Loyola University • New Orleans • Volume 97 • Issue 23 •April 26, 2019
THE MAROON For a greater Loyola
G-Eazy comes home The Loyola graduate and rapper returned to campus to talk about late nights recording in Biever Hall, and sneaking into the Voodoo Music and Arts Experience, as well as to impart some wisdom for how to become the next “G-Eazy” success story.
By Riley Katz rdkatz@my.loyno.edu @katz_riley
Gerald Gillum (G-Eazy), A’11, and his manager, Matt Bauerschmidt, A’10 (right) spoke with moderator, Daniel Helfers, A’09 (left) at a university-wide panel on Monday, April 22 to a packed crowd in Rousell Hall. They preached the merits of hard work and perseverance and reminisced about their time at Loyola in the Music Industry program. The Maroon/ HENRY BEAN.
Louisiana one of top 10 most gambling-addicted states By India Yarborough iayarbor@my.loyno.edu @iayarbor
Meredith was in the fourth grade when the trips to Harrah’s ended. She had thought it was normal for her family to spend random nights of the week, sometimes even weekends, at one of the casino’s hotels. “We always had a really fun time,” she said. “I thought we were just really wealthy.” But at age 10, Meredith discovered the truth. “My mom sat me down on my parents’ bed and told me that my dad had a problem. I didn’t really understand it,” she said. “I don’t really remember the conversation, how it went, but I knew there was something up.” Her father had a gambling addiction. Meredith, a Loyola student who requested her real name not be used for fear it might affect future employment opportunities, still remembers the gut feeling she had when she heard the news. “(My mom) basically told me that my dad had done something wrong,” Meredith said. “He had his own business and had access to his clients’ money and their bank accounts, and I guess when he ran out of our money, he turned to that
and started abusing their finances, which is the reason my dad ultimately ended up going to prison for a year.” Though gambling addiction exists in a fairly small percentage of the general United States population, Louisiana is one of 2019’s top 10 most gambling-addicted states in the U.S., according to a report released April 23 by WalletHub, a personal finance website. Gambling addiction has also made headlines in Louisiana in recent weeks after state Senator Karen Peterson admitted last month to struggling with gambling addiction. Peterson had relapsed – something experts say is not uncommon. According to clinical psychologist Jeremiah Weinstock, about 50% of people who start treatment for gambling addiction and obtain abstinence will relapse within a year. Weinstock, who is also an associate professor at Saint Louis University, has studied and conducted research on gambling addiction since the early 2000s. He said unlike with other types of addiction, monetary issues are more pervasive in the lives of those who struggle with gambling addiction. “Frequently people with gambling problems experience significant money problems because they’ve been losing lots of money
A customer uses one of the slot machines at Bruno’s Tavern in Uptown New Orleans. Bars and casinos across the city have slot machines allowing visitors to gamble. The Maroon/INDIA YARBOROUGH.
gambling,” he said. “But with one lucky bet, they could turn it all around and win enough money to solve all their financial problems, so that creates a fair bit of these thoughts in your head that ‘If I could just be lucky, everything would be better.’” Weinstock said it’s part of his job as a therapist to tell gamblers who come to him seeking help that further gambling is not going to solve their monetary issues. But he notes research indicates only about 10% of those who experience gambling addiction seek professional help in the first place.
Religion on the decline for many millenials
“Folks who suffer from this particular process addiction – they tend to create really a lot of financial disruption, and they can come into treatment very desperate,” said John Antonucci, a licensed addiction counselor and owner of John Antonucci Counseling & Recovery in New Orleans. “They come to the treatment centers a lot of times feeling very, very desperate and not feeling that they have a way out.” Antonucci’s practice focuses on all types of addiction. He said he treats two to three people a year for
See GAMBLING, page 8
Various reports claim religion is losing the influence it once had among millenials and adults. In the annually published American Family Survey conducted by Brigham Young University in 2018, 44% of millennials aged 18 to 29 years old and 43% of adults aged 30 to 44 years old identified as atheist, agnostic or nothing when asked about their religious affiliation and were categorized as “Nones.” A separate Gallup report stated 76% of Americans think religion is losing influence on life in the United States as younger generations lean toward a more spiritual form of religion. The Rev. Ted Dziak, S.J., said he has seen society evolve over the 30 years he has been in higher education. “We are living in a different world,” Dziak said. “With communications and social media we have become much more secularized. In days of old, the family unit was a little closer, communication was a bit more challenging. We live in a global society. As the world changes, we change with it.” He said the rise in “Nones” reported is a result of faith evolving alongside society, and he said religion is changing the way every major institution has been. Dziak also said this new trend is a result of younger generations redefining what it means to be religious, but the core of what faith is still resembles what it has looked like in the past. He said St. Ignatius of Loyola can be thought of as essential when trying to understand faith. Dziak quoted Ignatius and said “We do not have the answers, but we need to ask the questions.” Dziak said he does not believe adults and millennials have stopped contemplating faith. “I think these younger generations are still asking these questions, ‘Why am I here?’ and ‘What is important?’ and ‘What kind of person do I want to be?’” Dziak said. “These are the questions of faith, the deeper questions. The difference is, younger generations have different answers.” Dziak said he is not concerned with how many people identify with religions, but with how many people are still asking the questions. And some millennials are. Ben Gothard is a fifth-generation member of Congregation Beth Israel, a modern-orthodox synagogue and the oldest congregation of Judaism in New Orleans. His family helped found the original congregation in the early 1900s, and they have been members ever since— even after Katrina demolished the original temple the congregation practiced in. In fact, Gothard’s family, his grandmother Jackie Gothard especially, is widely responsible for the congregation’s rebirth after the hurricane. The religion is in Gothard’s blood, and he said it has shaped his
See RELIGION, page 3
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April 26, 2019 The Maroon
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SGA cabinet appointees draw excitement and criticism By Emma Ruby eeruby@my.loyno.edu @emmaeruby
The Student Government Association is sailing full speed ahead, despite one cabinet pick facing scrutiny for not having the required prior experience for their position and another appointee declining the position completely. SGA President Jessamyn Reichmann and Vice President Freedom Richardson and the rest of the cabinet were inaugurated April 10. “After everything was kind of officiated on the 10th it really did sink in like ‘Woah, okay, I am the President,’” Reichmann, sociology junior, said. The first thing on Reichmann’s agenda is filling the cabinet position of director of communications. Originally Reichmann and Richardson had presented mass communication junior Lily Cummings as their pick for the position, however, following the Senate confirmation Cummings declined the position because of other outside obligations. “Lily was the only individual who did apply originally, but as time went on she actually got the job working as the senior director for the Donnelly Center,” Reichmann said. This switch up hasn’t shaken up the cabinet, however. Over the Easter holidays, Reichmann said three more students applied for the position and the university should expect a new appointee announcement in the coming days. Both Reichmann and Richardson agreed that Cummings set the tone for the level of excellence they are looking
for in candidates hoping to fill the position. Once a new appointee has been selected, an emergency Senate session will be called to confirm the new cabinet member. As for the other members of the cabinet, it is Zontre City, digital filmmaking sophomore and the administration’s chief of staff, who Reichmann and Richardson are hailing as the “ship captain.” “Having known him prior to going into SGA and seeing the legacy he has already started at Loyola despite being only a sophomore is astounding,” Reichmann said. “His networking skills, his response time to emails and just the way that he maintains and manages himself as well as anything he is involved in really put faith in me putting him in the team.” And with only several members of the cabinet toting prior SGA experience, Reichmann and Richardson see their cabinet as an opportunity to rebrand what student government means. “Despite us all majority being new to SGA,” Reichmann said. “It’s really nice to have people like Freedom and Alejandra (Bedoya) who are like ‘Okay, here are the ropes. This is basically the way the government works.’” One member of the cabinet who has faced scrutiny for their lack of experience in SGA is finance junior Brette Baughman who will serve as director of programming. Baughman’s appointment faced senate debate when it was acknowledged that she failed to meet the bylaw requiring a director of programming to have held a leadership position on the University Program-
The Student Government Association’s executive branch is inaugurated in Thomas Hall on April 10th. The administration is still without a director of communications for the 2019-2020 school year. CRISTIAN ORELLANA/The Maroon.
ming Board for at least a year prior to appointment. The senate ultimately struck down the bylaw to allow Baughman’s inauguration. “Brette was the most heavily criticized cabinet pick of our administration, to say the least,” Richardson said. “She is someone who has not been in student government outside of her senate capacity, but she is someone who is a fresh breath of air for our student government.” It is that “fresh breath of air” that Reichmann and Richardson will attempt to harness in order to rebrand SGA. “We want to make sure SGA isn’t just about what’s happening downstairs in the Hub, it’s about the people on campus experiencing and feeling that true support,” Reich-
mann said. One way the administration plans to do that is by finding new ways to reach out to students. “Intentionality,” was a word repeated bythe administration , as was the idea of “old fashioned politics,” a method that involves simply approaching another student face-to-face. “I think at Loyola we tend to overlook that we are a small university,” Reichmann said. “We aren’t (Louisiana State University) or Tulane, we can walk across campus and see 20 people we know, so why not reach out to those 20 people and have them reach out to others?” That face-to-face experience is something that Richardson thinks has been lost by the SGA in the past, and he thinks it is a strategy Reich-
mann is perfect for. “I think her ability to personalize and engage with folks in a way that is warm and well received and being able to incorporate that into our vision to make sure that everyone can live their best Loyola is incredibly important,” Richardson said. While many students grind through the last days of classes and exam week, Reichmann and Richardson are already looking to the fall. “It’s really easy to step into a position and do what’s already been done,” Reichmann said. “But to look at it and say ‘Hey, this is where I want to take it and this is where it has already gone,’ that’s what I want to see from each and every person going forward.”
Cont: Younger generations less likely to identify as religious MILLENIALS, continued from page 1 entire life and challenged him to work hard to get what he wants. “My bar mitzvah taught me that anything is possible,” Gothard said. A bar mitzvah is when a boy becomes a man in the eyes of his congregation in Judaism. In Gothard’s case, he studied the entire Torah and learned to read Hebrew in the months leading up to it. But in recent years, he said he has had some doubts about the faith. Gothard said, as he has grown up, he has found it hard separating the myth from the historical facts. “As I learn more about the world and expand my horizons, it becomes harder and harder to take everything literally in the Torah,” Gothard said. In spite of his doubts, he has learned to take the morals, the values and the lessons his temple teaches and apply them to his everyday life. Gothard said he admires the emphasis on family that modern-orthodox Judaism emphasizes, and wants to raise his children with the same emphasis. “There are very few families outside the faith that are as close mine,” Gothard said. “The time I spend with my family is a gift to me.” Gothard said he considers himself more spiritual than anything. He practices meditation daily.
A mosaic of Jesus and Mary stands on Loyola’s campus between Monroe Library and Miller Hall on April 24. It is a copy of the original image St. Ignatius and his companions made their original vows to. According to certain polls, young Americans are increasingly not identifying as religious. CRISTIAN ORELLANA/The Maroon.
“I see that spirituality as a path to a deeper connection with myself,” Gothard said. “I am more spiritual than I have ever been.” Earl Johnson, on the other hand, is a recent convert to the Roman
Catholic Church. In 2013, he converted from Baptism after learning more about the faith at Jesuit High School. “When I started high school, I had to start critically thinking about
the faith and how it would affect my life in all areas,” Johnson said. “I am very grateful to my first Jesuit in training teacher, now Fr. O’Halloran, teaching me why the Catholic faith is so special.”
Johnson said, as much as he would like his relationship with faith to be smooth sailing, he described his faith as an up-and-down experience. “Well, my faith goes through waves, which I think a lot of young adults deal with, especially young men who are trying to find their path,” Johnson said. “I have times that I am at the tip of the mountain and going strong and doing everything right, but it takes literally one self-inflicted damage or unforeseen events to arise to take me off course.” In spite of the rough times, Johnson said he always knows he can lean on his faith when times become more difficult. “The Catholic Church feels like a second home or a second family to me where I can express my faith with, at least in my mind, no judgement from others.” Both Johnson and Gothard agreed on one aspect of belief: that what you believe is what you believe, and that is your right. “I know of and am friends with people who are of a different faith, not practicing faith, denies the faith and just do not follow a particular faith,” Johnson said. “I am not here to judge anyone, and whatever makes him or her happy makes me happy.”
WORLDVIEW Measles outbreak nears record high since elimination
April 26, 2019 The Maroon
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By John Casey jecasey@my.loyno.edu
Hundreds of opponents of mandatory vaccines are opposing a California proposal to give state public health officials instead of local doctors the power to decide which children can skip their shots before attending school. They plan to pack the first legislative hearing April 24, 2019 on a bill that proponents say would stem bogus exemptions granted in many cases by doctors who are paid to excuse students from vaccinations. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)
Medical professionals across the nation are warning of the impending dangers of measles as the disease nears a record-high since being declared eliminated in 2000. The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention announced that the number of measles cases in the nation reached 626 in 22 states as of April 22, just shy of the highest number of reported cases at 667 in 2014. The nation nears its worst epidemic of the disease just after National Infant Immunization Week, a public awareness week dedicated to creating immunization awareness. According to Martha Sharan, public affairs specialist for the CDC National Center for Immunization and Respiratory diseases, the rise in measles prevalence is a result of a trend of infants not being vaccinated. “We are seeing an increase in the number of children younger than two years of age who receive no vaccines,” said Sharan. “This increase means that there are about 100,000 children under two years old that are not protected against potentially serious vaccine-preventable diseases.” According to the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 1.3 percent of children born in 2015 had not received any vaccinations by the 2017 National Immunization Sur-
vey-Child. That indicates a significant upward trend since 2001 when that number was 0.3 percent. The spread of measles is due to the highly contagious nature of the disease, according to Sharan. “It is so contagious that if one person has it, up to nine out of 10 people around them will also become infected if they are not protected,” said Sharan. The most effective protection against the disease is the MMR vaccine which after two doses in childhood will protect an individual for life, according to the CDC. According to Sharan, the importance of vaccinations reaches beyond a single individual and choosing to not get vaccinated may be life-threatening to those around you. “When you get vaccinated, you also protect others around you who are at high risk for complications but can’t get vaccinated because they are too young or have a health condition,” said Sharan. Measles symptoms may include fever, cough, runny nose, watery eyes and a rash of red spots. If you or someone you know is suffering from these symptoms, the CDC encourages that you see a doctor immediately. The CDC encourages individuals questioning whether to get vaccinated to visit their website to read up on reasons why to get vaccinated.
Safecam to assist in NOLA crime reduction By Andrew Callaghan atcallag@my.loyno.edu
According to a recent press conference, the Downtown Development District has partnered with downtown business owners to fund the installation of 36 new ‘Safecams,’ the public-facing security cameras mounted on businesses and homes throughout the city. These newly added cameras, unveiled as part of the city-funded ‘Safecam Platinum’ program, will use cloud technology to stream a live, high-definition video feed directly to the Real-Time Crime Center, an auxiliary branch of the New Orleans Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. Operating 24/7 with 30 full-time employees, the Real-Time Crime Center streams over 150 private sector camera feeds and 400 city camera feeds throughout the city. The center was created in 2017 as a part of New Orleans’ $40 million Citywide Public Safety Improvement Plan. Ross Bourgeois, who manages operations at the center, believes the powerful technology behind the new Safecams will be a force in preventing crime and catching criminals. “Our technology platform is connected to the 911 center, so anytime there’s a call for service, whether police, fire or EMS, the appropriate cameras cue up automatically so we don’t have to go search for them,” Bourgeois said. “About sixty times this year, the cameras have provided relevant evidentiary footage for these incidents.” In one case last January, after a shooting on the 100 block of Bourbon Street left a man dead, respond-
ers at the Real-Time Crime Center used Safecam footage to identify the shooter, who was later brought up on a second-degree murder charge. “Using the network of city-owned cameras and private-sector integrated Safecam cameras in the general area of Bourbon Street, we tracked the subject through several blocks up to where he was finally apprehended on Canal Street near Baronne,” Bourgeois said. Safecam advocates see the program as a driving force against New Orleans’ high crime rate, which despite experiencing a decline in the past few years, remains one of the highest in the country. According to 2018 city data, the chances of being a victim of crime in New Orleans are 1 in 19, which is 95% higher than the national average, dwarfing similarly sized cities like Tampa, Florida, where the odds of becoming a crime victim are just 1 in 45. In addition, the likelihood of catching a violent criminal in New Orleans is low. The majority of homicide cases in Orleans Parish go unsolved. According to the Murder Accountability Project, only 26% of the 217 homicides committed in 2017 resulted in a murder conviction. Many blame these problems on an inadequate police force. According to the 2018 Annual Crime Coalition Survey, 45% of respondents reported being dissatisfied with NOPD’s performance, citing issues like understaffed patrols and slow response times on emergency calls. However, NOPD has gradually ramped up its recruiting efforts and plans to expand its force in the coming years. The police department currently staffs 1,451 officers and aims to reach former Mayor Mitch
Landrieu’s goal of 1,600 officers by 2020. However, until then, New Orleans Police Chief Shaun Ferguson believes the Safecam Platinum program will work to fill gaps in the police department’s manpower. “It is very beneficial to have those extra eyes on the street and to assist us in making sure everyone is safe, as well as being able to allocate or reallocate our resources to where the Safecam’s aren’t, to make sure everyone is protected,” Ferguson said. “This particular platform, Safecam Platinum, is just another resource that can enhance our success that we’ve had thus far and reduce violent crime in the city of New Orleans.” Kurt Weigle, president & CEO of the Downtown Development District, has been instrumental in his advocacy of the Safecam Platinum program. He believes the program will create an alliance between city organizations that could drastically reduce crime in the Downtown area. “We know that the DDD alone can’t keep Downtown safe, the NOPD by itself can’t and private businesses can’t. But if we come together, then we’ve got a really good shot at making Downtown one of the safest downtowns in all of America,” Weigle said. “By distributing this network so widely across downtown, our goal is to create a downtown where somebody can’t do something they shouldn’t be doing out of the view of camera.” Weigle hopes that as the Safecams develop a reputation for their effectiveness, lawbreakers will begin to think twice before committing a crime Downtown. “If somebody who is thinking
about committing a crime knows there is this system, and that there’s a high likelihood they will be caught and prosecuted, then maybe they don’t commit the crime in the first place,” Weigle said. David Abbenante, president of HRI Management, oversees over 2400 apartments in the New Orleans area, as well as several hotels and retail stores within the perimeters of the Downtown Development District. He is an early adopter of the Safecam Platinum program. “Unfortunately, what happens to a lot of property owners after an incident is they find out their cameras weren’t set right or that their camera wasn’t up to par with where it needed to be to grab that picture. Now we have really good high cameras, tied into someone else, and they’re being monitored,” Abbenante said. “The beauty of this is that the [Real-Time Crime Center] doesn’t have to contact us if they suspect something has happened. They have the ability to just reach in.” However, some local organizations are concerned by this heightened state of surveillance in the downtown area. Christine Lobre, program director at Women with a Vision, a community-based organization that represents marginalized women, is vocally opposed to the Safecam Platinum program. “It is a complete violation of people’s rights to constantly be watched and surveilled.” Lobre said. “As far as the assertion that people are allegedly robbing tourists, doing property crime, trespassing, sleeping in alleyways or urinating in places that are allegedly causing quality of life issues, perhaps the issue is their quality of life issues that the city is
not dealing with. We’re not looking at the drivers of disparity. We are not looking at why people may be engaged in survival sex work, engaging in drug use or have mental health issues.” Lobre believes that instead of funding security cameras, the city should devote its resources to fixing the housing crisis and issues like gentrification and homelessness. “Until we address those things, constantly watching people in hopes of catching them doing crime . . I don’t see how that can prevent crime,” Lobre said. However, despite concerns, Police Chief Ferguson assures that Safecams won’t be used for surveillance. “New Orleans Police Department is not watching it per se. We are allegation driven with these complaints,” Ferguson said, “It is not a big brother factor, it is not something we are using to spy on anyone. It’s all about making sure that everyone is safe in New Orleans.” Anthony Campo, project manager of the Safecam Platinum program, assures opposition that the program is designed with a system of checks and balances and does not meet the intrusive criteria of a ‘surveillance’ camera. “Four components are in place to help address privacy concerns. We don’t use audio technology so we cant hear any conversations. We don’t use any facial recognition technology and its truly an incident-driven system in which we use 911 calls to tell us where and when to look,” Campo said. Safecam Platinum models are available for purchase at safecamnola.org
THE MAROON
April 26, 2019
C R O S S W O R D
Across 1 VMI program 5 ’80s-’90s courtroom drama 10 On-call worker 14 Assert as true 15 Three-time A.L. batting champ Tony 16 Pupil’s place 17 Chipper 20 Tetra- doubled 21 Atonement 22 Confuse 25 Wrigley brand 27 Chipper 31 Geological time span 32 Carpenter’s joint element 33 Hiccup cause 36 Genesis voyager 38 Protector with strings 40 Mlle., across the Pyrenees 41 God of Islam 43 Called from the field 45 Bordeaux vineyard 46 Chipper 49 Rural wagons 50 Response at the door 51 Fair-hiring problem 54 “I don’t like your __” 56 Chipper 62 Tierra en el mar 63 Force to leave 64 Personification of victory 65 Dance basic 66 Shemar’s longtime “Criminal Minds” role 67 Plus Down 1 One of five characters on “The Big Bang Theory” to appear in every episode 2 Ab __: from the start 3 Cube root of 1,000 4 Spicy cuisine 5 Plunder 6 Italian wheels, briefly 7 Ad-__
8 Director DuVernay 9 Horseradish relative 10 Casual summer garments 11 Former Indiana governor Bayh 12 Amalgamate 13 Chums 18 Crime scene clue, maybe 19 Arab bigwigs 22 Gemini rocket stage 23 Eagerly anticipate, with “over” 24 North America’s highest peak 25 Fragrant 26 Fame 28 Large expanse 29 Part of the picture 30 Busters 34 Four-decades-plus first name in the Senate
SUDOKU
35 Title role for Bea 37 Links equalizer 39 Take-home 42 Tough to hear, as criticism 44 Like embers 47 Stuck 48 Medit. tourist attraction 51 Author Martin 52 Unexpected blow 53 Couture monthly 54 Roof piece 55 Fraction of a meg 57 Men’s grooming brand 58 Aperitif named for a former Dijon mayor 59 Good thing to strike 60 Signs off on 61 Sign of summer
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Life &Times
April 26, 2019 THE MAROON
Film • Arts • Food • Music • Leisure • Nightlife
Humans of Loyola
Autographed books are on display at Garden District Book Shop. Local book stores are still around and thriving, according to owners. RILEY KATZ / The Maroon.
Readers shelve their Kindles in favor of local book stores By Riley Katz rdkatz@my.loyno.edu
Independent bookstores are beginning to thrive again after years of losses because customers are beginning to favor brick and mortar stores again. In the American Bookseller Association’s yearly wrap up, the data showed 132 independent bookstores opened in 2018 and a five percent increase in total sales across independent bookstores. In contrast, e-book sales fell 10 % in 2017 with a continued drop expected to be reported once last year’s numbers are released. Faulkner House Books manager Joanne Sealy and Garden District Book Shop owner Britton Trice had differing answers as to why people have started returning to bookstores, but they both agreed on one thing: people do not like reading on screens. Garden District Book Shop and Faulkner House Books seem different at first glance, the two locations are more alike than meets the eye as both are built in the footprint of historic local sites. Garden District Book Shop is located in The Rink, the former site of the Crescent City Skating Rink built in 1884. Faulkner House Books is located in the former home of Nobel-Prize-winning American author William Faulkner in the shadow of the St. Louis Cathedral. Both have been open for decades and have seen the book industry change drastically. Faulkner House Books was opened by the family who owns Faulkner’s house because they are book collectors who wanted to open a shop. For nearly 22 of those years, Joanne Sealy has managed the store. Initially, when the e-book boom in the early 2010s hit, the bookstores were hit hard. “We had customers who would buy $500-$1000 worth of books ev-
ery year who stopped coming in,” Trice said. Those customers have begun returning to the bookstore due to a new trend of shopping locally instead of online in the last few years because these customers realized they did not like the feel of reading a book digitally. Trice said he still sees people coming in with a smartphone and an Amazon shopping list; however, customers are usings those lists as a guide to find books locally. Trice said that people have a misconception of how technology have drastically hurt local bookstores, but he said that the digital age has helped booksellers run more efficiently than ever. “I remember taking inventory by writing titles on a legal pad,” Trice said. “You can run a better operation today. You can keep control of your inventory, and you can reorder faster.” If anything, he said customers are hurt more than the stores because Amazon and digital booksellers lose the personal touch independent stores have to offer. “A seasoned bookseller is much better than algorithms Amazon uses to recommend books,” Trice said. “We see so many people come in after reading a book we recommend and say ‘I cannot believe how good that book was. I can’t believe I never heard of it,’ based off of recommendations we make.” Avid readers like Ellen Whitfield, owner of the physical-book-focused Instagram account @spoilerkween with more than 1,600 followers, echo the sentiment of e-books losing their attention. “I feel more connected with paper books than I do if I’m reading a book on a device,” Whitfield said. “It sucks me in the story more.” She added that books are important to her because they teach empathy, and give readers the opportunity to experience situations they
would otherwise not be exposed to. Trice said Garden District Book Shop has been profitable every single one of the 40 years the store has been opened but said local bookstores have been fighting to stay profitable for a long time. He said, in his experience, running a bookstore does not create more challenges unique to the print industry, but rather the same problems any business faces. “Any business is a challenge,” Trice said. “It has to be tended to and the bottom line has to be working.” But some of his success has come from a combination of skill and luck. Trice attributes some of that success to the Garden District becoming more tourist-centric as the years have passed, leading to 2018 being one of his best years ever. He also emphasized the importance of staying relevant on a larger scale, as his collection of autographed books keeps the store in the spotlight on a national level among collectors. Sealy said business has improved every year since Katrina because people understand the value of shopping locally. “Who wants to go to a chain?” Sealy asked. “I’ve actually read the books.” Faulkner House Books also has one significant advantage over other book stores: The book store does not have to pay rent, Because the owners of the shop also own the house, they do not have to pay high-priced rent in the French Quarter. “If you had to pay rent in the French Quarter it would be impossible to continue,” Sealy said. Both Trice and Sealy said the future seems bright to them with customers returning to their physical books. “There was a time when Barnes and Noble ate the small bookstores, then Amazon ate them, and still, here we are,” Sealy said.
Nathan C. Henne, Latin American Studies and Spanish professor, poses in front of Loyola University. HOLoyno is a project by Sofia Santoro, psychology sophomore, that highlights the creative professors at Loyola. SOFIA SANTORO/ The Maroon.
Inspired by the Humans of New York series, often shortened to HONY, psychology sophomore Sofia Santoro started an experimental project that involved taking portraits of professors, followed by a brief interview. This project became HOLoyno. By Sofia Santoro sisantor@my.loyno.edu
Originally from Guatemala, Nathan C. Henne, Latin American Studies and Spanish professor, attended graduate school in California. Falling under the astrological sign of Pisces, it’s no surprise that Henne turned to surfing as a way to wash away his stress. “The great thing about surfing is you could be in the middle of a huge city and you go out, be on your board, and just turn around the other way,” said Henne. “There’s nothing there...It’s the rhythm of the water, the waves, that takes you out of the rhythm of this civilization.” Henne got a job teaching at Loyola 12 years ago right after he finished getting his Ph.D. The moments that pay off for him are the “eureka” awakenings. The little moments when he sees that he gets through to someone to help them think in a different way. “I’m so lucky. I really, really, really love my job. And I don’t know how many people can say that.” If he were to be anything other than a professor, Henne said he would want to be an astronaut. “I think that having the perspective, huge perspective, change from that in physical way is a similar way that I try to do in my classes. We’ll look at something from a different
angle than you have before,” said Henne. “Can you imagine seeing the Earth? Not seeing the Earth, like a picture. But seeing the Earth as this thing that you always knew.”
Henne is a Latin American Studies and Spanish professor who attended grad school in California. SOFIA SANTORO / The Maroon.
April 26, 2019
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The Maroon
Greenhouse party sows the seeds for
Earth Week
By Hannah Renton writeremail@loyno.edu
Loyola switched out its maroon and gold for more earthly hues on April 23 in celebration of Earth Week. Complete with green punch and floral headdresses, Students for Environmental Action and the Physics Department held a hangout under the clouds on Tuesday night at the Azby Greenhouse on Monroe Hall’s rooftop, a location usually closed to the public. Students enjoyed a view of the whole city while snacking on EarthDay-inspired refreshments and lis-
tening to live music from some of Loyola’s own musicians like lonelygrrl and Lyla DiPaul. Attendees were also encouraged to explore the greenhouse to learn more about the different plants that live here on campus. The greenhouse even gave students and faculty the opportunity to bring life into their homes with free plants such as succulents and cacti. Due to cloud coverage, the Physics Department was unable to use telescopes for stargazing, but instead brought out a variety of physics experiments for attendees to try out and play with.
(TOP) Students wander the greenhouse on top of Monroe Hall in celebration of Earth Week April 23. (BOTTOM) A student reaches for a flower, one of many varieties in the on-campus garden. (RIGHT) Student-musician, lonelygrrl, performs during the rooftop party amidst the school’s skyline. (FAR RIGHT) Sunflowers bloom in the greenhouse.
TANK THE BANGAS AND
PRESENTS
ST. PAUL THE
AND
BROKEN BONES SWEET CRUDE
VALERIE SASSYFRAS
SATURDAY • MAY 4, 2019 • THE SUGAR MILL 8PM DOORS
9PM SHOW
1021 CONVENTION CENTER BOULEVARD
NOLA
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April 26, 2019
The Maroon
Cont: Louisiana gambling addiction among highest in US GAMBLING, continued from FRONT gambling addiction in particular but added that the specifics of gambling addiction parallel other process addictions. “I come from a belief that addiction is a biological brain disease,” Antonucci said. “In fact, really, the actual behavior or substance is only a manifestation of trying to cope with symptoms of addiction. And although it can certainly impact the type of interventions one uses, it all works the same way in the brain.” Antonucci noted that a number of people who experience gambling addiction also suffer from some form of depression, anxiety, trauma or other abuse disorders. “It’s been my personal experience that suicide with pathological gamblers is pretty significant,” he added. He noted that the strong feeling of desperation upon entering treatment is also something he expects is prevalent at higher rates in people who experience gambling addiction, as opposed to other addictions. Meredith said her father opted to enroll himself in Gamblers Anonymous to address his gambling use. “My dad actually went to Gamblers Anonymous for an entire year before he was in prison and contin-
ued to go after he was in prison,” she said. “I didn’t realize they had anonymous things for different addictions, because you hear about Alcoholics Anonymous but you don’t hear about Gamblers Anonymous.” While Gamblers Anonymous has helped Meredith’s father – he hasn’t relapsed since he stopped gambling about 10 years ago – Antonucci said the 12-step recovery process is not the solution for everyone. “The success is significantly less than people that go to AA or (Narcotics Anonymous),” Antonucci said. “Studies have been done with people with gambling addiction. The percentage of people that are still in Gamblers Anonymous and abstaining from gambling a year after their first meeting is somewhere in the range of about 3% to 4% Whereas, for people who go to AA it’s around 10% to 12%.” Antonucci said no studies exist on why that is, but he suspects it may have to do with each program’s support system. “With AA, it’s a much older organization. There’s people that have been in long-term recovery, so there’s a stronger support system,” he said. “GA has fewer meetings to go to. The level of sobriety, if you will, may not be as strong – so I think those are some reasons.”
A customer uses one of the slot machines at Bruno’s Tavern in Uptown New Orleans. Bars and casinos across the city have slot machines allowing visitors to gamble. The Maroon/INDIA YARBOROUGH
Other treatment options typically include working with a therapist and making a commitment to longterm counseling, Antonucci said. He added that Louisiana is one of a few states that offers free gambling treatment to its residents “The good thing about Louisiana is that it’s one of the very few states that offers on-demand gambling treatment,” Antonucci said. “A lot of people aren’t aware of this, but when they first started making gambling legal in the state, they had the casinos set aside a significant chunk of
money for treatment specifically for gambling addiction. … So there are actually some really good resources that people don’t have when it comes to other types of addictions.” That on-demand treatment is offered through the Louisiana Association on Compulsive Gambling, the state affiliate of the National Council on Problem Gambling. And according to Antonucci, “recovery is possible.” He would know, too, as he has been in recovery for drug and alcohol addiction for 13 years.
“I do bring to my work a pretty high degree of empathy and understanding for people who are trying to get into recovery and what that looks like and the struggles that they might have,” he said. “People can get really hopeless and think that just because somebody else has been successful, they can’t be successful. I think it’s really important to send a message to folks and their families that people recover from addiction every day.”
SPORTS
April 26, 2019 THE MAROON
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JC Does Sports Equestrian ”JC Does Sports” is a series where sports reporter JC Canicosa engages in different club and varsity sports around campus and describes his experiences as a reporter attempting to be athletic. First lesson of riding horses in England, yelling, “The British are coming! The British are coming!” while you’re on the horse may not be as funny to the other non-Americans in the group as you’d think. Having ridden many a carousel in my day, I thought equestrian would be rather simple and straightforward. I mean, all you do is sit there while the horse does most of the work, right? What I came to learn is that a lot more goes into being a responsible rider than you’d think. Horses are living things with skeletons, ligaments and muscles, and feel pain and discomfort just like we do. If your job was to carry around 45-90 kg (that’s 100-200 Ibs. to you American folk) people on your back all
day, you would too. It’s important for riders to understand proper riding technique or when horses are showing signs of pain or discomfort. Equestrian should be a mutually fun experience for the rider and the horse. This was good to know because prior to this lesson, my only knowledge of horses came from Netflix shows. So now I know that not all horses are named BoJack trying to find life after Hollywood. As we moved on to the horse-riding part of equestrian, I was admittedly anxious to begin. I climbed onto the stepping stool as equestrian instructor Hazel Heaton brought out Harvey the horse for me to ride. Climbing on was probably the trickiest part of the entire process, but as soon as I saddled up, I immediately knew Harvey and I would be best friends. When you’re riding the horse, it’s important to keep your back straight and find your center of gravity. This may not be as easy as
it sounds, as the jerkiness of riding a horse is more akin to being on a boat in rocky waters than say riding a bike or kart. Harvey wasn’t making it any easier for me either, taking several snack breaks on the freshly dewed spring grass. But in time, and by the power of Harvey and I’s friendship, I was starting to get it. And while my equestrian skills never reached a level of Jon Snow riding into battle, and Harvey and I’s friendship never felt like Aang and Appa’s, equestrian was still one of the most fun things I’ve done abroad. But when I get back home, you’re probably more likely to find me on the City Park Carousel than riding horses in New Orleans. Rating: 5/5 Knights of the Vale Verdict: The 4D-Avatar ride in Disney World is more accurate than you’d think.
Best friends JC Canicosa and Harvey the horse take a ride through Nine Acres on a wonderfully cloudy British day. Canicosa is not sure if the experience was scarier for him or Harvey. Photo by Jc Canicosa
Loyola on pace to reach new heights in Directors’ Cup standings By Andres Fuetnes aafuente@my.loyno.edu @af_nola As the campus blossoms with life once again after Spring Break, the Loyola athletic department will have the difficult task of designing and ordering a championship banner for the conference title-winning women’s golf team. The department has to answer questions such as: where would they display the banner? Will it sit adjacent to the three other banners that we won in 2019 alone? Should we wait to see if the gold team takes the national crown before ordering a conference banner? All are questions that need answers, but the question that should also be buzzing around The Den is where Loyola stands in the Learfield Directors’ Cup standings. The Directors’ Cup is awarded to the school with the most points following the end of athletic competition. Schools earn the points based off of their standings in national play. Last year, the Wolf Pack finished with a school-high 247 to land in 67th place among other schools in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. The program earned such a high standing due to the successes of the men’s and women’s swim teams, the women’s
2019 Loyola golfers pose with their championship banner and trophy. JOSE BEDOYA/The Maroon.
HERE’S WHAT YOU MISSED Golf team wins title Banners were hung for the dance team, the women’s golf team and both swim teams at Senior Night on Feb. 14 2019 for competing nationally last year. The Diretors’ Cup judges based on a school’s national performance. ROSHA’E GIBSON/The Maroon.
basketball and golf teams and the competitive cheer team. And with the summer months rapidly approaching, Loyola is aimed to surpass last year’s point total and perhaps their standings. Currently, Loyola is ranked No. 43 in the nation with 235 points. After national appearances from both basketball teams, both swim teams and the dance team, Loyola is just 12 points away from earning their highest point total ever, pending on how the golf team fairs after nation-
al competition. The men’s team has the highest point total out of any Loyola team with 75 points after placing fifth at the national meet. The women’s team follows, earning 72 points for their sixth place finish. After a first-round exit in the national tournament, the women’s basketball team racked up 25 points while the men’s team earned 53 points after reaching the second round for the first time in Loyola history since the 1940s.
And the dance team made a second-consecutive appearance on the national stage, finishing in 12th place and earning 10 points. Loyola is close to making history for the fourth year in a row, and it all rests on how well the golf team performs and if the track and field, tennis and baseball teams can make an impact at nationals. The final standings do not release until June 6, but the department and its athletes are on the right track to make history once again.
The women’s golf team captured the school’s first Southern States Athletics Conference title in the sport and Head Coach Drew Goff won Coach of the Year.
Four athletes head to Nationals Mathematics senior Taylor Hagins won her event in the hammer throw, environmental studies sophomore Walter Ramsey won the 10,000-meter run, biology sophomore Cecilia Terracina placed first in the pole vault and popular and commercial music junior Tristin Sanderswon the 800-meter run at the conference meet.
EDITORIAL
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April 26, 2019 THE MAROON
OUR EDITORIAL
The majority opinion of our editorial board
HOWLS & GROWLS HOWL to Avengers: Endgame on Friday GROWL to Vin Diesel HOWL to seven days of classes left GROWL to seven days left to get your GPA up HOWL to when group projects go well GROWL to Emma’s group essay HOWL to almost summer Have a howl or growl? Tweet us at @loyola_maroon to be featured each Friday!
EDITORIAL BOARD Riley Katz
Editor-in-Chief
Erin Snodgrass
Managing Editor
Anderson Leal
Managing Editor for
for Print Festival goers dance during a live performance at BUKU Music + Art Project in 2018. Behind the scenes of the festival were numerous employees — many of them students — working to keep things running smoothly. ANGELO IMBRAGUGLIO / The Maroon.
Music festivals that employ students provide valuable experience Loyola is known for its music industry program and the experience it prepares students with – much of which is gained off-campus. Local New Orleans festivals such as Voodoo Music + Arts Experience, BUKU Music + Art Project and the legendary Jazz Fest provide employment opportunities for Loyola students to work throughout the duration of the festival. Although the experience is usually only a twoweek job at most, its impact lasts much longer. The behind-the-scenes work of these festivals is often done by teams of students who are eager to involve themselves in the process. Students perform a vast variety of jobs such as artist hospitality, photography, crowd event management, social
media coverage and onstage setup. All students, even those outside of music industry, have the opportunity to work at these festivals. Being employed by them means long hours, but also entails a quick way to make money on the weekends. Perhaps more lucratively, students who work the festival can see bands perform for free, allowing them to participate in the ambiance of the festival without economic strain. For students who are budding young professionals interested in the music industry, employment at festivals can be a deeply valuable way to advance their career. They make connections and gain valuable experience in the inner workings of music festivals and live performances. Depending on interest,
students can learn about festival setups, live audio and lighting production, concert photography and media coverage and even providing for individual artists. One Loyola student who interned at Hangout Fest several summers in a row was given room for advancement. She was told that if she continued to intern at the festival, she would become a regular employee for the festival. This is true for many students who become invested in working at festivals – when they make connections in the industry, it can often lead to jobs post-graduation. Living in New Orleans as a college student gives us unique opportunities to be both surrounded and immersed in a rich culture of music.
Through these employment opportunities from music festivals, students who are interested in the music industry have the opportunity to make connections, gain valuable experience and conduct themselves professionally. A perk? They can do this all while getting paid. If you are a music student, or any student interested in the behindthe-scenes factors of a festival in any aspect, consider applying to work at a festival in the coming seasons. The experience may leave your feet exhausted from standing all day, but it will also leave you with insight into an industry and professionalism — as well as a smile on your face.
Electronic Properties Will Ingram
Maroon Minute Executive Producer
Ariel Landry
Design Chief
Cristian Orellana
Photo Editor
Rose Wagner Catie Sanders Tyler Wann Cody Downey
News Editor Life & Times Editor Wolf Editor Worldview Editor
Andres Fuentes
Sports Editor
Kaylie Saidin
Op-Ed Editor
Andrew Lang
Copy Editor
Emma Ruby
Copy Editor
India Yarborough Hannah Renton
Senior Staff Writer Senior Staff Photographer
EDITORIAL POLICY The editorial on this page represents the majority opinions of The Maroon’s editorial board and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Loyola University. Letters and columns reflect the opinions of the authors and not necessarily those of The Maroon’s editorial board. The Maroon does not represent the opinion of administration, staff and/or faculty members of Loyola. Letters are subject to editing for length, grammar and style. Please limit submissions to 400 words. Submissions are due no later than 4 p.m. the Sunday before publication. Please send all submissions — The Maroon, 6363 St. Charles Ave., Box 64, New Orleans, LA 70118. Email us your letters — letter@ loyno.edu. Submissions may also be made online at www.loyolamaroon.com.
OPINION
April 26, 2019 The Maroon
11
Think of the kids and stop buying Madden RILEY KATZ Mass communication senior rdkatz@my.loyno. edu
Stop me if you’ve heard this before. The score is 24-21 in the fourth quarter, you’re down by a field goal, but you’re driving and in opponent territory. It’s 3rd and 15 so you know you need to pass, but if you don’t make it, whatever. You have a kicker who can tie the game. The ball is snapped, your quarterback drops back, you see a receiver open and you mash the button to throw. Your quarterback (Drew Brees, obviously) tosses the ball forward. The ball is tipped at the line of scrimmage and flies back toward your quarterback. “FUMBLE!” pops up on screen. A defender scoops up the ball and runs the 70 yards back toward his own end zone for a touchdown. If you are a fan of football, you know that isn’t how fumbles or forward passes work. So why does the only NFL-licensed game on the market not understand the rules of the game? The cracks have set in on ‘Madden,’ a franchise older than some of our readers, including me. Because of that, the game has had to reinvent itself many times over the years. But in the current era of PS4 and Xbox One games, the series is in its worst state yet. The broken game engine, the lack of new features and the cash-cow game mode Ultimate Team are, in my eyes, the reason the game is so bad. In 2013, ‘Madden’ released its first entry on current generation platforms, the Xbox One and Playstation 4. With it, a new game engine called Ignite was born. It was marketed as a game engine that would make sports games feel alive. Instead it was riddled with bugs and inconsistent physics. After only four years, Ignite was shelved and replaced with the Frostbite 3 engine, a proprietary EA engine that was initially made for shooters like Battlefield. I don’t know about you, but when I think about football, I can’t help but compare the team sport to a gritty war simulator with guns and explosions. (p.s. I understand there are more
Photo illustration by Riley Katz and Cristian Orellana
complexities to game engines and adapting them to actually making a game function, but ‘Madden’ plays like a pile of hot garbage so you’re going to have to go with me here.) Since ‘Madden 25’ in 2014, each entry has degraded in quality as the developers build higher and higher on a rotten foundation. But with the Frostbite 3 engine, the failures up the ante. It just simply does not work. I relate playing ‘Madden’ to playing a racing game where every sixth or seventh time you steer right, your car inexplicably turns left into a wall. You wouldn’t play that game so why do you play ‘Madden’? I could go into a thousand different examples of how the game fails to be a football game, but instead, I will point you to the Instagram account @sloppymaddenplays. There, you can find countless user-submitted videos of the game absolutely destroying itself.
One of my biggest personal problems with ‘Madden’ is complacency. The franchise mode where you take the role of owner, coach or player and bring your team to the Super Bowl is the only mode I care about. I like the idea of taking an NFL team and building a dynasty over years and years of in-game seasons. For years, franchise mode has been widely neglected, with very few features being added every year. When die-hard fans of franchise mode asked EA for a way to play the Pro Bowl or a meatier create-a-character mode, the company added cutscenes of your coach walking around in his office as a background to the main menu, a feature that adds nothing to gameplay or immersion. Franchise mode’s complacency has widely been a result of an emphasis on Ultimate Team, a competitive, online game mode that
allows players to buy virtual card packs through microtransactions. These packs unlock players ranging from third-string kickers to alltime-great players like Bo Jackson or Lawrence Taylor. On the surface, the game mode sounds great. Who doesn’t want to create a dream team of players they grew up watching as kids? But if you look a little deeper, you’ll see that players are spending loads of money on randomized card packs, essentially the same as loot boxes (a concept some countries consider gambling). To me, that’s fine. If you want to spend all your money on a team you can’t take with you when the next game comes out, that’s your decision. But when you spend all this money on a game, the company that makes it is less motivated to fix the game-breaking bugs. And when the company is making an estimated $650 million off this game mode alone, AFTER the fact
that players already spend $60 to get the game in the first place, why would they fix anything? Now you might ask, “Why haven’t you stopped buying these games if you hate them so much?” I have. ‘Madden’ is no longer a game worth my money, and I implore you to vote with your wallet when ‘Madden 20’ comes out. Do not buy the game. Do not reward EA for phoning it in each year. I know it will not be easy, especially because there is no alternative to ‘Madden’ due to exclusivity rights with the NFL. But I would rather go a few years without playing a game that consistently makes me want to throw a controller through my wall to get a better product than...you know, buy a bad game every year that makes me throw that controller through the wall.
Communication about fundraising restrictions was poor sophie trist English writing senior smtrist@my.loyno. edu
“Yeah, I’d like a cupcake. How much?” “A dollar.” “I don’t have any cash on me.” “That’s okay, we take Venmo.” I’ve heard this conversation dozens of times as I passed various fundraisers for different organizations around campus. It’s a conversation I’ve had as I manned my own
club’s table. In this age of debit cards and online payment apps, most college students don’t carry cash on a daily basis. My wallet hardly ever has green paper in it. The ATM machines on campus are from smaller local banks, so they are not accessible to many students. In the last two fundraisers I’ve been involved in, my organization received half of our money through Venmo. Use of these payment apps has been ubiquitous on campus for several years; it’s hard to believe the administration is just now catching on. That’s why I was completely blind-sided when I received an email stating that student organiza-
tions cannot use Venmo, PayPal and Square, because these apps don’t meet the guidelines of the Payment Card Industry Council and are thus not secured against card holder information theft. This is a valid concern, and I’m glad that Loyola takes our financial protection seriously. However, I have a problem with the way this restriction is being enforced very suddenly, out of nowhere. The email quoted an exerpt from the student organization handbook, but let’s be real, no one reads a forty-page handbook, just like no one reads the Terms of Service on Apple and Amazon. Prohibitions against payment
apps have never been discussed at SGA summits where organization leaders learn how to manage club finances. They have never been mentioned when students are chartering new organizations. They have never, to my knowledge, been mentioned by student organization advisors. To reiterate, I agree that organization funds should not be channeled through personal bank accounts. However, if Loyola doesn’t want to severely reduce the fundraising power of its student organizations, it needs to make dealing with club finances less complicated and convoluted. I’ve been a leader of a student or-
ganization since my freshman year, and I still find it difficult to navigate the minefield that is depositing and withdrawing money from our school account. Loyola needs to improve communication between the administration and student groups so that things like the Venmo restrictions don’t just come out of the blue and catch us unaware with no alternative fundraising strategy in place.
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THE MAROON
The Interfaith Council and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee present...
YEAR-END GRATITUDE CELEBRATION Have your student organization or campus office create and bring a table centerpiece on the theme of GRATITUDE! Centerpieces will be displayed in the One Loyola Room during finals!
Wednesday, May 1st at 5pm St. Charles Room
April 26, 2019