The Daily Egyptian - [October 12, 2022]

p. 13

Letter from the Editor: Homecoming celebrations remind us not all are free

wearing beautiful dresses and finding elaborate new ways to manipulate their hair in ways that I wouldn’t dare to attempt.

The glamor of all of it was just so intoxicating.

All that week, I spoke to alumni who found their way back into the Daily Egyptian newsroom, telling me stories of when they were sitting in the same desk as I was, however many years ago. They told me about how the carpet has changed and the nerves they felt going on their first assignments, or how River Region Evening Edition now sits in the old DE sports desks.

Now, as the Iranian government has shut off Internet access in the country, their voices are being muffled and shut off from the world. This is where it becomes our duty to share their voices and their stories and to inform the world about the lengths and struggles the Iranian people are going through for a small piece of freedom.

Sophie Whitten | @SophieWhitten

When I first arrived on campus as a freshman in the fall of 2020, there were barely any students physically at SIU. In fact, I didn’t have a fully in-person class until the next fall. During that first semester, everything that a college freshman experiences during a normal year, we missed because of the pandemic.

No RSO fairs, no football

Nicholas | bnicholas@dailyegyptian.com

games (with the exception of one in October), and no homecoming.

The only “normal” thing I did as a freshman was walk around campus, albeit, a very empty one.

Naturally, as things began to return to normal last year, it was all we could talk about. For prepandemic students and alum, this meant a glimpse of normalcy.

For those of us 2020 freshmen, it meant living the college life for

the first time.

It’s easy to get caught up in it all, especially after a year of living alone in a dorm, never even leaving for classes.

I loved going to the homecoming parade and feeling the nostalgia of what’s usually a yearly festivity, feeling a part of something, a part of the long legacy of Saluki history.

I loved watching my friends get ready for the dance,

I felt connected to something bigger and I was proud that my name was listed among the names that came before me, documenting their pieces of history during their time at SIU. There is a saying that journalists have a “front-row seat to history” and I was speaking with people who sat in the front row through a lot of it.

But as I now take my place in a front-row seat, I remember why I took up my camera and pen in the first place: to inform and to give a voice to the voiceless.

Hidden behind the charm and excitement of our current lives, there is a war being waged for freedom around the world. In Iran, women are protesting the death of Mahsa Amini and fighting for the basic freedom to dress how they choose.

While women and girls around this country prepare for dances, trying on dresses and hairstyles, the women in Iran are lining the streets, removing their head scarves and cutting their hair.

This fight does not begin and end with Iranian women. As part of Generation Z, we are part of a powerful group of changemakers, and in the age of the Internet, we all have access to our front-row seats to history, journalists or not, to inform others of this fight for freedom and give back the voices of the women who are being silenced.

To hear from Iranian students about what is happening in their country, see our full coverage on page 4, and do your part to fight for their freedom by hearing their voices sharing their stories.

Editor in Chief Sophie Whitten can be reached at swhitten@dailyegyptian.com or on Instagram @sophiewhitten_

Iranian protesters resist repression

Getting crafty on SIU’s campus

Orchard celebrates 75 years

“Bros” succeeds as a hilarious modern romcom

Photo provided by an anonymous Iranian source

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The legacy left by Steven Haynes

Jamilah lewis Jlewis@dailyegyptian com

A city councilman, manager of various Krogers, a mayoral candidate and a father are just a few things Steven Haynes was in the Carbondale community.

Steven Haynes died of a combination of illnesses on July 25 of this year at the age of 58.

“There’s a lot of people [who] still don’t know he has passed away and still come to me and give me their condolences because they talk about what a great man he was,” said his wife, Thelma Haynes.

Steven Haynes served on the city council for eight years, was active in the Carbondale chapter of the NAACP and volunteered at the Boys and Girls Club.

Thelma Haynes said her husband started working at Kroger right out of high school and worked there for 38 years.

“Kroger’s was his first home,” Thelma Haynes said. “He would literally work 14 to 16 hours. He worked 38 years until he got sick.”

Thelma Haynes said her husband only ever missed 12 days of work in nearly four decades of working at Kroger because of his devotion to his job.

February 25 [of last year].”

Thelma Haynes has a background in nursing and noticed something was wrong, which she attributed to fluid building up in his body and took him to the doctor.

“The doctor said straight to the emergency room,” Thelma Haynes.

“The doctor asked him when he got there, he said your kidneys have shut down totally on you.”

That was only the start of it. From then on, Steven Haynes was in and out of multiple hospitals from Puducah to Belleville, trying to get the help he needed with none of them able to fully satisfy his needs.

The Kroger in Carbondale has put a memorial up for her husband in the front of the store, but many local residents voiced their concerns on the Facebook group WTF? Carbondale about how his memorial was close to the new employee applications. Many said it was disrespectful.

Thelma Haynes heard of the complaints but said she doesn’t mind the set up.

recommendation, and telling me about that, you know, I would have certainly had a lot more student loan debt,” Stephens said. “It opened up a lot of doors for me because, at 22 years old, I was assistant manager of various Kroger stores around Southern Illinois.”

After leaving Kroger, Stephens kept in touch with Steven Haynes and helped him with his mayoral campaign in 2011, he said.

“I helped run his campaign and went out and knocked on a lot of doors for it, you know, organized town hall meetings,” Stephens said. “Did all of the things you need to do to try to promote a candidate and so we grew close during that time in particular.”

Stephens said Steven Haynes was unique in the fact that he was a Black republican, in the NAACP and knew how to bring people from different backgrounds together.

“He had a way about him, he could just connect with people from all ends of demographically, politically,” Stephens said. “I never knew anybody that didn’t like him.”

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She said she already had children when they got married, and Steven Haynes took them in as if they were his own.

“Then we had a boy, which is Steven Jr., but he’d never made any difference. He treated them all the same,” Thelma Haynes said. “That’s the type of man he was.”

Steven Haynes never hesitated to step into the father role for her children, and they see him as their own father, she said.

Steven Haynes was also a fixture in the Carbondale community, which always received him positively.

He was sick for more than a year before he died, Thelma Haynes said.

“He got sick seven months after our son died,” Thelma Haynes said. “...I’ve been dealing with Steven and him, but he died on July 23 and Steve got sick

“Could they [have] did better? Of course, but what people don’t understand is, that was one of my husband’s job titles, hiring and firing,” Thelma Haynes said. “So if they know this, then maybe they won’t feel that way.”

Being able to walk in the store and still see his face shows that they’re still thinking of him, Thelma Haynes said.

“They did make a plaque; [it’s] beautiful,” Haynes said. “I got a picture of a beautiful blue plaque with all the [other] managers behind him.”

Murphysboro Mayor Will Stephens had a good friendship with Steven Haynes that started when he was working under him at Kroger.

After leaving high school, he applied for a Kroger management trainee program that would help pay some of his college tuition, Stephens said.

“He (Steven) recommended me for that program and without his

Stephens said he visited Steven Haynes at Carbondale Hospital and in Herrin multiple times while he was sick. Steven Haynes passed away on Stephen’s birthday. He was a good mentor, and Stephens said he misses him a lot.

“He leaves a legacy of service. He leaves a legacy of family. He was a very dedicated family man,” Stephens said. “He believed in hard work and accountability and we need more of that.”

A former colleague from Kroger, Barry Smith, used to have Steven Haynes as an assistant before he became a manager himself.

“He was somebody I counted on and depended on and I always knew I could do that,” Smith said. “He dealt with people fairly and honestly, and, you know, had a good sense of humor. Just an all-around good person and that made him really good at what he did.”

Studying the “rotten foundations” of Cairo, Illinois

resources and lived in segregated conditions.”

Black veteran, Robert Hunt.

A fledgling history student often encounters stories of the elegant city states of ancient Greece, clothed in the writings of luminaries and sterling philosophers of the time. Professors often tell freshman about the relentless expansion of ancient Roman legionaries at the behest of prodigy generals, their achievements committed to history for time immemorial by a million hands that are not their own, sculpting cities, governments, inventions and ideas into foundations that shaped the democracy we live in today. These achievements we recognize, but like these ancient empires, we are too often guilty of living on top of the truths lodged in the history of our own backyard, heedless of the unnamed hands that shaped our local communities.

Elizabeth Hinton, Associate Professor of History at Yale, visited Southern Illinois University (SIU) on Oct. 6 to share one such story. During her lecture, hosted by the Paul-Simon Public Policy Institute, she told the story of Cairo, a small town in Southern Illinois that was wrenched apart by the inequality and racism challenged by the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.

Her study of Cairo started while she was writing her book on Black “rebellion” and police violence, “America on Fire,” released one year after the murder of George Floyd and the racial justice protests galvanized by his death.

“Millions of mostly young people defiantly flooded the nation’s streets demanding an end to police brutality and to the broader systemic oppression of Black people and other people of color in what is perhaps the largest mass mobilization in American history,” Hinton said, “To many observers, the protests appeared to be without precedent in their scale and persistence, yet the event of 2020 had clear precursors, and any attempt to understand our current crisis requires a reckoning with our recent past.”

Hinton said during a stretch from 1964 to 1972, the U.S. went through a massive uprising of civil rights advocates, predominantly including Blacks following the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964.

“The United States confronted the greatest moment of domestic bloodshed since the Civil War. During these eight years, at least 1,000 segregated Black communities across the United States witnessed roughly 2,500 separate uprisings,” Hinton said. “Big cities like New York, Los Angeles and Detroit burned, but the violence would happen in many places where Black residents were denied access to political and economic

Hinton blames police violence for being the most immediate cause of many of the uprisings that occurred in association with protests during this time period. She said she believes president Lyndon Johnson’s War on Crime exacerbated the issue by sending “militarized police forces” into impoverished, Black neighborhoods.

According to a University of Michigan research project called Detroit Under Fire, which documents the civil rights-related violence in the city of Detroit, the streets were flooded with police, often in plain clothes, who confronted Black youth over the pettiest of crimes or even nothing at all. The War on Crime was declared seemingly without any spike in crime for its cause and only served to stoke racial crime rates, leaving overall crime rates unlowered.

“Facing increased surveillance and brutality, residents threw molotov cocktails at officers, and rocks. They plundered local businesses and they vandalized exploitative businesses,” Hinton said.

Controversially, Hinton doesn’t define this behavior as a riot. She believes that, unlike riots, which she says are random and devoid of political meaning and are used as a racist trope labeling participants criminals, political violence should be considered a rebellion.

“We should understand these events as rebellions, as explosions of collective resistance to an unequal, unjust and violent order,” Hinton said.

Whether you call it a riot or a rebellion, this is exactly what happened in Cairo, Ill., where nonviolent means of protest were thought to have been exhausted and the impoverished lower class of the town was desperate and in need of any solution.

“Black activists in Cairo had long been fighting in conditions of poverty and segregation through non-violent, direct action protests,” Hinton said “In the summer of 1962, 16-year-old Charles Koen organized Black high school students and Pyramids Court residents into the Cairo Non-violent Freedom Committee under the guidance of field workers from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) including John Lewis, who would go on to speak in the March on Washington the following year. [...] Just like their counterparts down south, these freedom fighters were assaulted, sprayed with fire hoses and stabbed by White people.”

The violence in Cairo was common among other cities in the area, happening during what was known as the “Long Hot Summer of 1967,” which saw more than 150 riots across cities of the United States. Cairo’s troubles in particular started with the 1967 death of a

well together,” Smith said. “[I] thought a lot of him. I had a lot of respect for him.”

He died in the jailhouse, hung with a rope made from his own clothing in an alleged of suicide. But the Black community of Cairo was suspicious of the circumstances of his death and the, constant harassment from White supremacist groups and government enforced poverty boiled over into firebombings, stabbings and shootings across the town. In the following days, a warehouse, some stores, the lumberyard and the lumberyard foreman’s house were all targeted in eight firebombings with many more to come in future years.

Demands were made by the Black residents including renovation of the dilapidated Black neighborhood Pyramid Courts and access to better jobs, with one Black community leader saying if the city did nothing, Cairo would look like “Rome burning down.”

In response, Chesley Willis, the Sheriff of Alexander County, said, “If that happens, you’ll find out how many White extremists there are here,” according to Hinton.

And find out they did when White men were deputized by the sheriff en masse, without the governor’s permission, and organized to fight and intimidate the Black residents of Cairo.

These men were called the “White Hats” after the white construction hats they wore to distinguish themselves. They patrolled the streets with shotguns and dogs harassing

already over-policed neighborhoods, with Pyramid Courts among them.

In 1969, the United Citizens for Community Action, made up mostly of White Hats, was formed, making White supremacist forces in the area 2,000 people strong.

Over the following years, despite official recommendations that Governor Richard B. Ogilvie make federal funding available to improve local businesses and housing, inequality and poverty ran rampant in Cairo for the following years. Firebombings and shootings happened month after month, dozens at a time. Even police and emergency response teams were shot at.

As one resident described the situation, “Cairo is a keg of racial dynamite,” according to Hinton.

The town was devastated by the conflict and, having already hit a low point due to preexisting economic troubles, it was in no position to recover. There was a mass exodus of predominantly White citizens from Cairo, which went from a population of 9,348 in 1960 to a population of 2,359 in 2016.

To view the rest of this story, please visit dailyegyptian.com

Staff reporter William Box can be reached at wbox@dailyegyptian.com

They both started working at a brand new Kroger store in Giant City on Sept. 1, 1999.

“I only stayed a couple of years after that,” Smith said. “Prior to that we worked together at Kroger West probably for a couple of years.”

After leaving Kroger, Smith said, they didn’t really keep in touch much, but he was aware of Steven Haynes community involvement. He found out about his death through Stephens.

“He was just a good man, you know, and we just had a really good relationship and worked

Smith said, even though their paths led them to live apart, he appreciates the memories they had together.

“I think what most people will probably remember about Steven, as someone, was that he was someone with integrity,” Smith said. “He worked really hard to try to make Carbondale a better place, a better place to live for everyone.”

Staff reporter Jamilah Lewis can be reached at jlewis@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter @jamilahlewis.

“For woman, life, freedom:”

Iranian protesters resist repression

Anonymous IrAnIAn student

In January 2016, on Enghelab Street, Vida Mowahed took off her scarf, put it on a stick, stood at a height and created a symbol more beautiful than all the statues of freedom. She started the protest movement called “Girls of Enghelab Street,” and her image remained in the history of Iran’s freedom fighters. It should be noted that Enghelab means revolution.

In September 2022, Jina (Mahsa) Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish girl, was killed when she was in the custody of the Iranian morality police. Now, women are taking off their headscarves and setting them on fire in protest against this obvious violence by the police. It’s a much more shocking behavior than Vida Mowahed’s movement, and yet it’s a continuation of her movement. Today, the protest movement against the mandatory hijab has taken a bigger step forward in the same way as the Iranian women’s movement.

In these protests, the important role of the #MeToo movement cannot be ignored. This movement has a valuable contribution to raising awareness about widespread and systematic violence against women, as well as violence against all which do not fit into any conventional gender classification.

By narrating people’s experiences to a large number of people, this movement showed that wherever power relations are established, violent behavior and sexual coercion are applied on a wide scale.

In the #MeToo movement, shame was left out of the narration to a large extent. Now no one can

easily shame narrators (make them feel ashamed) or call them hysterics.

Today, the narratives have become believable. When the story of Jina (Mahsa) Amini being arrested, going into a coma and then dying was published, women in the street set fire to their scarves in protest of this obvious oppression. Setting fire is an offensive behavior, and there is a strong will behind such a move.

In the winter of 1922, a pamphlet called “Makre-Zanaan” was published in Tehran. Boys were selling these pamphlets in the main squares of the city. The text of this pamphlet angered the women, many of whom were members of Iran’s Patriotic Women’s Movement, who had made sisterhood vows with each other

They bought these pamphlets, gathered in Tehran’s Toopkhaneh Square and burned all the pamphlets of “Makr-e-Zanaan,” reminiscent of the way Black people also burned sugarcane fields in the anti-slavery movement in the Americas and Caribbean.

In Iran, fire, among all its meanings, is a reminder of the ancient custom of women’s selfimmolation. A woman who self-immolates against the patriarchal system has no hope of change and has the will to self-immolate, and in fact, to end the torture that is imposed on her in different ways has no other way than self-immolation. The hand that sets a woman on fire is the hand of the patriarchal system that ignites the fire.

Today, we have become aware that we must see the oppression of people regardless of the gender in which we are classified; we can no longer explain the different forms of oppression and discrimination

in the framework of male domination. We try to see multiple oppressions; we try to understand power relations and see discrimination based on race, immigration, religion, ethnicity and sexuality. We know that until we understand the nature of discrimination and violence in multiple ways, we will not be able to deal with reactionary policies and authoritarianism in today’s world.

Today, women no longer sacrifice their lives to oppression; they do not burn their women, but they burn the symbols of oppression and coercion. Burning the hijab is a sign of hope, a kind of liberation, and people around the world support this movement.

In the protests that started after the murder of Mahsa Amini, the slogan “Jan, Jian, Azadi” was chanted from Kurdistan, and shortly after this slogan was heard in Tehran: “Woman, life, freedom.” In fact, the slogan “Jan, Jian, Azadi” was born from the field of women’s struggle in the Rojoa Revolution; today, it has crossed ethnic and local borders, has become a national slogan and is even heard in a wider area beyond the borders, as heard from Esteghlal Street in Istanbul, Turkey. A hopeful and powerful slogan is chanted: Lifegiving women, liberating liberators.

“Unity” is the most important action that people perform in the street today. With their presence, with their slogans and songs, the people act against oblivion, and they have not forgotten the names: Jina (Mahsa) Amini, Sahar Khodayari, Romina Ashrafi, and Neda Agha-Soltan. These women “don’t die, they become symbols”; they become code names.

Unity can also be seen in the narration of the

movement: narration of sexual violence, the narration of the experience of being exposed to the violence of the morality police and narration of the experience of being in commercial places - coffee shops, restaurants, Snap taxis, and other placeswhere the owners businesses warn women to wear hijab.

Today, a significant number of religious people, veiled women and men who clearly belong to religious and traditional families, and even Iranian clerics want to cancel the compulsory hijab law and collect the guidance patrol. In the history of Iranian popular movements, this form of unity is very novel. In the meantime, we are witnessing Afghans accompanying Iranian protesters.

Many Afghans have expressed their support for the people’s protests in cyberspace, and these voices of unity are heard from Afghanistan, which today is suffering more than Iran under the oppression of the Taliban government. Now, a way has been made to think in unity, united thinking combined with respect, attention and conscious sensitivity toward the plurality and diversity of people.

Now, many people have put aside their doubts about the emancipatory scope of the women’s movement and are walking in the street with more determined steps with protesting women and shouting: “Woman, life, freedom.” With this type of implementation of “popular sovereignty,” a firmer foundation is built for creating a democratic form of governance. This slogan shows that people have realized the importance of women’s liberation and stand by women.

Credited to an Anonymous Iranian Student

Coalition Life hosts a prayer vigil outside of Choices Clinic for 40 days

Coalition Life is hosting a 40-day prayer vigil outside of Choices Center for Reproductive Health to protest against the clinic performing abortions. Coalition Life started doing the vigil on Sept. 26 and plans to continue until Nov. 16 each day from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Brian Westbrook, founder of Coalition Life, said he formed the organization after he attended a sidewalk prayer vigil in St. Louis. He said after seeing women leave the abortion clinic and seeing the pain they were going through, he wanted to do something to help them.

Choices CEO Jennifer Pepper told the Daily Egyptian in a previous interview, “Abortion access is a critical component of what we do, but, we also will be offering gender-affirming care for folks, family planning services, basic wellness services. For us, it’s really about serving the community as a health asset.”

Westbrook said his organization first started in St. Louis and he decided to expand to Chicago, Fairview Heights, and Carbondale. They not only do prayer vigils, but they also provide financial support, counseling and other resources to help support women throughout their pregnancies, he said.

“We started a prayer campaign in 2009 called 40 Days for Life and we’ve now done 13 years, 14 years of 40 Days for Life campaigns in St. Louis. [...] We started sidewalk counseling at that point. So

really, building a network of support for them,” Westbrook said.

According to Westbrook, he organizes prayer vigils because he feels women are not given all of their options when it comes to deciding what to do about an unplanned pregnancy.

“Part of this is about the prayer and the fasting [...], but [what we’ve seen] they’re being pressured and pushed and coerced and they’re being told a lot of lies, such as, this is not a human being [...] or that this fetus has no value whatsoever, and we can just throw it away,” he said.

Grace Walker, a first-year student who works in the marketing and community engagement department of Coalition Life, said this prayer vigil is not put on to make women feel bad but to provide them with another option besides abortion.

“We want to provide other options because abortion does have long-term effects, both physically and mentally, we want to provide other options so that a mother doesn’t end up in an unfortunate situation,” Walker said.

She said there are many programs that can be improved upon, to help keep women from considering getting an abortion.

“Definitely better sex education would help with lowering abortions and also increasing paid maternity leave improving the foster system,” she said. “I think that’s all very important in reducing the number of abortions I think that should be a focus and a priority right now.”

Dana Greenlee, a participant in the vigil and an EMT, said when learning about childbirth and abortion, she was surprised to see when one of her textbooks discussed abortion procedures it refered to the aborted fetus as “contents.” She said reading how a fetus and baby are

represented differently did not feel right to her.

She said, in her opinion, that although the fetuses have not left their mothers bodies yet, they are still people who deserve a chance at life.

Greenlee said abortion not only kills the fetus, but puts the mother in danger as well.

“Yeah, and that’s not just physical trauma to the baby, but that’s traumatizing to a lot of mothers, that, there was one standing with me yesterday,” Greenlee said. “She had had an abortion and she remembers that trauma and that pain and that’s why she was standing there that day because she was wanting to help other women not go through that.”

Jeff Morrow a pastor at Bethlehem Gospel Mission in Tunnel Hill said a fetus is more than just a bundle of cells, it is a living thing that deserves to have a chance at life.

“It doesn’t matter what your past looks like. It doesn’t matter what circumstance you’re in. It doesn’t matter what around you can go wrong [...] It’s not a blob of tissue. It’s not something that doesn’t matter,” Morrow said [...] “If financially there’s other resources. I mean, there’s people willing to adopt. They’ll pay for it. They’ll pay for the hospital everything and I mean that baby’s can have a life. So choose life.”

While some counter-protestors have appeared at the prayer vigil, none were on site at the time the Daily Egyptian reporter was there on Saturday.

Staff reporter Janiyah Gaston can be reached at jgaston@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter @DEJaniyah.

Janiyah.Gaston

Grace Walker and Dana Greenlee hold signs outside of Choices Clinic Oct. 8, 2022 near Giant City Rd in Carbondale, Ill. “I think just like I’m here to buy babies time. If I can, or like talk to people and just kind of show them the thing that I know medically I can help with or anything like spiritually help. I’m here to help,” Greenlee said. Janiyah.Gaston | @DEJaniyah

Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge celebrated its 75th anniversary and the construction of a new refuge center on Saturday by hosting a fun-filled day of activities and booths from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Construction of the new refuge headquarters broke ground this summer and is set to be completed in the spring of 2023.

“We’re very excited,” says Justin Sexton, manager of the refuge, who helped to cut the ceremonial ribbon and welcome visitors into the center during the event.

The new building will house the largest environmental exhibit in the area according to Rick Whitecotton, president of the nonprofit organization Friends of Crab Orchard Refuge. Rick says the finished room will contain exhibits valued at around $1 million in total upon its completion. The educational space will be able to host upwards of 100 visitors for future talks and demonstrations at Crab Orchard.

As visitors arrived at the premises, they passed a small lot full of information booths manned by volunteers from the community where they could learn more about various activities and services available in Southern Illinois. These included a face painting stand and representatives from SIH Hospital, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Little Grassy Campground, Visit SI Tourism, and more.

Amongst the booths stood Les Winkeler, a former reporter for the Southern Illinoisan. Les informed visitors about the non-profit Clean SoIL, which strives to educate people on the importance of eradicating litter from our communities. On his table he had various examples of waste and he asked passersby to guess how long it took for each type of waste to degrade in nature.

Another booth was run by Kathy Belletire, a volunteer teacher, who was at the event to teach people about monarch butterflies, discussing their metamorphosis and the importance of milkweed in efforts to conserve the species.

“You can’t have monarchs if you don’t have milkweed,” she says. Kathy gave small clumps of milkweed fluff to children and told them to find a place to spread the pollen to encourage the growth of milkweed in the area. “A lot of people don’t realize that ugly thing is really going to become a beautiful milkweed plant.”

Crab Orchard celebrates and construction refuge headquarters

Halfway through the event, visitors gathered to listen to various speakers including Glenn Proshard, former Illinois State Senator and U.S. congressman. The audience was deeply moved by his speech in which he recounted

his youth and love of nature.

On the edge of the lake behind the new headquarters, Ranger Bob Dietrich and Randy Osborn helped visitors enjoy some time on the lake by way of pontoon boat,

canoe, and kayak. Dietrich assisted children in getting suited up with personal flotation devices, and with the help of Osborn they launched multiple groups of smiling kids into the water, safely seated in their kayaks and canoes, with their parents watching with nervous joy from the shore.

All in all, good weather and friendly company made for a great day and a memorable celebration at Crab Orchard. The beautiful refuge provides many services and recreational activities for anyone to enjoy and with the construction of its new headquarters, even more opportunities await future visitors.

Staff reporter Naia McPherson can be reached at nmcpherson@dailyegyptian.com

From left, Ranger Bob Dietrich takes passengers Rose Schultz, 9, Lorelai Schultz, 8, and Keneddy Watson, 10, on a short canoe trip on Crab Orchard Lake Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge, Ill. Naia McPherson | nmcpherson@dailyegyptian.com

Randy Osborn, a board member of the non profit Friends of Crab Orchard Refuge, helps visitor Kim Watson jump off a pontoon boat on Crab Orchard Lake at the 75th anniversary celebration of Crab Orchard on Saturday

2022 at Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge, Ill. Naia McPherson

celebrates 75 years of new headquarters

Lake at the 75th anniversary celebration of Crab Orchard on Saturday Oct. 8, 2022 at

Employes of the Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge cut the ceremonial ribbon outside of the New Refuge Headquarters on Saturday Oct. 8, 2022 at Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge, Ill. Naia McPherson nmcpherson@ dailyegyptian.com

Kathy Belletire, a local educator and member of the non-profit Friends of Crab Orchard Refuge, teaches visitors about the life cycle of monarch butterflies during the celebration of the 75th anniversary of Crab Orchard on Saturday Oct. 8, 2022 at Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge, Ill. Naia McPherson nmcpherson@ dailyegyptian.com

Crab Orchard volunteer David Gray helps Cason Moore, 6, shoot an arrow at the 75th anniversary celebration of Crab Orchard on Saturday Oct. 8, 2022 at Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge, Ill. Naia McPherson nmcpherson@dailyegyptian.com

Ranger Bob Dietrich talks to visitors before taking them out on the lake during the celebration of the 75th anniversary of Crab Orchard on Saturday Oct. 8, 2022 at Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge, Ill.Naia McPherson nmcpherson@dailyegyptian.com

Getting crafty on SIU’s campus

Breanna GallaGher BGallaGher@dailyeGyptian com

Here at the Daily Egyptian, we wanted to take you to experience some things at the SIU Craft Shop; however, it’s been having an issue filling a minimum of student involvement for a few of the classes it’s been offering. So, we wanted to shine some light on what’s offered.

We spoke to Stephanie Dukat, who has been the director of the SIU Craft Shop for four years. We asked if, in her time here, she has noticed a difference in the number of students that sign up for classes.

“It’s actually getting back to normal after COVID. The craft shop was no different than anything else slow. It took a while before people started coming in and it’s now getting back to how things

used to be,” Dukat said.

It seems as though that’s been a trend with everything especially on campus and especially with our student body’s population rising. Right now, almost everything seems to be back at the level it was before COVID, if not better. It’s just a matter of getting students to register and actually get there on a regular basis.

“It also just depends on the class release and I think that, in the fall, a lot of things are happening; there’s a lot of events in the community and on campus, so sometimes in the spring semester we have a little bit better luck filling classes,” Dukat said.

With everything going on around campus, it’s not hard to get too busy or overwhelmed with classes, tests and holidays (even though those might even

be more of a reason to start visiting the craft shop more often). By registering for some of these classes, it might give you the opportunity to relax and make some gifts for friends and family whenever it gets closer to the holidays.

It might save you some money, too, since the craft shop is part of the Student Center, and if you can provide a student ID, you get a student discount. For most of the craft shop’s walk-in prices, you will not spend more than $20. Classes, however, can be more expensive.

“It depends on the class really,” Dukat said. “So, usually it’s the cost of a lesson and then whatever the materials cost. Sometimes the classes are kind of like, you can choose what you use, so, for those classes, you wouldn’t pay the material fee until you arrive, because you can kind of choose your own

supplies, so it really ranges from like $15 to $125”.

Weekends usually always do better, Dukat said, and intro to wheel throwing is full almost every session. So it is clear some classes usually do better than others, and anything that has something to do with pottery seems to be very successful in getting people to register.

However, the shop does offer classes outside of clay projects, such as printmaking with linoleum blocks, intro to sewing, stained glass, woodworking and jewelry making. With such a large variety of supplies and classes offered, you are bound to find something you might enjoy.

“The craft shop is open to everyone, student staff and faculty as well as the community, so anyone can come in

and use our facilities,” Dukat said. “We offer walk-in activities and then we also offer workshops and do campus events as well.”

This gives people a chance to learn new skills and allows them the foundation to use the space effectively. People can come in on their own with their new knowledge on how to use these tools and create things by themselves.

These classes also offer a chance to reach out to other people that have similar hobbies and provide an opportunity to go out and try new things. You never know who you might meet or what you might be capable of creating.

Staff reporter Breanna Gallagher can be reached at bgallagher@dailyegyptian.com.

Stephanie Dukat prepares for an upcoming event Oct. 6, 2022 at the Craft Shop in Carbondale, Ill. “This is for the Slab-Built Mug Workshop happening on Saturday,” Dukat said. DiAngelo Kwasny-Black | dkwasny-black@dailyegyptian.com

Bell to ring for service sits on desk Oct. 6, 2022 at the Craft Shop in Carbondale, Ill. DiAngelo Kwasny-Black | dkwasny-black@dailyegyptian.com

Mannie’s Fire Feast Review: Gud Cooking, LLC

Mannie Henderson eHenderson@dailyegyptian

It’s a new week, so there is a new opportunity for me to find some fire eats in Southern Illinois. For this edition of Mannie’s Fire Feast Review, I visited Carbondale’s Gud Cooking, LLC. The restaurant’s location is 715 N Giant City Road.

The restaurant makes soul food, or what I would like to call comfort food. Gud Cooking, LLC is one of the few restaurants, if not the only one in town where you could get such a meal. So without further ado, let’s see if the restaurant can make our taste buds sizzle and tingle in a good way!

Food Flavor:

I probably ordered more than I needed because I was very excited to go to a restaurant like this in town. I ordered baked chicken, candied yams, macaroni and cheese, cabbage and a corn muffin. I also ordered a colleague of mine some fried chicken wings.

The baked chicken had no flavor whatsoever and lacked a dash of seasoning. I requested a side of barbecue sauce to help add some flavor, but it wasn’t good. The macaroni and cheese was also underwhelming. There was barely any cheese, and it tasted like plain pasta noodles.

The candied yams tasted great! There was a sweet cinnamon taste to it that made me finish the side dish expeditiously. The cabbage was also good and had the proper seasoning and herb taste. However, the corn muffin tasted burnt and had no sweetness to it.

Lastly, I had a chance to eat one of the fried chicken wings from my colleague’s plate. The chicken tasted satisfactory, was sufficiently seasoned and had a good aftertaste to it. The chicken wings didn’t need any sauce on them because it was seasoned fine.

I’m giving the food flavor a generous score of two flames. I didn’t finish my food and didn’t take any home with me.

Food Texture:

Despite the baked chicken not being seasoned well, it was cooked at a great temperature because the meat fell off the bone. The candied yams and cabbage were soft and smooth, which made for great digestion of the food.

The chicken wings had a good balance of crunch on the outside and tenderness on the inside.

The macaroni and cheese was overcooked, and the noodles felt a bit hard during consumption. The corn muffin was harder than a physics exam. Usually, corn muffins are supposed to be

Mannie reviews his meal of Baked Chicken (Oven baked chicken that is marinated with delicious seasonings before being cooked in the oven until golden with mouthwatering flavor), a small side of Yams, a small side of Mac’N Cheese, a small side of Cabbage, a Cornbread Muffin, and 6 piece Fried Chicken Wings on Oct. 6th, 2022 at Gud Cooking in Carbondale, Ill. Ethan Grimm | @ethan_grimm

Value/Price:

The baked chicken and sides were less than $25. The six-piece chicken wings were roughly $11 but didn’t include any sides.

The restaurant gives you pretty sizable portions of the food. However, the price is not cheap and would be workable if you almost guarantee that the food would be good. For the value/ price category, the restaurant receives two and a half flames.

a plaza and shares a parking lot with other businesses. The parking is free, and there are tons of spaces available for drivers to park.

A significant part of the restaurant’s appeal is its location and how it benefits from being next to more popular businesses in town. The convenience score that best fits the restaurant is five flames.

Cleanliness:

Finally, the restaurant’s cleanliness. I fully scanned the restaurant and was generally satisfied with its ambiance.

There was a hand sanitizer dispenser in the front of the restaurant. The tables were all cleared and cleaned. The restaurant also uses plastic utensils and containers, which are safe in the middle of a pandemic.

The restaurant’s minor interior design defect is that they are still remodeling. I thought it was pretty neat that the restaurant had luxury massage chairs in the back; however, they were covered in plastic. I am giving the cleanliness criterion four flames.

Overall Score:

The overall score that Gud Cooking, LLC will receive is three flames. I believe if the restaurant could add a little bit more soul to their food’s taste, the customer experience would dramatically improve. However, until that time, I will be on the search for fire eats!

Mannie reviews his meal of Baked Chicken (Oven baked chicken that is marinated with delicious seasonings before being cooked in the oven until golden with mouthwatering flavor), a small side of Yams, a small side of Mac’N Cheese, a small side of Cabbage, a Cornbread Muffin, and 6 piece Fried Chicken Wings on Oct. 6th, 2022 at Gud Cooking in Carbondale, Ill. Ethan Grimm | @ethan_grimm

buttery and soft, but this was not the case here.

The food texture receives three flames. Although some sides were overcooked, the restaurant did a satisfactory job ensuring that the meat was adequately cooked.

Food Presentation:

The restaurant uses the simple approach of putting all its meals in a Styrofoam takeout container. This approach is great for takeout but not so great when dining in.

The containers were durable, so there was no fear of the food spilling. The restaurant also uses plastic utensils and provides paper napkins.

For food presentation, the appropriate score is two and a half flames. On the one hand, I think it’s good that the restaurant gives everyone food containers

because once they are done eating, they can either toss it or take it. But, this isn’t an ideal method for dine-in patrons.

Customer Service:

I arrived on a slow night, and no other customers were inside the space. The cashier seemed reserved and wasn’t interested in engaging much about the menu.

Once the food arrived, the waiter just brought the food to the table and walked outside. I also requested sauce on the side, but it wasn’t given to me. I had to walk to the front and ask the cook to provide me with the sauce.

The cook came out and checked on us, so I credited them there.

For customer service, I am giving the restaurant two flames. It wasn’t the best dining experience I’ve had with a server. There is room for improvement.

Convenience:

The restaurant is located inside

Staff reporter Mannie Henderson can be reached at ehenderson@ dailyegyptian.com

“Bros” succeeds as a hilarious and unapologetic modern romcom

In 2022, a cut and dry comedy from a major studio is becoming more and more rare in theatrical releases. Comedies are usually put straight to streaming or more often secluded to television. It’s even less common that they are released by studios as big as Universal and are given a wide release.

It’s downright unprecedented for it to be a romantic comedy strictly about a gay relationship, with hardly any compromises for a wide straight audience, but “Bros” somehow checks every box.

“Bros” is a ferociously modern film about the complexities of dating in the gay community, and it stars Billy Eichner, most commonly known for his trailblazing and repeatedly viral reality series “Billy on the Street.” Eichner has popped around a handful of films and tv series in the years since the show’s rise in popularity, but “Bros” is easily his biggest and most hands-on creative endeavor since “Billy on the Street.”

The film functions on many different levels: a romcom story, a commentary on LGBTQ+ culture, a seemingly semiautobiographical story of Eichner’s own experiences, as well as a vessel for endless jokes and critiques with Eicher’s signature cynical style.

The marketing leadup to the film’s release was questionable in terms of displaying the film’s true attitude and strengths. The trailer was quite generic and safe, which implied the film was going to be about gay culture, but rather than represent LGBTQ+ audiences accurately, was just made as pandering entertainment for selfcongratulating straight audiences.

I can happily say that is very much not the kind of film “Bros” is and even goes as far to frequently make fun of these kinds of hollow, corporatized forms of cash-in representation.

Eichner sets the precedent early on, with a very meta scene that depicts his character in a meeting with a film studio executive asking him to make this kind of lifeless film and him rejecting such a concept.

The most exciting thing about “Bros” is that it’s a genuinely hilarious comedy, albeit having a somewhat niche sense of humor. I found myself laughing out loud every few minutes, making it one of the better comedies I’ve seen in a theater in years. It doesn’t hold back any punches, nor does it sugarcoat the absurdities and complex nature of the highly politicized dialogue that anyone can find themselves in on a daily basis in 2022.

At times, the writing can feel relentless, never ceasing to completely tear down any and everything that Eichner (or his character Bobby) finds incorrect or ridiculous in the world. It can easily overwhelm anyone who isn’t already entrenched in LGBTQ+ culture or the political subjects surrounding it, but the film feels true to itself and the audience it’s representing in not attempting to dumb

anything down.

The performances from Eichner and Luke Macfarlane, who plays Aaron, the romantic partner of Bobby, are surprisingly layered. The film is Eichner’s first leading role, and he proves that he has the chops to deliver on both the comedic elements of the film, as well as the dramatic ones.

He delivers one monologue that is especially indicative of his talent and potential as a star going forward, bouncing from melancholy, to funny, to authoritative, all within a few minutes. Macfarlane also serves up the charisma, in a highly charming and likable role that compliments Eichner’s ferocity.

Although the performances and script of “Bros” are impressive, it often falls flat from a technical standpoint. Large studio romcoms have never been known for excelling in any way when it comes to these aspects, even to the point of them often being made fun of for their highly sterile aesthetics. But at times, “Bros” can feel especially bland, with no discernable style or look that stands out when it comes to the score, cinematography or lighting.

The editing was notably bad, with characters changing positions between cuts unnaturally, scene’s geography not quite making sense, as well as dialogue not syncing properly in a few moments. This made some of the films more dramatic moments feel highly underwhelming, with the editing working against it. The film cuts far too much, falling into the lackluster editing style that often plagues this style of movie.

The romance at the center of the film is mostly solid, as it represents the ups and downs of a relationship between a couple that are both afraid of commitment. While certain turns felt somewhat rushed, forced or cliché, by the end of the film I was still completely wrapped up in all of it.

“Bros” is fully unapologetic in its very honest (and often very explicit) representation of the trials and tribulations of trying to date as a gay man in modern times. The film may not be for everyone, but I think regardless of your sexuality or relationship status, “Bros” is a fun time at the theaters and is guaranteed at least a handful of laughs for anyone on board.

I hope for more studio comedies to get released, as nothing quite beats the communal experience of a good joke in a packed auditorium. But, sadly “Bros” seems to be underperforming at the box office, which has many filmgoers pessimistic for the future of the genre, as a film like “Bros” is a rarity.

Staff reporter Zaden Dennis can be reached at zdennis@dailyegyptian.com and you can find his other reviews at letterboxd.com/Zadenator.

Brooke Nicholas | bnicholas@dailyegyptian.com

Jen Sewell guides Saluki softball in her first offseason as head coach

Brandyn Wilcoxen

Tulsa, Oklahoma, native Jen Sewell spent 13 years as an assistant coach on Kerri Blaylock’s staff. During that time, the Southern Illinois softball program went to the NCAA postseason three times and won the Missouri Valley Conference tournament twice.

On March 2, 2022, Blaylock stepped down from her position as head coach, and Sewell took on the job as interim before becoming the permanent coach later in the summer. The team didn’t miss a beat, accumulating a 21-13-1 record after Sewell took over.

Sewell believes that the longstanding culture of the program allowed her transition to go as smoothly as possible.

“I think the program’s bigger than the pressure that’s on me,” Sewell said. “It’s a bigger culture than that. I think my job is just to maintain what is a formula that’s always worked here.”

Sewell is only the third head coach in Saluki softball history, which dates back to 1968 with Dr. Kay Brechtelsbauer and continued with Blaylock in 2000. Both of her predecessors are Saluki Hall of Famers, with Blaylock to be inducted on Oct. 15.

“We just keep doing what the program values,” Sewell said. “Nothing has really changed in that aspect. That was decided a long time ago when Kay Brechtelsbauer was with this program, and then taken over by Kerri.”

Saluki softball’s sustained success across several decades makes Sewell’s job easier in a way, treating the job as business as usual. That isn’t to say that circumstances have been normal in recent years, with the COVID-19 pandemic dictating a lot of

how collegiate athletics have operated since 2020.

“There were times during the pandemic when we weren’t in our clubhouse. We couldn’t be in the locker room together. We couldn’t eat dinner together. We were spread out differently,” Sewell said. “And those are the times that we build chemistry in the offseason, sitting down to a meal together or doing an activity together.”

Restrictions related to the pandemic limited what players could do together off the field. Although they took the field together as a team, it was difficult to keep that feeling up when gatherings and activities were so restricted.

“We’re such a big culture program and a family program, that it was hard to have to keep the family apart. It was like not getting able to see your best friend. We put in a lot of effort to keep kids calm and comfortable and training, and things like that. But I know that in the back of their mind that there was some worry, like, ‘am I the next one that’s gonna have to be sitting out away from my buddies?’”

However, the situation has improved enough to allow those protocols to be lifted, giving some Salukis their first ever normal offseason.

“I think you can tell they’re a little freer in this offseason,” Sewell said. “It’s much more of a college campus type experience. They can go to football, they’ll be able to go to basketball, volleyball, track.”

Although softball season doesn’t start until spring, the Salukis always play exhibition games during the warmer weekends in the fall. This period provides a preview of the new team, and allows the coaching staff to assess what the team will need to work on, and what it can excel at.

“We’ve tried multiple different batting lineups.

Pitching’s been kind of set,” Sewell said. “I feel like we’ve tried a little bit of everything, which I like. So by the time we get to the spring, we’re gonna know a little bit better about what works.”

The Salukis played eight exhibition games this fall; one each against Division I Saint Louis and Division II Maryville, and the rest against various local community colleges in Illinois and Missouri. Sewell said the team needs games against teams like Saint Louis and Maryville to “judge where we are.”

Additionally, the exhibition contests serve as a friendly yet competitive challenge against opponents that give the Salukis a taste of the level of play they will experience when the spring season rolls around.

“It’s just reminding these players, especially the young ones, that you’ve stepped up a level, so you’ve got to step your game up a level. You can’t just do what you’ve always done,” Sewell said.

A notable feature of the 2023 Saluki softball team will be its youth. Only three seniors are on the roster, who combined for just 18% of the team’s at-bats last season compared to 31% taken by the 2022 senior class.

Part of the reason for this is the impact of the COVID year granted to NCAA athletes in 2020 that allowed them to retain an extra year of eligibility. Sewell said this will be the first year with no “COVID seniors,” meaning that the 2023 team will be as they were recruited without any abnormal eligibility situations.

“The COVID thing was a good thing, and it was also an interesting thing for some because it backed up a couple people in playing time,” Sewell said. “This is the year that I told them, ‘this is your year to go and to really play.’”

“I think everyone that we have on our roster

probably could play two positions and easily hit in our lineup,” Sewell said. “I think, with the graduations, became some big openings, especially up the middle of our field.”

Along with the entire starting outfield from last year’s MVC tournament game against Illinois State, only third baseman Rylie Hamilton will return among infielders, as catcher Sydney Sikes, and infielders Jenny Jansen and Ashley Wood were part of the outgoing senior class.

“Those are key positions, especially for us defensively, but those kids were also big in our offensive lineup,” Sewell said. “It’s a big opportunity for some of those young kids to jump right into the lineup.”

Now that the exhibition games are over, the team will have a few more months to get ready for the regular season, which will begin in February 2023. That journey begins with how Southern will handle the rest of this offseason, building off of what it learned during exhibition action.

“Now I can literally just write bullet points of exactly the things that we’re gonna go after, down to the littlest skill, up to some of the game management pieces that we need to work on,” Sewell said. “We’ll have a very precise plan going into the offseason, and I think any time you have kids who can play multiple positions, it’s been about seeing what works together.”

Saluki softball will look to continue its streak of seven consecutive winning seasons, and return to the NCAA Tournament after doing so in three of the last five seasons where a postseason was held.

Staff reporter Brandyn Wilcoxen can be reached at bwilcoxen@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter @BrandynWilcoxen.

Sophie Whitten

Sophie