The Signal Vol. 87 No. 12

ABORTION DISPLAY

PERIOD @ GSU

INJURY ANATOMY

BLOTTER

PAGE 2

Anti-abortion protesters arrive to campus, sparking discussions on free speech.

One club works to rid period poverty from campus and give women the access they need.

How this player recovered from an injury, then scored a spot in the regional semifinals.

SUDOKU

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SPORTS PAGE 18

PLANNER

PAGE 19

NEWS

PAGE 6

ARTS & LIVING

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VOL. 87 | NO. 12

ILLUSTRATION BY SHANCHEZE JOHNSON

NOV. 12 - NOV. 19, 2019

A whirlwind of multi-million-dollar developments are making their way to Summerhill. Among them, luxury condos, a baseball field, MARTA expansions and student housing seek to entice new residents.

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BLOTTER NOV. 5

It’s art, I swear

A Georgia State staff member filed a complaint to police for a case of vandalism in Piedmont Central at 9:52 a.m.

That’s MY book

A fight broke out between two or more Georgia State students in Library South at 10:14 a.m.

Two-for-one deal

Two bicycles were stolen from Georgia State students. One was stolen from University Commons at 2:01 p.m.; the other was stolen next to The MILE at University Commons at 7:17 p.m.

NOV. 6

Wanted: Chef on the loose

A person not from Georgia State was the victim of an attempted robbery at Lot 3 on the Clarkston campus at 4:40 p.m. The robber was armed with a knife.

I just got back from the dealer

A Georgia State student was the victim of motor vehicle theft on the Decatur campus at Lot 3 at 12:26 p.m.

CORRECTION:

In the Nov. 5 issue of The Signal, an article on Brandon Byrd’s resignation from Spotlight neglected to include comment from Boyd Beckwith and Gail Sutton, two staff members mentioned in the article. The Signal regrets not contacting Beckwith and Sutton for comment initially, and they declined to comment after the fact. The Signal also incorrectly referred to Beckwith and Sutton as faculty members.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2019

summerhill

www.georgiastatesignal.com/news

Georgia State’s continued expansion New structures for live, work and play — including a new baseball stadium ESPEN INDRISANO & NATE HARRIS

TRANSPORTATION As Summerhill expands, MARTA is also slated to venture into the area. The transportation authority in March 2018 was awarded $12.6 million in federal funding to add a four-mile bus line that will connect Summerhill, Peoplestown and South Downtown to the rest of Atlanta. Officials held a public meeting in October to discuss the new routes, which are expected to be active by 2025.

Sports Editor & Staff Reporter

PARKING

hree years since the Atlanta Braves moved from Turner Field to SunTrust Park in Cobb County, the area surrounding the team’s former ballpark has become bare.

Apart from Saturday night football games at what is now Georgia State Stadium, foot traffic though the Summerhill area off the Downtown Connector is largely non-existent.

But what is now mostly large student parking lots may soon be one of the newest — and most expensive — live-work-play communities in downtown Atlanta.

Development firm Carter and Associates, in coordination with Georgia State, is investing in an over $800 million, 80-acre project that is slated to revitalize the area, bringing a strip of new restaurants and shops and close to 1,000 new residences near the football stadium.

Sketches of the Summerhill Master Plan show the entire Gold Lot and a majority of the Blue Lot becoming residential and office space, respectively. The Orange Lot is also marked in sketches for future potential expansion. Half of the Blue and Green lots are marked as future expansion for Georgia State.

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ILLUSTRATIONS BY AMBER KIRLEW | THE SIGNAL

BASEBALL STADIUM The university is also planning on constructing a new baseball stadium in Green Lot, filling out the footprint of the former Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium that predated Turner Field.

The new facility would reduce the capacity of the student parking lots, potentially removing up to 2,100 spots, Holmes said. To compensate, the university has considered constructing a parking deck in the area.

The project does not yet have a proposed budget or timeline. Georgia State’s athletic department is still awaiting more private funding before moving forward with construction, said Mike Holmes, associate athletic director of communications.

“We just need to get some more funding, then we’ll be ready to go as soon as possible,” Holmes said.

The baseball, softball and soccer teams all currently compete in Panthersville, just southeast of city’s the perimeter. The inspiration behind the proposed move was simple.

“The inspiration and goal for not just baseball, but for all of our programs who play in Panthersville is to move them closer to campus and give them state-of-the-art facilities to play in,” Holmes said. “You have seen new facilities for football, golf and tennis already, with plans already announced for basketball and soccer. This is a time of great transition for Georgia State, and we want to make sure all of our programs have home facilities that reflect that.”

With the hopes to have all of the teams competing closer to campus in the Summerhill area, the outlook for what would then be the old Panthersville facilities remains unclear.

“We have a great relationship with Carter,” Holmes said. “There are always talks between everyone involved on how to build this area for the long-term vision everyone has.”

LIVING SPACE Aspen Heights, one of the new student living facilities, officially opened across the street from the stadium at the beginning of the fall semester, with a variety of $900+ per month rent rates.

While other developers are also working to bring high-end living complexes to the area, developer Alliance Residential announced in September its closure on five acres off Fulton Street for a new “Broadstone Summerhill” project that will add close to 300 luxury apartments near Interstate 20. Home builder Hedgewood Homes is developing plans for 100 nearby townhomes, starting at $300,000 each.

Meanwhile, Carter has also focused on converting the largely vacant area into an urban mixed-use complex.

In October, the firm broke ground on a 306-unit apartment complex along Hank Aaron Drive, the leadup road to Georgia State Stadium. The proposed fivestory complex will feature approximately 8,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. The apartments are expected to be open to tenants by fall 2021.

CONVOCATION The University System of Georgia Board of Regents approved a reworked $85 million budget in September for a new Georgia State convocation center that will sit just north of the Blue Lot, nestled between Fulton Street and Pollard Boulevard.

The 123,000-square-foot building was downsized after costs for the original 200,000-square-foot proposal were found to have exceeded the project’s budget, particularly due to the mechanical-electrical system. Board members voted to approve the smaller design while also raising the project’s budget by an additional $6 million.

The convocation center will sit up to 8,000 fans in attendance at basketball games — a major improvement from the GSU Sports Arena’s 3,845-seat capacity — and will operate as the university’s new home for graduation ceremonies.

NEWS

4

GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

Ben Okereke’s turning point in politics How this student founded a conservative home on a liberal campus IMANI DENNIS Staff Reporter

G

eorgia State student Ben Okereke took the stage in front of Turning Point USA’s Young Black Leadership Conference on Oct. 4. Next to him stood President Donald Trump.

Okereke thanked him for helping the black community with three things: the lowest unemployment ever, criminal justice reform and taking down the “fake news media.”

Okereke is something of an outlier: He is the president of Turning Point’s Georgia State chapter, a self-described “nonpartisan,” a Cameroonian immigrant and an Army veteran who served four years as a field artillery specialist.

Before Turning Point, he still struggled with finding an organization that was his best fit.

The Student Government Association was his starting point, as a senator for the College of Arts and Sciences. His most controversial campaign was an effort to have straws provided in dining halls in order to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS through reusable cups.

“This is like a health issue because you don’t know what people have, especially here in Atlanta. So why won’t [SGA] protect [their] students?” he said.

Okereke feels that his crusade spun into a debate over HIV stigma.

“They asked how are you going to help more? How are you going to provide health care or whatever for [HIV carriers]?” he said. “This is not something that I came here for. I came here to talk about straws.”

After attempts with involvement through SGA and the College Republicans, Orekeke was driven to start a new chapter for Turning Point USA at Georgia State, serving as the organization’s president.

Turning Point USA, which was founded by conservative Charlie Kirk in 2012, describes itself as an organization with a mission to build the most “organized, active and powerful conservative grassroots activist network on high school and college campuses across the country.”

Okereke felt as a self-identified independent that it was an inclusive organization, despite its claim to conservatism.

“We take ideas from the left and the right, something that we think will help people,” he said.

On their Instagram, the Georgia State chapter members have signs that resemble conservative talking points with a “millennial” appeal. They say, “Don’t Tread Bruh,” “Socialism: Ideas So Good That They Have To Be Mandatory” and “CONSERVE-ative” with a globe surrounded by the recycling symbol.

Unsurprisingly, the chapter on campus has experienced tension with students, according to Okereke.

“We were tabling and people come up screaming, ‘F--you, you f------ fascist.’ We don’t let it get to us,” he said.

Met with this aggression, Okereke thinks it stems from misunderstanding.

“We don’t take it the wrong way. The truth is that most of them don’t know any better,” he said, using guns as an example. “We don’t believe that everyone should be running around with a gun. That would be crazy.”

Okereke believes the Democratic Party has “taken advantage” of the black vote. He lists three things that keep black and Hispanic people “dependent and loyal” to the party: abortion clinics, welfare and alcohol. He also feels that they are funding wars in the Middle East.

Okereke describes a tension in the black community that makes it hard to choose between appreciating Obama for what he represents but critiquing the president for “broken promises.” He also said that Obama committed “a lot of impeachable offenses.”

“Obama shows that we came a long way. But you know, he didn’t do [anything] for black people,” he said.

Okereke is passionate about immigration reform.

At the same time, he thinks that Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program recipients and that most of the people trying to cross the border should get a path to citizenship. However, he still feels that a wall is necessary.

“If someone has been here for the last 10 years, obviously you can’t just drop them off and say, ‘Okay, well, figure it

Ben Okereke, founder and president of Georgia State’s Turning Point USA chapter.

out,’” Okereke said. “We should find a way.’”

He says he’d like to see two people speak on Georgia State’s campus: Candace Owens, the creator of “Blexit,” a movement created to encourage black people to leave the Democratic Party; and Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA. Regardless of the space he is in, there’s one thing Okereke strongly believes in.

“Facts don’t care about your feelings. I mean, it’s not what [Trump] said or how he said it. I look at who’s making things happen, who’s helping people and especially, who’s helping black people,” Okereke said. “Trump — I think he has helped a lot of black people so far, so we should give him credit for that.”

Turning Point USA has faced controversies in the past on other college campuses and with its key supporters.

In 2018, a conservative radio talk show host and Turning Point USA board member Joe Walsh resigned following Kirk’s attachment to Trump, according to the Chicago Tribune.

PHOTO BY UNIQUE RODRIGUEZ | THE SIGNAL

Members of Turning Point USA have also argued for free speech on campuses that sought to silence some of their actions, such as at DePaul University that prevented them from posting fliers mimicking the “Black Lives Matter” logo, replacing the wrods with “Gay Lives Matter” in reference to Jamie Kirchick, a guest speaker, at DePaul. The speech was titled “Dicatorships and Radical Islam: Enemies of LGBTQ Rights” and the Turning Point USA members argued that their poster was reflective of the Black Lives Matter movement’s poster, according to The DePaulia.

Within the inner workings of the organization, some minorities within it spoke out against allegeded racism and discrimination in the workplace, according to The New Yorker.

These events, coupled with protests against liberal ideologies and professors, have pushed Turning Point USA into controversy’s spotlight. The guests Okereke hopes to bring to campus, such as Kirk, have also been engulfed in that same controversy due to their ties to conservative players like Trump and Fox News.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2019

NEWS

5

The College of Law is raising the bar Georgia State’s law school climbs in rankings BRADY STOUGHTON Staff Reporter

I

t’s hard to argue the Georgia State College of Law isn’t giving students what they came for with the highest bar passage rate of all law schools in Georgia in February of this year and 91% of 2018 graduates finding employment within 10 months post-graduation.

Passing the bar exam and finding employment are two of the biggest hurdles law students face post-graduation. But, since its establishment in 1982, the College of Law has earned spots in rankings beyond those two key qualifiers.

In the past few years, the law school has ranked among the top 100 best law schools in the nation.

Getting the best education for the best price is a strong motivator when selecting graduate schools. The College of Law has ranked in the top 10 and top 20 law schools on the “Best Value” list in PreLaw Magazine for the past 12 years. To make this ranking, total debt after graduation, bar passage rates and cost of living are all factored in, according to the College of Law’s website.

Students at Georgia State not only gain an education but also the experience and knowledge that comes with attending a law school with a unique and diverse student body.

The law school is consistently one of the most diverse in the nation, according to The National Jurist magazine.

In 2017 it ranked No. 17 for best law schools in the country for black students, according to Lawyers of Color’s Black Student’s Guide to

Law Schools and Firms. It is the only school in the state of Georgia to make the top 25 schools on this list, according to the school’s website.

According to U.S. News and World Report rankings, the College of Law has been ranked No. 21 for their trial advocacy program and No. 26 for their clinical training program for 2020.

Furthermore, employment outcomes and success rates for the graduates of the College of Law speak for themselves.

Of all law schools in Georgia, Georgia State College of Law graduates showed the highest bar passage rate in February 2019.

PreLaw Magazine’s dataset from 2018 law school graduates showed that 91% of the College of Law’s students were employed within 10 months of graduation, earning the College of Law a spot on its “Employment Honor Roll.”

“As word spreads about what a great school Georgia State Law is, we are seeing an increase in applicants from outside the state,” Amy McCarthy, director of the Center for Professional Development and Career Strategies, said.

She explained that this then leads to more students who are interested in going outside of the state to work after graduation. There are College of Law alumni in 49 states, according to McCarthy.

The Center for Professional Development and Career Strategies is offered to students in order to set them on the same successful path that previous graduates have gone down.

The center is designed to connect students to the jobs and goals they wish to obtain and offer students networking opportunities.

“Employers throughout the Atlanta legal community know Georgia State Law’s reputation as producing hard-working, mature graduates who are ready to practice,” McCarthy

said. “Therefore, we have a lot of demand for our students.”

McCarthy said that because of this, they invite employers from all legal sectors to come onto campus to hire their students for both summer positions and post-graduate jobs. “[The College of Law] participates each year in more than 20 national, regional and local job fairs and recruitment programs,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy said they go the extra mile to ensure that their students not only land a job, but they land a job they are passionate about.

“The majority of our graduates go into private law firms each year and practice in a variety of specialty areas, including civil litigation, health law, intellectual property, mergers and acquisitions, real estate, criminal law and more,” McCarthy said.

The College of Law is also feeding their graduates into newer fields of law and government positions.

“We even had a couple of 2019 graduates enter into cyber security and data analytics practices — both new and growing fields of expertise,” McCarthy said. “In addition, a number of our graduates each year go to work for corporations, judges, state and federal government agencies and non-profit organizations.”

With its unique approach and their efforts toward student success, it’s no surprise that they have earned top rankings.

In addition, there are 10 dual-degree programs and a number of clinics geared toward a variety of law concentrations in order to best cater to their students’ career interests, allowing them to specialize in and learn more about what they hope to do in the future.

ILLUSTRATION BY MONTE LOWERY | THE SIGNAL

FLOODS AT THE MIX

By Will Solomons Students awoke to the sound of rushing water in The Mix, one of downtown Atlanta’s newest apartment complexes, the early morning hours after Halloween.

Police say that a Halloween party turned violent, resulting in a fight breaking out between three women. Security intervened, detaining the women as they waited for police to arrive. The fight eventually led to one of the building’s pipes breaking, raining down water into at least nine floors, according to WSB-TV. The whole building was evacuated into the lobby and outside onto the street.

On Twitter, user OneSixSlime said the incident began when one of the women tried to gain access to an apartment unit to talk to one of the men living there. She was confronted by the other women, and they fought until security arrived. One of the women then broke free, fighting again and causing the main water line for the floor to bust.

Throughout the chaos of the fights and the social media storm that erupted after the incident, it’s unclear what exactly caused the fight and who was to blame.

Police arrested the women who were fighting and took them into custody. The women were Tamia Robinson, arrested for criminal damage to property and disorderly conduct and Tashiane Richardson, who was arrested for disorderly conduct, according to CBS 46. The Mix has relocated some of the students to hotels while they are cleaning the floors.

The apartment complex opened at the beginning of the fall semester, advertising itself as a premium housing option for students. Now, students living there have to walk about several flights of the 26-floor building to get to their rooms due to the elevators shutting down.

NEWS

6

GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

Anti-abortion group visits Georgia on “campus tour” University and SGA president weigh in on free speech questions ADA WOOD News Reporter

U

nity Plaza was lined with graphic, bloody images of dismembered fetuses on Nov. 6 as students walked past on their way to class, gathered for lunch and shopped at the pop-up shops steps away.

Created Equal, a pro-life education and outreach organization based in Columbus, Ohio, is behind the project.

In a “campus tour,” the organization will be visiting over a dozen college campuses and several high schools and abortion facilities in three states. After visiting Texas and Michigan, they’ve landed at their last stop: Georgia.

From Nov. 4 to Nov. 8, the organization planned to visit Georgia State’s campus along with Georgia Tech, Kennesaw State and the University of Georgia.

Created Equal was founded by its president Mark Harrington in 2011 after his work with another organization, the Center for Bioethical Reform, which also did advocacy projects on college campuses.

THE POLITICS AND CULTURE OF ABORTION

Harrington says these states were intentionally chosen because they are large battleground states — something he says Georgia is increasingly leaning toward.

“Although we aren’t political in the sense that we don’t advocate for or against candidates, we want to go where it matters most,” Harrington said.

While their end goal is for abortion to be entirely illegal, Harrington believes this may take years — even decades — to accomplish.

“Before it becomes illegal, it must first become unthinkable,” he said. “The culture has to change; it all changes in the hearts and minds of Americans … Eventually, they will vote consistent of that.”

Visiting Georgia colleges serves two purposes: reaching their desired demographic and

continuing the discussion that has already begun.

Harrington said the college campus demographic is where America’s future leaders reside and where the majority of abortions occur.

Of all abortion patients in 2014, 61% were between the ages of 20 and 29, acccording to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that studies and promotes sexual and reproductive health rights, including abortion trends.

This year, Georgia has been wrapped up in political debate about abortion over HB 481 which was introduced in February, passed in March and signed by Gov. Brian Kemp in May. The bill — since dubbed the “heartbeat bill” — prohibits abortion after a fetal heartbeat has been detected, which occurs between six to eight weeks.

This law would have become active this upcoming January if it weren’t for the temporary block placed on it by a federal judge early last month.

“We go to where the issue is being debated most, and Georgia is one of those places,” Harrington said.

UNIVERSITY AND STUDENT RESPONSE

On Nov. 1, the university sent a campus broadcast to students, informing them that they expected “there to be speakers on campus who may express controversial views.”

The university outlined that even if the views expressed contradict the values of Georgia State and its community members, it will continue to uphold the freedom of speech under the First Amendment.

“You may wonder why your university would allow speech that is hateful or mean-spirited,” the email stated. “However, the university has an important constitutional duty to uphold the free speech rights of all people, without regard to the content of their speech.”

Harrington was aware of the email and said it’s not uncommon for universities to send out what they call “trigger warnings,” letting students know in advance that they would be on their campus.

It is extremely uncommon, however, for an administration to “interject their own personal bias, which is what they did,” he said.

“I’m always curious as to whether they do that for everyone or not, if they single out anti-abortion groups or Christian groups,” Harrington said. “Because it can poison the well, it may not be their intent, but [it can] when they use words like ‘hateful’ or ‘mean-spirited.’”

Harrington said that this doesn’t serve the purpose of free speech, even if that’s what the university says they stand for.

“I just think that’s over-the-top, completely biased, content-based discrimination against our viewpoint,” he said. “Let the students come to their own conclusions.”

Andrea Jones, spokesperson for the university, said this message was not crafted directly for Created Equal’s appearance on campus.

“It’s standard language that was drafted for outside speakers that engage students, not any one particular group,” she said. “This organization was not mentioned in the email.”

She noted this language is also implemented on the Dean of Students website, including in a video uploaded on Nov. 4.

The day of the event, a table hosted by the Georgia State Counseling Center was placed facing the display, where “No Hate at State” handheld fans were available for students.

Information on free speech and reminders to respond respectfully and not to engage physically were placed on the back. Contact information for the Dean of Students, the Counseling Center and the Multicultural Center was also provided.

“These are for students to be able to let the people here know there is ‘no hate at State,’” Dr. Chrisanne Mayer, coordinator of urgent care and suicide prevention at the Counseling Center, said. “Sometimes, it is very upsetting.”

Following this, Harrington responded that the “university has doubled down on the ‘warning’ email message and have deployed tax-funded, salaried, paid protesters today at our display.”

He noted Jill Lee-Barber, senior director for Psychological and Health Services and Mikyta Daugherty, associate director for Clinical Services, were in attendance.

Created Equal, an anti-abortion organization, visits Georgia State during their campus tour across Georgia, Michigan and Texas.

“When Georgia State administrators’ salaries are paid by state tax dollars, they are required to remain content-neutral and unbiased when it comes to protected First Amendment free speech activities on campus,” Harrington said. “Today, administrators protested Created Equal and blocked our signs demonstrating that GSA [sic] not only doesn’t support free expression, they oppose it. This illustrates how universities are no longer a marketplace of ideas, but ideological indoctrination centers.”

Harrington said they would be filing a complaint with the University’s president, Mark Becker.

Jones said the act of handing out free speech information is meant to encourage civil discourse.

“The ‘No Hate at State’ language on the fan means to keep the conversation civil (not that speakers or the content of their speech is hateful),” Jones said. “Created Equal was allowed to fully exercise their right to conduct speech activities, subject only to Georgia State’s reasonable time, place and manner restrictions.”

Jones outlined that the university’s planning for speech events includes providing both security personnel and representatives from the Dean of Students and the Counseling Center to hand out free speech information and to respond to student concerns.

Student Government Association Universitywide President Jazmin Mejia issued a statement to The Signal about Created Equal’s presence on campus.

“The Free Speech Area has left many students unnerved about the content which demonstrators have shown today and in the past,” Mejia said. “Though we may not agree with the ideas of these groups, the University cannot remove individuals based only on content.”

She encouraged students who feel uneasy to take advantage of university health resources.

“They are only here to gain attention and possible lawsuits against the University,” Mejia said. “I, and many of the senators, have spread this information to students and have told them to not interact with them in order to discourage their return.”

PHOTO BY ADA WOOD | THE SIGNAL

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2019 TUESDAY, JANUARY 15,12, 2019

www.georgiastatesignal.com/opinions

This will be the death of American Democracy Americans take their political identity way too seriously KENNETH LOCKETT III Associate Opinions Editor

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here are very few things that are ingrained in the American spirit. Apple pie, liberty, eagles, guns and, most significantly as of late, the political division are just some of the genuinely American ideals that you can’t escape.

No matter where you go in this massive and diverse nation, you will see communities and families split along political lines — friends who refuse to associate themselves with one another because of who they voted for president.

According to the Pew Research Center, political polarization has been on a rapid increase since 1994. This is also directly correlated with political animosity rates. There’s a clear direct correlation with people’s increasingly extreme political views and their hatred with the opposite party. Normally this would lead to diverse, muchneeded political discussion; however, it’s leading to increased political violence.

A few weeks ago, The Signal published an article about Peter Minetos, the chair of the Georgia State College Republicans, and the organization also featured it as the cover for that week’s issue.

For the members of The Signal, they were doing nothing

more than their journalistic duty, covering an undercovered student who is a member of student government, travels the state regularly representing a significant party and has met notable players such as Vice President Mike Pence and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.

However, for other people, and justifiably so, the cover

represented hatred and division. During the controversy, I argued both sides of the argument. While I believe the MAGA hat means nothing more than racism and hatred, I also thought that the institution had a right to feature a side of the political spectrum just as they did the other.

On Nov. 15, 2016, The Signal released a cover that

displayed in bold letters, “NOT MY PRESIDENT,” a chant heard continuously during the protests that ensued after the “Cheeto” won the presidency.

This political conflict is ultimately going to be the demise of this nation, much like it almost did in the 1860s.

The nation was so divided, there was so much hate ingrained in American society that the Civil War was fought. This is the path this country is rapidly barreling down.

This country is so divided that elections are no longer about solutions to the problems plaguing the nation. Politicians are running elections based on pure hatred for the opposing side.

If you happened to turn on CNN at any given time, you’d likely hear a discussion not about how there are policy disagreements but about how one political party is attempting to one-up the other.

Political discussion is one of the most important rights that people can have in this nation. In many countries, namely the People’s Republic of China, people have often been pushed aside or killed for having a political idea that’s not aligned with the government’s.

However, in the United States political discussion has gotten to the point that democracy is starting to fall apart in this nation. The key to a democratic government is citizen participation. Whether it’s through political discussion and debate or through voting, every citizen must be able to participate without having to feel personally attacked.

But Americans are telling their fellow citizens that, because their opinions don’t pair up, they shouldn’t be able to have this discussion. We have to do better. We don’t have to agree but we have to at least listen.

ILLUSTRATION BY ESTEBAN RODRIGUEZ | THE SIGNAL

letter to the editor Don’t cry wolf, be optimistic

The U.S. sees fastest growth wage growth in a decade Dear editor, In his Oct. 29 Opinions column entitled “Employment isn’t working for students,” Jamal Lemond makes the unsubstantiated claim that “employment for students is becoming nearly impossible.” In a vague attempt to perform some sort of macroeconomic analysis, Lemond posits that record-low unemployment rates have caused work conditions to drop to “an all-time low.” He concludes from this shallow examination that “employees are asked to do more work for proportionally less pay and benefits.” It’s unsurprising that this nonsequitur was drawn, because no attempt was made to corroborate these claims with anything other than anecdotal evidence. Economists have known

for centuries that a leftward shift in the aggregate supply of a good, ceteris paribus, results in a higher equilibrium price for that good. This fact is representative in economic statistics. In October of last year, the Washington Post reported that U.S. workers are seeing “the fastest wage growth in a decade.” This growth can be attributed, at least partially, to the tight labor market that the country as a whole is experiencing.

Lemond may be right to assume that students are at a disadvantage compared to non-student workers because of their inflexible schedules, but his piece better serves as one aspiring scholar’s quixotic critique of the corporate establishment — not as a representation of the employment situation for all students and especially not all Americans.

It’s a cry of wolf for workers at a time when the general outlook should be optimistic. To be sure, there are valid criticisms to be made of systemic discrimination in the hiring process. Every student must make a decision as an individual regarding whether employment in college is right for them. In the opinion of this working student, however, it’s safe to say that 3.6% unemployment (per the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ October report) and rising wages are beneficial for most employees, even those who should be studying for midterms.

Bronson Tharpe Freshman Computer Science Major

OPINIONS

8

GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

Think twice before hitting record The problem with the modern-day bystander effect on society executive president & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Daniel Varitek

JASMINE BARROW

editor@georgiastatesignal.com creative director Devin Phillips managing editor Will Solomons

Staff Columnist

director of business operations Vacant

W

hile on your way to Classroom South, an argument breaks out right in front of you between two people. The argument then escalates into a fistfight, and you continue to stand there and observe. At that moment, you were a bystander.

A bystander is a person who is present at an event or incident but does not take part.. Being a bystander can often lead to something called the bystander effect, which occurs when no one witnessing an event does anything to help because they see that others aren’t helping or assume in their head that those people have already helped. Seeing others not doing anything discourages them from doing something.

Being a bystander in the past is completely different from being a bystander today. In today’s digital age, we have a different type of a bystander called a digital bystander. A digital bystander follows the same concept except they’re witnessing the event through technology like a live stream or they’re witnessing the event in person and instead of intervening or calling for the police, they’re recording the event.

A modern-day example of digital bystanders would be the violent removal of a passenger from a United Airlines flight. On April 9, 2017, a United Airlines flight was overbooked, so they decided to randomly select people to be removed from the flight. When one man was selected, he refused to get up. In response, three security officers came on board the plane and physically removed the man out of his seat, and in the process, they slammed his face against an armrest.

As this event transpired, the other passengers on the plane were just sitting there in silence, emphasis on sitting. No one got up to help the

Editorial NEWS EDITOR Ada Wood

news@georgiastatesignal.com

ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR Ben Coletta news2@georgiastatesignal.com

OPINIONS EDITOR Shari Celestine

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man. You could hear one lady screaming, “What are you doing?” but besides that, the passengers’ immediate response to the situation, like many others in our society would be, was not to intervene but to record.

When someone records an event and posts it to social media, they think they’re doing more good than harm. We are so consumed with our phones and technology in general that it allows for the digital bystander effect to arise.

Keshia Naurana Badalge, a contributor for Quartz, wrote that our camera phones may make us “feel like social-media activists, but when we’re recording an event instead of intervening, we’re

actually just real-world bystanders. There is a gulf of dissonance between what we publicly declare as our values—online or otherwise—and how we act.”

As a community, students and young people in particular, we need to do better when it comes to being digital bystanders. It’s selfish and somewhat disturbing that our first response to a violent scenario is pulling out our phones to record or standing by watching instead of helping or using the phone for good like calling 911. There are always going to be events that we might deem worthy of a Snapchat post, but we need to take a step back and reassess our initial course of action.

Digital DIGITAL EDITOR Will Holley

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MISSION STATEMENT

Atlanta sports and our 20 years of suffering Has Atlanta’s entertainment world deprived us of a championship?

JAMAL LEMOND Staff Columnist

T

he year1995 marks one of the greatest years in Atlanta history: Atlanta was one year away from hosting the Olympics, and the Atlanta Braves won the World Series. This championship would be the last championship an Atlanta team would win in either the MLB, NBA, NFL or NHL. Both the Atlanta Flame and Thrashers left the city without a professional hockey team. After finishing with the best record and advancing to their first Eastern Conference Finals, the Atlanta Hawks were swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers.

From 1991 to 2005, the Braves were elite and made five World Series appearances, but only won one title. The 2019 Braves’ young core seemed destined to advance in the playoffs. The Braves led 2-1 in the National League Division Series, but eventually lost and allowed a record ten runs in the first inning of the closeout game.

Lastly, the Atlanta Falcons hold the record for the largest blown lead in NFC Championship and Super Bowl history. Some say it’s a curse, but there is likely a logical reason behind it.

Atlanta has become the largest entertainment market in the South. Numerous television series, movie studios and musicians are based in Atlanta.

The clubs, music and countless activities can be major distractions, and I believe Atlanta’s party scene is a major reason for the city’s lack of championships.

Wallethub.com ranked “The Most Fun Cities in America,” and half of the top ten cities are titleless in the four major sports over the past quarter-century. Why do cities known for extraordinary entertainment struggle in sports?

Fatigue both mentally and physically, secondary careers, fan bases and most important, lack of focus can all be blamed.

University of Georgia and Atlanta Hawks legend Dominique Wilkins was featured on the BS Report. Wilkins was asked about hosting opponents before games, and he admitted to distracting and tiring players.

“I did the same thing in Atlanta that Magic [Erving “Magic” Johnson] did in L.A… Guys came to town,” Wilkins said. “We made sure they had a great time. I had a couple of night clubs.

Had a great time, and that is right, we wore them out for the game.”

Temptations and distractions are a recurring cause for the mental lapse and ultimate failure.

Former Falcons safety Eugene Robinson

infamously was arrested the night before Super Bowl XXXIII for attempting to solicit an undercover police officer for oral sex. The Falcons would go on to lose the Super Bowl, and a lot of fans and media blamed Robinson for the loss.

In a 2016 interview with The Atlanta JournalConstitution, Robinson spoke about his incident.

He felt he distracted the team and caused them to lose focus.

“It’s easy to lose your way. It’s easy to be distracted,” Robinson said. “It’s so easy, for all the hard work you put in, to jeopardize that because of your own internal selfishness, and that’s basically what it was.”

Luckily, in 2018, the newly formed Atlanta United won the Major League Soccer Cup. In a sweet piece of irony and symbolism, Atlanta United celebrated at legendary club Magic City.

The team even allegedly brought the trophy to the club with them. Maybe partying didn’t distract them?

Although we couldn’t win in the four major American sports, maybe Atlanta United victory will apply pressure to our other franchises to be more aggressive. Trae Young, Julio Jones and Ronald Acuña Jr are superstars who can break the nearly quarter-century drought, but we have to win when it matters.

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ARTS & LIVING TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2019

www.georgiastatesignal.com/artsandliving

RO PARKER Staff Reporter

H

earing the words, “enjoy your movie,” is almost redundant with the image of a half-torn ticket nestled between an individual’s palm and an oversized tub of buttered popcorn.

For something so ingrained within the history of consumerism, it is not every day that one would make an analogy of the classic combination “movies and popcorn” to something new. But one student envisions a different grouping just as distinguishable in the future: music and cereal.

Sophia Morekis is a senior at Georgia State majoring in media entrepreneurship and is now making that dream a reality. Morekis operates Cereal Events, a collective that creates music festivals showcasing local Atlanta artists while incorporating the culture of cereal.

Initially, this business venture was merely an idea sparked from a class project with, Jude Baquet, her business partner.

But on Oct. 19, Cereal Events hosted CrunchFest, an all-day event with music that Morekis considers “crunchy,” including punk, trap and metal at The Bakery Atlanta.

This shift from idea to reality did not happen overnight.

Joined by a second business partner, Nick Stovall, from another one of Morekis’ classes, the team encountered trial and error.

First, the group had an idea for a music festival weekend with two fests occurring simultaneously, “CrunchFest” and “SogFest,” based on the idea that people have strong opinions about both cereal and music. The fest would have attendees choose their alignment, creating a rivalry.

“Jude hates crunchy music and loves soggy music,” Morekis said, herself a “crunchy” lover. But as the idea seemed too ambitious, they later decided to focus on one music festival at a time.

Hoping to gain more experience before managing their first festival last October, Cereal Events curated four smaller shows that were “essentially house parties,” entitled “Cereal Bashes.” The first Cereal Bash was a hodgepodge of different genres, the team happy to get any artist they could at the time. Not planning accordingly for the dark of night, Stovall had to make a last-minute trip to buy floor lamps so that the bands could see when trying to set up.

“I like failure,” Morekis said. “I have a pretty good relationship with [it].”

Since the first Cereal Bash, the team became more professional and streamlined, their proceeding bashes with specific themes, including psychedelic music, hiphop and rock. Cereal Events sold cereal at the bashes, asking each performer to select a cereal they thought went well with their music. For example, one rapper was about to drop his album entitled “Sour Mix,” so Cereal Events sold Sour Patch Kids Cereal.

Morekis had always been fascinated by the culture of cereal, captivated by the “weird” branding, a universe of cartoon mascots that seemed “unnecessary for something that’s just food.” She was also drawn to the breakfast’s use of buzzwords, leading to Cereal Event’s slogan, one of the first slogans for a Kellogg’s cereal, “enrich the blood.” The sentiment inspired Cereal Events’s logo, a fork dripping blood, which Morekis, Baquet and Stovall all have stick and poke tattoos of. The trio is “in it for life.”

“I don’t know if I would have done this by myself,” Morekis said. “That’s continuously been the best part of this experience … talking to people that are excited about it and having that support. That’s made it easier to keep going, and it’s been so motivating.”

Morekis also plans to create a podcast to talk to those who performed at CrunchFest while eating cereal and discussing the Atlanta music scene. She noted that although the podcast would not be a source of revenue, it would be another way to develop the community within the scene.

Cereal Events plans on keeping ticket pricing for festivals at a minimum, not wanting to go much higher than the pricing for CrunchFest at $15 and remaining local.

“I’d rather support a band that needs the gig who I believe in, rather than someone I know will pull a crowd,” Morekis

How one student cerealized an Atlanta music festival Crunchy or soggy, Cereal Events has got the music for you Nick Stovall is a businessman that works alongside Sophia Morekis, who is the founder of the Cereal Bash music festival.

said. “I want people who are actively looking for a community to be a part of. I’ve always been down for helping the underdogs.”

Likewise, Morekis feels similarly about the crowd itself. “[The 150 people who attended CrunchFest] were all really engaged, and that means so much more to me than 500 people who aren’t moshing,” Morekis said. “I’d rather keep that energy than run the risk of maybe growing a little bit more but attaining passive people who won’t be hyped or support it.”

Morekis produced T-shirts for all of the bashes as well as CrunchFest by screen-printing them by hand, lacking the proper tools or skills and pulling all-nighters to complete the tasks.

Now with CrunchFest under its belt, Cereal Events will be focusing on planning SogFest, which will occur during this upcoming spring or summer. Along with continuing CrunchFest, SogFest and smaller intermittent shows, future

PHOTO BY SYLVESTER SILVER III | THE SIGNAL

plans for Cereal Events also involve creating promotion packages for independent musicians.

“I have a lot of dreams,” Morekis said Morekis has ideas to create personalized cereal for artists that could possibly be sold in stores around Atlanta with toys or concert tickets inside the boxes. The musicians would also be their own mascots fit with animated promotional videos.

“There is a fine line of promoting yourself and seeming insincere,” Morekis said. “[Cereal Events] wants [artists] to feel comfortable being themselves without prescribing to a specific formula.”

Morekis also mentioned the possibility of selling Cereal Events’s business model to those in other cities wanting to host a cereal themed festival with local bands in the future.

Currently, Cereal Events is seeking individuals to do animations or graphic novels.

“I’m psyched people want to be a part of it,” Morekis said. “I was looking for something to focus on. It kind of saved my life.”

Stu2GoEd

PAVING THE WAY FOR ATLANTA'S FU SHARAYAH DAVIS | STAFF REPORTER

W

hen Christian Davis first became interested in creating music while in middle school, he was at a loss of where to start. Outside of what he heard on the radio, Davis knew nothing about writing lyrics or creating rhyme schemes, let alone where to go to record what he had created. Now, after beginning a successful music career, Davis is taking the skills he learned on his own and teaching local children how to create their own music.

Stu2GoEdu is an afterschool program for elementary school kids started by Davis, a local artist who makes music under the name De Apollo. The program is centered on visiting schools and daycare centers with a mobile studio, so children can experiment with writing and producing their own music.

“There are two aspects to [Stu2GoEdu],” Davis said.

“First is the educational part of it, and the other aspect is the service part. There’s the part where we go and teach kids to create their own music and learn to produce music

themselves. But it’s also a service [we provide] as it is essentially a mobile studio, so we can go and help other people produce their stuff, whether its music or a podcast or whatever.”

Stu2GoEdu is currently working with a daycare center in Atlanta called ABC Learning Academy where kids are dropped off after school. Davis comes in on Fridays, recording equipment in hand, not only to help the kids create music but also to teach them how to produce it themselves.

“Right now, we’re an afterschool program working with a daycare [center], so the kids get picked up from school and taken to the daycare, where I’ll come in and work with a group of 10-12 kids,” he said. “We can’t really do too many right now because all of them are just going to want to get on the microphone. So, I’ll put them in groups and help teach them how to write a song, how to stay on topic, and how to come up with a topic.”

THE “EXTRACURRICULAR GAP”

Most of the children that enter the program come from lower-income backgrounds. According to U.S. News and World Report, Georgia is the 10th most impoverished state. In Atlanta, specifically, around 21% of children under the age of 18 are living below the poverty line.

“We haven’t quite gotten to the inner city yet, but I’d say we’re definitely working with kids from lower-income neighborhoods where they wouldn’t normally have this kind of opportunity,” Davis said. “So, I try to expose them to more things they may be interested in.

A lot of them aren’t even that interested in going to college. I like to open up and not tell them where to go or what to do. I like to give them more knowledge of what is out there.”

The increasing cost of afterschool programs makes it more difficult for children from lower-income families to participate, and studies have found that extracurricular activity most often leads to success later in life.

“Well, the idea and plan are already kind of there, but we’re currently in the process of getting accepted as a nonprofit and just trying to expand it more,” Davis said. “I don’t really want to have to charge schools for it or anything. We just want to get it out there and get it to the people. So, we’re really just in the process of putting that all together and building relationships with schools.”

ILLUSTRATION AND PAGE LAYOUT BY DEVIN PHILLIPS | THE SIGNAL

Bringing the service to schools and daycare centers allows kids from all backgrounds to participate, even if they are just experimenting with music as an interest.

“I don’t necessarily want to tell them what to make, but I want to teach them how to make their music more refined,” Davis said. “Even if it’s just something to spark interest, teaching them how to come up with rhyme schemes, it still gives them a skill that they can refine.”

THE BENEFITS

Even if music does not become a long-lasting interest, the benefits of kids learning about music are extensive.

Research has shown that it can often help kids perform better academically because they are learning to recognize patterns and beats in music, as well as improving memory skills.

Children who participate in music-based extracurriculars also learn better social skills and experience improved self-esteem.

“I think that kids kind of gravitate towards music because they hear the radio and get inspired,” Davis said. “Specifically, I know a lot of black kids are especially musically inclined. It seems that they know the lyrics to songs on the radio before they can even read. I wanted to make [Stu2GoEdu] more educational because kids usually find out at an early age what they’re into.”

Davis speaks fondly about observing the kids during their first experiences with recording music during the program.

“They’re always extremely excited to come in,” he said.

They’re into it, and they’re excited to create something. They tend to get tired of sitting around, and they want to play with the microphone. They are often kind of taken aback by how they sound because, obviously, you don’t sound like you think you sound. When you get out the recordings and play it out loud [for them], they always say, ‘That’s me?’”

ENCOURAGING EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION

Davis’ goal in facilitating their writing process is to help them learn that writing music can be a healthy emotional outlet.

“One of the most interesting things to me was seeing what they wanted to start rapping about,” he said. “A lot of them want to start rapping about chains and buying all these shoes, but I generally want to keep it a little more educational

du:

TIMELINE

UTURE MUSICIANS and take it in a more positive route. I feel like a lot of the stuff that they hear on the radio is focused more on material things or disrespecting women. I want to give them an outlet so they can see that rapping can be an outlet to express themselves where they can talk about all sorts of things.”

THE FUTURE

Davis speaks about the future of Stu2GoEdu with the hope that it will expand to cover a variety of skills. “[In the future], I would like to have something like a recreational center, so we can teach a whole lot of different skill sets, like video production, theater production or photography,” he said. “That’s essentially the goal. We’re not there yet. But, for right now, we want to bring it to the students.”

Stu2GoEdu is still in the start-up process and they are looking to expand to several schools and afterschool programs. They are still in need of some resources and connections to head in this direction.

“More things that we may need would be equipment and building more relationships with schools,” he said. “I’m also trying to reach out to more teachers so that I’m not the only one. That would be a good start.”

CATERING TO ALL

Davis emphasized a need for more equipment so that every kid has the opportunity to record whenever they want to. With the turnout of kids that the program has seen, the program currently does not have the recording equipment that is sufficient to keep up with how it is growing.

“We could always use more equipment,” he said.

“Sometimes, we get donations from people, and I would like to expand that a bit. This program isn’t just the kids recording stuff. I’m also trying to teach them how to do it all themselves.”

In addition to wanting more equipment for the afterschool program itself, Stu2GoEdu has plans in the future to give kids a chance to acquire equipment of their own so that

2018

Stu2GoEdu begins visiting schools to test the program.

2019

Stu2GoEdu begins working with ABC Learning Academy.

they can take it home and learn to produce music with it.

“The plan is that, when we get approved as a nonprofit, that we can maybe turn the experience into a sort of competition for the standout students where the winner gets their own equipment to take home,” Davis said. “We want the kids to take something from it beyond just writing songs. We want to give them a skill that they can possibly monetize.”

THE IMPORTANCE

Giving kids the opportunity to learn a skill and refine it is beneficial for improving academically and increasing selfesteem. It gives them something of which to be proud that they can show their family and friends. It can also give them the opportunity to make a career out of that skill.

Davis and his work with starting Stu2GoEdu help to give kids in Atlanta an opportunity that they would not normally have. Working with kids from lower-income backgrounds helps to close the extracurricular gap that tends to form between them and their peers who come from higher-income backgrounds.

Working with these kids and showing them the opportunities that exist for them, regardless of their background, ultimately sets them up for success. With the help of Stu2GoEdu, these kids are set up for a bright future with a skill of which they can be proud that has the potential to develop into a career.

OCT. 27

2019

2020

& BEYOND

Christian Davis introduces the program to his followers on Instagram that features music written by the kids he’s working with.

Stu2GoEdu plans to expand to more schools, add more teachers and add more programs to teach a variety of skills.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT STU2GOEDU Christian’s Instagram: @deapollomusic Stu2Go’s Instagram: @stu2go

ARTS & LIVING

12

GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

Summer camp during winter? Yeah, it works.

Yung Baby Tate brings her camp to brand new Red Bull Music Festival GUILLERMO RIVERA Staff Reporter

P

ink trees and mushrooms lined the stage as UNiiQU3 got behind the turntables to DJ for Yung Baby Tate’s summer camp-themed concert. The stage itself was covered in pastel pink props, such as a large tent, and a flag pole that also served as a dancing pole.

Concertgoers slowly filled up the crowd and were dressed to impress in a variety of outfits, ranging from normal street wear to post-Halloween costumes. People in the crowd went wild as Yung Baby Tate took the stage wearing a white corset and purple shorts, and her bright purple hair swung from left to right as she danced in sync with her backup dancers performing her first song of the night.

Yung Baby Tate moved on to her hit song “Pretty Girl,” and she brought out Atlanta rapper Mulatto to the stage to perform her verse on the song’s remix. Everyone started jumping as Tate’s first guest of the night came out and started spitting a hard hitting verse to bring a good starting energy for the show.

Tate left the stage and Mulatto continues performing two of her songs, including her hit “B**** From Da Souf ” which the crowd knew word for word. As it came on, people in the crowd start mosh as they screamed the song’s hook in excitement, and Mulatto rapped with an intensity that matched up the crowds energy.

As Mulatto made her exit, Tate came back to perform another song and brought out her next guest, BbyMutha.

BbyMutha came out wearing what resembled a black wedding dress and the crowd went wild as they rapped the words to her verse in Tate’s song “Wild Girl.” BbyMutha’s fast paced rapping has everyone head bumping to every bar, and she finishes her verse with the crowd in awe at her performance.

BbyMutha continues to play two songs and she finishes her hard hitting set with the crowd roaring her name.

Tate makes her way back to the stage to perform her song “Mean Girl” and she brings out Chicago rapper Queen Key to rap her verse on the song. Queen Key also has the stage to herself to rap two of her songs which keeps the crowds energy alive, and her set leaves everyone excited for the

Yung Baby Tate performs at the Red Bull Music Festival, bringing her vibrant energy and exciting features.

final guests of the night.

The stage’s bright pink color goes to a dark blue and the lights turned darker as Tate starts singing her song “Lover Girl.” Baby Rose comes out to sing her verse and the vibe in the crowd tones down a bit more to appreciate the beautiful singing coming from Tate and Baby Rose.

Rose continues performing a few of her songs and she even brings out a guitarist to play her final song, and her beautiful voice floats over the guitar chords while the crowd moves from side to side.

PHOTO BY SYLVESTER SILVER III | THE SIGNAL

Baby Rose exited and Tate took the stage to perform more songs and introduce her final guest, Kari Faux. The lights turned back to bright orange and pink as Kari Faux excited the crowd and played her popular track “No Small Talk.” Kari left the stage and Tate came back out to close the show with her song “CAMP” and kissed the crowd goodbye. Overall, Yung Baby Tate exhibited some of hip hop’s most talented female performers, and delivered a unique performance which probably won’t be seen again.

‘The Rho’ brings sexual assault to light W. Keith Tims adapts a 16th century play to fit modern audiences MAYA TORRES Staff Reporter

G

eorgia State students who have studied Western theater or literature are probably familiar with Aphra Behn’s 1677 play, “The Rover.” But for those who aren’t, “The Rover” is about a group of Englishmen navigating a carnival in Naples. Along the way, they are smitten with a group of Spanish women. The play depicts the harsh treatment of these women by the Englishmen, which includes attempts of sexual assault.

Georgia State professor Dr. W. Keith Tims has modernized the piece in his adaptation “The Rho” by setting it in modern New Orleans during Mardi Gras. It features college-aged students who undergo the same trauma faced by the characters in the original play.

“We took elements from the original play, and changed them into more modern and relatable elements in an attempt to tell a story about male privielge and sexual violence and the responsibilities or lack of responsibilities that people seem to face when they come across these issues,” Tims said.

Tims first had the idea to write his own adaptation of

“The Rover” when he was teaching about it in his Western theater history class. This occurred during the time of Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings and the sexual assault accusations made against him by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.

“What I was struck by was that whenever there are these accusations of sexual assault, it seems to me that the women in these cases get called names and are disbelieved and get their lives threatened,” Tims said. “Very often, these men go on to become some powerful figure in society and have no consequences to face. For me, writing ‘The Rho’ was about confronting that … and showing it to the audience and having the audience weigh in on what they think.”

Focusing on the controversial topic of sexual assault has weighed heavily on cast members who have been victims of sexual violence, including Katie Adams.

“It’s really been a struggle of keeping my emotions in place because the end of the show is so striking,” Adams said. “There’s this monologue that explains everything that a survivor would think, and it’s really astounding. It does bring up the past, and that can be really hard.”

From the perspective of someone who has not been affected by sexual assault, this play brings to light how these problems are still relevent in today’s society.

“I’ve come away [from the rehearsal process] recognizing, just through talking to everybody in the cast, [that] these

things happen a lot more than you would think,” Jihad Brent, a cast member, said. “[This show has taught me] to be more aware of that and to just walk through life trying to do my part in terms of advocating for pushback against these things.”

Cast member John Miller believes that theater is the ideal art form in which to spread these particular themes.

“These mediums, like theater and film and music, even though they’re seen as entertainment, they can also have an impact on people’s lives and cause them to realize things that they didn’t previously realize,” Miller said. “Theater is such a raw, personal art form; it really makes the audience look at what’s going on. Unlike film, there’s no hiding behind a screen. It really calls to attention the problems that are occurring and makes the audience open their eyes.”

“The Rho” participants agreed that they hoped audiences would come away from the show with more empathy towards sexual assault victims.

“As good as we may see each other, as progressive as we may try to be, we’re all still a product [of the culture that we live in,] and we all still have growing to do as people and as a society,” Miller said. “Sexual assault is still an issue, and we need to perk our ears up and listen and not accuse too quickly these women who are coming out with these issues, because they need to be heard.”

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2019

ARTS & LIVING

13

Let’s talk about periods (not the punctuation) Georgia State organization works to rid period poverty DANIELLA BOIK

Associate Arts & Living Editor

L

ast week, The Signal sat down with Kaila Browner to talk about periods, a not-so-fashionable or openly discussed topic. Browner, a senior at Georgia State, believes ending the stigma of talking about periods in public is extremely important. Period.

Browner, the president of the organization Period @GSU, started the group in October 2018. Period is a global organization with chapters all over the world, but Browner decided to take it to her own city and university.

Browner decided to start the organization because she’s very passionate about women understanding their bodies and educating themselves on what isn’t freely talked about.

“It’s important to educate, it really is because people don’t know a lot about their periods,” Browner said. “You think you know because you’re bleeding, but you don’t know if something is wrong or what to look out for besides the bleeding. Like, what about discharge, the color, the smell, the consistency?”

Period @GSU holds several events to educate women on their bodies and even help other women outside of Georgia State have access to period products.

“We have seminars, so you’re learning the difference between your menstrual cups, pads, how long you should leave a tampon in or how likely you are to get toxic shock syndrome,” Browner said. “People don’t know how to discard pads and tampons so it doesn’t smell, and I’m glad we exist for that reason, to educate people on it.“ As for the women outside of Georgia State who aren’t educated on period health, Browner does everything she can do to help out women who may not be as fortunate to have pads or tampons. Along with the seminars, Period @GSU holds at least three period-packing parties and community service events per semester to give back and help bring period poverty to an end.

“It used to make me feel so good giving these homeless women pads and tampons, but then I realized that’s just what you’re supposed to do,” she said. “As women, even if you’re not dirt poor, sometimes, we have to use socks or tissues, whatever’s available to us because sometimes we may not have $7 to buy a box of pads,” Browner said.

Browner stressed the issue of period poverty and how it affects all of us. With menstrual products having a luxury tax placed on them, Browner has talked to several senators

Period @ GSU is a student organization that offers menstruation products to students who don’t have access to them.

and representatives to make a change regarding this.

“If you’re a woman and just so happen to bleed, as a woman does, how is that a luxury? So sorry I bleed and cramp, so sorry,” she said.

Along with senators and representatives, Browner’s vision for the future is to have the tampon tax removed completely

PHOTO BY MATT SICILIANO-SALAZAR | THE SIGNAL

and to make any space an open space to talk about periods.

Period @GSU is currently located in Room 128 at Langdale Hall. Anyone is welcome and donations are accepted at the front of the room in a water cooler box.

To sign up for more information or to become a member, students can email period.gsu@gmail.com.

LA’s biggest alternative party makes its way to Atlanta Welcome Emo Nite’s first time at the Masquerade on Nov. 15 EMMA SUE PARTRIDGE Staff Reporter

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mo Nite is a music event started by three friends from Los Angeles: Morgan Freed, Babs Szabo and T.J. Petracca. This concert now tours the U.S., and it’s making its way to The Masquerade on Nov. 15. Some of the biggest names in music, including Skrillex, Post Malone, From First to Last, Good Charlotte, Machine Gun Kelly, The All-American Rejects, All Time Low, Young Thug and more have been a part of the Emo Nite Family.

The emo subculture is a lifestyle based on emocore, or emotional hardcore punk rock music. Emo youth may identify with the expressive and confessional lyrics of this genre. In the early 2000s, countless emo and scene kids from all over the world joined together by hunting out new bands to cry to. At an age when so many were wrestling with identity, the emo subculture was there, and so were millions of virtual friends doing exactly the same thing.

Makeup was worn by both girls and boys after Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy sported his thick, black eyeliner.

Everyone wore girls’ skinny jeans, nail polish, hair dye and tight band tees, which is what most people wear to Emo Nite.

People join together, dress up like they did when they were teenagers and listen to a DJ play early 2000s alternative rock, emo, pop punk, post-hardcore, punk rock and hard rock music. Over the past few years, Emo Nite has evolved from just a music event to a strong and inclusive community. Friends and strangers come together to dance and cry to their favorite Dashboard Confessional and Taking Back Sunday songs.

Emo Nite has become such a phenomenon because of the power of nostalgia, the feeling of being 15, angry and wanting the world to know. Now that the event is coming to Atlanta, anyone can go and enjoy the event.

Emo doesn’t just mean the studded belts, cut-my-wrists lyrics but also strong memories of a distinct lifestyle, which is what attracts many to Emo Nite.

“I would go to Emo Nite because a lot of my childhood

memories have to do with music from this time period, so I can’t even imagine how fun it would be to relive it again with my friends who experienced it with me,” Jenna Young, a Georgia State student, said.

The creators of Emo Nite have taken this subculture and turned it into the rave-like simulation of a real concert and created a sad, but also happy, ecosystem, successful impudent merchandise, Snapchat filters, a live stream on Twitch and celebrity guests from the punk-rock bands they play at the party.

Emo Nite allows attendees to reminisce on times they considered “hard” during their teen years. These were the bands that people listened to when they were sad and angry, and now they can go to Emo Nite and find happiness when they hear these songs.

This party helps bring together a whole subculture in honor of emo music, a genre not as popular today. The death of the emo subculture in the later 2000s is credited to bands being swallowed by the mainstream. But to many, emo never died. It lived with them past their adolescence, and that is why Emo Nite has been such a success.

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The win streak is over: Panthers fall in Louisiana Dan Ellington and Remy Lazarus suffer worrying injuries Jonathan Ifedi runs toward the end zone during Saturday night’s loss against the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks.

ANFERNEE PATTERSON

Staff Reporter

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record-setting night in rushing for the Panthers was not enough as they fell to the Warhawks of the University of Louisiana at Monroe, losing 45-31.

Even worse, the team lost seniors Dan Ellington and Remy Lazarus through injury in the game. Ellington, who suffered a non-contact knee injury during a run at the end of the first half, looked to be in a lot of pain and did not return. He finished the game on the sidelines, needing crutches to assist his walking.

“He has a twisted knee,” head coach Shawn Elliott said. The severity of Ellington’s injury is not yet known. The team hopes he can return to action at any point this season.

In a game that blossomed into a shootout, something that Elliott and his Georgia State squad are quite familiar with, a strong fourth quarter by the Warhawks was the difference.

Specifically, Warhawks quarterback Caleb Evans’ play propelled them to victory, while the Panthers’ defense, which lost Lazarus in the second half, continued to struggle.

After Panthers running back Tra Barnett rushed in for seven yards to tie the game at 31, things stopped going the Panthers’ way, both offensively and defensively. Freshman quarterback Cornelious Brown struggled to get the offense moving, and penalties did not help the cause either.

Evans connected with receiver Markis McCray twice in the fourth quarter on back-to-back offensive possessions, sealing the Panthers’ hope of their five-game winning streak.

“It’s a disappointing loss,” Elliott said. “We’ve got to get a lot of guys healthy. It was a tough game for us from an injury standpoint, but we’ve got a lot left to play for.”

The Panthers may be hurting from this loss, but they have other issues and wounds to heal. If Ellington’s and Lazarus’ injuries keep them sidelined for the remainder of the season, it will be a daunting task to guarantee a bowl appearance.

Running backs Tra Barnett and Seth Paige combined for 309 yards rushing and benefitted from the physical play of the offensive line. Overall, the Panthers set a new rushing record with 414 yards on the ground.

While they set records in the running game, the passing game struggled after Ellington went out in the second quarter.

Brown finished the game 8-for-18, with 80 yards.

The defense was unable to get stops and make necessary tackles, putting much pressure on a Panther offense without Ellington at the head.

A gutsy call by Elliott to keep his offense on the field for a fourth-and-nine with a little more than 5 minutes left to go killed off the game. Brown failed to link up with Sam Pinckney and the Warhawks found the endzone to seal the 45-31 victory soon after.

So, what did we learn?

THE DEFENSE WAS NONEXISTENT This Panthers lost because of the defense’s inability to make tackles and get stops on third down. We saw glimpses of this against Western Michigan, Texas State and Troy.

Whether they prepared properly or not, this is something that will have to be improved on before hosting Appalachian State and traveling to Georgia Southern. It is also important that they get to the quarterback and force turnovers.

INJURIES MAY AFFECT BOWL GAME HOPES Six wins does not guarantee you a bowl appearance. So, while the Panthers are bowl eligible, the team will need another win to guarantee their spot in a bowl game.

With Ellington’s and Lazarus’ injuries, however, things may

PHOTO COURTESY OF JORDAN KIDD | GSU ATHLETICS

become complicated, should either not return this season. As the leaders on the offensive and defensive fronts, Saturday’s defeat was a nightmare on both ends.

The upcoming games against Appalachian State and Georgia Southern were not going to be easy with Ellington and Lazarus; without them would be another story entirely.

OFFENSE CONTINUES TO THRIVE, BUT BROWN NEEDS TO STAY READY This game proved again that the Panthers’ offense is their bread and butter and will help them win games. It also showed that with Ellington’s injury, Brown must be ready to take over the offense in this key part of the season, in case the star senior is not ready to go. A dual-threat quarterback is ultimately what makes the offense unstoppable.

THE PANTHERS DO NOT CONTROL THEIR OWN DESTINY This loss hurts the Panthers because they do not control their own destiny anymore for the Sun Belt title. If they were to win, it would have given them a chance to play key games against Appalachian State and Georgia Southern, knowing victories would propel them into the final. This loss heightens the pressure.

THE TEAM IS STILL GROWING Overall, the Panthers are having a historic season and want to keep achieving each of their goals they set out to achieve.

This loss showed that even though they are hungry, the team is young and still has a lot of work to do. This is the third loss of the season, and in four of their games, the same issues with defense have repeatedly appeared.

In order for the Panthers to continue winning at a high level and achieve more success, they will have to continue to learn and build off performances like this.

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Men’s basketball East Coast road trip preview The Panthers take on powerhouses Duke and Georgetown ANDREW FREEDMAN Staff Reporter

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t’s been quite a process, but the Georgia State men’s basketball program is on the rise. Two consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament, two straight Sun Belt Conference Championships and a number of players later, they’re making strides. But more importantly, people are taking notice.

Two key games on a weekend in November tell the story. Nov. 15 at Duke University and Nov. 17 at Georgetown University will present Rob Lanier’s men with a chance to shock the world.

For anyone who watches college basketball in March, they know: Upsets are made to happen. It’s why college basketball is amazing to watch. Each and every year in March Madness, someone is always bound to be upset.

In 2014, Mercer University beat Duke in one of the greatest upsets in college basketball history. The next year, future NBA first-round pick RJ Hunter beat the Golden Bears of Baylor University with a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

In both of these games, the 14-seed beat the 3-seed in the tournament, proving that, at the end of the day, these are kids and they’re going to make some mistakes.

Here’s an analysis of the Panthers’ two biggest regular-season games in recent history.

Georgia State @ Duke, Friday, Nov. 15th, 7:00 pm For only the second time in program history, the Panthers will face off against Duke University, the No. 4 team in the

Associated Press preseason rankings. The previous meeting was the season opener for the 2012-13 season, which saw six future NBA players take the floor — five from Duke and one from Georgia State. It was a bad loss for the Panthers, as Duke’s talent and depth propelled them to a 74-55 victory inside the famous Cameron Indoor Stadium.

But these teams obviously looked much different from how they do now. One thing about college basketball: Anyone can come out on top and win on any given night.

Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski, better known as “Coach K,” is often regarded as the greatest head coach of all time. His 1,132 alltime wins currently rank first. He’s led the school to 24 straight NCAA Tournaments, which is the second-longest streak of all time and also coaches Team USA Basketball in the Olympics.

Each season, Duke has consistently held a top spot in the recruitment class rankings.

This year was no different. Highlighted by 247Sports’ No. 6 overall prospect in the class of 2019 Vernon Carey, they’ll be as talented as any team in college basketball.

They also return exceptional players, including Norcross High School alumnus and junior guard Jordan Goldwire.

The Panthers lack the athleticism Duke possesses, so a hot start from their leaders is crucial if they want the upset.

Damon Wilson and Kane Williams will each look to be leaders on both ends of the floor at Cameron Indoor Stadium, arguably the toughest venue for an opponent to play at.

Lanier told The Signal during an interview that his players’ success beyond basketball is what brings joy to him.

For Lanier, this will be the biggest head

Georgia State’s men’s basketball team prepares for its massive East Coast road trip, where they will face off against Duke and Georgetown.

coaching challenge of his career. An upset over the No. 4 team in the country on the road would be high on his list of career accomplishments.

In order to do that, he will look to Wilson and Williams. “[Williams] has been the most vocal advocate each practice of what we’re doing, and he is a natural leader,” Lanier said at October’s media day when asked about the two. “There’s a correlation between his energy at practice and our energy as a team.

And Damon’s right there with him.”

Duke, on the other hand, doesn’t have a distinguished leader. Their first game, an exhibition against unranked Northwest Missouri State University, saw them squeak by with a mere 69-63 win. However, their 68-66 win over No. 3 Kansas last Tuesday silenced the critics.

With that said, we can expect the Panthers to play far more than just seven players against the Blue Devils and give them as big a fight as the Jayhawks did last week.

Final score: 75-60, Duke.

Georgia State @ Georgetown, Nov. 17th, 7:30 pm We’ve addressed Duke losing to Mercer, but Georgetown knows what it’s like to be part of an upset. After all, Patrick Ewing, their head coach, was a player for the Hoyas in one of the biggest upsets of all time.

Like Duke, Georgetown has only played Georgia State twice, with the Hoyas beating the Panthers 83-68 on Nov. 18, 1998.

Now coaching at his alma mater, Ewing, the NBA Hall of Famer, has two seasons under his belt with the Hoyas, with a 34-29 record.

In those two seasons, however, Ewing hasn’t produced any NBA draft picks or

NCAA Tournament appearances.

The resume isn’t nearly as extensive for the Hoyas as it is for Duke, but this is still a well-coached program.

They return two key sophomores from last season: former four-star recruit Josh LeBlanc and former three-star Mac McClung.

LeBlanc led the team in field goal percentage and will be the best returning rebounder for the team as well. He’s a gritty player, and with his 6-7, 215-pound frame, Lanier and his Panthers squad will have their hands full on the glass.

His weakness lies in the perimeter game.

In order to take him out of the game, Georgia State will need to make him take jump shots and not go inside. He led the team in shooting last season at 63%, so it’s clear he knows how to get buckets.

Lanier will look to his big men when LeBlanc boxes out for rebounds and offensive putbacks.

And, of course, you can’t talk about Georgetown basketball without mentioning McClung, the freak athlete with a 47-inch vertical. His 13.1 points per game were good for a freshman, but how he got them was another story.

A poor 39% from the field and an even worse 27.7% from three-point range, McClung struggled heavily last season. His 79.8% from the free-throw line was solid, but he didn’t get to the line as much as he would have liked.

Containing him will most likely be the assignment for Williams. This one is going to be the one-on-one matchup of the weekend.

Prediction: 72-65. Panthers come home with the upset.

PHOTO BY SHEL LEVY | THE SIGNAL

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2019

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Friends since high school, coaches in college

Meet basketball grad assistants Dylan Brewster and Isaiah Campbell AVERY WIGGINS Staff Reporter

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he men’s basketball team was practicing on a Thursday in the practice gym. The players were accompanied by head coach Rob Lanier and his assistant coaches. They were also accompanied by graduate assistants Dylan Brewster and Isaiah Campbell.

Both Brewster and Campbell previously worked with Coach Lanier at the University of Tennessee. Campbell was a manager on the men’s basketball team for two years; Brewster was a graduate assistant the year the Volunteers reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

When Lanier was hired as the new head coach of the Georgia State men’s basketball team, both Campbell and Brewster accompanied him to Atlanta, along with a few other assistant coaches from Tennessee as well. It was a smooth and seamless transition for all involved.

“It was good working together,” Campbell said. “Good being able to get a chance to work together again coming here.”

As graduate assistants, Brewster and Campbell have a variety of responsibilities. They break down film of previous games, compile scouting reports on upcoming games, collect stats during the games and also form good relationships with the players both on and off the court.

“We are trying to coach and help these guys get better, but off the court, you know, we have relationships with them,” Campbell said. “We get along with them, joke around, stuff like that, but once we get on the court, you know, it’s time to get to business.”

The job carries several benefits. Their entire time at graduate school is fully paid for as a result of the job. In addition, they receive a monthly stipend, which can be used to help pay for basic necessities, like rent and groceries.

Both men have deep roots in basketball. Brewster played basketball at Lenoir City High School as a combo guard. While playing for the Panthers, Brewster scored 1,000 career points and set a school record for points in a game (52) in a win over Wartburg.

After graduating from high school in 2014, he attended the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where he was a manager for the men’s basketball team in 2014-15, a graduate assistant in 2015-16 and even played for the team in 2016-17 and 2017-18.

He appeared in seven games as a junior and due to injury, only six games as a senior. Prior to his senior season, he was placed on scholarship, thanks to the new head coach who took over.

After graduating from UTC with a communications degree in 2018 and a perfect 4.0 GPA, he went to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where he became a graduate assistant for the Volunteers’ basketball team under Lanier.

Campbell played point guard at Bearden High School in Knoxville and later again at Bryan College in Dayton, Tennessee,

Dylan Brewster and Isaiah Campbell are longtime best friends who served as graduate assistants under Rob Lanier while he coached at Tennessee.

playing for two years.

Brewster and Campbell have known each other since playing against each other in high school. They’ve played each other 10 times, with Brewster only winning once.

“My teammates and me had a really good time winning some games in Lenoir City,” Brewster said. “[Campbell’s] team’s a powerhouse.”

PHOTO BY AYESHA PATEL | THE SIGNAL

As far as those their education goes, Brewster is majoring in sports management and Campbell in education and human development. Brewster wants to coach basketball some day, and Campbell wants to become a scout and personnel guy in the NBA. This job will be a great stepping stone to the future.

“I just want to be able to coach the game and help kids out,” Brewster said.

What the NCAA’s decision means for Georgia And why Representative Billy Mitchell will no longer introduce his bill ESPEN INDRISANO & BEN COLETTA Sports Editor & Associate News Editor

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n Oct. 29, the NCAA reversed its stance prohibiting student-athletes from profiting off their names and likenesses. During a meeting at Emory University in Atlanta, the NCAA Board of Governors unanimously voted to change its rules and allow its student-athletes to begin profiting off themselves by 2021.

The decision was a surprising one, to say the least, as the organization had spent weeks prior speaking out against states that intended to and, in California’s case, did pass legislation to allow collegiate athletes to begin profiting off their names and likenesses beginning in the year 2023.

For Georgia State Rep. Billy Mitchell, who announced a week prior to the NCAA’s Board of Governors meeting that

he intended to propose legislation on the issue in January, the decision was great to see.

“I am surprised that they acted so quickly,” Mitchell said. “I am grateful that they addressed [the issue] and even further grateful that they recognized my bill, in part, as one of the reasons why they felt they needed to address it.”

Mitchell’s bill, similar to that of California state Sen. Nancy Skinner’s, would seek to allow collegiate athletes not only to profit off their names and likenesses starting in the year 2023, but also have legal access to agents, who could help the athletes draw up sponsorship and business deals.

“To allow [athletes] to be able to earn some money while they are in school is only reasonable,” Mitchell said.

So, what does the NCAA’s decision mean for Mitchell’s legislation?

“My bill, like California and many of the other states, was not going to happen, if enacted, until 2023,” Mitchell said. “I promised many of the members on the committee with the NCAA that [the decision] renders our bill unnecessary now.”

As a result, Mitchell no longer has plans to introduce his legislation when the House reconvenes in 2020.

This does not mean the legislation is dead, however. While the immediate timeline remains unclear, legislators like Mitchell will continue to monitor the NCAA to ensure that the promise is kept.

“Certainly, we are going to hold on to the legislation,” Mitchell said. “And if the [NCAA] does not address it as timely as they stated that they would, we can always submit it.”

Mitchell said he has faith in the NCAA to keep good on its word, as it makes sense for the organization to establish nationwide regulations, instead of having to oversee differentlooking sets of laws in any of the 50 states that may have passed laws of their own.

According to a press release from the NCAA, “the working group will continue to gather feedback through April on how best to respond to the state and federal legislative environment and to refine its recommendations on the principles and regulatory framework.”

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Georgia State tennis player Vazha Shubladze recovered from his torn meniscus last semester and plans to return to the court this upcoming season.

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Vazha Shubladze: The anatomy of an injury How the star recovered from a serious knee injury, then landed in the semifinals ESPEN INDRISANO Sports Editor

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azha Shubladze dropped his racket, pumped his fists and celebrated like he had just won Wimbledon. With his 6-3, 7-6 victory over the University of Florida’s Johannes Ingildsen, the sophomore claimed a spot in the semifinals of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Southeast Regionals.

Just last semester, Shubladze underwent knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus and missed months of action. The realization that his body had unfortunately failed him was tough at first.

“I was really, really depressed for a couple of days [after the surgery],” Shubladze said.

“After a few days, I just realized that [the injury], as one of my friends says, could be a minor fallback for a major comeback. I just thought to myself that I was going to come back stronger and a much better player than I was before the injury.”

While the Georgian’s phenomenal run came to an end in the semis, his 4-1 individual record, which included a win over the University of Florida’s Andy Andrade — the No. 31 ranked player in the nation — meant everything. “[The win over Andrade] was my best win in college by far,” Shubladze said. “It was just amazing.”

A little more than a week prior, Andy

Murray, an idol of Shubladze’s, lifted the European Open in Antwerp, Belgium. Like Shubladze, Murray had also come back from a major injury, one over which the three-time Grand Slam champion contemplated retiring.

For Shubladze, watching his idol beat the odds was an inspiration.

“I have been a fan [of Murray] since I was, I don’t know, 10,” Shubladze said. “It was very inspirational … and to see him come back to the top level in a match against Stan Wawrinka was a huge boost for me.”

Murray, who struggled through chronic hip pain, tearfully announced in January that retirement seemed like the only road to take.

But the Scotsman never gave up. Six months after his second hip surgery, he made his return to singles action at the Western and Southern Open.

Like Murray, Shubladze needed to fight an early mental battle in order to prepare himself for the months of hard work and rehabilitation.

“In the beginning, I was like, ‘I don’t know if I am going to come back,’” Shubladze said.

“I had heard of athletes that weren’t able to come back from knee injuries. Even if you think they are healed, they might [worsen] after some period of time.”

After the surgery, the everyday activities Shubladze had become accustomed to suddenly were a challenge.

“I was just sitting in my room [because] I couldn’t even walk or go to the dining hall to grab food because I had to use crutches,” he said. “And I was just wondering, ‘What is going to happen?’”

After the initial worry subsided, Shubladze decided that the injury would not define his young, blossoming tennis career.

“When I started rehabbing, I was just thinking to myself, ‘I have played tennis for 10 years, and I can’t just stop now or be depressed because this can happen to anyone,’” he said. “So, you just have to do your best to rehab, start playing [again] and just hope for the best.”

Shubladze spent his entire summer break in rehab. This is something that many athletes, myself included, have had to struggle through at some point in their careers. The motivation to keep his tennis dreams and career alive pushed Shubladze to incredible heights.

“Rehab is tough,” Shubladze said. “When you start, you start with baby steps … after a couple weeks or maybe one month, you start to put some weight on [the injury].”

Throughout the three month summer break, Shubladze began to grow more and more confident in his knee, as the rehabilitation workouts became more intense.

He was still not ready for action upon returning to school in August, however, and needed to continue his rehab process on campus.

“When I came back in August, I started practicing a little bit but I could not push my knee 100%,” Shubladze said. As the ITA Southeast Regions began to approach, Shubladze was still unsure of whether or not he would be able to compete.

“I saw a doctor who told me I could play,” he said. “If I felt any kind of pain, I [was told]

to stop playing the tournament.”

The doctor’s rules were difficult to follow, especially since his results kept advancing him in the tournament. In his semifinal match, however, things took a worrying turn.

“In the semifinals, my knee was really swollen because I was pushing it too hard,” Shubladze said. “I was playing two matches in a day … and in the semis, it really felt bad, and I couldn’t even serve in the third set.”

While no further damage was done to the knee, the swelling forced Shubladze to take some time off and focus on his ongoing rehab.

“After practice, you rehab,” he said. “And you have to ice it at home as well. You have to be careful.”

Shubladze hopes his 2019-20 season will help put the injury behind him. After his dominant performances at the ITA Southeast Regionals, he has big aspirations.

“First of all, as a team, we want to win the conference,” he said. “That is the biggest goal.

We lost last year in the [Sun Belt Conference] finals, and that was so tough.”

For Shubladze, the rehab process and the experience of playing last season, has made him a stronger person.

“I think I am playing much better than when I was playing last season. I think I am more prepared mentally,” he said. “When I started playing college tennis, I was mentally unprepared for it. My personal goal is to get ranked as high as possible, win as many matches as possible and do my best for the team.”

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