Editor-in-Chief
Haley Boyce
Executive Editor
Evan Chandler
Managing Editor
Daniela Morales
Art Director
Alex Bracken
Associate Art Director
Meghan Holt
Social Media Editor
Brianna Morton
Associate Editors
Brianna Morton
Tori Smith
Jessica Bergfors
Alex Bracken
Meghan Holt
Ava Monroe
Josie Santiago
Alison Smith Writers
Grace Bentkowski
Haley Boyce
Mya Cataline
Evan Chandler
Zach Gonzalez
Meghan Holt
Savannah Jordan
Elissa Maudlin
Ava Monroe
Daniela Morales
Brianna Morton
Photographers
J. Doudt
Rylan Capper Adviser
Lisa Renze-Rhodes
I kind of feel sick writing this.
When you start college, you know there is an eventual endpoint, but you don’t have to think about it for a while. You get to make friends, find favorite spots, and romanticize the little things. You also learn and lose a lot along the way.
The real world sits, waiting for us. But not until the very end does that feeling kick in. Cliché, but it’s painfully true.
The first time I knew I really had something I was going to miss was during a tear-filled, sad-song queued car ride. Coronavirus had quickly shut down campus, forcing us students to get the boot out of the dorms.
I remember walking through my dorm in LaFollette, reminding myself one more time what everything looked like. Dramatic, I know, but I think we all thought the world was ending.
While I was stuck at home for five months, all I could think about was coming back to Ball State. It was hard to ignore all of the moments we missed out on. I was sadly reminded every time I saw a drivethrough graduation parade, a postponed wedding, and any milestone that was turned into the word we’ve all come to dread: virtual
We eventually came back though. Whether it was through a Zoom call or a series of email threads, it felt good to reunite and be back in a place I had longed to return to.
As time moved, we all adapted to our new normal. I made room for more memories and moments I knew I’d one day look back on and ache for.
No one warns you for how vulnerable you are when you’re 18, 19, 20, 21, and 22. You’re subject to change at any given moment. Life feels unpredictable and, at times, unstable.
But you’re young. You’re tasting freedom and independence. You’re breaking your heart then healing it again and again and again.
Missing something isn’t a bad thing. If anything, it means you’ve found something special and something your heart wants to hold on to for a little longer.
As much as I want to hold on to this time, l can’t. The clock keeps moving and slowly the last few months have turned into the last few weeks which are now turning into the last few days.
I’ve been thinking about how much I’ll miss this time in my life. I’m not sure I’m ready for the last time I’ll walk through this campus and be able to call myself a college student.
I’m not sure I’m ready to let go of the nights spent in my silly college house, getting ready for a night out with all my best friends above, below and across the hall from me (I’m also not ready to give up having five closets to borrow from).
I’m not sure I’m ready to no longer walk into the Unified Media Lab and share the funny bits from my day with my peers.
I’m not sure I’m ready to walk past the Art and Journalism Building and no longer have a class in it.
And I’m not sure I’m ready to write my last story for Ball Bearings.
But one thing I’m sure of is this: this time has been special. I’ve learned a number of lessons, the biggest one being to never take anything for granted. Losing a year of this experience was hard, but it’s
made me appreciate the time I spend with others so much more.
I’ve also learned some practical lessons.
Never try to get lunch at the Atrium at noon. Do all of the extra credit you can. Always check Canvas before bed. Make sure you have a “buddy” on a night out. Don’t sweat the small things. Take a deep breath. Tell yourself, “It’ll be ok,” and eventually it will.
When we came up with the theme of “missing” for this issue, I immediately knew we’d have some awesome stories to tell. The Ball Bearings team never fails to amaze me with their talent. In this issue, you can read about mall culture going missing, the toys from our childhood that have gone extinct, passion going missing from a career, and more.
For four years, I’ve spent days and nights working with this award-winning, completely student-run team. I’m so lucky to have laughed and learned with them.
As much as I’ll miss Ball State, I know it’s time for a new chapter.
Maybe you’re reading this edition of Ball Bearings on the couch at home, in a cozy corner on campus, or at the kitchen table. Wherever you are, take note of your space. No matter how simple or basic it might be, appreciate it.
One day, you might miss it. g
Missing something isn’t a bad thing. If anything, it means you’ve found something special and something your heart wants to hold on to for a little longer.”
- Haley Boyce, Editor-in-ChiefMe holding my first article at the Ball Bearings lanch party. Haley Boyce, Photo Provided Me, my roommates, and a few friends on the porch of my college house. Grace Adams, Photo Provided
Throughout the years, courts hear cases that have the ability to increase or decrease access to justice.
Across the world, it is estimated that 5 billion people in some way have unmet justice needs; some 1.5 billion of these people have unmet needs within the justice system or courts.
Judge Kimberly Dowling, of Delaware Circuit Court #2, says there has been a movement to self-represent in court.
“Either they don’t trust the system, they don’t trust lawyers, or they don’t have the money to hire an attorney,” Dowling says.
Limited scope representation, such as writing certain court documents, is a way for self-representing individuals to get an attorney’s help on certain areas of their case. Dowling says, “a lot of people don’t realize that’s an option for them and a lot of attorneys don’t market that way.”
Kevonna Tyler, Ball State’s assistant general counsel – public access officer & freedom of expression coordinator says, “[gatekeepers] only want certain kinds of folks, whatever the demographic might be, to take advantage of a particular service. And so other people might not know about it.”
Voter suppression has a great effect on the justice system. “It gives the idea that this is a representation of the community when in fact there’s a huge segment whose votes were suppressed,” says Tyler.
Federal judges are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, which have typically been white men up until President Jimmy Carter in 1970, who appointed nearly 40% women, or racial or ethnic minorities, according to the Judicial Process in America by Robert Carp.
According to Carp, presidents will often pick judges based on political leaning; they will also use senatorial courtesy which is an unwritten rule that senators in the same party as the president can deny a judge in their home state.
The United States Supreme Court is often classified into eras based on the chief justice. Currently, it is The Roberts Court (2005-Present). This court expanded constitutional rights in its early years and in recent years has moved to be more conservative. Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and the subsequent overturning of Roe v. Wade is one example of the recent increase in conservatism within the court.
Out of the last 10 presidents, President Donald Trump’s Federal Judge Nominees have had 25% liberal leaning in the category of civil rights and liberties, according to The Judicial Process in America. Compared to other conservative presidents appointments this is about 7% lower. Throughout Trump’s time in office, his appointments were more conservative than past Republican presidents.
Over the Supreme Court’s history, it has swayed from one side to the other based on appointment. The Hughes Court (19301941) was home to “The Four Horsemen,” a conservative grouping, and “The Three Musketeers,” the liberal block from 1932 to 1937. During this period, President Franklin D. Roosevelt took office and created the reform “New Deal for Americans.” Many of the policy reforms would be considered unconstitutional due to the majority conservative block on the court.
Cases similar to Obergefell v. Hodges, holding that samesex couples have a fundamental right to marry under the Due Process and Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment,
show an increase in access. By allowing same-sex couples to marry it provides legal protection, including if the relationship were to end, access to litigate over property.
On the other hand, cases like U.S. v. Morrison held that Congress does not have the power to regulate gender-motivated crimes of violence under the Commerce Clause or Section 5 of the 14th Amendment, restricting Congress from creating criminal law, keeping it at the state level. States widely vary in criminal law and associated punishments.
Tyler believes there are issues with access to justice due to lack of resources. Something that could increase access would be wraparound services, “wherever somebody is getting service, they provide information about other potential opportunities that might be helpful.”
This could look like someone going into a domestic violence shelter and providing them with housing services, the prosecutor’s office, and some information for a victim advocate.
Additional issues are created between counties of different sizes, says Tyler. “Resources are a bit smaller, sloppy, sometimes that creates a barrier because of what’s available in terms of the area you’re in.”
Access to justice can also involve physically getting to the location needed. This was a major reason for Marion County Court to change its location to the new Courthouse at the Community Justice Campus, says Tyler.
“Unless you’re a lawyer, unless you’ve gone to law school, unless you’re in the system, unless you work in it, it’s really difficult to have that in-depth knowledge about it,” says Dowling. g
Disclaimer: This is not legal advice, only for educational purposes.
It gives the idea that this is a representation of the community when in fact there’s a huge segment whose votes were suppressed.”
- Kevonna Tyler, Ball State’s assistant general counselIllustration by Josie Santiago
Liquid Chlorophyll became known as a “miracle drink” that claims to help people lose weight, boost energy, prevent cancer and reduce acne after it became popular on TikTok.
TikTok is influencing people to dry scoop workout powder, put protein powder in coffee, use a weighted hulahoop, wash hair with rice water and sugar wax. A Harvard University survey found that almost one in five Americans turn to TikTok before their doctor for medical advice.
The internet has changed the relationship and communication between health care providers and patients. Anyone can put out health information, even if it is false. It is important to make sure the information is coming from a credible source.
Health care providers have started to use social media to communicate and build a relationship with their patients as well as combat the influx of false medical information.
Nine out of 10 adults have difficulty using everyday health information, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ National Plan to Improve Health Literacy.
According to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), health literacy is the sophisticated term for understanding your health and can be understood as how people access and understand health-related information.
Kristin Trainor, assistant professor of social work at Ball State University, has researched potential stigma among health care professionals and ways to improve the relationship between health care professionals and patients.
Health literacy is a broad and complex topic, and there is no simple solution.
“There’s plenty of times where there’s been providers where I’m like, nope, I’m not going back…because I didn’t feel safe. I didn’t feel comfortable. I didn’t feel like my questions were answered or I didn’t feel like I was allowed to ask questions,” Trainor says.
Trainor explains that health literacy looks different for everyone depending on how patients best learn information.
“We have to recognize all of those different learning styles and opportunities and being able to have the information readily available in different platforms,” she says. “Some people want to have that communication together, where we’re talking through and I’m repeating back what I heard you say and how I processed it, while others would rather have time to listen to an educational podcast or watch a video on it, and none of those ways are wrong.”
Christina Doll, associate professor of health at Ball State University, focuses her work on school-based food pantries and how health information is distributed to the families of that community. She emphasizes that health literacy is not just being able to read and recognize health terms, but to be able to put the information into practice.
“Without people being able to understand the information and make use of it, they run the risk of not managing their disease [or] condition, then coming right back to the hospital,” Doll says, “and when you insert our populations that are low income and using government subsidized care, we’re all paying for their multiple visits to the doctor that are just becoming more burdensome because they weren’t given the right advice the first time.”
Americans struggle to understand health care information.
We have to recognize all of those different learning styles and opportunities and being able to have the information readily available in different platforms.”
Kristin Trainor, Assistant professor of social work
Health proficiency is an important measure of access to critical information about health care. Over 75 million adults have basic or below basic health literacy, meaning they are not able to effectively navigate the health care system.
According to the Indiana State Department of Health, there is a 17 to 1 population to local health department staff members and a 695 to 1 ratio in Marion County.
“Apart from the burden of just not having enough funds to pay for care or get transportation to care, we also find that there’s a lot of distrust of the medical system based upon the cost of medical care. [Patients] feel like their money is wasted if they make a visit and they don’t get the time that they deserve,” Doll says.
Doll also encourages patients to not be afraid to ask your doctor questions or think that your question is not smart enough.
“My mom went through cancer a few years ago, and I went to a lot of appointments with her because I was her caregiver. And there were times where even myself, as a doctorallyeducated person in health education, struggled to understand the medical terminology that the doctors are talking about,” Doll says.
Second-year psychology major Brooke Tienkin was left without health insurance after her dad retired from his job that provided the family’s health insurance.
Without health insurance, patients must pay out-of-pocket for their visit. For Brooke, the best way to receive health information was to call a nurses line so that she would only pay for health emergencies.
Brooke found it interesting to see, for the first time, that if you’re not willing to pay the money, they’re not going to give you the care. It caused her to become more cautious and question whether or not she needs medical care when an issue arises.
Brooke, like many others, has knowledge about her health, but has outside factors that can prohibit her from receiving the type of care she needs.
The Healthy Lifestyle Center, which provides education, services and programming to the Delaware County community, has begun a monthly podcast called “Habits” that discusses various health topics.
The Healthy Lifestyle Center is just one of the many providers that have dove into the internet to spread accurate and credible information to the public.
Source: National Center for Education Statistics
Ava
“I was terrified. I was like, ‘oh my God, if I get in a car accident, I’m going to be so screwed,’” Brooke says. “I am definitely more socially and physically aware.”
Doll suggests to “pick your health problem and look for the National Institute of it, and those are the government-sponsored organizations that really do a good job of sifting through research to find the good stuff.”
A lack of health literacy does not just impact one person, one community, one topic. It impacts everyone. g
Without people being able to understand the information and make use of it, they run the risk of not managing their disease [or] condition, then coming right back to the hospital,”
Christina Doll, Associate professor of health at Ball State University
Sunday school teacher Chynia Cain remembers waking up around 5:30 a.m. on March 17 to the news of 14-year-old Scottie Morris going missing. She got ready and went to work, yet she was hoping after her workday, Scottie would be found.
“When I came home, I realized he was still missing…and that’s when the fear [hit],” Chynia says.
Like many others that night, Chynia and her husband got into their car after dinner to search around the small town of Eaton for any trace of Scottie;
“We decided we were stepping in.”
A Silver Alert was sent out by Eaton Police about Scottie’s disappearance that night. It described the teen as a 14-year-old white male standing at 5’ 4” and weighing 150 lbs. He was listed with brown hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a white shirt with black writing, black and red shorts, black shoes, and glasses. According to Eaton Police, he was thought to be in “extreme danger.”
It did not take long for the word to spread across social media. Posts in Facebook groups, compilations of missing persons Tik Toks, and more were made to spread the word as the search for Scottie was set into motion.
“We came in and started searching... and we [had] been searching ever since,” Eaton Police Chief Jay Turner says. Indiana Department of Natural Resources
(DNR) boat crews, Indiana State Police helicopters, Grant County K-9 units along with other nearby departments joined Eaton Police beginning March 17.
“We utilized every resource that [was] available to us,” Turner says.
Saturday
Turner says help from the community was an outpour, from donations to search party volunteers. Meanwhile, doors of local churches, like Grace and Mercy Gospel Church, were open for those over the weekend who wanted to show their support.
“Our pastor woke up randomly at 3 a.m. or so, and she felt as though ‘Okay, we’ve got to do something more,’” Chynia says.
The church hosted its first silent prayer Saturday. Chynia says candles were lit on the altar to light the way home as many
put themselves in Scottie’s family’s shoes.
“I am a mom of three...and I could not imagine how that mother feels, knowing her son is lost,” Chynia says.
Sunday
At Delta Middle School, volunteers gathered to pass out and hang up ‘missing person’ flyers across Delaware County. In a statement, Delaware Community School Corporation Superintendent Greg Kile says the corporation was “dedicated to assisting law enforcement officers in any way they can’’ in the search for Scottie.
National news outlets, like CNN, caught wind of the story unfolding in small-town Indiana.
Monday
The on-foot search continued for Scottie at the Eaton Police Department at 9 a.m. After no new information was discovered, police updated the public on the investigation via Facebook.
Tuesday
A press release from Eaton Police shared that there would be no organized searches for Scottie. Instead, the Indiana DNR were available for boat, sonar and drone searches if needed.
Wednesday
A Facebook post made by Eaton Police Wednesday morning stated that the search was not called off despite rumors on social media.
EPD is working side by side with the Indiana State Police, Delaware County Sheriff’s Department, DNR, and National Center for Missing & Exploited Children on this case.
Thursday
Eaton and surrounding communities came together at Grace and Mercy Gospel Church. The church held a candlelight vigil and balloon release for Scottie. About 100-200 people were in attendance, ranging from first responders to family members.
Television coverage of the event spanned the state. Eaton Police requested security camera footage from the night of March 16 for a second time.
Friday
Just before the clock deemed it to be day nine of the search, Eaton Police posted an announcement on Facebook, calling it the “best update to give.” Scottie Morris was found safe.
A press release the next day gave details of Scottie’s discovery. He was located by an Eaton police officer at 10:31 p.m. on March 24 at Hartford Street and Harris Street – just blocks from his home. Eaton Police had “no reason to believe Scottie was assisted by anyone while he was gone.”
Scottie was sent to IU Health Ball Memorial ER as a precaution, but he was later discharged and assisted by Delaware County Child Protective Services.
The last update posted on Facebook by Eaton Police closed with a message to everyone in the community, volunteers and other departments, thanking them for their help. Because of the community, Eaton, Indiana, was seen on a national scale – all because of their diligent search for Scottie.
“We truly appreciate each and everyone of you.” g
By Zach Gonzalez
As online shopping expands, malls are decreasing in number and slowly becoming extinct. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond the number of malls in the country has dropped from 1,500 in 2005 to 1,150 today. One of these malls includes the Muncie Mall, which is being auctioned for a sheriff’s sale.
While the future of the mall remains uncertain, the culture of malls in general is not what it once was. Malls have served as vital landmarks for shopping but are steadily regressing into a dying breed in
the retail industry.
For some people, malls used to be a place for wallets to run dry through buying products with agreeable deals, and for others, a place to relax and eat at the food court. For assistant professor of emerging media design and development Josh Fisher, malls became settings for adventure and socializing with others.
Josh self-proclaims himself as a “former mall rat,” which according to the Oxford English Dictionary, describes a young person who commonly hangs out at a mall to socialize. But being a mall rat
was not about shopping constantly, but rather loitering around malls and looking for an entertaining experience each visit.
During Josh’s teenage years when he lived in the suburban city of Highland Park, Illinois, he spent much of his free time socializing with friends in the Northbrook Court shopping mall, with little adult supervision.
From playing games such as tag and hide and seek, to chilling at the food court, Northbrook Court was alive with energy and community compared to a suburban life Josh saw as at times boring.
“It was always busy, it was always lively, you know, like the suburbs can be a pretty sleepy place,” Josh says. “The mall was not sleepy; the mall was hopping … and it was a place where you’d meet people.”
During a time when electronic devices weren’t as commonly used for communicating with others, places like the Northbrook Court imposed social interaction for Josh and other visitors of the mall.
“You’d meet people … and all of a sudden there’s a flirtatious back and forth, and now you’re excited to go to the mall to maybe see that girl or guy from two suburbs over who just happened to also use the mall as their hangout spot,” Josh says. “There were no tools at the time to facilitate that, it was the places that facilitated it.”
Even though Josh had friends he already knew to hang out with, he also met numerous other adolescents from different, surrounding areas in a mall he viewed as “the social epicenter of the suburbs.”
“You … never knew what the social dynamics and chemistry of the group would result in that evening,” Josh says. “Would we be kicked out of the AMC for playing truth or dare and sprinting up and down the stairs and causing a ruckus, or be at the food court sharing frozen yogurt with a group of girls from a suburb over?”
Spending time at Northbrook Court was different from modern activities today, where everything appears to be scheduled.
“I missed the immediacy of everybody being in one spot and the commitment to just hang,” Josh says. “So much of adult friendships are doing a thing, and that’s not what the mall was…it was to go and just be present with one another, … and that’s certainly harder to capture these days.”
While the mall itself might still exist, the freedom of exploring a location where a wide range of possible scenarios can occur is an aspect of mall culture Josh feels has been left in the past.
“I don’t see mall rats at a mall anymore; I see people shopping like they’re there with an intention, or I see people going to the restaurant,” Josh says. “It’s a place where … older people like myself will go to walk around, but it’s not the same…it’s not ‘let’s go hang and see what happens’.”
Josh believes one thing society is missing are more open spaces where people can idle and enjoy each other’s company in a non-structured, face-toface entertainment.
“We’re telling people to always be present, enjoy space, but at the same time we’re like ‘but not here,’” Josh says. “The mall for me was that kind of opportunity to be present and you didn’t have to pay for it, … and how cool if we could bring that back in some way.”
While the future for malls remains uncertain, creative renovations are in the process of rejuvenation.
According to Patrick Soleymani, malls around the world are offering shoppers and other visitors experiences like never before. Dubbed “shoptainment,” malls are providing consumers with diverse combinations of fun activities and shopping, from incorporating augmented reality to adventure parks.
Soleymani, an associate dean and associate professor at George Mason University, describes shoptainment as a leisure activity virtual settings can’t replicate; it incorporates businesses typically not present in shopping malls.
“Shopping malls now are not only providing some sort of entertainment, but they are bringing in artifacts that represent today’s life into the shopping centers for people to interact with,” Soleymani says. “So if electric vehicles [EVs] are the new thing, they’re bringing EVs into the shopping malls.”
Shoptainment combines various activities from shopping to watching movies innovatively to ice skating.
“You’re not just going to purchase something; you’re also going to be entertained and to socialize with others,” Soleymani says. “For example, an upscale bowling alley was put into a luxury indoor shopping mall here at the [Tysons] Galleria…so people are doing shopping and also bowling.”
So much of adult friendships are doing a thing, and that’s not what the mall was… it was to go and just be present with one another, and that’s certainly harder to capture these days.”
- Josh Fisher, Ball State professor
What works with shoptainment is attracting shoppers and other visitors enough to keep them inside the malls the second they walk in. In other words, a shopper might visit a mall just to walk around, but as soon as they enter the building, they’re exposed to various attractions and products that keep them from leaving.
“[Retailers] believe that if they’re able to get your foot through the front door, they’re already very much ahead of the game,” Soleymani says. “Getting you into the shopping center … provides
an opportunity for the people in the middle of the shopping malls that now have all those stands to be able to sell you something, for you to do any window shopping, … or quickly make a right or left turn into a store.”
Beyond providing visitors with entertainment, shoptainment also adds technological components. From selfie museums and combinations of online and in-store pickup, malls are integrating the physical and virtual worlds together for an all-encompassing customer experience.
Soleymani views customer experience as a critical aspect not just in malls but the American economy as a whole; it’s an experience no one can receive as authentically as with in-person shopping.
“Americans are known for their belief in serving the customer, and sometimes technology does not allow us to do that as effectively as we want to,” Soleymani says.
According to Deloitte, COVID-19related shutdowns increased bankruptcy filings for over 50 retailers in 2020. It also played a huge role in rejuvenating them.
1907
A set of stores institute off-street parking in a neighborhood in Baltimore.
1931
The “Highland Park Shopping Village” is welcomed in Dallas, as the set of shops are the first to be placed away from the road with their own parking lot.
1960
14% of retail sales come from malls. The U.S. now has 4,500 malls.
1987
50% of retail dollars are being spent at malls. This is thanks to the 30,000 malls that now reside in the U.S.
Many people missed going to shopping malls with friends and family after a year stuck in a lockdown with a lengthy layoff from face-to-face social interaction.
According to McGraw Hill, malls and other outlets reported a 93.9% occupancy rate during June 2022. While Soleymani claims occupancy rates for shopping malls don’t match numbers before the pandemic hit, he mentions a steady increase last year from a 2021 occupancy rate of 91.8%.
But Soleymani is also skeptical about how long this pattern will last, since in a future where people might accept less social interaction as time out of isolation shrinks, it’ll be up to the shopping malls to keep people engaged and wanting more.
1922
A Kansas City, Missouri, suburb welcomes “The Country Club Plaza,” a set of stores available only by car.
1956
A suburb in Minneapolis, gets the luxury of housing the first enclosed shopping mall, with the intention of bringing shoppers inside and out of rough weather.
1975
The number of shopping malls grows to 16,400. They make up for 33% of retail sales.
Source: Association of Consumer Research Haley Boyce, Ball Bearings
Illustration by Meghan Holt
“Shopping malls have to continue being innovative and finding ways to attract people, whether it’s through consumer trends or new technology you need to experience in person,” Soleymani says. “It’s going to be very important for these shopping centers, landlords, and these retailers to think together and understand the importance of retail transformation.”
Whether or not shopping malls can adapt to demands with innovative consumer engagement in the next several years might determine whether they go missing or keep up with society just enough to remain sustainable. g
Shopping malls have to continue being innovative and finding ways to attract people, whether it’s through consumer trends or new technology you need to experience in person.”
- Patrick Soleymani, Associate dean and associate professor at George Mason UniversityIllustration
by Jessica Bergfors
By Elissa Maudlin
Looking back, Bridget Cardno said she suspected it.
Online dating was easier for her due to her shyness, and she said the person she was talking to was “sweet.” Going to the lake and hanging out, she wanted a long-term relationship, and she said she thought the person she was interacting with was a good guy.
“He had pictures of himself in the fire department, and that’s kind of what attracted me to him,” Bridget says. “Because I figured if he was in the fire department, he was a good person.”
However, not everything was what it seemed. After separation from him, Bridget realized she had fallen victim to a catfish.
Catfish, 20 5 miles away
people
As a “sociologist at heart,” Renee Lamphere, professor of sociology and criminal justice at UNC Pembroke, says she is a long-time online dater. She started dating online in 2008-09 on Match.com, she says, and in 2014-15, she went on Tinder. In total, she has experienced 15 years of online dating.
When she first started online dating, she said people would tell her to watch out for “weirdos.” However, as society has become more digitized according to Lamphere, she says online dating has become “gamified,” and has become the “great unknown.”
“I think some people still think online dating is weird or abnormal, but online dating is becoming the new way to meet people,” she says.
Lamphere compiled research on online dating scams in a paper titled, “Online Romance in the 21st Century: Deceptive Online Dating, Catfishing, Romance Scams, and ‘Mail Order’ Marriages.” She says there wasn’t much information on online dating scams compiled together before her paper was published.
R. Cocalis, whose work is cited in Lamphere’s paper, determined that one in four dating relationships begin online, and the internet is the second most common way couples meet.
According to Aisha Harris, whose research is cited in Lamphere’s paper, “Catfishing is the verb used to describe the actions of a ‘catfish,’ a person who creates falsified online profiles on social networking sites with the purpose of fraudulently seducing someone.”
Bridget says her catfish partner never went to meetings for his job when she was living with him, and she would ask to hang out at the fire department and meet his friends, which was met by his anger at her questioning.
When she did get to be around his friends, Bridget says she and the friends formed a friendship. The friends started to warn her about him, and she didn’t know who to believe.
Eventually, she and her boyfriend separated, and she later found out he was catfishing her.
In Lamphere’s paper, Lily Rotham’s research suggested revenge, loneliness, sexual identity, anxiety and low selfesteem were motivations for people who catfish. Rotham gathered this information from the MTV show “Catfish.”
Amber Carothers, director of a security-protected dating service, Indianapolis Singles, says one of the biggest barriers people face with online dating is dishonesty.
“You don’t know who you’re talking to, and you can invest a lot of time into someone who you’re interested in with no return,” Carothers says.
The biggest misconception about being catfished, Bridget says, is that people should be able to spot it right away.
“They’re really good about keeping their stories straight and making themselves seem believable,” Bridget says.
I think some people still think online dating is weird or abnormal, but online dating is becoming the new way to meet people.”
- Renee Lamphere, Professor of sociology and criminal justice at UNC Pembroke
Sometimes people will find out this person has been scamming [them] … and they don’t even care, there are some people who are like ‘I love people for the person they are.’”
- Renee Lamphere, Professor of sociology and criminal justice at UNC Pembroke
The compilation of research in Lamphere’s paper references the Romantic Beliefs Scale, made by Susan Sprecher and Sandra Metts. This scale measures people’s beliefs on whether love can overcome obstacles, whether people have a “one and only idealization” and whether they believe in “love at first sight.”
In Lamphere’s paper, Tom Buchanan and Monica T. Whitty hypothesized from their own research that those who score higher on the Romantic Beliefs Scale are more likely to be victimized by catfishing and online dating fraud.
Buchanan and Whitty also said those wanting “new, complex, intense sensations” may be willing to take more risks with their finances and well-being. This could lead them into an online dating scheme.
However, finding who is a typical victim for online scams is difficult, according to Lamphere’s paper.
In her paper, she says this is due to having reliable statistics since many victims don’t go to the police. The paper says some reasons for this can include embarrassment, feeling police can’t help them or not knowing they are a victim, citing research from M. Button, A. King and J. Thomas and A. Rege.
“It made me not want to ever talk to him again,” Bridget says, referring back to how she felt when she realized she had been catfished.
Buchanan and Whitty, in a 20-person study in 2016 cited in Lamphere’s research, determined all respondents were negatively affected by being the victim of scamming.
Lamphere says in her research paper many people report feeling the loss of the relationship, even if it was a scam, especially those people who did not lose money through the scam. She says that it was “double grieving,” since victims were not only feeling the effects of the scam but also the loss of their relationship.
“Sometimes people will find out this person has been scamming [them] … and they don’t even care, there are some people who are like ‘I love people for the person they are,’” Lamphere says but notes that it is rare.
Whitty and Buchanan’s research indicated that some victims may feel more embarrassment if they shared intimate sexual details or did sexual acts on webcam for the scammer.
“Emotions such as fear, anxiety, anger, and depression are often reported. A victim may feel embarrassed that he or she fell for an online dating scam, which can affect a person’s overall online experiences,” Lamphere wrote in her article based on Rege’s research.
“Awareness is a huge thing, people just need to be aware,” Lamphere says.
Lamphere gave multiple points on how people can prevent themselves from being scammed through online dating.
• Be aware of love bombing, or the act of lavishing a partner with the intention of manipulating or influencing them.
• Be aware if they ask for money and act like it’s for the victim’s benefit. For example, if a catfisher says they want to see a victim but don’t have the money for it or if the catfisher provides a “guilt story.”
• Look to see if a potential partner is asking questions but not answering questions.
• Do simple background checks on people — make sure a potential partner has photo verification.
• Video chat and meet in a public space early on.
• Reverse Google Images or check to see if a potential partner is using images others catfishers are using.
• Don’t send sexual photos or private information since that information can be used for extortion later on.
At Indianapolis Singles, Carothers says applicants are put through screenings, interviews, provide identification, have a background check and make a financial investment to be a part of the service. Carothers and the company say this helps prevent dating scams.
Although she doesn’t fully discourage online dating, Carothers says the people with good intentions are “few and far between.”
One thing Bridget took away from her experience is the importance of face-to-face contact in some form.
“[You should] really get to know the person and ask for pictures,” she says, “and not just text but Facetime so you can actually see the person and know it’s the same person that you are looking at the pictures of.” g
On a typical Saturday afternoon, the parking lot near 3 Hermanos Supermarket off of Wheeling Avenue in Muncie can be seen filled with people and cars. Music can be heard from open windows of trucks, and people scatter in and out of the small market, either joining or leaving the line that’s formed down the center of the store.
Smells of tamales and pan dulce dance around the room, wafting through the aisles alongside decorations, canned and boxed foods, fresh fruits, and vegetables.
Prior to starting the business in September 2019, store owner David Cayetano-Jacinto had one goal in mind: Atender a la comunidad latina — serving the Latino community.
According to 2022 U.S. Census Bureau data, people of Hispanic or Latinx origin account for 3.4% of Muncie’s population. This roughly equates to 2,220 individuals, making up the second-largest minority group in the area behind African Americans. Despite this, markets like 3 Hermanos are lacking within the Muncie area in comparison to other Central Indiana cities like Anderson and Indianapolis, where there are more than 20 tiendas mexicanas combined.
“Given that there were no other stores like this in the area, the idea was to offer Mexican products to the community,” David says.
Among the store’s offerings are wellknown snacks like Takis. The parent company of Takis, Grupo Bimbo, is one of Mexico’s most popular food brands, according to Statista. Additionally, data from Reuters reports the food giant saw a 526% surge in net profit during the fourth quarter of 2022. To David, seeing brands like these on shelves locally is important for a multitude of reasons.
“It’s about making our culture known, but also about offering a certain type of service to the Latino community,” he says, “because not everyone drives, and not everyone has the ability to leave 30 minutes or an hour from Muncie.”
However, a Saturday at the shop did not always have cars in the parking lot or lines in the aisle. When initially opening the store, David and the small family team working beside him did it “with a lot of sacrifices,” according to Jovita JacintoRamírez, the aunt and coworker of store owner David.
On that same typical busy Saturday, Jovita can be found in the aisles adjusting merchandise, filling the fridges with fresh beverages, packing meats or selling pupusas. She describes these activities as “the norm.”
She sits down at the table for the second time after briefly leaving to help customers and smiles for a moment.
“You know, when there’s work, you have to take advantage of that opportunity,” she says, “... but I’m ready.”
3 Hermanos Supermarket was built up from scratch.
“It wasn’t a situation where we were already a business, and we just bought [a store space],” Jovita says. “From the beginning, we were figuring out how to do the job.”
It’s about making our culture known, but also about offering a certain type of service to the Latino community.”
- David Cayetano-Jacinto, Owner of 3 Hermanos Supermarket
She says the customers came one by one. While there was a lot of fear regarding the success of the business, this slow start allowed the staff to truly get to know their customers.
“We know them all as good people and good customers,” Jovita says. “In the beginning, we all kept thinking to ourselves, ‘Will this work? Will this not work?’ … We had all of our savings in it.”
Those doubts are no longer, she says. Now, Jovita describes the strong sense of community that exists at the store, even among the employees. She says they all work together, and there is no one boss. The customers treat her “con mucho respeto,” something she attributes in part to her familial relationship with David.
“[David] is my nephew, and the customers know I’m tía … so they come, and they say to me, ‘tía, ¿cómo está?’” she chuckles. “Now I’m not just my nephew’s aunt, I’m the customers’ aunt too.”
When discussing Muncie’s current lack of resources like markets for Latinx populations, Jennifer Erickson, a cultural anthropologist and the assistant chair of the Department of Anthropology at Ball State University, drew connections to the city’s new status as a resettlement city.
In September 2021, the Muncie Afghan Refugee Resettlement Committee (MARRC) was created to help those fleeing Afghanistan following the withdrawal of U.S. troops in the country. It ended in October of the following year. The committee consisted of several subcommittees addressing various issues in the community, such as housing, education, and employment.
Products from Barcel, a subcompany of Grupo Bimbo, sit on shelves next to boots at 3 Hermanos Supermarket in Muncie, Ind. April 16, 2023. J. Doudt, Ball Bearings
Purple corn kernels used to make dough fills a metal cup at 3 Hermanos Supermarket in Muncie, Ind. April 16, 2023. J. Doudt, Ball Bearings
However, Erickson noted a difference between these refugees and, more specifically, undocumented immigrant populations: the way they are legally classified. Afghan refugees are said to be “humanitarian evacuees,” a legal classification which leads to more access to resources not available for other populations, she says.
“[Afghans] have legal protections in ways that undocumented migrants do not, so they have access to a range of services that undocumented migrants do not,” she says.
In addition to this, Erickson highlighted some of the similarities in inequities that both refugee and immigrant populations face, such as language barriers or reasoning for fleeing their birth countries, such as violence and poverty. She also pointed out an increasing number of jobs available in Muncie, something she said can lead to immigration and refugee resettlement being used as economic incentives for cities.
She stressed the need for economic incentive to be very broad, or in other words, the need for systems to support those workers who are being used to stimulate the economy.
“People are more than workers. They also have families, they have lives, they have needs: educational needs, daycare needs, social service needs, mental health
needs,” Erickson says, “and so, to only look at this as ‘oh, we need workers; let’s bring these people here’ is really problematic.”
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Hispanics are projected to account for 78% of net new workers between 2020 and 2030. However, Hispanics are overrepresented in service occupations, with the population making up 27.3% of people in food preparation or serving jobs, for example.
While individuals like David fight to make Muncie’s Latinx presence more known and more comfortable, Erickson still sees a lack of systemic progress in Muncie to support various vulnerable populations. She says looking at the bigger picture is key, and it is often what individual activists have the hardest time doing.
“I think sometimes with any activist movement … that wants to work with vulnerable populations, it is very easy to get so immersed in the everyday, urgent crisis of the population that they don’t necessarily have the time or energy or the desire to step back and look at the big picture,” she says.
Erickson recommended working with researchers to help better strengthen systems. Still, she underscored the importance of making sure the responsibility of providing resources for vulnerable populations does not fall solely on the individual.
“I’ve found that in my work, it’s not possible for one organization to do the work …” she says. “It needs to be a whole community. We need systems in place, not individuals, to make Muncie a welcoming place.”
When asked how he felt about 3 Hermanos Supermarket being the only Mexican market in Muncie, David acknowledged both benefits and downsides.
“It’s good, because in one way, there’s no competition on the corner, but it can affect the pricing because if it’s really expensive, some people may go to Anderson or Indianapolis,” he says.
David is thankful to God, the state of Indiana and the Muncie community for the support. Jovita invites everyone to come visit.
“I’ll help you with a lot of kindness and respect for whatever you need, whether it’s food, something else,” she says, “And I say all are welcome, and so are you.” g
Now I’m not just my nephew’s aunt, I’m the customers’ aunt too.”
-Jovita Jacinto-Ramírez, Aunt and coworker of store owner
Amanda Erk always thought her parents met in a twist of fate.
Her dad, Bob, was 18 years old and stationed in Texas for the Air Force. He often found himself feeling bored during his free time and complained about this to one of his fellow soldiers, Buddy.
Buddy told Bob that he should write to his wife’s younger sister, Karen. He handed him a photo of her and promised that she loved to write and would for sure write back to him.
So, Bob wrote Karen a letter.
Even though Buddy promised she would write back, Karen never did. Buddy had given Bob a photo of Karen that he’d sent in his letter along with a photo of himself.
To her disdain though, the photo was her sophomore yearbook picture, taken right after gym class. Mortified, she didn’t write back.
Eventually though, Bob and Karen’s paths would cross again, leading them to officially meet, date, and later, marry.
The idea of two people or two experiences coming together at the right time is the premise of the theory of synchronicity.
According to Psychology Today, the theory of synchronicity was first founded and defined in the 1900s by Carl Jung, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst.
The idea of synchronicity can be viewed as meaningful coincidences. The theory runs on the idea that two unlinked, individual experiences can be interlaced.
Other examples of synchronicity may be seeing the same number or word repeatedly, or something as coincidental as dreaming about someone, then running into them in person.
It’s not uncommon for those who experience a synchronistic event to believe it’s a sign from some higher power, however, a majority of scientists believe these events are simply coincidental.
For Karen and Bob, their story only became more synchronous when Karen found herself working at a restaurant a year later.
The restaurant Karen was working at had a specific layout in terms of the break rooms. The women's break room was kept separate from the men’s, but everyone had to clock in and out on the side of the women’s.
She had some male coworkers needing to be clocked out, so she offered to do it for them. Her coworkers, one being new, only referred to as “trainee Bob,” gave her their timecards.
Karen recognized trainee Bob’s last name as soon as she saw his timecard. It was the same as that boy who had written to her from a Texas Air Force base.
It’s not uncommon for those who experience a synchronistic event to believe it’s a sign from some higher power. However, a majority of scientists believe these events are simply coincidental.”Karen Erk smiles in her high school senior yearbook photo. Amanda Erk, Photo Provided Bob and Karen Erk cut the cake on their wedding day. Amanda Erk, Photo Provided - Haley Boyce, Editor-In-Chief
Do you ever look at the clock and see the same repeating numbers or a number sequence? Below are common angel number combinations and what they mean according to Ryan Hart, a writer and researcher in relationship science.
Hope is near! You may experience a new beginning soon or even find a burst of creativity soon.
After clocking them out, Karen decided to get to the bottom of this. She walked back over to her coworkers.
“Were you in the Air Force?” She asked Bob.
Seeing this sequence may mean you’re being too hard on yourself, you have unused potential within, or a reward will be coming to you soon.
“Yeah, why?” He wasn’t rude, but rather clip. She kept going.
“Did you do basics in Texas with a guy named Buddy?”
“Yeah, why?”
She’d heard enough. She pulled out her wallet and showed him a picture.
Your guardian angel might be near. This repetition of numbers commonly represents love and protection. It can also symbolize the importance of trusting your intuition.
It was Bob’s photo he had sent to her in that letter. Even though she never wrote back, she’d always kept his photo in her wallet.
Karen and Bob like to say the rest is history after this reconnection. He initially felt bad about the whole encounter and begged Karen to let him take her out, which she declined several times.
One day though, Karen accepted the offer. They arranged a pizza date. Bob knew this was the woman he was going to marry.
Seeing 444 may mean that big change is coming. If you’ve recently encountered conflict with someone, it may also mean that justice will soon be served.
Three to four weeks after their date, they were married. Even more coincidental, when Karen was trying on wedding dresses, she was unknowingly fitted by Bob’s cousin. She didn’t learn of this relation until her bridal shower the next day.
Amanda says when telling her this story, Karen would say, “Sometimes, you just have to read the signs.”
Ball State assistant professor of art Kristin Reeves also experienced the phenomenon of synchronicity years ago when she was in New York City for a conference.
One night after the conference, Kristin and about 50 other artists went to a satellite event for experimental cinema in relation to art. The event featured screenings and simple conversations. Afterwards, Kristin found herself walking to the subway alongside a fellow conference-goer.
They started to chat. He had asked her where she was originally from.
“Well, originally Indiana, but a smalltown in Indiana,” she told him.
To her surprise, he revealed he was also from a small town in Indiana. She shared that her hometown was close to Fort Wayne. He said the same.
Even more coincidental, when she told him she was from the town of Huntington, he shared that that was also his small hometown.
Their conversation led them to talk about where exactly they lived in Huntington. Kristin told him she had lived on a country road that didn’t really have a name.
Somehow, two former strangers who had both lived in the same town two doors down from each other were now walking the same street in New York City together.
The other artist she was talking to was a little older than Kristin, explaining why she never knew him personally.
Their conversation later revealed other small connections the two had, beyond just similar Facebook friends. The man’s dad was her family’s insurance provider. When Kristin’s brother had been in two small car accidents in a row, the artist’s dad came to her house to sort things out.
Kristin hesitates to say it was fate but thinks some kind of force causes people’s paths to cross.
“[It] makes us take notice of how small the world can be sometimes,” she says.
This synchronous meeting also made her wonder about their experiences growing up and how they both ended up interested in the same field of art.
“We were both looking out at the same landscape and now we're both pursuing similar paths,” she says. “[This kind of visual career path in art] wasn’t something either of us knew anything about because it didn’t exist in our world.”
She describes the experience as “remarkable.”
Kristin’s coincidences surrounding her hometown don’t stop there. Kristin is from Huntington, Indiana, whereas her husband grew up in Huntington, New York.
While there isn’t an exact reason as for how these coincidences happen, they have the ability to change a person’s life.
For Bob and Karen, this was their marriage. Their synchronous union is now coming up on its 48th anniversary. g
[It] makes us take notice of how small the world can be sometimes.”
- Kristin Reeves, Assistant professor of art
The long cold hallway. Beeping coming from every room. Fluorescent lights every 10 steps … I counted.
I hold my father’s hand as we approach the room that she’s in. As of right now, she still hasn’t woken up. Tears fill my eyes as we step into her room.
My mother’s stroke came out of nowhere. She was one of the healthiest people I knew, so for her to have a stroke was a shock to everyone.
When her stroke happened, she changed so much as a person; losing her memories of my father and I, only remembering up until my second brother was a baby, and having short term memory loss. She struggled remembering a lot of what was told to her after 20 minutes. My mother needed constant care.
At the recommendation of the state, it was best for my mother to go live with her mom. As she walked out the door on my 12th birthday to go get medical help, the hole in my heart got a little bigger.
It’s been 11 years without my mom. For three years after her stroke, I had to become a helping hand in taking care of her.
But without her in my life, I had to learn everything from my father. My father taught me how to put my hair in a ponytail, shave, and even how to use period products as I grew older.
Not having my mother hurt, but sometimes the best lessons get taught in the hardest ways.
7.2 million
Data from the 2022 release of America’s Families and Living Arrangements reports that 20% of single-parent households are maintained by a father.
Finding friends was difficult. Girls seemed to connect through clothing styles or makeup. I never knew much about that until I found friends willing to teach me or watched YouTube tutorials. I’ve always felt different from other girls and women around me.
While my father gave me a loving and supportive home and a childhood that I can proudly say is mine, I still missed my mother. I missed the experiences we could have had. The trips to the mall to choose my prom dress or the dress I would graduate high school in. The family vacations she’s missed to Cedar Point and Florida.
I wish my mother could know me now and be proud of who I am and want to become. I wish she could see me graduate college, start my career, get married, and have a family. She’ll never get to meet my kids or my brothers’ kids.
The toughest part is not remembering my mother as the person she was before her stroke and hearing all the stories about her. My father always says that I have all the good qualities of her, and that makes me glad, but I can’t remember those. As the years go by, the memories fade more and more.
When her stroke happened my mind struggled to remember her. She never remembered me; she would often think I was her sister. These changes caused me to lose more of the memories I had of my mother before her stroke.
While my father gave me a loving and supportive home and a childhood that I can proudly say is mine, I still missed my mother.”
My best friend likes to point out that I talk about my mother like I have two of them. In my mind I do. I have my mom before her stroke, the one who gave me life and raised me for nine years. Then I have the mom who I helped take care of for three years — the one who didn’t know me and thought I was her younger sister.
The first time my best friend brought up my “two mothers,” I realized that I talked like that. I never comprehended that I truly do have two different versions of my mom. My mind automatically split the versions of her without me realizing.
As a child, that was how I comprehended a lot of what was going on. No one sugar coated this situation for me. How can you sugar coat that your mother doesn’t know you anymore?
You can’t.
A piece in my heart will always be missing. My mother wasn’t there to watch me become the woman I am now or teach me what I need to know about life.
But I learned something along the way.
How can you sugar coat that your mother doesn’t know you anymore?”
I learned to appreciate my father more for everything he does. Living a life with a single parent who is so involved makes me see the joy in the little things in life.
It has made me see that the smaller memories are meant to be cherished. Every laugh I have shared with my father and all of our road trips, whether it’s to New Orleans or to the store, are cherished memories I’ll keep forever.
It’s made me see life in a special way where sometimes the time with your loved ones is more important than anything else.
Even though my mother is still alive, I wish I had the opportunity to make more memories with her and cherish them the way I do now with my father.
The missing piece of my mother in my life has brought challenges that I never thought I would go through, but it has made me appreciate the people in my life.
My mother will always be in my heart. Her memories will always make me smile, but the day I stepped through the hospital room doors in tears, I knew I’d have to miss her forever g
The 2000s were a time of rapid tech innovation. Instead of classic flip phones, our cell phones became sleek, small touch-screen computers. Bluetooth earpieces dominated the business world. USB flash drives made data storage easier than ever. But adults in the business world weren’t the only ones to experience this technological boom. Children’s worlds were revolutionized by the changing landscape of games and toy manufacturing. Suddenly, it was easier than ever to play video games whenever and wherever you wanted. Digital pets could keep you company from the comfort of your pocket. Toys became more intelligent. But, not all of this great technology was destined to live forever. Here are six discontinued toys from our childhood.
A look into the discontinued tech and toys of the 2000s.Illustration by Meghan Holt
Released: 2005
Discontinued: 2017
When Apple noticed the extreme popularity of the iPod’s shuffle feature, the company chose to release a smaller, cheaper alternative to their world-changing invention: the iPod Shuffle. The iPod Shuffle allowed users to load up to 240 songs onto the device. Then, they could shuffle their entire library with just a flip of a switch. Their design also captured Apple’s trademark sleekness and innovation: the first iPod Shuffle was no larger than a USB stick, but each new iteration saw the device get smaller and thinner. This made them extremely portable. The second generation of the device even introduced a built-in clip that allowed the iPod Shuffle to be easily worn. Its stardom was also undeniable: according to Apple’s 2005 CFO Peter Oppenheimer, the iPod Shuffle had captured 58% of the “flash-based digital media players” market by May of 2005. Combining portability with popularity means the iPod Shuffle undoubtedly scored many epic playground tales and family road trips.
Released: 2005
Discontinued: 2009
Created by Sega Toys, the iDog was a robotic companion to popular MP3 players of the time (namely: Apple’s iPod). The dog-shaped robot could play music, interact with its owner through lights and sounds, and it could even bust a move. The iDog loved to dance– or, more accurately: wiggle its ears and head from time to time. Its relationship to music was the main feature of the toy. It could play and react to its own music, but it could also listen and react to music around it. The iDog could even develop its own personality based on the music it listened to, and would indicate its emotions using the multi-colored LED lights in its head. Though the iDog was first released in Japan, once Hasbro, a prominent American gaming company, brought it to the U.S., it went insanely viral. It spawned a line of several more ‘iCreatures’, such as the iCat, iFish, iCy and iTurtle. The iDog even had enough fame to have its own song: “Me, My Music and My iDog” by UK singer Jesta.
Released: 2006
Discontinued: 2011
The Nintendo DS Lite was a slick, new iteration of Nintendo’s previous handheld console, the Nintendo DS (and it came in many different, customizable colors). The console itself, however, was merely a vehicle for some of the most popular handheld games of the mid2000s: “New Super Mario Bros”, “Nintendogs,” and “Mario Kart DS” were the kings of the Nintendo DS Lite. MTV even reported that “New Super Mario Bros” gained enough popularity to take home the 2006 Teen Choice Awards title of “Choice Video Game.” And, of course, “Mario Kart DS” was the party game that took field trip bus rides by storm. The extreme portability of the console was key in contributing to its popularity. This portability allowed it to be played any time, any place. Combining this with the wide array of games unlike those on other consoles meant the Nintendo DS Lite had something for everyone, making it one of the most iconic pieces of tech from the 2000s.
Released: 2006
Discontinued: 2013
Nintendo’s Wii was a revolutionary console that introduced motion sensing technology to at-home gaming. This new technology allowed for the gameplay of “Wii Sports” to be possible. The motion sensing technology contributed a new and exciting feeling to virtual sports from bowling to baseball. Because each Wii came with “Wii Sports”, it quickly became a subject of many family game nights. Beyond “Wii Sports”, though, the Wii housed many iconic titles: including “Mario Kart Wii”, “New Super Mario Bros. Wii”, the “Just Dance” series, and a small number of Mario Party titles. These games were popular in all kinds of environments, from esports to school dances to simple hangouts among friends. “Mario Kart Wii” even gained enough stardom to earn it the title of “Favorite Video Game” at Nickelodeon’s 2010 Kids’ Choice Awards.
Released: 2005
Discontinued: 2009
Pixel Chix was a Mattel-owned brand that was marketed to younger girls looking to hop on the Tamagotchi craze. It combined hand-held plastic elements, such as a molded plastic room and uniquely-shaped case, with LCD screens. The screens would display a pixelated girl who could roam about the molded, plastic room as if she were really living in it. The gameplay was simple enough: feed the girl, dress her up, play games with her, and even connect two Pixel Chix toys together to have each ‘Pixel Chix pal’ meet each other and have fun. According to Mattel, the aim of the game was to level up your Pixel Chix pal to unlock new games, fashion, and more–but leave her alone for too long and she would walk out on you completely. There were certain efforts from Mattel to expand the toy line, such as the Pixel Pets, which played with the screen-flipping gimmick of the main toyline to introduce the idea of pets having their own secret lives. However, Tamagotchi outlived the brand after Pixel Chix was discontinued by Mattel in 2009.
Released: 2009
Discontinued: 2018
Made by Cepia LLC, these robotic hamsters were a hit with kids in 2009. The Zhu Zhu Pets each came with their own name and personality. The toys also bore a unique symbol on their backs, which could be pressed in order to make them roam around their environment. A no-mess, robotic Zhu Zhu Pet is no doubt an easier replacement to take care of rather than a living creature, especially for an audience of young children desperate for a pet. According to the American Pet Products Association, small animals, including hamsters, sit in over 6.2 million American households. The Zhu Zhu Pet design had cute elements, like fun colors and features that were definitely popular with kids– popular enough to generate several video games (including some for the Nintendo DS and Wii), as well as several animated films. Unfortunately, Zhu Zhu Pets were quietly discontinued in 2013 only to be revived in 2016 and then discontinued again in 2018. g
Growing up, Kadee Klafka, registered nurse, always wanted to help others. She always imagined herself in healthcare and always had a curiosity for medicine.
“There were different times in my life where I thought I’d be a doctor,” she says. “In the end when it came down to making these important decisions, nursing seemed like the most clear path for me, and I knew I’d really enjoy it.”
Kadee, a nurse at IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital where she works in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, experienced loss of passion due to job burnout in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. She says in critical care nursing, days are always full of paying very close attention to her patients and their needs.
“Compassion fatigue is a big thing I think most of us experienced during COVID,” she says. “I saw so much hardship, fear, pain, suffering, that there were periods where I felt completely detached from what I was doing. I was cynical, I felt like I wasn’t doing any good for my patients. It all felt hopeless.”
According to the Mayo Clinic, job burnout is a unique type of work-related stress. It is a state of physical or emotional exhaustion that also involves a sense of reduced accomplishment and loss of personal identity.
“There were days I didn’t want to go back to work,” says Kadee. “They were exhausting and draining, and I was already out of energy to give.”
According to the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences some causes of burnout within the nursing field include lack of support, emotional strain, long hours, lack of sleep, and high rates of turnover causing low-staffing issues within hospitals.
“We nurses work 12 hours straight,” says Kadee. “During COVID, we were faced with so much more stress and workload. I would come home, maybe have a difficult time sleeping, and would need a full day of doing absolutely nothing to recover.”
Kadee says that because COVID had such a severe effect on her, she fought
with friends and family over vaccination status while simultaneously worrying about her patients she had just taken care of in her previous shift. Doing this for months on end led her to a place where she could not care anymore.
It was a place where she became a robot — did what needed to be done and went home, again and again.
“I don’t think you normally feel burnout set in,” she says. “It creeps up slowly until you start recognizing you are tired all the time or don’t have the mental or physical capacity to care about the things you once did. You start asking yourself, ‘Why do I feel like this?’”
Kadee Klafka, Photo Provided
Nurses explain how working during the pandemic contributed to a loss of passion in their field.
I am grateful that I have found a purpose in what I am doing and that I have the opportunity to take care of our community in the way I am now.”
- Kadee Klafka, Registered nurse
Kadee realizes now that most of her friends were burnt out long before they ever recognized it in themselves. It took having conversations with one another to fully come to terms with what they were experiencing.
While she often thinks about what she would do if she were not a nurse, Kadee says that she has never fully entertained the idea or made plans to leave nursing.
“Nursing is such a broad area of practice that when it is my time to leave the bedside or critical care all together, I know there is a world of nursing positions that I can succeed in with a different pace and a different kind of stress,” she says, “... but I am grateful that I have found a purpose in what I am doing and that I have the opportunity to take care of our community in the way I am now.”
Contrary to Kadee, Summer Whelchel, certified critical care nurse, swore to herself growing up that she would never become a nurse. Having several family members who worked in the medical field, she saw how difficult the job was and knew that the schedule was less than ideal.
Summer graduated from Ball State University in 2006 with a bachelor’s degree in public relations and religious studies, but after a personal experience where she was treated by health care providers who saved her life six years after her graduation, she says she felt a strong call to become a nurse.
She went back to school to pursue nursing, left her full-time job at Sallie Mae and took a job at a hospital in Indianapolis and began taking prerequisite courses for the nursing program at Ball State.
“I wanted to help people who are routinely overlooked in our medical system such as drug addicts, people of color, women, and those with obesity,”
says Summer. “Working as a tech, I fell in love with nursing, helping people and connecting with my patients and their families. I saw it as a way I could help better the world.”
Even as a patient support technician, Summer says she frequently oriented new hires. Once she became a registered nurse, Summer often helped train new hires. She grew to enjoy the art of teaching.
The longer a shift, the more likely a nurse is to experience burnout. Nurses who work eight to nine hour-long shifts are 2.5 times less likely to experience burnout compared to nurses who work 10-13 hour-long shifts.
Regardless of the department, every environment a nurse works in brings its own set of challenges that may contribute to burnout.
Summer decided to pursue teaching and in 2021 graduated with a master’s degree from Western Governors University and began teaching part time at Indiana Wesleyan University. While burnout did not cause her to leave the hospital as a full-time nurse, Summer says that it was the catalyst for her to begin teaching full time instead of part time.
The more patients a nurse has to care for, the more likely they are to experience burnout. A nurse’s likelihood of encountering burnout syndrome increases 23% for every patient added to their shift, according to a study conducted by Marshall University.
Source: University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences
Design by Alison Smith
Summer says that working in the hospitals during COVID was “insane.” Patients who were essentially healthy besides having high blood pressure or diabetes and those who were relatively young would be admitted. She says that these patients were different from their usual patients because they were awake, alert and aware of their surroundings and would often not seem like they were in distress.
She began experiencing burnout symptoms like sleep deregulation, anxiety, anger, nightmares, panic attacks, mood swings, hypertension, and insomnia — some of the most severe symptoms according to the Mayo Clinic.
“There comes a point when you ultimately feel defeated,” she says. “You experience grief with your patients and their families, and you must suck it up and enter the next room with a smile. You have to come home, act normally and function normally as if nothing happened. You stuff it all deep inside.”
While these symptoms did not make it harder for her to go to work, Summer says that it made it harder to not take work home with her and to be the happygo-lucky mom and wife when she held the hand of three people that died that day.
“I love my patients, I love nursing, but the health care system and current health care climate make it extraordinarily difficult for bedside nursing to be a sustainable or physically-tolerated career over a long time,” Summer says.
Summer also notes that the long hours, heavy lifting, lack of staff and hard floors take an incredible toll on nurse’s bodies
in addition to the schedules, long hours, abuse, and emotional trauma.
“Some of our patients touch our hearts and become like family, and some of our patients physically assault us and verbally abuse us,” she says. “‘It’s in the job description,’ they say. ‘It’s what we sign up for,’ they say. But it’s abuse, and we shouldn’t have to stand for that.”
Summer says that teaching brought back the passion that she originally had as a new nurse. The passion her students had was contagious, and it reminded her of how she once felt. The opportunity to teach full time at Ball State became available, and she accepted.
“I love nursing, I love the hospital, and I still work there occasionally on breaks. The change has been a nice mix for me, allowing me to do two things I love,” she says. “It is a wonderful school with wonderful facilities and faculty.”
Both Summer and Kadee agree, however, that many, if not all, nurses at some point have experienced burnout and have recognized that loss of passion. Summer says that while she has never lost passion for people or for providing them with proper care, she has lost passion for the health care system.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services hospital staffing shortages peaked at 22% in January of last year.
“The issue is more complex and multifaceted than people realize,” she says. “The health care system was in trouble pre-pandemic. Then we threw a crisis on top of it. It is essential that we fix it; our lives literally depend on it.” g
The health care system was in trouble prepandemic. Then we threw a crisis on top of it. It is essential that we fix it; our lives literally depend on it.”
- Summer Whelchel, Master’s prepared, certified critical care nurse
ALL OF BALL STATE’S STUDENT MEDIA IN ONE PLACE
Illustration by Meghan Holt
“I just felt like people wanted to fit you neatly into one category,” says graduate student Isabel VazquezRowe.
When representation in the media isn’t done correctly, and more specifically in reference to the Latinx community, it can lead to shows that feature these kinds of stories to commercially underperform.
Shows that have a predominantly Latinx cast like “Gordita Chronicles” and “Gentefied” are getting canceled just at the cusp of one or two seasons.
According to research done by USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative in 2021, the total percentage of Hispanic/Latinx characters was 5% out of 51,158 characters, and across 1,300 films only 3.5% were either leads or co-leads.
The same report explained how powerful the Latinx community is in terms of consumerism and population. This community makes up $1.7 trillion in consumer spending, 25% of movie tickets sold, and 49% of the Hollywood population, which is the Mecca of filmmaking.
Assistant teaching professor of media Benjamin Strack ties it back to the people sitting behind the table.
“Every step of it has to go right for real representation to work. The studio has to actually financially want to support it, and the writer needs to have an authentic background… and then you have to have that director work with a casting agent who actually is interested in accurately representing the
people in the stories,” says Strack.
Nonetheless, when looking deeply at the issue, one can see how representation is missing both onscreen and behind the camera.
In the 2021 USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, only 4.2% of directors across 1,300 films were either Hispanic or Latinx, and the ratio of white male to Latinx directors is 50 to 1.
When looking at the statistics, Strack mentions how oftentimes cinematography is the last place where diversity hits mainly because one has to work their way up in the industry.
In order to combat these issues, Strack also mentions how the industry has begun adopting inclusion riders.
Inclusion rider is a term used to refer to people with clout who get involved in production and can negotiate a contract that states the studio and production went to great lengths to recruit and represent diversity both in front of the camera as well as behind.
Even with these measures, other issues may arise, including how one runs the risk of pinning the success of Latinx individuals in the industry on one sole person.
How Latinx stories are being mischaracterized and underrepresented within film and television.
“We claim we reached representation because there are a few super victorious folks, like anyone who’s like ‘Oh, there’s not enough Latinx representation’ and people go ‘Well Lin Manuel Miranda’... but like, that doesn’t make representation broadly accepted — that means one person made it,” says Strack.
Although the visibility of Latinx characters is there, it does not mean that there is an accurate representation of Latinx characters, according to Strack.
Out of the 94 Hispanic/Latinx characters in American films from 2019, 37.2% spoke no English, 30.5% spoke English with an accent, 13.8% were seen as impoverished, and 39.3% were seen participating in organized crime, according to the 2021 report done by USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative.
In creating these stereotypes for the Latinx community, graduate student Isabel Vazquez-Rowe recalls a moment in her life when she first saw these types of characteristics being perpetuated.
“Tom and Jerry, Speedy Gonzalez… as a child, you don’t really pick up on the jokes or the things, especially at that age… on one hand he’s kind of a lovable character. How can you not love him? But at the same time, it’s like wow, he really does have super racist qualities because not all Hispanics, not all Latinos dress, speak, or look like that.”
Apart from the stereotypes that are present regarding the Latinx community in Hollywood, another topic that pierces the community is the topic of colorism, more common in telenovelas, also known as Mexican soap operas.
The term colorism was coined by Pulitzer Prize winner Alice Walker. Colorism refers to the discrimination one faces for having a darker skin tone within the racial or ethnic group that they belong to.
White male directors outnumber Latinx directors 50 to 1.
In talking about this issue, one also notices the colonial history of Latin America which can often lead to Latinx individuals with lighter skin tones having privileges that those with darker skin tones do not, such as representation.
A 2021 Pew Research study showed that 62% of Latino individuals say that having a darker skin tone hurts their ability to get ahead, whereas 59% of Latino individuals say that having a lighter skin tone helps their ability to get ahead.
Isabel recalls a moment in her life when she started noticing a pattern in the TV shows she would watch as a kid.
“I always was surrounded by the stories of people who just looked more European in American media … these telenovela leading actors and actresses could be mistaken for being American or German,” says Isabel. “And then when you do see an indigenous person, they tend to be like the nanny or the ranchero
or the campesino and I’m just like, ‘I can’t, that’s all levels of wrong.’”
A ranchero refers to someone who lives and works on a farm, while a campesino is a term used to describe a rural farmer, with no specific relation to the land.
Oftentimes, those Latinx characters in media with darker complexions are portrayed as less than others or put to the side in comparison to the lighter-skinned characters.
Even through all these characters and displays of stereotypes, Isabel has seen a shift recently, especially in comparison to when she was younger. She mentions TV shows like “Wednesday” that feature Jenna Ortega, or Pedro Pascal in the “Mandalorian.”
However, she also talks about how important it is to not only see representation but to also see the stories that come along with the identity as well.
“[Jane The Virgin] was based about her and her experiences and her familia and I was almost starstruck by the fact that I was seeing all of a sudden Hispanic or Latinx stories being told. It also focuses a lot on the grandmother’s experience with being undocumented,” says Isabel.
It is not just important to Isabel to see visibility in Hollywood but to also honor the stories that come behind it as well.
Still, making sure that these stories are getting told properly all falls back to one concept: money.
Tom and Jerry, Speedy
Gonzalez… as a child, you don’t really pick up on the jokes or the things, especially at that age… on one hand he’s kind of a lovable character. How can you not love him? But at the same time, it’s like wow, he really does have super racist qualities because not all Hispanics, not all Latinos dress, speak, or look like that.”
- Isabel Vazquez-Rowe, Graduate student
Assistant professor for the Department of Communications Scarlett Hester explains, “I think unfortunately everything in the U.S. especially comes back to capitalism … so ideally it would be that those in power, those with the money to support projects would bring people on to consult on projects who identify in a variety of different ways.”
Strack also adds to this account “... the people with money, all they see [movies featuring a diverse cast] as is a risk, and they see … making [movies] for white male audiences as the least risk, and the further out you go from that, the more risk there is.”
In not taking this risk, and not letting the stories of Latinx individuals be heard, the Latinx community can go through what is known as symbolic annihilation.
“If you don’t see yourself represented on the screen or in any type of media its difficult to think that your voice matters
or that the issues that your community faces matter, because in a lot of ways what we see in the media provides like a human aspect to people, its humanizing to see yourself on TV,” Hester defines.
When surrounded by white eurocentric stories, Isabel recalls moments in her career when she would only write about “white, cis characters.”
“So, it kind of goes hand in hand you know with all these white stories in media or literature surrounding me, [it] caused me to really write and focus on that and tell those kinds of stories,” says Isabel.
In the end, it all comes down to what you are streaming. Are you watching TV shows that have both on-screen and offscreen representation? Does the media accurately depict this representation? Or is it doing more harm than good?
“The burden shouldn’t fall solely on [the Latinx community] to do it, and it shouldn’t in an ideal world,” says Isabel.
However, Isabel also mentions how we can start having these important conversations.
“I think the most impact we can have on each other is to be united … in order to let those Latinx stories be represented … we have to find our community first and then talk together [about] how we can do it.” g
I think the most impact we can have on each other is to be united … in order to let those Latinx stories be represented … we have to find our community first and then talk together [about] how we can do it.”
- Isabel Vazquez-Rowe, Graduate student
Illustration by Meghan Holt
