The Signal Vol. 87 No. 23

FEMININE PRODUCTS A Georgia State student created DelivHer, a customizable feminine care package for women.

NEWS

There are new voting machines for the primaries and students have mixed feelings about it.

ARTS & LIVING

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THE REDSHIRT SENIOR

BLOTTER

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The next loss of Damon Wilson’s career will be his last game.

SUDOKU

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PLANNER

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SPORTS

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m s e u a r i n v f a o n r o G r e o

VOL. 87 | NO. 23

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MAR. 10 - MAR. 16, 2020

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Students are wondering how the new virus, COVID-19, will impact their daily lives.

Faculty are abandoning attendance policies and canceling classes.

The administration is forming a task force to make decisions that could alter the remainder of the semester.

Everyone is wondering what the virus means for the university — and the world — next.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL

@gsusignal

georgiastatesignal.com

THE SIGNAL

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GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

BLOTTER FEB. 28

Work on your parking skills.

On the Clarkston campus, a Georgia State student was the victim of criminal property damage at 7:01 p.m. in the parking deck. The case is still active.

MARCH 2

Hello, is your refrigerator running?

At 11:10 p.m. at University Commons, a Georgia State student was the victim of phone call harassment. The case is still active.

MARCH 3

RosĂŠ all day.

At 184 John Wesley Dobbs Ave., two Georgia State students were arrested for a drug law violation at 8:10 p.m.

MARCH 4

Disturbing the peace.

At 2:06 p.m., a Georgia State offender was given a judicial referral for a disturbance at Petit Science Park.

MARCH 6

Open sesame.

A Georgia State student was arrested for criminal trespass at the Urban Life building at 4:39 a.m.

ILLUSTRATION BY MONTENEZ LOWERY | THE SIGNAL

TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2020

www.georgiastatesignal.com/news

Coronavirus stirs ‘heightened concern’ in administration Task force established to discuss moving classes online ADA WOOD Editor-in-Chief

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tudents, faculty and even university administration are all increasingly concerned over the spread of the strain of novel coronavirus known as COVID-19, especially after Gov. Brian Kemp confirmed the first two cases in the state on Monday night.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the cases are in Fulton County, from a man who returned from Milan, Italy on Feb. 22 and infected his son.

According to Wendy Hensel, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Georgia State, Georgia State University President Mark Becker has “appointed a task force of experts from around the university to provide guidance to the university as this situation evolves.”

This Public Health Preparedness Task Force includes Leslie Wolf, interim dean of the College of Law; Rodney Lyn, interim dean of the School of Public Health; Michael Sanseviro, associate vice president for student engagement and dean of students; Wolfgang Schloer, associate provost for international initiatives; Georgia State University Police Department Chief of Police Joseph Spillane; and Don Hale, vice president for public relations and marketing communications.

“The COVID-19 virus has impacted the operations of some universities abroad,” Hensel said. “While there is no immediate threat to Georgia, we are proactively evaluating and revising our preparedness plans to minimize the disruption to students, faculty and staff in the event Georgia State is affected.”

Additionally, the administration is beginning plans for a transition to online courses if in-person classes need to be canceled, which provides its own complications for students without access to an at-home computer.

“In particular, we have asked faculty to identify the equipment they would need to deliver remote instruction from home so we could continue classes should it become necessary to implement social distancing measures,” she said.

Professors have begun taking their own actions as well.

John Frazier, a professor in the School of Film, Media & Theatre, posted an announcement to his students via iCollege on Tuesday that he was canceling classes that day until he had “received a clear protocol for dealing with COVID 19 (Coronavirus).”

“Though I haven’t heard directly from the university on protocol, I’m making the call to cancel classes today,” he said in the post.

Students in Frazier’s class received an email from Gregory Smith, director of the School of Film, Media and Theatre, later that night.

“Please disregard the email you received earlier today from John Frazier regarding cancellation of his classes,” the email from Smith read. “He was not speaking on behalf of the College of Arts or Georgia State University.”

Frazier later responded to The Signal in an email that he has now changed his statement.

“What I did in the situation was incorrect,” Frazier said. “I have sense amended my statement and I am in line with the universities polices on the matter.”

Another faculty member, Ellen Ballard, a professor from the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, made an announcement at the start of class Monday about the virus.

Ballard said that she would be suspending her attendance policy for the remainder of the semester, and if any students were sick, they should just stay home instead of worrying if it would affect their grades.

“Suspending the attendance policy was not a university decision.

It was a personal one,” Ballard said.

She explained that she had received several emails and after class discussions from concerned students about what would happen if there was a coronavirus case on campus.

“Suspending the attendance policy is really just an abundance of caution so that students feel comfortable attending class,” she said. “Our university is very prepared to respond if we were to experience community spread. It’s a bonus that we have one of the best public health departments.

We have in-house experts on the case.”

Microscopic image from the first U.S. case of COVID-19. The spherical viral particles are colorized blue.

Today at 3 p.m., the university sent out an email from President Becker that they continue to “closely monitor the situation with coronavirus COVID-19 and want to keep the university well informed with resources related to the illness and its spread.”

They have since created a website, www.gsu.edu/coronavirus, that will include all updates from the university on any decisions they make and important information for students on preventative care.

“Members of our university community are working closely together to ensure we are prepared for future developments,” Becker said in the email. “Your understanding, knowledge and cooperation are critical to achieving our goals in addressing the public health challenge.”

Becker even notes that we are in a “time of heightened concern.”

“The health and welfare of our Georgia State community is a top priority at all times, and at this time of heightened concern it is critical each of us does our part to limit and prevent the spread of communicable diseases such as flu and COVID-19,” Becker said.

This is a change in tone from the discussion the Georgia State Senate had on coronavirus at the Feb. 13 meeting, according to previous Signal reporting.

“Even though there is not an epidemic in this country, it does affect the university system, certainly Georgia State University,” Becker said at the time. “I think it would be accurate to say, even though I’m not an expert on diseases, [that] we know less about this virus than we know about it.”

The University System of Georgia has received guidance from both the CDC and the Georgia Department of Public Health about the spread of the virus.

The CDC has advised that the USG consider postponing or canceling study abroad and for students to self-monitor, especially after travel to a country at a risk Level 3 or higher, as assigned by the CDC. The CDC has provided a webpage with updates and resources as they monitor the disease.

Currently, the CDC has designated China and Iran at Level 3 with restrictions placed on entry into the U.S., South Korea and Italy at Level 3 without restrictions on travel and Japan at Level 2.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL | THE SIGNAL

NEWS

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GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

Atlanta senators meet last time before elections Discussions include the rec center, SGA budget and coronavirus BROOKLYN VALERA News Editor

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he last Student Government Association Atlanta Senate meeting before the SGA elections was held Thursday.

Speaker Pro Tempore Terry Fye began the meeting with only 11 senators present. At the time, the senate did not meet the quorum.

“No official and binding votes can be taken at any session when a quorum is not present,” the SGA bylaws state.

The quorum for the SGA Atlanta Senate meetings currently requires the presence of 13 members. Two minutes into the meeting, the senate was able to meet quorum.

Timber Hines, director of Recreational Services, came to speak to the senate.

“I hope that not only will you be involved, but if you could help us with just continuing to spread the word [about] the programs and services that are available to all of the students,” Hines said.

Hines informed the senate that there were almost 800,000 entries into the Recreation Center last year; 92% of those entries were students.

She also mentioned the Georgia State Recreation app.

“We do have an app that students can download that shows all of the information that’s in the Recreation Wrap Up ,as well as our schedules, policies and procedures,” Hines said.

Speaker Thomas entered the meeting at the beginning of Hines’s speech and took over the role as speaker of the senate.

Matthew Adjin-Tettey, a student at Georgia State, was immediately seated as an undergraduate senator for the J. Mack Robinson College of Business. He was allowed to vote on any legislation following the decision.

Freshman Liaison Hermela Assefa was named SGA officer for the month of January and Speaker Pro Tempore Terry Fye for the month of February.

SENATOR ANNOUNCEMENTS

During the two-minute speeches, Sen. John Le used the time to ask SGA members to reflect.

“I want you guys to think about your ‘why.’ Why did you join SGA? Why are you sitting here today?” Le said. “Every time you do anything SGA related, think of that. Then, think of the students you’re representing too. Students need a voice, and that is us. We cannot let them down.”

Sen. Mario Calcagno took the two minutes to tell SGA members to remind students to vote at the on-campus polling location.

“Students who are registered to vote in Fulton County can vote on campus [March 9-10], and tell everybody that you know to vote in the primaries because it’s very important,” Calcagno said. “I think it’s very important that young people have their voices heard.”

Fye announced that SGA senator applications for the Atlanta Senate will open on March 13 to fill vacancies for the 91st Administration.

NEW GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

Later on, Fye introduced a bill to create a Government and Community Affairs Chair and Committee.

“The introduction of this chair and standing committee will make the Atlanta Senate more efficient and representative of the student body in state affairs,” the bill states.

Sen. Nigel Walton entered the meeting two hours into its start time during the discussion of the bill.

The bill was passed and the budgeting of the committee was reflected in the SGA Operational Budget Proposal for the fiscal year 2021. The budget proposal showed $2,000 moved from the senate budget to fund the new committee.

The stipends for executive vice president, finance director and all committee chairs also decreased to fund the Government and Community Affairs Chair stipend.

CORONAVIRUS

Sen. Kalil Garrett motioned to amend the agenda to add a discussion of Georgia State’s coronavirus contingency plan earlier in the meeting. The motion was seconded and passed.

The Atlanta SGA Senate discusses growing concerns for the spread of COVID-19.

“Use common sense and do the normal thing you do to not get the flu,” Atlanta EVP Hamza Habibur Rahman said.

He continued to inform the senate that there is no outbreak or current threat and that there is no reason to be scared.

Toward the end of the meeting, the discussion formally

“In the event of an outbreak, the university [will] attempt to begin moving courses online ... but as of now, it is not needed..”

—HAMZA HABIBUR RAHMAN Atlanta EVP began when Walton attempted to clarify that the virus is not officially called the “coronavirus”; rather, it is a type of coronavirus.

“I have spoken to upper administration today about this whole issue,” Rahman said.

Sen. Takia Tinsley asked Rahman how the university can keep students calm if their professors have already begun to cancel classes in fear of the virus.

“My conversation with Dean [Michael] Sanseviro as of 3 o’clock today was [that] these professors need to not be doing that,” Rahman said. “They are coming down on professors that are doing so because we have received no indication that this is a viable threat to us.”

According to Rahman, Sanseviro is frustrated with other

PHOTO BY RICHARD DAILEY | THE SIGNAL

departments that are making these decisions without consulting upper administration.

Sen. Spencer DeHart mentioned the email that was sent to teachers asking if they’d be able to lecture their classes online.

“The reason they are doing that is because the university has asked a refresher of protocol,” Rahman said. “In the event of an outbreak, the university [will] attempt to begin moving courses online, and the university is preparing to do so in case it is needed, but as of now, it is not needed.”

The discussion then shifted to the status and safety of students studying abroad .

“With regards to study abroad, that actually wasn’t a call made by [Georgia State]; that actually was a call made by [the University System of Georgia]. Basically, the University System said, ‘Pull everyone out of China and Italy, and anyone currently facing quarantine will be put in touch with the U.S. Embassy,’” Rahman said. “They are working on refunds to be issued.”

The discussion was extended twice before the meeting ran out of time.

Calcagno began to question the validity of the information given to students because “the people who are supposed to be solving this issue do not believe in science.”

“We also have to remember that we are not scientists also; we are only going off information that is given to us,” Sen. Aubrey Abraham said. “If you’re going to say that this is incompetent, then you have to be the one to bring in viable solutions.”

Following this statement, Fye motioned to end the discussion early after the meeting began to run overtime.

The motion was passed.

SGA plans to hold their second university-wide meeting of the spring semester March 12, the last day of the SGA elections.

TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2020

NEWS

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‘A new’ way to tackle feminine care How DelivHer and the Anu Cup are changing periods IMANI DENNIS Staff Reporter

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“We’ll eventually do wholesale and be in retail stores where tampons are found, but we figured the easiest way to enter the market would be directly to the consumer,” she said.

Knox says that her patent for the Anu Cup was rejected at first, but then she learned that at the patent office rejects most people’s claims the first time.

The first couple of patent attorneys she interviewed were men. Knox said they just didn’t understand her idea. Then, she met patent attorney Justin Miller.

“He was able to take the ideas I had at first and put them on paper. I described it to him, and when I spoke with Justin, he [understood] what my idea was,” she said.

He even shared it with his wife.

Knox balances student work as a public relations major, DelivHer, her career as a realtor and her job as the assistant producer at The Streetz Morning Takeover, a radio show.

She said that it’s hard, but her secret is that she stays organized.

“I’ve got a big wall calendar. I set tasks, goals and milestones and just mark things off,” she said. “Some days I don’t finish all of them, but I have a direction of where I want to go and what I [want to] do. That does

f you’re looking for “a new” feminine product Georgia State student, Chante Knox has created a solution under her business, DelivHer Femcare.

Knox and her competition partner Dia Davis won a total of $105,000 in prizes from Enterprise and Innovation Exchange (EIX) for pitching DelivHer. The Anu Clean Cup is a patented single-use flexible cup that is worn internally, underneath the cervix that both collects and absorbs menstrual flow. It is also hypo-allergenic and non-latex.

Knox got the idea for the Anu cup when tampons weren’t enough to collect her flow.

“Tampons last me like two hours tops. That’s a lot of time out of your day when you’re a girl or a woman, and now you have to plan your entire day around your cycle,” Knox said. “A friend of mine turned me on to menstrual cups but it doesn’t absorb, and it only collects,” She described sitting in her bathroom and being shocked with how messy it was removing and emptying the menstrual cup.

“I was completely mortified with the removal process,” Knox said. “And I was determined to figure out a way to make it better.”

The patent for the menstrual cup was issued about 100 years ago, according to an article published by The New York Times, but it has not been widely embraced because of religious and cultural beliefs and taboos about coming in contact with menstrual blood.

However, now that conversations about periods have become more prominent in society, women are using menstrual cups as an alternative to disposable pads and tampons due to cost efficiency and easier period management.

Knox’s company DelivHer, will soon offer the Anu Cup in aa personalized subscription box for people to manage their menstrual cycles.

“You come to our site, you take a short period quiz and then we custom curate a period box for you,” she said.

Knox was inspired by observing how different other women’s cycles were.

“Every woman’s cycle is unique. I grew up in a house with five women and we all experienced our periods differently,” she said. “One of my sisters can’t get out of bed for two days, and one of my sisters cramps for four days and the doctor has to prescribe medication for her. Everyone’s different.”

Knox found when researching other period boxes that they all had one similar problem: limited options for customization.

“I started researching period boxes and found that most of them are one size fits all. Or you can customize them, but it’s an additional charge. So, our [boxes] are unique because they fit your personal needs,” she said.

Knox used the example of pain medication.

“If you don’t have cramps on your period, we wouldn’t send you any pain medication,” she said.

DelivHer will also have customizable snacks for the box.

“Some women have salty, sour or sweet cravings. I don’t like chocolate, so if you put chocolate in my box, I probably wouldn’t order it again,” Knox said.

Her idea for DelivHer was her way to introduce the Anu Cup to the market without having to fight for big companies to sell her product.

“The reason why I thought about a subscription box is because we knew that we would have some difficulty getting into the market because there are legacy players like U by Kotex and Tampax that have been in the market for a long time,” Knox said.

She said that major companies would not realistically want another cup competing against their lucrative products.

Chante Knox is tackling feminine care by changing the way Knox has plans in the future to deliver the Anu women navigate their cycle with her new business, DelivHer. Cup to consumers through other means.

not deter me.”

Knox says students have responded positively to DelivHer. “A lot of students have asked when they can sign up and when they can get the cup. Most students are very receptive to it. Even the guys are like, ‘Wow, I’ll tell my mom and my sister,’” she said.

Knox’s advice for people that want to start a business is to just get started.

“If you’re passionate about something, you’ll do it,” she said.

Knox has plenty of ideas for the future of her business.

“We’ve already filed patents for another version of the cup and a reusable version of the cup. It’ll be a product line and I’m thinking of offering other things to go along with it,” Knox said.

DelivHer will also collaborate with other companies.

“We also have vendors that want to be a part of the box so on the site people will be able to shop for their products,” she said.

According to Knox, DelivHer Femcare is still in beta testing right now but it will be fully functional by the end of this month.

NEWS BRIEFS LOCAL First student-run polling location on campus

Georgia State set up the first student-run polling location on a college campus in American history Sunday. Citizens registered to vote in Fulton County can vote at this polling location on March 9-10 in the Student Center East Ballroom.

Voters will decide on the Democratic nominee for the 2020 presidential election. For more information, find the full article on The Signal website.

NATIONAL Trump’s campaign files three lawsuits

President Trump’s campaign filed a lawsuit against CNN Friday. This is the third lawsuit against a major news organization for campaign damages and libel. His campaign also filed lawsuits against The New York Times and The Washington Post.

The lawsuits are directed toward opinion pieces about the idea of Russia possibly helping Trump in the 2020 election, according to WTHR Channel 13.

GLOBAL Duchess of Sussex tells men to honor women in their lives

In honor of International Women’s Day, Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle visited students on Friday to talk about the women in their lives at Robert Clack Upper School in London. According to The Associated Press, this was one of Markle’s final duties as a senior British royal. She directed the conversation toward the men in attendance and advised them to appreciate and protect all of the women in their lives.

PHOTO COURTESY OF CHANTE JOYCELYN KNOX

NEWS

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GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

From Georgia State to Capitol Hill

Meet the current students and alumni who are running for office

Georgia State student Jorge Granados is maintaining academic hours while running for the House of Representatives.

MARY A. BRASSFIELD Staff Reporter

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t is not hard to believe that many Georgia State students and alumni have the motivation to join politics with the Georgia State Capitol being only a few blocks away from the Downtown campus.

Georgia State has students and graduates who are actively involved in politics or even candidates for office.

“A lot of my donor base are friends and colleagues from school, many of my professors have supported me by posting my website and talking about me in class’” Ebony Cart Carter, who is running for the Georgia House of Representatives District 110, expressed how her time at Georgia State has impacted her political campaign.

District 110 is made up of parts of Bucks County, Henry County and Newton County.

Carter says she chose this district because this is where she grew up and lives and she understands the people well here.

“I felt like my district and Georgians in general deserved better representation but I didn’t see anyone stepping up so I decided I would,” Carter said.

Her platform consists of advocating for better healthcare and more affordable education and equity for all people.

Carter feels that no person should have to go broke because of health care and will push for more Medicaid coverage and lower insurance premiums.

“For the people, by the people” is Carter’s logo for her campaign.

“I’m running to be a voice for my community and to uplift the immigrants, first-generation Americans, working-class people and people of color in this district because we have never had representation at the congressional level,” Nabilah Islam,

U.S. House of Representatives District 7 candidate, said.

Islam’s platform will consist of Medicare for all, immigration reform, canceling college debt and pushing for the minimum wage to become $15 an hour.

She recently declared her support for the Green New Deal, which is a legislation package that addresses climate change and economic equity and inequalities.

Islam’s advocacy work started young when her mother got into an accident while at work and the insurance company did not want to compensate her mother for her injuries.

She helped her mom find a lawyer and fought with her to receive the benefits she was entitled to.

Both Islam’s parents are immigrants from Bangladesh who came to America for work and to give her and her little brother a better life.

Islam attended Georgia State from 20082012 where she received a bachelor’s degree in business administration. She was active in many organizations and programs such as Aicsec,an exchange program that allowed foreign and domestic students to find and apply for internships in Atlanta and out of the country.

Islam associated her time in Aicsec with her fight for immigration rights in “the fourth largest diverse district in the world,” according to Islam.

Jorge Granados, a student on the Clarkston campus, is also running for office.

Granados is running for the Georgia House of Representatives District 99, which is located in Gwinnett County.

“A vote for me is a vote for your choice,” is the logo of Granados campaign.

Granados said the quote means if you vote for him, he will continue to work for you and make sure your voice is heard.

He said his inspiration to run for office came from seeing the results of the 2018

PHOTO BY MATT SICILIANO-SALAZAR | THE SIGNAL

election and it made him want to get involved and do something.

Granados also references his time as an intern for Representative Brenda LopezRomero as getting him involved with politics early and working at the Georgia State Capitol.

Representative Lopez Romero is currently the representative for District 99. She was recently placed on the U.S. House of Representatives District 7 ballot against Nabilah Islam and other democratic candidates.

Her start in government politics began in 2004 when she attended Georgia State, where she majored in political science with a concentration in international affairs.

“I felt like my district and Georgians in general deserved better representation, but I didn’t see anyone stepping up, so I decided I would.”

— EBONY CARTER Georgia State alumnus running for Georgia House of Representatives District 110 Lopez-Romero spoke about going to the Georgia State Capitol as a student volunteer and sitting in on committee meetings about immigration policy bills and advocating for the people they affected.

“Being an elected official is not working for the government to me, it’s having a constituency base where you’re voted to represent [voters] interest specifically,” she said.

Lopez-Romero’s platform for both offices

will consist of anti-immigration reform and education legislation, two subjects she said are very important to her.

Both her parents did not receive an education higher than elementary school so her policy towards schools is to make sure they are properly funded.

“When I vote on something it isn’t just for House District 99, it’s a statewide impact,” Lopez-Romero said.

Gwinnett County and parts of Forsyth county have a large population of immigrants or undocumented individuals.

She feels her history as an immigration attorney makes her qualified to continue to represent this county at the national level.

If elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, Lopez-Romero wants to change how voters see their congressional leader. She understands that her district will continue to grow rapidly over the next few years and wants to be prepared for when that happens.

Lopez-Romero mentioned three factors she finds important to address before this growth happens: water resources, infrastructure and public transportation.

“For me as a Congress person for the 7th, I see it as my job to deal with those local issues too, when most congressional officials would say it is a country issue,” she said.

Lopez-Romero thinks that getting on one accord and finding the right jobs for the people in her district will help it grow in a positive way.

“Because I have done all that work on the ground and I understand those local issues and I have those relationships with the organizations, I want to make sure as a congressional leader of office that we are dealing with those issues locally,” she said.

She still continues to advocate for students at Georgia State by going back to speak to classes and latino and black organizations about her work in the legislative office.

TUESDAY, 10,15, 2020 TUESDAY, MARCH JANUARY 2019

www.georgiastatesignal.com/opinions

Lifelong consequences for minor convictions

Are institutions punishing students for misdemeanor arrests?

JAMAL LEMOND Staff Columnist

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moment shouldn’t define a person, but someone can be stripped of all rights and opportunities because of one mistake. While some are forgiven, others see their hopes and dreams shattered in an instant.

Misdemeanors and other minor arrests are leaving qualified college students out of jobs and living with consequences that extend beyond a prison sentence.

The fear of the “super predator,” Regan’s War on Drugs, and the school-to-prison pipeline resulted in stricter laws and harsher punishments, and young people are facing life-long repercussions for minor offenses.

People between the ages of 26 and 35 are 3.6 times more likely to be arrested as compared to past generations, and some charges are directly impacting one’s ability to succeed.

A student can be denied Financial Aid due to a conviction.

The FASFA website states: “If your incarceration was for a drug-related offense or if you are subject to an involuntary civil commitment for a sexual offense, your eligibility may be limited.”

The reality that drug-related offenses can result in the automatic termination of one’s financial aid is frightening.

Blacks are 6.5 times more likely than whites to be arrested for a drug-related offense, so a Black student is at increased risk of major repercussions for a petty drug conviction.

Georgia State student Jalease Richardson understands the difficulties of having a criminal record as a young person. She was arrested back in 2013 and is still attempting to recover and move on.

Following a domestic dispute between Richardson’s brother and his then-girlfriend, the police were called to escort her brother’s ex-girlfriend while she retrieved her items. Afterward, Richardson claimed the officer illegally searched her mother’s home and charged Richardson and her ex-husband with obstructing an officer and marijuana possession.

“He proceeded to say, ‘Well, you have to claim [the marijuana] or we are going to take your children and put them into the system.”

After initial resistances to go to trial, Richardson chose to accept the first-time offender’s guilty plea, which would seal away the conviction following the completion of her sentence, but unfortunately, Richardson’s record is still open to the public.

Richardson is a nationally licensed phlebotomist with the

ILLUSTRATION BY MARCUS JEFFERSON | THE SIGNAL

“He proceeded to say, ‘Well, you have to claim [the marijuana], or we are going to take your children and put them into the system.’”

— JALEASE RICHARDSON Georgia State student American Society of Clinical Pathology and completed an externship at Grady Hospital, but she can’t land a job. She

believes her conviction is the main problem “I am a licensed phlebotomist. I can’t get a job anywhere. I am not sure why. I have applied to maybe 30 different places, maybe two times each.” Richardson said. “I can only get small jobs like working in fast food where they don’t do extenuates background checks. Trying to be in the medical field they’re going to look and see if you have any drug-related charges against you.

Although Richardson found happiness with her current job, friends, and three brilliant children, she knows the system must change.

Punishment is necessary, but extended action isn’t.

Convicted criminals are finding it extremely difficult to return to society and find success. Numerous institutional policies must be altered so that young people can be provided the opportunity for redemption.

Don’t let your first date be in Commons Tell your partner that they need to wine and dine you JASMINE BARROW Staff Columnist

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oming into college, I knew dating would be different than it was in high school. I was under the impression that it would be taken more seriously, going out on dinner dates and whatnot.

But in college, going out in public together isn’t done until deeper into the relationship. It’s more common for the first date to be held in the dorm than actually going out.

Now, when I say “in the dorm,” it could mean watching a moving in the living room, but more often than not, the movie watching is taking place in the bedroom. Being in the bedroom, lying in bed together makes it easy for one thing to lead to another. We all know what “Netflix and chill’ means.

I understand the convenience of saying, “Come over,” when you might live two floors above each other or just a short walk across the Commons lobby, but also take into consideration what message you are trying to send about yourself if you’re lying in this other person’s bed before you’ve gone out on a real date.

I’ve been there, done that, and I don’t feel bad about it. But I’ve done a bit of growing up lately, and I feel that I deserve better. If I’ve ever been on a bedroom date with someone, I no longer talk to them. After all, it was nothing more than a light, casual, “Hi, how are you?” conversation. But I should’ve guessed that based on how the “relationship” started.

So, before you go on your first date, figure out what you want to come from it. There’s nothing wrong with casual sex, so if that’s what you want, go for it. But if you want whatever situation you’re in to become something more, I suggest not having your first date in the bedroom.

Get wined and dined first. Doing this shows where your head is and what your intentions are. If you and this other

person are going to actually date, then why would they be opposed to going out on a real date first and not a rinkydink hangout in Georgia State housing?

We’re in the heart of downtown Atlanta. It’s not hard to walk somewhere together to go and eat or hop in an Uber or the Atlanta Streetcar. The first date will set the tone and somewhat foreshadow what’s to come.

If the first date is in the bedroom it gives off the vibe that the relationship will be based on sex. But when the first date is out and about, even if it’s a quick dinner at waffle house and a walk through Centennial Olympic Park, it will set the tone for a serious relationship.

Not to mention when you are sitting at a restaurant face to face you’ll quickly learn whether they are worth keeping. You won’t notice if they are on their phone when you’re chilling on Twin XL cot.

Whatever you want from the person with whom you want to be intimate, meaning sex, a relationship or both eventually, you should make them earn it. And at the end of the day, there’s nothing wrong with a free meal.

OPINIONS

8

GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

Handshake ignores journalism majors Limited internship opportunities plague the major

executive president & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Ada Wood

JANNEYN SIMMONS

signaleditor@gmail.com managing editor Will Solomons Marketing Manager Julian Pineda

Staff Columnist

I

n recent years, Georgia State has made efforts to ensure the post-graduation success of its students. The university emphasizes internships, cohorts and required research for many of its majors. The university even goes out of its way to implement major clustering, an academic system designed to reduce the cost of changing a major and the wasted credits that come with it.

Georgia State prides itself on doing all that it can to maximize the value of tuition and ensure career turnout following graduation.

Unfortunately, journalism students were left out of the plan.

If you sign into Handshake, a popular career app, featuring on/off-campus job and internship opportunities, you will find a plethora of student assistantship positions and internships related to business majors, including finance and business analysis.

If you filter out the results, a few unpaid positions will pop up. Some of the positions, however, may be fitting for English and Literature majors, rather than journalism majors.

Career Services is more helpful. If you inform one of the advisors that you can’t find opportunities, they’ll have a sit-down with you and help you find the positions available to your career or concentration of choice.

I left the meeting at Career Services with the knowledge of PACE Magazine, a local publication that offers paid internships and prioritizes Georgia State. In addition to PACE, there is The Signal, the student-run independent university newspaper, which offers mostly unpaid positions.

While experience is beneficial, and there are some opportunities for a stipend of a paid internship, journalism students need more opportunities. Journalism students should have university-wide scholarships and an abundance of internships like the other majors.

The CNN Center is right down the street from Aderhold, yet they have a tight fist around their

Editorial NEWS EDITOR Brooklyn Valera

signalnewseditor@gmail.com ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR Mary A. Brassfield OPINIONS EDITOR Shari Celestine signalopinions@gmail.com ASSOCIATE OPINIONS EDITOR Kenneth Lockett III arts & living EDITOR Bria Suggs signalliving@gmail.com ASSOCIATE ARTS & Living EDITOR Sharayah Davis SPORTS EDITOR Andrew Freedman signalsport1@gmail.com ASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITOR Erik Indrisano COPY EDITOR Miro Georgiev signalcopyeditor@gmail.com

Production PRODUCTION EDITOR Montenez Lowery signalprod@gmail.com

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PHOTO EDITOR (PERIMETER) Vacant ASSOCIATE PHOTO EDITOR Vacant Digital DIGITAL EDITOR Will Holley

Student’s at Georgia State struggle to find journalism job opportunities on Handshake.

internships, shadowing and career outreach opportunities.

At a time where journalism is under various attacks and facing a potential decline within the next ten years, it is imperative that journalism students look for loopholes in their studies.

Journalism as a degree is not a jackpot for internships, scholarships nor career opportunities. However, a career in journalism doesn’t require a formal degree in journalism.

A student can pursue a journalism adjacent major: English, film and media, creative writing, media entrepreneurship, etc. and gain the required experience in journalism.

At The Signal and PACE magazine, two of the common entry-level student jobs, a student isn’t required to have a career in journalism. The positions are based on skillset. If you exhibit the skills necessary or the specific media i.e. writing, photography, personality, etc. you have a strong chance of employment.

In turn, with the samples of your work, you

PHOTO BY MATTHEW SICILIANO-SALAZAR | THE SIGNAL

can present your experience to future employers.

Journalism may seem bleak as a major and a career, but there are options. You can maintain your passion for journalism, but it is best to pursue a career through the experience that is available and utilize opportunities for more fruitful academic paths.

Staff Columnist

C

hildren of African American descent are all familiar with their parents’ suggestions on how to make it in the white man’s world: “Don’t use slang — that’s ghetto.” “Press your hair for interviews.” “Stay quiet around cops.”

“Don’t listen to rap music.”

Soon enough, the line between “knowing your place” in society and trying to “teach the black out of you” begins to blur.

Our mothers comment offhandedly on how some curl patterns or skin tones are not as pretty as others. Our fathers come down on us for not being like “those black people” in the rougher areas of town, so don’t speak like them.

Before we even got into school, we were getting our curls relaxed by black women in salons and being taught that how we were born is something of which to be ashamed.

Our parents link their success to their

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MISSION STATEMENT The Signal shall provide, in a fair and accurate manner, news of interest and significance to the Georgia State University community and serve as a forum for the expression of ideas of members of that community. Furthermore, The Signal shall provide an opportunity for students to pursue experience within a professional newspaper environment. The Signal shall also provide truthful and ethical advertising of interest to the Georgia State University community.

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When racial awareness becomes racial submissiveness assimilation. While each generation approaches an all-accepting world, we still have to be aware of the oppression that challenges the black community. In part, it is important for children to understand this from a young age.

“If their parents don’t teach it to them, they’ll learn in the real world and be blindsided by it,” Anaya Wright, a junior at Georgia State and a member of Softer Touch, a sisterhood organization for women of color, said.

For example, Wright said that during her middle and high school careers, she did not realize that black people still needed to work twice as hard for the same recognition as white people in the workplace.

“Current kids and teens should be taught by their parents what it means to be black … in a white man’s country,” she said.

But what does it mean to be black? Sure, we might know what it means to be black in a white man’s world, but we are also being starved of our culture.

Our only conception of blackness is how it’s essentially a curse, something for which we have

THE SIGNAL BUREAUS BUREAU CHIEF (CLARKSTON) Seawards Dawson BUREAU CHIEF (ALPHARETTA) Vacant BUREAU CHIEF (NEWTON) Vacant BUREAU CHIEF (DUNWOODY) Ashten Cunningham BUREAU CHIEF (DECATUR) Markia Lawrence

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to endlessly compensate. We are constantly having to exceed expectations to make up for our blackness. Our race shouldn’t feel like a chore.

What do we know about black influencers?

What do we know about the generational nature of gang activity and how it’s forced on young boys by the need to survive? What do we know about how this is only feeding into the white supremacist desire to eradicate black culture by pitting us against each other and those we view as lesser?

By sitting in silence, we allow our identity to become something shameful if it doesn’t placate white society. Influential figures like Nipsey Hussle go largely unknown until they’re violently taken away from us.

Alongside these people, our sense of brotherhood, sisterhood and community dies.

We are dividing our people to assimilate.

Segregation wears a new face: that of our parents, who can scold rappers as gangsters with a straight face or excuse officers for murdering our brothers. We are bigger than our oppression.

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Requests for coverage and tips should be submitted to the Editor in Chief and/or the relevant section editor.

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Letters must be submitted to the Opinions Editors via e-mail and must include the text of the letter in the body of the message. Letters should be 400-500 words maximum. The Signal will allow longer letters, but only in rare circumstances.

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OFFICE INFORMATION The Signal Student Center West, Suite 250 P.O. Box 3968 Atlanta, GA 30303 Phone: 404-413-1620 Fax: 404-413-1622 Web: www.georgiastatesignal.com The first copy of The Signal is free. Additional copies can be purchased for $1.25 each in 250 Student Center West.

ARTS & LIVING TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2020

www.georgiastatesignal.com/artsandliving

Georgia revamps voting systems for election

State purchased 33,100 new voting machines for the primaries HANNAH JONES Staff Reporter

D

emocratic presidential candidates are feeling the pressure in the final weeks of campaigns throughout the primary election process.

With fierce debates and early voting underway, tensions between candidates have risen.

Back in January, candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren butted heads during a Democratic debate, in which Warren accused Sanders of calling her “a liar on national television,” following Sander’s denying having told Warren that a woman couldn’t beat President Donald Trump.

Twenty-five candidates have dropped out of the race, according to The New York Times, leaving just Sanders, Joe Biden and Tulsi Gabbard to compete for the Democratic nomination.

According to The New York Times, Sanders is the frontrunner in key ways: Sanders’ national polling average is 29%, and the next closest candidate is Biden, polling at 17%. Additionally, Sanders is leading in weekly news coverage and individual contributions to his campaign, which currently rests at $121 million. However, Biden has secured roughly 70 more delegates than Sanders.

Amid the political rollercoaster, Georgia is implementing a new statewide voting system for the primary election. With 33,100 new ballot machines, this change marks the single largest implementation of a new voting system in U.S. history, according to GPB News.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger partnered with the Atlanta Press Club to showcase the new voting machines, which he calls “similar but different”: For the first time in 18 years, Georgia voters will cast a paper ballot. The process begins electronically, in which the voter selects their chosen candidate on a touchscreen polling machine.

Raffensperger said the machines are user-friendly and secure.

He explained that voters have to deselect the chosen candidate to change their vote, meaning there’s a low chance of user error.

Once the selection process is completed, a paper ballot is printed.

This ballot contains a QR code, which includes their votes, and a written summary of the voter’s selections. Once the voter is satisfied, they will place their ballot into a scanner, which saves the ballot as a

PDF and stores the hardcopy within a locked compartment.

Following the demonstration, Mark Niesse, a reporter from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, led an interview with Raffensperger.

Raffensperger said there are 7 million Georgians registered to vote, and he expects up to 5 million people to vote in the primaries.

“We believe when people participate in the system, it’s just healthier for society, and it’s a great way of exercising that you are a free American citizen,” Raffensperger said.

Niesse expressed voters’ concerns regarding cybersecurity and verification of the ballot’s QR code, which the human eye can only see as a series of black blocks.

Raffensperger assured the attendees that the system has been thoroughly checked and verified through a partnership with the Augusta University Cyber Institute.

Students Libby Seger and John Peterson are vocal within the political landscape and have expressed their concerns regarding the new voting machines.

Seger is the president of Young Democrats at Georgia State, and Peterson co-founded Georgia State’s chapter of Students Demand Action.

Seger attended Raffensperger’s demonstration at the Commerce Club. She was one of three people protesting the new machines and held signs, which read, “Electronic voter-suppression, hand-marked paper ballots.”

Seger and Peterson believe that Georgia should revert to handmarked paper ballots.

“They are verifiable, they are non-hackable, and it gives the voter opportunity to look at their vote and circle in who they are voting for and have confidence in it,” Seger said. “[These machines] give us no way to verify that what you clicked on the machine, and the words on the bottom of the page are actually what’s in the QR code.”

Just days before the implementation of the new machines, Peterson, Seger and other students attended a State Election Board meeting to protest.

Seger said each student voiced their concerns during the public comment section and held signs stating, “Violation at the polls,” and barcodes on their mouths.

Seger and Peterson described the experience as powerful, with a positive response from the crowd and even a feature in The AJC. Seger believes their appearance was influential because, before this demonstration, Peterson and herself were the only young people attending the meetings.

“How much more powerful than to bring the young people

Seger and two other Young Democrats protest for paper ballots amid students being eligible to cast their ballot in the presidential primary election in Student Center East.

there?” Seger said. “So, I think bringing up a really powerful, diverse group of student leaders really shook them. They did not see it coming.”

Another qualm with the new voting process, as mentioned

by Niesse and Peterson, is the disconnect between the large touchscreens and voting laws.

Most state constitutions, including Georgia’s, stipulate that voters are entitled to cast a secret ballot, meaning that voters should be protected from others seeing their vote.

U.S. law also prohibits tampering with the voting machines, meaning poll workers should be able to roam the polling area to prevent foul play.

While some fear that the new machines will contradict these laws, State Election Director Chris Harvey said that “it’s not an either-or [situation].”

“We’ve provided diagrams and written instruction [for polling stations] that encouraged them to use common sense, geometry and room engineering, so they maximize privacy for the voters,” Harvey said. “A private ballot is guaranteed by the constitution, and I don’t think they’re all completely equal values; I think privacy is more important.”

Peterson worries that the new polling machines will contradict pre-existing laws and stipulations.

“The design of the new machines creates a situation where poll workers are having to choose which laws to break,” Peterson said. “They can either enforce laws that allow them to defend the machines against tampering, or they can enforce the Georgia State Constitution, which requires that all votes are done in secret.”

Peterson adds that if the Secretary of State’s office has put “our government in the position that they have to choose which laws to break, it’s a fundamental failure on the part of Brad Raffensperger, and honestly he should probably resign.”

As the election is underway, Raffensperger encourages all registered voters to cast a vote.

Seger added that “our generation has so many important issues facing us,” and a sound, secure election is essential.

“We have so many issues we are fighting for coming up that if we don’t have safe elections, we can’t elect leaders that are going to go through with the promises that we’re voting for them for,” Seger said.

“Safe and secure elections are the basis of a democracy.”

Eligible student voters can visit Student Center East to cast their ballot in the presidential primary election.

PHOTO BY HANNAH JONES | THE SIGNAL

elebrating Deaf History Month BRIA SUGGS

Arts & Living Editor

C

hildren sit in a classroom, intently focused on their teacher. They see their teacher’s lips moving yet hear no sound. Expected to read the lips of their teacher in order to follow along with the lesson, the school day was filled with practicing breathing patterns, mouth shapes and vocal exercises in hopes of producing speech.

If they dared to attempt to use their hands in order to communicate, they’d be harshly disciplined, usually by slapping their hands with rulers until they were red and blistered.

This was known as the “oral method,” a product of audism, where Deaf children were discouraged from using sign language and expected to learn how to speak. Audism is defined as “a form of discrimination, prejudice or a general lack of willingness to accommodate those who cannot hear.”

The oral method was made popular by Alexander Graham Bell. He saw deafness as a curse on society and wanted to prevent the birth of deaf children.

His two popular ideas to make that wish a reality was to hinder Deaf people marrying other Deaf people and also to eliminate Deaf residential schools.

Bell believed that these two methods would dissolve the Deaf community and force individuals to be a part of hearing society. The oral method is a somber part of Deaf history. But there are also plenty of more positive events, such as the establishment of the National Association for the Deaf and Gallaudet University.

According to their website, Gallaudet University is the first and only university that was designed to be “barrierfree for deaf and hard of hearing students.” In 1988, a famous student-led protest took place on the Gallaudet campus called Deaf President Now, demanding the hiring of the first Deaf university president.

All of these events are a part of Deaf history. March, in addition to being Women’s History Month, is also Deaf History Month, a time to acknowledge Deaf individuals living in a hearing world.

Lampra Jones is an American Sign Language professor at Georgia State. She’s been teaching for over ten years and enjoys what she does. As a Deaf woman, she has had several negative experiences in her life due to her inability to hear.

“A few negative experiences [I’ve had] are with hearing

people. I’m constantly getting all the time, ‘You don’t look like a Deaf/HoH person,’ or ‘You’re too pretty to be Deaf/HoH,’ and more,” Jones said, using a short form of hard of hearing. “I’ve been told that I’m disabled, special needs, I have bad genes, I need to be prayed for, I need to be ‘fixed’ and I’ve faced several [types] of discrimination.”

Jones said that Deaf people look like everyone else; there’s no way to magically point someone out as Deaf.

“Are hearing people expecting a troll or

something?” she said.

Jones has also faced adversity when it comes to how people treat her son. Jones’ son has autism and was rejected by the hearing world yet accepted by the Deaf world.

“For two to three years, he didn’t speak and would only sign. The hearing community didn’t accept my son, and he would get bullied by kids,” Jones said. “However, whenever we were around the Deaf community, he was never bullied. He was always accepted.”

People have even thought that her inability to hear would hinder her ability to be a good mother to her son.

“Many have asked me, ‘How can I be a mom and be Deaf?’ or ask me ‘Am I a good mom since I can’t [speak to] my son?’” Jones said. “Being hearing doesn’t qualify you as being a good parent.”

Despite the hardships she has faced, Jones has experienced plenty of kindness within the Deaf community.

“Not one single time has a Deaf or HoH person told me I need to fix [myself], I need to fit in, I speak too loud, I need to have a CI [cochlear implant], [or] told me that I’m a horrible mother because my child didn’t speak for two to three years,” Jones said.

To Jones, being Deaf is a source of pride, and it means not wanting to change the fact that she can’t hear.

“[Deaf people] can do anything they want except [to] hear,” Jones said.

She described the Deaf community as a family connected by shared experiences.

“Just like in all families, there are some jerks and people that you aren’t going to like or get along with.

However, at the end of the day, they are family,” Jones said.

There are cultural rules embedded within the Deaf community that are expected to be respected.

For example, eye contact is an important aspect of Deaf culture.

To not look at someone while they are signing to you is considered extremely rude.

This is a stark contrast from hearing culture, where it is more acceptable to not maintain constant eye contact during communication. (transition) Jones explained how technology has helped make life easier for Deaf and hard of hearing individuals. Inventions, such as video relay services, have helped make communication between hearing and Deaf people easier. A Deaf person would sign to an interpreter, who would voice it to the hearing person, and viceversa.

But there is still a lot to be done to achieve equal accessibility. An idea Jones had to improve the lives of Deaf and hard of hearing people was making movie theaters more accessible.

“Open captions should be offered in every theater, period. There are so many benefits to open captioning that not having [it] is silly,” Jones said. “The airport is another place that needs to work on accessibility. There should be more signs and instructions that [are] written to navigate traveling.”

Jones believes that Deaf history and culture should be taught in schools. She compared acknowledging Deaf History Month to acknowledging other heritage months.

Another opportunity for students who are interested in learning more about Deaf culture, besides taking American Sign Language classes, is the Clarkston ASL Club. The organization was created to help students “develop [a] strong foundation of American Sign Language (ASL) and Deaf culture through by meeting, practicing and socializing.”

Jones hopes for people to become more accepting of those who are different.

“Learn to interact with people that are different than you as well as understand the culture before making judgments,” Jones said.

MYTH American Sign Language is signed English

Sign language is universal

Yelling is a good way to get the attention of a Deaf or hard of hearing person

The capitalized “D’s” in this article are typos

All Deaf people can read lips

FACT

ASL is an official and recognized language with its own unique grammatical structure.

There are different regional dialects in ASL just like there are regional accents in spoken English. Different countries have their own sign languages as well. If a person from the U.S. was signing to a person in England or Germany, they’d have a hard time understanding each other.

They still can’t hear you, so there’s no need to yell. Some acceptable ways to get the attention of a Deaf or HoH person include: Gently waving in their peripheral Lightly tap their shoulder Flicker the lights if indoors.

“Deaf” and “deaf” have different meanings in Deaf culture. The capital “D” shows pride and reflects the cultural understanding of deafness.

Lowercase “d” indicates the medical understanding of deafness.

Can you read lips? It’s hard!

Some people choose to lip read and others don’t — it’s up to the individual.

ARTS & LIVING

12

GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

The Divine Feminine takes on Title IX

Local and student artists display their empowering pieces HANNA WEILAND Staff Reporter

A

collection of art pieces hung in the heart of Georgia State’s campus, highlighting the historical connection between the Title IX civil rights law and femininity among college women.

The opening night reception created a warm and empowering environment for visiting students last Thursday. During Women’s History Month, the exhibit will display on the third floor of Student Center East in room 306.

Georgia State senior Diamond Bradley is the curator and founder of the Primary Movement, a creative collective she started in 2018for Georgia State and non-Georgia State artists and creatives to showcase and promote their work.his year is the third “Divine Feminine” exhibit.

The last two galleries displayed themes of self-care and empowerment. The exhibit is used as a platform for all selfidentifying women to showcase their knowledge through their work.. In collaboration with the Office of Student Affairs and Assistant Dean of Students Jaray Mazique, Bradley was able to create an exhibit filled with history and feminine culture.

“The Divine Feminine: Title IX Exhibit” takes gallery visitors through the history of the Title IX law and the impact the law has made on artists in the Atlanta area. The bill was passed in 1972 to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex in educational programs across the U.S. Title IX applies to all genders and includes pressing issues, such as a student not having to share classrooms or dorms with their abuser and not being discouraged from continuing their education and schools needing an established procedure of sexual harassment or violence.

For Bradley, the divine feminine is the foundation of feminine work and thoughts. “[Femininity] is divine, it is true to us, and it is what we think is true,” she said. “There is no wrong answer for

what is within divine femininity, and there is not one main definition.”

The Divine Feminine exhibit is Bradley’s favorite show to curate because of the vibrant pieces she selects and the different stories each piece tells. She includes how the crowd is invited to this environment that students usually do not see on campus.

“Since it is created by women that we don’t always get to see, of all age ranges, it brings out a crowd that is very warm and inviting,” Bradley said. “To me, it represents all that women bring into this world.”

After she picked the artwork to use, she believed the art would have the depth and meaning she was looking for when envisioning this project. Bradley decided after she installed everything to have a favorite piece or at least a preferred area.

Regardless of picking a favorite, she looked forward to the education visitors would receive about Title IX and taking advantage of the opportunity to raise awareness about the history behind the gender equality movement.

The pieces are hung based on the design in the most simplistic way and built off of the foundation Bradley chose.

“I want to let the story tell itself with a text and artwork base,” Bradley said.

A chalk wall configured of a timeline of the history of Title IX unveiled the time of history the viewer is in. The wall encourages visitors to take a course of social action: whether it is taking a pledge, writing a beautiful quote or empowering a friend.

Visitors are able to interact with the exhibit in many ways.

Next to each display, a small table sits with two fish bowls on top, students are able to vote on whether or not they were aware of a right the Title IX bill gives to all genders.

The visitors are asked if they knew that Georgia State must have a procedure for handling complaints of sexual harassment and violence. Then, the visitor would place a pebble provided by the exhibit in a “Yes” or “No” fish bowl.

“I would hope they take [from visitors] is that women artists matter, women[’s] representation in the arts matters, and you can also create stories through the art and connect,”

The Art exhibit, Divine Feminine, opened in Student Center East last Thursday to celebrate women’s history month.

Bradley said. “It’s just a celebration for women and how this month shouldn’t be the only month that we celebrate.”

According to Bradley, the first two Divine Feminine exhibits on campus had the biggest attendance for a gallery, not just from students but from non-students as well.

The artists with pieces on display come from all ages and backgrounds.

The exhibit highlights pieces from Georgia State students, including Magda Dumitrescu, Amirah Smarr, Grace Manga and Brianna Désir.

In the back corner of the exhibit, Dumitrescu created portraits for the gallery visitors at the opening night reception. For $10, Dumistrescu stood by the first portrait she drew of Bradley and drew visitors sitting nearby. Half of the proceeds went to supporting the Primary Movement.

A local artist known only as Noel displayed her three pieces focusing on her concept of “Vag Art,” creating what she believes as the respect and ownership of femininity.

The paintings show the side of a woman some would call obscene, including the censorship of vulvas and sensitive reproductive parts throughout history.

“I call the pieces the butterfly effect because there is a metamorphosis occurring in the piece just as there is in us, women,” Noel said. “The metamorphosis in the butterfly represents a rejuvenation in the center of femininity.”

As a woman from Trinidad and Tobago, Noel wants her art to be an exact representation of herself and the women around her, which is why she uses her creations to empower others to be proud of what they have. As a mother and aunt of sons and nephews, she wants the men around her to be comfortable with femininity and the “Vag Art” she creates.

Bradley worked with the archives department to bring archives to the exhibit this year to make the education of the issues more prominent. For women on campus, Title IX is still current in terms of equality. Bradley wants the archives combined with the artwork to show what a woman’s truth is about.

“What our body means, what our state of mind is, and how we protested and advocated in this law, it will be represented [in the artwork],” Bradley said.

PHOTO BY SHEL LEVY | THE SIGNAL

TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2020

ARTS & LIVING

13

New Square: A living art space at Underground How the Bakery’s new pop-up can cater to students SHARAYAH DAVIS Staff Reporter

U

pon walking into New Square, paint-filled balloons cover an entirely paper-covered wall.

Attendees walked to the wall, table by table. A woman in a flower-printed jacket grasped the dart firmly and threw it at a balloon, popping it and gushing paint all over the paper.

Other attendees grabbed spray bottles with a mixture of paint and water to spray it, creating a wall-sized art project together.

This was the opening activity of Chit Chat Club, the latest offsite programming venture headed by Amanda Norris and Willow Goldstein.

Created by the same team behind the Bakery, New Square is a pop-up art space that opened at Underground Atlanta on Feb. 14. The venue is an expansion of the well-known and loved Bakery, which hopes to attract an audience from downtown Atlanta.

Willow Goldstein, the founder and creative director of the Bakery, spoke about the potential she recognized in the space upon first seeing it.

“In July 2019, the building we’re in officially sold, so I was looking for other spaces either big or small and just kind of testing the market to know what’s out there,” Goldstein said. “I really wanted the space. So, it usually starts with a space and then moves to what we can put in that space.”

Given that they only have a year-long lease at New Square, the Bakery team immediately began making plans for the building.

Director of programming Amanda Norris commented on the planning process, as the team wanted to open as soon as possible.

“The planning stage overlaps with the production stage. Many times we will be in production and still planning. On Nov. 7, we signed the lease, and the first thing we did was the beginning of

December,” Norris said.

Goldstein laughed and added that many feel that, at times, she makes things happen too fast.

The planning stages for the Bakery’s location in southwest Atlanta lasted much longer than that of New Square.

“Bakery signed a three-year lease in July, and we took three months to open. New Square is only a one-year lease, so we signed it and opened one month later. Because we only have one year, I figured that we have to move fast,” Goldstein said.

The team will have their hands full in the first half of 2020.

The Bakery, located in southwest Atlanta, will have to move out

by June, and they will still be running New Square while going through the moving process.

“We are opening a new space and closing a space [at the same time] which is both exhausting and hard,” Goldstein said.

The vision of the individuals behind the Bakery and those involved is to provide a platform and an art space for artists to have free-reign with the events they may create.

“The vision is to continue what we’re doing but on a bigger and different scale. Being in downtown is really exciting,” Goldstein said. “This is a space we are opening to be able to expand what we’re able to do by having a different format of space, different amenities [and a different location].”

The Bakery team is already seeing ways that New Square is different from the Bakery. The space is fresh and new, even for those who are used to the ways in which the Bakery operates.

“One thing that is already working better at New Square is that there’s a more unified vision. There’s more of a flow rather than at the Bakery, which is more compartmentalized because of the different rooms being able to serve different functions,” Goldstein said.

New Square is in the heart of downtown and just a short walk from Georgia State. The Bakery team expressed that they are open to working with students and would like to offer a platform for hosting events for student artists, clubs, and organizations.

“I went to art school. I did internships on the way, I took art history classes and I did all these things. But, I got out and I

New Square gives students the opportunity to experience the Bakery’s events and programming at its pop-up art space in Underground Atlanta.

didn’t have a lot of skills,” Goldstein said. “One [benefit] is what it can offer as an entertainment platform. [Other benefits are] what it can offer as a cool thing to [do] and see versus what it can offer as an educational add-on to being [at Georgia State].”

Norris elaborated on the team’s willingness to work with student organizations.

“Partnership opportunities are the biggest thing,” Norris said.

“I know there are [organizations] like the Panther Entertainment Group and others that could sometimes benefit from a space that isn’t on campus.”

New Square’s first big event was their Valentine’s Day celebration. The event doubled as their grand opening with a performance art talent show, featuring members of a local dance team made up of Georgia State students, live music, art installations and other rooms to explore. The event attracted about 1500 people.

“There are events that we plan and put a lot of energy into like Halloween, Valentine’s Day and New Year’s Eve. But, Chit Chat Club is one of my favorite new things that we’re doing,” Goldstein said. “I also think that our figure drawing and collage night have been super successful.”

Chit Chat Club is a new event from the Bakery team. The event is a quirky, networking event for artists. The guest speakers, artists themselves, will speak about a hobby or interest that has nothing to do with their profession.

The second Chit Chat Club featured four guest speakers, including Georgia State anthropology student Sam James who gave a presentation on solo traveling. The other speakers spoke on a variety of topics, from the history of scrapbooking to tropes of black characters in the media.

The vision of New Square, like the Bakery, depends on the people involved. “[It] is just a building, which has hosted so many things that make up what the Bakery is,” Goldstein said. “The events make the Bakery, the people make the Bakery, and the side projects of everyone involved make the Bakery.”

PHOTO BY SYLVESTER SILVER III | THE SIGNAL

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“Lakes and toes” Comic by Staff Cartoonist

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One final Sun Belt dance with Damon Wilson

Sitting down with the redshirt senior before the conference tournament AVERY WIGGINS Staff Reporter

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tarting at No. 1 for the Georgia State men’s basketball team, a hometown kid from Atlanta, Georgia: redshirtsenior, No. 1, Damon Wilson.

His father played for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team. He was a member of the 1990 national championship team. Unfortunately, he suffered a careerending injury that ended his football career prematurely, but he was still able to get his degree from Georgia Tech.

Wilson’s older sister, Dominique, played basketball as well.

She was a combo guard at North Carolina State. As a member of the Wolfpack, she made three straight first-team All-ACC teams. She is currently playing overseas in Israel.

For Wilson, both his father and sister have had a major impact on his sports career, inspiring him to work harder and play harder during his own career. He credits his sister for practicing with him and showing him some of her moves.

“They had a great impact because we were always pushing each other to the highest level of success,” Wilson said.

For high school, Wilson attended two different high schools in two different states for basketball reasons. For his freshman and sophomore seasons, he played at St. Benedict Prep School in Newark, New Jersey. Wilson described it as a big adjustment to living in dorms on campus, but eventually, he came to enjoy it.

At St. Benedict’s Prep, he played with former Syracuse Orange guard Tyler Ennis. Wilson describes Ennis as being a great leader and competitor for the team and as someone that he really enjoyed playing with. Overall, St. Benedict’s Prep was a great experience for him in his career.

For his junior and senior season, Wilson attended Our Savior New American High School in Centereach, New York.

During his junior year, the team had only five losses and was one of the top teams in the nation. The starting five, in particular, was one of the top five starting fives in the nation, with all five starters, including Wilson, being ranked in the ESPN 100.

Overall, Wilson enjoyed his experience at Our Savior New American, eventually graduating from there. Due to his skill and being ranked as a top-5 point guard in the country, he was able to play in several tournaments. The Jordan Brand Classic Regional Game was the first which he was able to showcase his talents in.

“I enjoy playing for this team. These are my brothers and I know them really well and I enjoy playing with them.”

— DAMON WILSON Men’s Basketball, No.1

In that game, he had the opportunity to play alongside some of the top players in the country. Among those sharing the court with him were former Louisville Cardinals standout and current Utah Jazz All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell and former Kentucky Wildcats’ star and current Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray. The other tournament that Wilson got to play in was the 2014 Adidas Nations tournament. He practiced with Team Rose and played for Game Elite, which was the team from Georgia.

The experiences had their perks. Wilson was able to get both Jordan and Adidas gear from these two events.

Eventually, after high school, Wilson began attending the University of Pittsburgh in the fall of 2015. His first season, he played for head coach Jamie Dixon, who he enjoyed playing under. He also enjoyed playing with his teammates and

Damon Wilson, a former four-star prospect and the 81st overall recruit in the 2015 ESPN Top 100, has had quite the journey to Georgia State.

formed a close bond with them.

Eventually, coach Dixon transferred the next season to TCU, which deeply affected Wilson, who loved him very much. Dixon was replaced by Kevin Stallings, who Wilson did not enjoy playing under. Due to a disapproval of the new coach and a desire to come home, Wilson decided to transfer to Georgia State.

Wilson was familiar with the facility due to Atlanta being his hometown and also got to meet head coach Ron Hunter, who he enjoyed very much. After redshirting for the 201718 season, Wilson got to play in the 2018-19 campaign.

He quietly made an impact, averaging 5.4 points and 3.2 rebounds per game and shooting 51.1% from the field and 46.9% from three-point range.

“I enjoy playing for this team. These are my brothers and I know them really well and I enjoy playing with them,” Wilson said.

He especially enjoyed playing under Hunter because his style of play was different and he enjoyed playing in Hunter’s zone system because it fit his skills perfectly. Unfortunately, just like coach Dixon, Hunter decided to move on. Following the 2018-19 season, Hunter became the head coach for the

PHOTO BY SHEL LEVY | THE SIGNAL

Tulane Green Wave men’s basketball team. Georgia State wasted no time and hired Tennessee assistant coach Rob Lanier to become the Panthers men’s basketball team’s next head coach.

“He’s a good coach. I like playing for him. He’s a special human being. He always keeps it real. You never have to worry about him being fake. He’s a good family guy. He puts his family first. I have no negatives about coach Lanier, all positives,” Wilson said.

His fourth head coach in five years, Lanier has gained Wilson’s likeness, as both a coach and a man. This season, Wilson was inserted into the starting lineup and has averaged 11.2 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game while shooting 41% from the field and 37% from three-point range.

Currently majoring in Speech Communications, Wilson hopes to be able to make it to the NBA after the season. He will declare for the draft after this season, but also has an alternative plan. If the NBA’s commissioner does not call his name during the draft in June, Wilson will look to go into sports broadcasting.

No matter what the future lies ahead for him, Wilson’s future looks very bright indeed.

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Chloe Howard is proving excellence on the pitch

The junior golf star is racking up awards and is just getting started GRANT BLEVINS Staff Reporter

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hloe Howard has been the definition of consistency in her already excellent Georgia State career. The junior golfer has already claimed several accolades during her tenure, earning awards such as the All-Sun Belt second team and Sun Belt all-tournament team in 2018.

Howard has continued her success this season, where she leads the team in top 10 finishes, albeit just one, and she is third on the team with an average score of 76.00.

During mid-February at Amelia Island Collegiate, Howard led the Panthers to a fifth place finish and finished eighth overall individually.

“I kind of went into this tournament just more relaxed, and I tend to put pressure on myself, and I don’t really mean to, so it was good to be relaxed and just enjoy it,” Howard said.

Fellow Panther Jenny Marston also had a strong performance, finishing 11th. As a team, the Panther’s shot one under par, which was their best finish in nearly five years; Howard did her part to contribute, shooting 69 for the tournament.

“Golf is hard because it is an individual sport, but it’s so nice having such a team that is so close,” said Howard.

Howard’s success is not only reserved for the golf course, but also her excellence in the classroom, which exemplifies what it truly means to be a student-athlete. This season, she has taken home a Georgia State student-athlete of the week award and was named to the 2019 Athletic Director’s Honor Roll.

“You’re here also to do academics, and no matter what happens with your sport, it’s always good to have a degree under your belt because you never know what’s going to happen,” Howard said.

Her success in the classroom is even more impressive because of golf ’s hectic schedule where they will sometimes have up to five travel days in a row, resulting in many missed classes throughout the course of the year.

This is no problem for the women’s golf team, as they had six members of the team receive academic honors this semester.

“We miss so many classes, and it’s really, really hard, but our coach is very good at making sure we stay on top of our academics as well as our sport,” said Howard.

As the team approaches the end of the season, Howard spoke of the team’s aspirations to get a win, whether it be individual or team, as the season hasn’t gone over exactly

Chloe Howard sets up for a putt during the women’s golf tournament at Amelia Island.

how they want to win.

“We’re a lot more together as a team, and we work together really well, and we encourage each other,” said Howard. “Whether it’s one of us or a team win, I feel like it’s definitely going to happen.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF GEORGIA STATE ATHLETICS

The team will have multiple opportunities before the Sun Belt Conference Tournament to accomplish this goal with both the Red Rocks Invitational and the John Kirk Panther Intercollegiate, which is a home meet, coming up later this month.

Move over Atlanta United, it’s Rugby ATL’s time How the Major League Ruby team is popularizing the sport MICHAEL CUNEO Staff Reporter

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ugby is one of the most popular sports around the world, beloved by fans across Europe and Australia.

Leagues in France, as well as New Zealand, have large fan followings that result in a passion for the game that is unmatched elsewhere.

The game is played with an intriguing 15 players on both teams and includes many of the big hits and action-packed sequences that are familiar to professional football. Despite its global profile, however, the game has never garnered much attraction in North America.

Rugby ATL kicked off its inaugural season in the early months of 2020, joining an expanding group of teams that makes up Major League Rugby.

With the massive explosion of Atlanta United, it is no surprise that CEO and president Robert Taylor believes the team will grow quickly.

“When people look at us, we want them to see an organization that is doing the right things right,” Taylor told US Rugby News. “Over the next five years, we realize we have a lot of work to do, but it’s all positive.”

As for any startup, the question of sustainability will be lingering throughout the minds of both fans and executives. After all, it took Major League Soccer years to become profitable with some teams failing entirely.

Making the task even more difficult is the fact that most Americans are not familiar with the general rules of rugby, as it is rarely televised nationally. Additionally, unlike soccer, most kids do not grow up around the sport, and few schools offer it as a primary sport.

All of these obstacles will have to be faced head-on, and league commissioner Dean Howes thinks the league has what it takes to survive.

“Everyone involved, from our team operators to our players, fans and media partners, [has the] ultimate goal [of seeing] North American rugby thrive,” Howes said.

“Rugby means business here, and MLR is right at the forefront.”

Although Rugby ATL has started off its first season of existence with a pair of wins, perhaps the most challenging obstacle they will face is fan engagement.

In their home opener on Feb. 9, they seemed to have no problem with getting fans in seats as the team reported over 2,500 attendees at the game. This could lead be great news for the club as they are now beginning to sell season tickets.

With a city that has shown its willingness to embrace new ideas and fans that crave action-packed sports, the MLR and Rugby ATL have many tools required to succeed.

However, if previous iterations of failed professional sports leagues have taught us anything, it is that the only way for a league to grow is to promote marketability and secure television contracts.

What is clear is that rugby does have a market; what is not is whether that market can be shifted to a city like Atlanta. Only time can tell, but a passionate first few matches, as well as a leadership team that is in touch with the community, can give rugby its best shot at success in the South.

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GSU tops Mercer 4-2 in tournament play

Recapping men’s soccer’s first big game of 2020 MICHAEL CUNEO Staff Reporter

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eorgia State men’s soccer returned to action on Feb. 29 as they toppled opposing Mercer 4-2 at MOBA Soccer Complex in Peachtree City, Georgia.

The game is the first of five that the team will play in their Southeast Challenge exhibition tournament that will continue until March.

The men’s last appearance ended excruciatingly when they fell to Coastal Carolina in penalty kicks in December. Since then, the Panthers have played zero games and had a few injuries in practice.

The Panthers picked up right where they left off, getting a high-quality strike from forward Aris Briggs in the 20th minute that ultimately sailed wide.

Just minutes later, Briggs would make a run at goal before possessing his own rebound and wedging a shot at the tightest of angles into the net for the first score of the night.

The goal would create an accurate representation of Briggs’ performance throughout the night, despite somewhat limited playing time.

Mercer would strike back less than three minutes later, beating starting goalkeeper Paul Tyson and tying the score at 1-1.

In the 29th minute, Matthew Fearnley drove a shot from just outside of the penalty box, past Mercer’s goalkeeper and into the net. This would not be the only time Mercer had woes at the goalkeeper position, as the team struggled to protect their own goal throughout the night.

The Panthers were awarded a penalty kick moments later that gave the team a 3-1 lead.

Despite their defensive struggles, Mercer continued a relentless air attack that saw the team cut the lead to just one at the half.

The Panthers put the nail in the coffin in the 81st minute when Justin Guest converted on a spectacular curler from well outside the penalty box, giving the team a commanding 4-2 lead.

Head coach Brett Surrency was proud of the performance from his team on the night but also made it clear that there is a lot of work ahead.

“I thought we scored some really good ones,” Surrency said when assessing his team’s four-goal performance. “I was disappointed [with] the goals we considered. I thought we could have been a lot sharper; it allowed them to get back into the game.”

Injuries also played a role in the team’s first game back in

ILLUSTRATION BY NATALIE PIMENTEL | THE SIGNAL

over two months.

“Injuries have hit us pretty hard,” Surrency said. “I just wanted the guys to show some competitive fire and some passion and some pride in what they’re doing.”

Surrency also noted that as the team continues on in the tournament, they will look to strengthen as a group.

“We have a foundation now; now, we have something to work off of,” Surrency said. “We know where we are right now. As we go into training next week, it’s a little bit of a different focus, and we will try and improve some of the areas where we were not as successful.”

Five former Panthers with XFL potential

From receiver to lineman, these players could fill a hole JULIAN HARDEN Staff Reporter

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he new XFL season is in full swing as it enters the fifth week of its 2020 season. While there are no Georgia State players on XFL rosters, that does not mean we can’t look at some former Georgia State players who could be stars in the league.

PENNY HART, WIDE RECEIVER

While standing at only five feet, eight inches, Hart made a name for himself at Georgia State. In his freshman year alone, he was a first-team All-Sun Belt Conference, with over 1,000 yards. Hart was instrumental in the Panthers reaching their first bowl game in program history.

Since being signed as an undrafted free agent by the Indianapolis Colts, Hart is now on the Seattle Seahawks practice squad.

Best Fit: The New York Guardians (3-2) would be the ideal team for Hart, as after a hot start, the team has lacked consistency, especially on the offense. Hart was a standout wideout in the Sun Belt and could do the same in the relaunched XFL.

HUNTER ATKINSON, OFFENSIVE LINEMAN

Coming off a fantastic 2019 campaign, Atkinson could positively impact any XFL roster. Named first-team All-Sun Belt last season, he was seen as one of the best offensive linemen in the conference. Atkinson has been a mainstay for the Panthers offensive line, even during down seasons at Georgia State.

Linemen often go unnoticed by football fans, but not Atkinson. Many pointed to him as a big reason for the Panthers’ hot start.

Best Fit: The Tampa Bay Vipers (1-3), who are winless through three games. They could use a healthy addition to their offensive line.

NATE PAXTON, LINEBACKER

Paxton is the only player on this list to play through the beginning of Georgia State’s football program. Coming in as a walk-on, he would bring both determination and grit to any locker room.

Paxton played when the Panthers relished in the old Georgia Dome but was an impact player nonetheless.

Best fit: The best team for Paxton would be the Dallas Renegades to add depth to its defensive core.

TRA BARNETT, RUNNING BACK

Barnett was the bell cow for the Panthers in the 2019 season, and it earned All-Sun Belt team honors. When quarterback Dan Ellington went down with a torn ACL, Barnett put the offense on his back to keep the team competitive.

This past season, racked up over 1,000 yards and scored 12 touchdowns on nearly six yards per carry.

Best Fit: The best team for Barnett is the Los Angeles Wildcats, as they sit last with under 70 yards per game. He would give the Wildcats a shot in the arm for the running game.

DAN ELLINGTON, QUARTERBACK

This is a no brainer. Without Ellington, the Panthers may have not even gone to a bowl game this past season. He used both his athletic ability and impressive arm to carry the Panthers to a 6-3 record in the first nine games of the season.

“He’s the heartbeat of this team,” head coach Sean Elliot said.

“Playing through his injury is nothing short of amazing.”

Following his torn ACL, the team’s record went just 1-3 over the final four games of the season, proving his importance.

Best Fit: The best team for Ellington would be the Seattle Dragons, as their current batch of quarterbacks is struggling.

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Cam Reddish is proving naysayers wrong February was the best month of his season — What’s next?

ANDREW FREEDMAN Sports Editor

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he revival of the Atlanta Hawks as of late is no fluke, but rather a step in the right direction. Sitting near the bottom of the standings for much of the season, the team has learned to deal with adversity. Everything from losing close games to injuries has led to a season full of patience.

While a many things are still not clicking for them, many bright spots have highlighted the season. Second-year player Trae Young is an All-Star guard and is one of the best scorers and passers in the league. Third-year forward John Collins continues to expand his game and added a three-point shot to his arsenal since coming into the league three years ago.

But one player continues to provide light at the end of the tunnel. The Atlanta Hawks may have found someone special in Cam Reddish.

Reddish began his journey at Duke University when he was part of the Brotherhood for a season with New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson (the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft) and New York Knicks’ guard RJ Barrett (the No. 2 overall pick). In his lone season with the Blue Devils, Reddish gained valuable experience from one of the greatest coaches in the history of sports, Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski.

Reddish’s college career was one of patience.

Despite being on such an iconic team — Williamson and Barrett are both beloved figures by the Duke basketball team’s die-hard fans, the Cameron Crazies — Reddish received the unwanted attention.

The former No. 10 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, Reddish began his rookie campaign with much scrutiny and criticism. It was deserved: He averaged 7.9 points per game in November, the first full month of his rookie season. In February, he averaged 13.4 points per game on 44.1% shooting, including 35% from three on 4.8 attempts per game.

The improvement of his game could not be an accident. Instead, the hard work Reddish puts in and growing confidence from his teammates and coaches are on full display each night.

Often, the media uses the term “casual fan.”

Casual fans may not notice these improvements of Reddish, but frequent watchers of Hawks games do.

Almost nightly, Reddish can swipe the ball away from defenders or intercept passes in the air. If he has a path to the hoop, his ability to drive to the basket allows for easy and impressive dunks. If a teammate runs with him, Reddish will make the best play.

Beginning in January, the team ran plays specifically designed for Reddish pretty regularly. However, he had his number called in the biggest game of his young career. In a December home game against LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the Los Angeles Lakers,

Reddish took the game’s most important shot.

With 9.7 seconds left, and the Hawks trailing 99-96, Vince Carter beat his man to the basket. As a result, the defensive help switched off Reddish (in the corner) to double-team the future Hall of Famer. Carter saw this and found Reddish in the corner, but the shot was far to the left.

The Lakers went on to win that game, but Atlanta’s head coach Lloyd Pierce praised his young player for stepping up and having the courage to take the shot.

“It’s kind of like a rite of passage,” Pierce said following the loss on Dec. 15. “It’s one of those things where you come into the NBA, and you’re looking to make these plays and the burden of not making it is what propels you to get in the gym and look for that moment and do it with that intensity and that type of pressure every day.”

Cam Reddish finished that game with 10 points on 3-10 shooting and missing all but one of his six three-point attempts, including that potential gametying one.

His growth has been instrumental to the Hawks since that game. In February, he scored in double figures in each of the seven of the team’s eight games. This does not include the Hawks’ Feb. 1 matchup in Dallas against the Mavericks when he left just seven minutes in due to a concussion.

In his last five games, Reddish has averaged 15.6

points, 3.4 rebounds and two three-pointers made.

Those do not remind people of the 5.2 points he averaged during the second month in the league.

Reddish talked about his improvement following Atlanta’s 111-107 win over the Mavericks at State Farm Arena on Feb. 22.

“Just staying consistent in my work, as well as my faith. Just staying grounded, just staying humble,” Reddish said. “And, obviously, just becoming more comfortable as the season goes on. So, it all kind of comes together after that.”

He scored 20 points and was one of three Hawks players to record 39 or more minutes that night.

In a recent game against the Brooklyn Nets on Feb. 28, Reddish had the best scoring game of his career. He scored a season-high 26 points, drilling six threes and finding his spots on the court all night long.

Earlier this season when the Hawks played in Brooklyn, Reddish scored 25 points and had six rebounds. Maybe he loves playing them. Maybe he loves playing the game in general.

Whatever it is, Reddish is improving fast.

With his tough work ethic and drive for success, the Hawks are looking at a player who could help them get closer to that ever so elusive NBA Championship the city of Atlanta has not seen since 1958.

Atlanta Hawks guard

UNIVERSITY The Elian Merejo show

Yet, again, it is Eilian Marejo’s world and everyone else lives in it.

Following a week where the Panthers went 2-1, Marejo had a field day. He is batting .440 this year, which leads the Sun Belt Conference through 13 games. But the week was incredible for the senior catcher. Marejo hit home runs against both Eastern Tennessee State and North Alabama. Aside from the home runs, he was efficient at the plate.

He went 6-13 (.462) in the Panthers three games last week.

STATE Atlanta United victorious

Atlanta United opened up their first game at home Saturday, March 9th vs F.C. Cincinnati. Just one week after losing star striker, Josef Martinez, they picked up a 2-1 victory.

With goals from the rising star Ezequiel Barco and Emerson Hyndman, United enter first place in the Eastern Conference.

Barco and Hyndman both found the net against Nashville the week prior, establishing themselves as serious goal threats going forward. Atlanta travels to Mexico City to face off against Club América in the CONCACAF Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday, March 11th.

NATIONAL The coronavirus impacts sports

From the NBA to college sports, the coronavirus has made its way into sports-and for the wrong reasons.

The NBA released a memo that advised all 30 teams to take precautions and prepare to play games without fans in attendance and identifying “essential staff ” present for these games. Future NBA Hall of Famer LeBron James spoke out over the weekend after a game and made it clear that he had no intention to do this saying, That’s who I play for. I play for my teammates, I play for the fans that’s what it’s all about.

If I show up to an arena and there ain’t no fans in there, I ain’t playing.”

“Just staying consistent in my work, as well as my faith. Just staying grounded, just staying humble.”

— CAM REDDISH

THREE BIG THINGS

Cam Reddish reviews gameplay before the Hawks matchup against the Phoenix Suns.

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