The Signal Vol. 85 No. 27

APRIL 10 - APRIL 17, 2018

VOL. 85 | NO. 27

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@gsusignal

NEWS 3 The journey from addiction to recovery is becoming all too familiar to college students today.

PHOTO BY VANESSA JOHNSON & COVER DESIGN BY KHOA TRAN | THE SIGNAL

NEW FUNDS FOUND

BAR BUCKET LIST

LOCAL PROPAGANDA

THE HOLE PACKAGE

SGA is allocating more money to university departments.

Hole-in-the-wall spots to get your drink game on around town.

This company may be controlling your local news and American television.

Freshman Chloe Howard is a dominant force on women's golf.

NEWS | PAGE 6 WWW.GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

ARTS & LIVING | PAGE 10

News 3

OPINION PAGE 12

Arts & Living 7

SPORTS | PAGE 15

OPINION 11

Sports 13

NEWS

2

GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

BLOTTER APRIL 4

Just guys being dudes

Four arrests were issued to a group outside Hurt Park for drinking in public, an outstanding warrant and possession of marijuana.

Long list

An individual was arrested by GSUPD at the Sheraton for the possession of marijuana, possession of a firearm as a convicted felon, trespassing and the possession of drug-related paraphernalia.

APRIL 5

Sexual battery

A Georgia State student reported a case of sexual battery at Piedmont North at 2:56 a.m. The case is still active.

Stranger danger

A non-Georgia State individual was

arrested for trespassing after refusing to leave Student Center West around 7 a.m.

Getting some fresh air

They’ll never catch me!

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Christina Maxouris signaleditor@gmail.com

executive editor (atlanta) Open executive editor (perimeter) Open

Two people were arrested in Woodruff Park for the possession of marijuana.

Editorial NEWS EDITOR Open

Mom's gonna kill me

In what is currently an active case, a Georgia State student reported a case of credit card fraud from Dahlberg Hall.

signalnewseditor@gmail.com ASSociate NEWS EDITOR Open signalassociatenews3@gmail.com OPINIONS EDITOR Open signalopinions@gmail.com ARTS & LIVING EDITOR Open signalliving@gmail.com

APRIL 6

Dude, sick

ASSociate ARTS & Living EDITOr Samuel Puckett signalassociateliving2@gmail.com SPORTS EDITOR Jerell Rushin signalsport1@gmail.com ASSociate SPORTS EDITOR D’Mitri Chin signalassociatesport1@gmail.com copy editors Alaa Elassar, Sydnie Cobb signalcopyeditor@gmail.com

A complaint was issued to GSUPD for “sick person/suspicious activity,” near Piedmont Central. The case is still active.

That's central for you

A Georgia State student was arrested for possession of alcohol under the age of 21 around 2 a.m.

Production production design editor Khoa Tran signalprod@gmail.com

Associate production design editor Salinna Phon

ILLUSTRATION BY DEMETRI BURKE | THE SIGNAL

signalprod2@gmail.com

PHOTOGRAPHY photo EDITOr (atlanta) Vanessa Johnson signalphoto1@gmail.com

photo EDITOr (perimeter) Open

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

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ASSociate photo editor Julian Pineda signalphotoatl@gmail.com

Digital online EDITOR Danny Varitek

Atlanta Streets Alive hosted their first Open Streets on April 8, closing off major streets and hosting activities sponsored by members of the community.

signalmanaging@gmail.com ASSociate Online Editor Open PODCAST EDITORS Caleb P. Smith, Charles Wright

Marketing Marketing MANAGER Open

signalmarketing1@gmail.com promotions associate Chynna Terrell signalpromo1@gmail.com Research Associate Open

THE SIGNAL BUREAUS BUREAU CHIEF (CLARKSTON) Open BUREAU CHIEF (ALPHARETTA) Open BUREAU CHIEF (NEWTON) Open BUREAU CHIEF (DUNWOODY) Open BUREAU CHIEF (DECATUR) Open advertising ADVERTISING COORDINATOR Open

signaladvertisingco@gmail.com STUDENT MEDIA ADVISOR Bryce McNeil bmcneil1@gsu.edu business coordinator Wakesha Henley whenley@gsu.edu STUDENT MEDIA ADVISOr (perimeter) Alice Murray amurray25@gsu.edu

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NEWS

ILLUSTRATION BY ALEX BROOKS | THE SIGNAL

SPORTS

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TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 2018

Twenty-one and in recovery

Students share stories of substance abuse in college NATORI SPENCE Staff Reporter

A

Georgia State graduate that wished to remain anonymous recalled getting drunk for the first time on the night of her high school graduation party.

She told The Signal that while she never really drank much in high school, as she entered her first semester of college at Oglethorpe University and joined a sorority, drinking excessively became a part of her daily routine.

“Even though Oglethorpe was a really small school, it still was pretty wild,” she said. “I think that just because of the culture of fraternities and sororities. Everyone knows it’s kind of acceptable. So no one really says anything, and everyone just kind of turns a blind eye to it.”

Students are faced with widespread exposure to behavioral addictions during college. Alcohol and drug use are normal and often expected on campuses. According to the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, almost 60 percent of college students ages 18 to 22 drank alcohol in the past month, and almost two out of three of them engaged in binge drinking during that same timeframe.

Binge-drinking was only the first stage of the student’s downward spiral. She was first introduced to cocaine at a fraternity party. Although the drug initially scared her, the thrill and intensity made her want to try it even more.

“The first time I did it, I can’t really remember,” she said.

“I just remember I loved it. Every single time I’ve done it, the comedown from it the next day is awful. It made me super depressed. I would completely hate myself, but it was never enough to make me stop doing it.”

Certain aspects of her behavior strongly indicated addiction.

“Some of the aspects of abuse or dependency are kind of defined by them affecting you socially, occupationally, or in school,” said Jay Trambadia, a psychology instructor at Georgia State who specializes in clinical health psychology.

“It’s getting in the way of those things, getting in the way of how you function. Are you getting in situations that increase the chance of getting hurt?” Trambadia said. “Are you cutting back on activities? Are you experiencing restlessness, nausea, sweating, and things like that? Is it getting in the way of your daily routine?”

At the peak of her addiction, the student said she was regularly drinking and using cocaine and Adderall. She left Oglethorpe University because she was arrested for possession of cocaine and enrolled at Georgia State soon after, where she again had a run-in with the law.

Recovery had not crossed her mind until she had to abruptly leave her dermatologist appointment in fear that the blood work would reveal the Adderall in her system. She broke down in the parking lot and called her co-worker who she knew was attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings at the time. “I asked her to take me to a meeting, and that’s when I started my recovery process,” she said. She will be one year sober on April 13.

A PATH TO RECOVERY

“Going to meetings lets me know I am not alone,” said Anastasia Lashko, a frequent Alcoholics Anonymous meeting leader at the Alpharetta Group. “These rooms give me the opportunity to be completely vulnerable and honest of who I

Georgia State alumna Jasmine Ebron with her dog, Lily, who supported her through her recovery. PHOTO BY JULIEANN TRAN | THE SIGNAL

was without judgement from others.”

For Jasmine Ebron, now 25 and in her last semester at Georgia State, Adderall started as something to help keep her focused but grew into an addiction. “I think it’s almost impossible to go to college and not be introduced to Adderall if you hadn’t already been introduced to it in high school,” said Ebron. “ That’s when people start selling it.”

And she said, with the stress that college brings along, what Adderall is offering is hard to resist.

“It keeps you up, and it keeps you focused,” Ebron said. “You don’t really eat, and you don’t even want to eat. You just like drink a lot of water, and you have to do something all the time.

It lasts about eight hours so you take it in the morning, and you just work all day.”

Adderall became a normal part of Ebron’s life. She needed to stay up and she needed more of the drug in order to get the same effect. “It turned into instead of me taking one 30 mg pill a day,” said Ebron, “I was taking or snorting sometimes like 60 [mg] a day. I was also smoking a lot of weed and drinking a lot.”

70,0000

“I moved in with two of my best friends,” said Ebron, “I had school. I had a full-time job. I had so much going on, and I had so much to do every single day. My roommate’s other best friend had a prescription for Adderall. At first, I was just getting a few at a time, and then I was buying in bulks.”

It was after she lost touch with her supplier, and began following a healthier lifestyle alongside her boyfriend. “I found other ways to stay on top of things and remain healthy,” said Ebron. Now, she lives a much happier and healthier life.

But the path to recovery isn’t only hard to find, but hard to follow.

“It's different for different people. Imagine that recovery is a highway. For some people, they get off at one of the earlier exits (e.g., they might still drink and get "drunk" from time to time but with fewer problems),” Georgia State psychology professor Dominic Parrott said. “For others, they may stay on that road a bit longer and get off at a later exit (e.g., they might still drink but never in large amounts and never "get drunk"). For others, they get off at the last exist — abstinence. The main point here is that recovery looks different and feels different to different people.”

adolescents in Georgia reported illicit drug use within the past year.

6.24%

Georgia teens use pain-killers recreationally.

110,000

students between the ages of 18-24 are arrested every year for an alcohol-related violation.

According to Georgia Detox Center

1 in 10 ILLUSTRATION BY SHANCHEZE JOHNSON | THE SIGNAL

students used stimulants in the past year.

According to www.drugabuse.gov

According to Lakeview Health

NEWS

4

GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY CHRISTINA MAXOURIS | THE SIGNAL

Atlanta film’s questionable sustainability Why the “service space” model isn’t viable for the industry BRENNA HILBY Staff Reporter

I

n recent years, the Georgia media industry has seen a tremendous growth due in part to the state’s covetable tax incentives for film production.

Hundreds of productions have amassed billions of dollars for the state’s economy but as the city’s commercial media enterprises continue to flourish, questions have arisen over future sustainability of the industry here and the Hollywood “service space” that Atlanta has become.

Dr. Ethan Tussey, a media industry studies professor at Georgia State, said the “service space” status Atlanta holds isn’t viable in the long run. He said in order for the city to become a permanent mainstay in American filmmaking, it has to become its own recognizable brand, and needs to break out of the “service space” mold to live on as a significant cultural element.

“Atlanta’s the number three media producer in the world right now. We provide an enormous tax credit, which is bringing in a lot of production. We have projects going on all the time, but we’re considered a service space in that this is a place where Hollywood goes to work, but doesn’t stay to live,” he said. “So it is providing a lot of below-the-line labor. What we at the university are really interested is how do you sustain that growth if somebody comes along and gives a better tax incentive.”

And, he said, the potential for Georgia’s tax incentives to be surpassed by another state is very possible. He said although Atlanta has “some advantages,” the loss of tax incentives and film industry production would “be catastrophic” to below-the-line jobs and accessibility for many film students to industry entryways.

“The most immediate effects are going to happen to everybody who’s below-the-line.

So, if you are a construction company or a catering company, that would be catastrophic.

For above-the-line labor, I don’t know how much it would actually change, except that right now they are much more accessible if you want to work on a project. If you want to start your path to networking and working on and building your resumé, you can do that much more easily here now than if the tax incentive wasn’t here,” he said.

Georgia State film student Cole Henry drew from his experience working in the film industry. Hollywood’s presence in Atlanta seems to be impermanent, and Henry said he thinks many film students are trying to “take advantage of it” while they can.

“Hollywood's presence in Atlanta, while nice, does not seem manageable in a long-term scale. Students, professors, and everyone in between seem aware of this. It is important to take advantage of these opportunities while said opportunities still present themselves,” he said.

And although future Hollywood presence is currently ambiguous, he said the department helps a lot of students get “hands-on” experience in the industry with programs like CMII, who are focused on building connections “between creative students and the entertainment and information industries.”

“The film department seems deeply entrenched in the ebbs and flows of Atlanta's blossoming film production scene. The department spotlights internships, workshops, and PA opportunities. Production companies sometimes reach out to the film school for prospective employees, and [Georgia State] offers hands-on specialty classes at Pinewood Studios,” Henry said.

A CULTURAL IMPACT

Tussey said that although many working

in the industry view the tax incentive in a positive light, the actual economic impact is “essentially a wash.” He said the sustainability of the Atlanta film industry pivots on whether or not a cultural impact can be made.

“There was a study done here by our business school on the impact in dollars of the tax incentive, and while we make billions on it, we also spend billions to get the productions here, so it’s almost essentially a wash economically. So then, the question is what is the impact culturally? Are you creating the next generation of filmmakers that want to stay here and aren’t going to go to L.A. or New York to make their name?” Tussey said.

In terms of curating a recognizable cultural style specific to Atlanta, Tussey brought up Nigerian film enterprises in Nollywood and Indian film enterprises in Bollywood, which he said are “exportable styles that speak to a diaspora.”

So now, to him, the cultural question of “what Atlanta represents” is more important than ever in terms of creating an enduring media industry.

“You need a place that’s going to economically support a particular style. That doesn’t mean that in India they only make Bollywood films, they make different kinds of things, but there needs to be something that is the cultural understanding that ‘that comes from Atlanta,’” he said.

Pinpointing an “exportable” cultural style is a “major question” facing the industry, mostly because it will determine its economic future.

It also falls under the goals of the university’s film department, which Tussey says is “really interested in trying to contribute to creating that culture.”

“We have some advantages, like the airport, infrastructure, Turner’s here. But you have to start to develop a community that’s exportable.

The university’s really interested in trying to

contribute to creating that culture, to create an above-the line labor that may want to stay here and live here for a while. [We] are thinking of ways to encourage the next group to say that there is an exportable style that we can send around the globe, and are trying to think of all of these ways to say, ‘What is Atlanta’s aesthetic?’” he said.

SO FAR, SO GOOD

According to the Motion Picture Association of America, the film and television industry is responsible for more than 79,000 jobs and roughly $4 billion in total wages in Georgia.

The Georgia State film department helps a lot of students get “hands-on” industry experience with programs like CMII, who are focused on building connections “between creative students and the entertainment and information industries.”

Georgia-filmed productions generated an economic impact of $9.5 billion during fiscal year 2017.

Georgia saw more than $2.7 billion from the film industry in direct spending in the state in 2017.

NEWS

TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 2018

5

Equipped with guns and knowledge GSUPD chief prepares more Campus Carry info sessions LOGAN CLARK

On Thursday, April 5, the 11-count indictment of Atlanta politician and pastor Mitzi Bickers was unsealed.

The case charged Bickers with conspiracy to commit bribery, money laundering, wire fraud, tampering with a witness or informant, and filing false tax returns. This comes after Mayor Keisha Lance-Bottoms March 24 speech to the March for our Lives rally members, telling the crowd the city is resolute in rooting out corruption from its procurement process.

A

NATIONAL National guard deployed as border security

Campus Carry and Georgia State’s preparedness for possible incidents are still a main concern for students.

“After the Parkland shooting and seeing young people get involved across the country, my friend Latisha [Hamilton] and I thought about what we can do to impact our own community,” public policy major Audrey Maloof said. “We don’t want to wait until something tragic happens to us here in Georgia. We want to be proactive not reactive.”

While Maloof and others stand in opposition to Campus Carry after the Parkland shooting, some students, such as Georgia State senior and gun owner Jasmine Davis, view the tragedy as why

PHOTO BY JULIEANN TRAN | THE SIGNAL

Campus Carry is necessary.

“If those students had a gun, they would have something to defend themselves with and survive what happened,” Davis said.

While Davis does not have a concealed weapons permit, she has considered getting one before.

“Due to the fact that I do [own] a gun, if a shooter came close to me and I have my gun on me, why not use it? Because it would be in selfdefense as well as to save other people’s lives.”

The woman’s role

Two of the four candidates for Georgia governor are women RACHEL ANDERSON Staff Reporter

T

he 2016 election race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump served as inspiration for more women to get involved in the political world, and Georgia is no exception.

“It’s something that has been building for a long time,” said Georgia State Political Science professor Alexandra Pauley. “The more women we see in positions of power, the more women will aspire to those positions.”

This is known as the concept of descriptive representation, wherein a person wants to feel represented in a demographic, and therefore will run for a position in order to be represented.

In America, there is a binary of being Republican or Democrat, and as a politician, it is very hard to go against the policies and ideals of your party. According to Pauley, this is a reason why the rigid institutions have continued to let white men get elected to leadership positions

LOCAL Case deepens in Atlanta bribery scandal

Staff Reporter

fter the Parkland shooting this past February, House Bill 280 (HB280), or “Campus Carry,” and Georgia State’s preparedness in the event of a shooting have once again caused concern among the student body.

“I have definitely seen a shift in people’s willingness to openly discuss their own views and openly oppose other people’s views,” Georgia State public policy student Audrey Maloof said. “[Gun violence] shouldn’t be impacting our educational environment. That bothers me.”

In 2017, Georgia State held Campus Carry information sessions led by University Attorney Kerry Heyward and Georgia State Police Chief Joseph Spillane on June 23 and July 12 at the Atlanta campus and Clarkston campus, tackling what the law means and what circumstances are and aren’t OK. “If I have my jacket open, I’m still carrying concealed,” Spillane said. “If I stretch and you can see my gun a little bit, it’s still concealed. If I take my jacket off and I hang it on a chair, it’s no longer concealed.”

Given the availability of the information online on info sessions and the Georgia State Police Department’s active presence on campus, Spillane said he felt the student body has been equipped with enough information regarding the law.

“Our purpose was to talk about what was affected by the law, so we used the same powerpoint and answered various questions each time,” Spillane said. “If people wanted to hear about Campus Carry, there were plenty of opportunities,” Spillane said.

No further Campus Carry information sessions were scheduled in the past school year. However, GSUPD plans to include a section on Campus Carry during new student orientation beginning around the fall 2018 semester using the same information from the initial sessions.

But some students are growing more uncomfortable under the law, especially after the latest high school shooting.

NEWS BRIEFS

and have the power to make policies that predominantly involve women.

However, other countries under female leadership have succeeded and thrived.

“Having women in power does change dynamics,” said Pauley. “It forces a change in status quo simply because women have been forced to play the subservient role for centuries.”

Pauley believes having women in charge would be very beneficial and necessary for faster change.

She also emphasized the importance of the younger generation playing a part in politics, and that every vote matters, which was evident in the 2016 presidential election.

Georgia is seeing the effects of women embracing their political side; currently, two of the four candidates running on the Democratic ticket for governor of Georgia are both women, Stacey Evans and Stacey Abrams.

While the odds are somewhat stacked against them in the race for governor, another problem they will potentially run into is the race to beat out each other.

“They could potentially knock each other out during the primary campaign, and the right wing media can come out and say neither of them were

fit for the role because of their gender,” Pauley said.

Kristyn Drummonds, a Georgia State student, head Freshman Liaison for SGA and intern for Stacey Evans, said the candidate was inspired by seeing more women run for positions, as well as from her own struggles growing up in rural Georgia.

“She wants to make policies that will help people that need it, instead of benefitting people that have been benefitting forever,” said Drummonds.

Seeing women striving for leadership positions has also inspired young students at Georgia State with big goals. Madeline Moore, a freshman political science major at Georgia State has big career aspirations of someday being a senator from Georgia, but she is aware of the challenges she might face of being a woman.

“Other candidates would probably bring up stuff in debates referring to the fact that I’m a woman and incapable of holding office,” said Moore. “But I’m not going to stop that from letting me live my dream. That would just be the patriarchy at work.”

President Donald Trump requested the use of National guard forces of Defense Secretary James Mattis, who granted the request on Friday, April 6. The plan authorized funding for 4,000 National Guard troops to be deployed until Sept. 30. This is in response to Trump's inability to fully close a deal with either Congress or Mexico for the funding of his border wall proposal. The Texas Army National Guard confirms 250 guardsmen, aircraft, vehicles and surveillance equipment will be deployed to the state's border with Mexico as of Sunday. The Secretary of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security have 30 days to submit an action plan for their use of the new resources.

GLOBAL Brazilian President Surrenders

Former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio "Lula" Da Silva announced Saturday, April 7 he would surrender to police after initially defying a judge's sentence of 12 years for charges of corruption.

Colloquially known as Lula among Brazilians, he also served as the President of the left-wing Workers Party since 1980. Lula denies ever taking bribes or awarding government contracts unfairly.

He said to a crowd of party members and supporters that while he was imprisoned, “all all of you will become Lula.”

6

Million dollar shuffle

NEWS

GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

SGA is allocating new student fee money to more departments ASHTON PACKER Staff Reporter

A

s Georgia State’s spring semester begins to wind down, plans for next year are already in the making. One plan, worth over one million dollars, is the reallocation of some student fees.

Georgia State’s Atlanta campus is home to roughly 32,464 students. Previously, each student paid $53 towards the recreation center building through required student fees.

However, as the building is finished and requires no further funding, the bond used to pay for the building will soon be “sunsetted,” gearing the money towards other uses.

According to SGA Academic Affairs chair Jessica Siemer, the money will still be pulled from student fees, as there’s still many places the amount could contribute towards.

“They could go ahead and say, ‘We’re going to give back this money and reduce student fees,’ but there were a lot of different departments around campus that were running out of deficit, so they’re putting it to other places,” Siemer said.

When multiplied by each student on the Downtown campus, the total amount to be redistributed is about $1,720,592. With such a large sum of money to spread around, final plans for what to do with it are in the works.

Originally, Georgia State’s Student Fee Committee planned on splitting the money between the library, the recreation department (separate from the funding of the building itself), and the health center.

Siemer said the library is planning on using the financial support to kick-start changes to the building, along with possibly change the ground floor entrance after Kell Hall’s demolition.

Siemer also said that the operations within the Recreation Center function on different funding from the building itself and have been running on less than the needed amount. The funding is expected to help keep the center going.

The health center, which supports students’ physical and mental well-being, was approved to use the extra funding to address future needs.

Chris Connelly, Georgia State’s Campus Services Director of Marketing and Operations, said the transportation department is still on hold to receive parts of the money, as they had to modify their request. “[The] Board of Regents (BOR) requested modifications to the [Georgia State] request so as to conform with the Board of Regents staff guidelines stating the current reserve in the student health fee balance was too high. It had to be reduced before an additional allocation is a consideration,” he said.

MORE MONEY, MORE BUSES

Because all departments are required to follow mandated directives, this left part of the money to be taken up by another department: Transportation Services.

The transportation department, which was originally excluded from receiving extra funding due to successful operation on the current budget, will be granted $7 from each student’s fees. This gives the department an extra $227,248 to use.

“To comply with the directive, the transportation team was asked by the [Georgia State] administration if the funds could be used to assist with Panther Express routes in addressing new information received regarding the Courtland Street bridge project for fall semester 2018,” Connelly said.

The department wasn’t in need of need extra money after the Green and Blue lots were bought by the Georgia State Foundation and leased for a lower price. However, Connelly said the department was able to come up with a way to use the funding in a productive manner.

With the funding, Connelly said the department is planning on addressing the issues caused by traffic congestion due to the Gilmer Street demolition. The city of Atlanta has granted Panther Express buses the ability to use Gilmer Street starting on May 7.

“Other metro buses will have to travel around Gilmer. This

Due to the completion of the Student Recreation Center, part of students’ fees are being relocated into another program in the 2018-2019 school year.

means to preserve service levels, additional buses for the Blue Route will be needed due to traffic congestion. An additional bus may be required on the Green Route due to congestion on Piedmont Ave. caused by routing all the Atlanta and Regional Metro buses along the corridor,” Connelly said.

Siemer and Connelly said that the department is also planning on putting the extra funding into a reserve.

“They’re operating fine on the budget that they have, but since

PHOTO BY JULIAN PINEDA | THE SIGNAL

we are going to get a lot of different construction around campus in the next few years, there will be even more. They’re tucking it away so, if they need to put another bus on the route or they need any other expenses paid, they can do it,” Siemer said.

The plan is expected to kick off on July 1 and continue for an entire fiscal year, including one summer, fall, and spring semester. After the three semesters, the money is expected to be reallocated again to different departments.

Go West this Summer.

You are going places. And UWG can help you get there faster.

Earn credits over the summer break by signing up for any of our summer sessions. Enrolling over the summer can boost your GPA, allow you to graduate early, or let you focus on that tough class without distractions.

Whether you’re a current UWG undergraduate or graduate, or returning home to Carrollton from another university for the summer, join us for an unforgettable summer experience!

Get started by visiting westga.edu/summer. June and July session courses are available in Carrollton, Newnan and online. The Priority Application deadline is May 15th.

Go West. It changes everything.

TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 2018

Representation disparities in news media

Lack of racial representation in media outlets causes news stories to become one-sided, skewing the audience’s perception of certain groups of people.

PHOTO BY UNIQUE RODRIGUEZ & PAGE DESIGN BY DEVIN PHILLIPS | THE SIGNAL

How the lack of diversity in people delivering news affects audiences VICTOR SLEDGE Staff Reporter

N

ewsrooms across America have long struggled to meet the representation standards their audiences want.

In 1978, The American Society of News Editors (ASNE) pledged to match newsroom diversity percentages with the country’s diversity percentages. The same concept goes for representation of women. However, they are decades past their deadline, and nowhere near that goal.

REPRESENTATION OF PEOPLE OF COLOR

Inside The Wall Street Journal, the nation’s largest newspaper with more than 2.2 million subscribers, the ASNE reported in 2017 that the highest represented racial minority was Asian at only nine percent. Black and Hispanic journalists were only five and four percent respectively.

“If they want to relate to the audience, I feel like they have to at least try to look more like the audience.”

— SUSAN MOREL, Georgia State Sociology student

However, as of 2017, 61 percent of Americans were white, 18 percent were Hispanic, 12 percent were black, and six percent were Asian.

Susan Morel is a Georgia State student studying sociology. She focuses on how power dynamics affect our society. Morel explained how low representation in newsrooms can affect audiences and said newsrooms should be trying to match their

audiences’ demographics.

“If they want to relate to the audience, I feel like they have to at least try to look more like the audience,” she said.

She explained that the issue with having a predominantly white newsroom is that the news becomes Eurocentric. And that’s going to happen when any demographic gets a dominant voice in news.

“When they talk, the words they use, the tone they use, it’s very obvious,” Morel said, explaining how Eurocentrism can sneak into reporting.

Morel also said often times media framing can negatively affect people of color in the news, and from a sociological lens, that unfair media framing dehumanizes minorities.

“Having more journalists of color will definitely change that. They would know the weight of having a mugshot rather than Facebook pictures,” she said. “My biggest point is to recognize your privilege and recognize other peoples’ humanities,” she said. “It’s not that difficult.”

REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN

The Women’s Media Center reported that on the 20 top news outlet shows, men produce roughly 62 percent of news, while women only produce 38 percent.

Donna Krache, now a Georgia State professor, worked at CNN for more than 20 years. She gave some input on what her time there was like as a woman.

“I never felt like I didn’t fit in,” Krache said. “I never felt like women’s ideas weren’t welcome.”

She said that nowadays, news outlets are often ruled more by politics than anything else. And with that in mind, maybe even especially today, a woman’s perspective is still valuable and necessary in any newsroom.

“There are things that women think about that sometimes men don’t consider as a part of the story,” Krache said.

While she did agree that representation of women in newsrooms today is the best she’s seen, there is still some room for improvement. Krache said she wished there were more women in leadership roles, but that there’s a lot of challenges that come along with that.

“A lot of times, a man can be vocal and he’s assertive and a leader,” she said. “A woman can be vocal and she’s a B****, you know.”

Morel shared this sentiment. She felt that as a woman in the workplace, especially as a woman of color, you have to tread lightly even when you’re being wronged.

“I can’t get angry, because I’ll either have consequences, or I’ll be the bitter black b****,” Morel said.

Krache said that she believes we have to get rid of that stereotype for women, just as well as any other stereotype for any other group.

“And one way I think that’s going to happen is to see more women in positions of leadership at these networks,” she said.

EFFECTS OF LOW REPRESENTATION

Hiring a diverse set of people to work in U.S. newsrooms has major implications.

“If a newsroom is not diverse, it’s going to lose its audience,” Krache said. “Maybe not now, maybe for the time being they’ll be OK. But honestly, it’s not going to last.”

Morel agreed.

“When a white woman is delivering news, I kind of take it with a grain of salt,” she said.

“It’s just not the same impact emotionally on me as if a women of color were delivering it.”

Krache explained that media businesses should focus on delivering relatable news to their audience, and that can only happen if there is better representation.

“We do need to respect the audience, and we do need to reflect the diversity of the audience,” Krache said.

While the impact of representation in media and newsrooms may be less detrimental to certain groups, every group experiences it.

“They’re getting this news and they’re assuming that it’s objective,” Morel said. “So they internalize it and just go with it, which I think is damaging.”

Morel explained that non-minority news consumers aren’t affected by one-sided news in the same way. That’s why it’s important to have a newsroom that reflects the audience so that reporters recognize potential damage.

It’s for those reasons that audiences are hoping to see representation rise to reach what was promised back in 1978.

“It’s not only inclusive, but it also expands minds,” Krache said. “That’s a good thing.

That’s what media should be doing.”

PROGRESS IN REPRESENTATION

2001

2017

AJC

MINORITY RATE - 20.3 WOMEN - 36

MINORITY RATE - 34.3 WOMEN - 37

WASHINGTON POST

MINORITY RATE - 19.5 WOMEN - 39

MINORITY RATE - 30.8 WOMEN - 50

NEW YORK TIMES

MINORITY RATE - 16.2 WOMEN - 35

MINORITY RATE - 19 WOMEN - 43

Cultural beauty standards, social media and history shape the way women think of their bodies JADE ABDUL-MALIK Staff Reporter

W

earing the cutest bikinis and laying out on the beach is something most girls do in the summer, but Chelsea Holmes-Robinson, a Georgia State student, hid her body in one-piece swimsuits and T-shirts until she was 18 years old. Three years later, she couldn’t care less what people say when she’s donning her favorite bikini.

Whether it’s comparing dress sizes with a friend, avoiding food at social gatherings or having a general anxiety when it comes to getting dressed in the morning, Holmes-Robinson is one of the thousands of students at Georgia State who have or had an unhealthy perception of their bodies. With the influx of curated data trending on social media and pressures from individual cultures, the number of people with body image issues is on the rise.

“Before the hashtags ‘body positivity’ and ‘self love,’ it was ‘You need to be skinny. You’re not skinny, so you’re not cute’,” Holmes-Robinson said. High school was the pivotal moment for her when she realized the image her peers idealized was an image she didn’t quite fit in.

While her smaller friends and classmates could explore their fashion tastes, Holmes-Robinson felt limited to clothes that wouldn’t offend anyone with her body.

“If you’re a heavier girl, you can’t wear certain shorts or you can’t wear crop tops, and you can’t wear that dress because you’re simply too heavy,” she said. The restriction imposed on girls and women like Holmes-Robinson was a recipe for self-loathing and denial of happiness.

CULTURAL STANDARDS

Along with being plus-sized, Holmes-Robinson dealt with the pressures to look a certain way on both sides of her biracial family. “You can tell which [family] is more lenient, like which grandparent aren’t gonna say anything in front of people.”

Beauty to her white mother’s family is being extremely skinny and wearing modest clothing, but her black father’s side were a bit more accepting of her fuller size.

“My mom is like a toothpick. She’s 5-foot-10 and 130 pounds,” she said. “On my father’s side, it was more of an understanding that I will never be that size. Even still, [my parents] would be like, ‘Are you sure you need seconds?’”

Another student who wishes to be anonymous said that her breasts were a big part of her body insecurity. “They started growing in the second grade and didn’t stop until [I was] 18,” she said. Because of her breasts, it made not only shopping for clothes a hassle, but living her life as an average kid. “People always said I was older. When I would tell them my age, they would say, ‘Oh, you seem more [mature],’” she said.

The student also felt that her Caribbean parents were disapproving of her hormonal weight gain. “There have been times when I’ve been heavier and my parents would try to encourage me to lose some weight. What am I supposed to do? I’m just a teenager,” she said. Her parents were advocates for the Caribbean beauty standard: silky hair, smooth skin, and an hourglass-shaped body that's perfect for cultural activities like Carnival and dancehall parties.

Having a breast reduction in 2016 for health issues also brought unexpected feelings of inadequacy for the student.

“I’m looking at myself and I’m looking at other people, thinking, ‘How do I stack up? When people look at me, what do they think? I want to look like that person or that person.’ Even after the surgery, I’m wondering, ‘Did I make them too small?’” she said. “This is so ridiculous! How could [I] go from one extreme to another?”

Even though she feels happier after her surgery, the student still goes through moments where she compares herself to others. “Now I’m looking at girls with bigger breasts and I’m like, ‘Ugh!’ I’m [wondering] what I’m doing with myself,” she said.

CELEBRATE YOUR BODY

In an age where society has integrated social media, it’s a frequent occurrence to come across pages where body positivity is highlighted in ways that can be frustrating. “[It feels like] if you’re not fat like Ashley Graham [a famous plus-sized model], it’s not okay,” Holmes-Robinson said. “You can be plus-sized, but you can’t have a belly, your thighs can’t have cellulite.”

Even beauty trends on social media can highlight how quickly people change their minds on something as

seemingly simple as eyebrows. The anonymous student remembered how her thick eyebrows weren’t as popular as they are now. “When I was younger, I remember everyone having the pencil-thin eyebrows and I was made fun of for my [eyebrows]. Now, it’s like you gotta have thick eyebrows!

People are now giving me compliments on my eyebrows,” the student said. “Trends are annoying in that way.”

To Holmes-Robinson, it’s a nuisance to see people only celebrate specific types of bodies instead of all bodies.

Both Holmes-Robinson and the anonymous student remind themselves and cautions others to look at posts with a critical lens instead of nitpicking and comparing bodies, especially since authenticity is questionable.

“There’s certain body images that takes work and isn’t easy to get to,” the student said. That work could include dieting, personal trainers, supplements and surgery. The lack of accessibility and financial freedom is something that could wreak havoc on someone’s self-perception of their bodies. “[Some people] can’t afford the organic food, the personal trainers or personal chefs that can break down your meals. If you don’t have money, you can’t physically achieve what society is asking for when it comes to beauty,” Holmes-Robinson said.

ROOTS OF INSECURITY

But where did these expectations and experiences of body image come from? Juliana Kubala, the senior lecturer in Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Alex Maxwell, president of Georgia State’s Faces of Feminism organization, said that the value of physical appearance has been embedded in history.

“The fundamental problem [with low self-esteem and poor body image] is the sense that our success and power in the world is based on how we look,” Kubala said.

This idea can be tied to how being plumper during the Renaissance era meant financial excess and luxury or how certain types could be associated with social popularity among peers.

Maxwell thinks that familial influences could also play a part in how younger generations view themselves, especially in marginalized communities. “The parents were probably body shamed in their own way and are going to continue that cycle of body shaming. When people are hurt, they carry that onto their children. In the black community, [emotional projection] can be seen as a protection mechanism and [to be understood as] looking a certain way to get where you want to be in white America,” she said.

Kubala also suggested that beauty standards are not always globally expansive and can be culturally specific.

“While white women...may be more focused on thinness, for black women, hair may be a big body image issue. Skin color may be a body image issue,” she said. Anything from hairiness to body fat composition could be a critical part to how cultures view and keep up beauty standards, which can put a hefty percentage of impressionable girls and women at risk of having low self-confidence.

“The most important age to [understand] body love and self-esteem is right around 13 to 17 or 18,” HolmesRobinson said. “There are real girls struggling with body image and self-esteem and these trends are affecting them.”

The effects of social media and cultural expectations could be so severe that people can develop eating disorders and other mental health issues.

The National Association of Eating Disorders (NEDA) said that 86 percent of people with eating disorders report the onset by age 20, while 43 percent report the onset between ages 16 and 20. Leslie Knapp, a dietitian at Georgia State, works with people with eating disorders and may know a few reasons why eating disorders are common in this demographic.

“For many, adolescents and college age is when our bodies change and many changes in life can occur,” Knapp said. “We also start becoming adults and are trying to make friends, fit in, and control our surroundings.

These are things that can cause us to look at ourselves perhaps compare ourselves to others. These factors may increase the susceptibility of adolescents and college-aged individuals to developing an eating disorder.”

The faces of eating disorders are also changing and representing a much more diverse population as more people are becoming aware of the issue. “Historically, white females presented with a higher rate of eating disorders. However, that image is changing. It is becoming much more common in males and other races and ethnicities and all sexual orientations. There is no longer a textbook version of what someone with an eating disorder looks like,” Knapp said.

With the risk of developing an eating disorder affecting anyone, the demand for better body representation and new ways of teaching body positivity is high. Maxwell supports the flexibility of social media because people can be more exposed to other bodies, like disabled people and people of color, pull inspiration from others and seek support when they need it.

While Holmes-Robinson plans her summers for sandy vacations in bikinis, the anonymous student can focus on her artwork and relationships. Both students can focus on their happiness regardless of how they look to other people, like family members or people on social media, which is something they probably only dreamed of when they were younger.

THREE INSTAGRAMS THAT CHANGED THE BODY-POSITIVITY GAME Megan Jayne Crabbe (@BodyPosiPanda) is an Australian social media figure who picked up power when she used her platform to talk about her battle with eating disorders. Crabbe posts about her journey of self-love as well as highlighting others’ experiences and dispelling myths and stigmas about flaws.

Michelle Elman (@ScarredNotScared) is a self-proclaimed body confidence coach who uses her physical scars to advocate self-love and inspire others to do the same. With a TEDx Talk and her book “Am I Ugly?” under her belt, she created a platform that normalizes mental health issues, insecurities, and encourages self-care.

Alok Vaid-Menon (@AlokVMenon) is an Indian-American trans creative who uses their art to express their culture and identity. They challenge gender norms through their fashion and often discuss personal journeys in hopes to lend advice or different perspectives to viewers and readers alike.

PAGE DESIGN BY DAO NGUYEN | THE SIGNAL

ARTS & LIVING

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Finding new places to drink

events not to miss april 11 - april 17

For when Buckhead wears you out

Wednesday, april 11 16 artists: Our Other Lives

SARA ABDULLA

High School Art teachers from Georgia's 5th Congressional district collaborate and share their work. The exhibition, at the Central Atlanta-Fulton Public Library is free and open during all regular library hours.

Staff Reporter

F

or some, if not most young adults, all bars are the same sticky place to pay $8 after tip for a Guinness draught and avoid the aggressive Mr.Hyde-esque drunk who keeps picking fights. It is inevitable, however, that the same dive bars with the same Top 40 hits playing with the same eight girls grinding on each other on industry-style tables will eventually get old.

While it is unlikely that anyone will actually get (or want) to try every bar in Atlanta, there are a few gems less popular than Church that are worth checking out.

East Atlanta Village is an oft-talked about but less-frequented hot spot for niche, unique bars in Atlanta. While Argosy and Graveyard have their individual followings (not to mention the Graveyard’s underground club in its literal basement), their neighbors don’t get as much love.

For example, Gaja, a hip Korean joint located across from the Earl, artfully combines a vintage Korean aesthetic with a hipster one. They offer food served on cafeteria trays along with soju, a clean-tasting Korean liquor, and other cocktails.

You can also opt in for a burlesque show for one Alexander Hamilton.

If you’re absolutely married to Edgewood, there’s a “secret” bar above the Music Room in Sweet Auburn. The exterior looks like your everyday, benign, barbecue place, but in the back of the restaurant is a large bookshelf that leads to a new room and full bar. They host events, like 9 p.m. Sunday comedy, and have a DJ on most other nights.

Also in Downtown, Peachtree Street caters less to college students trying to get wasted, but offers picturesque views of the skyline and the sense that you are genuinely out in a populous city. No list of bars would be complete without the notorious Red Phone Booth, inconspicuously nestled in front of a pizza place on Andrew Young International Blvd. Designed like a speakeasy, you have to enter a literal red phone booth, enter a code on a rotary-style telephone, and open the door into the Prohibition-style bar. The restaurant owners and bartenders on Peachtree Street can provide you with the code, but only if you tip generously. Here, you can order all the absinthe your soul desires and your wallet allows.

If you want to get more booze for your buck, though, check out the Independent at Midtown

thursday, april 12 Atlanta Film Festival Opening this Thursday, the Atlanta Film Festival is sure to be a hit with our cinephile readers.

Get excited for a new film debut by comedian, Youtube star and new director Bo Burnham at the Plaza Theater.

FRIDAY, april 13 Atlanta Dogwood Festival Come out to Piedmont Park for the historic Dogwood Festival this weekend. Walk through the art, run in the 5k, or if you buy a ticket, go to Backyard Bites and Brews.

saturday, april 14 Wine Tasting The Atlanta Spring Wine Festival will bring over 50 wines, beers and ciders to the Historic Fourth Ward Park. Come sample tons of local food vendors and enjoy the live music.

Find the perfect hidden bar to best fit your taste buds and your wallet like Red Phone Booth.

Promenade. Nestled upstairs behind Trader Joe’s and the Midtown Art Cinema, the Independent is an easy-going bar with too many games to get bored of your too-drunk friends and an utterly exhaustive list of beers.

Last but never least (expensive) is Foxtrot

Footloose Liquor Bar, just over a mile from the Independent in Midtown. Known for their craft cocktails, fancy barstools, and handsome servers, Foxtrot will become your new favorite liquor lounge.

Charmingly decorated, it has a coffeeshop-like vibe and truly feels like it’s a bar just for the locals.

Importance of house shows Staff Reporter

T

he most crucial thing needed for a thriving scene of any kind is content and a community. The content does not have to be good for it to pulse, but it always helps when it is. What drives these communities is support amongst its members and new prospective members. One might hear about this world from a friend being involved, some may hear from a post online, but one of the most effective ways to immerse oneself into a scene is by attending house shows.

A house show is a completely communal effort. It avoids the “professional” aspects of booking a show, like a booking agent or door deals for paying bands, etc. They are likely to be in a basement or a cleared out living room with

couches pushed to the side and pictures taken off the walls. Door price for attending is anywhere from free to 5 bucks. A house show being 10 dollars or over is a rare occurrence, and if it is, it is probably to accommodate a touring band.

A house show is by and for the people, and through that effort, it is powerful in its scene building abilities. It can be a quaint experience or a lavish one based on who is throwing it. Some provide snacks and drink options, and some don’t even clean up before the show, so it definitely varies. After all, they are giving their house up to the mercy of people into local music, and that can be dangerous. You could be that person who lends their house to the festivities, or you could be the snack person! House shows have many different facets that create opportunities to make friends and to see some local talent. This way, you can be the one who tells another person about what a active and interesting scene you have.

House shows don’t always have to be a

Independent Artist Playhouse in Marietta presents their production of Footloose. A show about high school rebels cast from actual high schoolers.

monday, april 16 x

Keeping the scene afloat one show at a time JALEN JENKINS

sunday, april 15

PHOTO BY VANESSA JOHNSON | THE SIGNAL

spectator sport. You can get involved directly by booking your own house show if you have the tools.

This was covered earlier this year in The Signal, but as a refresher you only need four things: a venue, the right bands, aggressive promotion, and a good team of people to run the show.

All these things are made easier by networking in your scene and attending shows to get a feel for the other people attending and maintain a list of bands that are available and in your vicinity.

So why are house shows so important? They are the most direct way to get involved in your music/ art scene! You get to meet people who have been involved and learn about the opportunities it has to offer for you so that you can help maintain it.

Being an active member of a scene is give and take. Throwing a house show and attending them is a great way to introduce someone new and to enjoy yourself in your city.

Farmers Market in Midtown The Plaza at Colony Square will host a farmers market from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. every Monday. Bringing local produce, jams, preserves and craft ware vendors, this is a great way to get that summer body.

tuesday, april 17 Something Rotten The 10 time Tony nominated musical Something Rotten. This comedy satires the fantasy and medieval genres in new and relevant ways.

More events and info at georgiastatesignal.com.

TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 2018

Looks like an American

Who are the true citizens of this country?

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CHRISTINA MAXOURIS Editor-in-Chief

Christina is the current Editor-in-Chief of the Georgia State Signal.

Raised in Greece, there is nothing she loves more than soaking up sun rays, and having a good debate!

Tweet christina! @its_xristina

irst, we were taught to call this country a melting pot. Then, we were taught there’s only so many kinds of ingredients we should want melted in there together. But that’s not how a melting pot works.

The idea of who an American is today has been in question long before the 2016 election, but that outcome highlighted the sentiment that many kept hidden, a sentiment that close to half a century ago led to one of the largest genocides in history. The idea that a true citizen of a nation should look a very certain way… and by certain way, I mean white.

Last week, Gwinnett County families woke up to flyers in their driveways urging them to “Keep America American,” and report unauthorized immigrants. Statements which confused me because, last I knew, the most American thing of all is the acceptance of immigrants and refugees in need, those fleeing chaos and persecution.

After all, that’s how America was created in the first place.

Accompanying the flyers were racist graffiti messages targeting black people. It’s not clear whether those messages were by the same group who left the flyers, which The Atlanta JournalConstitution identified as the Texas-based Patriot Front, a white supremacist network working to maintain America’s “European identity.”

It seems like they’re not the only ones concerned of an “outside identity” taking over.

On April 21, the National Socialist Movement will be holding a rally from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. in Greenville Street Park, in Newnan, Georgia.

Newnan Police Chief Douglas “Buster” Meadows told The Newnan Times-Herald anyone who wishes to attend the rally can expect to hear “abusive language aimed towards different ethnic groups and races.” But the city said they could not refuse the neo-Nazi group from a permit and can not shut the event down unless they seem to pose a danger to the public or violate the space restrictions.

So what are these groups calling for? What does an America that’s “American” look like?

BY THE NUMBERS

Omar Skandari, a member of the Muslim Student Association (MSA), born and raised in Atlanta but originally from Afghanistan said there’s one standard in the definition of “American.”

“Being American stands for chasing the American dream,” he said. “Diversity has helped the country grow, not just on an economic level, but to see where the country has gone from its start to today is ridiculous.”

And it’s true, immigrants in the country have not only added to its diversity, but its economic output as well—and no, not by taking Americans’ jobs.

Daniel Costa, director of immigration law and policy research at the Economic Policy Institute, told ABC News there would be a tremendously negative impact on the economy if the country lost its immigrants. He said immigrants are overrepresented in both low and high-skilled jobs, ranging from construction to finance and IT. According to the Partnership for a New American Economy, immigrants contributed close to $224 billion in federal taxes in 2014 and had over $927 billion in consumer spending power.

The state of Georgia recently ranked 20th in the nation when it comes to the impact of immigrants and 16th when it came to overall economic impact.

According to that same report, more than one in five of the state’s active physicians graduated from an international medical school, and 1 in 5 workers in the STEM departments are foreign born. And they also provide relief on the already tight labor market and employers that are complaining of having trouble finding the workers they need, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Georgia State sociology professor Katie Acosta also told the AJC that further restricting immigration can have a lasting impact and implications for our communities.

And here’s a better perspective: the population of Atlanta is roughly 472,522 according to the U.S. Census Bureau. About 255,689 are AfricanAmerican, 18,720 are Latino or Hispanic, and 141,429 are white.

AN AMERICAN

So not only do recent and older immigrants play a crucial part in our economy, they’re also irreplaceable factors in today’s American community. It is the different traditions, religions, cultures and beliefs living side by side that have made this country the “land of the free.”

“Today’s America is a melting pot of different races and cultures,” Skandari said. “Look at Georgia State. It’s a small representation of our state, and you see all walks of life with every step.”

So the right answer doesn’t exist. An American is anyone who who has found refuge in the place that has time and time again been home to the persecuted, and continues to thrive due to its rich points of view, and opportunity pool. It’s what makes it so great, and perhaps stacking up population numbers isn’t the point.

The point is to move past a paleolithic state of mind, and understand that being an American has nothing to do with looks, race, and background. But that brings a new point. What drives these young minds towards such a hateful path, turning against minorities and other races?

I find former neo-Nazi Christian Picciolini’s approach most satisfying. In an interview with The Chronicle, he said, reflecting back on his own experience with extremism, that many of these young people evolve into extremists from, ironically, feeling marginalized.

“They feel bullied,” he said. “They feel like something’s been taken away from them, and then they go and search for what they are unable to find anywhere else, which are identity, community, and purpose, which everybody is looking for.”

And the antidote?

“We need to stop failing our youth,” he said.

“We just have to give them more opportunities.

We need to make college more affordable. We need job opportunities in our most vulnerable and marginalized communities.”

So there, even the hateful need some love and compassion.

ILLUSTRATION BY DEVIN PHILLIPS | THE SIGNAL

OPINION

12

GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

Trump announces withdrawal from Syria U.S. on track to end Syrian occupation

O

JAMES FOX Staff Reporter

James is a journalism major on the Downtown campus. He likes MMA and being outdoors.

When he can’t get outside he spends his free time reading and writing. He grew up in East Atlanta and loves his city.

n March 29, 2018, President Donald Trump announced the U.S. is going to start pulling out of Syria.

“Let other people take care of it now. Very soon, very soon, we’re coming out,” Trump said. “We’re going to get back to our country, where we belong, where we want to be.”

By “other people,” Trump probably means Assad-backed Syrian forces, Russia, Turkey, Israel, and Saudi Arabia.

Two days later, Trump froze $200 million from the State Department that were going to be used to fund recovery efforts in Syria. When he succeeds, this will make Trump the first president to pull us out of a war since Lyndon Baines Johnson with Vietnam.

If you still don’t understand why Trump got elected, it all boils down to two words — America first. We are sick of our elected officials taking orders from international banking cartels driving us deeper into poverty and debt.

We’re fed up watching them outsource our manufacturing jobs to China, and hiring illegal immigrants to take our jobs here in America. Most of all, the American people aren’t going to allow our elected leaders drag us into armed conflicts we have nothing to do with halfway around the world. So far, Trump has mostly stuck to his antiinterventionism. And his recent statements reaffirm just that.

During his campaign in 2016, Donald Trump announced his plan to defeat ISIS. “I will quickly and decisively bomb the hell out of ISIS,

will rebuild our military and make it so strong no-one— and I mean no-one—will mess with us,” he said.

CBS news reports that on December 9, 2017, several high-ranking Iraqi army officials and the Iraqi prime minister announced that their state was now completely secured and ISIS had been defeated. Although Trump went bit overboard dropping the MOAB in Afghanistan, the Trump administration has made significant progress towards ending our perpetual war in the Middle East.

Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11 of the U.S. Constitution states that only Congress holds the power to declare war.

The last time Congress issued a declaration of war was against Japan on December 8, 1941. So why are we fighting in Syria today? If Congress never declared war on Iraq, how did Bush send hundreds of thousands of American troops to invade it? Speaking to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee back in June, 2017, Sen. Rand Paul said it best: “The initiation of war is a congressional duty, it’s not the president’s at all...we have been illegally at war for a long time now, this is illegal war at this point.”

I have faith that Trump will follow through with his promise to pull American troops out of Syria once victory is declared. If Trump goes back on his word, a lot of Georgia State students who are in the Army Reserves could be deployed to fight in a country we shouldn’t be in to begin with. So call the White House at (202)-456-1111 and let Trump know that we, the American people, are serious — get us out of Syria.

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National propaganda in your local news Sinclair Broadcast Group’s troubling dominance in American television

Every week, Sinclair pushes “must-run” segments to its 173 networks, requiring them to incorporate them into their broadcasting within 48 hours of receipt. These segments, which are centrally produced by Sinclair, take a hardline rightwing stance on the news. In practicality, Sinclair is forcing propaganda down its viewers’ necks every week, often against the wishes of its networks’ employees.

To some, this propaganda is much larger than simply

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ave you heard of Sinclair Broadcast Group? If you have family in Albany and Macon, Georgia, there’s a good chance they have viewed some form of content from Sinclair in the past year.

Sinclair is the nation’s largest owner of television networks.

It owns, and often operates, nearly 200 networks with 614 stations in 89 markets across the U.S. In its current market hold, Sinclair reaches 39 percent of American households, straddling the Federal Communication Commission’s rule limiting entities from owning stations that reach over 39 percent of television households.

But if a proposed purchase of Tribune Media by Sinclair is approved by federal regulators, Sinclair could surge above that limit, adding 42 stations to its network and reaching a total of 72 percent of American households.

Aside from the sneaky, regulatory loopholes Sinclair will use to skirt by these federal regulations, Sinclair’s purchase and domination in America’s television market is immensely concerning for two reasons.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Christina Maxouris

conservative propaganda. A former Sinclair anchor wrote an op-ed in The Providence Journal, and said, “If you don’t see the symbiotic relationship between Sinclair and [President Donald Trump], you’re simply keeping your head in the sand.”

Sinclair’s news telling is immensely disingenuous. A YouTube video titled “Sinclair’s script for stations” shows its hundreds of networks parroting the same right-wing speech against fake news. In one part of the speech, news anchors from across the nation recite, “Unfortunately, some members of the media use their platforms to push their own personal bias and agenda to control exactly what people think. This is extremely dangerous to a democracy.” Sounds a little...ironic, don’t you think?

A LACK OF REPRESENTATION

In a story published in this week’s issue of The Signal, reporter Victor Sledge writes about the lack of racial and gender representation in news media today. The same sentiment can be applied to Sinclair’s networks. When local news becomes not-so-local, as Sinclair is doing, the appeal and purpose of local news fades quickly. Local news plays a vital role in America, serving to deliver objective news of interest to communities across the nation.

This is the same principle The Signal applies to its reporting.

We believe we play a valuable role in the student life of Georgia State, providing objective news of interest to the student body from a student perspective. Fortunately, The Signal does not face the same concern that Sinclair’s 173 stations do. The Signal is entirely independent of any corporation or university and actively seeks to provide perspective from any political stance.

signaladvertisingco@gmail.com STUDENT MEDIA ADVISOR Bryce McNeil bmcneil1@gsu.edu business coordinator Wakesha Henley whenley@gsu.edu STUDENT MEDIA ADVISOr (perimeter) Alice Murray amurray25@gsu.edu

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TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 2018

Georgia State is winning but not with student crowds

Georgia State is creating programs such as the “Fan from Day One” to increase student attendance for sports games.

PHOTO BY JULIAN PINEDA | THE SIGNAL

Georgia State's Athletics and students' views on lagging sports attendance BLAKE CORRIGAN Staff Reporter

STUDENT’S PERSPECTIVE

Georgia State sports and sold out crowds: two things that are not said in the same sentence very often – but why? The Georgia State football team had its best season to date this year, even winning the AutoNation Cure Bowl under Shawn Elliott’s leadership. The football team had its starts in 2017, with Penny Hart and Conner Manning both having great seasons.

The new Georgia State football stadium holds 25,000 people and only came close to that number on opening day against Tennessee State with 24,333 people in attendance, presumably because it was the first game played at the stadium. In perspective, the team played at Penn State the following week, and the Nittany Lions sold a whopping 102,746 seats, over four times the highest number Georgia State sold.

Likewise, the men’s basketball team under head coach Ron Hunter had one of the most impressive runs in school history.

D’Marcus Simonds led the team on a 10-game winning streak, a Sun Belt title and an NCAA Tournament berth, and yet the only time the GSU Sports Arena was full was against conference rival Georgia Southern.

The bottom line is that Georgia State sports teams such as the football and men’s basketball team are performing at an above average level but still cannot consistently get students in the stands. The Signal sat down with some students to get their perspective to try and solve the attendance conundrum.

Hunter Blanket, a junior majoring in business attends Georgia State games but not as many as he’d like. For Blanket, who says he would ideally be at every football game and most basketball games, it just comes down to priorities with class. Blanket’s class load is very demanding, and there is not always time for extra leisure events like sports games.

However, Blanket had good things to say about the times he was there.

“I love how close the student section is to the field, those seats are for sure the best seats I’ve ever had, and they were free,” said Blanket, referring to the free tickets students receive.

Blanket was also optimistic that the acquisition of the Georgia State Stadium, which used to be Turner Field, will help increase school spirit and attendance at games.

“Getting Turner Field was a big step in the right direction. Everything else will fall into place eventually, it just comes with time,” said Blanket.

Marquis Baker, a graduate student, has attended only one game in his two years at Georgia State and blamed his location for this. Baker, a transfer student from Howard University, doesn’t live on campus, making it difficult to attend games. Baker lives 30 minutes south of campus, and it’s not easy to get back to campus around game times. This is a stark contrast from when Baker attended Howard and lived on campus; he attended almost every game because of the ease of access on campus.

This seems to be a common trend among students who do not live on campus – they do not want to or cannot come back to

state attendance

24,333

Highest attended football game had 24,333 attendees

campus for sports events. Seventy-nine percent of Georgia State students live off campus, according to usnews.com, making transportation to optional events difficult.

So what could convince students to make attending games a priority in their schedule?

Baker says it’s all about student involvement at games – and the food of course. He said that more food options at games and student involvement in things such as half-court shots would be a big step in the right direction.

Blanket talked about the culture and spirit of the school, something that has traditionally been a pitfall at State but is changing year by year. Blanket noted that he had seen the overall school spirit improve over the past few years but said, “sometimes it feels like a high school game on Saturdays.”

GEORGIA STATE ATHLETICS’ VIEW

if you have a diverse base, it's going to have a lot of diverse interests,” said Holmes.

Georgia State does, however, have some initiatives in the works to increase attendance and overall school spirit. The “Fan from Day One” program is one program Holmes talked about that targets students as incepts when they first come to Georgia State. This program gives students and parents information about the upcoming season and rewards students that sign up. These rewards are things like t-shirts and the chance to run on the field at Georgia State’s first game, which can go a long way with freshmen to make them feel welcomed and a part of the school.

“We need to go and educate the freshmen as much as anyone, so hopefully it becomes the norm for them,” said Holmes.

From Georgia State Athletics’ perspective, it’s about creating an early culture of sports that will eventually take over the school.

Mike Holmes, associate athletic director, believes the addition of Georgia State Stadium is a step in the right direction, but he knows the importance of winning at home.

“Honestly I think the one thing that hurt us the most, even though we had a winning season, we went 1-4 at home,” said Holmes regarding the football team.

One of the biggest challenges Holmes sees Georgia State facing from a marketing perspective is the wide diversity of students at State. While Holmes was quick to assert that this diversity is a great thing for Georgia State, he said it does make it tough to target every demographic within the school.

“Part of it that makes it very tricky is that we have a very diverse student base, and obviously

It seems that a lack of ease of access is a big reason students don’t go to more games, which may not be surprising considering how spread out Georgia State is. Traffic, work and rigorous classes don’t help the cause either.

Georgia State is confident attendance will rise as the new tradition of Georgia State Stadium becomes more solidified and the “Fan from Day One” program continues to evolve.

On the other hand, students such as Hunter Blanket are leading the way to creating a new culture of sports at Georgia State by attending the games and taking advantage of the free tickets given out by the school.

37%

60%

Men’s football left 37% of seats unfilled in 2017-2018

THE FUTURE OF STATE ATTENDANCE

Men’s basketball left 60% of seats unfilled in 2017-2018

SPORTS

14

GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

Fierce competition at the quarterback position

Ellington, Winchester and Walker in a tight battle to be Manning’s replacement D’MITRI CHIN

Associate Sports Editor

T

he Georgia State Panthers held their first Blue-White Spring Game at the Georgia State Stadium on Saturday, and it was an exhilarating event from start to finish, with the offense outlasting the defense 59-35. Both units displayed great effort and gave the fans much to be optimistic about this upcoming season, highlighted by three quarterbacks vying for an opportunity to replace last year's AutoNation Cure Bowl MVP Conner Manning.

Transfer quarterbacks Dan Ellington, Aaron Winchester and Jack Walker make up the group who individually had impressive outings.

"All in all, I was very pleased. It was our first Spring Game at Georgia State Stadium, and that's amazing," head coach Shawn Elliott said to a few media members in attendance.

"All three of our quarterbacks went out there today and executed really well and delivered the football. I think we've got three pretty good quarterbacks, plus Parks when he gets back," Elliott said.

While great quarterback competition is beneficial to the football team, it is also a tough decision to make when naming the captain of the team’s offense, which Elliott said he is not ready to do just yet.

"It takes more than 15 days to let that thing work itself out," Elliot said. "Certainly leadership dictates a lot of it. We'll go into fall camp and have 29 practice opportunities before our first game, and we'll know. The separation will be evident then."

DAN ELLINGTON

As a transfer football player, there is a considerable amount of pressure to prove to the coaching staff why they are worthy of being a part of their football program. However, Ellington showcased precisely why he can very well be the man for the quarterback job. He had a phenomenal day throwing the ball as he was 21-for-24 for 249 yards and four touchdowns. For one touchdown, he threw the ball to men’s basketball head coach Ron Hunter in the back of the end zone.

Nonetheless, Ellington showed great poise in the pocket and did not seem anxious when the defensive line generated pressure from the interior and exterior. Instead, he made the necessary adjustments and threw crisp and accurate balls during his time on the field.

AARON WINCHESTER

The most significant difference Winchester made from last year to this year is the transformation he made to his body.

Winchester looked insurmountably bigger, faster and stronger — which will be an advantage for him in the quarterback competition. He also showed maturity in the pocket, especially with going through his progressions. Last year, Winchester was known as a run-first style quarterback. During the spring game, he was able to showcase his strong arm by throwing with much velocity on occasion. Winchester finished the game completing 17 of 25 passes for 173 yards and three touchdowns, while also catching a 17-yard pass from Jonathan Ifedi on a trick play.

JACK WALKER

The little brother of the bunch made his much-anticipated appearance on the field for the Panthers and showed much promise. Walker spent last year holding a clipboard on the sideline and soaking up the playbook, but when he stepped onto the field on Saturday, he went into quarterback mode by fluidly orchestrating the offense and finding the open receivers. He was not as sharp as the older, more experienced quarterbacks, but Walker proved that he could push the other guys for the starting spot. He finished the game completing nine of 16 passes for 169 yards, including a 24-yard touchdown pass to redshirt freshman Camryn Johnson.

The tight end group, led by Ari Werts, flashed multiple times during the game. Werts showcased what many knew he possessed, being a threat in the endzone. He caught two touchdowns with his most memorable being a 4-yard pass from Ellington that was initially tipped by a defender. His other touchdown was for nine yards from Winchester. Werts finished the game with five catches for 40 yards and two scores.

Camrin Knight, the transfer tight end from Florida, made an exceptional first impression with his six catches for 100 yards and one touchdown. He was the only pass catcher to eclipse the 100-

Georgia State quarterback Aaron Winchester completed 17 of 25 passes for 173 yards and three touchdowns.

yard mark in the game. His lone touchdown came in the final seconds of the fourth quarter when Winchester threw a 25-yard laser in traffic.

Coach Elliott has multiple decisions to make before opening

PHOTO SUBMITTED BY GEORGIA STATE ATHLETICS

day, but whoever wins the job at quarterback has dependable assets around him to give the Panthers an opportunity to win.

The Panthers' opening day is Aug. 30 against Kennesaw State at Georgia State Stadium.

TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 2018

SPORTS

15

Chloe Howard on her way to stardom

Freshman golfer finishes in top-two in all Georgia State tournaments CHRISTIAN CRITTENDEN Staff Reporter

F

reshman golfer Chloe Howard came to Atlanta from Plymouth, England with the intention of being a good golfer and performing at a high level. Howard has done that and more during her freshman campaign.

“My season so far has been really good. I knew that I was going to perform well since I came here,” Howard said.

Howard’s highest individual finish so far has been at the Bama Beach Bash, when she placed fifth, shooting a low score of 70 in the final round of the tournament.

“My favorite moment from this season so far, it's got to be when we played in Alabama and I finished fifth, that was good,” Howard said. “Going under par in the last round is what I wanted to do, and I managed to do it.”

Out of the nine tournaments that the team has played so far, Howard has been their top finisher seven times, and the other two times she was the team's second place finisher. She also added another top ten finish, this time it was seventh at the Amelia Island Collegiate where she once again shot a final round of 70.

HAVING A CONNECTION

Howard had a connection to Georgia State through fellow teammate and Englishman, Jemima Gregson. Gregson is the reason that Howard ended

Freshman Chloe Howard shares highlights from her first golf season with the Panthers.

up at Georgia State.

“I knew (Jemima) Gregson on this team before I came here, so I think she was able to put a good word in,” Howard said. “I didn’t really look at any other colleges because I knew Gregson here and I wanted to go somewhere where I knew at least one person, so it was helpful having Gregson here.”

As her freshman season comes to a close, Howard wants to finish the last tournament off

PHOTO BY GEORGIA STATE ATHLETICS

strong.

“In our next tournament coming up in conference my goal is to start better, and then hopefully I’ll finish off better and hopefully get a win,” Howard said.

The Panthers will play in the Sun Belt Conference tournament starting on April 15 in Miramar Beach, Florida.

Sweep of Arkansas State puts Panthers over .500 State sweeps Sun Belt opponent for first time in nearly three years JERELL RUSHIN Sports Editor

G

eorgia State (16-15, 5-6) swept Arkansas State in a three-game Sun Belt Conference series. The conference sweep is the first for the Panthers since winning three games against Louisiana Monroe in April 2015.

The Panthers trailed for only one inning during the three games, outscoring the Red Wolves 31-12.

Nick Gatewood led the charge with seven RBIs, six runs, five hits and three walks on 5-11 hitting.

“That’s huge, I don’t think since I’ve been here we’ve swept a team in conference, so you know that’s big to show where we’re going as a team and what we can accomplish,” Gatewood said.

The first game of the series was a 12-3 victory.

Brandon Bell hit for just the second cycle in Georgia State history. Georgia State also hit great

Softball —A 2-3 record for the week moves the Panthers to 2018 on the season and 5-9 in the Sun Belt Conference. Ivie Drake broke the Georgia State all-time home run record she hit three and in the 14-8 Georgia State victory over Mercer. The senior has hit 60 in her career thus far. After dropping two games against Sun Belt opponent No. 18/19 Louisiana, the Panthers defeated the Rajin’ Cajuns in the series finale. They rallied from down 5-2 with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning to force extras. In the 13th inning, Kristen Hawkins’s walk-off single brought home Kirsten McMonigle to grab Georgia State’s first win over a ranked opponent since April 2014 when they faced Georgia. They’ll travel to face No. 6 Georgia on Wednesday.

Track and field

MAKING THE ADJUSTMENT

Howard has pretty much had a seamless transition to the U.S. on and off the golf course, but there are a few areas of the game that she is still adjusting to. One thing that Howard is still adjusting to is the weather in Georgia; the humidity is a lot different than what she is used too. This can help or hinder one’s gold game, and it has done both to Howard so far.

“In England, there is a lot more wind so at home I have to hit the ball a lot lower,” Howard said. “However, here the weather is a lot obviously warmer, and there’s a lot less wind, so it's so nice to be able to hit the ball high as opposed to trying to keep it under the wind all of the time, it's just nice.”

Howard’s game has always been better suited here in the U.S. because of her natural hitting ability, and that has been on display.

SPORTS BRIEFS

the next game, defeating the Red Wolves 16-7 in wire-to-wire fashion behind a grand slam and five RBIs from Luke Leonard.

However, Jordan Lee displayed the talent of the weekend pitchers during the series finale 3-2 win.

Lee threw seven strikeouts thanks to a dominant fastball, slider and changeup. He allowed just two runs and three hits in 7.1 innings.

“Obviously I can’t emphasize enough how well my defense played behind me, especially Nick Gatewood behind the plate. He really set things up and caught hard for us,” Lee said.

Gatewood’s ability to contort his body enables Lee and other pitchers to throw balls many pitchers aren’t able to. His hitting also gives his teammates more incentive to reach base because he can bring in runs at a high clip. His .385 batting average and 35 RBIs rank him third in the conference.

"There's a lot of professional interest in Nick Gatewood, especially as a hitter," head coach Greg Frady said. "Today, he showed why he is one of the

great catchers in our league and in college baseball.

The way he blocked a ball with a runner at third.

He even got crossed up and was able to handle the pitch. Nick was absolutely amazing as a catcher today."

The Panthers need to continue hitting and pitching to gain ground in the Sun Belt Conference East Division standings. Their three-game home series against Texas State (17-14-1, 5-7) begins Friday, April 13. With both teams sitting in the bottom half of their divisions, the series could be an indicator of how the seasons unfolds.

Georgia State travels to face Georgia Tech on Wednesday, April 11 at 6:00 p.m. in a game they badly want to win.

“We swung it really well the first two games, so I hope we can keep going and do that especially against Tech because we really want to win against them and we pitched really well this weekend, so we definitely want to keep that going,” Lee said.

— At the Gamecock Invitational in Columbia, South Carolina, Georgia State walked away with six top-five finishes. Morgan Laushey places first in the 5,000m with a personal best of 18:12:39.

Rachel Reid, Jordan Townsley and Lauren Sims were other individual top-five finishers.

The Panthers placed third and fourth in 4x100m and 4x400m relays respectively.

Men’s Tennis —After winning matches against Louisiana and North Carolina at Wilmington, the Panthers are 12-9 overall and 2-1 in the Sun Belt Conference. The 4-3 win against Louisiana was the last conference match until the Sun Belt Tournament begins April 20. Senior Andre Andrukhou clinched the 4-1 win against Wilmington on Senior Day at Piedmont Park, his third clinch of the season.

Beach Volleyball —The Panthers are 20-8 on the season and 7-5 in conference after going 2-1 last weekend. TCU defeated Georgia State 4-1 and are 1-1 against them this season.

Their match on Sunday, April 15 will break the tie. After falling behind 2-0, Georgia State rallied to down UAB later in the day. The following day, the Panthers swept North Carolina at Wilmington 5-0.

Brooke Weiner and Tiffany Creamer were 3-0 fo the weekend.

ILLUSTRATION BY EVAN STAMPS | THE SIGNAL