A Century of Black Writers on Justice.” Spanning from the 1800s to present day, the exhibition features works from figures like abolitionist Frederick Douglass to memoirist Maya Angelou.

Running until Sept. 17, 2023 “Dark Testament” serves as an examination into racial injustice, freedom and the intersectionality between race, class and gender.

Museumgoer and recurrent visitor to the gallery Patty, who requested her last name not be used, expressed awe over the latest display.

“This is very powerful. I’m drawn to anything with color,” Patty said. “I like the symbolism that’s showing what they stand for. That’s pretty powerful.”

Housed in two parts of the museum, the exhibit’s focal point resides within the Meijer Gallery where visitors find a timeline of acclaimed writers’ works. Stretching from 1850-1865, the oldest period of publications known as “Slavery and Freedom” highlights the work of Douglas and Harriet Tubman. Residing at the gallery’s end,“Civil Rights & the Black Arts Era,” contains work from 1960-1975 and features paperbacks from Octavia E. Butler and Martin Luther King Jr.

Across from these texts stands 16 sep

arate five-foot-tall portraits, fashioned from a variety of canvas and textiles crafted by local artists.

Through a mixture of paint and fabric, the faces of revolutionaries like Malcom X and trailblazers such as Ida B. Wells and Maya Angelou are honored alongside their invaluable contributions to literature.

For Patty, the scarlet and gold of Ida B. Wells’ tapestry immediately caught her attention.

“Being from Chicago I went for Ida B. Wells,” Patty said. “All the beautiful colors are so eye-catching, it’s just so unique.”

For Francesca Royster, DePaul english professor, Black literature goes beyond the traditional bounds of understanding the past.

“African-American literature is a really important part of understanding American culture, learning about African American creativity and the imagination,” Royster said. “It’s powerful in its own right, but it’s also an important way for people to understand how African American people have created art in response to struggle.”

Teaching Black authors goes beyond their literature, but also their scholarly work. Heather Montes-Ireland, Women & Gender Studies assistant professor, includes Black feminist scholars throughout her syllabi. She includes scholars such as Bell Hooks, Audre Lorde and Patricia Hill-Collins. Lorde is featured throughout the “Dark Testament” exhibit.

“I am always drawing from women of color feminist thought,” Montes-Ireland said. “These writers were writing from their funds of knowledge and from a nexus of experience and all sorts of things.

These authors have provided in so many ways the foundational concepts.”

Despite most of Lorde and Hooks’ works being written in the ‘60s and ‘70s, these writers were writing about police brutality and other issues relevant today.

“[Lorde] can touch on these social issues that are so profound because she's not only trying to solve one particular problem, she was really trying to think about entire systems of oppression from her very, very intersectional viewpoint,” Montes-Ireland said.

The significance of Black literature cannot only be defined by trials and tribulations.

Readers must celebrate Black joy, success and love alongside narratives of struggle and resilience, according to Royster.

“I teach James Baldwin, you know his novel ‘Go Tell it on the Mountain,’ but also his essay “Notes of a Native Son,” Royster said. “He’s talking about really particular things that were happening in

New York, including race riots and his own family’s struggle with poverty...but it’s very much connected to right now. That sense of urgency and desire to understand.”

Despite not yet visiting the exhibit, Royster’s praised its variety and depth.

“I think what’s great about the museum and the exhibit is that it’s really foregrounding a lot of different kinds of authors and different kinds of writing so that we can get a more diverse view of what Black or African American literature is,” Royster said.

No matter how long ago it may seem, Black authors’ works stand the test of time, according to Montes-Ireland.

“Writing feminist theory and writing testimony on the stories of our lives is that we can leave that for others like far beyond just the timeframe of our own life...has a kind of an eternal feel to it,” Montes-Ireland said.

Your new frenemy:ChatGPT

By unA CleAry Focus Editor

Within seconds, the new artificial intelligence technology ChatGPT can write essays, computer code and now even pass an MBA exam.

Launched in November 2022, ChatGPT is a chatbot created by OpenAI as a part of a family of language models.

Bamshab Mobasher, chair of the AI program at DePaul and director of Web Intelligence, said language models are an area of work in natural language processing and machine learning, allowing computers to learn from large amounts of text.

“It can predict what can come next,” Mobasher said. “ChatGPT is not that much of an innovation, it's sort of a nice engineering piece where they successfully put together these different elements.”

Since its launch in November, the AI service has been a topic of controversy on college campuses used for cheating. Its quality of writing and formatting has been sufficient to impress many educators.

Countless universities around the country have started to prohibit the use of the service to prevent cheating.

“I think it should be banned on college campuses,” adjunct professor Paul Bedell said. “I’m going to put in my sylla

bus that the use of this chatbot is banned.”

Even with school systems blocking the service, detecting its use is almost impossible according to Mobasher.

Because of the uproar over this controversy, OpenAI stated that they are working on software to spot plagiarism in schools.

“I’m not gonna argue against banning it but I just think it's pointless,” freshman

Zel Weilandgrubar said. “There is no way kids are not going to be able to get around it.”

From marketing campaigns, to outlines for essays, many believe that there are benefits to the service.

Educators have used it to create layouts for their students, and write personalized lesson plans, saving time and money.

Businesses started to integrate ChatGPT into their field since its incep-

tion. According to CNN, real estate agent JJ Johannes created a description for an online listing saving him time. Many agents use it to write listings, draft legal documents and create social media posts.

“This could be a good automated application to develop a marketing campaign and things like that,” Mobasher said. “That would be very good for small businesses who can’t afford to pay a marketing firm to generate or develop stuff for them.”

The chatbot is not always reliable with its services and is prone to making errors in its reasoning and facts.

The conversational skills of the service raise ethical concerns as it could lead to a loss of human connection.

“The problem with it is it can sometimes generate nonsensical kinds of things,” Mobasher said. “Sometimes in fact it can just make things up.”

With the creation of AI, Bedell believes automated writing cannot replace human elements that go into writing such as reporting and hands-on tests.

“It will not replace true writers because if that’s the case you will lose all style, all nuance in the writing, and loose interjections of humor or sarcasm,” Bedell said.

ChatGPT is not the first of its kind, but possibly one of the most influential with its ability for human-like conversation.

YÙ YÙ BLUE | THE DEPAULIA

NADIA CAROLINA HERNANDEZ | THE DEPAULIA 16 individual portraits of Black writers line the walls of the American Writers Museum.

American Writers Museum's latest exhibit highlights race, power and resilience

READING ISN'T ALWAYS A DRAG

Open Books hosts their first ever drag event in Chicago

By A mBer StoutenBorough Managing Multimedia Editor

“Hello Queers,” Chicago drag performer Whorechata calls out to the crowded children’s section at Open Books in West Loop Saturday night.

The room erupts with cheers as the drag performances begin, each resembling childhood stories like “Cruella Deville” and “Where the Wild Things Are.”

DePaul alum and drag artist Caro Aceves, better known as their stage name, Whorechata, works at Open Books and hosted the event to show that drag can be done outside the club setting.

“There's so many reasons why people can’t go to a club, whether they're sober or they are immunocompromised or under 21,” Aceves said. “So taking drag outside of that, to wider audiences is really important because drag is for everyone, and everyone should be able to experience the celebration that is drag.”

Aceves planned this event with the support of his co-workers and other drag artists.

“This whole idea came about when, a few months ago, my supervisor mentioned the platform we have here in the kids room,” Aceves said. “he proposed the idea of getting rid of it. But if we have the stage we might as well use it. And my supervisors were really supportive of this idea, and I hope in the future to make this a more regular thing.”

The book store combined with drag performances was received well among the crowd. Many under-age attendees were excited to finally go to drag performances.

“The scholastic book fair nerd in me is geeking,” Lelia Woods, an attendee said after the performances were over. “We need more queer spaces that aren't surrounded by drinking.”

This is not the first time Aceves has tried to include reading and drag around Chicago, with some areas posing more difficulty than others.

In fact, he said he has had more than one encounter with hate groups in the suburbs protesting the events.

“This so-called activist group that would go to all-ages drag shows and protest and accuse the drag artists of doing things we’ve never done,” Aceves said. “I personally have been dogged by the Proud Boys for performing drag in the summer, and I'm not the only one. It's hard to bring drag to children because people are very bigoted and trying

to kill us.”

Aceves had the event labeled 18+ in concern of protests, but hopes to open it up for everyone in the future.

“I was a little nervous about having it here at Open Books, but making it 18+ and in a space where I’m familiar with helps a lot,” Aceves said. “Kids deserve to see their art because kids are queer.”

Aceves used to work at the Richardson Library with DePaul senior Testostermoan who also performed at Open Books as “Where the Wild Things Are.”

“I think Whorechata is really trying to combat the negativity around drag by showing that drag art is just like another form of art,” Testostermoan said. “Having this Open Books event is showing these two things can coexist. Why wouldn't kids like drag? It’s literally like fairy princesses and dressing up and performing stories. Kids need an opportunity to see queer culture like this.”

Aceves hopes to make Drag performances more regular at Open Books in the future.

“The vision is that it comes monthly, fingers crossed, because it's not just drag,” Aceves said. “It's family for a lot of people.

Like everyone who helped make this happen, they're drag performers, but they're also my best friends. Drag allows people to find themselves and find each other in a

time where people need community, and Open Books can be that place.”

AMBER STOUTENBOROUGH | THE DEPAULIA

Candii D'Apple reaches for a tip from the audience during their performance as Cruella De Vil at Open Books Saturday night. Tipping is an important part of drag Performance.

AMBER STOUTENBOROUGH | THE DEPAULIA

AMBER STOUTENBOROUGH | THE DEPAULIA

From left, Georgia Rising, Testostermoan, Whorechata, Yuiza Beach and Candii D'Apple after their drag performances receive applause.

Whorechata looks away dramatically during his drag performance as Sleeping Beauty.

Food & drinks that will make your Super Bowl party

By m A x r AymA n Contributing Writer

And then there were two. This year’s Super Bowl matchup is set, with the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs squaring off for the coveted Lombardi trophy on Feb. 12. Not everyone is focused on the game, some are more interested in the commercials, food and half-time show. This is the one time of the year companies produce their best commercial content, making it the perfect time for friends and family to get together and catch up. With a week left before the big game, now is the time for people to start planning their Super Bowl parties. Are you hosting, attending a party or just watching the game at home but don’t know what to prepare?

Here are some helpful tips.

Party food

When it comes to food, an assortment of different appetizers is a great start. This way people can pick and choose what they want and there is always a variety of options for those who may have food allergies or are watching their health.

“I really like anything with dips,” said Anthony Nissen, a junior at DePaul. “Obviously get those tortilla chips. Any sort of dips: guacamole, taco dip, salsa — whatever your flavor of the month is.”

One of the most popular food items for Super Bowl parties is chicken wings.

“I think chicken wings are a necessary option,” Nissen said. “Hand grabbed food. If you are watching the game and don’t feel like

doing all the dishware, wings save on dishes, especially if you are hosting a party. I really like the parmesan garlic wings from Buffalo Wild Wings. I’m much more of a savory sweet type. I can handle some heat, but I enjoy the taste over temperature.”

Andrew Orrego, a sophomore at DePaul echoed his sentiments.

“The number one thing for me is wings,” Orrego said. “Buffalo is preferable, but not everyone likes spicy food.”

In addition to wings, items that can be cooked or bought in bulk are always helpful for larger crowds. It’s hard to go wrong with nachos, pizza, meatballs and subs.

“Sandwiches,” Orrego said. “The party platters that are all sliced up. I love how there is an assortment of ham, bologna, and roast beef.”

For dessert, cookies are an easy option.

“Soft, chocolate cookies are the way to go,” Orrego said. “At the end of the night, you want something soft instead of something crunchy.”

Drinks

For people who are underage, soda, juice and water are perfect options for drinks. But for those who are over 21, beer has become synonymous with sports, especially the Super Bowl. Due to the vast options, it may be overwhelming for new beer drinkers to choose where to start.

Domestic Beer

The easiest way to go when it comes to beer at a Super Bowl party is domestic.

“I always say to my class there is drinking beer and tasting beer,” Joseph LeRoy, an

adjunct professor focusing on beer at DePaul said. “Domestics are really meant to be drinking beer. By definition, the American Lager and the American Lite Lager are meant to have minimum flavor and be consumed by the masses in a very approachable way. Drinkability is prime.”

Bud Lite and Miller Lite are two very popular domestics that are easy to drink. Looking for a beer with a higher alcohol percentage? Bud Lite Platinum is the way to go. Domestics also pair perfectly with most party foods including wings, nachos, burgers and pizza.

IPAs

For those who are exploring new horizons in craft beers and are looking for new things, you should try an IPA.

“An IPA is a great idea to bring to a party for those who are more comfortable exploring what craft beer has to offer,” LeRoy said. “It pairs phenomenally with a lot of traditional football-focused foods. A greasy burger and salty fries. The bitterness in an IP does a phenomenal job of cutting the fat and providing the other end of the spectrum to balance a great meal. IPAs on their own can be abrasive due to the bitterness.”

For IPAs, there are plenty of local distributors, andt is always fun to see what is produced in your community.

Homebrew

Ever had a craft beer before and wanted to recreate it? Or just interested in creating

Funnies off Jackson

something new and want to show off? Homebrewing is the perfect solution. How long it takes to brew depends on the style and how much sugar is in the beer.

“The yeast attacks, the sugar eats it and produces carbon dioxide and alcohol,” LeRoy said. “In doing that, you have to give yourself some time.”

For an experienced brewer who has a kegging system, it could take as quickly as two-three weeks. The window to start homebrewing for this year’s Super Bowl has already passed.

“If you are interested in homebrewing, there is no time like today to start getting involved,” LeRoy said. “Maybe by next year not only could you have a homebrew ready to take to a party, but you can be proud of it. It does take some trial and error. It’s like a science experiment.”

Seltzers

For the more health-conscious people, seltzers are a perfect option. White Claws and Trulys are two very popular brands.

“I would suggest if you are hosting a party, seltzers and non-traditional alcoholic beverages are a great idea to have,” LeRoy said. “People that are gluten intolerant, on a low calorie diet, or watching their carb intake. Non-beer drinkers who have a more experienced palette with wine will sometimes find seltzers more approachable.”

YÙ YÙ BLUE | THE DEPAULIA

What’s Fresh

'Somebody I Used to Know'

Alison Brie and Dave Franco discuss their upcoming project

By lily loW ndeS Social Media Editor

Going from horror to romantic comedy might not seem like the likeliest progression for moviemakers, but for Alison Brie and Dave Franco, it made perfect sense.

After working together on the horror movie “The Rental” (2020), which Franco directed and Brie starred in, the couple knew they wanted to work together again and the seed for a project that eventually became “Somebody I Used to Know” was planted.

“It almost felt like the next natural step was like, well, we should just write something together because we know we want to make another thing together that Dave would direct that I would act in,” Brie said in a movie roundtable with The DePaulia.

The idea for “Somebody I Used to Know” was born during the initial two weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns.

Franco said they treated the first two weeks like a “writer’s retreat,” and focused on getting a first draft down while they were at home.

The couple wanted to write something uplifting to contrast the difficult time in the world.

As self-described optimistic and light-hearted people, they wanted to infuse their specific sense of humor into the characters of the movie.

“The comedy is coming more from the characters in the situations as opposed to these one-liners or whatnot,” Franco said to The DePaulia.

Ally, the main character played by Brie, is going through what Brie calls “relationship amnesia.” When Ally reconnects with her ex-boyfriend, she forgets all the bad parts of the relationship.

Instead of remembering why the relation-

ship ended in the first place, all Ally can focus on is getting back together with her ex.

Ally is a producer on the show “Dessert Island,” or at least she used to be a producer on “Dessert Island,” because it just got canceled. The baking-slash-dating reality TV show was everything Ally worked so hard for, and now the years that she spent on the program are abruptly over.

Dejected and with no plans to fall back on other than “Dessert Island” spinoffs, Ally leaves Los Angeles to visit her mom in Leavenworth, her hometown up in the mountains of Washington state.

While in Leavenworth, she runs into her ex-boyfriend Sean (Jay Ellis). She is unenthused at first, but in less than 24 hours, they quickly fall back into the way things used to be. They even share a kiss before Sean drops Ally back off at her mom’s house.

Emboldened by the night before, Ally goes to Sean’s house to confess her feelings. Instead of the intimate moment she hoped for, she finds herself in the middle of a pre-wedding dinner. Sean is engaged and getting married that weekend to Cassidy (Kiersey Clemons), a younger woman that reminds Ally of the person she used to be.

Who is the real “somebody” in “Somebody I Used to Know?” It might refer to Sean, Ally’s ex. It might be Cassidy, Sean’s fiancé who reminds Ally of herself when she was young. It might even be Ally, who has lost touch with herself amid the hectic life of producing a reality TV show about desserts and couples.

What starts as a rom-com slowly diverges into a journey of self-acceptance. She is still chasing Sean, but being back in her hometown with the people and places she grew up with causes her to question her life path.

Revisiting your old dreams and confronting who you were are central themes of the movie.

“It’s just one of those things, you know, even if it’s not your career, it’s not too late to scratch that itch that these things are inside of you,” Franco said.

Ally is at a pivotal moment that many people go through in their careers and their lives. Brie said the movie centers around this inflection point.

“I’ve arrived now at this moment in my life where it’s ‘has all my life’s work been leading to this, and how do I feel about it,’” Brie said.

As a senior in college, I relate to Ally’s character. I am imagining the different paths I can take after college and weighing the results of each potential decision. How can I stay true to myself and end up in a place where I feel fulfilled?

“One of the messages is about how even if you have gone down a path that you’re not necessarily happy with, it’s not too late to pivot and to kind of get back to the things that make you happy,” Franco said.

This movie is one to watch. It has all of the goofy humor of a standard rom-com, a self-discovery journey, a mini-reunion between Brie and her “Community” castmate Danny Pudi and a third act that keeps you guessing. If you think you know where this movie is going, think again, and then scrap that initial idea and come up with a second guess.

“Somebody I Used to Know” comes out just in time for Valentine’s Day and is available to stream Feb. 10 on Amazon Prime Video.

'Infinity Pool': A successful riff that over exemplifies it’s message

By SAmuel mroz Staff Writer

Worlds entrenched in violence and nudity have always found a spiritual home in artistic expression. Action romps like “John Wick” satisfy the sought after desires of gun porn fanatics and give hours of indulging content.

For three years, Sam Taylor-Johnson’s erotica-gripped trilogy, “50 Shades of Grey,” fueled the fantasies that many choose to hide behind closed doors. One genre is defined by its violence, the other by its nudity, yet neither holds an NC-17 rating.

Seeing this mark as a medal rather than a warning, one filmmaker has made a career off his cinematic displays of pornographic brutality and in some cases, its inverse.

Brandon Cronenberg’s latest R-rated project, “Infinity Pool,” takes both taboos and blends them into an overt discussion on bureaucratic society and the power that money can wield in turning a crime into a relaxing pastime.

As failing writer James Foster (Alexander Skarsgard) and his girlfriend Em (Cleopatra Coleman) take a trip to a seaside country known as Latoka, their beach-bound vacation takes a turn with the introduction of Gabi (Mia Goth).

Bonding over Foster’s work, the group spends their night on the outskirts of the nation’s resort compound for

which they are all warned not to venture beyond.

Exhausted from drinking, James drives them all back to the resort until he suddenly hits a local man walking the road, killing him instantly.

The following morning he is arrested and faced with two radical options.

He can either be killed for his crimes in a public execution or – for a large sum of money – have an identical double of himself be created to fill his place.

A less entertaining premise than that of his 2020 project “Possessor” – a film

centered around an assassin who overtakes the bodies of others via brain implant technology – there is no doubt that Cronenberg knows how to tell a vile story.

Incessant scenes of sex, ranging from parties of two to 10, and savagery that would put the Spartans to shame, “Infinity Pool” achieves its grotesque agenda within the first 30 minutes.

As both Skarsgard and Goth have recently seen a steady incline in their acting careers – Goth especially with her work on the duo-horror hits of 2022 in “X” and

“Pearl”, it's clear Cronenberg chose to shape his narrative around the two stars.

Despite this acting regalia, an oversaturated story can sometimes make too much use of the talent at hand.

Bashed-in heads alongside a splurge of countless genitalia have worked for the director in the past, but instead feel over expressed in this plotline.

Films like “Possessor” keep a lingering feeling of dread in both the characters within the story and the audience watching the events play out.

“Infinity Pool” relies on its shifts, going from group sodomy in one moment, to the contemplation of safety in the next. The former feels narratively driven, while the latter is pining for gasps.

Saying that “Infinity Pool” did not achieve what it set out to would almost be as wrong as the film's moral compass.

The idea is clear and those involved did what they could, but these grievances lie in where my thoughts choose to wander.

Rather than think about the message Cronenberg depicted, I reflect on the excessive nature of the story and how the theme became overtaken by vivid imagery.

Whether you are accustomed to these gore-riddled worlds or not, I think it is fair to say that an “Infinity Pool” watch mandates a light lunch and an open mind.

PHOTO FROM IMDB

Mia Goth stars as the antagonistic Gabi Bauer in Brandon Cronenberg's latest graphic thriller "Infinity Pool."

LILY LOWNDES | THE DEPAULIA

Dave Franco and Alison Brie spoke to The DePaulia about their upcoming rom-com.

St.Vincent’s

D e JAMZ

“Spinning freSh beatS Since 1581”

By lilly K eller Arts & Life Editor

Although unjustly short, Black History Month is a powerful reminder of the Black community's contributions, influences and triumphs. While DeJamz may only focus on music, there is no question that all genres of music would be nowhere near as impactful or meaningful without the invaluable input, creativity and soul from Black artists. In honor of Black History Month, I'm bringing you some of my favorite welland lesser-known artists.

"Mary Magdalene" – FKA Twigs

Serving as the title track of Twig's 2019 release "Magdalene," this certified banger stands at the English singer's definitive look into one of the most controversial biblical figures. If there is one thing about me, it's that I'm going to eat up every crumb of art that stands as a

critique of the Bible, especially when it has to do with gender and the notion of intimacy.

“Pardon (Bu²ju²)” – Dre’es & Gaiuh

I actually have no recollection of ever finding this song, but Gaiuh's heavenly vocals have become a staple on my playlists since. I feel like this song always comes on when I'm driving home from the kitchen I work at in the summer, so I have come to associate it with sunsets and the small mountain of dinner rolls I stole as my post-work snack.

"SUPERPOSITION" – Daniel Caesar

Acting as a scientific glimpse into Caesar's own life, "Superposition" examines the aftermath when two or more distinct currents cross paths. In Caesar's case, he analyzes how his music, religion, and partners influence his success while also holding the power to dismantle the life he has created for himself. If you're looking for an album with no

Crossword

skips, then "CASE STUDY 01" is for you.

"Bittersweet" – Ivy Sole

Philly-based singer and rapper Ivy Sole reminds listeners that satisfaction comes from persistence and tenacity in her 2020 single "Bittersweet." A combination of smooth chords and Sole's intoxicating flow makes "Bittersweet" the perfect song for any occasion, whether walking to the train station or the last three minutes and 24 seconds of your workout.

"Crushed Velvet" – Yves Tumor

I discovered this song by accident while searching for Ethel Cain's "Knuckle Velvet," and let me tell you, I'm not disappointed. Opening with an electronic hum followed by Yves's reverberated vocals, it takes less than 30 seconds to immerse in this textural fantasy fully. As a banger, I seriously recommend checking out Yves's entire discography because it is without flaw.

ACROSS

1) Active sorts

6) Fall preceder?

10) The backup one is B

14) Come after 15) "I_ a dream ... "

16) Change in Rome, once

17) Made to wait 20) Principle 21) Pill relative

22) Not he

24) Chris of the Miami Heat

27) Sierra_

(African country)

28) Kismet

31) Place for books

33) Become man and wife

34) Everyday expressions

36) Basketball stadium

38) Certain Hallof-Fame location

PIGEON TALK

41) Bridge declaration

42) Bar seats

45) Blood

classification syst.

48) More exact 50) Cartoon Fudd

51) Corsican hero

53) Nose-in-air type

55) "East" on a grandfather clock

56) Going up in flames

58) Pun reaction

61) Made bacon and grits

66) Polish, as one's skills

67) Drive or reverse, e.g.

68) Proportion

69) Ga. Tech. grad., perhaps

70) Birds' outputs

71) "Looks _ everything"

DOWN

1) 12 of 12, briefly

2) Lennon's wife

3) Arcane

4) Hard-and-fast thing

5) "As_ on TV!"

6) Vacation souvenirs

7) Competed in a race

8) "_Maria"

9) Analyze

10) USNA newcomer

11) Remain inconspicuous

12) Actress Dahl

13) Like some Russian dolls

18) Coming-out girl, briefly

19) Music sheet mark

22) Alpine runner?

23) Gave birth to

25) Use a whetstone on

26) Terrycloth term

29) Kind of point

30) Write off gradually

32) Permits

35) Boot jingler

37) "Over the hill" in the military

39) Big birds that cannot fly

40) Name for office

43) Hilo souvenir

44)_Lanka

45) Cochise or Geronimo

46) Big monkey

47) Alternative to black or green

49) Kenny or Roy

52) Shaq was one

54) Foundation item

57) Advantage

59) Southern soup ingredient

60) Off in the distance

62) Request over and over

63) Kind of doll

64) Confessional subject

65) New talker and walker

PHOTOS COURTESY OF WIKI

Demons thump Xavier by 45 to end four game skid

By Preston Zbroszczyk

In a dominating overall performance, DePaul put their four game skid behind them picking up their largest win margin of 45-points in a 93-48 defeat, over Xavier Saturday afternoon.

The Blue Demons capped off the win shooting exactly 50% from the field. They combined for 29 assists as a team which was a game high for the season.

Bruno was missing both senior Anaya Peoples who suffered a concussion against UConn on Jan. 23 and freshman Maeve McErlane, who was in a walking boot on her left foot, but her official injury was not released to the public.

DePaul turned to freshman Tara Daye to replace the void that Maeve McErlane left. Daye logged 28 minutes on Feb. 1 against Creighton off the bench. She added 10 points in the loss, but her strong performance placed her in Saturday’s starting lineup.

Although she only had a four-point game, Daye had a career high 12 assists and four rebounds on Saturday.

“Tara has been amazing,” Morrow said. “To be a freshman, and just come in with not playing as many minutes throughout the season [she has taken] on a big role. I feel from our last game against Creighton to now, she’s done a great job distributing the ball and playing to her strength.”

DePaul commanded the game entirely. They forced the Musketeers into nine first quarter turnovers holding them to 20% from the field. That defensive pressure continued throughout the course of the game, with the Blue Demons forcing 30 turnovers – the second highest of the season creating 43 points from the turnovers.

Morrow had one of her more efficient shooting performances of the season. Her sixth 30 point game of the season had her nearly adding the programs seventh triple-double. She finished with 30 points, 11 rebounds and seven steals, while going 13 of 19 from the field.

This was Morrow’s 18th double double on the season with her averaging 25.4 points and 11.6 rebounds per game.

Defensively for DePaul, the 48 total points allowed were the fewest given up this season. For a Blue Demon team who leads the Big East in points allowed per game, Bruno emphasized the team’s best performance.

“What I love about it was the number of turnovers forced by being in the quarter court,” Bruno said. “It wasn’t like we were up pressing the whole game to force that many turnovers. That is something that is impressive. But you also have to make stops, you have to hunker down and stay in front of people and guard people.”

As the fourth quarter got underway, DePaul opened their largest lead of the game at 40 and junior Kendall Holmes rained down two threes tying her season total of 21 points.

Holmes has been DePaul’s best, and most reliable, three pointer this season. She is currently fourth in the conference shooting 41% and has made 54 threes this season.

“I definitely look for the three the most,” Holmes said. “My teammates do a good job of finding me when I am open.”

DePaul and Xavier both played in support and remembrance of the late head coach Sandra Kay Yow. The Hall of Fame coach from NC State lost her battle to breast cancer in January of 2009.

NCAA women’s teams across the nation each have a game themed around Play4Kay,

an opportunity for teams and the world of basketball to do something for the greater good which far exceeds the wins and losses of basketball.

“Coach Kay was a very close friend,” Bruno said. “She was just a great woman, a classic great coach, [she was] a rare coach that could be as successful as she was, as strong as she was, make her players as accountable and still be so sweet and nice. She was a great woman and a great person.

The great Jimmy Valvano and Kay Vow both coached at NC State at the same time during their tenure and have left the basketball world with remembrance and perseverance to let others know that cancer is not something you have to go through alone.

Next up for Bruno’s squad is Butler on Wednesday, Feb. 8 at 7:00 p.m. at Wintrust Arena. The Blue Demons hope to potentially flip the script on the season with eight games remaining.

“People have gotten an image of what our past records are with Butler, but they are a lot stronger,” Bruno said. “This is going to be a tough game for us on Wednesday, and I think [this game] will prove that we got a chance to turn this thing around.”

For the fourth time in the last 17 days, DePaul lost Wednesday night 83-74 to Creighton, with its last win coming on Jan. 14

against Xavier. This now has the makings to be one of the worst seasons under head coach Doug Bruno in his tenure.

DePaul has the worst defense in the Big East and gave up another 80-plus point performance, as the Bluejays outmatched the Blue Demon offense, who played from behind the entire game.

Junior Darrione Rogers was held scoreless against the Bluejays Wednesday night. The fourth-leading scorer in the Big East has failed to show consistency in her third season. DePaul’s season would likely look worse without the spotlight All-American sophomore Aneesah Morrow has given the program.

Aside from All-American sophomore Morrow’s 34-point performance, the rest of the team combined for 40 total points in the losing effort against Creighton.

The accolades and milestones continue to pour in for Morrow. She finished Wednesday night with her fifth 30-point game and was added to another midseason watch list.

Following the game, Morrow was named a top-10 finalist for the 2023 Katrina McClain Award, as announced by Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and Women’s Basketball Coaches Association.

Throughout the years, fans and those surrounding DePaul basketball have become accustomed to Bruno being at the top of the Big East standings –and in the NCAA tournament – but not this season.

Bruno has now lost the most Big East games in a row of his tenure, and now, has his team on the verge of finishing below .500 for the first time since 1997-98.

The only thing that could possibly save the Blue Demons season is a miraculous run at the Big East title.

DePaul fell behind early in Wednesday night’s game, as they dug themselves into a 10-point deficit after the first quarter. Things picked things up when DePaul outscored the Bluejays in the second, but the Demons still trailed by eight headed into the half.

Despite a consistent and efficient shooting night, as DePaul shot 47% from the field, it was a defensive let down.

JACK DOMBRO | THE DEPAULIA

Freshman guard Tara Daye fights for a rebound against two Xavier defenders during Saturday’s 45-point victory over the Musketeers. Daye finished the game with a career-high 12 assists.

JACK DOMBRO | THE DEPAULIA

Head coach Doug Bruno goes over the gameplan during a timeout on Saturday against Xavier.

Asst. Sports Editor

Darrione Rogers: Blue Demon for life

By Preston Zbroszczyk Asst. Sports Editor

Growing up locally in the Western suburbs of Chicago, junior Darrione Rogers had a passion for basketball many 10-year-olds don’t. Rogers was invested into head coach Doug Bruno and Blue Demon basketball since she could remember.

“I’ve been around DePaul and Doug Bruno since fifth, sixth grade,” Rogers said. “My dad would take me to a lot of DePaul games, like versus Marquette, or UConn, so I’ve allows been around DePaul.

Rogers is no stranger to basketball’s biggest stage. She’s dominated since her freshman season at Lake Park West High School.Through her 90-game career, Rogers averaged 24 points per game, nine rebounds and three steals.

By her senior season, she was recognized as a top-50 player in the country and was selected to the Jersey’s Mike’s High School Girls Trophy Watch List. ESPN also listed Rogers as a five-star prospect.

When Rogers’ career at Lake Park West was all said and done, she totaled 2,191 career points, all tallied throughout just three seasons. Her career-best games were 49 points against Hinsdale South, and 45 points and 21 rebounds against Batavia.

“Darrione was built for this,” Lake Park West women’s basketball head coach Brian Rupp said. “I remember her going into her freshman year. I was at an AAU tournament before she was a Lake Park Lancer and there was hype all around her and she just had this ability to be in the moment.”

Following her senior season, where Rogers took her Lancers team to the IHSA 4A final four in 2020, she had to make a decision on where she would play her college ball.

Being heavily recruited by Bruno and his staff, Rogers decision to make her way

east and commit to DePaul was a dream fulfilled because of her close and early childhood connections to DePaul.

“DePaul showed a sense of loyalty,” Rogers said. “Being loyal to me when I tore my ACL in my freshman year of high school just showed me that they truly care about me and this is the program I want to play for.”

In her freshman season the highly-touted guard made an immediate impact for Bruno. With DePaul being a perennial top-25 best program during her

freshman season, Rogers played in 24 games and started in four of them.

She broke out against No. 5 Louisville on Dec. 4 on the national spotlight in the Jimmy V Classic game, where she had at the time her career-high 25-points. The work Rogers put into her game night in and night out was credited to not only her, but also her father and his drive to want to see his daughter strive for greatness.

Rupp said Darrione and her father Darwin Rogers were always trying to get into the gym, whether it was at 1 a.m. or in the middle of the day.

Rogers says her father is her biggest fan and also her biggest critic. Whether it is a bad game for Rogers or a career night, he has always been in her corner to congratulate or give his input of some kind.

“My dad has played a huge role,” Rogers said. “I can actually say that my dad is a huge reason for the kind of player I am today. He was the one who always drove me to practices and just, you know, just pushed me. I’m thankful to have my dad and my mom as well, make those sacrifices.”

Rogers was named to the 2020-21 Big East All-Freshman Team and was honored once with the Big East Freshman of the Week.

From there on, Rogers’ growth seems to go further every game. In her sophomore season, she started all but one game for Bruno, while averaging 29 minutes a game. She averaged 10 points per game, which was second on the team. She notched three double-doubles in that season as well, and was second on the team with 62 threes.

She continued to rack up the accolades in the conclusion of her sophomore season, with her being awarded the 202122 Pat Ewers Unsung Hero Award.

The growth also translated for Rogers in the classroom. A sports communication, promotion and publicity major, Rogers has disciplined herself as a student athlete to receive the highest grades possible.

“I’m really just trying to bring home all A’s and just better myself in the classroom,” Rogers said. “Just trying to be the best version of myself I can possibly be.

As long as I’m trying hard and just really get all A’s and if needed a B or two, but really just all A’s.”

With expectations to take the next step, Rogers has met them and put the college basketball world on notice this season..

Her scoring average has jumped from 10 points per game in her sophomore season to 18 a game this season. With a depleted injured roster, her game has strived as the teams best passer.

On Dec. 12 against Howard, Rogers recorded her first ever triple-double. Her stat line finished with 22 points, 11 assists and 11 rebounds. This has only been done six times in the women’s program history.

More recently, on Feb. 1, Rogers had a career-high 12 assists against Creighton on a night where her scoring was struggling.

“I think it is happening right now in front of our eyes actually,” Bruno said. “Where this total consistency of passing, sharing, getting open threes, learning how to get open threes off the ball then rebounding. I just see her really becoming a totally another level player.”

Outside of basketball, Rogers is like anyone else. She values her family time and enjoys playing video games to clear her mind when she is away from the game.

Junior Kendall Holmes was roommates with Rogers and said she is pretty outgoing once you get to know her. She makes people laugh and she is great to be around.

When Rogers was asked about what kind of legacy she wants to leave behind, she said she doesn’t want to be known for just being a shooter or a scorer.

Rogers is currently fourth in the Big East in scoring and leads the team with 5.6 assists a game. On Nov. 20, Rogers reached a new career-high with 36 points, another example of her growth this season.

“I want to lead DePaul to places that they have never been to before,” Rogers said. “I want [people] to know the impact I made on the game all around, and how I was able to help my teammates be better players.”

EMMA THOMPSON | THE DEPAULIA

Junior guard Darrione Rogers fires a jump shot in DePaul’s 72-63 loss to Marquette at Wintrust Arena on Wednesday, Jan. 4.

‘We know what it takes’: Men’s tennis sets sights on NCAA tourney heading into 2023 season

By Preston Zbroszczyk Asst. Sports Editor

With the men’s tennis season already underway, head coach Matt Brothers has new expectations that involve more than just clinching their third straight Big East title. Getting to the NCAA Tournament and advancing past the first round is now the expectation.

After last season’s first round loss to Kentucky in the opening round of the NCAA tournament, DePaul has aspirations to not just be a one-and-done team but to make a case that they belong.

“It’s another one of our goals and now we’ve added to that,” Brothers said. “[We] want to start winning, you know, not just the conference and making the NCAA, but starting to position ourselves to win matches at the NCAA tournament as well.”

This season’s Blue Demon roster features an entirely international squad. The nineman roster does not have a single U.S. born citizen, something that has not happened under Brothers since he was named head coach in 2008.

DePaul’s players came to Chicago from all over the world, from Germany, Italy, Croatia, Spain, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates.

Brothers said this was not a goal to construct a roster this way, but it just happened to fall into that direction.

“It really boils down to the popularity of the sport,” Brothers said. “In every other country but the United States, tennis is top three on the list of popularity. Whereas here, it’s not even in the top 10.”

DePaul is 4-2 in the early season. The squad opened at Notre Dame where they were given an uncomfortable 0-7 loss. The first win of the season came a day later against IUPUI where they won 6-1.

The Blue Demons were able to pick up their second win of the season against Princeton on Jan. 21, who at the time were a ranked opponent. Over the weekend DePaul was victorious against Davidson in their home opener 6-1.

Duos partners sophomore Sven Moser and junior Shourya Verma got the night started defeating their opponents 6-3 and getting the first point for DePaul.

In its past two games, DePaul defeated Dayton 5-2 and Purdue 5-2, to extend win

streak to four games.

Sophomore Matteo Laquinto secured the win against Davidson, winning his singles event 7-5.

“Great 6-1 win for us against a team that beat us 4-3 last year,” Brothers said. “Really proud of the guys for building off the momentum they took away from the Princeton win last week.”

After losing two graduate students from last season’s team, Brothers only has one senior this season, surrounded by a young group of sophomores and freshmen.

Senior Leon Husk has embraced his role as a leader for DePaul both on and off the court.

“Before coming into the new season, I

knew that I had to step up, especially because we had great captains last year,” Husk said. “I want to continue that legacy. I see my role as a middleman between the coaches and the team. I’ve matured a lot through this position, and I think I can help the guys mature as well.”

Brothers and his staff have also made sure that while winning on the court is important, so is being able to perform in the classroom. Just two years ago, Brothers’ tennis team had the highest team GPA out of any Big East teams across the conference.

Six players from last season’s team were awarded with ITA Scholar Athletes. This was the 14th time DePaul won the ITA All-Academic Team honor in the last 15 years.

Laquinto said there is a sense of more maturity with the international players and that they are more independent from what he has seen throughout his years of coaching in his tenure.

“I would say in terms of people not born in the U.S., we have a different perspective from work ethic,” Laquinto said. “Most of us are used to a workload, so we have a better mind going into workouts.”

In Brothers’ 15-year career at DePaul, 2021 was the breaking point for his tenure with the program. Last year, DePaul achieved the program’s first Big East Championship title and first NCAA tournament berth. The challenge now lies to get the programs first NCAA win.

“We know what it takes, and we’ve been there a couple times now,” Brothers said. “Some of these guys that were on the team last year, know that they want more than just a berth. They want some wins and some more firsts for our program.”

Students’ film brings new perspective to potential Bears move

By Preston Zbroszczyk Asst. Sports Editor

As the Chicago Bears move to Arlington Heights still looms in the air, controversy from the people of Chicago and those who reside in Arlington Heights have weighed in on what the team should do.

Junior Ryan Deitch set out to present a different angle on the Bears potential relocation. The DePaul film major has been fascinated by documentary production and wanted to take it to the next level.

Deitch isn’t a Bears fan. As a Dallas native and Cowboys fan, the film portrays a different angle than what we’ve seen on television so far.

“Not being a Bears really enabled me to take an objective standpoint,” Deitch said. “I couldn’t care less if the Bears move to Arlington Heights or stay at Soldier Field.”

Deitch met with fellow film majors who attended DePaul to help him produce the film. He looked for editors and other passionate students to make this film the best possible.

This was a yearlong project that had nothing to do with a class at DePaul. It was an idea that the up-and-coming documentary filmmaker made as a passion project.

After the long wait to find interviewers who would sit down with Deitch and his team, the undergraduate released “The Handoff - A Look into The Bears Possible Exodus from Chicago.”

The Film, which was made available on Jan. 24 on YouTube and RyanDeitch.com, gives the complete two sides of the story that most interested people of the public have yet to see.

Featured in the film are the voices of the President of the Bears Ted Phillips, Mayor of Arlington Heights Tom Hayes, state Sen. Ann Gillespie of Arlington Heights, University of Chicago sports economist Al-

len Sanders and Chicago Alderman Scott Waguespack.

Deitch first got his idea when he arrived in Chicago and began to hear the rumor of the relocation. He was able to experience Soldier Field for the first time and became fascinated.

“When I first got to Chicago I was always amazed by Soldier Field,” Deitch said. “How their NFL football team played in a stadium that is located right downtown. That is very rare for NFL team’s around the league. The Cowboys play out in the suburbs 45 to 30 minutes outside of downtown Dallas.”

After the idea surfaced, Deitch went to a friend who is a Bears fan and lives in the potential area of the new stadium with the idea to make this documentary.

Senior Ryan Miler, the colorist of the film, and senior Kate Kunz, the editor, set

out to help Deitch make this project and give it the perspective that made it so popular in just 12 days.

“Ultimately, I’m really happy with how the film came out,” Miler said. “We came up with this idea to use more blue and orange colors [in the film] because of the team.”

Since the release of the film, it has received 10,000 views on YouTube and grabbed the attention of Chicago news media.

Deitch was interviewed by WGN, the Daily Herald and has appeared on several radio stations. The outpour of publicity and support was something the DePaul film majors did not expect to receive.

“No, no I was really [surprised],” Kunz said. “One of the things that was important was that we get it out on time when the story is actually being talked about. I hoped that it

would catch on because I thought that it was a really important and good story to tell.”

Deitch, Miler and Kunz, said they see themselves making contributions to films of the future once they graduate and pursue the industry.

Deitch is already working on his next film as he tries to tell the story of the current state of the Chicago Transit Authority. Deitch received an Incubator Grant from DePaul to help cover his production expenses. The film is set to release in the summer.

“The contribution from this team was vital,” Deitch said. “I consider myself a half decent producer and interviewer to some extent, but to have this amazing talented group of people come together and dedicate countless hours to this project was incredible.”

DONALD CROCKER | THE DEPAULIA

Senior Leon Husk and sophomore Jona Gitschel are two players returning from last season.

The documentary called “The Handoff” released on Jan. 24, and was directed and written by DePaul junior Ryan Deitch.

PHOTO COURTESY OF RYAN DEITCH

Sports

Men’s losing streak extends to five games

By Tom Gorski Sports Editor

DePaul’s losing streak extended to five games Sunday after dropping its ninth Big East game of the season against Seton Hall by a score of 69-65. The Blue Demons led by 13 points with ten minutes left in the first half, but an offensive dryspell resulted in a Pirates victory.

The Blue Demons fall to 9-15 on the season and 3-10 in Big East play. Sunday’s matchup in Newark, New Jersey could go down as the team’s biggest collapse of the season considering DePaul’s strong start in a hostile environment.

DePaul opened the game with a 15-2 run, highlighted by its defense holding Seton Hall from scoring a basket for nearly half the first period. The Pirates squad recorded its first made field goal at the 10:40 mark.

Seton Hall eventually woke up, bouncing back with an 18-4 run of their own, while holding the Blue Demons offense to two points in the final 2:50 minutes of play.

DePaul finished the first half connecting on only one of its final eight field goals. Later, the team underwent another dry spell when it made only one of 10 field goals. Head coach Tony Stubblefield’s offense has struggled with consistency this season and instead lives off the team’s offensive momentum.

Surprisingly, graduate forward Javan Johnson had a quiet game and was held scoreless for the second time in the first half this season for the Blue Demons. Johnson was zero for six shooting in the first half and was zero for two from beyond the arc while recording a plus minus of -2.

Johnson finished the game scoreless for the first time this season.

In the first half, junior guard Kadary Richmond led Seton hall and recorded 10 points, while DePaul’s junior forward Da’Sean Nelson recorded eight points off the bench

Seton Hall’s offense was hot after the break, going on a 12-2 run early in the second half that lasted over four minutes. The Pirates extended the run and went on a second 18-4 run, but this time it lasted around seven minutes, while DePaul offensively could not find anything to land.

Still, Stubblefield’s team didn’t give up and made a push late in the second half at attempting an improbable comeback. Graduate guard Umoja Gibson hit a deep three-pointer to cut DePaul’s deficit, 58-50 at the 3:21 mark that sparked a 7-0 run.

Gibson then scored an under the rim contested layup to cut the Blue Demons deficit to five, but the slim deficit proved to be as close as DePaul would come to erasing Seton Hall’s lead.

Gibson took over in the final minutes, but it was not enough to overcome DePaul’s offensive struggles, and the team did not see much offensive production outside of the graduate point guard.

Gibson had a productive day and finished with 21 points, two rebounds and two assists, while making three of 10 shots from beyond the arc.

Demons ousted by UConn

DePaul’s losing streak extended to four for the first time this season after losing to UConn, 90-76 against No. 24 UConn on Tuesday night at Wintrust Arena. Stubblefields’ stagnant defense allowed the Huskies to finish the game with three 20 plus point scorers, who were led by sophomore guard Jordan Hawkins’ 26-point night.

“UConn has a very good basketball team,” said head coach Tony Stubblefield.

“There’s a reason they were the number two team in the country at one time. They have a lot of talent on that team and if you want to have a chance against a team like that, you have to put a full 40 minutes together.”

With the loss, the Blue Demons fell to 9-13 on the season and 3-9 in Big East conference play.

Tuesday night was DePaul’s fourth ranked opponent in its last five games. The team has yet to pull out a victory since its improbable upset win over no. 16 Xavier on Jan. 18. The Blue Demons have now lost 10 out of their last 13 games.

UConn controlled the game from start to finish and led for a total 34 minutes and out-rebounded DePaul 38-25. Stubblefield has yet to find a solution in the paint to replace senior center Nick Ongenda who has yet to see the court since suffering an injury prior to the start of the season.

“Nick [Ongenda] is a big part of our team,” Stubblefield said. “Obviously we do miss him, but other guys just have to step up and we aren’t getting it done defensively.”

DePaul kept it close early, after graduate

forward Javan Johnson scored eight of the team’s first 10 points to start the game. Johnson finished the first half with a team-high 10 points, but was held scoreless the final 14:17 minutes of the half.

“I don’t think there was too much they did,” Johnson said of UConn’s defensive adjustments. “I just gotta be more aggressive.”

The Blue Demons were 8-1 heading into Tuesday night when Johnson scored 15 points or more and 1-12 when he didn’t. Johnson ended the night with 19 points and DePaul still lost.

“I think we guarded him a little bit better, but he hit some hard shots,” said UConn head coach Dan Hurley. “The kid is a heck of a shot-maker and I give the kid a lot of credit. The kid is a talent.”

The Huskies shot 52% from the field in the first half, while scoring 26 points in the paint led by junior center Adama Sanogo, who recorded 12 himself. UConn finished the game scoring 42 points in the paint and only needed to connect on four three-pointers.

An 18-7 UConn run finished the first

half as the Blue Demons scoreless for the final three minutes until junior guard Caleb Murphy converted a contested layup with two seconds left.

Murphy was injured on the play and limped off the court. The South-Florida transfer didn’t re-enter the game until the 6:07 mark in the second half, but was subbed-out less than two minutes later after not being able to put any pressure on his right leg.

DePaul started to inch its way closer in the second half after going on a 15-2 run that lasted for more than five minutes. The Huskies couldn’t get anything to land, while DePaul saw an offensive emergence from junior forward Da’Sean Nelson.

Nelson scored 15 of his 16 points in the second half and added three rebounds and two steals.

“I thought Da’Sean [Nelson] played well in the second hald,” Stubblefield said. “He’s just gotta stay focused and put a full 35-to38 minutes a game together. He just has to be a little bit more solid fundamentally.”

Freshman guard Zion Cruz had a shortleash Tuesday night and couldn’t necessarily get into a groove offensively. Cruz was eventually benched for junior guard K.T. Raimey after committing a technical foul early in the second half. Raimey finished the game with 10 points, while connecting with two from beyond the arc.

After the game, Stubblefield told the media why he chose to play Raimey over the struggling Cruz.

“His [Raimey] ability to make a shot,” Stubblefield said. “K.T. can really shoot the basketball and he hasn’t had a lot of opportunities up to this point in the year, so I thought he came in and did a great job tonight.”

Cruz reentered the game late in the second half after graduate guard Umoja Gibson fouled out and the team was short-handed without both senior guards Jalen Terry and Philmon Gebrewhit out due to injury.

DePaul (9-15, 3-10) will travel to Villanova, Pennsylvania for a matchup against Villanova (15-9, 8-5) on Wednesday night with tip-off scheduled at the Finneran Pavilion for 7:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on FS1.

@DEPAUL HOOPS | TWITTER

Graduate guard Umoja Gibson dribbles by Seton Hall senior Al-Amir Dawes during the Blue Demons loss in Newark N.J. on Sunday.

JACK DOMBRO | THE DEPAULIA

Junior guard Caleb Murphy drives in for the contested layup against UConn guard Jordan Hawkins during Tuesday’s 90-76 loss against the Huskies.