Chicagomaroon012618

JANUARY 26, 2018

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892

VOL. 129, ISSUE 24

BANNON INVITED, CAMPUS REACTS

“I firmly believe that the current problems in America cannot be solved by demonizing who think differently.”

—Luigi Zingales “Say it loud and say it clear: stop inviting fascists here!”

—Protest Chant “The University supports the ability of protesters and invited speakers to express a wide range of view.”

—Univ. Statement

Defne Anlas

“Professor Zingales has the right to invite Bannon to speak, but he should have known better” —SG Leadership “We believe that Bannon should This article is by Katie Akin, Euirim Choi, and Pete Grieve Far-right strategist Steve Bannon has accepted an invita-

tion from Booth professor Luigi Zingales to speak on campus.

According to a statement by the News Office, the event will likely be a debate between Ban-

non and an opposing expert on globalization and immigration.

Although the University neither endorses nor opposes any Continued on page 2

People opposed to the decision to invite Bannon gathered outside the Harper Center Thursday morning. Photo of the issue

by Brooke Nagler.

not be afforded the platform and opportunity to air his hate speech on this campus.”

—Faculty Petition

New Details, Concerns About Planned Dorm Aired at Town Hall

BY CAROLINE KUBZANSKY NEWS REPORTER

New details about the University’s recently announced dorm were provided Wednesday to Woodlawn residents who will be its neighbors. Some attendees at the town hall expressed concern about the project.

Plans to build a new 1,200-person dorm south of the Midway were announced Tuesday in a statement from Dean of the College John W. Boyer. The new dorm, called the Woodlawn Residential Commons, will be located just north of East 61st Street between South University and South

Woodlawn Avenues. The Maroon had previously reported on plans to build a dorm at the site, which is the current location of a parking lot behind the Harris School.

The dorm will accommodate students in 11 three-floor houses, according to the announcement, and will feature a new dining commons. With over a thousand residents, it will be the university’s largest dorm to date.

Construction will begin in the summer of 2018 and is meant to be completed in advance of the 2020–21 academic year. According to a University press release, Elkus Manfredi Architects will Continued on page 3

Courtesy of the University of Chicago

Rendering of the new residential commons were revealed at a town hall meeting on Wednesday.

Crossword: Addressed

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Calculating Educational Inequity Page 4

Paul Heyer at the MCA Page 6

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THE CHICAGO MAROON - JANUARY 26, 2018

Events 1/26–29

Nearly 50 Professors Sign Letter of Protest

Today No Bannon: Open Organizing Meeting University Church, 3 p.m.

This event, planned in response to the news that former Trump adviser Steve Bannon has accepted an invitation to speak on campus, is open to the public.

The Last Days of Revolution Smart Museum of Art, 6 p.m.

The Smart marks the closing of Revolution Every Day with a reading by Russian poet Kirill Medvedev. Medvedev and the exhibition curators will discuss the relationship between art and revolutionary ideals and practices. A reception will follow.

Saturday Uchi-Con 2018 Ida Noyes, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

The 17th annual gathering of anime fans at and around the University of Chicago is hosted by the University of Chicago Japanese Animation Society.

Some organizers brought materials to make signs before the protest began.

Sunday

Continued from front

UBallet Presents: “Cinderella” Performance Hall, Logan Center for the Arts, 2 p.m.

The University Ballet of Chicago will perform their winter full-length performance of “Cinderella,” featuring music by Prokofiev.

Advance tickets, which can be purchased online, are $10 for general admission and $5 for students. Tickets at the door will be $12 for general admission and $7 for students.

Monday A Safer or More Dangerous World? Nuclear Weapons in Today’s Global Community Room 122, Regenstein Library, 5:30 p.m.

A discussion on the role of nuclear weapons in the world, featuring UChicago professors Austin Carson, Robert Pape, Paul Poast, and Paul Staniland in conversation with Steve Edwards.

Support Our Advertisers Page 3: The MLK Initiative will host speakers on Saturdays from noon to 2 p.m. in the lead-up to the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s assassination. This week, educators present the Prison and Neighborhood Arts Project.

Online: Master of Science in Financial Engineering at University of Illinois—apply for Fall 2018 at msfe.illinois.edu.

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speaking events organized by faculty, the News Office reaffirmed the University’s commitment to “the values of academic freedom, the free expression of ideas, and the ability of faculty and students to invite the speakers of their choice.”

Although a date for the event has not been set, numerous campus groups have already issued statements urging the University to rescind the invitation.

Yesterday morning, approximately 100 protesters gathered outside the Booth School of Business, holding signs and chanting: “Say it loud and say it clear, stop inviting fascists here” and “Disinvite!

Disinvite!”

Sam Joyce, a Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) organizer, addressed the crowd. “[The administration is] saying that they value whatever it is that Steve Bannon is supposed to contribute over the values of inclusion, diversity, and making sure that everyone in the campus community feels like they have a place here.”

The protest was organized by 11 student activist groups, including the YDSA, UChicago Socialists, UChicago Student Action, and UChicago United. Protesters from community groups were also present, including a speaker from the local chapter of Veterans for Peace.

Under current University policy, any recognized student group, department, or faculty member can invite speakers to campus without seeking approval from the administration. According to University News Office spokesperson Jeremy Manier, the administration had not been informed that Zingales had been in contact with Bannon.

In a statement posted to Facebook, Zingales wrote that it is a “civic duty” to examine and engage with reactionary

movements like Bannon’s, which have been spurred by an increase in globalization and immigration. “Whether you agree with him or not (and I personally do not), Mr. Bannon has come to interpret and represent this backlash in America,” he wrote. “I firmly believe that the current problems in America cannot be solved by demonizing [those] who think differently, but by addressing the causes of their dissatisfaction.”

A group of University professors has also released a statement condemning Bannon’s invitation. Their letter acknowledges the importance of freedom of expression in intellectual pursuits, but argues that this “cannot be taken to mean that white supremacy, anti-Semitism, misogyny, homophobia, anti-Catholicism, and Islamophobia must be afforded the rights and opportunity to be aired on a university campus.”

At press time, 44 professors have signed the letter.

The University of Chicago Democrats (UC Dems) Executive Board released a statement expressing its anger at the invitation: “Zingales’s decision to invite Bannon to speak forces [marginalized students] to be linked to and to implicitly support a man who considers them less than human, and whose thoughts on populism are little more than thinly-veiled white supremacism.”

The UC Dems board statement acknowledges that Bannon has a right to speak, but that his ideas “contribute nothing to our intellectual life” and threaten many individuals on campus.

A statement by the Student Government Executive Slate echoes the sentiment: Zingales had the right to invite Bannon, it says, but he has “grossly misstepped” by doing so.

“We will soon announce resources and

Brooke Nagler

funding that students can leverage to send a strong and clear message to Bannon and the entire country,” the statement read.

“The invitation of one man should not implicate our entire institution in actively elevating a white supremacist, anti-Semitic, misogynistic, homophobic, anti-Catholic, and Islamophobic agitator.”

The College Council has also drafted a resolution, which will likely be voted on next Tuesday.

President of the University of Chicago College Republicans (CR) Matthew Foldi, said in an e-mail to T he M aroon that CR supports Bannon’s right to speak, though the organization never had an intent to contact Bannon and had nothing to do with Zingales’s invitation.

“We support Zingales’s right to invite him, just as we support the right of others to protest,” Foldi wrote. He also observed that this may be the first public chance for Bannon to be questioned about his involvement on the Trump campaign and his upcoming testimony in the Russia investigation since he left Breitbart earlier this month.

At press time, the deans of the Booth School and a representative for Bannon could not be reached for comment.

For UChicago Socialists organizer Everett Pelzman, the next step for activists is to begin planning for the future. He ended his speech by advertising a public organizing meeting—scheduled today at 3 p.m. at the University Church—to discuss how protests should continue.

In a statement to T h e M a r o on , Pelzman said: “I hope the turnout is even greater when Bannon—or if Bannon— shows up.”

High Millenial Unemployment Worries Economists

BY EMMA DYER NEWS REPORTER

Two University of Chicago economists, Erik Hurst and Randall Kroszner, are concerned about the unemployment rate among millennials aged 21–31 years old.

Although the national unemployment rate currently stands at 4.1 percent, the lowest it has been since 2007, the rate of unemployment for millennials is now

approximately 18 percent; in 2007, it was only 6 percent. Not only are many unemployed, but about 70 percent of millennials who are not working are living in their parents’ homes.

These statistics exemplify millennials’ lack of participation in the labor force compared to previous generations. In the past, according to Kroszner and Hurst, those who did not react well to rapid change were usually 50 years old or older.

Kroszner, who served as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from 2006–2009, and Hurst, a current professor at the Booth School of Business, both name Facebook as a productivity killer. Despite this belief, both expressed certainty that recent tax cuts will be beneficial in giving Americans more purchasing power and incentivizing businesses to invest more in new machinery and equipment.

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THE CHICAGO MAROON - JANUARY 26, 2018

Town Hall Attendees Express Concerns of Repeat of South Dorm “Disaster”

Courtesy of the University of Chicago

A rendering of the second floor of the proposed dorm.

Continued from front

be designing the new facility. The firm has been responsible for several projects at colleges and universities, including a graduate student residence hall at Harvard.

A partnership between Harrison Real Estate Capital and Capstone Development Partners will oversee the financing, design, construction, and upkeep of the new dorm, the press release also said. The two firms have worked together on other dorm projects, including one at Seattle University and Cornish College for the Arts. The arrangement, the University said, will “allow the University to develop the commons without taking on new capital investment.” Once students move in, according the University’s release, “the facility will be managed like all other residential and dining halls on campus.”

The University had also announced pre-

liminary plans to build a dorm at 61st and Dorchester in July 2017 at a community meeting, according to reporting by the Hyde Park Herald. The site of this proposed dorm is different from that announced by Boyer.

Due to over-enrollment in the past year and a higher-than-average return rate, the University expanded housing options for returning students to include Vue53, and eliminated graduate student housing in International House in August 2016 so that the building became an exclusively undergraduate dorm.

The Woodlawn Community Board held a meeting Wednesday to discuss the University’s Tuesday announcement of a new dorm south of the Midway as well as other local concerns.

Twentieth Ward Alderman Willie Cochran hosted representatives from the University at this month’s Woodlawn com-

THE MLK INITIATIVE Saturdays at RainbowPUSH, 930 E. 50th St., Chicago Please join us from noon to 2 pm!

On Saturday, January 27th, from noon to 2 pm at the RainbowPUSH Coalition, 930 E. 50th St.: Dr. Tim Barnett (Northeastern Illinois University), Sarah Ross (School of the Art Institute of Chicago), Kai Parker (University of Chicago), and Dr. Beth Richie (University of Illinois, Chicago) will talk about prisons and education, and their work teaching art and humanities and offering a new degree program with the Prison and Neighborhood Art Project at the Stateville Correctional Facility in Joliet.

On Saturday, February 3rd, former Senior Research Assistant to Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. Daniela A. Tagtachian, Mysun Foundation Fellow & Lecturer in Law, Environmental Justice Clinic, University of Miami School of Law, will discuss her work on the current state of housing for lowand moderate-income communities, the displacement of low income communities of color due to the disparate impact of municipal actions such as evictions, condemnations, demolitions, and upzoning, and more.

On Saturday, February 17th, Prof. Jacqueline Stewart, Department of Cinema and Media Studies at the University of Chicago, will do a screening and discussion of MLK themed works from the South Side Home Movie Project, an ambitious effort to collect, digitalize, and archive home movies made on Chicago’s South Side.

On Saturday, March 3rd, Dr. Melissa Gilliam, MD, MPH, Ellen H. Block Professor, Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Vice Provost, Academic Leadership, Advancement, and Diversity, the University of Chicago, will lead a discussion on “Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Chicago.”

The MLK Initiative is a collaboration between the University of Chicago Civic Knowledge Project and the RainbowPUSH Coalition. For more information, please email Bart Schultz, rschultz@uchicago.edu

munity meeting on Wednesday, along with other business leaders starting projects in the area.

The main concerns of the meeting, which about 150 people attended, centered around adequate representation of Woodlawn residents in hiring workers for construction of the dorm, as well as construction inconveniencies.

Executive Director of Community Partnership at the Office of Civic Engagement, Wendy Walker Williams, said that Woodlawn Commons would engage 35 percent participation from certified minority-owned firms and six percent from certified woman-owned firms. The dorm will create about 200 construction jobs and 15 permanent jobs.

Turner Construction, which the University has partnered with on several other construction projects, will oversee Woodlawn Commons’ construction. They have pledged to work with subcontractors and bring community residents into the project.

Woodlawn residents were skeptical of Turner’s willingness to hire Woodlawn workers given the makeup of prior workforces on University development projects.

Woodlawn resident Reverend Dr. Leon Finney welcomed investment in the neighborhood, but questioned the benefits Woodlawn Commons would bring to Woodlawn residents, 90 percent of whom are black. He used the lack of racial diversity on Turner’s development team as an example.

“Is your infrastructure sufficient to guarantee African-American men and women working? Where’s the African-American on the development team?” he asked.

Another attendee noted that only 39 Woodlawn residents worked on a 100-person remodeling team for Saieh Hall. Attendees applauded when she acknowledged that while the prospect of a Community Benefits Agreement from the Obama Center seems unlikely, an agreement on the benefits of development for Woodlawn residents was imperative.

“There’s too much development going on in Woodlawn…. I want to see some answers. Because 39 out of 20,000 people is

not a good number,” she said.

Cochran advocated the importance of partnership between the University and Woodlawn as dorm construction moves forward. He suggested a system of regular reports and follow-ups between the University and the community as a way for residents to hold the University accountable for its promises.

“We’ll start out that way and we’ll see how it ends up,” Cochran said.

Michael Madero, an alumnus and neighbor of the University, said he attended the meeting to ask how residents of Woodlawn could know that the construction on Woodlawn Commons would go differently from construction on Renee Granville-Grossman Commons in 2008.

“The last project was a disaster when they built the South dorm…. I don’t know if you know how loud a diesel truck is when it’s parked outside your window at 4 a.m.,” he said.

The University stressed the openness of the building, and emphasized that community residents would have access to the complex’s dining hall. Architect David Manfredi also noted the interaction between the street and the dorm, particularly the setback between the sidewalk and ground-floor apartments and landscaping.

“Our goal is to make it open…to everybody who walks by. [We want] to make it organic, to make it feel like a part of the street,” Manfredi said.

Although Dean Boyer’s e-mail about the dorm said it would house 1,200 beds, the presentation at the meeting proposed a 1,300-bed facility. According to Manfredi, the tallest building in Woodlawn Commons will be 16 stories, but the design of the complex is such that the building should appear open to the public.

“It’s not a continuous building from west to east,” said Manfredi. “We’re trying to bring the scale of this building down.”

The University has set an employment goal that 40 percent of its construction workers for Woodlawn Commons be from Chicago.

VIEWPOINTS Fascism Has a Place on Campus. Do I? With Steve Bannon Coming to Speak on Campus, UChicago Has Nothing to Gain and So Much to Lose

BY HANNAH DORSEY MAROON CONTRIBUTOR

I have a midterm today, and I should be studying.

The midterm is for a class on the history of violence in the United States. On the first day, my professor said she studied the white power movement, and I instinctively flinched.

I’m sure you’ve all heard by now that a professor at Booth invited Steve Bannon to speak on campus. When I found out, I flinched in the same way as I did in class.

I’m not sure if I have an anxiety disorder or if I’ve just always been nervous about whether my interests will be accepted. That’s part of why I fell in love with UChicago almost two years ago, because I wanted to go to a school where it would be acceptable to be into stereotypically nerdy things, and where everyone else would be into those things too.

My dreidel necklace is sitting on top of

my desk at the moment, and I wonder if I’ll wear it tomorrow, or if I’ll be too lazy or forget or be overcome with anxiety. Will people think I’m making a statement? Am I an obnoxious social justice warrior? Does submitting an opinion piece to T he M aroon already make me an obnoxious social justice warrior? Can anyone even see that this is supposed to be a dreidel? When will Steve Bannon speak, so I know when to stop wearing it in case his followers show up on campus?

In that history of violence class, we obviously talked about slavery and westward expansion, but also about the constitutive power of violence—its ability to differentiate between in-groups and out-groups. All men are created equal if they are white and own land. All men are created equal if they are white. Free speech and freedom of expression are for rich white men and not for me.

I’m not sure if I have an anxiety disorder, but I know that the tension in the Continued on page 4

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THE CHICAGO MAROON - JANUARY 26, 2018

“The administration... cannot continue to put me and marginalized students in harm’s way...”

Continued from page 3 pit of my stomach, my twitchy hands, my rapid heartbeat, are symptoms of a panic attack. A panic attack like the one I had when I was at Auschwitz in 2014, so overwhelmed by the thoughts of my people, my family being horrifically tortured to death, that my brain started to think I was in danger. I had to rest my arms on a windowsill, watching the cars go by on the road below, to remind myself that I was not in 1944. That I was safe. That I was fine. That there weren’t any Nazis anymore.

Steve Bannon, during his time as executive chairman at Breitbart, “worked to develop and advance an agenda that embraced tactics, values, and assistance from neo-Nazi and white nationalist groups,” according to Forbes. He described the farright media outlet as “the platform for the alt-right,” a notoriously racist and anti-Se-

mitic contingent of neo-Nazis. Breitbart articles have downplayed the significance of the Holocaust, derided a voice of opposition as a “renegade Jew,” and regularly allude to anti-Semitic dog whistles like “globalist” or “corporatist” when denigrating Jewish voices. To treat people like this as merely members of the opposition party instead of the existential threats to democracy that they are is liberalism deluding itself.

Steve Bannon might (unconvincingly) downplay his ties to Nazism, but his followers want me to die. They want to shoot me, set me on fire, choke me to death with Zyklon B, pour acid in my eyes and pretend it’s a science experiment. To grant a person like Bannon the honor of speaking at one of the greatest universities in the world is a disgrace to the concept of universities, the concept of speaking, and the concept of freedom of expression. I have

never once felt unsafe walking around Hyde Park at night, but I, right now, in my nice new dorm, have stained the edges of my sleeves with fearful sweat as I write this.

I took a class on the history of censorship last quarter and feel confident that what I advocate here is not censorship.

Censorship is an attempt by the powerful to remain powerful. I cannot hurt Steve Bannon by writing an opinion piece for a student newspaper. He could easily retaliate by inciting a riot at the level of Charlottesville to personally target me, my family, and my friends.

The University of Chicago cannot maintain the cognitive dissonance of simultaneously claiming to stand for diversity and then inviting a neo-Nazi to speak.

The administration of this school cannot continue to put me and other marginalized students in harm’s way and still pretend

to care about us. Fascism cannot be given a platform to speak when fascism’s first order of business is the elimination of free speech, the elimination of freedom of expression, and the elimination of me.

I love this school with all of my heart.

Everything I say here I say out of a desire to make this institution the best it can be. I recognize the necessity of engaging in dialogue, but I refuse to engage with someone who believes that me and my people and my cultural heritage should be silenced forever.

Now, this is an institution of learning, and I should get back to studying.

Hannah Dorsey is a second-year in the college majoring in history.

The School of Life Academic Success Often Has More to Do With Your Financial Resources Than Your Ability

Meera Santhanam Hi. Let me introduce you to my new friend, TI-Nspire CAS. She’s brand new and roughly four by eight inches around the edges. She’s my notebook, my grapher, my bite-sized computer, and my user-friendly quadratic-equation-solving, imaginary-number-handling, integral-computing friend.

She’s not just any four-function calculator. In fact, she offers a plethora of

“The fact that these differences are often so small only exacerbates the problem, as it makes discrimination both harder to identify and harder to correct.”

mathematical tricks tucked behind her $150 sleeve. She can multiply matrices and perform complex algebra, graph ellipses and run linear regressions, complete the square, solve triple systems of equations, perform implicit differentiation, and everything in between. But there’s a catch. She’s pricey.

Ever since I walked into my Math 2 SAT subject test my junior year of high school, I became acutely aware of the way in which educational injustice is built into the K-12 and even higher education systems in the United States.

Chronic underfunding, budget cuts, and the elimination of arts programs in many schools demonstrate this quite clearly. What I didn’t know, however, is the way that even my calculator, a seemingly innocuous, College Board– approved aid was helping to perpetuate this exact educational divide. Glancing around the room on exam day, this difference became apparent. Some students had fancy “smart” calculators, and some did not. Some didn’t even have calculators at all. And this test— which was supposed to demonstrate students’ mathematical abilities—was

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used in part to determine where students go to college, for goodness’ sake.

This exam was meant to be an equalizer, to give students a fair opportunity to demonstrate their math skills, and instead, it was testing who had the funds to purchase an expensive tool.

This isn’t to say that one can’t be successful on exams like these without an advanced calculator. Rather, it’s to say that even the smallest factors—like whether or not one has a calculator that can solve complex algebra—can inf luence a student’s performance, even if only to a marginal extent. Problematically, this becomes a cycle. Being unable to afford a more advanced calculator affects one’s performance on an exam that is used as a major data point in admission to college, an institution that in itself can play a major role in the trajectory of one’s life. So, in fact, these seemingly innocuous machines are in many ways a culprit for the problem.

I say all of this not to make those with certain academic privileges (like increased access to technology) feel guilty. I don’t think it’s a student’s fault that the system condones these forms

of hidden inequality. I do think, however, that it’s easy for these structural inequalities to go unnoticed. You might ask: Do we really need to be focusing on changing the calculator requirements on some SAT subject test when we’ve got bigger fish to fry? Absolutely. It’s these seemingly small differences that allow inequality to fester. Indeed, the fact that these differences are often so small only exacerbates the problem, as it makes discrimination both harder to identify and harder to correct.

So I ask you to take up this mantle: Don’t be afraid to point out educational disparities. It doesn’t matter if it’s a calculator in math class, access to an expensive database subscription, or something outside the realm of the classroom altogether. Use your calculator with the understanding that it’s a privilege. See small disparities as lenses into the broader forms of educational injustice at work in the status quo. Finally, and most importantly, challenge the structures and authorities that allow these disparities to persist.

Meera Santhanam is a first-year in the College.

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THE CHICAGO MAROON - JANUARY 26, 2018

ARTS Playing with Paint: Lewis Achenbach Tells a Sonic Story

BY MAY HUANG FULL ARTS EDITOR

Most engage with music by playing or listening to it, but Chicago-based artist Lewis Achenbach has made a vocation out of painting it. He sets up an easel and canvas at live venues to paint jazz and the people who play it, capturing both the music and its moment of creation in brushstrokes.

Achenbach has painted Willie and Bethany Pickens at the Hyde Park Jazz Festival, Twin Talk at the Museum of Contemporary Art, George Freeman at the Chicago Jazz Festival, and more. His 2014 series “Jazz Occurrences” saw the artist on stage painting beside the musicians themselves so that music and art could come into being concurrently. The 13th installment of the series took place last December, and featured seven musicians and Achenbach painting on plexiglass panels. Today, 87 of his pieces are on display at Café Logan. Titled The Sonic Story, the exhibition tells a vibrant story of sound, color, and history.

“My process is about listening and letting the art become what it wants to be,” explained Achenbach, who calls his process “creative skydiving” because he often does not know what to expect. “I respond emotionally, and that tells me how to paint. Music has a dramatic storytelling way about it, especially jazz and improvised music.”

The Sonic Story, which opened last Tuesday, gave attendees of the Hyde Park Jazz Society’s monthly Third Tuesday Jazz Series an opportunity to see sonic storytelling live as Achenbach painted to the music of the Ari Brown Duo. The moment the band began to play, Achenbach rolled a layer of white paint onto the canvas. Soon, he added a yellow rim, then red paint, then more bold shapes. Before

long, the piece had evolved into a portrait of the drummer, Avreeayl Ra. “I often ‘conceive’ what I might do at a performance, based on having painted the band before,” said Achenbach. “[But] I do think of the art as a completed work shortly into the future, and my job is to just be there, with hands and paint to facilitate an existing piece.”

Later in the night, the musicians began a more somber piano piece, and Achenbach’s artistic vision followed suit. He outlined Ari Brown and the piano in purple and blue paint, putting aside the bold colors he had used earlier. But as the piece picked up energy, with drums reentering the scene, Achenbach added splashes of gold, and even flipped the canvas upside down to paint lines.

Watching paint drip down the canvas added to the impression that we were watching artwork unfold in real time. And true to the improvisational nature of jazz, Achenbach would turn around in the middle of working on his piece to dab other canvases, those hanging on the wall next to him, with paint.

“I can’t help myself,” he explained later.

During the intermission, Achenbach also used his purple paintbrush to spontaneously dab the first painting of the drummer he completed that night.

In addition to its spontaneity, though, there is also a documentative quality to Achenbach’s work, which he grounds in his feelings about the music and the venue.

“Jazz and blues grow here,” he said of Chicago’s South Side. “The legacy of the music is alive. … [The Sonic Story] is about people and people listening to each other tell other stories.

Collaboration of that sort is central to Achenbach’s project. Whether painting to jazz, contemporary classical, or even dark pop, he considers the band, venue, and com-

May Huang

munity around him as vital to artistic creation.

It was, after all, this kind of support that got him started in the first place. Five years ago, Achenbach was invited to paint live alongside the Vincent Davis Experience in Chicago. The bandleader—initially reluctant to welcome him on board—told him afterwards, “you paint like I play.” This encouragement, along with the support he received

from other musicians, motivated Achenbach to pursue his art.

The paintings on the walls of Café Logan tell a story, therefore, of not only sound, but also community. Achenbach demonstrates the transmutive power of art across people and mediums; the long-lasting legacy of jazz in this city; and the truth that behind every sound is a story worth telling.

A People’s History of Chicago: Celebrating the City’s History One Individual at a Time

BY ANNA WU MAROON CONTRIBUTOR

On the evening of January 19, I walked into the Logan Center for the Arts to attend A People’s History of Chicago, a community poetry slam hosted by Kevin Coval, local poet and mentor of Chance the Rapper. The event takes its title from Coval’s critically acclaimed book, A People’s History of Chicago, which examines the hidden history of Chicago through 77 poems—one for each neighborhood—about the often overlooked people of the city. I knew the event would focus on the people of the South Side and those whose voices have traditionally been sidelined by the mainstream media—but I was not prepared for the energetic vibe that suffused the room.

DJ Squeak Pivot kicked off the night with invigorating yet moody R&B-inspired house remixes (Drake’s “Passionfruit” was definitely somewhere in there). The immensely crowded auditorium only grew livelier with the introduction of Coval, who promised no barriers between performers and their viewers—snapping, verbal affirmations, and clapping were all encouraged.

The first half of the program consisted of poems and performances from audience members, performed in open-mic style and introduced by Coval. A self-proclaimed “wisdom and light” in her family of nine smoothly delivered “Hunter and Prey,” a poem which played on the aural similarities between its title and the words “humble” and “pray” to illustrate an emotionally consuming relationship. Next up was Judith Savage, a pediatri-

cian and poet based in the Chicago suburbs.

Understanding that Christmas isn’t a happy season for everyone, she incorporated dark imagery involving haunted dolls and crying children to evoke homesickness and a deep sense of alienation. The nightmarish effect was alleviated by a high school senior who, upon walking up to the mic, pushed it aside and delivered a vulnerable, though wildly humorous, narration of his father’s disappearance. Some audience members were moved to tears by the assumptions others had made about his background and character as the result of a loss for which he should never have been held responsible. Later, a female naval officer’s story of a half-serpent, half-dragon woman lightened the mood for the more serious performances to come.

Poems from the second half of the reading centered closely on Chicago and its social problems. Second-year Ashvini Kartik-Narayan performed “If Chicago Had a Name, it would be called Amberly Price,” calling attention to the people and places we always promised to pay more attention to but soon forgot about. The piece served as a standard-bearer for the following performances, which identified these issues more topically.

Some were personal: A Mexican-American high school senior reclaimed the racial authenticity of her queerness in a delicate bilingual poem addressed to her mother, confessing that her sexuality wasn’t a product of American culture, but an emotion stemming naturally out of her love for Mexico. Others were institutional: Nicole Bond, a winner of the LitMash multi-genre literary slam

competition, condemned the Prairie Heights neighborhood’s dissolution at the hands of poor policies that promoted gentrification.

These local and timely issues affecting a silent majority are what students should be advocating for, argued Franzie Wild, a sophomore at the Lab School, in her piece “Speak Me Not, Mark Twain.” The urgency of paying attention to local issues was further emphasized by London Stubbs, a high school senior who decried the tragedies of young black men turning to self-destructive behaviors in “Dip.” With Coval’s final rendition of three poems that, in his mind, commemorated the most critical people in Chicago’s history (Harold Washington, Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, and Frankie Knuckles), the room was left to consider the depth of the city’s history and the role the audience plays in contributing to its growing biography.

While the first set of poems celebrated the individuals of Chicago, later performances highlighted the contemporary issues that lie in its myriad populations and districts.

There was an invisible bond within the room, a communal bond solidified through a shared dignity in each participant’s identity, neighborhood, and the city. The event exclusively featured poems that were negatively charged, a potentially natural development from politically pessimistic circumstances.

Despite this (or perhaps because of it?), the event erased much of the distance I felt from communities surrounding the University as a recent transplant. On my way out, I bought a copy of Coval’s book, feeling just a little like a Chicagoan for the first time.

Kevin Coval

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THE CHICAGO MAROON - JANUARY 26, 2018

MCA Explores Higher Plane with Paul Heyer

BY IVAN OST ASSOCIATE ARTS EDITOR

Last Tuesday, I spent a few hours exploring the Museum of Contemporary Art, including its exhibit on local Chicago artist and contemporary queer icon, Paul Heyer. If you can make it on a Tuesday, go: The MCA is free to Illinois residents and open until 9 p.m. on that day, offering plenty of time to wander and not spend a moment thinking about getting your money’s worth.

Not that you’re likely to waste money if you don’t. The MCA’s upper floor houses an impressive standing collection of contemporary work, organized by style and era along a meandering loop that takes maybe an hour to enjoy thoroughly. Pieces from Andy Warhol and Roger Brown offer star power and the delightful surprise of coming face-to-canvas with something recognizably famous. Work from James Welling, meanwhile, offers hypercontemporary pieces from within the last two years.

The MCA’s Paul Heyer exhibit, however, features only two rooms. The exhibit begins and ends with nine paintings, one model of the universe made out of brooms, and one oversized lamé comforter. At the very least, three of the paintings are pretty big.

I don’t want to be ungenerous toward the MCA; the exhibition is small but not trivial, carefully curated, and well-paired with extensive printed materials. But there is something bitter about discovering the truth behind the advertising. The Paul Heyer exhibit is very small. Do not expect to spend more than 20 minutes in it—which is disappointing, because it’s good art.

Heyer (born 1982) is a Chicago native and multimedia artist with an MFA from Columbia University whose work examines club life and pop culture through a queer lens. I had to think for a while before I could find the club life, pop culture, or queer references in Heyer’s work—which is to say, the man is no Warhol, and does not paint polemics. But with the helpful guide of the MCA pamphlet, I could parse more. In one work, cursive text (“I am the sky”) on a Taylor Swift–esque cloud background asks us to imagine ourselves as

Across 1. Orchestra crasher 7. That ___ stupid!

11. Cloth put in the mouth

the impossible. Becoming something else is a theme of Heyer’s: He doesn’t paint people but skeletons, saying that he finds them more approachable. Black-stained brooms become a model of the universe. A giant silver comforter is the centerpiece of the exhibit: It asks us to wonder about comfort becoming metal, science fiction becoming comfort, and dreams becoming…something else.

The MCA tries to invite us into this feeling. One of its two Heyer rooms is dark and softened by a dreamy, ambient soundtrack subtly piped in through speakers. It is a surreal, otherworldly experience: Strategically placed spotlights make his canvases glow, and it is tempting to believe that the luminous image is the only thing in the dark room. It doesn’t hurt that Heyer is interested in hyperreality, either. His three largest paintings feature LSD-colorful images over which Heyer has painted opaque white or black circles that seem to obscure and consume what’s behind them, adding a layer of mystery and unavoidable menace. The shrouded and altered nature of the images evokes his queer perspective. For instance, a cowboy, all the colors a human has never been, cups water delicately to his mouth while his body disappears into a white circle. He is masculine and tender and has begun to erode. Heyer might be subtle, but the message is there.

Indeed, one of my favorite aspects about the exhibit was the scope of Heyer’s message. His cloudy backgrounds, overlaid with grandiose demands (another example: “10,000 years,” which the pamphlet said was a request for the viewer to imagine 10,000 years ago, but which I suspect is a demand that the viewer be 10,000 years—whatever that might mean) are soft and airy, but so demanding as to make us wonder what we can reasonably do. The pure, inhuman circles eating into strange but familiar images suggest a malicious element going ignored in the everyday.

Indeed, it seems that being is a central concern in Heyer’s work: being very big or very small, being something and then something else, or finding that being is not what we think it is (such as when what we think is is actually being consumed by scary white circles). Heyer’s work con-

14. Current Billboard top pop song 15. California wine valley 16. Blood-typing system

17. A road with knitting needles, rocking chairs, etc.?

templates the vein of sublimity that runs through being, and like the best artists, actually manages to touch it, making his

work both vast and miniscule.

Which all makes me wish the exhibit were more of the former.

Courtesy of the MCA Heyer’s pieces, “Heaven” and “10,000 years,” are exhibited at the MCA.

Courtesy of the MCA

19. Bonkers, like some scientists 20. Consume with gusto 21. Michael of Arrested Development 22. Spews up 25. A road known for its African constrictors?

27. QB Manning 28. Storage unit 29. Inclined 30. A road where Stuart lives?

33. Submit for consideration 34. Refuses to 35. 100 mg, maybe 37. Product made from 39D 40. A road home to some Nicaraguan rebels?

44. Where fat ladies sing (and skinny ones do too) 46. “The Way I ___” 47. Opp. of arrival 48. A road devoted to harvesting wheat?

50. Helpers 52. Small workers 53. N, O, or P, but not Q or R 55. Vardalos of My Big Fat Greek Wedding 56. A road with many banks?

60. Conjunction with neither

ADDRESSED

BY CHRISTOPHER JONES

61. Chicago Symphony Orchestra conductor 62. Is a poor winner 63. Opposite of a ques.

64. Finish off Evan?

65. Budget offering Down 1. Visa transaction: Abbr.

2. I be a pirate!

3. U of C student group that supports vets 4. Alberta national park 5. Peaks near La Paz 6. Tibetan monk 7. Immediate 8. Mulled over 9. Uses up 10. Water board?

11. Monument Valley, for one 12. Each, for oil 13. World’s largest seller of URLs 18. Offer a hand 21. Anchor Anderson of CNN 22. The Fresh Prince of ___-Air 23. Prince of Aladdin 24. Slowing, in mus.

26. Great explosion or great time 28. Big ___ 31. Shakes one’s butt, in modern lingo 32. Like a true fan 35. Some scale notes 36. A 37. Shout of praise 38. Perspective 39. Sweet drinks 40. Collapsed, as an igloo 41. Recipe instruction 42. ___ Lo Green 43. Defaces, as a yard 45. Show to the door 49. For ___ see (in plain view) 50. Perspective 51. Oh I am so ready!

54. Nonexistent major at U of C 56. Initials for Darwin’s Beagle 57. “...”

58. ___ crossroads 59. Designer monogram Send pictures of correctly completed articles to editor@ chicagomaroon.com with your full name. The names of the first three successful solvers will be published with the solution in next Friday’s Maroon.

7

THE CHICAGO MAROON - JANUARY 26, 2018

Hinds Plays Lincoln Hall for Tomorrow Never Dies

BY ZOE BEAN ASSOCIATE ARTS EDITOR

Hinds, a garage-rock band hailing from Madrid, played Sunday night at Lincoln Hall. The final act of the past week’s Tomorrow Never Knows (TNK) music festival, the all-female headliner was opened

by Peel, a gritty, Chicago-based group, and Sløtface, a punk band from Stavanger, Norway.

Lincoln Hall was one of four Chicago venues that hosted this year’s TNK fest, which purports to gather “the best of rising local indie artists as well as acclaimed national acts, including both musicians and comedians.” This year’s lineup also featured Diane Coffee (aka Shaun Fleming), former touring drummer for the popular psychedelic group Foxygen, and Destroyer, a Canadian rock band that has been active since 1995.

It seems that music festivals these days are as much about now-trite “festival fashion,” celebrity-laden performance rosters, and famous attendees as they are about the music itself. TNK flies in the face of the traditional music festival, which is typically a series of outdoor shows at the same large venue taking place over a weekend or two. The festival took place January 17–21 in intimate venues dispersed across the city, a refreshing take on the festival concept.

“I’m still nervous,” remarked band member Carlotta Cosials several songs into Hinds’s rambunctious set. By the time the band took the stage last Sunday night, Lincoln Hall was packed and the audience was animated, perhaps still riding the high of Sløtface’s opening. It was clear that the band had garnered a steady fan base; the audience often shouted along to song lyrics, word-for-word. This enthusiasm was matched, perhaps even magni-

fied, by the animation of the performers themselves. Ana Perrote and Cosials play guitar and share lead vocals, while Ade Martín provides backup vocals and bass and Amber Grimbergen plays the drums.

The musicians are natural rockers, and seemed to be living it up despite Cosials’s admission of stage fright. Their show felt like a private performance from your best friends, if your best friends were members of an internationally known rock band and also ridiculously, effortlessly cool. Perrote, Cosials, and Martín marched comically back and forth across the stage in sync and performed dance numbers during the instrumental sections of “Caribbean Moon,” a single released in 2017, much to the audience’s mirth.

“Want to see something weird?” asked Cosials, before linking arms with fellow frontwoman Perrote. The two wrapped their arms around one another so that they were able to strum the opening bars of “Chili Town” on each other’s guitars, garnering loud cheers and many phone recordings. One last unexpected feat of showmanship came when they invited well-known Chicago band, Twin Peaks, onstage to perform a song. “Is Twin Peaks here? I want full attendance,” commanded Cosials, and the crowd went nuts when the band sauntered on.

Asked if she was a fan of Hinds, one audience member said “I know them from Twin Peaks.” The band coheadlined with Twin Peaks this past summer and performed with them at Coachella, but they have risen to stardom in their own right.

Perrote and Cosials began making music on Bandcamp under the name Deers in 2011. After a year’s hiatus, they resurfaced as Hinds with Grimbergen and Martin. With their first album, Leave Me Alone (2016), and several popular singles already released and well-loved, we can

look forward to Hinds’s sophomore album, I Don’t Run, which is set to drop on April 6.

The group has an impressive, distinctive sound: Their vocals are at times raucous and joyful, at other times, melodic and harmonized. Cosials’s voice is at times satirically saccharine and at others bold and angry. Perrote sings at a lower register and has a more straightforward, smooth style which provides a refreshing contrast to her counterpart. The style of shared vocals shows ambition and innovation.

Additionally, the band’s dark, alt-twee, guitar-heavy style, is reminiscent of the Velvet Underground and other early iterations of the genre that we know as “alternative.” Finally, Hinds’s Spanish roots, which are evident in their slight accents

and certain songs which incorporate Spanish, such as “Castigadas En El Granero” and “Holograma,” set them apart as they operate in a music scene that is dominated—if not by native English speakers—then certainly by English music.

Hinds’s show drew energy from a crowd of Chicago residents on a Sunday night, in the middle of winter nonetheless.

They are an impressive band for their musical skill and synchronicity, for their style which perches on the thin line between unique enough to warrant artistic merit and catchy enough to dance to, and for their charisma. These qualities cannot, for the most part, be taught; they are qualities that come from strong instincts and a natural propensity to create. Expect I Don’t Run to expand on their burgeoning potential.

By Slate The Disco Hinds plays Cambridge Junction in 2016.

SPORTS South Siders Try Bouncing Back

Swimming Splits Up

WRESTLING

SWIM & DIVE

BY TRENT CARSON SPORTS STAFF

This Friday and Saturday, the University of Chicago wrestling team has a chance to rebound from last week’s loss against No. 14 North Central. The 7–3 Maroons head to the Pete Willson-Wheaton Invitational, a two-day event with 38 competing teams, of which 10 are ranked in the top 25. At one of the largest small-college tournaments, Chicago will go toe-to-toe with top competition.

Regarding last week’s loss against North Central, second-year Kahlan Lee-Lermer offered insight into the team’s preparation and mindset heading into the Wheaton Invitational. “We lost a lot of close matches against North Central, so we’ve been working on certain positions that we weren’t able to capitalize on during the dual on Saturday,” said Lee-Lermer. The Maroons will look to close out key matches this Friday and Saturday and bounce back.

Facing many of the same teams that competed at the Al Hanke-Elmhurst Invitational earlier this month, the Maroons will get a chance at redemption and an opportunity to improve on their seventh place finish out of 12 teams. Chicago will look to get big wins against some of the top DIII teams in the country, including No. 8 Wisconsin-Whitewater and No. 10 Mount Union. The Maroons lost to Wisconsin–Whitewater at the beginning of January at the DIII National Duals, but will look to unseat the highest

seed competing at the Pete Willson-Wheaton Invitational.

Also participating in the Wheaton Invitational are many of the other schools that the Chicago wrestling team faced at the MSOE Invitational early on in the season, where the Maroons finished fifth of 12 teams. Since then, the team has continued to train and get better, and will have the chance to get revenge against the four teams who finished better.

This weekend’s competition will give Chicago the opportunity to prove itself against some of the best teams across the country.

The No. 23 ranked Maroons will look to best their 12th place, 57.0 point finish last year at the Pete Willson Wheaton Invitational.

Looking forward to the upcoming contest, second-year Kahlan Lee-Lermer stressed the importance of the tournament as a benchmark going into the last few meets. “I think we have done a good job integrating the freshmen into the team. We have a strong group of guys that can compete on the national level. The Wheaton Invitational is one of the toughest division three tournaments in the country. This weekend should provide a good indicator of how we compare to the some of the best competitors in division three,” Lee-Lermer said.

The Maroons will see the last of their conference competition this weekend, as the next meet is a non-conference battle against Augustana at Augustana on February 2. The team will then take on NYU and Case Western at home in the UAA championship on February 10.

BY MIKE BENINATI SPORTS STAFF

A fter a close victory over Wisconsin – M ilwaukee, the Maroons hope to continue the momentum from last week’s win as they send split squads to compete in two dual meets — one against DePauw in Indiana and one against Lake Forest College.

This will be the second time the No. 8 Maroons have matched up against the No. 24 DePauw Tigers—the first being at the annual Phoenix Fall Classic held at UChicago’s home natatorium. Both the men and women took first at this event, but DePauw put up a valiant fight and finished in a close second (out of 13 teams). Since that meeting, the Tigers have been up and down, winning some meets convincingly while losing others by narrow margins. They will enter the pool looking to rebound from a third-place finish in their last outing. The Chicago swimmers will certainly be tested by DePauw third-year Mary Woods, as she is putting together a strong follow-up season after taking 18th (400 medley) and 21st (200-yard free relay) as a sophomore in her two NCA A championship events last year.

The Lake Forest Foresters come into the bout as the only non-ranked competitor but hope to make a statement on their senior day. The season has

been pretty inconsistent for the Foresters, but they have shown glimpses of talent. Both the men and women are looking for the same success they saw last week in a win against Lawrence University. The Maroons will have to watch for upperclassmen Heath Ogawa and Lily McCarthy—both received Midwest Conference Performer of the Week awards from CollegeSwimming. com. The award was the second consecutive for Ogawa and his third of the season.

The Maroons have also picked up some national recognition this week.

Second-year Agnes Lo was awarded UA A Athlete of the Week for her wins in the one-meter and three-meter dives in her last bout. The team is also using this dual meet as a warm-up for the weeks to come. First-year Gillian Gagnard says: “ UA As are in a few weeks, so this meet is our last competition before championship season. I’m looking forward to seeing how everyone performs.”

Thus the team hopes to correct its mistakes from last week’s win and focus on making the corrections needed to propel it to UA A success. A win this week and a strong UA A tournament performance will have the Maroons set to make a splash on the national stage during championship week.

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THE CHICAGO MAROON - JANUARY 26, 2018

SPORTS

Chicago Treks Onward MEN’S BASKETBALL

BY ANDREW BEYTAGH SPORTS STAFF

The Maroons continue their road swing this weekend against Emory University and the University of Rochester. Taking three out of their last four games, Chicago looks ready for a tough weekend of games.

Emory and Rochester are both ranked in the Top 25 according to D3hoops.com. Chicago currently sits with a 3–2 record in UAA play while Rochester sits at 4–1 and Emory tops the UAA at 5–0. This weekend could determine whether the Maroons ultimately make the postseason. Both Emory and Rochester made the postseason

tournament last year, but they return as very different squads. Emory returns with a veteran-laden team while Rochester had to replace leaders Sam Borst-Smith and Mack Montague in the offseason.

The theme all year for the Maroons has been sharing the ball, which has produced balanced scoring on the offensive end. This philosophy stems from the motion offensive run by point guard Jordan Baum. By screening and finding the open man, the Chicago offensive has been very efficient. Heading into this weekend’s matchups, the offense needs to continue to produce. Both Emory and Rochester score the ball very well, with Emory ranking in the top 20 in points per game. Chica-

go must also play tremendous defense to have a chance. Since holding No. 3 Wash U to a conference low in points, the Maroons have had more turnovers than their opponents in the last four games.

By forcing turnovers and controlling the offensive tempo, the Maroons could come back to Chicago with two huge wins and completely overturn the UAA standings.

When asked about how to slow down two of the best teams in the UAA, thirdyear forward Justin Jackson said, “We need to get back and play good transition defense. Both teams run the floor well, so limiting easy buckets is a priority. On the offensive end, we want to stay patient and run our sets. We also need to rebound well

against their big men and get out to their shooters.” Going forward in UAA play, as this team of Maroons becomes more experienced and cohesive, Jackson remarked that the key to success is “the ability to stay focused on the little things and learning from our earlier mistakes.” Jackson has been an important player for Chicago this year coming off the bench. His athleticism has provided several sparks including a powering slam dunk against Rose-Hulman.

Chicago continues its four-game road swing against Emory at 8 p.m. on Friday night and then flies to upstate New York to take on Rochester at 12 p.m. EST on Sunday morning.

Maroons Look to Remain Undefeated WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

BY ALYSSA RUDIN SPORTS STAFF

The No. 19 Maroon women’s basketball team looks to continue its dominant streak this weekend with a pair of challenging games against Emory University and No. 7 University of Rochester. The Maroons maintained their undefeated status and place on top of the UAA rankings with two dominant conference wins this past weekend.

On Friday, the Maroons fought off Carnegie Mellon 82–62. Chicago had a comfortable advantage for most of the game until the third quarter, in which the Tartans went on a 28–11 run to tie the game at 56–56. This change in momentum only fueled the Maroons’ fire, however, and they snatched that momentum

back by going on a huge 26–8 run to close out the game and earn the win. Per usual, multiple players had major performances to lead Chicago to the win. Third-year Olariche Obi burned through the Tartan defense with 20 points, 10 rebounds, and six steals. Second-year Mia Farrell was right behind her with 17 points, and second-year Taylor Lake finished with 14 points. First-year Marissa Igunbor was a force as well with 15 points.

With the big challenge behind them, the Maroons proceeded to just run through Case Western Reserve University with a 91–46 final score, earning their 12th victory in a row. The team excelled in pretty much all categories. They made 50.7 percent of their field goals and 10 out of 18 field goals along with 28 forced turnovers. The team was never down

during the game. Farrell was kryptonite to the Spartans’ defense, scoring 24 points in 20 minutes of play, making all four three-pointers she attempted and 10 out of 13 field goals. Second-year Miranda Burt scored 14 points despite only playing 13 minutes. Obi continued her dominant season with her fourth straight double-double. This game marks the third time the Maroons have scored 90 or more points this season.

This upcoming weekend represents a big two-game challenge for the Maroons.

First, they’ll play the Emory Eagles who, while not nationally ranked, are 4–1 in UAA play and ranked second in the conference. The Eagles are on a four-game win streak. On Sunday, the Maroons will be the underdogs, facing No. 7 Rochester. The two teams are tied at the top of

the UAA standings and thus are battling for that top ranking in the conference.

Fourth-year Elizabeth Nye feels the team is definitely up to the challenge. “These are the only two teams left in the conference to beat and they have the other two best records so these are definitely statement games, but we aren’t doing anything different. We are practicing hard like normal and gonna play our game.” This weekend is about more than just the games for Nye, however. As a fourth-year, she can’t help but get a little nostalgic. “These weekends are always super fun and at this point they just seem natural but after this weekend I only have two more, which is sad because the team bonding during UAA weekends is always so fun.”

Track Takes on DII TRACK & FIELD

BY KAT WILLIAMS SPORTS STAFF

This upcoming Saturday, the University of Chicago track and field team will be traveling to Grand Valley State University to compete in the Grand Valley State Lints Alumni Meet. The women are looking to keep up their momentum after sweeping the competition at the I-55 Triangular, hosted at Illinois Wesleyan’s Shirk Center. The Maroon men took home four event wins. The Maroons are looking to improve even more this upcoming weekend.

Grand Valley State is a Division II school, which will allow the Maroons to

compete at a very high level. Third-year Emma Griffiths is looking forward to the weekend, saying, “I’m so excited to see how the team performs this weekend.

We’ve never competed at Grand Valley State before, and it’s going to bring a lot of strong competition.... It will be an awesome opportunity to see people really step up and hit times, heights, and distances that they haven’t reached yet this season.

People are starting to settle into their events and I think a lot of things will come together at Grand Valley.”

With strong competition ahead, the Maroon men are going to rely heavily on third-year Owen Melia, first-year Ryan Cutter, and fourth-year Patrick LeFevre.

UPCOMING GAMES SPORT

DAY

Opponent

Women’s Basketball Men’s Basketball Wrestling

Friday Friday Friday

Emory Emory Wheaton

Melia won last weekend in the 800-meter, Cutter in the 3,000-meter, and LeFevre in the 60-meter hurdles. The men are looking to improve their times even more.

The Maroon women are looking to continue their dominance this weekend and are continuing to train very hard during the week. They are staying focused and looking to get better each meet. The Maroon women are not looking to settle into their No. 11 national ranking, but want to improve to move up in rank. Third-year Tali Naibyrf says, “We are entering the fourth phase of our training cycle right now, so based on last weekend’s performances we are excited to see what this weekend’s meet with hold. We will be

choosing captains this week as well.”

The Maroon women are looking to second-year Alisha Harris to step up and lead the team in the events she will be competing in. Harris swept the meet last weekend, dominating in both the 60- (7.91 seconds) and 200-meter (26.60) races. Additionally, second-year Robin Peter is looking to grab her third event win this weekend. Peter has won two straight weekends in a row in the 60-meter hurdle event, finishing in an impressive 9.16.

The Maroons are working hard this week to compete against tough competition at the Grand Valley State Lints Alumni Meet. The meet will begin at 1 p.m. on Saturday, January 27.

M AROON

TIME 6 p.m 8 p.m.

11 a.m.

SPORT Wrestling Men’s Basketball Women’s Basketball

SCORE BOARD W/L Opponent L W W

North-Central CMU Case Western

Score 27–12 66–64 91–46