Mace & Crown Fall 2022

MACE & CROWN Restart Magazine

EDITOR IN CHIEF

Sydney Haulenbeek

MANAGING EDITOR

Leyda RosarioRivera

COPY EDITOR

Kat Monnin NEWS EDITOR Will Witt

A&E EDITOR Dana Chesser

TECHNOLOGY EDITOR

Gabriel Cabello Torres

SPORTS EDITOR Benjamin Draper

PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

Elena Harris

SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR

Gwyneth Heseltine

FOOTBALL COVER Feat. Amorie Morrison Graphics by Eric Ganci Photographer Elena Harris

ART COVER Feat. Avery Keys Graphics by Harper Imm Photographer Elena Harris

ASSISTANTS

Art Neal Justice Menzel

CONTRIBUTORS

Noah Tench Kenneth Ashley Majorie Cenese

ADDITIONAL DESIGN colores. Eric Ganci Harper Imm

Mace & Crown is ODU’s student news organization. Every semester we produce a magazine written by and for the students of ODU. Originally founded as the High Hat in 1930, the paper became the Mace & Crown in 1961. In 2017 the Mace & Crown moved from a weekly newspaper to a magazine. You can find more from us at maceandcrown.com

Mace & Crown maintains journalistic independence from the university. All views ex pressed in this collegiate magazine are those of the author, not of the university, Mace & Crown, or the editors.

CONTENTS Fall 2022

NEWS

6-7 Before and After: Snapshots of COVID Impact on College Students 8-9 Twenty-One Years Later, the Ghost of ODU’s Monorail Remains

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT SPORTS

10-13 “The Question I’m Glad I Asked” 14-17 The Principles of Design 18-19 Lavender Locals: Reintroducing Norfolk’s LGBTQIA+ Watering Holes and History 20-25 ODU Football Welcomes Cuddly Companion: Hudson! 26-31 “Your greatest lessons are learned in your moments of defeat” Q&A with Basketball Legend DeLisha Milton-Jones 32-33 Then and Now: Old Dominion Shining Bright in Sun Belt Conference 34-35 Junior Guard Jason Wade Makes a Comeback 36-37 Lady Monarchs Gain New Blood Before Sun Belt Conference 38-39 Are Remasters a Plague or an Opportunity? 40-41 Going the Distance: ODU’s Monarch Racing Turns up the Effort

Editor’s Note

This is the fourth magazine I have participated in during my time with the Mace & Crown, and with each one I think: “this is it, this one is going to be the best one.” We’ve had many unexpected drawbacks during the production process of this par ticular magazine, but every time the team comes together and makes the impossible happen. We’re all moving towards our own personal “restart”, but as a team we get to keep learning and making beautiful mistakes together. A huge thank you to all of the wonderful staff and volunteers - teamwork makes the dream work. Enjoy!

Sydney Haulenbeek

EDITORIAL BOARD 2022 - 2023

RosarioRivera Managing Editor

Monnin Copy Editor

Leyda

Kat

Dana Chesser A&E Editor

Gabriel Cabello Torres Technology Editor

Benjamin Draper Sports Editor

Elena Harris Photography Editor

Gwyneth Heseltine Social Media Editor

Before COVID-19 hit, Justice Menzel was a differ ent person. So was Monique Fountain, and Keith Demarah.

College has always been a place of growth, but in the past two and a half years students have had to deal with unprecedented changes, the trauma of isolation, and lives lost. These challenges, along with the shock of a “new normal” have impacted students’ lives as they get ever closer to adulthood and independence, all while reeling from a global pandemic.

Monique Fountain described herself as “carefree” before COVID.

“It was a simple day-to-day life,” she said. “Go to class, and make sure you finish all your schoolwork before planning to go out that weekend. Just being able to go out and live without feeling regret. By regret, I mean the thoughts of wondering if you caught something or even worse, gave something to someone else.”

In early 2020, Justice Menzel was a phone-addict ed sophomore in the Virginia Beach public school system. Unlike many students, Menzel found that the start of COVID shutdowns ushered in his emer gence from isolation.

“Dating, friendships, conversations and controversy would thrive and die within the folds of Instagram and text messages [pre-COVID],” he said. “I would have never admitted it at the time, but I was stuck:

stuck in an antisocial, impersonal, and awkward phase in my life. I had friends, but probably hung out with them once every two months or so.”

Now, he’s a freshman at ODU.

“My life is no longer concentrated within Instagram DMs, and that’s something that took two years be hind closed doors and Zoom calls for me to finally realize...In the past two years, I have been more ad venturous, more personable, more open, and more self-aware than I ever was prior to COVID... Suffice it to say that I am one of the lucky few in which COVID has changed me for the better and for the foreseeable future.”

Even still, he hesitates to call our current reality “back to normal”.

“I honestly would put “normal” in quotes, because it’s not “normal,” it’s a new normal that we’re be coming more accustomed to with every passing day. We’ve essentially returned to a world where things are close to being how they were, but we’re not quite there yet. Gas prices are lower, but not the $2.50 they were, most people are vaccinated, but many still refuse the shot, some still wear masks in public, but so many refrain. I can say that since the pan demic ended, I feel far more comfortable exploring, making plans, and traveling than I was in 2021, and it’s an absolute treat to be able to see a movie in a crowd again. I also might be a hypocrite, because I saw 100 people rush the stage at Chartway Arena at the Playboi Carti concert, and if live music on

that scale isn’t what “normal” once was, then I don’t know what is.”

Fountain agrees - “normal” is a concept that is hard to come to terms with.

“I think the decisions I made pre-COVID and during COVID led me to where I am now and I’m happy with that, but don’t think life will ever be “normal” again,” she said. “COVID will always be something that people think about or let control their lives. There will always be a new strand or variation that re-implants that fear all over again.”

Keith Demarah is in an entirely different place than xe was before COVID.

“In early 2020, I was a senior in high school,” Demarah said. “At the time… I was kind of in the middle of figuring out what I identified as. [I was] definitely in the midst of realizing that like, I’m trans. Socially, I didn’t really have a lot of friends in high school, I didn’t have a lot of support.”

“I think everyone who was a high school senior at the time had a sort of initial reaction like ‘Oh, we’re getting anoth er couple weeks of spring break’ and that was amazing at first. And then we figured out that it’s going to be much longer, and honestly, the transition to online classes was really nice for me. I found that I was more able to manage my time, I’ve been working pretty much full time hours since I was 16. And I was finding it a lot easier to engage with my coursework during COVID when I … just kind of get to figure it out on my own. I really appreciated that; it helped a lot.

“Of course, COVID was awful and … speaking about the positive experiences I had during the lockdown and since that time in my life, I don’t want to cast the pandemic in a positive light but thankfully I personally did not have a tragedy.”

Since COVID, Demarah has experienced significant life shifts.

“I started testosterone,” he said, “So that’s a huge change. Honestly, having to spend that time with myself and actu ally deal with my emotions more head-on, I feel like I’ve gotten a lot more emotionally intelligent, I feel like I have come to a much better self understanding, and being on hormone therapy has helped a lot with that as well. And I feel like since then, I’ve been able to do a lot better with my anorexia recovery. I haven’t been as preoccupied with food or with body image. … [there’s] a lot less turbulence

in my life, which I appreciate a lot.”

Menzel also feels that he has grown as a person.

“I am a better, more focused, more personable individu al than I was prior to COVID,” he said. “I am now really proud to say that I am Justice Menzel. I survived the pan demic, two weeks with a despicable virus, and high school. I will never be perfect, but I am more me than I have ever been, and that’s definitely something to be proud of.”

Fountain is a student, a daughter, and is soon to gain an other label: mother.

“I think the most that has changed about my life is how I now think,” she said. “Although, I feel like most of that stems from me being pregnant and about to have my little girl. Personally, [if given the option], I wouldn’t [go back and do anything differently]. I think the decisions I made pre-COVID and during COVID led me to where I am now and I’m happy with that.

“I’m sort of coming to a new era for my personal under standing, where I’m on much better footing with myself and my identity and navigating the world than I was before,” said Demarah, reflecting on his life then, and now. “I definitely feel like the pandemic was a period of growth and self development for me in a lot of ways, not just reckoning with my identity, but also as a person learning what’s important to me, the people who I want to keep around, and how to better value myself.”

Twenty-One Years Later, the Ghost of ODU’s Monorail Remains

Will Witt

Following the 2001 Fourth of July holiday, American Maglev Technology, Inc. (AMT) arrived on ODU’s campus to begin building a one kilometer elevated track, a research project that would cost $14 million dollars. This track was designed to support a small passenger car that would “levitate” on magnets, providing a smooth ride across campus. Twenty-one years later, the abandoned track has become a Stonehenge-like monument used as a landmark for directions, but still has yet to ferry a passenger.

Many students pass under the concrete structure daily with no inkling that a futurist magnetically levitated train should be passing overhead. A system that could ferry students safely across Hampton Blvd now only hosts abandoned rivets that act as bird deterrents - an attempt to deter roosting fowl from providing excrement showers to students.

AMT, whose business license was revoked in Georgia in 2019, was given federal funds of $2 million and state funds of $7 million to complete the project. Tony Morris, CEO of AMT, said that the track was completed in just 37 days, despite many inconveniences, from unstable grounds that created an issue where “we would strike a pile once, [and] watch it fall forty feet,” to having to avoid underground utilities. The Batten College of Engineering & Technology had to be evacuated more than once during this process due to an underground gas main being struck, according to Morris. However, after 9/11, the federal funding was pulled. Morris cited this as one of the main reasons the project was never fully finished. The $7 million in funds granted to Morris from Virgina remains unpaid.

Once installation was completed, the Maglev car, which had only undergone testing on a ground track, was brought to campus from Florida. The car failed to maintain stability on the elevated platform and did not meet the promised operating speed of 40 miles per hour; instead it barely skidded 45 feet. These complications were attributed to the test track for the car

being built on the ground, not in the air. After Morris’ exit, En gineering and Aerospace Professor Thomas Alberts took over. In an attempt to help fund magnet research, he sold over 2,000 feet of completed track. Alberts now uses 80 feet of the track for research.

Research conducted under Alberts has seen the success of a small sled on this 80 foot section. ODU has not transferred this success over to larger vehicles, demonstrating the limitations and cost to scale this technology for commercial use.

In 2003, the Federal Railway Administration provided $2 mil lion to ODU to continue the research left by AMT. Once these funds were depleted, ODU decided to release AMT from their contractual obligation to remove the elevated structure.

Initially, Morris intended to build the project at Virginia Tech instead of ODU. After discussions, Morris felt that the maglev train would be “an engineering toy” at Virginia Tech and he looked elsewhere. Morris then connected with Dominion Power in an attempt to create a magnetic rail line connecting venues in Virginia Beach. This too was scrapped due to the length re quired to connect these venues. Finally, Morris landed at ODU, where the space was “just right.” After failing to produce results at ODU, the Virginian-Pilot reported in 2007 that Morris was attempting to land contracts in Pakistan.

Morris’ quixotic obsession with this magnetic technology appears to have him throwing darts at a map and hoping one will land. In 2004, the Suffolk News-Herald reported that the technology “may be ready for baby steps, but is not even close to commercial application.” Morris’ attempts to make this tech nology a success and his promises of delivering a cost effective monorail have gone as far as his flagship car on its maiden voyage - a voyage that skidded and bumped only 45 feet along the track.

The car built by Morris was last seen at his facility outside of Atlanta, GA. It was here Morris claimed to have accom plished speeds of 60 miles per hour. This new accomplish ment was not picked up by any interested parties or by ODU. When the Atlanta Journal-Constitution asked Morris about his newest experiment in 2007, he said he was trying to keep it “under wraps.”

ODU credulously bought into Morris’ promises and allowed the building of his experiment to go forward, despite the fact that Morris’ technology has not seen cost effective commer cial success inside the United States. ODU is now left with a

long concrete scar through campus that will require addition al funds to demolish.

In the near future, ODU is set to build a new Biology build ing near the existing elevated structure. President Hemphill said that “sections will be removed to make way for this new building,” adding that more sections may be demolished be yond the footprint of the new building. Hemphill said he did like the portion that crosses Hampton Blvd., since it makes a gateway to the university. A gateway made from the ruins of a failed experiment juxtaposed against a new R-1 rating for the university is oddly foreboding.

The Question I’m Glad I Asked

Noah Tench

At the beginning of my senior year, I began an in ternship with the Catholic Diocese of Richmond. I’m living in a community with a priest. Things are still in the air, and my feelings on the internship are likely to change. This position is the culmina tion of a year of deep vocational discernment and a lifetime of religious doubt. I could point to a million different places and say my journey started there, but I’ll start with one of the most pivotal.

It was the winter of 2019, my freshman year at ODU. I sat in a pew staring at the monstrance during my first Eucharistic adoration. I fidgeted and observed the others around me kneeling and having intimate moments with the Lord. My mind roiled with doubt as I repeated a petition to God: “Lord, If you’re really there, prove it.” I’d been confirmed the year prior, and despite being there to sponsor my friend becoming a fully initiated “adult” in the church, I had massive doubts.

At this point my friend and I saw our faith as obligatory and performative. It was a means to an end and not an end in itself. Ultimately, my friend decided to not get confirmed and left the Church, which I’m glad about as my overall disposition towards the faith at the time was not conducive to a positive, holy confirmation process. This was the first time I had prayed – I mean really, seriously prayed – since I was a young boy on the way home from Christmas Eve mass asking God to send a snowstorm for Christmas.

Is doubting and challenging God prayer? Abso lutely.

I desperately wanted proof or a sign. I saw the wafer inside the monstrance as just some bread that everyone else thought was Jesus, though now I proudly believe this as well. While I’d never “left” my faith – as I’d been lectoring, or reading from the Bible during mass, for a while – I still had major doubts about the truth and validity of the church. Because of my lukewarm faith, I initially approached lectoring as an experience in pub lic speaking; not for the edification of souls, but because I had pragmatic concerns! I continued in this way for a long while.

I hadn’t seriously tried to grapple with my faith or tackle my doubts until I started my time here at ODU and gained exposure to the world of philosophy and rhetoric. Classes in religion and philosophy gave me tools to begin to examine the questions I’d always had, but never knew how to truly express. They exposed me to problems I’d never considered, and the centuries of answers. My faith life prior to these courses had always been a tug-of-war between a zealous belief that Christi anity, and Catholicism in particular, was the one true faith and that all non-believers, doubters, and apostates would burn in hell; and a cynical doubt that cast all who did believe as loons who believed to comfort themselves in the face of the harsh

realities of death.

My life, like many others, has been a constant struggle to find meaning, purpose, stability, and peace. My faith has always been crucial to me throughout this daily struggle, despite my doubts. My struggles ranged from the intellectual, which were addressed by my classes and by better cat echesis, to the purely spiritual, in that I never ex amined my faith and believed what I said I did. As a young boy, my faith gave me great consolation: God was all good and all love, nothing could go wrong. Then my mom was diagnosed with can cer, twice. How could an all-loving God, my God, who loves me personally, let this tragedy and this evil befall me and all those I love? Many doubts stemmed from this, but I came back to the faith in high school, or at least appeared to.

I used to be 460 pounds. Most people wouldn’t believe it, as I’m quite lean now. I’m also a dis tance runner, which is one of my greatest passions and genuine joys. I’d dissipated myself in a world of simple pleasures: fast food, video games, and a dire addiction to pornography. I’d adopted hedo nism as my primary philosophy, with only a thin veneer of faith.

The COVID-19 pandemic was the perfect oppor tunity for me to change myself and emerge a rad ically different person. A variety of factors played into this change. Innumerable nights thinking about being healthy and fit and how proud ev eryone would be of me helped. I’ll never forget when it happened. I was lying in bed, on Facetime with one of my closest friends, when a feeling of absolute weightlessness flooded my body. I was at my heaviest, but I had never felt lighter. I real ized I wasn’t happy anymore. The countless little pleasures didn’t bring me joy anymore. I felt a new leaf turning. I told my friend just that, and I never looked back.

These winds of change carried me into Lent with

gusto. Amid all my doubts about my faith, the eucharist, and life in general, I felt sure of one thing: God was calling me to take responsibility for my health. I felt that I owed it to God, and my loved ones, who He put into my life, to try. My only stipulation for myself was that for the 40 days and nights of Lent I had to genuinely try—not just give up soda for a week and nothing else. Even if it was just 30 extra minutes of walking a day along with cutting back on sweets, I had to do it and be consistent. I figured I could make some serious progress and decide at the end of Lent if I wanted to continue down this path.

I started small by switching to diet sodas and getting a little bit less when I ordered fast food. Instead of my normal 8 double cheeseburgers and a large pop refilled multiple times for lunch, I had diet coke and only 4 or 5 burgers. Slowly, I moved away from my gargantuan portions and terrible food choices. I took up walking daily around my neighborhood. I couldn’t go far or for long at first, but my focus was consistency. I deepened my prayer life through my view that the actions I was taking for my health freed me to do the work of God, whatever that work may be, and to love Him more fully.

While I made these changes in my life, the world changed as well. COVID-19 hit the United States. Spring break was extended a week. The governor declared a state of emergency. Everyone was in lockdown. The world froze, but I kept walking and progressed dietarily, physically, and spiritually.

I felt that to overcome my attachments to food and physical pleasure I needed the strength of the angels. I began to pray the Chaplet of Saint Michael, a devotion to the angels invoking their protection and guidance. I felt drawn to this spe cific chaplet because it’s said that those who pray it daily are immune to temptation through the intercession of the nine angelic choirs. I prayed the chaplet throughout the summer of 2020, and I slimmed down a staggering amount. As I deep ened my spiritual commitments, my logical

barriers to the faith melted. I felt more unity with the Catholic Church. I dove into the Catechism and the great authors of the Church, namely Au gustine of Hippo. I found his Confessions to be soothing: if he could be such a great sinner and yet also a saint, so could I.

I kept pushing forward on all these fronts: losing weight, becoming healthier, and growing spiritu ally. As my prayer life deepened, I felt not only my faith, but my entire person truly coming to life. Lectoring was more than just a public speaking exhibition; it was a gift. I was giving back to God and His people. I felt deep in my soul a call to give more. I’ve always felt this call to give back to the world. I was beginning to consider what work God was freeing me up for, and where to direct my newfound energies for His kingdom, to spread and live the Gospel most authentically.

However, this came after about a year of very serious discernment. Throughout the last year I continued to deepen spiritually and progress towards this pinnacle of the priesthood. I began spiritual direction, and while the Chaplet fell to the wayside, prayer and faith were the lights which I let guide my feet. In the spring of this year, I felt sure that seminary was the next step for me. I met again with the vicar over the summer to discuss pursuing an internship with the diocese.

The internship has many duties and responsibili ties which have conflicted with those of a full-time ODU student. As a result, I haven’t been able to fulfill all of them. Thankfully the priest I live with and the great community around me are under standing of my dual responsibilities. The primary duty of the internship is living “in community” with a priest. I commute to ODU, just like before, but I don’t return to my old home and family—I return to the rectory and my priest.

Eventually this manifested in what I believed to be a call to the priesthood. As I read from the Lives of The Saints and other spiritual works, I felt that I too could be a priest and fulfill the role of the good shepherd for the people of God. Last fall, after ending my first serious adult relationship and hearing the message from several of my professors to do the craziest thing I could think of – to seek out more from life because youth and opportuni ty are tragically fleeting things – I did just that. I decided that the craziest thing, the thing I’d long wanted, but been talked out of many times, was to pursue this vocation.

I contacted the office of vocations for the Dio cese of Richmond. The vicar for vocations and I exchanged emails and set a date to meet. He said something to me that day which has only recently returned to my mind: there’s a major difference between administering the sacraments and receiv ing the sacraments. I realize now that I failed to see this distinction.

The familiar face of Bishop Knestout in a frame on the right-hand wall greets me as I walk through the door each night after attending classes and trudging through the HRBT. I usually make my dinner in silence. Sadly, my priest and I don’t typically see one another; he has so many duties within the parish that our paths often don’t cross except for in the earliest parts of the morning and fleetingly in the evening. Often by the time we arrive at the rectory in the evening, we both would rather just retire to our respective rooms and work, or relax, rather than socialize.

Life in the community has been lonely. Most of my days are spent at school, and the few moments in the parish are often spent trying to catch my breath. I find some respite in daily mass on Tues day and Thursday mornings, although I don’t return home, at least on Tuesdays, until around 9 p.m., which makes for a long day. Attending daily mass is one of the duties of the internship, and despite those masses filling up a prime space when I could be getting coursework done, I find

them restorative. However, my general disposition and desire to perform my duties with excellence is compromised because of everything on my plate. Sadly, I can’t do all my duties, as an intern or as a student, with the same excellence I’m used to.

The struggles of being a full-time student and balancing prayer life, which is nowhere near as full as it was at the peak of COVID, have been remark ably difficult. I’ve struggled to maintain the depth of and fidelity to my prayer life this semester. A lot of these actions of prayer, which before I would’ve considered a freeing and essential part of my day, now feel like chores. It could be because I’m obli gated under the internship to develop a daily holy hour, pray the liturgy of the hours, attend daily mass, etc. The requirement, or at least expecta tion, to complete these activities has hampered my ability to find serenity and joy in them. However, as I discover the rhythm of this semester and find time for the duties of the internship, these actions are freeing and edifying, although still difficult to incorporate. Unfortunately, I find myself rushing through them more frequently than I would like.

I realized after the first two days that, at least for now, seminary isn’t my path forward. My joy is in the reception and practice of the sacraments, not in their administration. This realization was ac companied with a weightlessness and a liberating joy. I still want to direct my energies within the Church and for God. My path just isn’t as a priest.

I’ve told my priest and the vicar for vocations about my realization and they both see no reason to terminate the internship. It’s supposed to give me an idea of where I’m called, and explore how it is that I’m to serve God. It’s a great gift to be al lowed to search oneself so fully and freely and with such solid support.

My internship is nowhere near close to being over, and I may be judging too abruptly. Still, I real ized almost immediately that the path I was on before, which was working towards being a high school English teacher, forming young minds of

tomorrow, was the path for me. The “detour” of the priesthood has been amazing, difficult, terrifying, fun, exciting, and everything else besides, and I’m remarkably grateful that I chose to ask Jesus if He was really there in the Eucharist, and to prove it. I never expected Him to prove it to me in this way, but I’m so glad he did. I discovered that He truly is there and everywhere else. We only need to look around us to find Him.

Eric Ganci’s collection of dainty green bracelets reflects emerald light as he hands over a hot pink business card. The brand, a sole proprietorship offering a range of creative services, is called “col ores.” and it’s run entirely by Ganci.

“There are actually different versions,” he ex plained, referring to the pink rhombus shapes occupying the front of the card. “That’s the second edition. The first was blue.”

Ganci is the president of ODU’s graphic design club and a senior in the major. He somehow strikes the balance between mild-mannered and talkative both in and out of class. He’s humble by nature, yet his subtle– and consciously made– style choices indicate what bubbles beneath the surface: he sports a gold chain, black gauges and a twoinch tattoo of a rose on his right hand, compli menting a tangle of loose bracelets. Anyone would assume he’s an artist, and they’d be right. A fulltime student and freelance creative brand owner, he’s spent his entire undergraduate career estab lishing himself as a Hampton Roads creative. Though neither his sense of style nor his expe riences in the art department are by any means exclusive.

The summer of 2022 saw two of ODU’s full-time associate graphic design professors, married couple David Shields and Ivanete Blanco, flock to “greener pastures.”

“Being a professor, especially in graphic design, is a competitive field,” explained John Roth, associate professor and chair of the art department. “Some body made them a great offer… [and] together they went to another school… Whenever faculty [members] leave the students who are in the pro cess of their program, there’s an adjustment [peri od] – there’s no denying that.”

Shields taught communication design at Texas State University-San Marcos for twenty years be fore moving to Old Dominion University’s graphic design program in 2012. His resume showcases an array of impressive clients like Taco Bell, Sony Music Entertainment, Motorola, and even the Nickelodeon Network, denoting his mastery of the craft of design. But such wisdom is said to have been paired with a feeling of responsibility for his students’ professional success, at times limiting their range of creative freedom.

Shields was widely known for his narrow scope of

“reasonable and justifiable in design,” Ganci re called. “[He] had a very firm and limited direc tion… There was really no room to branch out and discover yourself as a designer. It was always prac tical, practical, practical; ‘This is what’s expected of you after college.’”

Blanco began her teaching career eleven years after Shields, together accumulating a combined 49 years of teaching experience before their departure. Students remarked that she shared a similar mili tance, adhering to and enforcing the principles of design which accelerated both her and her hus band’s career outside of the classroom.

Together, the two founded “R-N-R Showprint,” a collaborative letterpress and design studio based in Norfolk that earned international recognition for prints reflecting music, culture and social is-sues. Perhaps their decoration as established local

designers is what enabled their rigidity on-campus, particularly in Shields’ course, GDES 371: Design Concepts.

“There should be a good balance of [principle] and creative freedom,” Ganci argued. “The real world isn’t all rainbows and sunshine… you still want to be prepared. You have to be able to take criticism and feedback. But [Design Concepts] really was make-it-or-break-it for a lot of people. They felt like their creativity was being stifled or challenged. It hardened some of us, and some of us decided it really wasn’t what we wanted to do.”

Graphic design currently stands as ODU’s largest major in the art department, with approximate ly 160 students enrolled. Though offered courses range from blacksmithing to printmaking to art history, design triumphs as the most practical, es pecially at a university geared towards convenience and accessibility. Despite the pandemic, Roth not ed how the spring semester of 2022 brought stu dents back with a bite, bursting with more passion and artistry than ever before.

“I could not believe how enthusiastic they all seemed to be,” he beamed. “I got some of the best work out of students in a long, long time.”

Noelle Jessup, a senior in the graphic design pro gram, noted how both Shields and Blanco contrib uted to the strength of her work ethic around that time, despite their “limits on creative freedom.”

“The way that they taught was kind of militant,” she said. “The ‘cookie-cutter’ thing, for sure. But I think I benefitted from that because I really like structure and knowing exactly what is expected.

At the same time, it does limit creative freedom. It was really hard to develop your own style… I liked them, but that came out of knowing that they know their stuff.”

Jessup and Ganci agreed that the sudden loss of both professors took a toll on most students in the

program, regardless of personal experiences or interactions with them. Students flocked to one another in desperation and confusion when Blanco announced her official resignation over the sum mer.

“A couple of people compared it to mom and dad getting divorced and now they’re leaving us,” Jessup joked, her neon lightning-bolt earrings jingling against her jacket. “We have a group chat and everyone was kind of like ‘What are we gonna do?’ ‘Can we do anything?’ Some people, I think, scheduled Zoom meetings to talk with them for the last time before they left. Definitely a period of time where it was like ‘Oh no, what’s gonna happen?’”

Visiting assistant professors Charilyn Colbert and Susan Matherene were ushered in as emergency hires, according to Roth, in anticipation of the fall 2022 semester. But graphic design students found themselves at the mercy of their only remaining professor, Kenneth Fitzgerald, for any updates regarding the situation.

“We were kept out of the loop,” said Ganci. “After they left, it was like ‘Shit, what are we gonna do now?’ There was a big scramble… We reached out to Kenneth Fitzgerald at the start of the summer, shortly after we found out… To my knowledge, their [Colbert and Matherene] workload is im mense… [And] they’re still firm, but they’re open. They’ll allow you to go down your own path. They’ll still support you and try to give you options to further your own creations.”

For students like Ganci, the freedom to pursue their own design style is incredibly important to their professional success. Such prowess is precisely what both Fitzgerald and Roth hope to encourage within the department, particularly as the semester progresses and admissions outreach extends across the Eastern shore.

“I think what I’m getting from the art department is that there’s a lot of new energy,” said Roth. “We have two new hires here. I’m a new chair. And so

new ideas are being addressed. Old ideas and old animosities are tamped down and I think the mo rale here is quite good.”

As for the stu dents, mitigation looks like relearn ing how to trust one’s creative instincts.

“I feel Iike I’m still going through that subtle shift of getting back to complete normalcy,” said Gan ci. “There are some [people] that are still trying to piece themselves back together... I know a lot of people who just don’t have confidence in the work they do… having had those types of experiences in previous classes has made them undermine them selves.”

When asked about his hopes for the future of the graphic design program, he takes a minute to ponder. Jessup, notably, did the same. They mirror one another in more ways than one, both seem ingly confident in their respective forms of eclectic expression.

“I hope all the people who come after me will find themselves creatively and not get bogged down on ‘Is this good enough?’” Ganci reflected. “As long as you’re proud of it, that is grounds enough for creating.”

Jessup continued as if directly addressing the fall 2023 incoming freshman.

“Just walk into it knowing that there is a larger community,” she said. “It’s not exclusive. I remem ber thinking it was going to be so hard, but it’s less scary than it is inviting.”

Twinkling rainbow lights trace the bar’s silhou ette at MJ’s Tavern, a legendary watering hole and queer safe haven just five minutes from Old Do minion University’s campus.

It’s only been a decade since the doors first opened in 2012 – sooner since their staff painted an icon ic rainbow walkway at the entrance – but MJ’s Tavern has quickly become a hub for Norfolk’s LGBTQIA+ community members and allies, di versifying the local menu of queer-friendly bars.

“Local queer history is important because it fills the gaps in the larger story of queer history,” said ODU professor Cathleen Rhodes, a senior lecturer in the Women’s Studies department. “It connects students to places, people, and events that hap pened right where they stand. You can’t throw a rock in Norfolk without hitting a spot touched by queer people at some point.”

From The Wave to 37th and Zen, Norfolk has long been recognized for its wide variety of gay bars, serving as a home to some of the state’s most noto rious LGBTQIA+ activists. But time has witnessed many of the city’s queer businesses and coalitions deteriorate, placing the pressure on younger gen erations to cherish and uphold its rich history.

“This city was a hot spot for queer life in the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s,” Rhodes continued, herself a Hamp ton Roads native. “It was known as the place to find other queer people… I want ODU’s queer stu dents to know that they are standing among many sites of queer history, and that they can draw from that history in ways that feel supportive, challeng ing, and empowering.”

Norfolk’s own Hershee Bar, the oldest lesbian bar in Virginia, was demolished in 2019 after the city bought the land with intentions to “revitalize.” Similarly, an EVMS parking lot occupies where Shirley’s Place once stood, a woman’s bar attracting lunch crowds by day and local lesbians by night. As of 2022, only 24 lesbian bars remain open throughout the United States, with Babes of Car ytown being the closest at 80 miles northwest of campus in Richmond.

“[Spaces like these are] crucial because they create spaces for queer people to connect and cultivate community,” said Andrew Garber, ODU’s coor dinator for LGBTQIA+ programs and initiatives. “Restaurants, shopping malls, universities–[they’re] not made for us. They’re not made for us intentionally in mind.”

Garber themselves grew up in Hampton Roads, leaving only for a brief time in college. The curation of their position as a coordinator for LGBTQIA+ initiatives is partially informed by their personal experiences in the area, specifi cally the city of Norfolk.

“Fairgrounds was a coffee shop where the gay teenagers would hang out and find community,” they recall. “This was before Grindr – before anything – so a lot of it was word of mouth… I started getting the circuit through that.”

Garber would inevitably graduate into The Wave, an LGBTQIA+ dance club on Colley Ave., upon turning 18. Thursday and Saturday nights found a diverse range of young queer people lining up to sweat under strobe lights, building a stronger community with each con nection they made. Operating hours, however, were not exclusive to weekends.

“In college, I would go to The Wave on Thanks giving night,” they said. “They would stay open for us so that we had a place to go. MJ’s [Tav ern] does the same thing… There’s a culture of ‘We stay open on holidays intentionally to pro vide a space for those who do not have a home to go back to,’ which is really beautiful.”

Similarly, giving back to the community by hosting events for local queer organizations has become a cornerstone for every LGBTQIA+ establishment still operating in Norfolk, though this practice is nothing new. Hubs like Shirley’s Place often hosted queer artists and musicians, joining the Norfolk Coalition for Human Rights in 1979 as a means to serve the needs of the city’s lavendar locals.

“MJ’s [Tavern] pays tribute to many of the bars

that came before it,” said Rhodes. “T-shirts and memorabilia from Shirley’s Place and other local bars line the walls and serve as a reminder that this area has a long history of queer activ ism and socializing.”

Rhodes herself has taught queer studies at ODU over the last 12 years, placing local queer history as the focal point. 2020 saw the Move ment Advancement Project and Campaign for Southern Equality report that more than one third of queer people in the United States live in the south. Yet, the majority of queer history discussions revolve around northern and west ern cities like New York City, Chicago and San Francisco. Rhodes argues that expanding one’s knowledge of national queer history helps us to view a “more complete picture of the lives of transgender people, people of color, poor and working-class queer people, women and gender nonconforming people.”

The Old Dominion football program’s transition into the Sun Belt Conference after joining the league in March 2021 has marked a new era for ODU Athletics. With the switch in conferences, some changes have been made behind the scenes which have sparked local and national interest, such as the welcoming of a furry new member, Hudson, as ODU football’s new unofficial mas cot.

When you look around the college football nation, you see many canine mascots. You have mascots like Smokey at the University of Ten nessee, Reveille at Texas A&M, Uga X at the University of Georgia, and Tuffy the “Wolf” at N.C. State University. The Monarchs are known for their mascot “Big Blue,” which is a furry lion mascot costume worn by a student, but they’ll now also have Hudson as ODU’s new unofficial mascot for the next two seasons

Hudson, a 15-week-old yellow Labrador, was given to head football coach Ricky Rahne as a Fa ther’s Day gift from his wife Jen Rahne. Initially, Coach Rahne was against the idea because they had enough dogs in the household already, but hundreds of refusals from Ricky could not thwart

his wife’s inevitable victory.

Jen received Hudson through her connection with Brooke Corson, a veteran and the execu tive director of the Norfolk-based Mutts With A Mission, which was founded in 2008. They met through their son’s lacrosse team. Mutts With a Mission is a non-profit organization that trains service dogs at a cost of about $60,000 each. Over an 18-month period, they train the dogs to perform tasks ranging from retrieving items by name and helping their handlers stand up to medication reminders and turning on the lights. During their first two years of life, the pups are well-socialized and learn their manners. When the dogs reach their second birthday, the organi zation provides them to veterans in need. Hud son will find a permanent home after his twoyear stint with ODU football.

When Brooke surprised Coach Rahne with Hud son’s birth certificate on Father’s Day, he didn’t seem thrilled at first, but he now loves Hudson deeply. During the summer workouts, Hudson was brought into the weight room along with eight other puppies and was chosen from the litter with the help of several football players.

Elena Harris, Mace & Crown

Photo courtesy Brandon McLean, ODU Athletics.

Photo courtesy Brandon McLean, ODU Athletics.

Photo courtesy Naoma Doriguzzi, Mutts With a Mission.

maceandcrown.com

“The guys were flocking all over them,” Jen stated. After taking pictures and playing around, it was time for the dogs to leave with their trainers.

Only one puppy refused to depart. That was when everyone knew that this puppy was the one. The puppy was named Hudson. “Hudson stood right there next to our guys, so he already knew he was with us,” said Ricky Rahne. At the end of the day, Hudson chose the Monarchs as much as they chose him.

He is named for the color Hudson Blue, which is a light blue the Monarchs sport on special occasions throughout the year. The alternate team color was named after long-time Old Dominion Sports Information Director Carol Hudson. For the next two seasons, Hudson will be accompanying the Monarchs and brightening up everyone’s days. “Seeing Hudson is a great little moment to maybe bring back some humility into things when may be you haven’t had the practice that you wanted or you had a great practice and all of a sudden hav ing a puppy in your hands brings a little humility to you,” Ricky mentioned. Hudson has truly shone inside the locker room and around the ODU community.

The plan is to have Hudson attend as many games as possible, whether at home or on the road. So far this football season, Hudson has attended ev ery game, including road trips to Charlottesville, VA, and Greenville, NC. There has been specu lation that Hudson can be trained to retrieve the tee after kickoffs. Not only is Hudson involved in the football program, but he has been all over the place in ODU Athletics. You can spot the pup at various locations on campus mingling with oth er ODU athletic programs like field hockey and lacrosse. The puppy constantly attends L.R. Hill Sports Complex to hang out with ODU athletics.

The football players cherish their new team mas cot and are glad he was the one chosen. “I adore Hudson. As soon as he enters the room, he makes

everybody’s day a little bit brighter. “Everybody simply grins,” junior wide receiver Ali Jennings III stated. “Everybody picked Hudson. He’s been that guy from the first time we saw him.” “He’s a cool dog. Everyone loves the idea of having a team dog,” junior running back Blake Watson said.

Hudson is taking the college football world by storm with his cuteness. There was an instance early this season when Hudson was denied the privilege to be on the field for the ODU vs UVA game in Charlottesville, but thanks to Twitter, the news of Hudson’s rejection gained traction and took off. Lots of people in the ODU community and college football world took to social media to express their disappointment that Hudson was not allowed to be there to support his team. Even tually, Hudson was granted his field access and things were set right. In the home opener against Virginia Tech, Hudson had the national spotlight on him when the game was broadcast over ESPN networks and he wore his cute little puppy crocs and blue-shaded goggles. One could say that Hudson is one of the new faces of ODU.

Who would have thought that Hudson was going to have as much success as he has so far? This little puppy is going to be around a passionate sports community for his first two years before finding a permanent home with a veteran. Hudson has become a fan favorite and a Twitter star in only the first half of the football season and will con tinue to shine in the spotlight. Regardless of what happens for ODU football this year, one thing is for certain, the players and Coach Rahne will have a cute little puppy to fall back on through the ups and downs of a stressful season.

I think that people should take a hard look at that as an occupation at some point in their lives because the gameand the kids - need it.

I just want to say that being a former player that has played at the highest level, and now I am a coach, I think is probably one of the greatest honors that I ever could be given. It’s so gratifying when I’m able to pour into the players that I lead, and you see them grow. In life and a sport. It’s just a special thing. I’m not a parent, but I can only imagine how a parent would feel when they see their child, begin to grow, and learn and become someone. I think that is just so special. And I think more athletes should look into coach ing. If you have a passion for what you do, and you do take pride in wanting to see the game continue to grow, then

Is there anything I didn’t ask that you would like to talk about?

The most important thing that I’ve learned during my career would de pend on what point in my career was in. If I had to look over the entire scope of it, I would say intentionality. Having intention as a core of your foundation means that when you are somewhere, you’re going to be all there. You’re going to give 100% of yourself 100% of the time, in the moment that you’re in. And when you can do that, that will serve you in a great way. You will gain more, you will win more in that mo ment than you ever could if your body was here but your mind was some where else. So: intentionality.

What do you think is the most -im portant thing you learned during your career?

So this new age of basketball is one where they are learning and growing at an expedited pace. And as a result, the game is flourishing.

As a result, they get better, quicker. They’re smart er in moments, and hopefully they’re in a position where they can do more than what you did. They can take the torch and carry it further. In the game, I’ve seen tremendous growth in terms of how the game is played, and how good players are at a younger age. They get better, quicker, faster.

I do see differences and I think those differences are inevitable as time goes on. The ones before you pave the way, and they’re able to look at what you did and learn from it.

2022 marks the 50th Anniversary of Title IX which has had a lasting impact on women’s sports. Do you see any significant differences in women’s basketball since you started your career, vs the experience that your players are having? What are your opinions on the topic?

Sometimes your greatest lessons are learned in your moments of defeat. And those are the mo ments that really defined me and shaped me to become a champion. People can look at the end result, and when they read my resume, it just reads ‘winner’. But there were a lot of in-between moments where there was a lot of losing, and a lot of upsets, and disappointments, and setbacks that I did not allow to stop me, or hinder me from my growth. And as a result, I won. And it is a pretty profound moment in a person’s career when you can call yourself an Olympian several times over, when you can call yourself a champion interna tionally and domestically.

The most impactful moment? There’s so many! There are so many, and they don’t all revolve around winning.

What has been the most impactful moment in your career?

I got that call, that was a moment of gratification for me and I finally could pat myself on the back and say ‘job well done’. It’s hard sometimes when you’re going through the motions you feel over looked, that can kind of eat away at the core of you. But it showed me that remaining steadfast in my integrity and my character proved to be worthwhile, because I got the call at the end of the day.

I wasn’t the type that would be standing at the mic or yelling at the top of a mountain saying ‘hey, remember me! look what I did!’. I always felt like my work would stand for who I am. So when

Oh my gosh, when I got that phone call I broke down crying. It was tearworks and rather instant, too. I was very emotional. And it felt like there was this huge weight lifted off of me. Because I dedicated 17 years. If you count the two years in the American Basketball League, that’s 19 years of my life, dedicated professionally to a sport. Then when you add in college, that’s another four on top of that. Basketball was a huge chunk of who I was.

So, you were inducted into the Women’s Bas ketball Hall of Fame this past summer. How did you feel when you heard the news?

My role models growing up would be my mother and my grandmother - they were staples in my life. I spent a tremendous amount of time with those individuals. My grandmother is a God-fear ing woman, she just turned 96 this past August, and my mother, she had me when she was 20 years old. Watching her grow and do it with the poise and the posture that she had, although times were very trying and rough, was a tremen dous example for me. Then seeing my grand mother being someone who serves, and who just had a passion for helping, that impacted me as well. So I felt like my mother and my grand mother were individuals that I admired, and I wanted to be like them when I grew up.

When you were a child - and as your career progressed - who were your role models? How have they influenced you?

Well, I think all of the years of service I had in play has impacted my coaching style in a way

You spent 17 seasons playing professionally. How has your experience impacted your -coach ing style?

I think that’s why it’s within me.

I feel that I grew up in the church. And that’s something that you are taught at an early age, be ing of service to others, having gratitude for what you have, but also going beyond yourself and what you want and need, and you provide that for someone else. So because I was brought up with a focus on charity, and because I grew up in a very large family, we were always serving one another.

Why do you feel a desire to serve others?

Do you also have a passion for teaching as well as coaching?

You mentioned earlier that because of your upbringing, you like to serve your community.

I knew the guys. We had a level of respect and comfortability with one another. It just worked.

That opportunity fell into my lap! Actually, you know, my husband who was on my staff, he was playing on that semi-pro team and their coach ended up leaving. I was always around, obviously, because I’m a basketball junkie. And the oppor tunity was presented for me to step in and be the interim head coach. So I said sure, why not?

You’ve been coaching since 2005 and you were the second woman to ever coach a men’s -bas ketball team. What drew you to coaching? Do you have a passion for teaching?

I was a receptionist; I answered the phones and directed people. So I would definitely be in some position where I could serve others.

If I didn’t play basketball I’d probably be a nurse. Yep, that was my passion, I always wanted to serve people. My first job was at the health department.

Where do you think you would be if you hadn’t picked up basketball?

And I’ve been able to see this game, and how expansive it is, and the ways it’s played from many different countries. And being a participant in the Olympics, that just shows you how powerful sports are, and how it can bring people together, and we can be on one accord for it, but then also you can crown yourself champion at the same time, all because of a game that is beloved by so many.

bestowed upon me, where I’ve seen the world ten times over, and I’ve been able to win on many different continents and many different countries.

Playing basketball has affected my life in tremen dous ways. I have had wonderful opportunities

How has playing basketball affected your life?

where I have a deep understanding of what my players are thinking and feeling. And I have a deeper understanding of how to communicate things based on who they are and where they’re at in their current lives. I try my best to meet them where they are, and depressurize as many situa tions as I possibly can.

I think it probably was a deeply embedded passion that lay within me, because my dad played bas ketball, my grandmother played basketball, there were a lot of individuals surrounding me in my life that played the sport. So I grew up watching it, whether it was my uncle in the rec league, or my grandmother telling us stories, or us watching the NBA games on TV. So there was a natural love for it, and it grew fonder as I began to develop and get better and understand the game.

What was the moment when you realized that this ‘was it’ for you? Did you have a passion from day 1 or was it something that grew out of practice?

I think the things that attracted me to basketball are the same things that would attract younger athletes: friends. My friends were involved and I wanted to be involved in the same things they had a liking for, and I think it probably also has something to do with the fact that I have been 6 feet tall since I was 11 years old. So everywhere I went, people would say “Do you play basketball? If you don’t play basketball, you need to play basket ball.” And so eventually, it was inevitable. I played basketball.

You were introduced to basketball in high school. What attracted you to it? How did you start playing?

In 2020, Milton-Jones started as ODU’s Women’s Basketball coach, and has helped to lead the wom en’s basketball team to success in her two years coaching. This year, the team will play in the Sun Belt Conference for the first time since 1991.

She has spent 17 seasons playing professional bas ketball, is a two time Olympic gold medalist (2004 and 2008), and has recently been inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. She’s also a two time WNBA champion and was selected to the WNBA’s All Star team three times during her career. She played for the Los Angeles Sparks, the San Antonio Stars, and more, and played a re cord-setting 499 WNBA games during her career.

DeLisha Milton-Jones was first introduced to basketball in high school. Unlike for many people, that was only the beginning of her sports career.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Legend DeLisha Milton-Jones

“Your greatest lessons are learned in your moments of defeat” Q&A with Basketball

Sydney Haulenbeek

Old Dominion Baseball has had great success in recent years and hopes their first year in the new conference will be a good one as they eye another conference title and NCAA tournament appearance.

The ODU Field Hockey Program is still respected among Division I schools, even though they have not won a national championship since 2000. After the 1990 title victory, the program racked up four more championships with victories in 1991, 1992, 1998, and 2000. From 1990-93, the program won 66 straight games that lead to another three-peat. Since then, the program has endured two new conferences with the Colonial Athletic Association and Big East. The Lady Monarchs won eight conference titles in the CAA and won one title in 2013 when the program transitioned to the new conference. The program’s last NCAA appearance was in 2013. It has been almost a decade since the Lady Monarchs reigned their way into the postseason, but as of 2022 they are 7-2 (2-1 Big East) and are ranked in the top 15 in the nation.

I believe everyone can agree that the decision for Old Dominion to depart from C-USA for the Sun Belt was the best choice for the athletics program. Looking back to their first run in the Sun Belt, ODU is defi nitely in a better position in regards to the new facilities and the fact that the school has risen among smaller Division I schools. Although there were national championships won back then and not many have been won in recent years, ODU is in the process of building its programs toward champion ship success. It’s impressive how far Old Dominion has come since 1982, and ODU athletics will only improve from here. It is an exciting new era for Old Dominion athletics and their future in the Sun Belt Conference is bright. lot of fun in their new confer ence, but it won’t be easy. The Sun Belt Conference is considered the best group of 5 schools outside of the Power 5 conferences. The Sun Belt and ESPN have an agreement to air games on their networks for the next several years, putting a national spotlight on the Monarchs, who are always fun to watch.

The Sun Belt Conference is considered the best group of 5 schools outside of the Power 5 conferences. The Sun Belt and ESPN have an agreement to air games on their networks for the next several years, putting a national spotlight on the Monarchs.

Fast forward to 2022, the Old Dominion Monarchs are once again shining bright in the Sun Belt. Athletic Administration has deemed the 2022 year as a “New Dawn, New Era” in honor of its inaugural fall and spring seasons with the new conference. In the sea son opener against the Virginia Tech Hokies, shirts featuring the new slogan were given out. The ODU football team got the party started with a victory over the Hokies 20-17, which resulted in thousands of stu dents storming the field in front of the nation as the game was broadcast on an ESPN network. 32 maceandcrown.com

ODU’s football team also earned their first confer ence victory in their Sun Belt opener against Arkan sas State. Although they had a rough non-conference schedule, the Monarchs are on the right track in conference play. ODU Football is going to have a lot of fun in the new conference, but it won’t be easy.

When the Monarchs moved to the Sun Belt in ‘82 they had quite the success on the basketball court for both men and women. On the men’s side, they won two Sun Belt regular-season titles and had three trips to the NCAA tournament as well as three NIT ap pearances in the nine years with the conference. The Monarchs basketball team earned their first NCAA tournament victory in 1986 after defeating West Virginia 72-64. The women’s team had championship success throughout the decade. They went on to win five Sun Belt titles and made it to eight NCAA Tour naments. In 1984-85, head coach Marianne Stanley led the Lady Monarchs to a national championship victory over Georgia 70-65 in Austin, TX.

ODU’s success wasn’t limited to the court but extend ed to outdoor sports as well. The ODU men’s soccer team won three Sun Belt championships in 1985, 1987, and 1989. The ODU baseball team made the trip to the NCAA Tournament twice in the Sun Belt Conference. In 1985, head coach Mark Newman led the Monarchs to a Sun Belt championship after finishing the season 50-11. In 1986, the ODU baseball team was ranked seventh in the nation by Baseball America, the highest ranking in program history. Field Hockey was a powerhouse for Old Dominion in the 80s; the team took national titles with victories over UCONN in 1982 and 1983, Iowa in 1984 and 1989, and North Carolina in 1990. The Lady Mon archs managed to three-peat and win back-to-back national titles throughout their first Sun Belt run.

ODU will be competing in its first year in the Sun Belt conference for basketball. The Monarchs will spend the early parts of the season traveling up and down the eastern seaboard playing small local teams like Virginia Wesleyan and Christopher Newport and competing against power five opponents like Virginia Tech and Penn State. Sun Belt play will open in Norfolk on Dec. 29 against Arkansas State and will continue until the conference tournament in early March. Monarch basketball hopes to combine the power of their new and returning talent to make a splash in the upcom ing season of conference play.

“Number one, I am excited about this group,” commented Jones when asked about the team’s 2022-23 chances. “Most of them have been on campus since back in May and have put in a lot of good work. I love their work ethic and the enthusiasm that they have shown…we seem to have some great camaraderie and chemistry, although I say that with the understanding that until you face some adversity you never really know.”

In addition to Wade, others such as juniors Mehki Long and Charles Smith IV, as well as sophomores Imo Essien and D’Angelo Stines, will be returning to the court for the Monarchs, all hoping to make a positive impact on the team.

Wade had praise for his teammates and their growing camarade rie and chemistry. “There are nine new guys that I did not come in with as a freshman. It has been cool getting to know them,” Wade stated. “The chemistry of this team is really good. After practice, we will sit in the locker room for like an extra hour just talking to each other…We end up playing video games with each other all the time. They know I am the best even though they do not want to admit that.”

playing since I was five years old and in a sense, it is all I know. “

Wade was able to overcome his physical and mental challenges to make his return to the program for the 2022-23 season, during his junior year of eligibility. He commented about his return to the court and to basketball, saying, “It is something I love. I have been

Physical therapy can be rough and time-consuming, not to men tion the mental rehabilitation needed to regain a healthy compet itive mindset.

Two straight seasons out with injury is challenging for any athlete.

When asked about his injuries, Wade commented, “First injury was in-game, went and got a steal, went to make a move on the basket on a fast break, and blew out my whole knee. Then I reha bilitated it [the knee] and the second practice for the new season, I came down for a rebound and tore my Achilles. I did the same thing as Klay Thompson just on opposite knees.”

This was the start of a promising college career for Wade, but then came his initial knee injury. He had to sit out the 2020-21 and the 2021-22 seasons, costing the team offensive production and the potential for a growing leader at that time.

mediate impact his first year (2018-19) on campus, appearing in 35 contests as a true freshman and ending the season second on the team in steals (33) and third in assists (55). Wade’s soph omore year (2019-20) started on a high note as he continued to perform, making 20 appearances and 12 starts before incurring a season-ending injury. He led the team in steals (52) with 2.6 steals per game, and was ranked 94th nationally for steals that year. He averaged 10.9 points and 5.5 rebounds per game, including a game where he earned an explosive 23 points against Charlotte (1/20/20).

Wade has had an up-and-down time at ODU: he made an im

Men’s basketball is preparing for the 2022-23 season with the ar rival of some new faces and the return of some veterans, including Virginia native Jason Wade.

“I don’t want to say that COVID was a blessing, but it did give me the opportunity to go home and be around my family for half of the rehab process for my knee,” Wade reminisced. “Then we got back down here, it was like a fresh start, I am healthy and then on the second day of practice I went down with my Achilles, and then that was just like a big mental blow for me. I would say the mental [part] was way harder than the physical [part], you have got to be really mentally strong.”

The Lady Monarchs look ready to make a strong start in their first season in Sun Belt play and have acquired players, both veteran and new, who have the talent they need to continue the program’s previous success.

“Our non-conference schedule is loaded with teams mostly on the east coast and includes a stretch of five or six home games,” she said. “This will allow our faithful fans to get a glimpse of our new additions to our Monarch family head ing into Sun Belt Conference play. Our off-season has been filled with an em phasis on building our sisterhood on and off the court. Playing a tough non-con ference schedule will challenge us to put that on display every night we suit up.”

With the introduction to a new confer ence this year, the Sun Belt, the lingering question remains: How will the Lady Monarchs stack up against their compe tition? When asked about the schedule and how the team will fare against new competition, Milton Jones pointed to non-conference games as the test.

Transfer Althea Kara Angeles will add to the backcourt and give some potential offensive production. While at Lamar Community College she averaged 17.6 PPG, which increased to 21.3 PPG in wins last year. A few more transfers are arriving to boost the frontcourt including forwarding Brenda Fontana from UTEP, a former opponent in C-USA, to play for the Lady Monarchs in their first season in the Sun Belt. While playing for the Min ers, Fontana averaged 5.4 PPG and 3.6 RPG in 28 contests. Another addition to the front court is Jada Duckett, a Miami of Ohio transfer who averaged 4.0 PPG and 4.3 RPG in varying minutes in her sophomore season.

court is Jordan McLaughlin, a transfer from Chipola College. She averaged 12.4 PPG on shooting, 46.2% from the field, and 36.4% from behind the arch.

APG, and sinking 52 three-pointers on the season. This set her apart, as she was one of two in the ACC and the nation to put up numbers like this. Another addition to the front

cant impact off the bench, averaging 9.0 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 2.0

Head Coach Milton-Jones has brought in a group of tal ented transfers. Notable additions include Makayla Dick ens, a 5’8” guard whose hometown is Virginia Beach, but who went to play in the ACC for Boston College during the first four years of her collegiate career. During her senior season for the Golden Eagles, she made a signifi

In addition to the returning talent for the Lady Monarchs,

There are some returning veterans, including forwards Brianna Jackson and Amari Young, as well as guard Kaye Clark, who all got substantial playing time last year and hope to further expand their roles this year. With the return of Jackson and Young, the Lady Monarchs’ starting frontcourt will probably be the same as it was last year, which could bring some leadership and experience to the rest of the team. In the 2021-22 season, Jackson averaged 7.3 PPG and 5.2 RPG, and her presence was definitely felt on the defensive end as she averaged 1.44 blocks per game, which ranked fifth in C-USA. Young also had a dominant all-around year in the 2021-22 season, as she averaged 9.1 PPG and 5.8 RPG with 1.6 steals per contest with a season-high six steals against UTSA in the C-USA tourna ment. Finally, Kaye Clark made an impact coming off the bench last year behind the seasoned backcourt of Adams, Allen, and Wayne, averaging 4.6 PPG and 2.4 RPG and also snagging 1.6 steals per contest, similar to Young.

earning a First-team All-conference nomination in her final year where she was second on the team in PPG (12.7) and third in RPG (5.6). In addition, Wayne found herself on the charity stripe often, leading to a ranking as seventh in the conference in free throw makes and attempts.

The Lady Monarchs had some changeover this past off season as three out of their five starters from last season graduated. The backcourt trio Mariah Adams, Iggy Allen, and Ajah Wayne contributed heavily to the team’s of fensive production this past year. In her final season at ODU, Allen averaged a team-leading 15.4 PPG. Despite being a guard, Allen led the team in rebounding with 7.4 rebounds per game and piled on team-best seven dou ble-doubles on the season, which ranked fourth best in Conference USA. This dominant final performance led her to a C-USA first-team nomination. Adams acted as the facilitator for the team as she averaged 4.6 assists per game in her last season, which led the team and C-USA, having a season-high of nine assists at Florida Atlantic. Finally, senior Ajah Wayne did a bit of everything for the team,

Head Coach Delisha Milton-Jones and crew have many players coming back that were integral to the team’s suc cess last year in C-USA play. ODU women’s basketball fin ished 24-10 last year while having a C-USA record of 12-6. Sadly, they made early exits in the C-USA tournament, where they were beaten in the quarterfinals. They also made a second-round exit in the Women’s NIT. This year they have veterans in both the frontcourt and the guard positions which provides the experience and leadership needed to excel in high-pressure contests in the regular season and the postseason.

Back in October, the Lady Monarchs were working hard to play their best for their debut season in the Sun Belt conference. They started their season in the Florida Gulf Coast on Nov. 7, and their home opener will take place on Nov. 15 as they face Virginia opponent William and Mary. As the new year approaches, Old Dominion will take on Appalachian State in Boone, NC to open its Sun Belt cam paign on Dec. 28, 2022.

remasters are truly done with the intention of sharing an incredible adventure while staying true to the source ma terial and the fans. It’s getting hard for the community to have faith that games will be short of a next-gen port with better graphics. Time will surely tell, but the community shouldn’t allow nostalgia to get the better of them.

If the gaming industry only relies on “brand new starts” from older games, then how will creativity and risk flourish the way they used to? After all, it’s what gifted the gaming community with so many phenomenal stories and gameplay. One can’t help but ask if these remakes and

At their worst, these releases do the opposite and do not display as much effort as they should. Gaming companies might look at these classic games as nothing more than an opportunity to generate a gluttonous amount of revenue.

At their best, remakes and remasters are done with a love for the game and the fanbase. Remasters and remakes offer beautifully crafted games a breath of new life and a chance to showcase their beauty to a group of people who could’ve never experienced it the way older gamers have.

That’s what happened with The Witcher series and the progression from the first game to third shows persever ance and passion for the work.

However, it’s also amazing to see a sequel that progress es a story or offers a new perspective. The developers of Psychonauts 2 did this and their game was adored by the community for its refreshing story that showcased how far the characters and developers have come since the 2005 release of the first installment. Everyone loves a fresh start. However, if game developers have already had a fresh start and can keep moving, regardless if the reception was good or not, it should be the preferred step.

Warfare from 2019 was a great remake that offered a fresh spin on the original series. There are plenty of references to the original, but it was a completely different story with brand new sights and settings.

While remasters and remakes are welcomed when prop erly executed, it’s also great to get fresh installments regardless of if it’s a sequel or the first of many. Modern

Last of Us: Part One is already getting a remaster despite not even reaching 10 years of age and just having had one for the current-gen consoles. Other big games like Dead Space, The Witcher III: Wild Hunt, System Shock, and Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell are just a few in the catalog of heavily anticipated remakes and remasters that are going to hit the market.

Looking ahead to the next few years, one can see that The

The massive issue was that gaming developers didn’t put in the effort they should have and did not bother to actu ally “preserve” the essence of the game. It seemed more like an attempt to cash in on a cash cow that could be ex ploited once more because nostalgia sells. Some remakes and reboots just aim to reap in the money that can be obtained by using a beloved and pre-existing series’ name.

This isn’t an outlandish concern. Activision took full advantage of a beloved game when they decided to release the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare remaster along with the purchase of the less anticipated, less successful, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (IW). It was a cheap shot at the community for Activision to essentially force you to buy IW so you can enjoy the revolutionary masterpiece that was Modern Warfare.

It is becoming concerning that remakes and remasters are starting to dominate the market over original releases.

Remakes were no exception to product releases that received a heavily unwelcoming reception. Warcraft III: Reforged, a real-time strategy game, was an utter dis appointment for the Warcraft community. Not only did the game essentially force you to “upgrade” your original copy by installing a new update that would change it to Reforged, but it also brought out bugs that didn’t infest the game beforehand. The game was a downgrade consid ering it had more bugs and glitches, the artwork was not improved, and the gameplay was tweaked in such a way that made it apparent there was no clear direction. Even Blizzard admitted that the game did not have precise goals on whether to be a remaster or a remake. The game was an underbaked product in desperate need of a release date extension. What really aggravated the fanbase was how Blizzard made it official that any community-made maps were automatically made property of Blizzard. A whole list could be made for the last two games men tioned.

was “improved.” One of the biggest flops in the world of remasters was the Grand Theft Auto trilogy. The supposed remaster didn’t just fall flat but rather crashed and burned in front of everyone unfortunate enough to purchase the game. Not only were the assets botched, making the game look worse than the original despite “improvements,” it was also littered with game-breaking bugs that made it hard to play. Sure, at the end of the day Grand Theft Auto III’s story is still the same, but every other aspect of the game got a sledgehammer makeover instead of a proper renovation.

Resident Evil 2’s success wasn’t just due to nostalgia or because it’s a well-known franchise. The reason Resident Evil 2 was such a hit was because it preserved the overall essence of the game. It didn’t make any compromises that would’ve changed the overall tone or trajectory of the story, nor did it alter the gameplay so much that it didn’t feel like a part of the Resident Evil franchise. In the realm of remasters, games like “Mass Effect: Legend ary Edition” added improved graphics and game fixes that made the experience more enjoyable. 38 maceandcrown.com

Several reworks and remasters have been released over the last couple of years. Plenty of these have successfully given an older game new life by perfecting the design quality or improving the game as a whole. Take the Resident Evil 2 remake released in 2019; the difference was night and day compared to the original game re leased in 1998. The way the game plays out, the dynamic effects, the sound design, and more are all improved and tweaked to give a unique experience. Thanks to advancements in technology, nostalgic players can enjoy a re-imagined playthrough of a cult classic they grew up with. Younger audiences can experience a fresh play through of a game without the limitations of first gen eration consoles and without having to rely on a buggy emulator.

Even though there have been many remakes and remas ters that became great hits, there have also been great misses that did more harm than good to the game then

A long time has passed since original consoles like the Xbox and Playstation revolutionized the industry and introduced modern hardware that allowed for more am bitious projects. Plenty of amazing titles have come out throughout the years, but recently remakes and remas ters have gained a lot of popularity within the gaming community as opposed to original releases.

Ever since they took off in the 70s, video games have had an enormous impact on pop culture and spawned a massive array of genres full of fascinating and original stories. Being born in the 2000s gave me the opportunity to experience everything from classic games like Con tra to more modern icons such as Halo or Dark Souls.

Unfortunately, the video game industry, for better or worse, is still an industry. Whether it’s called a redux, reboot, or remake, it’s still a redo of something from an older game. The original game could be an amazing experience even today. The dated controls and graphics might not bother an older audience thanks to a dose of nostalgia and simply having grown up with original releases. Remasters aim to bridge the gap between the gameplay and tech limitations that could have affected production with the higher standards of today’s games. However, it doesn’t always work out the way it was sup posed to.

Gabriel Cabello Torres

Are Remasters a Plague or an Opportunity?

The team is hopeful and ready to get on track for a strong performance in May 2023. Whatever the outcome is, there is no doubt the team has been revi talized with plenty of new members, new directions, and determined leadership.

The many different skill sets and assets possessed by the team help them excel in areas besides engineering. Even if new members have no idea how the car works, the team is still ecstatic to have them. “It should really stream line things and help the new members into knowing all about the car… This is a great opportunity for them to learn and we are more than willing to teach people anything they

The team isn’t just full of car enthusiasts and engi neers. There are all sorts of talented people pushing the team forward. “We have a treasurer who does our finances who is an accounting major… Business and accounting majors are greatly appreciated. We work with a tight budget and it really is like running a small business.” The team is working to get sponsors and other sources of funds. Currently, the team has a sponsorship with the Tidewater Sports Car Club and participates in autocross events with them. It’s great to see locals aid ODU teams in sharing their love for the art of motor

“How things have been done in the past…for everybody in the club up until now, was that we had subsystems: one team for brakes, one team for suspen sion, one team for driver controls, one team for the engine, cooling, and so on. The issue comes when it’s a bare frame, like what is the cooling team going to do without an engine in the car? There were big gaps in what people were doing, and there weren’t really set teams because we didn’t have enough members for there to be set teams and not have people working on certain things.”

I inquired what makes this approach different from last year’s approach.

The team now has double the members compared to last semester. Bryce, along with the rest of the SAE team, is determined to make this semester different with a new approach for the vehicle. “[Team One] is working from the inside of the car outwards, so start ing with the driver, controls, the safety equipment, that sort of stuff. Team Two will be working from the wheels and tires, brakes, suspension.”

Keeping comprehensive documentation is another goal the team is dead set on meeting this year: “Keep ing things documented is a huge part of what we’re doing this year and it hasn’t been done well previous ly … which is why we’re in the situation we’re in. So everything we’re doing this year in terms of reverse engineering and improvements is all being pretty meticulously documented.”

What changed? Besides leadership, the team made an important decision not to go to the Michigan competition. “We decided to take another year… to finish the car, which is very nearly finished! The way we’re doing things this year is we’re reverse engineering the car essentially, and then making improvements on what we found out about how it is designed.”

Working on a project as big as the FSAE team is tackling is tough work. It requires effort, teamwork, communication and more. Complications both small and large are sure to arise. The after-effects of the 2020 pandemic are still impacting the team, along with other struggles that arose during the 2021-22 school year. President Bryce commented, “It took forever to get the CNC parts in… We had a bottleneck in manufacturing.”

We get judged on the engineering of the car and the cost report of the car. The competition was about one month away and the car was designed by stu dents who were now graduated and gone. We had no information on the car and how it was engineered, or what choices were made, and why. We hadn’t even begun to prepare for a presentation on the car. We still didn’t have all the parts sent into us yet and we decided that even if we could finish the car, it proba bly wouldn’t be in our best interest to go there.”

That wasn’t the only challenge the team faced when building their Formula 1 car for the Spring 2022 semester. They were working on a vehicle without the details behind every decision made to build the car. “The competition has two main categories that we are judged on. One of them is the dynamic events. How the car drives, how the car performs in several different ways. The other is static events.

As a high school student, Dalton earned two Auto motive Service Excellence (ASE) certifications. Now, after only a year of being with the FSAE team, he’s the president with drive to make great changes that will push through issues the team has dealt with before.

Dalton is a sophomore pursuing an engineering de gree. He’s been involved since his freshman year and his passion for cars precedes his time at Old Domin ion University. “In middle school, my best friend and I got Forza Horizon 3…we both got into cars and have been ever since.” As far as hands-on experience with cars, Dalton stated, “It’s been four years since I got my car, that’s when I really started working on cars.”

The ODU Racing Team has been in existence for de cades and is still going strong. I had the pleasure of speaking with the President of the Monarch Racing team, Bryce Dalton, about his involvement in the team and the team’s plans for this year.

Gabriel Cabello Torres

Going the Distance: ODU’s Monarch Racing Turns up the Effort

Cyberpunk 2077 had nothing short of a nightmare release. While there are people who still consider the game mediocre, it continues to see great success. Cy berpunk 2077 served as a lesson to AAA Game Stu dios to not rush a game for the sake of making release dates. It also serves as a tale of perseverance. Behind this project, there were people who were passionate about making a new world for players to enjoy. After all the hard work and creativity that was put in, it’s safe to say that the workers at CD Projekt Red deserved to see Cyberpunk 2077 experience a rebirth.

The first few minutes of the first episode instantly encapsulate Cyberpunk’s action: raw, high-octane, and tech-fueled. The plot follows an average teenager’s journey from normal life to a life of crime. It explores many different aspects of crime throughout Night City, from average street thug activities to corporate espionage. If the series was meant to reel in old players and newcomers alike, then it succeeded. It gave new life to Cyberpunk 2077 by showcasing a world rich with great storytelling told through dialogue and en vironments. Cyberpunk now sits at around a healthy 100,000 players per day and is finally giving newcom ers and first-day players a chance to live through a whole new story. The beauty of Edgerunners’ great reception is that it also presents how, regardless of your background, you can make a name for yourself in Night City.

“Cyberpunk: Edgerunners” is an anime released on Netflix based on the setting and culture of Cyber punk 2077. It features the same grand Night City but breathes new life into it with an interesting story that takes place outside of the plot of the game. This was an opportunity to expand on the burgeoning sci-fi world presented in the game. An anime adaptation seemed to make the most sense, as this art style really brought out the tone of the gritty sci-fi setting. Other sci-fi anime set in crime-ridden cities include Ghost in the Shell, Akira, and Angel Cop. Rafal Jaki was responsible for this series. His work on the manga based on CD

CD Projekt Red immediately got back to work and tried their hardest to give the ambitious game a sec ond wind by releasing free updates and promising free DLC. Eventually, they started fixing the game and it became way more enjoyable for many. Now players could feel truly immersed in that world. Even if it was nothing like what they expected, it was still some thing special. The game started flourishing again, but couldn’t recover from the massive flop at the begin ning. It cost the game many fans who were initially ex cited to play. Then something unexpected happened.

There were still people in the community who enjoyed the game, bugs and all. One of Cyberpunk 2077’s biggest strengths is that you get to choose how you start and end your story. It was a well-written story and there were numerous gold nuggets to be found in the game’s many side quests. Night City was chock-full of plots and characters that successfully made it seem a lot more expansive than it actually was. Despite all this, it was hard for many to get past the clunky game play. The number of players on Cyberpunk started dropping and many people turned their backs on it, simply giving up.

One and PlayStation 4 could barely run a smooth game with all the glitches and framerate drops. The game didn’t deliver a lively Night City full of NPCs to complete the illusion of a heavily populated metro politan area. Any immersion in cutscenes was taken away by bugs that would ruin the moment by affect ing assets or simply freeze the character models in a t-pose stance. Glitches and bugs were rampant, even for players who had top-of-the-line hardware for their PC setups.

Projekt Red’s most famous game, The Witcher, had a great reception.

When the game was finally released, there was pande monium on player reviews, social media outlets, and comment threads. The vast majority of players were infuriated by how Cyberpunk 2077 failed to deliver a game that works. Current-gen consoles like the Xbox

Red had a high bar to meet with this RPG.

Reeves as a constant character? Who wouldn’t want to play this game? Cyberpunk garnered an incredible amount of hype and the internet was obsessed over new announcements. It’s safe to say that CD Projekt

City, the story’s lively city setting, was an intriguing vision of an immersive, futuristic world akin to the beloved Blade Runner franchise. Cyberpunk was like a Holy Grail for all sorts of gaming fans. A great story, next-level graphics, a unique RPG setting, and Keanu

First, it’s important to take a look back at what Cyber punk 2077 was facing in the first place. Cyberpunk’s developers made a lot of promises to the gaming com munity: a wide range of realistic character customi zation, a compelling roleplay experience with numer ous different paths that could be taken, and riveting gameplay with plenty of playstyle availability. How ever, it wasn’t just gameplay that was promised. Night

Why did a game that experienced such a calamitous release that was nothing like what the fanbase expect ed suddenly gain a resurgence in popularity?

Anybody who mentioned the name “Cyberpunk” to a gamer after its release would’ve probably been met with a wince or some other physical demonstration of agony. After all, it had one of the worst game launches in history. However, player numbers have recently started skyrocketing after “Cyberpunk 2077” made a re-appearance in popular culture. So, what gives?

So what went wrong? The game first surfaced in 2012, with a teaser release the following year. Then, after years of Cyberpunk existing as a mere legend, an announcement was finally made at E3 in 2019 with an official release date. Anticipation for the release was high, but every time the release date inched closer, CD Projekt Red postponed the game’s release date in order to ensure that the game was as polished as possible. The game was first set to release on April 16, 2020, then was delayed to Sept. 17, then Nov. 19, then finally Dec. 10th in the same year.

But a father is not a source of Light Truth Anything You have to, and You will grow your own

It will take years to unlearn his message: You were unclean You did not deserve respect You would never walk in this world without Fear and self-hatred beside you 46 maceandcrown.com

This offer not valid if Child is gay

A father’s love Should but did not Come without conditions

Kenneth Ashley

Unlearn

so don’t be the one in the future to complain about the inaction of the world when you weren’t the one to make a change.

we will age, we will grow we will rejoice, we will mourn we will become unsatisfied with the world we share already counting the nuances and grievances to follow 48 maceandcrown.com

don’t forget that before isn’t now, now won’t ever return to beforeit's not the natural kneading of time

we are marked by complacency, laid cushions and bedding in our casket

Marjorie Cenese

Complacent

ENCLAVE Fall 2022 51

49 “Complacent”

48

47

46

45

44 “Ressurrection”

CREATIVE

38-39 Are Remasters a Plague or an Opportunity? 40-41 Going the Distance: ODU’s Monarch Racing Turns up the Effort 42-43 A Broken Game Experiences a Revival

TECHNOLOGY

20-25 ODU Football Welcomes Cuddly Companion: Hudson! 26-31 “Your greatest lessons are learned in your moments of defeat” Q&A with Basketball Legend DeLisha Milton-Jones 32-33 Then and Now: Old Dominion Shining Bright in Sun Belt Conference 34-35 Junior Guard Jason Wade Makes a Comeback 36-37 Lady Monarchs Gain New Blood Before Sun Belt Conference

SPORTS

10-13 “The Question I’m Glad I Asked” 14-17 The Principles of Design 18-19 Lavender Locals: Reintroducing Norfolk’s LGBTQIA+ Watering Holes and History

AND ENTERTAINMENT

ARTS

6-7 Before and After: Snapshots of COVID Impact on College Students 8-9 Twenty-One Years Later, the Ghost of ODU’s Monorail Remains

CONTENTS Fall 2022

Mace & Crown maintains journalistic independence from the university. All views ex pressed in this collegiate magazine are those of the author, not of the university, Mace & Crown, or the editors.

Mace & Crown is ODU’s student news organization. Every semester we produce a magazine written by and for the students of ODU. Originally founded as the High Hat in 1930, the paper became the Mace & Crown in 1961. In 2017 the Mace & Crown moved from a weekly newspaper to a magazine. You can find more from us at maceandcrown.com

SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR Gwyneth Heseltine