The Signal Vol. 86 No. 25

MEJIA AND JONES

FEMININE HYGIENE

RUSSIAN TEXT

DIGGIN’ UP WINS

SGA presidential candidates Jazmin Mejia and Anthony Jones enter a runoff race.

It’s not fair: I can wrap it up but not stop it up. Free pads and tampons on campus!

Cryptic text begins to appear on everything from album covers to popular streetwear.

Georgia State beach volleyball rounded up a 4-0 sweep in its final home event of the season.

NEWS

PAGE 5

OPINIONS

PAGE 8

A&L

PAGE 12

SPORTS PAGE 17

VOL. 86 | NO. 25

APRIL 2 - APRIL 9, 2019

REIMAGINING

Hurt Park

NEWS | PAGE 3

PHOTO BY UNIQUE RODRIGUEZ & ILLUSTRATION BY AMBER KIRLEW | THE SIGNAL

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NEWS TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2019

www.georgiastatesignal.com/news

Chief of Police eyes Hurt Park renovation Students are in, but the homeless may be out WILL SOLOMONS News Editor

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urt Park sits nestled within Georgia State’s core downtown district, home to occasional campus and city events. For decades it served as a cornerstone of student involvement, but when Georgia State’s Unity and Library plazas were created in the late ‘70s, interest in Hurt Park slowly faded.

Now, Georgia State University Chief of Police Joseph Spillane has a bold vision to renovate Hurt Park into a space where students can gather and the university can host more events.

At a Student Government Association meeting on March 7, Spillane unveiled a rough plan to the senators.

Because the plans are still being circulated through city and university officials, Spillane and other officials, such as Vice President of Facilities Ramesh Vakamudi, can’t release specifics.

However, they did say they hope to have the project completed by the fall semester.

“We will release these official visuals at the appropriate time when and if a project is approved, funded and moves forward,” Spillane said in an email last week.

However, students can expect several general updates to the park.

“Currently we are considering to add a performance stage, new lighting, WiFi, natural turf and landscaping improvements and repairs to fountain,” Vakamudi said. “All this is contingent upon City Parks department review and approval and funding availability. We have not developed a detailed project schedule yet.”

That contingency on the parks department is preceded by an agreement already established with the university through a memorandum of understanding, which is a city ordinance that allows Georgia State to use the park for events as long as the university maintains the property.

The MoU states that the university must keep Sparks Hall open during events, for the usage of restrooms and water fountains, and

must provide 55-gallon drums for trash disposal, among other standards like adhering to certain times that “amplified sound” may be used.

“We’re lucky to have that … We can make improvements in there and do landscaping and things like that,” he said. “Our facilities is mandated to clean it up daily, seven days a week after feeding and after people sometimes go in their (sic) at night.”

The university is also in charge of policing the park, a task that Spillane said is difficult due to the park’s structure.

“They close at 11 p.m. and opened at 6 a.m. so it’s against the law to even be in that park from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.,” he said. “But it’s difficult to enforce because the park is so dark and it’s got several elevations and it has some underbrush and some trees and some areas where it’s difficult to see people that may be in the park using it as a bathroom or using it as sleeping area.”

Spillane envisions the park to be a space where students can comfortably gather, such as to study or to watch live performances from other students or from Atlanta’s independent music scene.

“Let’s potentially put a sound stage in there so we can do events in the park with SGA or student groups or even evenings with bands in there,” he said. “Or when we do events in there we would have space where we wouldn’t have to set up everytime we go in there to do an event.”

The overall idea of the park renovation encompasses the larger picture of development that Georgia State plans to undertake.

Once Kell Hall comes down and the green space opens up, Spillane and other university officials hope to connect the new green space to the revamped park.

GSUPD will be working in conjunction with other departments in order to improve the park as a whole, with Spillane and his officers maintaining the security aspect of it.

“Any kind of plan to improve that park has to be coupled with a security plan and with a maintenance plan to make sure whatever improvements we do on the park in conjunction with the city remain improved,” Spillane said. “So it doesn’t do me any good to lay down grass if I don’t have an irrigation system. It doesn’t do me any good to put in lighting if I don’t have a maintenance contract

Hurt Park, a centerpiece in Georgia State history, may be renovated in the near future as Chief of Police Joseph Spillane heads the project.

to keep the lights up. It doesn’t do any good to put in programs if nobody comes to them because of the condition of the park.”

This revamped look isn’t just from a new sound stage and meeting areas; it’s also from the removal of its homeless population.

Taking a brief walk next to the park during the day reveals to a passerby that Hurt Park is a place where part of Atlanta’s homeless citizens gather, some with their belongings on the sidewalk.

However, after the renovation it will be illegal for them to continue to place their belongings there.

The reason for this, Spillane said, is because they will be shortening the sidewalk to four feet from their current six feet. In Atlanta, the city policy dictates that a sidewalk cannot have less than four feet of walkable space.

“It would look better if we did not have people storing things on the sidewalks around the park or setting up shop and living on the sidewalk around the park,” he said.

This displacement is not without forethought from the university. Spillane said they’ll be working with local shelters and outreach centers to ensure that the people aren’t without care.

“We have to work with our partners, and that includes the community. That includes the homeless population. That includes advocacy groups. That includes people who feed out there on Gilmer [Street] or at Hurt Park,” Spillane said. “We started working with about 22 different organizations downtown on our homeless outreach. So we’re starting the groundwork with that, but it takes a lot of time to make that happen because I don’t want to go in with a big stick and say, ‘This is our park get out of it,’ because that’s not my intention.”

In a previous article written by The Signal, Spillane said that Georgia State isn’t isolated and that the university is a part of the greater Atlanta community.

“What we do recognize as Georgia State University Police Department is that we’re really a part of the larger community which is the city of Atlanta so anything that happens in the city of Atlanta that involves the Downtown space involves Georgia State,” Spillane said.

PHOTO BY UNIQUE RODRIGUEZ | THE SIGNAL

NEWS

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GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

Handling homework… in class?

How flipped classrooms are turning the tables on education DEREK ESCRIBANO Staff Reporter

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new style of teaching has shocked both students and professors with incredible grade-improvements: the flipped classroom.

The flipped classroom teaching style is an experimental method of teaching in which a class is taught by doing homework in class while listening to short, 10 minute lectures outside of class.

Originally, the flipped classroom teaching style was implemented in only a select few classes at Georgia State because the university wanted to be on the cutting edge of online education.

In recent years, however, every Critical Thinking class at Georgia State has switched from the traditional teaching style to the flipped classroom method.

When told to teach with the flipped classroom method, Sandra Dwyer, a Critical Thinking professor at Georgia State, was “a little skeptical because I thought, you know, we wouldn’t be able to give the students as much information as we normally would in a 50 minute lecture.”

“However, it turned out stunningly,” Dwyer said.

Each Critical Thinking class is laid out the same way: with two standardized-and-evaluated exams and two multiplechoice exams.

According to Dwyer, when compared to their non-flipped counterparts, students in flipped classrooms received better scores on both of the multiple-choice exams as well as the first standardize-and-evaluate exam, but not on the second standardize-and-evaluate exam.

That’s a three-out-of-four improvement.

However, being able to standardize and evaluate an argument is essentially the heart of the entire Critical Thinking course, so is the flipped classroom method actually effective in assisting students in fully grasping the material?

“In general, it seems like they are learning more,” Dwyer said.

But what about the student’s overall grades?

“Overall, they do better,” Dwyer said. “The flipped classes, generally speaking, almost 3/4ths of the classes get either an A or a B.” Some former Critical Thinking students doubt the

A flipped class student watches a lecture in preparation for in-class homework.

Some Georgia State professors are experimenting with switching from traditional learning styles.

effectiveness of a flipped classroom, though, believing it to be a waste of time.

Katie Getman, a freshman at Georgia State, felt as though all the students were “obliged to teach ourselves from just online videos and the online book.”

“I feel like my grade would have been better if it were more of a normal style class,” Getman said.

Damon Ladd-Thomas, also a freshman, believes that the flipped classroom teaching style made students more accountable for their own education, all the while making the information more accessible via an online textbook.

The flipped classroom teaching style may be improving

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY NADIA MOHAMMED | THE SIGNAL

overall GPA’s, and could potentially be preventing students from failing, too.

“One thing is, the A’s don’t change that much,” Dwyer said.

“The flipped and the traditional seem to have the same number of A’s, or percentage of A’s, but there’s a lot more B’s, and there’s a lot fewer F’s.”

Dwyer believes that in a traditional class, students often do not complete their homework, “whereas in the flipped class, they are actually doing the homework in class,” Dwyer said.

With such stunning results from Critical Thinking courses using the flipped classroom method, other courses may see this method instituted much sooner than we expect.

Jazmin Mejia and Anthony Jones enter runoff

The largest candidate pool in over 10 years is reduced to two hopefuls ADA WOOD

Associate News Editor

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eorgia State students no longer have five presidential candidates to choose from, only two: Jazmin Mejia and Anthony Jones.

After weeks of campaigning, both candidates are now headed to a runoff.

Mejia led the race with 29.41 percent of the vote and Jones followed with 18.51 percent. This second election was triggered because none of the candidates in this year’s Student Government Association election received 51 percent of the vote, and Mejia was 4.1 percent shy of the 15-percent margin over her runner-up that would’ve avoided the runoff.

The two candidates will now face the student body’s discretion again, but for one day only — Thursday, April 4.

Students can vote at pin.gsu.edu.

Running on the platform of A.C.H.I.E.V.E. — adapt, challenge, heights, innovate, engage, variety and effort — Jones is involved in Panther Ambassadors, the 1913 society and the Pi Alpha Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity as the director of fundraising. He received 467 votes in the election.

Jones has prior SGA experience but was removed from office last semester for missing too many meetings. One point emphasized in his platform is the creation of a Pounce

Convocation Walk, in which each freshman would touch Pounce’s nose in Unity Plaza on the way to their convocation ceremony.

Because he violated the election code, Jones has been suspended for a 72-hour period; a separate 48-hour sanction will be served concurrently by him. During this period, he will be unable to campaign for three days beginning Monday.

Consequently, he will only be able to campaign for a portion of the voting day.

Mejia, daytime chair for Spotlight Programs Board and alumni networking chair for the Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity, has gained experience as an SGA senator during this year’s administration. She received 742 votes in the election.

Her platform focuses on boosting financial literacy and holding the Office of Financial Aid accountable, as well as increasing collaboration between Georgia State’s many student organizations to provide better communities for students.

But the student body won’t only be voting for president in the upcoming runoff election — two candidates for executive vice president are also headed to a runoff.

Hamza Rahman and Jesse Calixte both will have a chance to land the EVP position on the Atlanta campus; the winner will work closely alongside the next SGA university-wide president.

Calixte was also suspended from campaigning for 72 hours due to a code violation but appealed that decision to the Student Judicial Board last Friday evening.

The Signal will deliver the results of the runoff election on Twitter (@gsusignal) on Monday, April 9.

As previously outlined in the last issue of The Signal, Sen. Kaelen Thomas will be the next speaker of the Atlanta senate after his opponent was disqualified for missing the SGA debates.

The full results of the election are available on The Signal website, which includes senators and some vacancies. The application for still open seats can be found on pin.gsu.edu and opened April 1, with priority review beginning April 11.

The roles of Communications Director, Finance Director and the Atlanta campus and University-wide Senate Clerks will be decided following the application period of April 1 through April 10, also available on pin.gsu.edu.

More students voted in this year’s election than last; turnout jumped from 1,475 to 2,523 total votes. Across all campuses, 5.75 percent of all eligible student voters participated in this year’s election, according to the SGA Election Commission.

The College of Arts and Sciences and the Robinson College of Business were the two colleges with the highest voter turnout, with 7.61 and 7.06 percent of their enrolled students, respectively.

Of the Perimeter campuses, Clarkston had the highest voter turnout at 8.26 percent – higher than any individual Atlanta campus college.

The College of Education & Human Development, School of Public Health and Dunwoody and Alpharetta campuses all saw less than 5 percent turnout; Dunwoody saw just 2.04 percent turnout.

TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2019

NEWS

5

FLCs and their effectiveness

Network-building success or time-wasting failure?

LOCAL

BEN COLETTA Staff Reporter

Georgia bill to allow medical marijuana dispensaries

T

he Freshman Learning Community program, began at Georgia State in 2003 when the university piloted a limited number of these FLCs. The FLC program did not become the default or recommended program for incoming freshman until 2011.

Now that the FLC program has been at Georgia State for eight years, both students and university officials alike have their opinions on the effectiveness on FLCs. While the person-to-person experience of FLCs varies, the numbers collected by the university and Senior Vice President of Student Success Timothy Renick overwhelmingly support the FLC program.

“During Fall 2018, students in learning communities had higher GPAs, attempted more credit hours, passed more credit hours, and had higher retention rates than students who were not in learning communities,” Renick said.

“The positive impacts of learning communities were equally evident on both the Atlanta and Perimeter campuses. Students in learning communities successfully earn about 1.5 more credit hours per semester than students not in learning communities.”

Perimeter students have their own form of FLCs called Perimeter Learning Communities, or PLCs. “At Perimeter College, students in learning communities had a 90.5 percent retention rate compared to a 83.7 percent rate for students not in learning communities — a 7 percentage point difference,” Renick said. “We have also collected data on change of majors and graduation rates.”

“[The FLC] was a very mixed bag for me only because it didn’t really have what I needed.”

— RYAN KING Georgia State freshman

Not only are they more likely to stay at the university, but students are also more likely to stay in their majors if they’re part of an FLC. “Students who start in learning communities are 32 percent less likely to change their majors after the freshman year and they graduate at rates 6 percent higher than non-learning community students,” Renick said.

The university is happy with the success of the FLC program both in Atlanta and the Perimeter. And, according to Renick the university has “scaled learning communities because our data consistently show that they help students succeed.”

Renick said that the large student body and varying student-to-student coursework has been shown to isolate students, and the FLC program is an effective remedy.

“National studies show that many students feel that they don’t belong,” Renick said. “At a large university such as Georgia State, new freshmen can take five or six courses during their first semester and never see the same students twice in any class. The learning community model helps students build up a support system from the start of their college careers. By seeing the same students in their

NEWS BRIEFS

In the past, the state government in Georgia has legalized the use of medical marijuana for certain conditions, allowing doctors to give prescriptions for the drug. But, there was no way for patients to get access, since it was still illegal to grow or sell it in the state. This legislative term, House Bill 324 will allow for two growing licences and the distribution at ten dispensaries statewide, the Atlanta-Journal Constitution reports. There are 8,400 people currently registered to use the oil in the state.

NATIONAL GRAPH BY DEVIN PHILLIPS | THE SIGNAL

classes, freshmen can more readily find study partners, locate someone to get the notes from, and develop a cohort of friends.”

The Georgia State website on FLCs mirrors Renick’s sentiment.

“Students are often unprepared to deal with the rigors and exigencies of college life, particularly during their first semester,” the website states. “So as to provide them with the support and resources they need in order to excel, Georgia State offers all incoming freshmen the opportunity to participate in a learning community and start off their academic career on the right path.”

Currently, students are organized into a FLC by their major. Students can be placed into FLCs centered around business, education, STEM, humanities, policy and social science, arts and health professions.

Yet, even though students have been sorted into separate FLCs, there are obvious differences in content. At their core, each FLC really isn’t that different from the others.

“Each learning community offers courses tailored to fit the academic requirements of the field,” Renick said. “On the other hand, all of the learning communities contain a section of English Composition, a social science general education class and a one-hour orientation course. Almost all learning communities also include a math course.”

Renick also described the intended long term impact of the FLC program on the student body as a whole.

“The goals of the learning-community program are to improve freshman year GPA and retention rates, and to get students off to a good start so that they would graduate on time” Renick said. “We also hoped that, by introducing students more formally to their academic field in the first semester, we could reduce the number of students changing majors in their sophomore, junior and senior years — times when the change of major typically extends the amount of time and the expense required for students to complete their degrees.”

Jessica Louis, a sophomore, describes her FLC experience as productive both socially and academically.

“I was in an FLC freshman year,” Louis said.

“There I met two of my best friends. So, that was pretty cool. It just made getting to know people easier, and then everyone was helping each other out because we had every class together. So, the classes were more engaging because we could have actual conversation. For the first year, the FLC program had positive effects on my social and academic success.

After that, it’s been kind of up to me.”

Louis also highlighted the effect FLCs had on her social life, which she said helped build connections socially and academically.

However, not all students have had the same experience. Ryan King, a freshman, completed his FLC course work last semester and didn’t have the same overwhelmingly positive experience that Louis did. “[The FLC] was a very mixed bag for me only because it didn’t really have what I needed,” King said. “My FLC was literally just three philosophies, a theatre class and something else — all of which I didn’t really need. So, it was a pain. I had to, literally, almost fight with the advisement person just to get a math class in so I could start getting my basic classes over with.”

Overall, he felt he wasn’t getting the freedom that he’d hoped for at the start of his college experience.

“So, I just feel like if you’re going to have, what is supposed to be a program of option, but it’s just forced down your throat — that you have to do this or you have to get some other process done. It was annoying,” King said. “I didn’t like having to constantly be like, ‘OK, well, I need this I don’t really want to take three philosophies, I need to get stuff done I’m not just here to mess around.’”

King also said that he felt the social aspect of FLCs wasn’t useful either.

“I made friends within the FLC that I don’t talk to regularly anymore. I didn’t even talk to most of them until halfway through. So, it’s a good idea in theory but for me it just didn’t work out like that,” he said.

Mueller investigation into Trump comes to a close Special counsel Robert Mueller has been conducting an ongoing investigation into President Donald Trump for potential conspiracy with Russia to influence U.S. elections and obstruction of justice.

On March 21, Mueller submitted his report to Attorney General William Barr, who will decide which parts of the report are made public. Barr submitted a letter to Congress outlining Mueller’s findings that there was no conspiracy between Trump and Russia. Mueller did not make a decision on obstruction, so Barr decided that Trump did not commit obstruction.

GLOBAL

Brexit negotiations face difficulty

The decision for Britain to leave the European Union was made by voters on June 23, 2016 with 51.9 percent of voters choosing the action, dubbed Brexit.

Now, with Parliament attempting to outline and plan and course of action, no decision can be made.

Prime Minister Theresa May has advocated heavily for her plan and has offered to resign from her position in hope of more votes. However, she still doesn’t have enough votes to convince the divided Parliament.

NEWS

6

GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

Increasing rent and increasing woes

Students living at One12 Courtland Apartments share their experiences JERRY WHITLOW Staff Reporter

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any Georgia State students call One12, an apartment complex located near campus, home. The rent has recently gone up, leaving some residents wondering

why.

After corresponding over email and phone, The Signal was told that the staff had no comment on the raised rent.

Despite management’s answer, several residents were very vocal on their experiences and their opinion of the rent increase.

When asked if they knew a rent increase would be coming the following semester, a majority of them said they did not know. Quite a few have plans on moving out at the end of this semester or end of their lease.

“I’m not staying here again next year … I already have the leased signed,” current resident Denzel Hunter said.

Many proved quite adamant in their dislike of the apartment.

“With the new rent increases I pay $865 for my four bedrooms, four bathroom apartment – and I’m only paying for that one bedroom.” Deah McMillan, another resident, said.

“We are all on separate leases.”

When asked about the cause of the the rent increase, McMillan said, “The only thing I can think of is because they are losing a lot of tenants and also they are trying to improve some of the features of One12.”

The complex has also started to evict residents for being late on the rent. McMillan believes that the property managers have filed so many eviction notices with the courts that they have to increase the rent to offset the mounting expenses.

McMillan does not believe the apartments are worth the recent rent increases. She is paying over $900 a month, with the rent being $850+ alongside $90 for parking.

Tenants also reported misconduct with the managerial staff as well.

“The property manager [doesn’t] like to answer questions.

They say they are trying to clean up different things, but they never do,” McMillan said.

They claim to clean and improve many features, but they don’t do anything, according to McMillan. Tenants reported being accused of fees for things they are not doing, including for drugs and alcohol consumption. McMillan said she was charged a $100 fee because of smoking when she doesn’t partake in the habit.

“They have people coming in and out,” McMillan said.

“The parking garage is always filled. You got homeless people

High rent only gets more costly at One 12 Courtland apartments on Courtland Street thanks to a recent price hike.

sleeping in the stairwell. They are also increasing the rent to pay for security, but you still have people getting in, homeless people getting in … Did you know last year 2018 they had a whole bunch of robberies, like at least 30 or something robberies, about 20 or something suspicious people reported?”

McMillan has lived at One12 for the last three years and has seen four different property managers but says nothing has changed with the apartment. She has even seen dogs pooping

PHOTO BY MICHAEL PASCALE | THE SIGNAL

in the hallway.

According to McMillan, who has resided in the complex for over three years, it appears that initially the complex was owned by a separate company and was more severe and strict about the property, but now the new company is lax and doesn’t do anything.

As for the tenants moving onto a new location? Many put out names such as Dwell, Aspen Heights and “The Mix.”

Going from college to career with university help Why a multi-million dollar grant should matter to students BRIA SUGGS Staff Reporter

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eorgia State is a participating institution of the University Innovation Alliance, which is made up of 11 major public research universities. Together, this group of universities make up about 22 percent of all undergraduate students enrolled at research schools.

The UIA received a $2.4 million grant from the Strada Education Network to be used at the discretion of the alliance.

At Georgia State, the grant is meant to help the University Career Services, specifically with the College to Career Pathway program.

According to Catherine Neiner, director of Career Services, a College to Career Pathway is “coursework combined with activities such as internships or research that a student follows to achieve his or her goal.”

“This will help students graduate on time with as little debt as possible as well as be career ready,” Neiner said. “Students can be intentional and strategic about the courses they take and the

activities they engage in.”

Ryan Maltese, project director and fellow for the UIA, considers the pathway program to be the first step towards a student’s career journey that allows them to understand the value in their journey towards a degree and career.

“What you do throughout your undergraduate experience are steps along the way that prepare you for what ultimately you want to be as your career,” Maltese said.

The program provides resources for students who are looking to connect their college curriculum to their career search.

“We’ve dedicated a number of resources in the career readiness space across all of the campuses, two year and four year, and are supporting those initiatives with grant funding and with university funding,” Maltese said.

In the opinion of Maltese, the ultimate goal of the Career Services’ College to Career Pathway is to help students identify opportunities that they’re already a part of.

That’s along with preparing them in career readiness so that they are able to showcase their skills and experience in a way that will increase their likelihood of being hired when they sit in front of a prospective employer.

Maltese also mentioned how the Georgia State’s provision of Portfolium is also a component of the career preparation

initiative. Portfolium is a student success and social media platform for students to display their past academic work and achievements as well as get in touch with employers and businesses.

“The Strada funding is for a new college to career initiative.

This is a different initiative than previous or current UIA scale projects happening at Georgia State,” Jamie Seger, design lead for the Bridging the Gap from Education to Employment project, funded by Strada, said.

The program focuses on helping students who may not have the resources to achieve what they want in college.

“The UIA focus on serving low income, first generation students and other underserved populations of students. The project is currently focusing on undergraduate students,” Seger said.

According to Neiner, “The grant will help us enhance the work [Georgia State is] already doing and will allow us to be more innovative than traditional.”

“Without a doubt, the impact of the work this grant is supporting will last well into future generations of Georgia State students,” said Neiner.

OPINIONS TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2019

www.georgiastatesignal.com/opinions

Building the black business empire Branding and marketing 101: building yourself up to stand out MYA GRANT Staff Columnist

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y now, you’ve seen the fliers and events for the meet-andgreets and informational sessions with the big companies and big brands. We see brands all the time — Google, Apple, Samsung, Instagram, etc. — and we often wonder: “How did they get to where they are now?” and “how did these owners and CEOs get their names?”

The answer is branding; branding yourself and your business to become a well-known name.

Branding isn’t necessarily for just companies and entrepreneurs. It’s for any and everyone who wants to ensure their success in anything. Young black people are using more branding strategies to reach their goals of success and secure their careers because they have to work ten times harder than other races.

Strategies such as networking, code switching and personal marketing on and offline are things that aren’t taught in the classroom but are deal breakers when it comes to finding a job in that specific career field.

As a young, black college student, building and maintaining your brand can be difficult (especially on social media) because you want to live your life as a college student but at the same time you don’t want anything you do, say, like or post to come back to haunt you.

So, to eliminate that, make sure you have two separate accounts; personal and business accounts. Be sure to invite the right people into both accounts so that you’re surrounded by positivity and productivity.

We’re not in high school anymore, so the social media beef needs to end ASAP. Employers are always watching social media to see who would best represent their image and that’s the same mindset you must have when you’re posting and

sharing things. Always think as if you’re the employer and how you would want to be represented.

“It is your walking, talking resume,” Erica Dias, publicist and co-founder of The B Firm PR, said. “So do right by it.”

Understanding who you are and what you stand for is a huge part in branding yourself. Without that, you don’t have much of a brand, you’re just available to take on any task that may be thrown at you. And while that is a good trait to have, nobody wants to be told what to do for the rest of their life.

“Identify your strengths and weaknesses,” Anfernee Patterson, parliamentarian for the National Association for Black Journalists’ Georgia State chapter, said. “Make a website or logo that is distinctive and shows who you are.”

Hone in on your craft and keep polishing and perfecting it because you’re not only competing with others here at Georgia State and in the city of Atlanta, you’re competing with everyone across the nation who want to attain the same goal as you.

As black people, we’re just now getting the recognition that we need to prosper and although this is a step in the right direction for us, there are still some people in this world who don’t welcome diversity and change.

Code switching is a skill that all black people have to learn.

Code switching is like being book smart and street smart and knowing when to switch it up around certain people.

Understanding your audience and surroundings plays a big factor in code switching because it will prepare you for the type of environment that you’ll possibly be working around. If you’ve done any job that revolves around customer service, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

If you don’t do anything else to advance your career in college, network with the right people. Competition is everywhere so it’s important who you’re sharing your ideas and resources with. Find people in your inner circle, class or organization, get your brand out there to people and be relevant.

Find every angle possible to get positive attention for people in higher positions can see your brand and work. Because it

isn’t always what you know but who you know. Practice great networking etiquette and don’t be afraid to talk to people; the worse they can tell you is “no.”

According to Dias, dressing the part, being present, being a constant student and studying the greats and putting your own spin on things is what will help you stand out.

Persistence and creativity will take you a long way. Being black also means being hungry and innovative; we can’t give up, we’re at our peaks. So many new and upcoming black owned businesses are on the rise now because black people are branding and preparing themselves to being on the same levels of their white counterparts.

Building your brand can be challenging because we’re young and things are always changing with us and the world, but establishing your brand is like doing a semester-long project that you got an A on.

That same level of satisfaction you’ll receive from accomplishing a career goal is there because your name is attached to it and it’s nobody else’s but yours. You have to look at the bigger picture of things and start working your way towards it now because others may already be ahead of you just because they show up.

The degree you earn or the resume you build validates that you want a career in a specific area and have taken the classes and other requirements needed. Your brand and connections that you establish for yourself validates that you know and have what it takes to be in that specific career area.

“My brand represents my personality,” Patterson said. “And what I can bring to the table to help you.”

Let your brand represent you in its entirety. Let it highlight everything you’re capable of doing and never let anyone tear it down. Work hard to know everything there is to know about yourself and your worth so no one will look at — or try to handle you — you any differently.

We deserve a seat at the table just like anyone else and if there are no more seats, we’ll do what we do best: make our own.

ILLUSTRATION BY AMBER KIRLEW | THE SIGNAL

OPINIONS

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GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

We need to help women. Period.

Condoms are free, but feminine hygiene products are not SHARI CELESTINE Opinions Editor

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ccording to Georgia State’s IPORT, there are currently 30,352 female students across all six campuses. That’s significantly more than the 19,908 male students, yet every one of those male students has access to free condoms if they need them. The female students, however, do not have access to free feminine hygiene products on campus. We don’t even have dispensers in the women’s restrooms.

Yeah, let that little nugget sink in for a moment. I was shocked when I stopped to think about it. I’m so used to seeing the little metal dispensers in public restroom all over the place I don’t even think about it. For just a quarter or two I could have a sanitary napkin drop into my hand. It’s a staple in public restrooms; at least, it should be.

To date, I have not found any within the main campus buildings, if you find any please let me know.

It’s 2019, so how is this possible?

A few days ago, I went on a little trip around the Downtown campus to find out just how bad the situation was. My first stop was the Student Health Clinic located on 141 Piedmont Ave NE, where I was told that feminine hygiene products are not in stock all the time, and at that moment they didn’t have any. I’d always thought the Health Clinic would be the most obvious place, a one-stop-shop kind of place for anything relating to student health.

“We don’t carry them or have them in stock,” the woman behind the counter told me.

Not only was I wrong, but I was directed to the building across the street, the second floor of the Piedmont building to be exact.

On the second floor is the Testing and Counseling Center offices. This is where anyone can pick up those nice free condoms I mentioned before. I spoke to Neil Beresford, an Administrative Coordinator, who was very helpful. He informed me that the free condoms so readily available just around the corner are free. Oh, and they’re free because the university uses student fees to pay for them.

Why only condoms? Shouldn’t feminine hygiene products count as health? Thankfully I’m not the only person who thinks this is weird. Ira Livnat, a freshman who’s currently running Student Government Association President also thought this was troubling. It’s part of his platform to provide discounted or free feminine hygiene products in our restrooms.

At this point, I was on a mad hunt for feminine hygiene products anywhere on campus. I knew I could buy any kind I need at the Walgreens on 25 Peachtree St SW, but that couldn’t be the only option. I tried my luck in the Student Housing office and was met with curious and baffled expressions and

ILLUSTRATION BY AMBER KIRLEW | THE SIGNAL

comments from the female student workers behind the front desk.

The Panther Pantry was my only salvation for free feminine hygiene. This little hidey-hole has a plethora of free items for students on campus. The only setback is that you can only take out two hygiene items per week, but if you plan it right you can save up and never have to pay.

I reached out to Director of Student Wellness Tammy M. Turner to open a dialogue and see if there are any plans in the works to change the availability of feminine hygiene products on campus. As of this issue, she has not reached out with a comment, but the line of communication will always be open on this subject.

Clarkston campus plagued by potholes

How much should the university support the local community?

KHADIJAH GREEN Staff Columnist

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he safety of the students on the Clarkston campus is at risk. Memorial College Avenue is widely used by Clarkston campus students and staff. The road has multiple potholes and there are several sharp edges of asphalt on the road.

The road has been damaged since last year and no one appears to be rushing to fix the road despite the safety hazard.

It is located just outside of the Fine Arts building. There is no safe way to travel on the road.

To navigate on the road, drivers have to swerve in the opposite lane, however, cars are constantly speeding and accidents are bound to happen. The road doesn’t just have one or two potholes, the road is filled with potholes and broken asphalt for about a mile.

Aliya Haji, a Clarkston campus student, was driving on the road when she got a flat tire.

“I called the city,” Haji said. “I got my friends to call, and no

reached out to us. The road needs to be fixed.”

Haji takes a jazz class in the Fine Arts building. Most students who don’t attend classes in the Fine Arts building still utilize the road to get to the parking in lot three. The students on the Clarkston campus are at a risk.

After Haji and I talked, I wondered how staff felt about the damaged road. I spoke to Student Media Advisor, Zoana Price.

Her son’s middle school uses Memorial College Avenue to drop him off on the campus.

“I am concerned about the safety of my son and other students due to the sheer volume of buses and cars using the parking lot [just off of] Memorial College Avenue,” Price said.

The damaged road is a major safety hazard. I went to speak to the staff in the Fine Arts building to see how they were affected by the road.

“The road is fixed. I drove on it this morning and I didn’t have to swerve like I usually do,” they said. That was on Friday, March 23, 2019. Memorial College Avenue was fixed over spring break.

I spoke to another staff member who has access to all six campuses.

“Why did it take so long for the road to get fixed? If this had been another campus, say Dunwoody or Alpharetta – the road

would have been fixed immediately,” he said.

Clarkston campus is well-known for its diversity and large immigration population, who are protected by city laws. The city of Clarkston is a sanctuary city: a place for refugees and immigrants to come and feel protected.

Clarkston is the poorest city that a campus is located out off six Georgia State campuses. According to the United States Census Bureau, Clarkston is about 15 percent above the state poverty rate.

The community of Clarkston is in need of assistance. Not only are the roads in Clarkston damaged, but the students who live in the area and attend classes on the campus are affected as well.

But is Georgia State responsible for picking up some of the slack when the community fails? Georgia State merged with the community college to give the students who attend the college a better education.

That includes providing students with access to resources and a safe learning environment. Georgia State can assist in providing students with food pantries and clothing donations.

However, road repairs should not be the responsibility of Georgia State. The responsibility falls on the shoulders of the city.

ARTS & LIVING TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2019

www.georgiastatesignal.com/artsandliving

Art on wheels: Car customization Atlanta’s underground car scene GUILLERMO RIVERA Staff Reporter

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eople have slowly fallen in love with customizing cars, and it has become a prominent hobby for some Georgia State students. Customizing cars can consist of adding in new wheels, body kits and other cosmetics to even new parts inside of the cars, and modding them to make their performance better for racing, for drifting or even burning out on the pavement.

“It’s like making a song on a beat. You get a template and then you just create. At the end of the song you get excited because it’s fun and beautiful because you did it, that’s how it is with cars except it never ends,” Mike Young, a sophomore at Georgia State and car customizer and regular car meets attendee said. “You just keep building and building. Then you get to flex on everyone.”

A customizer can buy a simple vehicle and turn it into something special. The cars themselves can become a template for customizers where they can use their imagination and inspiration to create a vehicle for any purpose they wish.

In itself, customizing is a hefty investment considering the fact that parts and cars themselves aren’t cheap. However, customizers consider their cars a work of art and a product of hard work, which makes them want to show them off to others.

And these car meets were born for the purpose of displaying other’s mobile works of art and admire other cars to gain inspiration.

In the past few years, car meets have been growing increasingly popular in the Atlanta area. Some of the biggest ones are known as the Import Alliance and Clean Culture, where people from all around the country come and show off their rides. However, growing ones like the ATL Mob meets have been specifically gaining attention.

Larger meets have police patrolling the perimeter making sure

people are driving under legal standards and feel more like an official event. However, meets like the ATL Mob meets are more underground.

“I’ve been holding the meets for six months now and we do a new location every time. The culture is definitely growing and inspiring others, and about two hundred people show up,” Rafid Bhuiyan, one of the frontrunners for the ATL Mob meets, said.

The Mob meets are more under the radar to stay out of the way of the law, unlike bigger ones like the Gwinnett Meets which are supervised by law enforcement. The people who run the meets even emphasize to only disclose the location of the meets to people you trust, and that it’s “crucial to having fun meets.”

ILLEGAL STREET RACING

Along with meets, some car connoisseurs also participate in street races, which in turn are highly illegal. Some of the more popular and underground were the races on Moreland Avenue which no longer take place.

The avenue and other surrounding roads were notoriously known to deliver the best drag racing experiences, and racers from all over the Atlanta area would come and race each other.

Flat two-lane roads including a spot named “The Hole” were perfect to hold high-speed races, and groups would converge at these spots to hold competitions stretching all the way to the airport. But accidents began happening during these events that caused police departments in Atlanta and other parts of Georgia to become more vigilant in catching some of the racers.

The severity of the accidents was fairly serious, as people started getting hurt and even losing their lives. One accident was fatal for a local racer.

“Moreland used to also be very big but it somewhat died down after the cops started cracking down on street racing after someone passed away in a car crash,” Max Sanchez, a regular car meet attendee, said.

One of the bigger accidents involved a racer crashing into a local

ILLUSTRATION BY DEMETRI BURKE | THE SIGNAL

business along Moreland Avenue.

“He was driving too fast in his lane when his car turned into a right turn only, and he was going too fast to swerve out of the way and he lost control and crashed straight through a building,” Young said. “His car was totaled, the building was completely damaged but he luckily was okay – I think.”

Due to the accident and several others that happened during the races, the police coverage has extended to the ATL Mob meets and other car communities, forcing them to be more aware of law enforcement. The communities have to constantly move locations and conduct the meets at night to avoid police involvement.

“Some of the biggest car meets in Atlanta or around Atlanta have to be the Gwinnett Meet or Atl Mob Meet,” Sanchez said.

“Those are the biggest night meets and usually the ones that are illegal.”

Though police coverage has impaired the ability for the community to conduct meets smoothly, the culture is still flourishing, and the people’s love for meets and the customization community has not died down.

“The best thing about the community is that it brings people together. It doesn’t matter what race, color or creed you are. We all have the same passion and we forget that we’re different,” Bhuiyan said. “People have a platform to express themselves on and show it everywhere.”

Car meets continue growing in popularity in Atlanta. It’s an event for networking and to experience a rich culture often hidden from the view of mainstream society.

“I personally go to car meets because it’s always fun,” Young said. “Looking at clean cars, seeing people do burnouts and donuts, hearing how loud people’s exhaust are, and just smiling. I guarantee if you are the slightest bit interested in cars, going to a meet will put a smile on your face.”

To some, a car can just be as simple as a transportation device, but to a customizer, a car can be an empty canvas ready to be modified into a work of art. If it’s for drifting, racing or just looks, a car can mean something different to everyone.

big car meets GWINNETT MEETS

CLEAN CULTURE MEET

CAFFEINE AND OCTANE

Every other Thursday night Time: 8 P.M. - 11:30 P.M. Where: 5900 Brook Hollow Parkway, Norcross, GA

ATL Big Night Meet April 6th Time: 5 P.M. Where: Aviation Institute of Maintenance in Duluth, GA

First Sunday of each month Time: 8 A.M. - 11A.M. Where: Perimeter Mall in Dunwoody, GA

written by: joshua fife associate sports editor

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and why it couldn’t have chosen the united states

very February, over 1.5 million people flock to the city of Salvador, Bahia, in northeast Brazil for one mega-event: Bahian Carnaval. Despite the positive financial and social impacts of the festival, an event of this size and likeness in unlikely to ever occur in the United States.

Salvador invested around 55 million reais for this year’s carnaval, and 2018’s carnaval brought in over 1 billion reais (around $260 million) to the local economy, while Rio de Janeiro gained around 3.5 billion of their currency, reais ($1.06 billion).

The festivities last six days, with over 16 hours of parading each day across more than 16 miles of circuitos, or trails, and nearly 5,000 hours of music.

Though this enormous celebration is commonplace in Brazil and various other Latin American countries, American laws, regulations and culture prevent the U.S. from being able to handle a festival of this magnitude.

Culture

The transportation industry also sees a huge spike during this time as people coordinate different ways to get to and from the festival.

The city has a public bus system called the ômnibus that is a popular and inexpensive way to get around. Ubers, taxis and 1000+ “mototaxis,” motorcycles made to carry people on the back, are other methods of transportation.

The recklessness of the mototaxi drivers alone, who weave in between cars and speed whenever physically possible, would send them to jail in the states and the service would immediately be banned from operating. Traffic laws in Brazil are mostly ignored, especially at night when drivers run through red lights without hesitation.

Carnaval is more than just a giant party. It serves as a medium to display the culture and traditions of different communities in Brazil, and across all of Latin America.

“It’s a time for them to come together and celebrate their traditions, wear costumes, and celebrate who they are, who they truly are, and their culture in a joyous fashion,” Kale said. “You’ll see costumes, listen to traditional music that typically represents that country or region.”

During carnaval, people feel free to be themselves and express themselves, around like-minded people. “[People] get to celebrate their culture, not just Brazilian culture but smaller cultures within the community such as afro, LGBTQ, and these other subgroups,” Kale added. “You get to celebrate who you are, and who you really want to be out in public and not be scrutinized or harassed.”

Local traditions and customs are also passed down through song and dance, and also shared with visitors who come from abroad.

“The songs from São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro tell stories”, law student at the Federal University of Bahia Emanuel Francisco said.

“The lyrics from the music of the samba schools, if you stop to analyze them, they tell the story of the people, of the individual, the make social criticisms, economic criticisms, [they tell about] differences in class and race, and all of this is important to preserve the culture and empower the people.”

n e g a t i v e s

Security

Vendors Vendedores line the sides of the festival along the entire circuit, while more walk throughout the crowd selling all the essentials such as beer, water, gum, candy, cigarettes, costume accessories and even eat Halls cough drops like candy. They can be seen with barrels, boxes or large stakes carrying their merchandise, but the most common are yellow coolers that keep drinks ice cold.

Certain streets are closed during the holiday however so getting around may be a little more tricky than normal.

Around two million extra occupants in the city called for around 15,000 military police to be brought in. Though they are intended to keep civilians safe, the military police in Brazil are extremely aggressive, forcefully shoving and sometimes beating their way through crowds.

“One of the worst aspects is the police presence,” James Kale, former Fulbrighter and current English professor at the Federal University of Bahia, said. “There’s a huge increase in police presence [for the festival], and in my experience a lot of the danger that occurs during Carnaval happens due to police.

Due to how they move through the crowd, push you, beat you out the way.”

Unlike American police, the Brazilian policemen are allowed to use as much force as they please, often beating people with batons for offenses such as urinating on walls and fighting.

The party is nonstop

Economic contribution The festival alone brings in around 3 percent of the Salvador’s annual GDP in just six days, and vendors try to take full advantage. Some can be seen dozing off on the sidewalks from working for days without sleep.

“There’s no comparison to the Carnaval of Salvador, in terms of the economic movement that occurs here. It’s something that helps many families, and they depend on this period. There are people that work the entire year making costumes, expensive things [to sell], and music [just for carnival].” Manuel Francisco, a law student from interior Bahia studying in Salvador, said.

The construction of the camarotes, trios and stages alone creates over 250,000 temporary jobs.

Hotels and hostels in Salvador hit 96 percent occupancy in both 2018 and 2019, even though prices for carnival jump up to 5 or 6 times their normal rates, and sometimes higher. This doesn’t include people who rent out private rooms in their homes and Airbnb hosts.

Occupancy rates for major cities hosting the Super Bowl in the last 8 years average about 80 percent occupancy during Super Bowl weekend, considering only cities that have more than 50,000 rooms available.

Cleaning up

The phrase “party all night long” is taken very literally during carnaval, and the music and parading continue into the morning as the sun begins to rise. People in the city are free from work and school to enjoy the entirety of the festival, minus hotel workers, restaurant employees and those working the event. It’s nearly a country-wide vacation. Parades start in the afternoon, around 2-4 p.m., and earlier on some days. The entire parade may end up running 16 or more hours each day with performers and vendors only getting a few hours of sleep each night.

In the U.S., noise complaints alone would shut the entire event down, not to mention the fact that there is no time in a year where a majority of the workforce is free to enjoy an entire week off.

The city also has to hire cleaning crews to handle the amount of trash from the party.

Every night (or every morning technically) a cleaning crew comes in to sweep all of the trash on the streets from the previous day’s festivities into piles as several garbage trucks come through and collect it.

Thousands of pounds of trash have been retrieved from the ocean floor and beaches alone in previous years, so the help of the cleaning crew is essential to the public health of the city. Recycling is an important part of carnaval in Bahia and there are a few hundred people walking around the circuits with large bags collecting metal cans to be recycled.

City investment in sanitation for an event like carnaval could be difficult to gain in the states, but the return would likely be worth it from the amount of money circulating from venders, sales and local jobs provided.

Violence

hygiene

Fights break out frequently during Carnaval.

They increase later in the night when crowded moshes of dancing people lead to pushing, which escalates to fists and beer cans being thrown. Few actual arrests are made, while fights are typically broken up by the military police chasing those who participated in the fighting and beat them with batons before moving on to the next confrontation. They use violence to disrupt violence, in a chaotic fashion that resembles anarchy compared to the U.S. system of arrests.

Maintaining hygiene in multiple crowds of tens of thousands is nearly impossible. The strong smells and mini rivers of what one can only hope is water is a noteworthy part of the experience. There are a few thousand portable bathrooms spread throughout the circuits but the lines can be extremely long and many opt to go elsewhere. Some local restaurants and homes even capitalize on the scarcity by charging a small fee to use their restrooms.

In addition to the bathroom challenges, people are packed together tightly along the circuits, bumping against one another under the heat of the sun and far into the night.

Feet are almost guaranteed to get stepped on and simply moving through the multitude of people can end up being time consuming and difficult.

ILLUSTRATIONS BY SHANCHEZE JOHNSON AND EVAN STAMPS & PAGE DESIGN BY DEVIN PHILLIPS | THE SIGNAL

p o s i t i v e s

Transportation

ARTS & LIVING

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GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

Expression borne out of repression

How Russian streetwear is taking over the internet EUGENE RUBINCHIK Staff Reporter

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lthough Russia’s internet presence has previously consisted of a flagrant bald prime minister and infamous top-text, bottom-text internet memes, the recent work of fashion icons and widespread cyrillic imposition have propelled Russia into today, being something of an internet fashion phenomenon.

SPARKING INDIVIDUALITY

Soviet-born but Russian raised, designer Gosha Rubchinskiy stepped into the fashion scene in 2008 with a collection reflecting Ronald Reagan’s view of the Soviet Union. As is the case for most Soviet-born Russians, the society Rubchinskiy was brought into was a rotting outer peel with a bittersweet core, and Rubchinskiy’s work is a result.

“We spent most of our time in private making jokes, mostly about the government” Soviet society member Ilya Rubinchik said. “If we were out in public looking like we were having fun,

it was dangerous.”

Rubinchik spent the latter half of the 20th century stuck in a supreme socialist hold, and public creative expression was scarce. When Rubinchik did meet hands with other musicians, Soviet suppression could do little to stifle their creativity.

“There were two Soviet brands of jeans and they were both pretty bad. I managed to get a pair of Levi’s and it was a pretty big deal. Girls would come up to me just because having Levi’s was a statement,” Rubinchik said.

Thus, Russia’s culture at the fall of the iron curtain shifted toward loud colors and bright sounds. Hardcore ‘90s Russian raves began to take place leaving the future of post-Soviet Russia in the hands of a generation free of creative restrictions.

Rubchinskiy quotes these raves as being a primary influencer for his runways and clothing.

Rubchinskiy’s purpose was to reflect Russian history in his clothing and initiate his generation into the fashion industry, and every person who wears a Gosha product is helping Rubchinskiy and his entire generation reflect a brighter future.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE ON CLOTHING

The meaning behind another culture’s clothing is

subliminally inscribed behind their native letters, and the reason for other cultures wearing these letters can range from expression to aesthetic.

“All of us are human,” Trenton Brown, a staff member of popular clothing boutique Heet Atlanta, said. “We all mean the same, and our clothing shows that. If a shirt says something in Russian on it, it still has an English meaning. I think wearing clothing from other cultures shows unity in that way.”

Russian is not the first language to cross international fashion borders. Artists like Yung Lean, who spent his childhood in Vietnam, popularized Japanese writing on clothing both as an aesthetic choice and a nod to his background.

Popular streetwear brand Supreme featured a logo written in Arabic in the ‘90s and while the logo was not in English, it carries the same meaning.

When it comes to the demographic for current streetwear designers, political hatred doesn’t apply to their art. The internet has no geographical borders, so reaching out to others around the world with your clothing is something like a sign of peace.

That being said, clothing featuring foreign writing also falls in the trap of being a trend. In fact it falls under the trap of sometimes being overpriced for no reason other than its foreign appeal — especially at places selling second-hand clothing.

“Well, we appraise clothing based on what is trendy,” Rag-ORama employee Jerry Heeter said. “If you brought me an Old Navy t-shirt, I would probably turn it down. If it had foreign writing on it, yes that would make it worth a lot more and we would probably stock it.”

WITHIN DESIGNER COLLABORATIONS

As is with most trends, the Russian streetwear cyrillic lettering has appeared in numerous collaborations. Designer and former Been Trill co-founder Heron Preston released a line of turtlenecks with the Russian word for “style” on the collar.

While the word itself does not hold more meaning than any other five letter word that could have been chosen, the $200 price tag suggests that there’s something more to the shirt than some foreign letters.

Russian streetwear also reached a mainstream audience with Euro-inspired styles on familiar products. Most notably, Adidas collaborated with Gosha to produce a selection of clothing that you might see worn at your fashionable uncle’s adult league soccer game. Skate and clothing company PACCBET also produced collaborations with Gosha, bridging skate and fashion culture in Russia.

Gosha and PACCBET inspired, cultural pieces featuring the cyrillic alphabet have migrated away from Russia. Perhaps they may be looking for warmer climates, but more reasonably is the fact that numerous non-Russian artists and musicians have used cyrillic lettering to enrich their craft.

Previous Georgia State student and designer of numerous Awful Records merchandise, Zeke, featured the Russian word for “look” on a painting earlier this year.

Even rapper Lil Uzi Vert was able to sneak some Russian on the far left side of the album cover for “Luv is Rage 2.” Similarly, rapper Fijimacintosh featured Russian letters drawn on his shirt and even a Gosha zip-up jacket cameo front and center on the album cover for “Teenage Disillusionment.”

Oakland rapper Convolk devotes 20-second stretches of certain songs to including emo inspired Russian verses.

Whether these artists are paying homage, respecting the meaning behind Russian streetwear or just eating fruit off of the low-hanging clout tree, the inclusion of Russian into their work shows a greater influence coming overseas.

Average monthly household expenditure per capita on apparel and footwear in Russia from 2001 to 2016* (in Russian roubles) 226.1 to 1471.5 or 3.49 USD to 22.69 USD Fashion Market Value in Russia in 2016 2.3 trillion Rubles or 3.5 billion USD ILLUSTRATION BY DEVIN PHILLIPS | THE SIGNAL

TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2019

ARTS & LIVING

13

A family’s house turned DIY art venue The Magic Lantern grants good vibes, music and community DANIELLA BOIK Staff Reporter

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hile the Magic Lantern sounds like the name of a typical neighborhood mystic shop, it’s far from it. The Magic Lantern is the basement of Atlanta couple Majid Araim and Kelly Dawn, offered to local artists as a space for expression and collaboration.

In the 2013 winter, the husband and wife duo opened up their home in hopes to create a listening space unlike anything else.

THE VIBIEST BASEMENT IN ATL

There’s nothing that screams chill vibes more than a sitar and guitar duo called “Naan Violence” and listeners all sitting Indian style on Persian rugs.

Along with the lights and original art on the walls, Dawn and children also add to the positive energy of the space. Their inviting and supportiveness of all the artists creates a familyfriendly energy.

“Having my 6-year-old and 10-year-old be so welcoming and getting to expose them to such creative people is something I love about it,” Araim said. “It’s their normal to listen to people compose and create in their house.”

Sometimes the little ones may not be so engaged, but the sense of family in the basement of The Magic Lantern gives it such an authentic atmosphere.

“It’s deeply a non-commercial listening space,” regular performer and family-friend Ben Shirley said.

Araim decided to create such a space where people can be truly engaged, unlike in a bar where the music is playing but people are either too intoxicated to listen or too busy dancing on tables.

“People don’t pay attention to the music in bars but here everyone is engaged 110 percent, everyone feels it,” Araim said.

Around three events a month are held in their basement, and each event has about three to six bands, artistic groups or solo performances.

Acts include: Fake Plastic Cheese, a duo combining a bass guitar and haunting sounds, video and music production artists with psychedelic visuals, Electric Sleep and Analogzilla, an audio visual duo and Araim’s own group Whispers of Night, which features Araim on various types of string instruments and other bandmate and cellist Shirley, who are both embarking on their tour across Europe next month.

A NOT SO MAGICAL BEGINNING

Before various artists were calling Araim to play at The Magic Lantern and before his touring across Europe, there was a rocky beginning.

Araim has been composing and playing music for many years, and he always knew music was something he’s always wanted to do but didn’t know how to make a start for himself.

“On my own, it was hard to make shows happen and also connecting with the right groups of people and just having a community in general,” Araim said.

In 2013, his wife came up with the idea to open up their home in Atlanta to artists of any kind to build a community of people to meet who shared their love of art and to have a space for people to express themselves as well as Araim.

“The first event we ever had in 2013 only two bands played, and I was in both of them,” Araim said. “I didn’t really know anyone and just invited childhood friends to come support but they just talked during all this sensitive art that was happening.”

The Magic Lantern might have started off rough in the beginning but the growth of it has been nothing but organic, and Araim couldn’t be more grateful for where this has taken him.

“Compared to the earlier events which was usually just me playing which was so embarrassing, now the basement is packed with about [12-40] people an event,” Araim said.

Over the years Araim has made connections with artists all over, like through a Facebook page getting the word out about events and a YouTube channel to cover the performances.

“I created this space to find an artistic community and through the growth of this I’ve met the most incredible and creative endeavours who all just express themselves for the sheer love of it,” Araim said.

Araim has met friends and even connections for future events such as musicians that are gaining recognition from big

A regular family house in East Atlanta is home to the chillest basement filled with good vibes, music and art.

time music festivals like Big Ears. The Knoxville based festival, according to The New Yorker, is “the most open-minded music gathering in the country.”

In reference to Big Ears Festival this year, Pitchfork said, “As people’s attention spans are challenged by the constant tug of digital distractions, a focus on meditative experiences is one way festivals can stand out.”

The festival of experimental music and an audience who’s all in for the music and not recording on their Snapchat is keen to what The Magic Lantern’s is all about.

“Irreversible Quartet and Rob Lundberg both played Big Ears and have played at my house,” Araim said. “It’s so cool to see how it’s grown since the beginning.”

PHOTO BY NADIA MOHAMMED | THE SIGNAL

where creatives can feel comfortable doing a solo act or experimenting with a new music venture in front of a crowd.

“It’s been a ball to truly experiment with solo stuff by using different instruments and styles,” Shirley said. “I’ve used old fiddle tunes and turned them into improvised pieces or even played the cello, banjo, and fiddle all in one night.”

The Magic Lantern stands for an expressive and experimental experience. Both Araim and Shirley agree the concept is hard to verbalize.

“This is why we have this other language of art and music to express instead of words,” Shirley said. “The Magic Lantern is it’s own language.”

UNLIKE ANYTHING ELSE

There’s no genre at The Magic Lantern. Events aren’t subject to a theme of either pop music or rock music night. Instead, events cross genres and even new ones are created here.

“I dislike using the word genre,” Araim said. “It does an injustice to the art form. You can’t really fit us into a genre.”

One of Araim’s friends describes it as, “just Majid The Magic Lantern. It’s just Whispers of Night. You really can’t explain it other than that.”

To give an example of the various types of music, at the last event, The Magic Lantern hosted Moth Sweat, a local band who’s sound could be described as heavy drums and high amplitude. In the same night they also had a quieter performance with Araim on the mandelin, accompanied by a dancer and bassist.

“In one night you’ll see every type of music potentially like jazz, weird acoustic folk or noise music, which is electronically generated sounds,” Shirley said.

None of the acts are necessarily classically trained. In fact, Shirley considers himself “a creative fiddler.”

“Majid and I aren’t well trained but we’re both into really weird music, so we tried practicing together one day and we created this acoustic noise music with strings,” Shirley said.

Group performances like Whispers of Night are common, but solo performances are a hit as well. The Magic Lantern’s relaxed vibe and supportive community has become a space

THE MOST OBSCURE INSTRUMENTS SEEN AT THE MAGIC LANTERN A saw A theremin (a musical instrument played with no physical contact) A pitchfork Electric Kalimba (African thumb piano) Electric ukulele A drone

ARTS & LIVING

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things you don’t want to miss tuesday

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Festival at the Zoo

Georgia Comedy Festival

Themed Drag Show

Goat Farms art sale

Food Truck Festival

Yoga with Pops

Color Run Atlanta

February 2

February 3

February 4

February 5

February 6

February 7

February 8

Baby Animals are coming in full force, and they’re ready for your cuddles. Make sure to sign up for a signature animal experience and see adorable baby animals closer than you ever before.

Some of the funniest comedians available for April Fools’ Day all in one place, all night long.

Come in and enjoy food and drinks at a full bar at Blu Lagoon Bar and Bistro.

Not your everyweek drag show, Church is turning up the nostalgia with an an all out ‘80s extravaganza. The energy will be big, but the hair will be bigger.

The secret and artistic labs of the Goat Farms Art Center are swinging open the doors and letting the public take a sneak peak at their creative process. Free Entry!

Come out as over 30 food trucks posse up in order to fulfill all your street food needs, including everything from tex Mex to superb Indian cuisine. Trucks will be lining up at Grant Park.

Ever wanted to align your chakras and cool off as the winter packs its bags? Let King of Pops become your spirit guide and enjoy a nice cold treat along with relaxing yoga at Piedmont Park.

After running your perfect 10-minutes miles, prepare to get splashed with color at Georgia’s very own Six Flags. Make sure to take lots of pics and blondes beware.

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SPORTS TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2019

www.georgiastatesignal.com/sports

Brains and Brawn: the Brad Lawing story New defensive line coach has a wealth of knowledge to share Brad Lawing is the defensive line’s newest assistant coach at Georgia State. He has aided the progression of six NFL first-round picks during his career.

DANIEL RICHARDSON Staff Reporter

T

he window-sized whiteboard behind Brad Lawing is filled top to bottom with tiny drawings of formations that mirror calculations figured up by a physicist. The complexities of defense and pass protection are all written with the succinctness of an individual who knows something that no one else does.

This expertise is why Georgia State football head coach Shawn Elliott hired Brad Lawing as his defensive line coach – the minute they finished their conversation about the position opening up.

Lawing has coached under college football greats Nick Saban, Jimbo Fisher and Steve Spurrier. At each stop, Lawing has proved he knows one thing: defense.

“What I usually do, after we finish the game we just had, I’ll spend [all day] Sunday breaking down the opponent’s protection,” Lawing said. “There’s a lot of coaches that don’t know how to do that. I learned how to do it in the ‘80s, and there’s probably two or three people in the country that really understand it.”

The coach from North Carolina has been around football for much of his life and has seen the game evolve from era to era.

Lawing’s coaching career started in 1980 when he served as an assistant at Havelock High School. In 1983, after three seasons at Havelock, Lawing got his first college gig at Appalachian State under legendary coach Mack Brown.

While coaching NFL star Jadeveon Clowney as a freshman at South Carolina in 2013, Lawing called the 6’6, 274-pound defensive end into his office because Clowney wasn’t performing up to his level of potential.

The conversation, as Lawing tells it, began with the coach challenging Clowney to a fight – a proposition Clowney quickly declined to.

“I just wanted him to understand that there was expectations for him and there was a way that I wanted him to do things,” Lawing said.

That year, Clowney was named the SEC Freshman of the Year and earned a spot on the All-SEC Second Team.

Lawing’s approach to progress in the game of football is rooted in his background: old school toughness.

As a coach, Lawing focuses on player technique and translates that to the defensive line through practice and instruction. But it’s his hard-nosed approach that he uses to drive his points home.

Starting out with coaching offensive tackles and tight ends at Appalachian State in 1983, Lawing quickly turned to coach the defensive line. That’s where he coached and developed defensive end Anthony Downs, the player who Lawing said was one of his favorite to coach in his career.

Over the course of Lawing’s career, he would coach a number of All-American players, but when discussing Downs there is a certain level of pride on his face and in his voice. The pride comes from the fact that he was able to help Downs, undersized for his

position, make tremendous strides.

Downs, diminutive for a defensive lineman, lacked typical NFLheight, but Lawing says he was among best technicians he’s ever coached.

“I remember we played Clemson, we opened at Clemson and after the game, he started his first game as a true freshman and after the game, coach [Danny] Ford said, ‘I tell you what. I wish we hadn’t messed up his recruitment,’” Lawing said.

According to Lawing, Clemson passed on Downs because of his height but Lawing says that Downs “wore the guy out that he played that day pretty dang good.”

Downs, in his senior season in 1987, was voted consensus All-American first team with Lawing on the staff. In 2012, Appalachian State Athletics honored Downs as a Hall of Fame inductee.

The work Lawing did with Downs and for Fisher’s Seminoles defense is the epitome of what he is capable of doing for Georgia State defensive linemen.

In 2015, under Lawing, the Seminoles sack total increased to 32 as opposed to just 17 in 2014. Florida State finished the 2016 season leading the country in sacks with 47.

Under Lawing, Denver Bronco DeMarcus Walker, who ranks third in career sacks in Seminoles history with 28.5 and third in tackles for loss with 21.5, became one of the country’s best defensive ends.

In the past, Lawing has coached players like Clowney and Melvin Ingram, both at South Carolina – players who have speed and strength to be forces of nature in the pass rush.

In all, six Gamecocks’ defensive linemen have been drafted into the NFL after being coached by Lawing.

“I believe in fundamentals because if you have to rely on scheme all the time, sometimes it’ll bite you in the behind,” Lawing said. “When you depend on fundamentals, you can fall back on fundamentals. You got a good foundation to fall back on.”

Lawing’s ability to scheme for the players’ strength comes from nearly four decades in the business as a line coach.

For Georgia State, Lawing has identified a defensive line that has athleticism and quickness, attributes that Lawing no doubt will be able to harness and get the best out of.

Elliott and Lawing have discussed that they both want the Panthers’ defense to rush the quarterback much better than they have in past seasons. Lawing wants to throw a lot at his players and help them find their specific “tool” to ultimately create the most cohesive and talented line possible.

“We’ve got guys that are athletic and can run, and I’ve been really impressed with them so far,” Lawing said. “It’ll be my job to plug them into a scheme and make sure I’m teaching them things that can help them be successful. You don’t coach a six-foot, 260-pound guy like you coach 6-7, 230-pound guy because their body types are different. You’ve got to be able to find out what they do best.”

It’s this type of understanding of player development that has defined Lawing for much of his career. Clowney and Ingram are

PHOTO BY MICHAEL PASCALE | THE SIGNAL

both former first-round picks in the NFL. Elliott is no stranger to Lawing’s tough brand of coaching style, and according to Lawing, they’re one and the same.

Lawing spent 1989-1998 with the Gamecocks – his first stint with the team before leaving to join Saban’s Michigan State staff in 1999. It was during those nine years that Lawing first met coach Elliott, a former South Carolina coach.

“He’s old school [and] he’s tough and I love that about a head coach,” Lawing said. “And one of the reasons I took this job … I wanted to go somewhere where I trust the head coach. And I trust Shawn Elliott to the nth degree, and that’s why I took this job when it came open.”

After his time at Florida State had ended in 2016, Lawing found himself with quite a bit of free time. During that year he was away from the game, Lawing had to have heart surgery, a procedure that he says is still not “100 percent” back from.

With that downtime at home, the career coach was missing football, so Lawing took to the road. Whether it was his love for the game calling or the fact he was annoying his wife, Laura, as he puts it, in August Lawing decided to go and visit some of his old friends in football.

Lawing visited Randy Sanders’ team at East Tennessee State.

Sanders was on staff Lawing at Florida State.

At Appalachian State, Lawing observed a Scott Satterfield led practice, and from there he took a trip to see Jeremy Pruitt’s Tennessee Volunteers. Before Matt House left for the Kansas City Chiefs, he was the coach at the University of Kentucky when Lawing visited him.

Aside from surrounding himself with the game of football, Lawing learned something: that his influence on the game of college football hadn’t left him behind.

“I learned that a lot of the stuff that I do, other people were doing too,” Lawing said. “All that does is reinforce your beliefs in coaching, and I wanted to get out and a get chance to watch some ball. I was missing football a little bit.”

Lawing knew that former Georgia State defensive line coach Skylor Magee – now at Coastal Carolina – was on the way out as they had a previous relationship when Magee was a graduate assistant at South Carolina with Spurrier.

Elliott and Lawing spoke on the phone when Lawing made his interest in Georgia State known, and the two met in Columbia, South Carolina.

The meeting resulted in Elliott asking Lawing to take a trip to Atlanta to meet with defensive coordinator Nate Fuqua, where according to Lawing the two hit it off.

The 61-year-old Lawing has been quoted recently saying he feels he has another six to seven years in the game left in him, but what he wants to accomplish at Georgia State involves simply helping to make the players better.

“I want people to say that I was fair and that I made them better,” Lawing said. “That’s what I’ve always kind of prided myself on – be fair to [the players] and make them better. If I do that, then I’ve accomplished a lot of what I want.”

SPORTS

16

GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

Hunter Gaddis the ace

The junior is a top-notch pitcher in program history CHRISTIAN CRITTENDEN Staff Reporter

G

eorgia State baseball ace Hunter Gaddis is now in his junior year. Gaddis has been selected as a Second Team All-American, named preseason Sun Belt Pitcher of the Year and has pitched for the USA collegiate team.

While his season has not started how he had wanted, he may be presented with the choice of going pro once the Panthers finish their season.

THE SIGNAL: First off, let’s talk about your season so far.

How would you say it’s gone? What assessment would you give it?

GADDIS: It’s kind of started off rough, haven’t been winning as much as we’d like to, but there are some games where we have a pitching and some days where we have the hitting on others. So we just need to get together as a team and we can definitely improve so I can see that in the future.

THE SIGNAL: You’ve had a few rocky starts so far this year yourself. What has been your biggest issue? Has it been mechanics or something different?

GADDIS: Leaving the ball up, leaving my pitches hittable, not putting them low enough in the zone or just not putting my out pitch where I should have.

THE SIGNAL: You’ve had a lot of accomplishments in your time here so far. From Sun Belt preseason pitcher of the year, to being selected an All-American and more. Out of all your accomplishments here, which would you say you are the most proud of?

GADDIS: Definitely Coastal Carolina last year. They’ve had a solid team. They’ve won it in 2016, and they’re a pretty good team and last year, I had a chance to put it to them and hope to do the same this year.

THE SIGNAL: With you being the ace of the staff, and you guys not winning how you would like, do you feel more pressure to go out there and get a win?

GADDIS: Not necessarily pressure, I like going out there and trying to set the tone for the rest of the pitchers for the rest the weekend. So, that’s definitely what I like.

THE SIGNAL: When you face a really good team like you

said Coastal or a Power 5 school, do you feel like you get really amped up? Do you feel like you get too amped up to go out there and prove that you could play at the same level as those guys?

GADDIS: I definitely get amped up. But I wouldn’t say any

more than any other game. Every team we’ve played is a pretty solid team. They’ve got pretty good players. So, I definitely get amped up every game. Maybe there’s a little bit more of a thought that I want to put it to these guys just prove it to myself more than other people.

THE SIGNAL: What expectations do you have for yourself

and your team for the rest of the season?

GADDIS: Just to get stronger every day and get better every day, and come together as a team. We just got to get on one little grove and make the season a good season. That’s really what we’re trying to put together right now.

THE SIGNAL: Would you say that Georgia State has been a

good fit for you?

GADDIS: Yeah, for sure. They gave me a great opportunity to pitch as many innings as I have and get better every day is with those earnings coming.

THE SIGNAL: You still have to finish up your season, but have you put some thought into whether or not you will enter the draft or not?

Georgia State baseball ace Hunter Gaddis is now in his junior year and has been selected as a Second Team All-American, named preseason Sun Belt Pitcher of the Year and has pitched for the U.S.A collegiate team.

GADDIS: A little bit, but that’ll be a time for me and my

family to talk about if it comes true.

PHOTO COURTESY OF RANDY WILSON

THE SIGNAL: How did that start?

THE SIGNAL: What will be some of the deciding factors in

GADDIS: I think it was my freshman year, and it was like maybe my second and third start and that was probably the best game I’ve pitched in college so far. Then I did it again and I had another good outing so I’ve just been doing it ever since.

GADDIS: I really haven’t thought about it too much really.

I’ve just been trying to throw as of now and you know, hopefully that day comes after the season.

you listen to?

that decision?

THE SIGNAL: Is there a pitcher that you compare yourself

to? Or try to replicate?

GADDIS: It would definitely be Noah Syndergaard. He’s a big guy, and I like his nickname “Thor.” We throw the same pitches.

He throws a lot harder, but I try and model after him and how he throws his pitches because obviously it works for him so I would like for it to work for me.

THE SIGNAL: Do you have a nickname?

GADDIS: Yes, it’s “Big Slim.” It came out a little in high school, and it has carried over here a little bit.

THE SIGNAL: Do you have a pregame or pre-start ritual maybe the night before a game? Is there something that you do to get you in the zone?

GADDIS: I have a simple one; I drink a Monster and eat a

Twix. So it’s kind of weird, and lot of people give me, you know, crap about it.

THE SIGNAL: Before you have a big outing what song do

GADDIS: My walkout song, “Do What I Want” by Lil Uzi Vert. I like to think in my head that I’m better than this hitter.

I’m going to do what I want to them, so it’s just something to give me a little edge over him.

THE SIGNAL: What is your favorite activity outside of

baseball?

GADDIS: Right now it’s Fortnite. I’m a big Fornite grinder.

Even though I lose the majority of my games it’s still fun for me.

THE SIGNAL: Now that you bring that up, there was a lot of controversy last year with David Price and him playing the game too much. Do you think those sort of things can have an impact on the way someone pitches?

GADDIS: Yeah, I can see it taking over some people. I still make some time to get work done and stuff definitely when it comes to baseball, because that’s a big step. But I mean, I guess if you take it too far and enjoy the game way too much I could see it happening.

TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2019

SPORTS

17

Panthers dominate Diggin’ Duals, finish 4-0 Seniors sweep last home event of their careers ESPEN INDRISANO Staff Reporter

T

he Georgia State beach volleyball team put on a clinic at the Diggin’ Duals Tournament, finishing 4-0 and improving their overall record to 17-9 on the season.

For seniors Brooke Weiner, Ashley McGinn and Anna Rantala, the tournament was their last on home soil.

“We love our seniors,” head coach Beth Van Fleet said. “They are like our last dinosaurs.”

FRIDAY VS. NORTH CAROLINA-WILMINGTON, W, 3-2

Things got off to a great start for the Panthers on court two.

Ashley McGinn and Kelly Dorn were on fire and in complete control. The two took the first set 21-7. They followed up their first set dominance and used their momentum to record a stellar 21-17 victory, putting the Panthers 1-0 up on the day.

On court one, Becky Tresham and Maddie Gordon looked to be in control of their first set, but North Carolina Wilmington fought back and grabbed a deserved 21-19 victory.

Tresham and Gordon were not going away quietly, though.

A clutch 21-14 second set victory set up a winner-take-all third set. Ultimately, UNCW’s pair got it done 15-11 to level the score 1-1.

Back on court two, Maddy Delmonte and Eden Hawes fell into a quick 10-3 hole and could not recover, dropping their first set 21-10. The two were much improved in the second set, but lost a heartbreaker 21-19 to give UNCW a 2-1 lead.

Novak and Weiner leveled the score at 2-2 on court three.

The pair’s 21-19 and 21-14 set wins kept the Panthers in the match as Georgia Johnson and Olivia Stasevich battled it out on court one.

The victory was Weiner’s 79th of her career, placing her second on Georgia State’s all-time victory list.

Johnson and Stasevich played out a masterpiece, winning 2118 and 21-11 to give the Panthers a 3-2 victory.

Friday vs. Arizona State, W, 4-1 Looking to finish the day 2-0, the Panthers came out with authority. Tresham and Gordon looked to rebound from their defeat to UNCW on court one. The pair took a thrilling first set 21-19 and followed up with a 21-17 second set victory to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead.

The result improved the pair’s record to an impressive 18-5 on the season.

On court two, McGinn and Dorn found themselves in an early dogfight, losing a marathon first set 25-23 but recovering to grab set number two 21-17.

The duo went on to battle out a 15-13 third set win to give the Panthers a commanding 2-0 lead.

Back on court one, Johnson and Stasevich looked to keep their momentum going after their success against UNCW, but dropped their first set 21-17. The second set was tightly contested, but it would be Arizona State that got it done, winning 22-20 to put the Sun Devils on the board.

Delmonte and Hawes looked like they were on a mission to turn around their day. The pair’s 21-17 and 21-14 victories on court two sealed the match for the Panthers.

Shortly after, Novak and Weiner won their match 20-22, 2113, 15-11 to make it 4-1 for the duo on the first day of Diggin’ Duels.

SATURDAY VS COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON, W, 3-2

From the first match until last Saturday, the windy conditions proved to be a bit tricky. But the team embraces playing in the wind.

“We are used to the swirling wind in this facility, which is a great home court advantage for us,” Van Fleet said.

Dorn and McGinn got things off to a perfect start on court two. The pair recorded a 21-17, 21-18 victory to put Georgia State up 1-0. The two were on fire all weekend and were 3-0 heading into its match with Tampa.

On court one, Tresham and Gordon found themselves in a three setter, but would be defeated 17-15, and the game was tied at 1-1.

Weiner and Novak, fresh off a pair of Friday wins, won a tight first set 22-20 on court three, before taking set two 21-16 to give the Panthers a 2-1 advantage.

Ashley McGinn stands center court against University of North Carolina Wilmington in last weekend’s first round of Georgia State’s Diggin’ Duals.

Shortly after, Delmonte and Hawes sealed the match victory for the Panthers with their 21-18, 21-18 win on court two.

Johnson and Stasevich fell in straight sets 21-15, 21-15 to give the College of Charleston a consolation victory on court one.

But the Panthers stood tallest, recording their second 3-2 victory in Diggin’ Duels.

Saturday vs University of Tampa, W, 5-0 Looking to seal an undefeated weekend, the Panthers could not have asked for a better result, as they swept the Tampa Spartans 5-0.

Unsurprisingly, it was Dorn and McGinn who got the the Panthers on the board first on court two. They began hot and and polished off a perfect 4-0 weekend with a dominant 21-13, 21-10 victory.

Tresham and Gordon found themselves in a 17-20 hole in set one, but won five straight points to take it 22-20. This proved to be the defining moment of their match, as the two went on to claim set two 21-15 and give the Panthers a comfortable 2-0 lead.

PHOTO BY MATT SICILIANO-SALAZAR | THE SIGNAL

Delmonte and Hawes wasted no time in continuing the team’s momentum, as they flew out to a 21-18 first set victory.

The pair kept it moving in set two, winning 21-13 and clinched the Panthers’ undefeated weekend.

Weiner and Novak followed suit on court three, taking the tie-breaking third set 15-10 to put the Panthers up 4-0.

And finally on court one, Johnson and Stasevich looked to end their two-game losing streak, but were narrowly defeated in the first set 22-20.

The pair turned the screws in the second, winning 21-13 before sealing the 5-0 sweep with a thrilling 15-13 third set victory. The surrounding crowd let out a cheer of delight. “A huge key to our success is being at home, and getting to play in front of our friends and family,” Van Fleet said.

Ths Panthers are off until they travel down to Tallahassee, Florida for this weekend’s Florida State Tournament. They’ll face three Coastal Collegiate Sports Association rivals in Florida International, Florida Atlantic and Florida State.

SPORTS

18

GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

GSU hosts Furman and Louisiana Monroe

Panthers eyeing a shakeup in the Sun Belt standings this weekend ANFERNEE PATTERSON Staff Reporter

T

he Panthers didn’t hope for a three-game losing streak against the Little Rock Trojans, but they have a chance to get back on track as they host the Furman Paladins Wednesday and the ULM Warhawks for a three-game weekend series.

Within the Sun Belt Conference, the Panthers (8-20, 2-7) are currently tied in last with their weekend opponent.Three conference series in and the Panthers have a lot of room for improvement.

Big things will be expected from Griffin Cheney, Brandon Bell and Jake Corso. All three are batting above .300 for the season so far and will be the key to the Panthers winning in their home stretch.

For pitchers Hunter Gaddis and Trey Horton, they will both look to improve to get the Panthers off their losing streak. Gaddis is the lead for the Panthers bullpen and leads the team with 48 strikeouts.

Horton leads in team ERA with 3.15.

FURMAN, WEDNESDAY, 6 P.M., HOME

The Paladins (10-16, 3-3) just won their first conference series of the series. Furman has bat .261 on the year.

Despite the low average, the Paladins have five players batting above .300. Jabari Richards leads the team with a .431 batting average. John Michael Boswell leads the Paladins in hits with 31.

One important thing that the Panthers should be aware of is the Paladins’ depth in the bullpen. So far, Furman has played 13 pitchers this season. This could be an advantage for the Paladins if the game is close.

The Paladins had a walkoff win in extra innings over the Ohio State Buckeyes on March 11.

Once the Panthers finish with the Paladins, they host the Warhawks for a three game home stretch beginning Friday.

ULM THREE-GAME SERIES (FRIDAY-SUNDAY)

The Warhawks (11-17, 2-7) will be coming off a Wednesday game against ranked Mississippi State before traveling to Atlanta.

ULM also finished won its first conference series last weekend, a 2-1 win over Georgia Southern at home.

This series is an important one for both teams because the loser could stand solely in last place in the Sun Belt standings.

The Panthers and Warhawks are currently last place in the Sun Belt East and West, respectively.

If anything is going to change for the Warhawks, it starts with their’ best hitter, Trent Tingelstad. Tingelstad leads the team in batting average and hits with .374 and 37.

Andrew Beesley is another good hitter, and he is second in team batting average and hits with .327 and 34, respectively.

It will need to be a team effort for the Warhawks to pull off a win

Freshman Josh Smith bats for Georgia State as the Panthers rallied for a victory over Kennesaw State on Wednesday at the GSU Baseball Complex.

against the Panthers. If it is going to happen, the bullpen is going to have to perform better than usual.

Warhawks pitcher Brock Figueroa leads the team in earned runs with 2.25 and is 1-0 as the lead pitcher.

As far as putting opposing batters away, Kolton Childress leads

PHOTO BY NADIA MOHAMMED | THE SIGNAL

the Warhawks in strikeouts with 28. Childress however has a 10-0 record as pitcher.

The Panthers host Fruman on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the GSU Baseball Complex. Georgia State’s home series with ULM begins on Friday at 6 p.m.

MARTA to bring more soccer fields to stations

West End MARTA station providing new outlets for community children JULIAN HARDEN Staff Reporter

I

n the fall of 2016, Soccer in the Streets opened the world’s first soccer pitch in a train station in downtown Atlanta.

The very first one was created in the Five Points MARTA station, and in 2018 the West End MARTA station was added to the expanding movement. The organization not only gets kids invested in the game but also keeps them out of trouble.

Fast forward to 2019 and the organization is now launching The League of Soccer Stations in various parts of the city. The program is expanding from the current two stations to eight more stations and also expanding into West Atlanta, with locations in Hamilton E. Holmes and Bankhead MARTA stations.

Joel Apudo, a current Georgia State student who coaches for Soccer in the Streets, believes that the fields both increase

knowledge of the game and keeps youth on the right track.

Areas such as the West End have seen its share of troubled youth get into trouble.

“The kids have other options, I’ve seen kids in neighborhoods [like the West End],” Apudo said. “Kids start other things like drugs, and this provides them with another outlet.”

Since the creation of the West End Soccer Station, over 200 kids have signed up to play and numerous others have volunteered to coach, such as Apudo. Both the kids and coaches get the opportunity to take part in a sport which has so far been restricted to those in more privileged communities in the city.

The East Point and East Lake pitches are set to be unveiled in 2019 and the the others shortly after.

Soccer In the Streets board member Sanjay Patel looked to the success of the West End soccer field as a litmus test to further prove that station soccer was viable throughout the city.

“There’s a lot of youth in and around these stations that need access to these kinds on programs we’re building,” Patel said.

The goal for each station is to sign up to 200 for each soccer station club. With all ten stations and 200 anticipated at each station, Sanjay hopes for 2,000 kids and staff from all the locations that will be built.

“We have funders like Atlanta United, the city of Atlanta and the Transformation Alliance [who] were the main supporters of the West End station, the next project in East Point will be funded by Atlanta United and the city of East Point,” Patel said.

When building new soccer stations, each pitch comes around with a set budget of $100,000 and has to be at or near the station of its corresponding name. The East Point station for instance will be built further from the station since the station itself can’t have a field built directly at it.

The new Soccer Stations League will look to inspire youth in the city with local pride when playing at their area. Not only will kids get into the growing soccer presence in the city, but it will also give them more opportunities to play and meet other players. Come 2022, the soccer stations will open up new doors on the growth soccer in the youth of Atlanta.

SPORTS

TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2019

19

SPORTS CALENDAR TENNIS

BEACH VOLLEYBALL

APRIL 5

APRIL 5

women’s tennis COASTAL CAROLINA

Conway, South Carolina

3:30 P.M.

WINTHROP

SCAN HERE TO JOIN US!

FLORIDA STATE

10 A.M.

TROY

Augusta, Georgia

7 P.M.

APRIL 6 TROY

Troy, Alabama

3 P.M.

APRIL 7 TROY

Troy, Alabama

1 P.M.

BEACH VOLLEYBALL APRIL 5 FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL

Tallahassee, Florida

9 A.M.

APRIL 5 FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL

Tallahassee, Florida

1:30 P.M.

APRIL 6 FLORIDA STATE

Tallahassee, Florida

11 A.M.

1 P.M.

WANT TO BE A SPORTS WRITER?

APRIL 6-7 AUGUSTA HAWKINS AWARD INVITATIONAL

6 P.M.

2 P.M.

ALL DAY

women’s golf

APRIL 5 Troy, Alabama

ULM

Stockbridge, Georgia

APRIL 3 GEORGIA TECH

6 P.M.

women’s golf JOHN KIRK PANTHER INTERCOLLEGIATE

10 A.M.

ULM

GSU Baseball Complex

GSU Baseball Complex

APRIL 2

BASEBALL

Robert E. Heck Softball Complex

ULM

GSU Baseball Complex

APRIL 7

GOLF

men’s tennis GSU Clarkston Campus

11 A.M.

10 A.M.

APRIL 7 APPALACHIAN STATE

6 P.M.

APRIL 6

Tallahassee, Florida

men’s tennis COASTAL CAROLINA

1:30 P.M.

APRIL 6

APRIL 6 GSU Clarkston Campus

FURMAN

GSU Baseball Complex

11 A.M.

women’s tennis APPALACHIAN STATE

9 A.M.

APRIL 5

Tallahassee, Florida

APRIL 7 Boone, North Carolina

FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL

Tallahassee, Florida

FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL

women’s tennis Rock Hill, South Carolina

APRIL 3

APRIL 5

APRIL 6

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#AbortionPositive TOUR IS ON OUR CAMPUS!

We Are Loud, Proud, And Unapologetically Abortion Positive!

No shame.

No stigma.

No apologies.

Learn More:

urge.org/abortion-positive Paid for by Unite fo r R ep ro duct i ve & G ender Eq ui t y