Vol. 89 No. 10

VOL. 89 | NO. 10

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BLOTTER OCTOBER 13

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Four students reported harassing phone calls to GSUPD, the calls occurred between Oct 9 and Oct 12.

Yeah you definitely can’t just do that

GSUPD exceptionally cleared a criminal trespassing non-GSU offender, it occurred at J-Deck.

A GSU community member was arrested for simple assault in Classroom South.

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OCTOBER 15

Uhhhh buddy what are you doing here?

I thought I told you to leave!

GSUPD arrested a nonGSU offender for failure to leave campus, this was located a J-Deck

LOCAL

NATIONAL

INTERNATIONAL

Victory for the Panthers

The Facebook Papers…

Sudan in turmoil yet again

Georgia State scoops it’s second win in a spectacular showing in Saturday’s game vs Texas State. The homecoming game saw QB Darren Grainger and RB Jamyest Williams put on a show for fans and alums. #GOSTATE

The Facebook Papers is a large-scale collaboration among 17 American news organizations, including The Associated Press. Journalists from across the nation worked together to gain access to thousands of pages of internal documents obtained by Frances Haugen, the former Facebook product manager who blew the lid on the social media giant’s ongoings.

Sudan’s top general dissolved the government and announced that the military will run the country.

This comes after his forces arrested the acting prime minister and other officials on Monday. Sudanese across the nation took to the streets to protest the actions being taken by the military.

NEWS

October 26, 2021

WWW.GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM/NEWS

Georgia State announced that Tom Luse, a film veteran, will teach a course and work with students on a feature project that students produce.

PHOTO BY SHISHKIN DMITRY ON SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Notable Alumni Coming back to give professional experience to Georgia State students Students can start signing up Fall 2022 COBY DAWKINS Staff Reporter

G

eorgia State students have another opportunity to gain professional experience while gaining the valuable credits necessary for graduation. Georgia State announced that Tom Luse, a film veteran, will teach a course and work with students on a feature project that students produce.

Luse is an alumnus who has produced and was the executive producer of the AMC hit show, “The Walking Dead,” from 2010 to 2019. Luse also has many producer credits that span four decades on many notable works.

Georgia State also said in 2019, Luse became an artist-in-residence at the university’s CMII. The institute allows students to learn from professionals in their desired fields. Some of the professionals that students have been mentored by in the past include Dallas Austin and Ludacris.

The university said that the program taught by Luse will begin in Spring 2023. The program will focus

on students working on-camera and off as part of the cast and crew of a film he co-wrote with Georgia State screenwriting students Malik Jones and Sydney Norman. The experience will be under the supervision of Professor Susan-Sojourna Collier.

Students will have the opportunity to earn 15-credit hours and have the professional experience to put on their resumes.

Brennan S. Dicker, executive director of CMII, told Georgia State, “We’ve created a curriculum that allows students who are involved in the feature film to have all their classes focused around the feature for that one semester,” Dicker said. “We’re trying to bring 25 to 30 students together and create a project that immerses them and gives them the real-world experience of shooting a feature film.”

Luse will use his professional experience and knowledge to guide students in creating a feature film.

Luse told Georgia State that the course would be full

of new and emerging technology and new content creation methods. He states that the system will cover film preparation, filming, and post-production all in one semester.

According to Luse, the staff expects students to participate in internships or workshops before the class. Throughout the course, students will have mentors from the industry.

People interested in this class have many opportunities to gain more insight and an overview of this new course.

Susan G. Reid, professor of practice in acting and directing, told Georgia State that students chosen for on-screen parts will be able to enroll in a Fall 2022 course focused on the feature film.

Reid said, “It’s like an internship, but it goes even deeper. These students will not be assisting, and they’ll be doing the work. They will be creating the film.”

NEWS

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2021

4

Top news stories you’ve missed this week!

Important news from around the world ADAM DUFFY News Editor

I

n the hustle of daily life, it is often difficult to sit down and read or watch the news. It is often dark and negative, but it’s still a fundamental part of our everyday lives. Here are some important news stories from the past week that you might have missed.

Brian Laundrie’s Body Found:

On Thursday, October 21st, the FBI confirmed that remains found in a South Florida park belonged to Brian Laundrie. Laundrie became the subject of national attention after he was named the sole person of interest in the disappearance of his fiancé, Gabby Petito, in early September.

This interest came after the two had gone on a summer-long trip across the country. Laundrie was reported missing by his parents on September 17th, only six days after Petito. Police found Petito’s body two days later, strangled to death in Wyoming.

Laundrie’s parents told officials that their son had expressed that he would be going on a hike at the T. Mabry Carlton Jr. Memorial Reserve on the 13th.

After over a month’s long search of the Carlton Reserve area of Florida, authorities found Laundrie’s body in a place that had been submerged underwater for weeks.

The police only recovered a few of Laundrie’s personal belongings and found his body was “badly decompos[ed].” Investigators are still piecing together the circumstances surrounding his death and his potential involvement in Petito’s death.

Labor Strikes Nationwide:

Thousands of workers across the country are out on the picket lines. As many companies see their profits hit all-time highs during the pandemic, certain conditions are causing workers to strike in mass.

Companies like John Deere, Starbucks and Dollar General have difficulty keeping their workers on the job and have resorted to unorthodox tactics to combat these strikes.

At John Deere, in response to 10,000 blue-collar union workers not showing up to the factories, the company has brought in around 650 untrained white-collar employees from their management and engineering departments to pick up the slack. Salary workers who did not want to take up their colleagues’ positions felt not doing so would cost them their jobs.

Starbucks has also turned to some radical tactics to combat their workers’ attempts to unionize. Three Starbucks locations in Buffalo, New York, have been attempting to hold union elections. These unions would set a precedent for the coffee house giant.

In response, Starbucks has flooded these locations with new workers that need to be trained and convinced to unionize, which has slowed down the process significantly. Additionally, Starbucks has sent corporate managers to monitor the day-to-day operations of these locations and physically impede any talks of unionization during work hours.

Congress Threatens Prosecution Against Jeff Bezos:

Former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has come under fire recently. On top of issues with workers, Congress is threatening Bezos with charges of lying. Many have scrutinized Amazon for illegal and anti-competitive practices in recent years.

Namely, many have accused the company of copying other businesses’ products, producing those items themselves and then highlighting those products on their site over the original versions. This claim was enough to have Bezos dragged before a congressional hearing to corroborate these claims.

While under oath, Bezos responded to a question asking him if he had any knowledge of Amazon’s anticompetitive business practices.

The multi-billionaire said that he did not know of any of these instances taking place. Recently, congress obtained thousands of internal documents from Amazon that showed the company regularly steals the

ideas of other manufacturers’ goods and resells them.

Congress has said that if Amazon cannot provide sufficient evidence that Bezos did not lie under oath, they will have to vote on bringing the case before the Department of Justice.

Reconciliation Bill Close to Getting Passed:

Perhaps the most critical issue in Joe Biden’s fledgling presidency, the massive infrastructure and social safety net bill intended to revitalize the U.S. economy, seems close to passing. Joe Biden has met with Sen. Joe Manchin (D) and is trying to square away the final loose ends of the package. Initially, lawmakers intended the deal to be worth nearly six trillion dollars. Recent reports suggest the total will now hover just under two trillion. This reduction is due to Manchin, the senator from West Virginia, who holds an interesting spot in these negotiations.

A 50-50 split in the Senate requires every Democrat to vote unanimously to pass legislation. Manchin and other like-minded Democratic senators are very wary of what they see as needless spending by the federal government.

Thus, to get these lawmakers to vote yes for the bill, concessions need to be made by the White House.

While The President had already lowered the nose to three and a half-trillion dollars before it even hit Manchin’s desk, the extra one and a half-trillion-dollar reduction are mostly his doing.

This impact comes from a cutting or significant altering of specific critical programs within the bill.

Congress reduced a policy enacting a 12-week paid maternity to four weeks. Biden’s plan to implement free community college is now a fund for additional scholarships.

While many lawmakers and pundits are unhappy with the number of concessions made, many agree that lawmakers need to pass something before Congress starts their recess on November 8th.

PHOTO BY CHASITY SMITH | THE SIGNAL

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2021

THE SIGNAL

Georgia State Win at Homecoming Game

Williams carries it in for his first of two rushing touchdowns on homecoming weekend.

PHOTOS BY HARRY WYMAN | THE SIGNAL

5

OPINIONS

October 26, 2021

WWW.GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM/OPINIONS

ILLUSTRATION BY ARIEL WALTER | THE SIGNAL

Elon Musk and tech-bro futurism The architecture of our current dystopia

T

TERRANCE DAVIS

Staff Columnist

echnology has played a crucial role in the development of human society.

Many of the wide-scale cultural and societal shifts that have taken place throughout history came from developing those new technologies.

The Industrial Revolution, which introduced several engine or motor-powered devices that significantly improved technological production, was the start of the celebrity inventor. Since then, the people credited with inventing new and essential technologies have become superstars.

In the early 20th century, people celebrated figures like Thomas Edison and Henry Ford for their intellect and creativity pushing the world forward. Though times have changed, society still loves these enigmatic inventor types.

Recently, tech industry giants like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs have quickly filled that role. Of this particular mold, however, the most recent and widely known incarnation is easily Elon Musk.

Musk is well known for being the CEO or founder of a few different companies, including The Boring Company, SpaceX and Tesla. Elon has differentiated himself from other billionaire types with his comparatively jovial attitude.

Unlike Warren Buffet, who plays to his professionalism and wisdom, Musk’s persona is more akin to a combination of Tony Stark and Alan Turing if they used Reddit.

While Musk’s name is synonymous with technological advancement, his utility to these projects is minimal.

As an example, he bought the right to be named founder of Tesla after purchasing the company. His inputs on his creations also range from short-sighted to downright unscientific.

One of Musk’s brain-rotting ideas for the future is the Hyperloop, a proposed public transit method in which a train would move throughout the country at airline speeds. Musk has previously criticized public transportation for not offering enough agency to the individual and its shared nature.

The most glaring design flaw of the concept is that shooting an object with people inside it through a high-velocity vacuum tube would most likely destroy the vehicle, killing everyone inside.

Even if Mr. Musk’s feelings about the death toll of his products were not already in question, several infrastructural issues would arise from creating this system.

Musk claims the project will cost a whopping $17 million. However, a feasibility analysis by the Department of Transportation suggests that it could cost ten times that.

There is, of course, the main issue of usability when it comes to The Hyperloop.

The trains only serve around 23 passengers, making them more expensive than our current train technology.

Public transit efforts require the organizational structure of centralized public authority to build the groundwork for such improvements, as public transit projects are notoriously large and expensive.

It is telling that Musk’s ideas about public transit in a country where budgets for transportation are perpetually bleeding and ignore urban areas cater to the rich. If Musk truly cared about the necessity for more transit options, he would invest in

proven solutions.

When considering Musk’s visions, it is vital to understand the power and influence of being a billionaire and a significant player in the technologies industry. This influence is evident in the fact that the price of Dogecoin is, at times, dictated by when he talks about his support of a coup in Bolivia for lithium extraction.

Besides The Hyperloop, Elon Musk’s other wide-sweeping plan for humanity is the continued exploration of space and the colonization of Mars. Musk and other advocates for Mars colonization reason that we need to find somewhere else to live due to the catastrophic effects of climate change that have and will continue to happen.

This line of thinking seems to be the most doomed manifestation of climate grief, which legitimately posits that as a species, we cannot and should not try to improve conditions on the planet we already inhabit.

The reality of the situation is, the colonization of Mars will inevitably be very difficult. It will take a long time, it will be expensive, and it will be dangerous.

Seven billion people cannot afford to wait decades and have to pay to go to a planet alien to us and utterly unsuitable for survival. Musk is most likely aware of the criticisms people have levied at his ideas and character and does not care.

I doubt the idiocy of his ideas is lost on him and might even go so far as to say it is intentional. Creating an entirely new public transit method is so obviously superfluous, and Elon’s hangups with current public transit methods are either so shallow they aren’t worth addressing or, like most public services in the US, aren’t worth addressing not being funded enough.

It is entirely possible that Musk’s project is intentionally inaccessible and unprofitable, as it would mainly serve as a fun toy for other wealthy elites to try out, safe from any unwashed masses they may have to encounter. This idea goes double for his Mars mission plans.

Most working people can barely afford a plane ticket to go to another part of our planet. It is unlikely that those same people will have the money for a visa to Mars!

Mars colonies will, without a doubt, be a haven for the rich as they continue to worsen our current climate conditions because they can afford a safer option.

They will, of course, not experimentally see the place for themselves as that would be dangerous (we can, however, accurately predict the socioeconomic status of the people who will be doing so).

In Elon’s world, the rest of us will stay here on Earth and die with it. Individualized solutions for select people cannot be what saves our species.

If we hope to end our struggles with our climate, it will require a massive reconfiguration of our lives and production. Our current capitalist modes of production are unsustainable, and we cannot take pointers from one of the men who perpetuate it.

Elon Musk is a billionaire who laments the life of privilege he inherited through Zambian emerald mine earnings. He is simply too disconnected from the general populace on a material level to have a coherent solution to the problems that affect us possibly.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2021

OPINIONS

7

Predatory Behavior on the Buses Sexualizing Children Is Not Okay

M GABBY MILLER Staff Columnist

any people rely on public transportation to go to different places without a car. Many would count school buses as a form of public transport.

School buses are a lifesaver for those who want their kid to get to school without paying more money for gas. However, what happens when these bus drivers show predatory behaviors towards the minors they drive to school?

Ricky Williams is a fifty-seven-year-old male that used to drive a school bus for many Atlanta public schools. Recently, Williams started chatting about different sexual positions to an eleven-year-old boy on the school bus he drove.

Williams got caught on camera talking to this boy. During Williams’ arrest, he was suspended from his place of work while the police investigated him.

As if the subject matter were not bad enough, the child had special needs. Children with disabilities are three times more likely to be abused or neglected. He took advantage of the boy, who probably does not know what happened there.

People taking advantage of a naïve child is disgusting. It is gross behavior, whether just for their gullibility or something Williams’ did to this child.

That child probably did not understand the conversation. At age eleven, I highly doubt that talking to an adult they have to trust is in their minds due to them taking them to school.

Some kids form real bonds with their school bus drivers. Williams took advantage of this situation due to his position of power to the kids.

Abuse of power is an assault.

For the employers of Williams, they should have done much more

Ricky Williams was arrested and suspended from the Atlanta Public Schools as the bus driver while the police investigated him during the investigation.

than just suspend him. This incident tells the other people who work with kids that it is okay to sexualize children because they only got a slap on the wrist due to the offense.

They should have fired Williams instead of just suspending him. He is in jail, but it is stupid to claim that the police arrested him for the investigation. The school district should have fired him for sexualizing a child and forcing the kid to have an inappropriate discussion that most eleven-year-olds have no business knowing at that age.

If we continue to change or serve justice, there needs to be a standard, and maybe Williams will set a precedent.

This incident should serve as a warning to those who are employing people to work with kids. It is not a child’s responsibility to look out for predators.

We often tell children about “stranger danger,” but unfortunately, it is more likely for a victim to know their abuser. Arming children against adults in their lives is not something that should have to happen. They are always at fault in these situations. Our most vulnerable population needs to be protected and not told what to do or not to do. Children should never be in the wrong in these types of situations.

It is essential to have these conversations with adults. Understanding the weight of sexual assault needs to start now. We are in a time where these conversations should no longer be stigmatized. Preventative discussions may open up space for adults to seek mental help or lead to finding a predator before they enter into a job with children.

The children are at the most risk because they do not precisely understand what an older teen might. If people do not do these checks on their potential employees, we will continue to see a cycle of abuse.

PHOTO BY SEAWARDS DAWSON | THE SIGNAL

This Week’s Spread: ARTS & LIVIN WWW.GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM/ARTSANDLIVING

The top seven binge-worthy Netflix and Hulu thrillers.

Movies and shows that range from kid-friendly to downright insane Kara Martin - Staff Reporter As Halloween creeps its way around the corner, nothing is better than kicking the spooky season off with some binge-worthy thrillers.

If you want to stay inside and watch a terrifying flick, Hulu and Netflix give viewers plenty of options. From classic horror, psychological thrillers to just plain old scary, this mix of seven movies and shows are just enough to frighten you.

1

You

2

Clickbait

3

Black Mirror

This wild series is one of the most popular shows on Netflix today. It is a bloody, mind-bending thriller that stars Joe Goldberg, a local bookstore manager and part-time serial killer. Joe finds himself heavily fixated and infatuated with a writer named Guinevere Beck.

He becomes creepily obsessed with her to the point of stalking her on social media and tracking her daily whereabouts. Joe nearly loves Beck enough to remove any and every obstacle he sees in his way of being with her.

Their relationship did not last too long as his obsession with her was the cause of her death. Beck’s unfortunate fate does not stop Joe from finding someone new to pursue as he has a new love interest the following season.

Joe moves to a completely different city, hoping to start his life over and work on being ordinary. However, that changes after stumbling upon a woman named Love.

With no plans to love this woman, he finds himself significantly invested in Love once again, but the difference is that she is just as obsessed. Although Joe appears as a sensitive and anti-social bookworm, he has a dark side that many find out when it’s too late.

Netflix never falls short when it comes to making drama-filled series. This new limited series premiered on August 25th has only eight episodes, each more intense than the last.

This series is about a man named Nick Brewer, a well-known family man within his community. One day he is mysteriously abducted at a park. He later appears on a viral video where he displays a message saying that he will die after the video reaches five million views.

The search for Brewer before his suspected death begins as his sister and wife retrace his whereabouts before his disappearance.

Each discovery only creates more tension throughout the show and an even bigger mystery.

This thriller is more relevant to today’s time as it shows the horrific outcomes of social media and impersonating people online.

This well-known dystopian series is a high-tech and chilling depiction of the future of the world. Each episode is different and is independent of the others.

Every episode has a new theme ranging from spiritual consciousness, psychological horror and even romance for a bit of relief.

Although many of these episodes show the real emotions and feelings of humans in real life, they also show how life can become chaotic with the extreme advancement of technology.

Black Mirror also came out with a unique and interactive episode called ‘Bandersnatch.’ It stars a young programmer named Stefan Butler who turns a choose-your-own-adventure book into a video game.

The film has numerous endings for the viewer to choose from, which aids the theme of free will and adds a bit of a scare factor.

Although this series does not have a traditional scary storyline, the parallels it creates to the real world create realism and fear.

NG

4

Fear of Rain

5

Secret Obsession

6

Monster House

7

Squid Game

Although this film is PG-13, it’s still full of enough thrills and psychological ups and downs, leaving the viewer searching for answers. The movie stars a young 17-year-old girl named Rain who has schizophrenia.

This mental illness causes her to have terrible hallucinations and voices in her head that makes it hard for her to trust her thoughts. Her hallucinations continue to get worse throughout the film as she stops taking her medication due to it making it hard for her to paint and feel like herself overall.

After recovering from a manic episode, she finally returns to school only to be disowned and ostracized by her friends and classmates. She is finally able to make friends with a new student at her school named Caleb.

As a new student, he is unaware of Rain’s past, making it easy for him to go along with her wild ideas. The plot thickens when Rain is in the spare bedroom of her house when she claims that she saw a child in the window of her neighbor’s attic.

Rain only appears to be telling another one of her stories again with her current battle with mental illness, and no one believes she saw anything. Rain battles her mind, peers and parents throughout the film to prove everyone right about what she saw.

She clarifies that she will not give up on this little girl in the window and can recruit Caleb to solve this investigation and put her fears to rest for good.

This Netflix original starring Brenda Song is an hour and thirty-seven-minute-long movie of suspense. In the film, Song plays the character of Jennifer as she has finally woken up after recovering from a terrible car accident.

Although she does not succumb to her injuries, she still suffers from amnesia and can not remember anything about her life before the accident and the accident itself.

She meets Russell, who claims to be her husband, and tries to help her return to normal. He showed her pictures from her past and reminded her about other details of her life.

Eventually, someone gets suspicious of Russell, and a detective named Frank decides to dig deeper into this incident to make sure Russell is who he says he is.

Soon after, Jennifer notices weird behavior in Russell and finds proof that Russell is not her actual husband after going through his computer.

Jennifer plots to escape for her life because she knows she is in terrible danger. Russell’s sick obsession was fueled by jealousy of Jennifer’s marriage, ultimately leading to his demise. This love story eventually turned bitter sour.

This kid-friendly, animated Halloween film has been around since the early 2000s and is now available on Netflix. This film stars a trio of young kids, DJ, Jenny and Chowder, played by Mitchell Musso, Spencer Locke and Sam Lerner. DJ and Chowder start as a best friend duo with a hunch that a house in their neighborhood is wickedly haunted.

An older man, Horace Nebbercracker, owns the house and hates the sight of kids in his yard. With their neighbor gone, they witness someone snatched inside the house by its tongue made out of the carpet and never seen again.

DJ and Chowder meet Jenny along the way and convince her of this house’s terrifying origins.

They eventually make their way into the house after putting it to sleep with a wagon full of cough syrup, and the gang stumbles upon some unlikely evidence regarding Nebbercracker’s late wife, Constance.

Nebbercracker finally returns and he tells the kids how his wife ended up being buried alive in the basement of the house after a freak accident and has been possessing the house ever since.

They know what they have to do to put an end to the house. With the help of the trio and Nebbercracker, they are finally able to quiet this haunted house and enjoy their Halloween.

This newly released series on Netflix does not fall short when it comes to suspense and thrill. This show starts with Seong Gi-Hun, who is neck-deep in debt and has a terrible gambling habit.

Seong decides to try his luck at a card game with a nicely dressed man he meets at the train station. After finally winning, the man tells him about another game that he can play to win even more money.

Desperate and strapped for cash, Seong joins along with the hundreds of others he meets upon arrival.

This game is not an average game show, as the stakes are deadly. With all the players in crippling debt, they are willing to endure almost anything to get the grand prize money.

Even after the first round of games ends early, players still choose to come back in hopes of winning the money, only this time, the game starts to get more dangerous. Players are willing to kill, steal and betray one another for the sake of making it out alive with the prize.

This show tests players’ sense of teamwork and skill and keeps the viewers up all night.

PAGE LAYOUT BY EVAN KOENIGS I THE SIGNAL

ARTS & LIVING

October 26, 2021

WWW.GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM/ARTSANDLIVING

ILLUSTRATION BY OLIVIA MADRZYK | THE SIGNAL

ADHD after 18: symptoms don’t just disappear.

The reality of having ADHD as an adult COLE PODANY Staff Reporter

A

t 14, Sage Whitty struggled to focus on school assignments, experienced severely low self-esteem and was the victim of constant bullying. He performed well on tests and aced every pop quiz, but unfinished homework and in-class assignments littered his desk.

He rarely turned in his work, sometimes because he couldn’t focus, other times because he feared rejection. Rather than attending his 8th-grade dances or making plans for high school, he sat alone in his room, lost and confused about what to do next.

With no support system, no answers and few resources at his fingertips, Whitty made a life-altering decision: he dropped out a year before he would have started high school.

Teachers attributed his obstacles to a refusal to listen and treated him “like a misbehaved child,” unable to understand how he performed so well on tests but failed miserably at completing other coursework.

In adulthood, Whitty’s answers came when he was diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, also known as ADHD. The condition begins in childhood, but doctors do not always diagnose it early, and symptoms remain as those with ADHD get older.

For some, symptoms improve with age; for others, they drastically worsen.

“My mom had given up on me [after I dropped out], so I did not have any sort of support system at home, and my school offered little help,” Whitty said. “I worked hard and managed to receive my high school equivalency diploma by 16, but I still will never get that high school experience back. “ Symptoms of ADHD include daydreaming, talking more than the average person, difficulty communicating with others and trouble paying attention. According to CHADD, 32% of students with ADHD drop out of high school compared to 15% of teenagers without a psychiatric disorder.

ADHD completely changed the trajectory of Whitty’s life.

Whitty, now 23, believes the invisible nature of the disorder can make it challenging for others to see the extent of his struggles significantly as he has grown older and entered the workforce.

“Outsiders only notice ADHD when it’s affecting other people,” Whitty said. “When children are in school, they’re making a direct impact on the classroom, but ADHD in adults resides mostly in the home. People who aren’t intimately involved in their daily life are less likely to notice the symptoms, and they may just think the

person with ADHD is lazy.”

After earning his high school equivalency diploma, Whitty went on to work in foodservice, where he feels he thrives thanks to the fast-paced environment. Like many people with ADHD, Whitty has switched jobs frequently.

He worked as a cashier and then a manager for several months before becoming a receptionist and returning to food service again as a cashier.

“

ADHD in adults resides mostly in the home.

People who aren’t intimately involved in their daily life are less likely to notice the symptoms, and they may just think the person with ADHD is lazy.

— SAGE WHITTY

”

He manages to balance his work and social life, but the shadow of his ADHD follows him into adulthood, creeping into all aspects of his life.

“I find myself lying in bed for hours with no energy or motivation to get up,” he said. “I often forget to clean myself or my home, and it turns into a vicious cycle.”

Whitty says maintaining friendships also comes as a challenge

because of his chronic forgetfulness and depressive symptoms.

Those diagnosed with ADHD are more likely than the average person to experience depression; in fact, one study found that children with ADHD are ten times more likely to develop depression than children without ADHD. “It goes beyond [not cleaning my home]; I forget to reply to texts, plans with friends, and I forget their birthdays,” he said. “I become so ashamed that I often end up pushing people away and losing friends as a result.”

Whitty says he has accepted that he will always have lower energy levels than those around him due to his disorder, which affects his ability to perform at school and hinders him at work.

Adults cannot outgrow ADHD, though the disorder’s presentation often changes with age.

“Having ADHD as an adult affects my executive functioning skills to an extreme extent,” Whitty said. “I find myself struggling with the most basic everyday tasks: cleaning my house, showering, and even enjoyable activities that I don’t want to be missing out on.”

Rather than ignoring the obstacles brought on by his ADHD, Whitty chooses to acknowledge its effects on his daily life and adapt. He communicates with his coworkers and friends about his emotional state, takes mental health days when necessary and only takes on jobs that take advantage of his strengths, not highlight his weaknesses.

“In my job, there are no time-sensitive demands, [and] the fast-paced environment can often act as a sort of dopamine rush,” Whitty said. “I have high energy levels sometimes because of my ADHD, so I get to use that to my advantage here. That’s who I am, so I work a job that works with it.”

While Whitty makes the most of his situation, finding solutions in a world designed for people without ADHD does not always come easily. Resources for adults with the disorder remain sparse, leaving millions of adults to navigate unfamiliar, rocky waters alone.

“When children with ADHD become adults, their ADHD doesn’t magically disappear,” Whitty said. “It seems like there is so much support for children with ADHD, which is great, but adults are consistently left behind when we’re here, too, still existing and struggling with this disorder.”

ARTS&LIVING

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2021

11

Bands from all over the country rocked out Atlanta this weekend as rock music festival Shaky Knees continued after a two-year hiatus.

PHOTO BY ROGER HO FOR SHAKY KNEES

Shaky Knees brings rock and soul to Atlanta.

An overall review including Interviews with artists GRACE BRASWELL Staff Reporter

F

or the first time in over two years, the Shaky Knees rock music festival returns to Atlanta with a diverse mix of music ranging from rock to indie to everything in-between.

The festival, usually held annually in May, took a hiatus due to the pandemic. Eager fans flooded into Atlanta’s Central and Renaissance Parks, ready to rock out to bands like The Strokes, Foo Fighters and Phoebe Bridgers.

The festival took place over three days and had four different stages set up throughout the festival grounds.

Artists utilized these stages to create mostly hour-long sets that were just as visually appealing as they were audible.

Indie-pop artist St. Vincent utilized her stage space on Friday night to the absolute max, walking onstage deckedout in a bright red and sexy ensemble, go-go boots and a blonde bob wig to finish off her 70s-inspired look.

Her set was complete with a trio of background dancers, witty sketches in-between songs and wicked guitar solos played throughout the performance.

Legendary metal-rock artist Alice Cooper kept Saturday night alive, giving audience members music like a punch to the face. Cooper, dressed head to toe in an all-black ensemble complete with a top hat, performed timeless metal hits such as “Feed my Frankenstein” and “School’s Out.” Of course, no Alice Cooper set would be complete without props such as a giant inflatable baby, a guillotine, confetti cannons and a set that looked as if Cooper took it straight out of a horror film.

Kicking off the festival, New York-natives The Specialists brought their indie-funk sound down to Atlanta. They played their new song, “Head in my Heart,” and the crowd responded with loads of excitement.

As The Specialists are new to the festival scene, they emphasized how excited and grateful they were to play at Shaky Knees.

“It was incredible. Playing was absolutely surreal,” Mikey Rotunno, songwriter and lead singer of The Specialists, said. “There were so many good moments, and we were [absolutely] fighting back emotions after playing. [Many] friends from New York come down, [and] in the very front. It was all really cool.”

Atlanta-natives Lunar Vacation, made up of guitarist and vocalist Grace Repasky, guitarist Maggie Geeslin, drummer Connor Dowd and keyboardist Matteo DeLurgio, headlined for the Criminal Records stage on

Saturday night.

The band planned on playing at Shaky Knees in 2019 for 2020. However, the pandemic pushed this date back.

The crowd at Criminal Records’ stage was ecstatically singing and jumping to some of Lunar Vacations’ top songs such as “Swimming’’ and “The Basement.” With a new album coming out on October 29th, Lunar Vacation was thrilled to play never-released songs such as “Peddler.”

“My favorite song to play live is this new song called Peddler,” Repasky said. “It is the first song on the new album, and when we play it together, I just feel so connected.”

“

For the first time in over two years, the Shaky Knees rock music festival returns to Atlanta with a diverse mix of music ranging from rock to indie to everything inbetween.

— GRACE BRASWELL

”

Staff Reporter

“This was also the first song we recorded at the studio for the album. It’s just really hype,” DeLurgio said.

Birmingham natives The Brook & The Bluff kept the energy at the Piedmont stage high on Sunday, doing what they do best by serenading the crowd with killer vocals, incredible harmonies and a vibe that keeps audience members grooving.

The Brook & The Bluff began in Birmingham with lead

singer Joseph Settine and guitarist Alex Bolton. After a while, bassist Fred Lankford and drummer John Canada joined the quartet.

“There was a point where I was like, ‘do you guys want to do this full time,’ because I do,” Bolton said. “We started playing and writing original songs, and in 2017 we started playing shows with only originals.”

Based out of Kalamazoo, Michigan, Michigander brought total energy to the Ponce de Leon stage. With an indie-pop sound and lyrics that hit home, the lead singer and songwriter of the band, Michigander, Jason Singer, made it a point with his music to make audience members riddled with spirit.

Singer stated how much he loves Atlanta, and he addressed how exciting it was to see such a loud and large crowd at his Shaky Knees set.

“You never know when you play music festivals how many people are going to turn out,” Singer said. “You could be playing for a handful of people or a bunch of people. It was insane to see a couple of thousand people turn out.”

Praised by Billboard, Entertainment Weekly, MTV and more, the indie-pop quartet The Aces writes for those who know and relate to themes such as sexuality, religion and relationships.

The band began playing music together in middle school, as all four girls fell in love with music before they knew anything else.

“It started out as a hobby when we were kids, but it ended up taking over our whole lives in the best way possible,” Crystal Ramirez said.

Singer and guitarist Crystal Ramirez, guitarist Katie Henderson, bass player McKenna Petty and drummer Alisa Ramirez create the leading quartet of The Aces.

The band came into Atlanta from Utah and California, playing a few songs from their most recent album, “Under my Influence.” The band emphasized their love for songs such as “I Can Break Your Heart, Too” and “My Phone is Trying to Kill Me,” saying they were the most fun songs to play live.

The Aces have a deep connection with the city due to the sheer support of their Atlanta fanbase. The band opened for Coin at Buckhead Theatre, where fans created a scrapbook filled with lyrics to their songs.

“The fans here treat you like your best friend off the bat.

It’s that southern hospitality, I think,” Henderson said.

SPORTS

October 26, 2021

WWW.GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM/SPORTS

Atlanta, your long awaited victory is here Two fans, one city: a dream realized through their eyes JULIAN HARDEN Staff Reporter

S

AARON WILSON, JR Staff Reporter

unday, October 24th, 2021.

The sun is out, and there have rarely been warmer days in Atlanta. It seems too good to be true. But it’s not: the Atlanta Braves are going to the World Series for the first time since 1999 after defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers in six games.

But the road wasn’t easy, especially for us.

Ask an Atlanta sports fan about these dates, and they likely can recount them perfectly: February 5th, 2017, January 8th, 2018, August 3rd, 2020, October 18th, 2020.

Over three years, we watched the Falcons castrate a 28-3 lead to the New England Patriots in the most incredible Super Bowl comeback of all time. The Georgia Bulldogs were stunned by Nick Saban and then-Alabama Crimson Tide backup quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and, falling 26-23 in the 2018 National Championship after leading 13-0 at halftime.

The Braves lost Mike Soroka, the ace of their pitching staff, for the season after he tore his Achilles last summer. Soroka was expected to return as the ace but suffered a setback and later found out he re-tore it again his Achilles this past summer.

Fast forward to this summer, and an even worse collective fate arrived: baserunning blunders, untimely hitting and everything in between.

The Braves blew a 3-1 lead in last year’s NLCS as Cody Bellinger, Mookie Betts and the Dodgers’ infamously ripped out the hearts of Braves fans. Three years of heartbreaks and questions.

“Are we cursed?” Every Atlanta fan’s mind kept wondering when it would be their turn to rejoice.

The list could go on, as fans could only watch from outside, stuck in a storm of angry despair as major franchises continued to reach the championship game but failed to capture the trophy. Yes, Atlanta United won the 2018 MLS Cup in their inaugural season, but it’s different for Braves fans who have waited for over 20 years.

There was hope in the 2020-21 offseason. In April, we would roll out a 2021 Opening Day roster with Silver Slugger Travis d’Arnaud, reigning NL MVP Freddie Freeman, a healthy Ozzie Albies, consistent Dansby Swanson, and questions about Austin Riley.

We would also have a healthy Ronald Acuna, Jr., the future center field in Cristian Pache, and another Silver Slugger in Marcell Ozuna.

New additions Charlie Morton and Drew Smyly gave the Braves legitimate starting pitching while waiting for Soroka’s return. The 2021 roster looked ready to march their way back to the playoffs––so we thought.

A lineup that was top two in pretty much every offensive statistical category returned. General manager Alex Anthopoulos rebuilt the starting staff.

Fans saw the bullpen and bench depth as weak points, but as long as everyone stayed healthy, the NL East would run through Atlanta, right?

How wrong we were.

An abysmal start to 2021 saw the Braves get off to an 0-4 record, with lackluster offense and averager pitching. The team displayed all-around inconsistency, with the lone average play coming from a shaky bullpen that would plague them for the first half of the season.

Freeman had the worst luck of his career when he would make contact, Albies started 0-19, Ozuna could not find his rhythm, and Swanson must have been seeing ghosts with all the swings and misses he had at the beginning.

Pache was woefully overmatched at the plate, though fans expected that due to wanting his glove in center.

Even Max Fried, the ace of the staff, was struggling, along with Smyly and Morton. The Braves looked like a seller at the trade deadline. Everything that could go

wrong went wrong for the Braves in the first half. Even with Acuna healthy, the Braves could never get out their way to go above .500 early in the season.

The team was in low spirits, then the injuries: Pache, Inciarte, Soroka re-tearing his Achilles (he may never pitch again), Fried’s blisters, d’Arnaud was lost for three months with torn ligaments in his thumb, prompting Triple-A level catchers to don the mask with a different one almost every month.

None of those were as fateful as July 10 when Acuna, Jr, the NL MVP front-runner and 40/40 candidate, tore his ACL trying to make a great play. Between that injury, all the other struggles, and being demolished by Duvall, who the Braves decided not to re-sign, things were looking rather miserable for a team that was a dismal 30-35 at the All-Star break.

“

Even in the despair and darkness, the frustrating 2021 season was not lost on Anthopoulos, though it certainly looked like it to the fans.

”

MLB moved the All-Star Game from its original spot at Truist Park to Colorado to add to the myriad of issues facing the team and fans. Aside from that alone being a rotten deal for fans, the organization would honor Hank Aaron’s life and legacy but did not have the chance at that.

Even in the despair and darkness, the frustrating 2021 season was not lost on Anthopoulos, though it certainly looked like it to the fans.

Following the All-Star Break, hopes of the Braves repeating in the division were dim. Not only were the Braves without Acuna, Jr. for the rest of the season, but they were set to face the American League-leading Tampa Bay Rays and San Diego Padres in a six-game homestand.

The Braves shocked fans and weathered the storm, playing good baseball against top competition.

However, on July 26, the Braves faced the Mets in Citi Field in a pivotal NL East Division Series to determine if the Braves would be buyers or sellers at the deadline.

After splitting the double-header, the Braves took three-out five in New York and pulled within five games of the Mets in the NL East. Anthopoulos made a flurry of moves with the team showing fights during the trade deadline, arguably the best trade deadline in the team’s history.

The Braves acquired three outfielders, including Duvall, who played for the team last season, Jorge Soler and Eddie Rosario. Atlanta also received bullpen help with Richard Rodgruiez from the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Fans feared the worst, but the Braves finished July 14-13 and remained in the division hunt by August.

By the start of August, it was evident that this was

a different Braves team. The Braves acquired Duvall, Soler and Joc Pederson from the Cubs after Acuna, Jr.’s injury, the offense slumping without Acuna and the suspended Ozuna receiving some much-needed rejuvenation.

The Braves bats struggled in the first half hitting just .238 as a team and slugging a disappointing .425 by the All-Star Game break. Following the trendline, the offense went a tear hitting .250 and slugging near .450 in the second half of the season.

August became a renaissance for the Braves, finishing the 18-8 and on top of the NL East. The team was firing on all cylinders with Fried and Morton solidifying the pitching rotation and the offense coming back to life.

The new-look offense for the Braves cut down the strikeouts declining from 236 in July to 212 in August.

They increased in home runs and RBIs, with Duvall and Austin Riley becoming juggernauts in the lineup.

Riley, in particular, took great strides in 2021 and excelled as an all-around player. He went from being a possible trade chip following 2020 to an NL MVP candidate this season.

Some were calling for the Braves to trade for another third baseman and move Riley to left field. The Braves stuck with him, and he rewarded them. He batted .303 with 33 home runs and team-leading 137 RBIs during the regular season.

The Braves swept the Phillies in a ruckus Truist Park by the season’s final week to win their fourth straight NL East crown. Many people counted the Braves out in the division series against the NL Central-winning Milwaukee Brewers.

However, they split the first two games in Milwaukee to take home the best-of-three series. After taking a 2-1 series lead, the Braves closed Milwaukee in a back-and-forth Game 4. Freeman delivered the series blow to Milwaukee in the eighth to take a 5-4 lead and eventually the series.

The Braves faced the Dodgers, who sent them packing in the postseason two of the last three postseasons, in the 2021 NLCS. This time, it was different.

With timely hitting and excellent relief pitching, the Braves killed the narrative and beat the Dodgers in six.

Thanks to Riley and Rosario, the Braves walked off the first two games in Truist.

Coming back to Atlanta, the Braves finally slew Goliath and sent the Dodgers back to LA with a 4-2 victory. The win was punctuated with masterful relief pitching from Tyler Matzek, who shut down a lateinning Dodgers’ rally.

Both of us remember that final out of the 2020 NLCS. One of us was in his dorm room, crying. Tears were falling profusely, yet, lifelessly. This bludgeoning despair was worse than the Super Bowl because the Braves were in it until they weren’t.

There are only a few times where the other’s been left speechless from a Braves game. Cody Bellinger’s go-ahead home run in the bottom of the seventh inning of Game 5 of the 2020 NLCS was one of those that will never be easy to discuss for him.

This past weekend brought happy cries. The two will never forget where they were when they watched their hometown team punch their ticket to a World Series.

To Anthopolous and the Braves organization, on behalf of Braves Country: thank you. Thank you for continuing the fight and not giving up. Now, two college students will join millions of Atlanta fans as they embark on a two-week journey that the city will remember for years to come.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2021

SPORTS

“

To Anthopolous and the Braves organization, on behalf of Braves Country: thank you. Thank you for continuing the fight and not giving up. Now, two college students will join millions of Atlanta fans as they embark on a two-week journey that the city will remember for years to come.

PHOTO BY MATTHEWGRIMESMEDIA AND MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

”

13

October 26, 2021

GAMES SUDOKU

THE KICKBACK

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2021

GAMES

15

COMIC

Your Comic Should be Here!

UPCOMING EVENTS FRIDAY

1st Annual Fall Music Festival 6:00 p.m.

Decatur, GA

Donuts with The Deans Office 11:00 a.m.

Student Center East

#StateNotSouthern Pep Rally 11:00 a.m.

Student Center East

GSU Volleyball v. UT Artlington 6:30 p.m.

GSU Sports Arena

Blue October 7:00 p.m.

The Masquerade

Pet Symmetry and Ratboys 7:00 p.m.

The Masquerade

Friday Night Frights: Rocky Horror Party 7:30 p.m.

Hard Rock Cafe

SUNDAY

MONDAY

GSU Softball v. Georgia Highlands 12:00 p.m Robert E. Heck Complex

Halloween Day Party 4:00 p.m.

Piedmont Central

Peer Advising w/ Study Abroad Programs 9:00 a.m.

Dahlberg Hall, Third Floor

The Atlanta World Kite Festival & Expo 1:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Piedmont Park

NOV 01

SATURDAY OCT 31

Live Journaling with BeWellPanthers 2:30 p.m.

Virtual

OCT 29

THURSDAY OCT 28

WEDNESDAY OCT 27

TUESDAY

OCT 30

OCT 26

THE KICKBACK

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