University Press, November 11, 2022

NATIONAL

This year’s mid-terms were expected to see signifi cant Republican gains, with both the House of Repre sentatives and the Senate expected to be in the control of the GOP.

Instead, as of the morn ing of Nov. 9, the Repub lican majority in the house was projected to under dou ble figures and the Senate was still evenly split.

With President Joe Biden’s approval rating at 41.4% with a disapproval rating at 53.5% amid con cerns over inflation, as well as a trend for mid-term elections to go against a sit

ting president, a so-called Blue Wave was expected.

However, as of the morn ing after the election, it has failed to materialize.

Democrat John Fetter man defeated TV doctor Mehmet Oz in the hotly contested Pennsylvania Senate race, which was pre viously under Republican control.

In Georgia, sitting Demo crat Raphael Warnock and ex-NFL running back Her schel Walker are locked in a dead heat at 49% with a Libertarian candidate hold ing the other 2%. It looks likely that Warnock and Walker will face a runoff on Dec. 6.

Senate races in Wiscon sin, Arizona and Nevada were too close to call at press time.

According to the website fivethirtyeight.com, results from the races in Nevada and Arizona may not be known for another week. Democrats need two of the uncalled races to maintain control of the senate.

Local Republicans Randy Weber and Brian Babin were re-elected to the House of Representatives in Districts 14 and 36 respec tively.

Republicans

to nine seats.

TEXAS

In Texas, Republicans held control of the top of fices, with Greg Abbott win

LOCAL

In

(NATCHITOCHES,

A&MCommerce in the SLC Tour nament, the Lady Cards returned to Beaumont with a second championship to their names.

“Winning the double (regu lar season and tournament) is hard,” first-year head coach Nathan Kogut said. “Some teams are good in the regular season, some teams are good in the tournament. This team just shows up.

“I don’t think they even know what their record is at the end of the day. They just like to be around each other, and I’m lucky to be here.”

There was never much doubt they would be here, either. Lamar cruised their way to a 15-1-2 record during the regular season, finishing first place in the Southland at 10-1-1 in conference play with their sole loss came in a 2-0 home heartbreaker to North western State.

The Lady Cards were unde niably dominant, outscoring their opponents 39-9 over the season. That 30-point goal differential helped LU finish third among all DI universi ties in won-lost-tied percent age (.889).

squad were a two-way

are expected to take control of the House but with a majority smaller than expected, with the ma jority ranginging from seven

ning a third term as gov ernor. Dan Patrick was reelected Lieutenant Governor and Ken Paxton was re-elected as attorney general, each with 54% of the vote.

elections, Christian Manuel Hayes was elected

Texas State Representative for District 22, defeating Republican Jacorion Randle with 56.8% of the vote. The district had been represented by Joe Deshotel for 23 years. Deshotel an nounced his retirement last year. Hayes has spent the past decade as Deshotel’s chief of staff.

Keagan Smith UP sports editor

Lou isiana) — The Lamar Univer sity women’s soccer team headed to Natchitoches, Lou isiana last weekend with one Southland Conference title al ready under their belts and after a 1-0 victory over Hous ton Christian and a dominant 4-1 win over Texas

senior Christine Kitaru shoots during the Lady Cards SLC championship win

photo by Brian Quijada

Christian Manuel Hayes

threat boasting both an elite offense, and stifling defense.

Lamar ranked inside the top 30 nationally with 2.17 goals per game, also finishing first in the nation with a .892 save percentage.

Their first-overall finish in the Southland standings earned the Lady Cardinals a bye until the semifinals of the conference tournament.

In the semis matchup with HCU, Laura Linares scored Lamar’s lone goal in the 34th minute, and the team’s de fense held strong for the re mainder of the match to win.

They faced Texas A&MCommerce two days later in the tournament finals. The Lady Cardinals controlled the time of possession battle, but allowed a Lions goal 19 mi nutes in — Lamar showed tre mendous poise though, rallying back to tie the game at half before blowing out their opponent in the final 45 minutes.

“The game plan never really changed,” Kogut said. “We took advantage of our

chances and just kept pound ing.”

Lamar senior Christine Ki taru ranked ninth in the coun try, averaging .75 goals per game this season, scoring 12 total across her 16 appear ances. She netted the equal izer for the Lady Cards to knot the game 1-1, also converting another shot in the second half to put LU ahead 3-1.

Kitaru finished with two goals and an assist, earning Southland Conference tourna ment MVP.

“It took a lot of hard work and dedication, and we came out and showed out,” Kitaru said. “It’s so amazing being a part of this team. The chem istry that we have from the top, to the backline, to the midfield — what can I say? It’s the dream team at the mo ment.”

Cariel Ellis also finished with two goals and an assist, while goalkeeper Nicole Panis accounted for five saves.

Notably, Lamar University President Jaime Taylor and first-year athletic director Jeff

Lamar hosts 26th Annual Food Drive

Lamar University is asking all student or ganizations and LU departments to chal lenge each other to collect non-perishable food items for the Cardinals Pantry and Southeast Texas Food Bank.

Donated items may be dropped off in 208 Setzer Student Center up to Nov. 14.

The organization or department donat ing the most items will be recognized.

For more information, call 409-8807775, or email nslp@lamar.edu.

journalism

O’Malley were both in atten dance supporting the Lady Cardinals at the tournament finals.

“It’s an affirmation of their fantastic season to be able to win a conference champion ship and get their ticket punched to the NCAA tourna

ment,” O’Malley said. “This is one of the reasons we do what we do — to enjoy days like this.”

Lamar will ride the mo mentum into a meeting with eighth-ranked Louisiana State University in the NCAA tour nament’s opening round. The

game will be held at 5:30 p.m., in Baton Rouge, Lou isiana.

It will be livestreamed on ESPN+.

The Lady Cardinals earned several all-confer ence honors. See page 15 for details.

broadcasting

“The most important thing to remember is this: To be ready at any moment to give up what you are for what you might become..” —W.E. Du Bois

The Lady Cardinals celebrate their Southland Conference tournament win, Nov. 6, in Natchitoches, Louisiana. The team added the prize to their regular season crown. They play LSU in Baton Rouge, Nov. 11, in the NCAA tournament.

UP photo by Brian Quijada

‘Hey, I’m here’

LU’s Hispanic Society finds connection at HACU

Maddie Sims UP news editor

Members of Lamar Univer sity’s Hispanic Society took a trip to San Diego for the His panic Association of Colleges and Universities conference, Oct. 7-11, where students met with different companies for job opportunities. The event was scheduled as part of His panic Heritage Month.

This is the first year Lamar University has attended this conference, as provost Dan Brown has worked to grow the campus into an emerging His panic Serving Institution, with Lamar senior Emily Alvarez being one of the participants.

“It was one of the best ex periences ever, honestly,” she said. “I spoke with several com panies out there. For example, I spoke with Deloitte, Denny’s and with Garlow, which is a wine company. Some of the other students who went there are in the medical field, and there’s a lot of universities out there for that. A bunch of people were offering intern ships, too, so it benefited every one.”

During the conference, workshops and panels were held throughout the day, with career fairs in the evenings, Al verez said.

“You would have all types of booths set up with Capital One, Baylor, Google, Amazon Prime, and you would go and talk (to them), ask questions about their recruitment, how they got into the field, how it’s going for them, or how you can get your self where they are,” she said. “One thing they didn’t mention was that everyone there, we all come from basically the same struggles — first generation parents have lower than a high school education.

“I didn’t have to explain to these individuals where I’m coming from. I didn’t have to explain to them what I’ve gone through, they’ve gone through the same things, we’re all going through the same struggles. So, we’re not even focusing on that. We’re just focusing on how to just move forward helping one another.

“That was really great. It hit us, especially, when we did that first career fair, because you saw literally hundreds of stu dents, hundreds of partici pants, and you just look at them and are like, ‘Wow!’

“I’m going to quote one of the girls who went, her name was Vicki. She said, ‘It’s so real. I feel so relieved to see other

people with brown hair, brown eyes, dark skin,’ it was such a relief to her. And I said, now that you say it, I realized it, this is new. We’re all in the same situations, not the exact same, but similar ones, and we’re all just striving to move past our hardships.”

Alvarez said she spoke to a representative for Denny’s who planned to give her an intern ship in a location in Dallas when she turned in her résumé.

“That was just from network ing,” she said. “It’s so crazy how you have all these resources in the same room. All you have to say is, ‘Hey, I’m here.’

“Another thing that really stood out to me was during the Deloitte workshop. They did this little game (where they said) raise your hand if you want to present. I’m shy some times, but then I (thought), I have to push myself. So, I

raised my hand. The whole time my heart was racing, and I was nervous, and I was shak ing. But I had Deloitte employ ees come up to me saying, ‘Hey, I really liked how you pre sented. Let me take a look at your resume.’ It shocked me. It

doesn’t hit you until it actually happened. And it’s crazy be cause it happened to the rest of us, too. Like these are simply my experiences, but (the others) would tell you the exact same thing.”

The LU students took time to sightsee as well during the trip.

“We made it a priority to go the beach,” Alvarez said. “I know we weren’t supposed to, but we did. Well, no one told us we weren’t supposed to. We had free time. But we probably should have gotten rest. We saw sunsets out there, and we got to taste several good foods. We were so shocked that there was no sunrise over there. It was just gloomy (in the morn ings), like whenever it’s going to rain out here. That’s how it was every morning. We’re al ways so used to the sun rising and setting over here.

“And I think it was just funny, because (there are things) we take for granted — cheap gas, beautiful sunrises. Our Ubers were telling us (gas was) between seven to eight bucks and we’re complaining about our $3.”

Alvarez said her favorite part of the trip was connecting with the other Lamar students.

“We started off as complete strangers and we left as a family,” she said. “We even took family photos and stuff in matching clothes, we actually really connected. Now I know if I see an opportunity that would fit them, I would tell them right away, or if they see an opportu nity that fits me, they would tell me right away. That’s one of the best things for me, because we’re all here in this small town and, at the end of the day, you have to have each other’s backs.”

To join Lamar’s Hispanic Society, visit their group page on LU Hub.

The group can also be found on Facebook and Instagram.

Emily Alvarez, center, poses for a “family” photo with other memebrs of LU’s Hispanic Society during a trip to the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities conference in San Diego, Oct. 7-11. Courtesy photo

Members of LU’s Hispanic Society pose with Antonio Flores, HACU president during the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities conference in San Diego,

Courtesy photo

I didn’t have to explain to them what I’ve gone through, they’ve gone through the same things, we’re all going through the same struggles.

—Emily Alvarez

ExxonMobil offers intern opportunities

Jill Stokes UP contributor

ExxonMobil recently talked to communication students regarding paid internship op portunities for communica tion students looking to gain experience in the work force.

“It’s important for us to build our future workforce and the talent here locally. Beaumont is so incredible,” Andrew Ortiz, public and gov ernment affairs representa tive, said. “You have great writers, great producers, great content creators here at Lamar.

“We want for that talent to be recognized and help us ad dress the challenges we have as a company.”

During the presentation Ortiz and Nakisha Burns, manager of public and gov ernment affairs, talked about ExxonMobil’s history and goals, and how the company wants to help students be come part of ExxonMobil’s to morrow through their internship program.

“We came to Lamar to talk about our public and govern ment affairs internship for stu dents enrolled in the college,” Burns said. “So, hopefully, they will take the leap and apply for the internship. We would love for them to have the opportunity to get to know our company a little bit better,

Built along the banks of the Neches River in 1903, ExxonMobil’s Beaumont refining facilities have grown into an integrated petrochemical complex.

and for us to get to know them a little bit better as well.”

Ortiz and Burns put a huge emphasis on the internship program and what they are looking for — great writers and strong communicators. This is why they search for po tential interns within the Communication and Fine Arts program, they said.

Many students attended the event. There were differ ent majors, classifications,

and experience levels present. Kathleen Bourgeois, a sopho more majoring in communi cation advertising, went to the presentation to learn about internship opportunities and work experience.

“I am looking to gain knowledge in any kind of way,” she said. “That means internship experience and work outside and inside of school.”

The presentation stressed

the importance of getting work experience as a student, either by internship or paid job. Ortiz offered advice for students seeking internships.

“Look for an opportunity that really matches what your personal goals and your pro fessional goals are,” he said. “Go into a situation (and ask) where can I add value? Where can I solve problems?

“There’s always gonna be an opportunity for you. Just

approach that with some opti mism. As long as you really approach it with confidence, knowledge in your talent and knowledge of what you can bring to the table, there’s al ways going to be room for you.”

For more information on student opportunities within ExxonMobil, visit https://cor porate.exxonmobil.com/about -us/careers/student-place ment

King Harald Bluetooth converted Vikings to Christianity

McKenna Ratcliff UP contributor

Did you know that Bluetooth named the company after a Vik ing? And the logo is a Runic rep resentation of King Harald Bluetooth’s initials. He was king of Denmark in 958 to 986, as well as being king of Norway from 970.

Bluetooth chose King Harald, whose last name was actually Gormsson, because he repre sents unification and bonding, which is what the symbol means. Harold unified the tribes of Den mark and Norway, and even managed to convert the Vikings to Christianity, which was no mean feat considering Viking pa ganism was based on a belief that they could only go to Val halla, their heaven, if they died in battle with a weapon in their hand. That’s a lot different from, “forgive your neighbor.”

Although Harald made Chris tianity the official religion of Denmark, Scandinavian conver sion started in the early eighth century, specifically 710, when the English and the Germans started sending missionaries, in part as an effort to combat Vik ing raids.

One of these missionaries, English archbishop Wilibrord, was sent to Denmark in 710. He was treated harshly by the Danes because he was Christian. He re turned to England with 30 boys who wanted to learn the Chris

The runic symbols that represent H and B, for Harald Bluetooth, were combined to create the Bluetooth company logo.

tian ways. Converting such a number was considered an ac complishment.

The most notable influence in the conversion of Scandinavia was Ankar, or Ansgar, “The Apostle of the North.” In his first two years living in Denmark as a missionary, he founded a school to teach the youth of Denmark Christian ways, in hopes they would become evangelists to their people. Twelve boys from the school were presented to King Harald, who only two years later was driven from his own kingdom for introducing Christi anity.

Without Harald’s protection, Anksar’s work was interrupted. He passed the missionary work over to a monk, Gislema, and moved to Sweden. He went on to become the archbishop of Ham burg, Sweden, and the patron saint of Scandinavia. He died Feb. 3, 865, at the age of 64, hav ing dedicated most of his life to missionaries in Denmark and Sweden.

While the missionaries did their part, conversion became more prevalent when the Vikings realized they could make a lot of money trading with the Chris tians. For example, a blacksmith could make a silver Celtic cross one day and an iron battle axe the next.

King Harold Bluetooth didn’t declare the Danish Christians until 965, according to the runic writing on the Jelling Stone,

which was discovered in 1941 and now sits in the museum in Jelling, Denmark. The carved stone describes King Harold’s wish to declare the Danish to be Christians and to unify the tribes. The Norse Pagan religion did n’t die out until ap proximately 1050.

A stereotype often assigned to Vikings is their stubbornness.

Tracey Legel, in “Introduction of Christianity into Scandinavia, Ice land, and Fin land,” writes, “They went down in a very Viking style.” For many centuries, the Vikings be lieved that the Christian God was just another one of their gods, albeit a weaker one. So, it was a big fight between the Pagans and the Christians for a long time.

If one lived in Denmark, Sweden or Norway, one was in constant battle with one’s neigh bors. Were you completely bap tized and able to trade with Christians? Or were you Pagan, meaning did you defy your father’s gods?

It was a very rough few cen turies for the Nordic people. But how does this affect modern society? There is a theory that because England was invaded by the Danes, that’s how the Eng lish acquired their imperialistic mindset. Scandinavian flags still fly the Christian Cross to show their loyalty to the religion.

The Jelling Stone, above, at the Danish National Museum in Jelling, tells the story of King Harald Bluetooth’s efforts to convert the Danes and Norwegian tribes to Christianity.

Forgiveness plan offers relief

Colby Sessums UP contributor

Student loans are trou bling for new freshmen, but the new forgiveness plan may give students relief.

Student loans are “money you borrow that must be paid back.” Student loans may come from the federal government, a state govern ment, or private institutions such as banks. It is impor tant for one to be aware of the terms and conditions of the loans. Things such as in terest rates, repayment op tions, deferments, and grace periods should all be taken into consideration,” Lamar’s student aid page states.

Freshmen have a hard time really understanding student loans. Dawson Schremp is a business major, who does not have fi nancial help from his par ents.

“As a new student to col lege I did not fully under stand loans,” he said. “I had no clue there were different type of loans. There are some you have to pay inter est back to and some you do not. I wish I had my parents help with it, because as a freshman I feel we all have trouble understanding what student loans really are.”

There are certain things that new students need to know when getting a loan. The difference between the different loans is crucial.

“New freshmen need to

understand the difference between the different type of loans,” Garrett Roesler, a freshman criminal justice major said. “I am lucky my parents helped me under stand that subsidized loans are the type of loans to get, these have lower interest rates, meaning less money to pay back later.” There are new forgiveness plans that help students pay back their debt. This has really given students hope at being able

to be debt free starting their adult lives. This plan could make it easier on students and relieve a lot of stress.

“The new forgiveness plan gives me hope for when I get out of college to maybe be debt free. This would really set me up for my actual adult life. Student loans have really brought a lot of stress, because I may not have to worry about paying all of this money back. With out my parents helping me

financially this would be very beneficial.”

This plan is exciting for every new college student. It opened new doors, because now new or old students may not have to worry about their student loan debt, Roesler said.

“I feel this is honestly a great idea,” he said. “I am not a hundred percent sure what the catch is yet though. But, from what I have seen so far this is truly exciting to

new college students like me, and even ones who are out of college now because student loans may not be as big of an issue anymore,”

With President Joe Biden’s new forgiveness plan students may be eligible to get as much as $20,000 back for federal student loans, not private loans. It is helping former or current college student become debt free in a timelier manner and relieving stress.

Freshmen should be aware of how student loans work

UP photo illustration by Brian Quijada

BASKETBALL Home Counts

SLC reboot demands fan support

Lamar University’s return home to the Southland Confer ence this year marks the dawn of a new era for Cardinal ath letics. The move is un doubtedly a positive one for LU.

The changes to university athletics have been in the hands of key decision makers, such as coaches and admin istrators. There is one giant change the administration can’t make, though.

This time, the ball is in Car dinal fans’ court, and students and alumni alike hold the play book. It’s time to have a tough conversation about fan engage ment, because something has to change here — for the sake of the players, and other stu dents, too.

With basketball season starting, it’s time to make a di rect appeal to you, the absent “fan.” The Cardinal sports teams need you.

Generally speaking, it seems many in the Lamar community are oblivious to how grueling the student-athlete experience is. The “student” part takes pri ority of course, players attend classes and spend late nights working on homework just like the rest of us. But they also spend countless hours at prac tice, film sessions and workouts during the week. The result is a balancing act of academic and athletic responsibilities.

Playing games and perform ing in front of the home crowd

Keagan Smith UP sports editor

is supposed to be the payoff for all the work student-athletes put in. Yet, rows of empty seats and sparse crowds are the most frequent sights at Lamar sport ing events. Our teams deserve better than that.

While residential students make up a fraction of our total enrollment, tons of students live nearby in the greater Golden Triangle area. On a free night, commuters could make the drive to the Montagne Center to catch their Cardinals in action on the hardwood. Home court advantage is sup posed to be a difference-maker in sports, but it doesn’t mean anything if nobody shows up to watch.

Whether it’s basketball, football, soccer or something else, sports are deeply in grained in the college experi ence. Student sections nationwide show up to cheer on their teams, and they usually have a great time doing it. Sure, expecting a Montagne Center sell-out of 10,000

people on any given night is setting the expectation far too high. However, we can cer tainly do better at showing up and creating an atmosphere that is fun for the players and fans alike.

It’s true that at the end of the day, people want to show up for a team that wins. Thankfully, the Southland presents a chance for Lamar to become a winner. For example, we just saw LU women’s soccer dominate the rest of the con ference, winning the SLC regu lar season and earning the first seed in the conference tourna ment. Frankly, they didn’t get the support they deserved from the community throughout the year. Moving forward, we have the chance to remedy that mis step.

Some of our teams are re building, while others are al ready consistent examples of success — and they all have plenty of young talent waiting in the wings. New athletic di rector Jeff O’Malley has a con crete vision for Cardinal sports, and Lamar President Jaime Taylor has put his full support behind LU athletics. The Southland is the best place for us to make a name for our selves. It’s a perfect storm.

This is the chance to reset the status quo at LU and build a vibrant sports culture. Show up to support your peers. Be come the home-field advan tage. We’re counting on you.

Commentary

Sabria Dean, left, and Jason Thirdkill will hope to lead their respective teams to Southland Conference glory this season. UP photo by Brian Quijada

CARDINALS Youth movement

Brooks looks to JuCo to kickstart rebuild

Keagan Smith UP sports editor

A large whiteboard hangs in the corner of the coaches’ office, black dry-erase marker scribbled across its glossy sur face. Written in the middle is a rigorous practice schedule, with skill work and condition ing drills precisely outlined to the exact minute. Scrawled alongside the schedule is a list of seemingly random words: floppy, horns and isolation, to name a few. Their meaning may be lost on most, but the whiteboard and its contents symbolize something more.

Lamar Cardinal basketball season is back.

There’s no shying away from the truth. Last season was a mess for the Lamar University men’s basketball program. Injuries, a COVID outbreak, forfeited games, ejections and a lost locker room resulted in a disastrous 2-27 season. Forget about all that, though. As it stands today, the feeling around the team is totally different — just ask head coach Alvin Brooks.

“It's refreshing, and it’s in vigorating,” Brooks said. “It's really good. We've got 10 new scholarship guys, and includ ing a walk-on, we have 11 new guys overall. The energy, focus and commitment level is entirely different.”

After inheriting a lack luster Lamar lineup in his first season last year, Brooks has assembled nearly the en tire team from the ground up. As he mentioned, a stagger ing 11 of 15 players on the roster are newcomers. The coaching staff identified the program’s needs early in the recruiting process, allowing them to bring in a talented batch of players who will con tribute in their own ways. However, there are some common traits the coaching staff sought out in recruits.

“It was important that we get guys who understand what winning, overcoming odds, and working hard looks like,” Brooks said. “We re cruited that type of mindset. Another thing is trying to em phasize to these guys who we are here as a university and as a program. We’re a smaller school, but we’re blue collar, hard workers. We enjoy the process, and we're going to try to be 1-0 every day throughout it. I think they've done a great job with that.”

The recruiting class in cludes three junior college All-Americans in Terry An derson, Adam Hamilton and

Chris Pryor. The former NJCAA All-Americans will provide experience, and, hopefully, leadership, to a locker room that could cer tainly use a bit of both.

“The junior college guys have been in college now for multiple years, even though this is their first year playing Division I basketball,” Brooks said. “Those guys have to lead the way for the young guys. But you never know, we’ve got some young guys that I think will embrace the chal lenge. We'll see how they do.”

Now that Brooks has “his group” of players to work with, the program can truly embark on the rebuilding process. In the Southland’s preseason poll, Lamar found themselves predicted to fin ish in ninth place out of the 10 SLC schools. The reality of rebuilding teams is that re setting the culture and estab lishing a consistent winner takes time. The results may not be instantaneous, and player development will be a more fitting measure of suc cess than LU’s win-loss record at the end of the cam paign. That won’t stop them from trying to win it all, though. These guys are Divi sion I athletes — competing is what they do.

The Cardinals will be play ing the same style of basket ball as last year — a fast-paced, up-tempo offense is the name of the game, al beit with more size in the frontcourt to aid in paint pro tection and the rebounding battle. Lamar’s student-ath letes have bought in through out the preseason and are ready to roll into the regular season.

“They've all been really solid,” Brooks said. “It's hard to single one guy out as a main option because playing by committee is going to be our strength. I think we have eight starters in my mind, and I think we have another one or two guys that could own any given night. That's good for us because we don't have to put too much of a burden on one guy to carry the program.

“Everybody's worked as hard as I thought they would have. Everybody has put in the extra work I thought they would, and everybody's pre pared the right way. Now we’ve just got to see how ma ture we are when the lights come on and we're facing op position and a little adver sity.”

Lamar’s return to the Southland Conference means

more to Brooks than most. After all, he knows it quite in timately. A Cardinal Hall of Honor inductee, Brooks played point guard at LU from 1979-1981, helping

guide his team to multiple conference titles and NCAA tournament bids.

“The Southland is a great opportunity for us,” he said.

“Our fans get to see us more

and watch us on a regular basis, and the travel is going to be better. And I thought more about it and said, ‘Man, you can't really write a script like this.’ To play in the Southland and then go back years later and actually coach in that league, it’s special. I’m excited about it.”

Lamar’s youth movement will at the very least be fun to follow, and their potential for the future provides plenty for fans to look forward to.

“I’m not looking to rec reate the team that I played on,” Brooks said. “But there's a possibility, and it's a reality, that we will get back to being relevant again and very com petitive. We want the com munity to be deeply excited about watching us play and coming to support us. That's my vision and that's what the goal is.”

Lamar’s non-conference campaign has begun, and they open Southland Confer ence competition at home on Dec. 31 vs. the McNeese State Cowboys.

The Cardinals’ full regular season schedule is available online at lamarcardinals.com.

Lamar Cardinal forward Terry Ander son, above, dunks during practice in the Montagne Center.

Lamar men’s head coach Alvin Brooks, center left, works with Jason Thirdkill, left, and Adam Hamilton on defense during practice.

Cardinal forward Valentin Catt, bot tom left, floats the ball up during a recent practice in the Montagne Center ahead of the new season which sees LU return to the South land Conference.

UP photo by Brian Quijada

LADY CARDS

Going ‘all in’

Coach Franklin preaches commitment

Keagan Smith UP sports editor

‘All in!’

The mantra of Lamar Uni versity’s women’s basketball team may not be long, but those two simple words are gospel as the Lady Cardinals open a new hoops season in the Southland Conference.

Fourth-year head coach Aqua Franklin knows what it takes to continue building LU’s program up to the heights she knows the team is capable of. That’s exactly why she’s instilling an “all in” team mentality for her squad.

“When we had our spring meetings, going into the summer, we talked about being all in,” Franklin said. “We talked about discipline, consistency, working hard each and every day, and re spect. If we do those four things every day, that means we're committed to this team. It will be an all-in process and our players have committed to that — and committed to each other.”

The Lady Cardinals fin ished with a 14-15 overall record last season, going 8-10 in Western Athletic Confer ence play. After an eighthplace finish in the standings, Lamar downed New Mexico State to ensure a WAC tourna ment berth. However, LU’s season ended with a fourpoint loss to Sam Houston State in the first round — a disappointing finale for a team that showed real grit over their campaign.

Lamar University departed the WAC over the summer, but with nine returning players and a significantly lighter travel schedule ahead, the Lady Cards are ready to make a splash in the South land Conference. While the SLC’s preseason poll pegged the Lady Cards to finish in fourth place, Franklin has higher expectations.

“We have Akasha Davis and Sabria Dean coming back, and they’re right there, neck-andneck,” Franklin said. “With the addition of Armani Taylor, Anaya Bernard and Portia Adams, I think we have a core group with a lot of talent. The

only way for us to go is up.”

Davis unexpectedly emerged as Lamar’s star player last season, averaging 12.5 points and 6.7 rebounds a game en-route to earning WAC Freshman of the Year and All-Conference Second Team honors. Franklin said the sophomore center worked hard over the offseason to im prove her free-throw shooting, which should help her scoring average tick up even higher.

“Putting people around Akasha Davis so she can't be double teamed, and having more options on the peri meter, is going to help us,” Franklin said. “But, it's a very unselfish team in the sense that we don't care who the high point is. We're moving the ball around because we know that if we wanna win, we all win. That’s the mindset of our team and this whole pro gram — do whatever it takes.”

Franklin made it clear that the team has bought into the Lamar style of play through out the preseason and is com mitted to doing the dirty work that it takes to win.

“Defense has been the one thing that we've kind of hung our hat on,” Franklin said.

“Pressuring the basketball, creating turnovers and start ing to create offense with de fense is going to help us tremendously, too.

“We want to play fast and try to score in the first six sec onds of our offense. But, like I said, all that starts with our defense, and getting out and pressuring to make people turn the ball over.”

The Lady Cardinals are fully capable of making some noise this year. There is one big concern, though. Even though many players are re turning for their second or third season at LU, the team remains quite young. Seven out of the 12 student-athletes rostered are underclassmen, and the team only has two seniors in the locker room.

Youth brings inexperience, which can make winning on a consistent basis difficult.

“With challenges, there's opportunity,” Franklin said. “The young ladies that we brought in are very talented. We recruit to fit our system, and so they fit perfectly here. I think they've done a great job of really learning our style and how we want to play, and I think the returners have wel

comed them with open arms.”

Franklin said the young team has still to find its takecharge voice.

“We have a lot of leaders that lead by example, but we're waiting for that vocal leader to stand up,” she said.

“It hasn't hurt us as of yet, and overall they do a great job of really playing for each other.”

The Southland Conference promises to provide a warm

welcome for the Lady Cards as the program returns home fol lowing a year away in the WAC. Franklin, along with Lamar’s older players, have some familiarity with the other SLC programs — and they welcome the competition that a return to Southland play brings.

“I think coming back home, and being a part of this new branding that the Southland has coming up, I think it's really important that Lamar University is a part of that,” Franklin said. “One of the great things is that our fans will be able to not only come pack the Montagne, but also travel with us. I’m really ex cited about that, and also just the competition of this league.”

Franklin said the team rep resent the entire university. “Lamar is on the front of our jersey,” she said. “Just for them to see people in the stands coming out and sup porting their fellow classmates would be a tremendous deal, because these young ladies and young men of whatever sport work extremely hard.”

The Lady Cardinals’ preconference season is in full swing, and they open South land Conference play versus McNeese State, Dec. 31, at the Montagne Center.

The full 2022-2023 sched ule is available online at la marcardinals.com.

Lady Cardinal head coach Aqua Franklin, left, gives instructions to Akasha Davis during a recent practice.

UP photos by Brian Quijada

Lady Cardinal guard Alyiah Craft defends Portia Adams, top, as she drives to the basket during a scrimmage in the Montagne Center. LU guard Sabria Dean, above, scores the basket after being fouled during a practice.

Kyara Allen UP contributor

When one considers man agers as a whole, one may have very little faith in what they accomplish since it ap pears they are content to sit on the sidelines.

However, the position is more complex than it appears to be.

Managers such as sopho more Elyakim Conley are an important part of the LU bas

ketball program’s success.

“They are very supportive and do the little things we need,” Cardinal forward Terry Anderson, Beaumont junior, said,

Conley, who is majoring in exercise science and is a native of Houston, attributes his passion for basketball, which he has played since he was eight years old, to helping him mold into the person he is now.

Conley played AAU basket

ball throughout his adoles cence, which he said im proved his leadership and communication abilities.

His ideal job would be a Division I head basketball coach, but he has no specific college in mind.

Conley said he benefits from viewing the inner work ings of the coaching industry as a member of the Lamar basketball team managing staff.

It doesn’t matter if it’s par

ticipating in hour-long work out sessions, keeping score, going to coaching meetings, or doing the laundry, he finds solace in the fact that he is constantly surrounded by his favorite sport.

“I created a great relation ship with the players and with the coaches,” he said. “Cre ating a great relationship with the coaches benefits me by al lowing me to grow my coach ing skills and grow as a person.”

Even though Conley spends a lot of time interact ing with the squad, he still manages to balance his aca demics and maintain an above-average

Conley said he spends his minimal free time studying, socializing with his friends and family, and watching tel evision.

In the long run, he sees himself continuing to pursue his passion, whatever path that takes.

UP photo by Brian Quijada

Music Video Production class set for spring

Karen Figueroa UP contributor

Communication professor Jeremy Hawa will offer Music Video Production in spring 2023. It is the first time the class has been offered in a cou ple of years.

“First of all, the class is about the assembly of various types of music videos,” Hawa said. “There are different cate gories of music videos so we kind of explore those during the first part of the semester.

“Everybody in the class will build a treatment that gets re viewed by myself, by the artist, and ultimately, we make a decision on which treatment we are going to go with. Then the class goes into pre-produc tion, crew is up and actually produces and delivers by the end of the semester a music video for the artist.”

Hawa said hes sees the op

portunity to provide an envi ronment that encourages stu dents’ creative and professional skills.

“I wanted to push students into a relationship with a working client where they have to go through the process of working with the client, devel oping a concept, producing and delivering it, so it’s really a hands-on real-world experi ence,” he said. “I think it’s pretty valuable.”

Avery Wilson, Houston freshman, is planning to take the course and said he is ex cited to learn more about the process of creating music vi deos.

“I want to learn how to create my own music videos for my friends and for myself,” he said. “I can create some music knowing that I can create a video how I want it look, because not everybody is going to know how to make

something the way you want it to look.”

Music Video Production is considered a Special Topics course which department chair Tony DeMars said has a sim pler process to getting offered.

“Music Video Production is a Special Topics class and gets offered occasionally, as one of those kinds of courses that ap peal to a lot of students while also serving an important ca reer preparation purpose,” he said, “There’s not much plan ning that has to go into offer ing a Special Topics class, since we have a course already defined as Special Topics.

“It’s more about giving fac ulty choices about what are their strongest areas for teach ing, while also following a ro tation of courses that are required for the different sequences. But then it’s up to the chair to organize it and make the schedule work.”

As the semester comes to an end and a new one awaits, Hawa sees his course as an op portunity for his students.

“I think it’s a type of pro duction that even though we may not see a ton of music vi deos on TV anymore — like when I was younger, we had MTV — it’s still something that

you see quite a bit of online,” he said. “It’s a particular sector of production that is just ex tremely creative.

“I think there is a lot of ar tistic expression for film makers inside music videos, so I just want to be able to pro vide those opportunities for the students.”

Dinosaur George III Makes Debut

December 5, 1969

A dinosaur has come! The devastating creature born eons of time ago in deep, dark, mysterious unknown swamps has been re vitalized by the Lamar Geological Society. He has been given a new coat of paint, and named ironically George III, after the prehistorically oriented 18th century ruler of England.

According to Craig Linscomb, Beaumont senior and president of the society, George III looks much like a Tyrannosaurus rex should look. It is facsimile. George III stands 6’4” and weighs 125 pounds.

In the spring of 1968, William Matthews, professor of geology, received dinosaur tracks 160-million years old from a Massachu setts quarry. The society believes the tracks could have been made by George III, Jimmy Jordan, junior from Beaumont and member of the society, said, “It is a reasonable possibility that Mr. Mat tews’ dinosaur tracks were created by George III. We are investi gating the tracks at present.”

George III made his debut at the Lamar Geological meeting Thursday. The green and brown dinosaur is to be used as a bulle tin board in the Geology Building. There, he shall reside for the rest of his days.

Compiled from the archives by Ja’Leigh Cerf.

Daniela Contreras edits video in the computer lab. UP photo by Karen Figueroa

Members of the Lamar Geological Society work on a facsimile of a Tyrannosaurus rex in 1969.

BSM hosts international dinner

Meredith Winkler UP contributor

The Baptist Student Mini stry’s next monthly Inter national Night is Nov. 11 at 7 p.m. at the BSM. in which Lamar University inter national students from all around the world gather to eat and fellowship.

“The International dinners are basically an outreach. We want to get to know some of the international students in our community since they’re so often overlooked,” McKin ney sophomore Rylee Saltz said.

All international dinners are fully funded and organized by the BSM with the help of stu dent volunteers who serve and make food. Dishes like Butter Chicken Curry, Szechuan Chicken, and Naan Bread were prepared to give international students a little taste of home. Students of all beliefs and reli gions are welcome.

Because it’s the start of the holiday season, the next dinner will be Thanksgiving themed with festive food and games.

“We’re planning on having turkey and other kinds of Thanksgiving type stuff in ad dition to our international food,” BSM intern Austin Davis said.

These dinners mean a lot to

the students who live far from home. Though the tasty food is most students’ reason for at tendance, many leave with more than a full stomach.

“I am new here, so I need to meet many new people here not only from Bangladesh,

from different countries, from different cultures so that I can know their names — different names like you, Meredith, and different personalities, and meet them with some new in terests,” Mehnaz Tabassum, a graduate student from Bangla

desh, said at the last Inter national Night.

Volunteers at the BSM hope to build meaningful relation ships with international stu dents and provide a safe space during their college years. Bridge City sophomore and regular volunteer Zach Pruitt said one of the main goals of International Night is gen uinely connecting with stu dents.

“Ultimately, just making friends and getting to know people that would normally would just pass by,” Pruitt said.

Second year masters stu dent from India, Kundana Myneni, said that she loves that these events provide “Good communication and new network building. And definitely delicious food.”

BSM Pastor Darin Ford said he was grateful for the help of international students who

made and brought cuisine from their country.

“I thought it was an excel lent event. We had a good number of internationals, and we had a lot of internationals that helped cook,” Ford said.

Volunteers in the ministry believe that international nights are bigger than the event itself. They said it is about showing other students love and value.

“We are a Christian organi zation here on campus that seeks to know God and make him known on campus,” Davis said.” We do that through a va riety of different ways, but pri marily through our Connect Bible studies, which is a co-ed Bible study on Tuesday nights and then free lunch on Wed nesdays and we also do fun events like International Dinner once a month on Fri day,”

Lamar Univer sity’s Baptist Student Ministry hosts a series of dinners aimed at making inter national stu dents feel welcome. The next dinner is scheduled for Nov. 11.

UP photo by Jill Stokes

Volunteers serve food at a Lamar University Baptist Student Ministry dinner for international students.

UP photo by Jill Stokes

Watch what kids watch

Sims UP news editor

Imagine you are a parent. You need to get dinner on the stove, but your child is getting impatient and bored, so you hand them a tablet for a few minutes. As the food is cook ing, you happen to glance over at the screen and find your kid is watching Mickey Mouse. Harmless, you think, until you see he is getting run over by a car as Minnie watches in horror.

In the mid-2010s, a wave of videos which took whole some characters and put them in violent situations flooded the web.

Parents struggled to keep up with content that was suit able for their children, and it is still a harsh reality today.

With the growth of You Tube, and the creation of YouTube Kids, children are being exposed to the internet faster than they can form sen tences. While there is familyfriendly and educational content kids can watch on both platforms, YouTube is a slippery slope, and more often than not, they are ex posed to more harm than good.

What started out as a way for people to share videos, YouTube has grown since its creation in 2005. The com pany was created by three founders who worked for Pay Pal: Steve Chen, Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim. In 2015, YouTube Kids was created. It was marketed as a safe way for kids to watch videos. It gave parents more control over the platform and organ ized the page into four cate gories: Music, Learning, Shows and Recommended.

According to a study com piled by pewresearch.org in 2018, many parents rely on YouTube/YouTube Kids for keeping their children enter tained. 81% of adults let their children watch YouTube with 34% letting them watch it regularly. Out of these adults, 64% found obviously false content within the platform, 61% found dangerous behav ior, and 60% found content not suitable for children.

However, we can’t talk about YouTube Kids without discussing the controversies they faced for filtering issues. Around 2015-2017, the plat form dealt with criticism over the types of videos parents would find their kids watch ing. Particular videos on the website had characters from popular shows and movies engaging in graphic content with thumbnails and titles which appealed to kids.

This controversy was nick named “Elsagate” after the popular character from “Frozen” with the suffix drawn from the Watergate scandal.

These videos managed to sneak past YouTube’s algo rithm as their buzzword titles persuaded kids to click on the videos without a second thought. Topics ranged from suicide to sexual and violent themes. Anything was fair game, which enraged parents. Some turned to internet forums such as Reddit or par ent blog websites to complain and warn other parents of the videos.

One particular example was reported in the New York Times in 2017. Staci Burns found her three-year-old son watching an inappropriate video in which Paw Patrol characters were being hyp notized into committing sui cide by the Annabelle doll. Burns is quoted as saying she felt nothing but pure anger at the thought of the evil people who put videos like that out on the internet to scare chil dren.

YouTube Kids isn’t the full picture, however. YouTube is a 13+ website only, but chil dren can lie about their age or use their parent’s accounts to watch content. As a result, there are several content cre ators on YouTube who cater their content towards chil dren. While this is normally not an issue, there are several content creators on the plat form who are bad influences but still gain profit from You Tube’s monetization policies. A few content creators who come to mind are Jake Paul, Logan Paul, JayStation and Dhar Mann.

Jake Paul started his You Tube channel in 2014 making content involving pranks with his squad, Team 10, and video blog-type content.

He has been involved in several controversies, includ

ing being fired from Disney Channel’s sitcom “Bizzard vark,” scamming children out of money through fake in fluencer classes, having illegal weapons in his house confis cated by the FBI, and making a diss track about teachers.

He has alo faced allegations of emotional and sexual abuse from past relationships.

His brother Logan Paul is no saint either. He started his YouTube channel in 2013, making similar content to Jake with the same vlog style. He is most known for filming a dead body in the Aokiga hara Forest, located on Mount Fuji in Japan, also known as the “suicide forest.”

He was also arrested for drone filming in an illegal lo cation, which he was well aware of, and tased two dead rats he found on the balcony of his home.

YouTuber JayStation started his channel in 2016 making horror videos in which he “buys” products off of the dark web or tries to contact spirits at 3 a.m. Vi deos include buying a gay po tion and a slave off of the dark web, which are clearly staged for entertainment value, but show racist and ho mophobic imagery. He has also tried contacting dead ce lebrities. including XXXTen tacion, Mac Miller and Youtuber Etica shortly after he committed suicide.

One of his more recent controversies includes faking his girlfriend’s death. He claimed that she died due to a car crash with a drunk driver and made a video in which he travels to the sec tion of the highway where she crashed, including set ting up a fake memorial. This was all so he could make a spirit contact video in which he would resurrect her, with a coffin he already purchased in a nearby church. Before the stunt, it was reported his girlfriend was alive. The

main purpose for the plan was to gain traction for their joint channel, “Dream Team.” Jaystation said it was his girlfriend’s final wish for the channel to hit one million subscribers.

Out of these four, Dhar Mann is the most defensible, but he is worth mentioning. He started his channel in 2018, making inspirational videos for kids about a variety of topics. Typical videos in clude “Mean Girl Humiliates QUIET Teen; What Happens Next is Shocking” and “Rich Mom Shames Poor Mom’s Gifts: What Happens Next is Shocking.” Despite the title, very rarely is one shocked by what happens next. It’s the video equivalent of clickbait ads.

Each falls under a pattern where the protagonist is teased or made fun of because of something they like or due to something they cannot control, such as their class or physical appearance. After some time, the antagonist sees the error of their ways and apologizes for their ac tions or immediately receives their comeuppance at the end of the video, or sometimes both. All of these videos have cartoon villain level of bully ing with black and white mo rals which make it completely obvious who is right and wrong with predictable story lines which make it easy to guess how each video will play out.

While Dhar claims he is trying to spread positive mes sages — “changing lives’ — the videos create an unrealis tic worldview for the children who watch them as they’ll be led to believe the world is either good or bad with an obviously correct answer, making it more difficult to make nuanced decisions.

Additionally, videos in clude topics such as home lessness, and kids dealing with disorders such as Tou

rette’s. While these topics are relevant for kids, none of the videos have any educational resources audiences can use to learn more about these is sues.

With content creators wrongly influencing children, YouTube can be a sketchy platform.

It is not just questionable content creators who are a problem. Some companies produce content designed to attract children’s attention with videos claiming to be real stories from real people. They mostly have a younger audience demographic, so while most teens and adults know these stories are false, children take most things at face value and think these stories with creepy topics, such as pedophilia, underage drinking and narcissistic worldviews, are real.

A now deleted channel called “Actually Happened” made a video called “I Broke Up With My Gf Because of Potatoes,” which was stolen from a subReddit post of a similar name where the origi nal poster ruined his relation ship with his girlfriend by making a joke that he didn’t know what a potato was.

Of course, not all internet content is harmful. Educa tional videos are abundant, many mixing fun ways for children to learn about crafts, nature and the world.

The issue is how to spot separate the good from the bad. Children are easily im pressionable and are the more likely to imitate bad be haviors, so they should not be exposed to them at such a young age.

Good alternatives to You Tube and PBS Kids or Netflix Kids, both of which have content that is curated to be fun and educational.

If worst comes to worst, there’s always that old-fash ioned fallback — go outside and play.

Maddie

Commentary

Country Escape

REVIEW Maddie Sims UP news editor

There’s a cabin in the woods next to a lake with gor geous weather in the summer, a diving platform, and a dock in need of repairs. Despite its sketchy cell phone signal and slightly broken-in cabin, this is where the nurse practitioner Veronica decides to get away from the bustling life of the city.

Lamar University’s depart ment of theater and dance production of “Lost Lake,” written by David Auburn and directed by LU alumna Caitlin Grammer, was presented Nov. 3-6 in the Studio Theatre.

Veronica (Dominique Roman) is a single mother with two kids. Wanting to take a small vacation, she decides

to rent out a cabin from Hogan (Josh Pendino) for the week with her kids and her

daughter’s friend. Despite their willingness to make a deal with the rent, the duo have a hard time getting along.

The first few days into the vacation are rough for Veron ica as things in the cabin aren’t working properly and are in need of some fixing up. Hogan does what he can and negotiates with her to stay for the rest of the week.

Through various scenes as the vacation continues, Veron ica and Hogan form a small bond as they slowly reveal their grievances with each other. The characters are both facing challenges in the world away from the cabin. As the story progresses, the weight of their problems passes onto the audience as if we are facing the problems with them.

Roman’s Veronica feels like a real mother. The audience can understand her anger with Hogan, as all she wants is some time with her kids away from the problems that await her in the city. As we learn more about her, the audience sympathizes with how hard she works to have a good life.

Pendino’s Hogan seems kind and only wants things to work out between him and Ve ronica. As we slowly learn new information about him, the audience feels sympathetic. However, Hogan has been bottling his emotions deep down until they pop. And when it eventually happens, it’s shocking and incredibly real.

Roman and Pendino show an excellent range of emotions

and form an excellent dynamic together on stage.

The set, designed by Lee Barker, is innovative. The au dience sits on either side of the stage. This gives the audience an interesting perspective which makes us feel like we are in the cabin with Veronica and Hogan. The design is rus tic which helps immerse the audience in the story.

Director Caitlin Grammer brings everything together wonderfully.

When Veronica says to Hogan, “We can’t stay here,” we know that statement is about more than just the cabin. How Auburn gets us to that point is the fun part.

“Lost Lake” has many amusing moments, but also packs an emotional punch.

‘Lost Lake’ characters seek to find meaning in harsh world

Josh Pendino and Dominique Roman play Hogan and Veronica in Lamar Univer sity’s department of theatre and dance production of David Auburn’s “Lost Lake,” which ran Nov. 3-6. Photos courtesy Lynn Lane

Soccer wins SLC regular season

Coach Kogut named COY, 7 players named All Conference

UP sports briefs

Cross Country

Lamar cross-country brought home hardware at the Southland Conference Championships. The men’s and women’s teams finished second place in their competitions, and will compete at the NCAA Regional meet, Nov. 11. George Wheeler and Yasmin Austridge earned first-team All-Southland selections. Jillian Howard, Nia Clatworthy and Eli Peveto all earned second-team honors.

Golf

Men’s golf struggled during the fall season, but head coach Jessie Mudd has faith they’ll bounce back. “This is a super talented group of guys, so I know moving forward we will only improve,” he said. Women’s golf finished in 15th place at their final tournament.

Tennis

Lady Cardinal tennis closed their fall season at the Sam Houston Invitational with two doubles team titles, along with a singles championship win.

Seven Lady Cardinal soccer players earned All-South land Conference honors for their performances during the regular season, and first-year head coach Nathan Kogut was named Southland Coach of the Year. Firstteam selections included Nicole Panis, Isela Ramirez, Cariel Ellis, Arely Alaniz and Kaisa Juvonen, while Trinity Clark earned a second-team selection. Panis and Alaniz also took home the Southland Goalkeeper of the Year and Defender of the Year awards, respectively.

Lamar forward

Cariel Ellis kicks the ball away from Nicholls State, Oct. 28, at the Lamar Univer sity Soccer Complex.

UP photo by Brian Quijada