The Miami Student | December 1, 2022

Enrollment numbers are up, but what’s different in the Farmer School of Business?

OLIVIA PATEL THE MIAMI STUDENT

Students and faculty alike may have noticed a few more faces in classes and around the halls of the Farmer School of Business (FSB).

Bethany Perkins, assistant vice president and director of admissions for Miami University's Oxford campus, said Miami enrolled around 850 students into FSB in 2018, keeping the prestigious program small among its competitors. Since then, those numbers have increased by more than 37%.

“We plan on keeping the goal at 1,100-1,300 students, hoping to land around 1,200 students,” Perkins said.

In 2021, FSB enrolled more than 1,300. Jess Bathe, personnel manager for FSB, said it aimed to cap admissions at around 1,200 students in upcoming years. For the current semester, more than 1,100 students are enrolled.

One less professor, 250 more students

While the number of students has increased, the number of professors in Farmer has remained virtually unchanged since 2018. Bathe wrote in an email to The Miami Student that the college had 170 professors in 2018, and 169 professors in 2022.

The static number of instructors, along with an increased number of students, has led to enlarged class

Carla

sizes, mainly in the 100 and 200 level courses.

Brian Ballou, professor of accounting and Miami MBA faculty director, said FSB took a financial hit during the COVID-19 pandemic. He believes the increased enrollment was a way to remedy that loss in revenue.

Despite their efforts to avoid sacrificing quality for quantity, Ballou feels certain aspects of what makes FSB great have been lost in order to accommodate growing class sizes.

“There’s always a bit of a quality/ quantity trade off when it comes to class sizes getting bigger,” Ballou said “The faculty care, but there is only so

much we can do as class sizes get bigger and bigger.”

Ballou said larger class sizes also make activities like group projects harder to manage. He added that professors in FSB have had to work longer hours and even teach overflow classes in Upham.

Anna Iacobucci, a first-year marketing major, said although her professor tries to reach all students in her business calculus (MTH141) class, the large numbers make establishing personal connections difficult.

“The teaching assistants do a lot of work for the professor in helping

RedHawks to play AlabamaBirmingham in Bahamas Bowl

SCHMELZINGER SPORTS EDITOR

Last Tuesday, exactly three hours before kickoff between Miami University and Ball State University, the Mid-American Conference (MAC) announced on Twitter that the winner of that night’s game would be headed to the Bahamas Bowl.

To gain bowl eligibility, a team must win six games in a season. Going into Tuesday, both Miami and Ball State were 5-6.

On Tuesday, in spectacular fashion, the RedHawks punched their ticket to paradise. The RedHawks will face off against the University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB) Blazers in the Bahamas Bowl on Friday, December 16, at 11:30 a.m. EST. If you aren’t able to get yourself to Nassau, Bahamas for the game, it will be broadcast on ESPN that day. How Miami got there Going into the fourth quarter, Miami was down 17-6. This year’s Cardinals have a potent rushing attack that’s led by sophomore Carson Steele, college football’s sixth leading rusher in 2022. Miami’s defense was holding strong though. The offense on the other hand had obviously sputtered to that point.

AMES RADWAN FOOD EDITOR

After winning hearts and inspiring fashions all across the world with her down-to-earth humor, brightly-colored clothes and contagious laugh on Bravo’s “Top Chef,” Carla Hall is as real in person as she is on the screen. Hall proved that when she visited Miami University on Nov. 14 for the last Lecture Series talk of the fall 2022 semester.

Growing up as a self-proclaimed borderline-introvert extrovert, Hall

found her passion in performance at age 11, when she saw her uncle perform in the musical revue “Bubbling Brown Sugar.” She did theater until age 17, when she was deferred from Boston University for acting.

Taking that as a rejection, the Nashville native went on to study accounting at Howard University instead. After attending high school in the 80s, Howard was where Hall’s fashion sense truly began to flourish and where she modeled for the first time; even though she went on

Lila Jernovi scans the sections throughout the store until she sees it: men’s sweaters and flannels.

She surveys the seemingly endless line of clothing racks, searching for hidden gems scattered among them. Most of the pieces in this section tend to be in good condition and from quality brands. However, she can’t buy them all, so Jernovi ignores those with damage or stains and grabs a few that look vintage and slightly worn before moving on to the next section.

When her cart is full, the first-year psychology major at Miami University heads back to Thomson Hall and heaves the clothing up to her residence hall room. Beneath her bed, hidden behind a dresser and white bed skirt, are various crates where she keeps a stockpile of vintage clothes to sell on her online thrift store, Oxford Thrift.

Jernovi started the Instagram page, @theoxfordthrift, in early November after going on an impromptu shopping trip at a thrift store 2o minutes outside Oxford. The stop resulted in an $80 clothing haul, inspiring Jernovi to look for similar stores in the area. But, besides the Oxford Goodwill, her search turned up empty.

“I thought that it would be good to give people more access to cool, unique vintage pieces because, obviously, everybody loves having a one of a kind piece,” Jernovi said.

Items are posted on Jernovi’s Instagram page twice a week, and interested buyers are instructed to direct message Jernovi so cost can be negotiated, if necessary. Although no pric-

es are listed on the page for browsing, everything is available for $25 or less, and all transactions are completed with Cash App or Venmo.

In order to stay organized, Jernovi keeps track of available items with a Google spreadsheet.

“I thought, ‘Why not give more students access to thrifted clothing?’” Jernovi said. “Because then, I get to do what I enjoy, which is find[ing] unique pieces … And, I still wanted to make it relatively affordable.”

After purchase, customers can pick up their item at Jernovi’s residence hall. Even with classes and extracurriculars — Jernovi is also a Student Engagement and Leadership Ambassador (SEAL) — she tries to be available for pick-up at least two or three hours every day.

Because access to thrifted clothing is somewhat limited in the Oxford area, Jernovi often travels home to Columbus or out of town to stock up on new pieces at local consignment stores and second-hand shops. Each trip typically results in five to 10 items. Her favorite stop is the Goodwill in Westerville, Ohio.

Besides affordability, Jernovi enjoys thrifted fashion for its experimentation and sustainability, features she hopes to bring to the Oxford area.

Before starting the shop, Jernovi said she was hesitant to even tell her family about the entrepreneurial idea because her parents have long been involved in the business industry.

“I admire my parents so much, and I didn’t want them to think it was something stupid because I obviously didn’t want to disappoint them in any way,” Jernovi said.

But, when the two visited for Family Weekend and Jernovi revealed her stockpile of thrifted clothing, her parents were ecstatic.

“They were very excited about it, and, right away, wanted to help in any way that they could,” Jernovi said. “They were very supportive, very helpful.”

Now, anytime Jervnovi has a question, they’re the first people she goes to for advice.

“They’re immigrants,” Jernovi said. “They’re entrepreneurs. They’re speakers; my mom has done TED Talks. They write books. They make websites. They sell products … They have been an excellent resource because they have so much experience with that.”

Since starting the business last month, Jernovi has already learned a lot. For example, she said it’s best to group and style items together, rather

than post them individually. Additionally, displaying a wide variety of items offers buyers more options to choose from.

“It’s been less than a month so far, so I’m still trying to figure out how I want to post, how often, what items, how I want to group them [and] how I want to price them,” Jernovi said. “I’m just taking it day by day.”

Although the business is still new, Jernovi has several plans to help the shop grow in the future. The first step? Creating a website over winter break.

“My goal is just to get more people to buy thrifted clothing,” Jernovi said. “I think sustainable fashion is a good idea, and I get to do what I love. I get to thrift. I get to share it with other people.”

‘I get to do what I love’:

Hall cooks from the heart and styles from the soul

JACK

MEGAN MCCONNELL SENIOR STAFF WRITER

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MIAMI

VICTORY OVER NORTH TEXAS IN THE FRISCO FOOTBALL

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PHOTO BY JESSICA MONAHAN

Macey Chamberlin Soren Melbye Design Editors

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Ames Radwan Opinion Editor

Devin Ankeney Asst. Opinion Editor

Luke Macy Alice Momany Maggie Peña Reagan Rude

Emily Hogan

Erin McGovern Hannah Potts

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Jake Ruffer Photo Editor

Jessica Monahan Asst. Photo Editor

Sarah Grace Hays Audio Editor

Hannah Horsington Video Editor

Skyler Perry Magazine Editor

Devin Ankeney Business Manager

Fred Reeder Jr. Faculty Adviser

Sacha Bellman Business Adviser

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publication.

Students plea guilty to Hillel vandalism

LUKE MACY ASST. CAMPUS & COMMUNITY EDITOR

The three Miami University students who trespassed onto Miami Hillel’s property and knocked over a religious hut have accepted guilty pleas for the crime.

Around 2 a.m. on Oct. 15, Miami students Kevin Ladriere (20), Eli Lauger (20) and Santiago Arenas (19) crossed Hillel’s fence at 11 E Walnut St. and toppled a sukkah, a hut used to celebrate the Jewish holiday Sukkot, destroying the inside. After Hillel shared video footage of the action in an email on Oct. 21, the three individuals stepped forward that night and claimed responsibility.

On Oct. 27, the Oxford Police Department posted to its Facebook page that the three men would be charged with vandalism. The post also said no antisemitic motives were found during the investigation, and the students didn’t know the hut was used religiously.

The students were charged with a felony for vandalism, due to the total cost of the damage being more than $1,000. However, on Nov. 17, the Butler County Area Court allowed the three students to plead guilty to an amended charge of misdemeanor vandalism.

The students will now each pay a $750 fine in addition to $1,099 owed for damages to the Sukkot which will be split between them.

macylj@miamioh.edu

Dog Day at

Abby Bammerlin Managing Editor

Lexi

Sean

Miami holds forums for provost candidates Karin Ruhlandt

Lynn Okagaki

Q: What are your thoughts on liberal education?

Okagaki: “Liberal education is getting a bad rap right now. It has been for the last several years as people become so ‘you need a job’ focused. I think in the liberal arts, education is the foundation for a lifetime of learning. It’s the foundation for somebody to have an entire career.”

Q: How do you see the arts and humanities fitting in with universities today?

Okagaki: “I’m a dancer, and in fact, the only class that I’ve been teaching the last couple of years is a ballet class. I believe that the arts, whether it’s music, it’s visual arts, it’s dance, the arts translate the meaning of our culture, the meaning of our lives … It’s part of the reason for living.”

Q: Should part of a liberal education include a technology component?

LUKE MACY ASST. CAMPUS & COMMUNITY EDITOR

Karin Ruhlandt, one of the finalists for Miami University’s provost search, participated in an open forum on Nov. 30.

Ruhlandt is a distinguished professor of chemistry at Syracuse University, the first woman in the university’s science department to hold that title.

Ruhlandt joined Syracuse in 1991 and has served various roles including chemistry department chair and dean for the College of Arts and Sciences. During her time at Syracuse, she also led a program called ADVANCE, which tries to grow the number of female students in STEM programs.

Ruhlandt has earned multiple awards, including a Fulbright Fellowship and the National Science Foundation Career award. Her work has also taken her around the world. She studied chemistry in Germany and has worked as a visiting professor in Austria, Australia and New Zealand. She began the forum by saying she was happy to make it to Miami.

Q: What are strategies you’ve used for faculty retention?

LUKE MACY ASST. CAMPUS & COMMUNITY EDITOR

Lynn Okagaki, a finalist in the search for Miami University’s new provost, met with members of Miami’s Oxford campus in an open forum to answer questions on Friday, Nov. 18.

Since 2016, Okagaki has worked in the role of deputy provost of academic affairs at the University of Delaware. Before that, she was the dean of the College of Education and Human Development for five years.

Okagaki also served as the commissioner for education research in the Institute of Education Sciences in the U.S. Department of Education. She has also held roles at Yale University, Cornell University and the University of Houston.

Okagaki started the forum by sharing her interest in working for Miami.

“You have such a long and strong position in being student-centered and caring about your students,” Okagaki said. “You have a great reputation for enacting a teacher-scholar model that actually works.”

Audience members then asked Okagaki specific questions, which have been paraphrased below with her responses. Miami asks for people to provide feedback on Okagaki for the provost search using an online form. The form is open until Dec. 5.

Q: What are the biggest challenges you see people facing at Miami?

Okagaki: “You have to figure out … who’s the person that when they say this is an issue, this is a problem you have to attend to. When they bring it up, it really is a privilege … I would use my direct reports. I would go to their offices as often as they would come to mine, or we would go for a walk and walk campus and talk.”

Okagaki: “Technology is what made us still able to connect with people [during the pandemic]. Technology is what made us able to continue relationships, continue to work, continue to educate, continue our lives. So I think it’s part of our culture. Not that we need to know how it works, necessarily, but certainly it ought to be something that we’re exposed to.”

Q: What’s an example of a goal you achieved?

Okagaki: “[We had a] task force, comprised of faculty, staff, some administrators, and we looked at advising, who came up with recommendations … And one of the outcomes for us was to improve the four year graduation rate … We want students to take on average 15 credits a semester … [Prior to the task force] 15% of first-time students completed 15 credits, and that jumped to 67% of students completing 15 credits.”

Q: What are your thoughts on recruiting and retaining faculty with marginalized identities?

Okagaki: “We have to be intentional. We have to start building relationships with potential faculty before they’re on the job market. That means at conferences, going to their talks. That means talking to colleagues and other institutions who might have students who are in the pipeline, and creating, for example, a summer symposium, where you invite … students to come and present their research and hopefully have a good experience here … Retaining faculty is harder, because often you’ll get the bright star and then especially before they’re tenured or right after they’re tenured, a more prestigious institution will come along and pick them up.”

macylj@miamioh.edu

“I love your commitment to students and research, and it really shows,” Ruhlandt said. “It very much aligns with what I’m passionate about, so I’m very happy to be here.”

Audience members then asked Ruhlandt specific questions, which have been paraphrased below with her responses. Miami asks for people to provide feedback on Ruhlandt for the provost search using an online form. The form is open until Dec. 5.

Q: What skills do you bring that will help you interact with the different opinions at Miami?

Ruhlandt: “One of the privileges of academia is to be surrounded by other smart people, and not listening is absolutely stupid. It’s plain unwise … How I actually really choose to work is in a very collaborative partnership with the people I work with … There are a couple of basic rules of how to work together; a big one is respect. Really, treat each other with respect and be honest and open and transparent.”

Q: Why do you want to be a provost?

Ruhlandt: “[As dean,] you can only try to convince the other deans to work with you. If they don’t like it, they don’t like it, and so I love thinking and I love bringing people together. And now I think for moving from dean to provost, I will be able to do that.”

Q: What is your vision for the future of internationalization?

Ruhlandt: “I think every student should go abroad because I do believe that it really adds to everybody’s education. It’s a little bit tricky because not everybody can afford going abroad, and that’s a big, big issue … I actually believe having international students on campus is a huge part of diversity, because I really think one should think about diversity in the broadest terms, and that includes having students from all over.”

sor and has worked her way up since. She said her past administrative work pushed her to pursue the role of provost.

“I’ve been an administrator for a long time, really my whole career,” Mullenix said. “I made a decision a long time ago that I would retire at Miami. I thought I would retire as a faculty member in the theater department … But I never thought I would have another leadership challenge, and so to be able to have another leadership challenge at the end of my career, it’s exciting to me.”

ASST. CAMPUS & COMMUNITY EDITOR

As part of the search for Miami University’s new provost, each of the four candidates are participating in open forums to answer questions from the Miami community.

Liz Mullenix, the dean of Miami

University’s College of Creative Arts and current interim provost, participated in the first open forum on Nov. 16.

Before the forum was opened for questions, Mullenix shared her work background. She started as a theater professor at Illinois State University before becoming a department chair and an associate dean. She then came to Miami in 2006 as a theater profes-

Miami University will hold one more open forum in its search for its next provost.

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Audience members then asked Mullenix specific questions, which have been paraphrased below with her responses. Miami asks for people to provide feedback on Mullenix for the provost search using an online form. The form is open until Dec. 5.

Q: What skills would you bring to the role of provost?

Mullenix: “Theater people are collaborative by nature … Theater people also must have empathy … The skills I’ve learned through this job are not just these long relationships and experience as an administrator, but also

Altarriba will participate in an Oxford forum at 319 Kreger Hall from 12:45 p.m. to 1:15 p.m., a Middletown forum at 136-137 Johnston Hall from 2:15 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. and a Hamilton forum at Wilks Conference Center from 3:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Altarriba’s other positions have included

Ruhlandt: “There are a couple of things: people need to be happy … climate is key, and what really helped us was partner accommodations … Some people need to be appreciated, and they need to find a situation which makes them happy, and if your partner lives somewhere else, that’s not good … When I heard people were considering and looking elsewhere, we went in early and had conversations with these faculty members about what they needed.”

Q: What is your experience with the advocacy for liberal education?

Ruhlandt: “I believe a liberal arts foundation in any professional setting is in good shape, and it’s really setting people up for success … It is something to defend.”

Q: Do you think in a digitally-driven world, arts and humanities majors should be required to take engineering and computing courses?

Ruhlandt: “I was at home listening to NPR and was listening to a major lawmaker from Texas, mixing up global warming with global wobbling. So I remember listening to that and being really upset, and what I decided that afternoon was that we needed to do something to educate lawmakers, at least a little bit about sciences. And so we came up with this joint degree program with connecting between the sciences and policy studies, and it is a degree program which is between arts and sciences … It is now the fastest growing major and it has really taken off. And I think that is a wonderful example of interdisciplinarity, a broad education … Giving people the tools to continue is really what is important.”

Q: What would you do in response to racist incidents on campus?

Ruhlandt: “[I mandated] every student to take a social justice course. I felt that it would not be wise to graduate a student who had no exposure to the backdrop … In order to make it easy on the curriculum, we allowed these courses to be counted as the social sciences and humanities requirements, especially for students who have a really tight [schedule].”

macylj@miamioh.edu

the skills of a creative person in terms of being able to solve problems.”

Q: How will your arts background influence your work as provost?

Mullenix: “When you look at the president’s vision for Miami … the pillars of that campaign are scholarship, entrepreneurship, clinical health and also data science and technology … But I would also add the arts and humanities to that … One of the things that I would be really excited about if I were to be the provost would be sort of creating a Marshall Plan for the humanities.”

Q: What concerns do you have about stepping into this role?

Mullenix: “We really confronted a faculty who feel more alienated from the upper administration or distrustful of the upper administration than they have arguably been in their history, and the evidence for that is that our faculty are attempting to unionize.”

Q: What next steps will you take concerning drops in the numbers of international stu-

chair, vice provost and professor. Her research has included focuses on psychology and bilingualism. She has published more than 80 peer-reviewed articles.

The open forum will give people a chance to ask Altarriba questions about her application for provost. Miami asks that attendees

dents while the number of represented countries increases?

Mullenix: “[It] is really exciting that we have so many countries represented, and internationalization is not just about students coming here from other countries. Internationalization is about a global curriculum, about seeing that in our curriculum, about seeing that represented in terms of faculty and staff.”

Q: How do you plan to support students academically?

Mullenix: “Student success is a really important part of what we do in academic affairs … Trying to build that portfolio and find that balance between the professional advisors and faculty who really feel very passionately about that as part of their mission as teachers and mentors, is critical.”

Q: Why you?

Mullenix: “Right now in terms of the challenges we face in Miami, having an internal candidate could be a good thing … I would consider it a great honor to be the provost.”

macylj@miamioh.edu

fill out an online form after the forum, providing feedback for Altarriba. The form is open until Dec. 5.

The Miami Student will publish a recap of the forum online at miamistudent.net.

Enrollment numbers are up, but what’s different in the Farmer School of Business?

with the larger class sizes,” Iacobucci said.

More students, but more intimate than competing programs

Despite increased class sizes, FSB is still far smaller than the business schools at Ohio State University and Indiana University, allowing it to keep its status of a highly appealing, intimate business school in the area.

“Number-wise, for large, high quality schools that are hired by lots of firms and companies, Farmer is actually in really good shape,” Ballou said.

Perkins said Farmer is as competitive as ever, even with a rising acceptance rate in the past couple years. The increasing acceptance rate has risen strictly due to the demand for

more students in the school.

“Our academic profile has actually gone up, which pertains to GPA rigor and average test score of students if they submit,” Perkins said.

According to Poets&Quants, FSB is in the Top 10 business schools for student experience, keeping FSB an outstanding competitor against other schools around the country.

FSB has also managed to keep its more rigorous courses small, which has served as a huge benefit to Jamie McDermott, a junior finance and business analytics major.

“When you’re in a small, more personal class, you have a stronger relationship with your professor,” McDermott said. “You’re asking more questions, getting to know your professors better, and it allows you to be more comfortable when reaching

out.”

This was an experience she mainly had as she entered higher level classes.

The decrease this semester was a relief for many instructors, but still not optimal for others.

“Ideally, we would like to see the number of students enrolled smaller than 1,200, but in order to meet the financial goals that we need to meet to keep Miami viable and strong, that’s probably not a realistic option,” Ballou said.

Even if enrollment doesn’t decrease next year, Ballou said he and other professors are better equipped now compared to 2021 to handle more students, creating a better environment for both students and faculty. patelou@miamoh.edu

Liz Mullenix

LIZ MULLENIX, CURRENT INTERIM PROVOST, HOPES TO BRING HER ARTS BACKGROUND TO THE ROLE. PHOTO BY LUKE MACY

LYNN OKAGAKI EMPHASIZED THE IMPORTANCE OF LIBERAL EDUCATION IN HER OPEN FORUM.

PHOTO BY LUKE MACY

KARIN RUHLANDT IS EXCITED TO POTENTIALLY WORK AT MIAMI AFTER WORKING AROUND THE WORLD.

PHOTO BY LUKE MACY

Jeanette Altarriba, the dean of the Col

lege of Arts and Sciences at the University at Albany, will speak with the Miami community on Dec. 2.

Campus and Community

Students

Fall semester DEI recap: what is new and what to look forward to

ALICE MOMANY CAMPUS & COMMUNITY EDITOR

The Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion (OIDI) at Miami University has been busy this past semester, increasing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts across campus.

In June 2020, Miami’s President Greg Crawford created a DEI Task Force to address 44 recommendations that would promote education, celebrate diversity and create a welcoming environment at Miami. In an email to The Miami Student, Cristina Alcalde, vice president for institutional diversity and inclusion, wrote Nov. 28, OIDI has completed 92% of the 44 recommendations.

ership Support Network, partnering with the provost’s office to launch a DEI Faculty Fellows Program and holding multiple Heritage Month Programming events.

To identify where there’s room for improvement, OIDI also conducted interviews with faculty and staff. In the spring semester, OIDI will launch a survey for all faculty, staff and students to further improve areas of inclusion.

“Findings from the interviews and surveys will contribute essential information we can analyze and use to proactively design next steps and a university-wide DEI Strategic Plan,” Alcalde wrote.

GRAPHIC BY SOREN MELBYE

CHLOE MCKINNEY

THE MIAMI STUDENT

College students file into class one at a time as the professor writes on the board. One student, absent the week before because of COVID, sits in the front row.

The lecture begins, and at first everything is normal, but as time passes, they are losing focus. Suddenly, the energy they had this morning is gone. Fighting sleep, they stare at their professor in a daze, barely grasping the lesson and waiting for class to end.

Mystery still surrounds the longterm effects of COVID-19; however, new research shows brain fog, or COVID brain, is a common symptom that might affect students’ performance in school.

COVID brain is a symptom of long COVID characterized by a lack of focus and mental clarity causing confusion and forgetfulness. For college students, this might mean struggling to focus in class, during tests and forgetting about important tasks or assignments.

Ella Reis, a sophomore psychology major at Miami University, tested positive for COVID-19 in January and said she still deals with COVID brain and often struggles to pay attention in class.

“I lose focus,” Reis said. “Sometimes I would just completely space out and not know what’s happening.”

Reis copes with her struggles by recording classes to avoid missing important information.

“I’ll be like, ‘Oh my gosh, I just wasted 30 minutes of the teacher’s lecture,’” Reis said. “So I always find myself recording it … which helped a lot.”

Zach Mentzer, a senior mechanical engineering major, tested positive on Nov. 13. Nearly a week clear of the illness, he still feels the effect of it.

“I’ll be in the middle of a task and forget what I am doing,” Mentzer said. “It’s like having a weird shortterm memory problem and being aware of it.”

He fears COVID brain is already taking a toll on his classwork. He remembers working on a recent assignment where his lack of focus caused him extra work.

“I was making up a lab for one of my electrical engineering courses … but none of my numbers were adding up,” Mentzer said. “I would look at what was on the oscilloscope and write the completely wrong thing … It made what would have been a pretty easy lab an hour and a half long.”

Mentzer said sleep is the best way he has found to cope with COVID brain. He gets nine to 10 hours of sleep a night now instead of forcing himself to study late.

Akiesha Wilson-Coulibaly, director of Student Health Services (SHS) at Miami, mentioned several longterm symptoms to look out for if someone suspects they have COVID brain.

“The symptoms of long COVID or brain fog,” Wilson-Coulibaly said, “could be memory loss, a decreased attention span … issues with multitasking.”

Wilson-Coulibaly said students who are experiencing symptoms of long COVID should speak to a healthcare professional.

“If they’re having symptoms and they need some guidance on that, they can come into Student Health or they can go to a neuropsychologist who has been known to help people with cognitive function issues,” Wilson-Coulibaly said.

She also recommends several healthy habits to help students who are dealing with COVID brain. She suggests eating healthy, exercising, getting good sleep and avoiding drugs and alcohol.

At this time Miami is not offering any specific services outside of the Student Health Center to those dealing with COVID brain.

Although Alcalde did not answer what tasks OIDI has yet to complete, according to the office’s website, it needs to finish pillars one (dialogue and allyship), three (advocacy and partnership) and five (inclusion and accountability) to conclude all 44 recommendations.

“The recommendations have been one component of a broader approach that focuses on capacity-building, recruitment and retention, structures, and accountability and transparency to create sustainable, long-term change,” Alcalde wrote.

Capacity-building has been an important focus for OIDI this semester. Capacity-building refers to the development of resources that make Miami more inclusive.

The DEI Module Series, a sequence of online courses for Miami community members, is just one example of OIDI’s capacity-building resources. The series, established in the spring 2022 semester, provides information and strategies for cultivating inclusive working and learning environments.

This past semester, OIDI evaluated the module, and an updated version will roll out this spring. The relaunched module will include four additional sections: Emotional Well-Being, Masculinities in the Workplace, Indigenous Perspectives: Miami Nation, and Intergroup Dialogue.

OIDI has also been busy developing a Cultural Resource Guide, hosting a new Women of Color Lead-

In addition to institutional DEI work at Miami, many student organizations have been working hard this semester to celebrate diversity on campus and educate their peers.

Miami has more than 30 multicultural organizations that serve as a space for students from different races, ethnicities and sexualities. One of these organizations is the DEI Reps, which consists of students who work to spread DEI throughout residence halls.

Maysa Constandinidis, a sophomore political science and critical race and ethnic studies double major, is the president of DEI Reps. This is its first year as an official organization, and its focus was on informing primarily first and second-year students. DEI Reps send weekly informational emails to residents and host events celebrating different cultures.

“This semester has really been about educating and having those uncomfortable conversations and making sure everybody’s on the same page,” Constandinidis said.

As the DEI Reps plan for the spring semester, they plan to invite outside voices in conversations surrounding DEI initiatives.

“Next semester, we really want to focus on bringing in speakers to our meetings,” Constandinidis said. “We didn’t really do that this semester because we focused more on events.”

Like the DEI Reps, Miami’s Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion (CSDI) has also prioritized events this past semester.

This semester, CSDI hosted its first QT-Con, a grassroots conference and convention for the queer and trans community, and a Reproduc-

Nutrition

tive Rights Town Hall for the Miami and Oxford communities.

“There’s constantly programming done by CSDI for affinity building and for community [building] between different identities and understanding other identities,” said Monnica Gay, an intern with CSDI.

Gay, a sophomore social work and urban planning major, said CSDI is already planning events for the spring semester. One of the larger events CSDI is hosting is the Intercultural Student Leadership Conference which will be an all-day event for students to learn from other students and listen to a keynote speaker about DEI efforts in leadership.

“We’re really looking forward to it, and we’ve been planning a lot for that … I think it’s going to be really cool, and it’s going to be really great for students,” Gay said.

Although Gay and Constandinidis are involved with DEI efforts within student organizations, both said they are aware of the actions OIDI has pursued this past semester.

Constandinidis said the size of OIDI’s staff limits the amount of work it can do, but she would like to see more from the department.

“I do see some things they are doing and working towards,” Constandinidis said. “There are some changes, but honestly, I feel like it’s the bare minimum, and I think there’s so much more that can be done.”

Constandinidis is an Arab American student and said OIDI has never previously acknowledged Arab American Heritage Month in April. After many efforts to bring this to

GRAPHIC BY MACEY CHAMBERLIN

OIDI’s attention, she said OIDI will celebrate it for the first time next year with a tabling event on Academic Quad by Miami’s seal.

However, the event will also celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and Jewish Heritage Month, both of which are in May. Constandinidis said she wishes each of these cultures could have its own celebration so students can learn more about them.

Gay disagrees with Constandinidis and commended OIDI on its work with the DEI Module Series and interviews they conducted with faculty and staff.

“I think what [OIDI] is doing is enough because, genuinely, I don’t know what else they can do,” Gay said. “I think it’s really easy to get into the mindset of saying that we want it really quickly, but institutional work, just the nature of it, is so difficult, and it takes a lot of people working for a long time rather than a couple of people getting band-aids.”

Gay said Miami has student organizations like CSDI to supplement areas that OIDI can’t allocate a lot of time to, but Constandinidis said that as much as OIDI wants to focus on the institution of Miami, it is important to remember that students make up a large part of the institution.

“They focus on the institutional level,” Constandinidis said, “which is understandable, but at the end of the day, this still affects [the student body], and this is still about us.”

@alicemomany momanyaj@miamioh.edu

the nutrition education,” Parkinson said. “Part of the planning is built into one of my classes, so that gives them some real world experience.”

dents, Parkinson has recruited volunteers from ROTC, Kiwanis Circle K, the Student Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and Oxford churches. Paulette Worcester is a member of the Presbyterian Church, where she was first made aware of the community dinner and volunteered as a server at the dinner on Nov. 14.

LAURA GIAQUINTO SENIOR STAFF WRITER

On the second Monday night of each month, Oxford residents gather at the Oxford Senior Center for meals prepared by Miami University nutrition students and various volunteers. These monthly meals began in September 2022 and have attracted a growing crowd ever since.

The idea for the community meals came from Nancy Parkinson, associate clinical lecturer in Miami’s kinesiology, nutrition, and health department. Parkinson is a member of the Oxford Presbyterian Church, which has been one of five churches participating in weekly Wednesday dinners for more than 20 years.

Parkinson said she noticed a need for a community meal in a location more neutral than a church. She pitched the idea during an August meeting between the churches and other community organizations.

The Oxford Senior Center director, Steve Schnabl, came to the meeting and said they were trying to get programming back at the Senior Center.

“I thought, ‘Well, there’s a need in that community [the senior center] to provide food and friendship and just getting together because we’ve been closed up with COVID,’” Parkinson said. “And the members of the faith communities said that they wanted to get back to that friendship.”

While the meal takes place at the senior center, Parkinson says the event is for all members of the com-

munity.

Hannah Rogers, a junior nutrition major, volunteers as a server at the dinners. A requirement for one of her nutrition classes, Rogers said, is to volunteer at Oxford community events preparing or serving food.

Rogers said she enjoys helping out with the raffles at the end of the dinner. Healthy ingredients and cooking supplies are given out to encourage participants to cook nutritious meals.

“One time, an older man’s name was called, and half the room started clapping and the other half of the room yelling, ‘You always win, Bob,’” Rogers said. “It was really fun to watch.”

The senior center also has a drive-thru option to pick up the meal for people worried about COVID-19, Parkinson said.

Roger added that nutrition students also knock on doors of the senior center’s residents and offer them packaged meals.

“A lot of people don’t yet know about the dinner, so walking around the senior center asking, ‘Hey, would you like a free meal?’ has helped seniors learn about the community dinner,” Rogers said. “Most of the time, they also really enjoy getting a free meal.”

Parkinson teaches a food systems management class where her students are assigned to plan a menu for a community event, such as these dinners.

“Students do the costing of the menu, nutritional analysis and then help plan. Senior students help plan

The community dinner at the senior center is one of the events put on through the Culinary Nutrition Depot. Students in the nutrition and dietetics program and the Student Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (SAND) participate in a variety of other programs including a weekly Lunch and Learn program and nutrition education at TOPSS food pantry.

The dinner is followed by a nutrition demonstration from Parkinson’s KNH303 Food Systems Management class; Parkinson and one of her students teaches the participants how to make a meal with healthier options than it typically would use. The demonstration also teaches about what makes certain foods healthier than others and how to make a balanced meal.

For November, Parkinson demonstrated how to make spaghetti squash alongside senior nutrition major Lauren Miller.

Miller is an intern through Miami’s nutrition department and has had Parkinson as a professor since Miller’s first year. Part of her role includes planning for the community dinner demonstrations.

“We try to base the meal for the demonstration on what we’re serving for the main meal,” Miller said. “We served pasta tonight, so we chose to teach how to make spaghetti squash as an alternative.”

Miller said the dinners have become increasingly popular.

“Everyone brings their friends, and the first one was a smaller group, but it keeps growing, so obviously the word is getting out,” Miller said. “Nancy takes some meals to all the houses nearby, so I think it’s fun for everyone to come hang out with their friends and catch up.”

In addition to her nutrition stu-

Worcester came to the dinner with her husband. The two brought an apple slab pie that Worcester made.

“It’s been fun. I’ve known a few of the people that have come to the dinner, some from the church,” Worcester said. “It’s nice to see people and participate.”

Mickey Preston sat with her friends Jerri Hill and Wilma Glasshagel. Preston and Hill heard about the dinner from the senior center newsletter, and Glasshagel heard from word of mouth.

An Oxford resident for 60 years, Preston has been to all of the meals so far. Her favorite dish they served was mashed potatoes and gravy.

Hill enjoys the raffles and spending time with her friends.

“Last time I won a reusable bag, so that was fun,” Hill said. “If I wasn’t here I’d probably be at home with a TV dinner.”

Parkinson said so far the community meals have been funded by alumni donations to the nutrition department, and she is looking to apply for Oxford grants. The Oxford Coalition for a Healthy Community plans to pay for the January meal, and a program with the Oxford Chamber of Commerce is also in the works.

Each month, Parkinson centers the dinner around a theme. For the month of November the dinner honored veterans. Parkinson said a few years ago one of her students who was in the military had introduced her to the tradition of the missing comrade table.

“The table is set for one, symbolizing the fact that some are missing from our ranks. The tablecloth is white, symbolizing the purity of their intentions to respond to their country’s call of arms,” Parkinson said. “I want to thank all of the students who I’ve worked with for their dedication.”

The next community dinner will be held on Monday, Dec. 12, and Parkinson plans to have Christmas cookie decorating at the dinner.

struggle with the longterm effects of COVID-19

students provide monthly meals to Oxford community

MIAMI UNIVERSITY NUTRITION STUDENTS PREPARE MEALS AT THE OXFORD SENIOR CENTER ON THE SECOND MONDAY OF EACH MONTH. PHOTO BY JESSICA MONAHAN

The increase in e-bikes on campus means an increase in thefts

TAYLOR STUMBAUGH THE MIAMI STUDENT

With the increase of electric bikes and scooters on campus, most Miami University students know to lock up their vehicle, or it will be stolen.

It happened to Gabe Raeuchle, a first-year mechanical engineering major, last month before class.

He was leaving Collins Hall to go to his 8:30 a.m. class when he noticed his electric bike was missing. He locked it up using a chain lock, which is as durable as a u-lock, but his attempt was futile. A u-lock is a padlock with longer shackles that go around the bike’s frame, and Miami recommends these for optimal bike safety.

“Honestly, I’m just kind of shocked. I wasn’t instantly sad. I was just kind of like ‘oh,’” Rauechle said.

He called the non-emergency number for the Miami University Police Department (MUPD) on the way to class and met with an officer at Collins after class.

Other students have had similar stories to Raeuchle’s across campus.

According to the MUPD reports, five electric bikes have been reported stolen this semester — all in October. Two were stolen at Bachelor Hall, while the others were stolen at Collins, Hall Auditorium and Anderson Hall.

Sergeant Nicole Roberts of MUPD said theft of e-bikes and e-scooters is up this year compared to previous years, mostly because there are more on campus.

“I think they’re a more common item for people to have [now],” Roberts said. “A couple of years ago it was very rare to see one in Oxford.”

MUPD sends out notifications via safety bulletins to notify students, faculty and staff about reported crimes around campus. It sent out six concerning electric e-bikes this semester.

“It’s nice to see [the safety bulletins] but it’s also like, ‘There’s another one,’” Kellen Boyle, a first year mechanical engineering major, said. “It’s definitely nice to know that they keep track of it, but I also don’t really think a lot of people are getting their stuff back. How would they be getting it back really?”

Boyle had his electric skateboard stolen on North campus while he was geocaching. He

didn’t lock it up because he was only away for a few minutes while walking the trail, and it would be difficult to lock up a skateboard. Boyle called the police, but they could not do much to help him since the person was long gone, and no one saw him take it.

“My initial reaction was like, it was my first week on campus, and I had just gotten here and was like, ‘Oh, so this is how it’s gonna be,’” Boyle said. “That was pretty disappointing and disheartening for my whole semester. I planned to use it to get around, and I just walk everywhere now.”

Unlike electric bikes and scooters, electric skateboards don’t prompt safety bulletins.

The Jeanne Clery Act is a federal law that requires colleges and universities across the U.S. to disclose information about crime on and around their campuses. Institutions need to include statistics, procedures for disciplinary actions, policies and programs related to a host of crimes including motor vehicle theft.

The Clery Act defines motor vehicles as any self-propelled vehicle that runs on land and not on rails. These include cars, trucks, motorcycles, buses, scooters, golf carts, mopeds, trail bikes, snowmobiles and motorized wheelchairs. Electric skateboards are considered recreational rather than a means of transportation, so they aren’t required in the bulletins.

“Part of every notification we send does include safety,” Roberts said. “Because in our effort to notify the community something has happened, we’re also wanting to help make them aware and help prevent future occurrences.”

MUPD has a website with information on bicycle safety and theft, but it does not detail what the department does to follow up on bikes that are reported stolen.

Gabe Finta, a first-year university studies major, had his e-scooter stolen outside Dennison at the beginning of the month. It was not locked up while he was at dinner, and his roommate noticed it was missing while Finta was gone. When Finta got back, he called the police, and he said they got there very quickly to take his report.

“It’s pretty unfortunate,” Finta said. “I guess I have to walk to class now.”

stumbata@miamioh.edu

Professor, author, historian: Kimberly Hamlin influences Miami community with her work

ANNA REIER THE MIAMI STUDENT

If you ask any of Kimberly Hamlin’s students, current or former, what impact she has made on their time at Miami University, the response will be nothing short of life changing.

Take Chelsea Cozad, for example. Cozad, a history major who graduated from Miami last year, spent most of her senior year working with Hamlin on her senior thesis. She said Hamlin made her experience by “paving the path for [her].”

“It’s crazy to think, but I don’t know if I would be where I am if I didn’t take her class my sophomore year,” Cozad said. “It really was a life changing experience, because I was able to see that there are professionals in the field that are unapologetic about what they do.”

When Hamlin graduated with a bachelors from Georgetown University in Washington D.C, she thought she was going to work in politics. She spent four years working in the office of a pro-choice senator, but after serving for two different congresses, she had an epiphany.

“I realized that this was not where change happens,” Hamlin said. “All along, I had a seed in the back of my mind that I wanted to be a professor.”

Her mentor at Georgetown, however, advised her against it.

“My favorite professor … and I had talked about it, and she said, ‘Only go back and get your Ph.D. if you can think of nothing else to do,’” Hamlin said. “She told me, ‘It’s hard, it takes a long time, and you are going to make no money.’”

Nevertheless, in 2000, Hamlin found herself at the University of Texas at Austin pursuing her Ph.D. in American studies. She went in knowing that a job was not guaranteed, but it was what she wanted to do.

“As a historian and a scholar, I went all-in on my Ph.D.,” Hamlin said.

In 2007, Hamlin got a job at Miami, teaching history and American studies. From the start, Hamlin’s goal within her classroom has been to engage her students in what they were interested in. She’s done this with the creation of the class HST350 #MeToo: A Cultural History, one of a few classes of its kind in the nation.

Eliza Burgess, a senior majoring in psychology and art therapy, is currently enrolled in HST350.

“[Hamlin] places lots of emphasis on involvement in class,” Burgess said. “It is very much talking about things that we think are relevant and important.”

She said Hamlin focuses on women whose voices haven’t had the opportunity to be shared before.

“We talk about the history of rape in American culture,” Hamlin said. “But it’s so much more than that. It’s about women’s resistance and survivors’ resistance and how change happens.”

Wietse de Boer, chair of the history department, noted just how influential Hamlin, and the creation of HST350, is to the department.

“Her work is very important for our curriculum,” de Boer said. “Particularly in women’s history, the history of sex and gender, where she has really developed a following. It’s also a part of the curriculum that she updates constantly.”

De Boer also emphasized Hamlin’s uncanny ability to connect with her students.

“She is very effective in communicating with larger publics,’’ de Boer said. “And in this way, bringing the results of her scholarship to all kinds of public venues.”

These public venues include her frequent contributions to The Washington Post, NPR and Smithsonian Magazine. In her latest piece for The Post, published this summer, Hamlin discussed the political significance of married women keeping their surname after the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

In addition to her contributions to various media publications, Hamlin is also a published author. Her book, titled “Free Thinker: Sex, Suffrage, and the Extraordinary Life of Helen Hamilton Gardener,” is a profile of one of the most fascinating and influential figures of the suffrage movement.

In her novel, Hamlin tells Gardener’s story, taking her readers through the many turns of her highly ostracized and entertaining life. In its review, Bookpage states that “while Gardener wasn’t perfect, this biography does an excellent job balancing her extraordinary achievements against her cultural blindspots.”

In June 2022, Hamlin earned what is arguably her most exciting position yet. At the League of Women Voters 55th National Convention in Denver, CO, Hamlin was elected to the National Board of the League of Women Voters.

“This is so exciting to me to put more of my research in service of the expansion of voting rights,” Hamlin said. “I am so excited to be serving on the board … this really is an amazing opportunity for me.”

No matter how many prestigious roles she takes on or books she publishes, Hamlin emphasized that one of the most important aspects of her professional life is teaching and interacting with Miami students.

“I really think Miami is a great place for me to be a professor because they really prioritize this teacher scholar model,” Hamlin said. “I get to involve students in my research … and that is a part of my job that I really enjoy.”

@AnnaReier reieram@miamioh.edu

Miami goes green with renovated sustainability efforts

temp. In the winter when we send out the water, it’s heated compared to outside temperatures.”

The Western geothermal site is the first on Miami’s campus, which was established as part of a Utility Master Plan in 2012. This plan outlines Miami’s sustainability goals through 2026.

“Our first reports were silver in 2016,” Herron said. “This past report we submitted in February, we were graded in the high gold category, so we have aspirations to hopefully achieve platinum in this next reporting round in 2025.”

In order to achieve this, Herron’s department does work to investigate what would earn an increase in score, which encompasses more than reduced greenhouse gas emissions and energy use.

ly a lot that has already been put into the works,” McCann said. “I would say sustainability is something that affects everyone and as a university, we should be encouraging our students to take action.”

“We have this survey [in the course] that we give at the beginning, and then we hope everyone will take it at the end,” Hurn said. “And we did show a change of attitude from that initial group.”

RAQUEL HIRSCH

THE MIAMI STUDENT

With the 2022 fall semester coming to an end, Miami University is just three years away from its goal of converting large academic buildings to utilize geothermal energy by 2026.

Geothermal energy is only a part of Miami’s sustainability efforts, which have been in the works since 2008. Olivia Herron, Miami’s director of sustainability, helps oversee this project, and other aspects of Miami’s work to go green.

“Since 2008, we’ve been making a very intentional effort to reduce [our energy usage],” Herron said. “We’re not necessarily going to convert every single building on campus to geothermal, but we are trying to convert as many of the large buildings on campus to geothermal as possible.”

Geothermal energy is a form of renewable energy which uses the temperature of the ground to heat and cool water. This water is then used for heating and cooling buildings on campus, which is more sustainable than the typical burning of fossil fuels.

“Geothermal is unique in that we drill very deep wells, and we cycle water into the ground to heat or cool that water,” Herron said. “The ground at that depth [about 400 feet] is a constant temperature throughout the year, so by sending water out in the summer, it’s cooled down to ground

“It kind of lays out how we’re gonna switch to simultaneous heating and cooling and to geothermal in different parts of campus,” Herron said.

For its next geothermal site, Miami is looking at North Campus to install the necessary wells under Millett Hall’s parking lot.

“We’re looking to put somewhere around 1,200 to 1,300 new wells,” Herron said. “But North Campus is already on a heating and cooled water system, so … it’s already set up that the transition to geothermal will be more smooth than we originally started and were transitioning from steam to geothermal.”

Geothermal energy is particularly useful to Miami because of the climate of Ohio. The change in all four seasons allows for the ground to provide both heat and cooling to water, which is then able to heat and cool the buildings it is intended to supply.

“The biggest consumer of energy for campus is heating and cooling buildings, so geothermal is an opportunity to move to renewables for how we heat and cool buildings, so that is why we started there,” Herron said.

An additional responsibility of Miami’s sustainability committee is self-reporting to the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System (STARS). In February 2021, Miami received a gold rating for its sustainability efforts. The scale ranges from bronze to platinum, which is Miami’s goal. The next report is due in May 2025.

“We earn points for things like our EcoReps program or IES (Institute for the Environment and Sustainability) earns us points for the number of majors, co-majors and master’s programs we offer in the sustainability realm,” Herron said. “STARS is, I would say, our more comprehensive report, but that is on a three-year cycle.”

Lauren McCann, a sophomore primary education major, is on the leadership team of EcoReps, one of Miami’s largest sustainability organizations on campus and an element of Miami’s high-gold STARS ranking.

“EcoReps focuses on sustainability within residence halls. We partner with the Office of Residence Life,” McCann said. “We do a lot with specialty recycling … inside the dorms for non-traditional recyclables to be recycled [which includes] grocery bags, Brita filters, batteries.”

In addition to specialty recycling, McCann and her team send out weekly “Eco Facts” to each residence hall via email, which McCann describes as “sustainability fun facts.” EcoReps also track the waste produced by each residence hall to ensure it is being disposed of properly. On the weekends, club members will sort through the waste of residence halls to sort out potential recyclables.

EcoReps meets on Mondays from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. in Upham Hall 365 and is one of many organizations on campus working in combination with administrative efforts toward a more sustainable future.

“I think that there’s a lot that needs to be done, but there’s definite-

An additional source of education Miami offers is found within the Sustainability Canvas course, which was published in February 2022. Janet Hurn, senior director of the E-campus for Miami’s regional campuses and Susan Meikle, a writer and editor for University News and Communications, helped develop the course. It covers several aspects of sustainability, both in and outside of Miami.

“A few of the main topics are climate change, what is Miami doing with climate change … particularly energy wise,” Meikle said.

In addition, a section on Miami’s recycling partner, Rumpke, is also provided.

“We want to highlight that [Rumpke recycling] because they’re very innovative and they’re the ones handling [waste] after students discard it,” Hurn said. “We want to show the whole pathway so as to show that it does make a difference and there’s innovative people throughout the chain that put these materials back into production on the recycling side.”

The Canvas course is accessible to all students interested and only takes 45 minutes to an hour to complete.

“A goal is to try to get it to become something students might do, for instance, during summer orientation, or in their UNV 101,” Meikle said.

While the Canvas course discusses Miami’s sustainability efforts, the impact spans beyond Oxford.

“[Miami is] significantly impacting the world by not only practicing sustainability processes and climate recovery and support, but also teaching the student that that’s important … so when they leave and go out to their communities, they can do the same thing,” Hurn said.

The course is designed to resonate with students, and hopefully offer a new perspective in sustainability.

The data from the survey is also a contributing factor to Miami’s STARS report score.

Before its next STARS report is due in 2025 and the Utility Master Plan expires in 2026, Miami plans to expand its sustainability committee to focus beyond data collection and reporting.

“A new goal I would say for the role is to also focus more external facing,” Herron said. “We’re trying to transition to have more of an outreach focus, especially with the work of the Climate Action Task Force … we really want to keep students, faculty, staff and alums informed in our planning process.”

Miami also intends to become a Net-Zero institution, meaning that Miami’s production of carbon emissions will equal the amount removed from the atmosphere, ultimately canceling out. The sustainability committee will also focus on educating students about environmental science and sustainability. The re-routing of Butler County Regional Transit Authority (BCRTA) buses in the next academic year should play a large role in this, as the bus line intends on becoming more efficient to ride.

“We just want to keep students aware that it’s something we’re working on. It’s something we care about as an institution … so I’m very excited to see where that plan is going to take us,” Herron said. “We have every intention to be a leader in sustainability in higher ed.”

Further information on Miami’s energy consumption trends can be found online.

KIMBERLY HAMLIN CAME TO MIAMI UNIVERSITY IN 2007 WITH THE GOAL TO ENGAGE STUDENTS. PHOTO PROVIDED BY KIMBERLY HAMLIN

THIS SEMESTER, FIVE ELECTRIC BIKES HAVE BEEN REPORTED STOLEN. PHOTO BY JAKE RUFFER

GRAPHIC BY MACEY CHAMBERLIN

sports

Where Miami hockey stands around the halfway point of the season

for these young RedHawks.

But as Miami basketball Coach Travis Steele has said about his own youth-heavy lineup: they’ve got to sink or swim.

So far Miami hockey has done a lot more sinking. They’re 1-6-1 so far in NCHC play. Their one win was an impressive upset of North Dakota on the road at Ralph Engelstad Arena, which boasts one of the most passionate crowds in the sport. It came just one night after Miami lost 7-1 against the same team in the same building.

In those eight conference games, Miami is averaging just 1.5 goals. That’s simply not good enough.

Once again, Miami has leaned heavily on star junior goaltender Ludvig Persson. Persson has been spectacular, save for a few clunker games. Still, his overall stats look good. Miami allows the 10th most shots per game in Division I, so Persson has his work cut out for him every single night.

to chill with the penalties.

It’ll be a tough task for Miami to get itself on track. The team just has so many areas needing improvement. It needs to score more and get scored on less. It needs to take more shots and allow fewer. It needs to take fewer penalties and convert more often on the power play. Maybe, it just needs to find a new conference.

Again, these RedHawks have talent. Their lineup is flush with players who have seen success in the top junior leagues in North America. When they’re at their best, they’re extremely fun to watch. They’ve proven that they can hang with any team in the country. They just haven’t been at their best very often so far.

JACK SCHMELZINGER SPORTS EDITOR

It’s been another disappointing start for Miami University hockey in 2022.

This team has talent. It’s also extremely inexperienced. On paper, Miami, a squad that routinely dresses eight or nine first-year players, isn’t likely to compete in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC),

which is colloquially known as “Hockey’s SEC.”

One pretty good way to evaluate college hockey matchups on paper is to see how many NHL draft pick skaters each team rosters. Miami has one. The rest of the NCHC? North Dakota has 12, Denver has 11, Minnesota-Duluth nine, and so on. St. Cloud State and Western Michigan each only

have four, but they’re ranked No. 3 and No. 14 in the country respectively this week. Colorado College is even with Miami at one, but the Tigers still swept Miami earlier this season.

So yeah, the NCHC is pretty good. Week in and week out, Miami is playing college hockey’s best teams in some of the sport’s most hostile environments. It’s not a recipe for success

The RedHawks are third worst in the nation this year with 15.5 penalty minutes per game. They spend nearly a period per game in the box. It’s frustrating to watch their games because it feels like every time they seize a morsel of momentum, someone takes an avoidable penalty, and it’s gone. Fourth-year Head Coach Chris Bergeron’s teams have been more disciplined in the past, and if this year’s RedHawks want to have any chance of competing in the NCHC, they need

One good thing (for the RedHawks at least) about the NCHC is that every team makes the playoffs at the end of the season. (This next sentence I’ve written many times in this same context. I figure if I write it enough times, Miami might just eventually prove me right.) If these RedHawks get rolling at the right time, there is no ceiling for where they could go.

Miami has one more series before the winter break, against St. Cloud State at home next weekend, on Dec. 9 and 10. Once the break is over, the home stretch of the year comes quickly. Miami hockey needs to get rolling eventually, or this will be another lost season.

@jackschmelznger schmelj2@miamioh.edu

The College Football Playoff field is not solidified yet

LUKAS NELSON SPORTS-EDITOR-AT-LARGE

A quick glance at the College Football Playoff (CFP) rankings may show the 4-team bracket to be a foregone conclusion.

The University of Georgia, University of Michigan, Texas Christian University (TCU) and University of Southern California (USC) are ranked 1-4, respectively, and are all favored to win in their conference championship games.

But what if the weekend sees multiple upsets? That’s where things could get exciting. None of the Power Five conference title games feature both teams with one or zero losses, so some chaos could give us the first multi-loss team in CFP History.

Before taking a deeper dive into this, it should be noted that a lot of this hinges on the 12-person committee who decides the playoff field, as well as the bids to other four major bowl games (dubbed the New Year’s Six Bowls). Though it releases rankings every week, it’s hard to predict what it’ll decide after watching the final week of the season.

The committee has been known to be inconsistent with its methodol-

ogy, but it’s generally done a good job picking the four best teams every year since the creation of the CFP in 2014.

Locks

Georgia, Michigan (12-0)

Even if they lose, Georgia and Michigan will be comfortably in the playoff. The two programs will strictly be playing for favorable seeding Saturday, barring some unforeseen collapse.

Win and In TCU (12-0), USC (11-1)

Not much else needs to be said here. TCU and USC need wins against Kansas State and Utah, respectively, to make it into the 4-team bracket.

A 12-1 TCU makes everything murkier. Some might say they should be a lock along with UGA and Michigan. They’ll argue a 1-loss team should always be in over a two-ormore loss team, even if the latter is a conference champion.

But how will the committee judge a Horned Frogs team whose best win (a 38-28 victory against Kansas State in October) would essentially be negated with a loss this Saturday?

An undefeated regular season is impressive, but a quick glance at TCU’s schedule shows a team with a lot of close wins against average teams.

There’s also this: does anyone se-

riously think TCU would beat Ohio State or Alabama in a head-to-head matchup? A loss by the Horned Frogs this weekend would free the committee from being obligated to pick a team that probably won’t be competitive in the playoffs.

They’ll Need Help Ohio State (11-1)

This one’s fairly simple. If either of the above teams lose, no. 5 Ohio State is in. The Buckeyes’ 44-31 win over Penn State in Happy Valley on Oct. 29 is better than any TCU or USC victory, and a loss to Michigan, one of college football’s most dominant teams, shouldn’t dissuade the committee from picking OSU against two teams they’d clearly beat in a head-tohead matchup.

It’s not their fault the Big Ten has divisions, which has Michigan facing Purdue in the conference title game instead of a Buckeye team with the second-best conference record.

Remember: a 12-0 Georgia team got embarrassed by Alabama last year in a similar fashion to Ohio State last weekend. That team not only got into the playoffs, but won the whole damn thing. Why shouldn’t Ohio State get the same chance if things work themselves out that way?

Star junior quarterback Brett Gabbert to transfer from Miami

JACK SCHMELZINGER SPORTS EDITOR

Last Wednesday, Nov. 23, star junior Miami quarterback Brett Gabbert revealed that he would be entering the transfer portal in an announcement posted to Twitter.

“To my teammates, it’s been an honor to step into the arena with you,” Gabbert wrote in the tweet. “Our bonds will last a lifetime. To my coaches, thank you for believing in me when not many did. Thank you for trusting me to lead the team as a true freshman. And most importantly, thank you for coaching me into the player and person I am today.”

Gabbert, who missed all but four of Miami’s games this season due to injury, amassed 6,259 passing yards in 30 career games with the RedHawks, enough to place him sixth all-time among Miami quarterbacks. His total of 45 career touchdowns is also sixth all-time for Miami. He only threw 14 interceptions in his RedHawk career.

Gabberts Miami career

In 2019, as a true freshman, Gabbert started all 14 of Miami’s games and led the RedHawks to their first Mid-American Conference (MAC) championship since 2010, beating Central Michigan 26-21 in the big game. He was named MAC Freshman of the Year after the season.

He played in two games during the COVID-shortened 2021 season and finished with 384 passing yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions.

In 2021, he had his best statistical season so far. In ten games, Gabbert amassed 2648 passing yards and 26 touchdown passes to only six interceptions. In a 35-33 loss to Ohio University, he threw for 492 yards, which is third in school history for a single game, and five touchdowns.

Miami narrowly missed the MAC Championship game after a 48-47 overtime loss to Kent State to finish the season. If Gabbert’s two-point conversion pass in that overtime had been completed, Miami would have moved on to the MAC Championship. Less than a month later, he delivered eighth-year Head Coach Chuck Martin his first bowl victory, beating North Texas 27-14 in the

inaugural Frisco Football Classic.

In 2022, Gabbert played in four games for Miami. He was 20/28 with 166 yards against No. 20 Kentucky in the first game of the year, before getting injured in the final minutes. He returned more than one month later and played three more games before being injured on the last play of the game in a 37-21 loss to Ohio. In all, he amassed 816 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions.

What’s next?

Gabbert will be able to officially add his name to the transfer portal on Dec. 5, when the transfer window opens. Then, he can choose his new school whenever he wants. It’s likely he will have his new team picked out before spring practices start, which is usually late February or early March.

For Miami, this means that redshirt first-year Aveon Smith will likely be the man under center for the foreseeable future.

Smith, who led Miami to a win over Northwestern earlier this year, has had an up and down season in his first extended game action since his senior year of high school, over two years ago. He finished the regular season 93/192 passing with 1137 yards, nine touchdowns and five interceptions. He also contributed 556 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns.

He will have a chance to get RedHawk fans excited for the future when Miami plays Alabama-Birmingham in the Bahamas Bowl on Dec. 16 at 11:30 a.m.

Gabbert is expected to attract interest from multiple power five programs. He already has parts of four seasons under his belt as a starter. His brother Blaine, who played at Missouri before being drafted to the NFL in the first round in 2011, is currently a backup quarterback for Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Early buzz on social media indicates that Missouri, Kentucky and Iowa could be teams to watch in the Brett Gabbert sweepstakes.

Alabama (10-2) Yeah I know. No one wants to see Alabama in this thing with two losses. But the Crimson Tide are 6th in this week’s rankings, and they’ll probably have as good a shot as any to sneak in if USC loses and TCU gets blown out.

Alabama still ranks in the top four of ESPN’s SP+ and FPI ratings, which are both designed to judge a team’s performance and predict future contests regardless of single-game results.

Some might say Tennessee’s win over the Crimson Tide in October takes Bama out of the running. But the season-ending leg injury to Vols Quarterback Hendon Hooker is a factor the committee took into consideration when ranking Tennessee behind Alabama.

It might not be fair to “punish” the Horned Frogs for playing an extra game and “reward” Bama for staying home. But the committee’s job isn’t to be fair, it’s to pick the four best teams. If TCU stumbles in a major way this Saturday, they wouldn’t be doing their due diligence if they didn’t put all possible teams on the table.

Clemson (10-2)

If a two loss non-conference champ like Alabama doesn’t strike your fancy, how about a potential two

loss conference champ? Clemson’s resume includes a road victory over no. 13 Florida State as well as a win against no. 25 NC State.

Here’s the path for Clemson: a win against no. 23 North Carolina, a USC loss and a TCU collapse. The teams in the playoff would be Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State and… a battle between the Tigers, TCU and Alabama.

Again, depending on TCU’s result this weekend, what separates a 12-1 Horned Frogs from an 11-2 Clemson, especially with an ACC Title for the latter?

It all comes back to this: what has TCU done to earn them the benefit of the doubt? They’ve shown some heart with come-from-behind wins, but there have been way too many close victories in an average Big 12.

Of course, this could all end with the playoff we all expect. But what makes college football great is the chaos. If you’re a fan, why not root for the unpredictable outcomes?

I’ll say this: as a college football fan (and an OSU fan hoping for his team to get another shot at Michigan), I’ll be on the edge of my seat come Saturday.

@LukasTheDream nelso156@miamioh.edu

RedHawks to play Alabama-Birmingham in Bahamas Bowl

Then, after two fourth quarter Miami punts, it really looked like Ball State was headed to the Bahamas. But Miami’s defense held strong. Finally, on Miami’s third drive of the final quarter, the offense got going.

After four complete passes and a pass interference penalty on that drive, Miami was on Ball State’s 18-yard line. The pocket broke down on the drive’s final play and Smith rolled right and kept running. He juked a Cardinal defender and then turned on the jets, all the way to the end zone. 17-12 Ball State.

After one first down, Ball State got to fourth and one on their next drive. They needed one yard to effectively seal the game. Once again, somehow, Miami’s defense came up clutch.

Smith got the ball back with 3:05 remaining. A little more than a minute later, he found redshirt-junior receiver Miles Marshall streaking down the right sideline. Falling into the end zone, Marshall made the biggest and most beautiful catch of Miami’s season to put the RedHawks ahead 18-17. It was number two on SportsCenter’s top 10 plays the next day.

Miami didn’t convert the ensuing two point attempt, but it didn’t matter. The RedHawk defense stood strong one more time to seal the win.

The Bahamas Bowl

The Bahamas Bowl is one of the most desirable bowl destinations in college football. In past years, participating teams have stayed

at the luxurious Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island, which is technically a part of Nassau, Bahamas.

The game is played at Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium in Nassau.

The Bahamas Bowl matchup

Miami will be playing UAB in the Bahamas Bowl. UAB finished tied for fourth in Conference USA this year. The Blazers boast the nation’s leading rusher, DeWayne McBride, who has gained 1713 yards this season despite missing one of UAB’s games. McBride also finished second in Division I with 19 rushing touchdowns. The RedHawks will have their hands full containing Mcbride, who has averaged 7.4 yards per carry this season.

Smith will be looking to solidify his spot as Miami’s starting quarterback of the future. Star junior quarterback Brett Gabbert, who missed all but four games this season due to injury, announced he was transferring from Miami earlier this week.

Last year, Miami won the inaugural Frisco Football Classic 27-14 against North Texas. The RedHawks are looking for their second bowl win under eighth-year head coach Chuck Martin.

The Bahamas Bowl will be the first bowl game played out of 43 on college football’s schedule in 2022.

The game kicks off at 11:30 a.m. EST on Friday, December 16. @jackschmelznger schmelj2@miamioh.edu

FIRST -YEAR FORWARD BLAKE MESENBURG MAKES A MOVE FOR TEH NET AGAINST DENVER EARLIER THIS SEASON PHOTO BY CAROLINE BARTOSZEK

CONTINUED FROM FRONT

Miami field hockey has ridden international recruiting and strong culture to MAC dominance

KETHAN BABU THE MIAMI STUDENT

The Code of Love and Honor reminds every Miami University student to welcome and accept a diversity of people, ideas and experiences.

Miami field hockey embodies these values. The team has had very successful seasons in recent years: it has been a consistent champion of the Mid-American Conference (MAC), and the team has appeared in the NCAA Division I Championship for four straight years. The team consists of players not just from across the nation, but across the world.

The Miami field hockey team is led by Head Coach Iñako Puzo. With a conference record of 58-15 in his time at Miami, Puzo has been the most successful field hockey coach in Miami’s history. His success has earned him an overall record of 130-100, five MAC Coach of the Year awards, and five MAC tournament championship victories. Puzo, who grew up in Spain, was previously an assistant coach for the University of Virginia and Ohio State University before arriving at Miami.

Puzo says field hockey is played across the world, and as a coach, he needs to expand his vision to find the best players to fit the team’s culture. According to Puzo, recruiting international players to Miami isn’t as hard as you might think.

“You sell the Miami academics, the Love and Honor, the idea of the Miami diploma, the commitment of the professors, the safe place of Oxford, and the feeling of community at Miami,” Puzo said. “There are a lot of selling points for Miami University.”

Many international players find the recruitment process long and arduous. Senior Madison Workman from Ontario, Canada, started her recruitment process during her sophomore year of high school.

“I reached out to the coaches, expressed our interest in their program and school, sent out our game times, our positions, our graduation dates, and hoped the coach would come out and watch me play,” Workman said.

“After that, we communicate back and forth until a decision is made.”

According to Workman, the more you put yourself out there, the better chance you have of being recruited. After all the work is done, it becomes a waiting game. Madison didn’t commit to Miami until March of her senior year.

“The recruiting process is long,” Madison said, “but once it was over, I realized I made the right choice with Miami.”

Likewise, sophomore Berta Mata from Matadepera, Catalonia, described the recruitment process as lengthy and tiring.

“I sent out many emails and did a lot of talking with coaches,” Mata said. “One of my coaches put me in contact with Coach Puzo, and he came to Spain to meet with me. That’s when I realized that I wanted to go to Miami.”

Miami has players from all over the world on its roster. Argentina, Canada, Catalonia, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain are all represented in the RedHawk locker room. Field hockey differs from country to country, which affects each player’s play style.

“Field hockey in the U.S. is much more physical than in Spain,” Mata said. “Field hockey in Spain emphasizes the technical skills of the sport. In the U.S., physical conditioning and lifting are more important.”

Compared to other countries, field hockey is quite popular in the U.S. In Canada, for example, field hockey isn’t huge.

“Ice hockey is obviously our biggest sport,” Workman said. “I didn’t even know field hockey was a sport until high school. People in the U.S. start playing earlier, but I didn’t start playing until I got to high school.”

Because the players have such diverse backgrounds, one would expect the team to not get along. It would be difficult for players to connect. However, this has not been the case for the field hockey team.

“Getting along with everyone is lovely,” Workman said. “One word I would use to describe this team

is family. At first, I was homesick. I missed home so much, and I struggled for the first few months. But once I started getting closer to everyone, it was like a second family.”

Coach Puzo doesn’t find it difficult to get the players to work together.

“The value of this team is culture,” Puzo said. “This is Miami Field Hockey, and it is a welcoming culture. If you bring the best of yourself here, we’ll respect who you are.”

International players take time to adjust to life at Miami and in the U.S.

“I like the people in the U.S.,” Mata reflects. “Everyone is nice, even strangers. When I had a torn ACL, anytime I was walking in airports and in public, everybody would ask how I was doing and what happened. In Spain, no one would really do that.”

Last year, the field hockey team made history and progressed to the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA championship, where they lost in heartbreaking fashion 2-3 to the University of Michigan. The RedHawks are hoping to build on this momentum and continue their success.

“I think we can achieve more than we did last year,” McHale said “But it’s tough to look towards the future. It’s one step at a time. Right now, our priority is to win the regular season.”

On Nov. 4, Miami hosted the 2022 MAC tournament. The RedHawks won the tournament title for the fifth straight season.

“We have created a very competitive team, and we can challenge every team in the nation,” Puzo said. “The goal of the field hockey team is to close the gap between the top teams in the nation. The players are ambitious.”

This year, the RedHawks lost again in the sweet sixteen of the NCAA tournament, this time to No. 2 Northwestern in a shootout.

The good news for Miami fans: Puzo’s international pipeline remains strong.

@thekethan04 babukc2@miamioh.edu

football standings

EAST Ohio BGSU

Buffalo Miami Kent State Akron

WEST Toledo Ball St. Easter Mich. Western Mich. Central Mich. Northern Ill

Conference 7-1 5-3 4-3 4-4 4-4 1-6 Conference 5-3 5-3 4-4 3-5 3-5 2-6

Overall 9-3 6-6 5-6 6-6 5-7 2-9

Overall 7-5 8-4 5-7 5-7 4-8 3-9

Miami football (6-6, 4-4 MAC) stats leaders

Passing Aveon Smith (93/192 (48.4%), 1137 yards, 9 touchdowns, 5 interceptions)

Brett Gabbert (74/115 (64.4%), 816 yards, 4 touchdowns)

Rushing Aveon Smith (101 rushes, 630 yards, 6 touchdowns)

Keyon Mozee (106 rushes, 477 yards, 2 touchdowns)

Tyre Shelton (77 rushes, 290 yards, 3 touchdowns)

Kevin Davis (51 rushes, 276 yards, 1 touchdowns)

Receiving Mac Hippenhammer (50 receptions, 726 yards, 8 touchdowns)

Miles Marshall (23 receptions, 377 yards, 2 touchdown)

Jack Coldiron (23 receptions, 271 yards, 1 touchdown)

Defense Interceptions: Yahsyn McKee(2), Jacquez Warren (2), John Saunders Jr. (2), four tied with one

Sacks: Corey Suttle (6), Brian Ugwu (5) Matt Salopek (3.5), Caiden Woullard (3)

Tackles for loss: Ugwu (10.5), Salopeck (7.5), McWood (6), Michael Dowell (5)

Tackles: McWood (121), Salopek (109), Dowell (90), Warren (57), Saunders (52)

Miami hockey (5-9-2, 1-6-1 NCHC) stats leaders Player

Miami women’s basketball (2-2, 0-0 MAC) stats leaders

Player (points per game (ppg), rebounds per game (rpg), assists per game (apg) field percentage (fg%), 3-point percentage (3p%))

Maddi Cluse (18.5 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 2.8 apg, 49.4 fg%, 33.3 3p%)

Ivy Wolf (17.7 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 4.3 apg, 35.4 fg%, 32.6 3p%)

Sierra Morrow (7.8 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 0.7 apg, 48.3 fg%, 28.6 3p%)

Amani Freeman (7.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 1.2 apg, 60.0fg%, 0.0 3p%)

Clare Chambers (5.0 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 1.3 apg, 29.0 fg%, 34.8 3p%)

Miami men’s basketball (3-4, 0-0 MAC) stats leaders

Player (points per game (ppg), rebounds per game (rpg), assists per game (apg) field percentage (fg%), 3-point percentage (3p%))

Mekhi Lairy (16.3 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 4.1 apg, 40.9 fg%, 30.0 3p%, 93.9 ft%)

Morgan Safford (15.7 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 2.6 apg, 53.3 fg%, 40.0 3p%)

Anderson Mirambeaux (13.4 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 2.1 apg, 44.0 fg%, 23.1 3p%)

Julian Lewis (12.2 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 3.2 apg, 48.8 fg%, 36.8 3p%)

Billy Smith (11.3 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 1.1 apg, 47.4 fg%, 45.5 3p%)

Matt Salopek leads Miami defense to bowl Game

entire career, so I didn’t really know anything about [playing linebacker],” he said. “There was a lot of learning curves, but eventually towards the end of the season I kind of got the hang of it.

Salopek learned to play safety in high school at Archbishop Hoban. His coach, Tim Tyrrell, wanted Salopek to play the position so he could be the leader of the offense. Tyrrell said Salopek had an incredible football IQ, even at an early age.

“When it was all said and done, he’s probably the smartest player we’ve had,” Tyrrell said.

coaching strategy.

“My coaching philosophy is… to prepare high school kids for the next level,” he said. “And just to prepare them for life.”

Anyone can agree that Salopek’s switch to linebacker paid off. Salopek led the RedHawk defense with 51 solo tackles and finished second with 109 total tackles. He also finished sixth in the MAC in total tackles last year before finishing in fifth this season.

Being one of the oldest and most experienced players for Miami this year naturally pushed Salopek into a leadership role. He said that he and fellow linebacker Ryan McWood split leadership duties.

because it brings people together in unique ways.

“You got people that come from all different backgrounds and places around the country,” he said. “You’re all brought into a locker room and you learn how… to bond with each other and play with each other.

Salopek is able to lead by example off the field as well. He is a finance major at Miami, and he earned Academic All-MAC honors last season. He said he takes pride in excelling in class.

“I love being in the business school,” Salopek said. “You meet a lot of good people in there, and [you] build a lot of good connections.

He led Archbishop

High School in Akron, Ohio, to four consecutive state championships. He was a part of the 2019 Miami RedHawks team that won its first Mid-American Conference (MAC) championship in nine years. And now he’s led Miami back to another bowl game.

It’s

The strange thing is, Salopek didn’t come to Miami to play linebacker. Salopek made the jump from safety to linebacker last season due to injuries. He said the switch to a brand new position wasn’t easy.

“I’ve been playing safety for my

Tyrrell knows what he’s talking about. In his 10 years at Archbishop Hoban, his team has made it to the state championship six times and won five. His seventh battle for the state championship is this Thursday.

Salopek said Tyrrell had a huge impact on his life, both on and off the field.

“He was a great life lesson guy,” he said. “He’s the one who… gave me my first chance to actually play in a high school game.”

Tyrrell said that’s just a part of his

“We love to lead by example,” he said. “I’m more of the vocal leader… and McWood’s more of the… example guy. We love to talk and have fun with the guys.”

This is far from a new role for Salopek. Tyrell said Salopek became captain of his high school team in his junior year.

“He was a confident young player,” he said. “He had the leadership quality… even at a young age.”

Connecting and leading players is not simply good team football for Salopek. He said he loves football

Salopek’s goal for football is clear. He said he doesn’t plan to stop playing anytime soon.

“[The goal is to] one day to be able to make it to the next level,” he said.

Salopek will lead Miami against University of Alabama-Birmingham in the Bahamas Bowl on Friday, December 16, at 11:30 a.m. EST.

EDWARD ORZECH, STAFF WRITER

Sophomore linebacker Matthew Salopek has spent his whole life playing football. Since the first time he put on a helmet as a first grader, Salopek has won.

Hoban

Salopek shined in Miami’s comeback win over Ball State. He led the defense in tackles.

become a frequent occurrence to hear the announcer say, “tackle made by 15, Matthew Salopek,” at Yager Stadium and across the rest of the venues of the MAC.

MATT SALOPEK LED MIAMI IN 2022 WITH 51 SOLO TACKLES

MIAMI FIELD HOCKEY HAS WON FIVE STRAIGHT MAC TOURNAMENT AND REGULAR SEASON TITLES PHOTO BY JAKE RUFFER

MAGGIE PEÑA CO-ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

This semester has sucked. Actually, the past couple years have sucked.

Like, a lot.

Of course, there have been good times, even great times. Some of the best times of my life have happened in the past year, and I wouldn’t change any of the bad things if it meant taking away the beautiful things. But still, COVID-19 and general brain chemical imbalances (mental illness) have made daily life harder and harder to get through.

At some points I felt like I needed my own guardian angel.

As someone who has always been a straight-A honors student, my classes this semester have beat me up; it’s like I’ve had a bulldozer running over everything I know to be true about myself in my academics.

I’ve also been dealing with the impending doom that is finding a fulfilling job, finding a place to live and settling into a new school-less life post-graduation.

In essence, my life feels like it’s falling apart every day.

So when I went home for Thanksgiving break, I wanted to soak in every single minute of free time I had. I needed a mental break from everything going on in my life, and I knew being home with family would be just the thing to take my mind off of everything.

Cooking with my mom, eating delicious, homemade Thanksgiving food, playing with my nieces and nephews and celebrating my boyfriend’s mom’s birthday overwhelmed me with joy and satisfied my need for a break.

But it took an old, obscure movie to remind me of the happiness I can find in life.

Well, it’s not obscure; it’s regarded as one of the best movies of all time. But I suspect many people of my generation haven’t come to appreciate the beauty of Frank Capra’s 1946 Christmas film, “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

The film, which is based on the short story “The Greatest Gift,” by Philip Van Doren Stern (which itself is loosely based on Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”), tells the story

of George Bailey and his life in World War II America.

And yes, I am going to spoil the movie. If you haven’t seen it at this point, that’s embarrassing.

Several events out of George’s control lead him to think he’s a failure, and he becomes suicidal. Right before he can jump off a bridge into frigid water, his guardian angel saves him (albeit in a, shall we say, unconventional way. He is still trying to earn his wings, after all). George wishes he had never been born, and his savior, Clarence, takes him through what his life would be like if that wish was granted.

A sleazy banker takes over the town, which means debauchery in the streets. George isn’t there to stop the local pharmacist from poisoning a prescription, so the pharmacist goes to jail. Without George there to save him, his younger brother Harry Bailey dies in a sledding accident. Without Harry in the war, a Kamikaze airplane takes out a U.S. transport with soldiers in it.

So yeah. George’s life IS important.

Applied to the real world, the message strikes even harder: Everyone’s life is important.

That message was enough to easily make this one of my favorite movies ever. It helped me remember that even if things suck right now, and even if I feel like I’m falling apart, there’s a reason I’m here right now. I may not know that reason yet, and I may never know that reason, but I know that I have touched more lives than I can count and the world would be worse off without me.

It sounds cheesy, but when life feels impossible, even the smallest things can change your attitude. For me, it was being reminded by Jimmy Stewart that there are people out there who would miss me if I was gone.

And Clarence’s message in the final shots of the film hits home too, especially for someone who has been graced with the best friends in college.

“No man is a failure who has friends.”

penaml@miamioh.edu

REECE HOLLOWELL ASST. ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

In a way, Pokémon is a victim of its own success.

Despite being the biggest media franchise in the world, or perhaps because of that, every new Pokémon game invites significant criticism. Whether it’s the decrease in available creatures in “Pokémon Sword” and “Shield” or the low graphical fidelity of “Pokémon Legends: Arceus,” there’s always something to complain about.

Many of these issues are ones that likely could have been remedied with more development time, but given the multimedia nature of the brand, the games are on a strict deadline, relegating polish to an afterthought.

As a brand, Pokémon is a juggernaut; as a game series, it needs a shakeup.

“Pokémon Scarlet” and “Violet,” the introduction to the ninth generation of the series, represent the first steps toward that shakeup, building off the experiments of the previous few entries. The games are, for the first time, fully open-world experiences, modernizing much of the gameplay and structure while keeping what makes Pokémon special.

Unfortunately, they’re also an absolute technical nightmare.

Even before the games’ official release, videos spread online of various bugs, glitches and performance problems. Their frequency hasn’t been blown out of proportion, either: nearly every minute playing the game is spent looking at some visual disturbance.

For many this is understandably a major turn-off. Despite being the standard asking price, $60 is still a lot to pay, and consumers aren’t at fault for balking at games that perform as poorly as “Scarlet” and “Violet.”

It’s a shame they had to ship like this, especially because, under the hood, these are some of the best Pokémon games in years.

To be clear, they are still definitely Pokémon games. As much as the experience has been tweaked, they still hold true to many of the series’ long-held conventions — choosing one of three starting Pokémon, competing with a hometown rival, battling through eight gyms en route to a champion, fending off an antagonistic collective.

Where “Scarlet” and “Violet” shine are in how these established beats are implemented, no longer tied to a linear progression but all available immediately, with no set order in how to approach them.

The open world is the big selling point, and within an hour of playing it feels so natural that it’s hard to believe the games haven’t been this way the whole time.

There are clear influences taken from other similar games, most notably “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” and the “Yakuza” series, but “Scarlet” and “Violet” don’t just

indiscriminately steal from them. Rather, they pick and choose the most optimal pieces and work them into the Pokémon mold.

With the assistance of transportation provided by new legendary Pokémon Koraidon or Miraidon (dependent on which version is being played), it’s a blast to jet around the Paldea region, taking on its various challenges and hunting to build a completed Pokédex.

Paldea is host to 107 brand new Pokémon, many of which are welcome additions that add a ton of personality. There’s the three starters, Sprigatito, Fuecoco and Quaxly which all have worthwhile evolutions; the adorable Tandemaus and Maushold; the comically rotund Bellibolt; the hilariously massive hammer wielded by Tinkaton; and the samurai-inspired Kingambit, among others.

Previously mentioned legendary Pokémon Koraidon or Miraidon are also great, with their motorcycle-inspired designs that lean either prehistoric or futuristic.

The game also includes new renditions of old favorites, changing their designs and typing around to reflect the unique qualities of Paldea. This helps add to a sense of discovery when traveling the region while providing new opportunities for team-building and battle strategies.

Pokémon has always been a simpler role-playing game experience in its fighting, and this is one area “Scarlet” and “Violet” leave essentially untouched. This isn’t necessarily a problem as the battles are still fun, especially against the tougher oppo-

nents, but it would have been nice to see at least a few new mechanics introduced.

One new feature is Terastallization, which can be used once per battle by a single Pokémon, significantly boosting damage done by attacks of its “Tera Type,” adding some new strategy for when and how to best utilize it.

Terastallizing is especially useful in completing the three main objectives of “Scarlet” and “Violet,” each of which have their own unique battle formats and plot significance.

Story has always been present in Pokémon games, but usually adds little to their memorability. That’s not the case here, where the plot is surprisingly interesting, occasionally nuanced and full of endearing characters. It won’t go toe-to-toe with the best video game stories out there, but it works.

There are a lot of great things to say about “Scarlet” and “Violet,” but ultimately it all has to be couched in a reminder of the game’s technical problems.

While most of these issues will likely be fixed in future patches, it’s disappointing the games launched with them. That said, the games are good enough that it mostly overcomes them, as the core experience provided is still a quality one.

Here’s hoping the next games are given the time they need to shine, both inside and out.

Rating: 7/10 @HollowCentral hollowrr@miamioh.edu

MACY ASST. CAMPUS & COMMUNITY EDITOR

Despite having one of the most memorable film careers in Hollywood and 14 Academy Award nominations, Steven Spielberg has won just three Oscars, with only one of them being for Best Director. With his latest film “The Fabelmans,” the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences would have to be — put bluntly — stupid not to give him at least one more win.

“The Fabelmans” is incredible, but that’s not surprising for a Spielberg film. He directed some of the best films of the last 50 years: “Jaws,”

“Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” “Jurassic Park,” “Schindler’s List,” “Saving Private Ryan” and “Catch Me If You Can,” just to name a few.

However, these great films will need to make room for “The Fabelmans” because it’s easily a top-five Spielberg movie.

Spielberg’s urge to make this film came during the COVID-19 pandemic as some of his children were coming to stay with him, and he had time off from directing to think about his prolific career.

“I started thinking, what’s the one story I haven’t told that I’d be really mad at myself if I don’t?” Spielberg said in an interview with the New

York Times.

Spielberg co-wrote the film with frequent collaborator Tony Kushner, making this one of only three films he has written.

Spielberg has frequently used the idea of the family as a core part of his films, but he never uses it as personally as he does in “The Fabelmans.” The film, inspired by Spielberg’s own life, depicts the childhood of the fictional Sammy Fabelman as he grows up in a Jewish household, in the ’50s and ’60s, trying to make films amid his family’s shifting dynamics.

Gabriel LaBelle stars as Sammy, with Mateo Zoryan portraying a younger version of the character. I usually hate child actors, but LaBelle

does a fantastic job here.

The film starts right as Sammy falls in love with the cinema. His parents take him to see his first movie, Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Greatest Show on Earth.” Sammy becomes enamored with the picture and asks for a model train set for Hanukkah to recreate the movie’s train crash.

His mother lets him use his father’s camera to record the train crash, and Sammy falls in love with making movies. Throughout the first half of “The Fabelmans,” Sammy continues to make films, inspired by what he watches at the theaters.

However, Sammy is divided by his two parents. Sammy’s mother Mitzi, played by Michelle Williams, is a musician, and she pushes Sammy to pursue his filmmaking.

On the other hand, Sammy’s father Burt, played by Paul Dano, does not accept Sammy’s affinity for film as easily as Mitzi. Burt, a very technical man, refers to Sammy’s filmmaking as a hobby, never fully supporting the idea of Sammy growing up to become a director.

Both Williams and Dano do some of their best work in “The Fabelmans.” The rest of the film’s stellar supporting cast also does a great job, especially Seth Rogen playing Benny, a friend of the family. Benny brings charm to the family in ways that Mitzi and Burt are unable to, although he also creates tension.

My two favorite performances in this movie, though, each last for only one scene. The first is Judd Hirsch, who visits the Fabelman family after Mitzi’s mother dies. In his emotion-

al scene, Hirsch delivers a vigorous speech to Sammy about what it means to make art, inspiring Sammy when he’s not feeling passionate about making a film for his mom.

The other performance is played very straight and features an actor who wouldn’t easily be seen in the role.

David Lynch plays director John Ford in a scene at the end of the film, based on a real event that happened to Spielberg. The scene is one of the most hilarious moments in the film and gives another perspective on what it means to make art.

Frankly, I have been disappointed in Spielberg’s latest streak of films, although that’s partially because I have such high standards for him. He did OK with his attempt to make a musical with “West Side Story,” but I still felt it was lacking. It’s nice to see him make another hit with “The Fabelmans.”

The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival this year and won the People’s Choice Award. It had a limited release on Nov. 11 and a wider, but still fairly-limited release, on Nov. 24.

Even though “The Fabelmans” won’t be playing in as many theaters as films such as “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” this holiday season, do yourself a favor and travel a little bit further to see this most excellent film.

9/10

LUKE

‘Pokémon Scarlet’ and ‘Violet’ are great games hampered by bad tech

‘The

It may not always be a Wonderful Life, but ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ reminds us why it’s worth it

ASSISTANT ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR REECE HOLLOWELL LOVES POKÉMON. THE NEWEST TECH? NOT SO MUCH. PHOTO BY CHRIS STARKEY

LIFE MAY SUCK, BUT GEORGE BAILEY MAKES IT BETTER. PHOTO BY KATHY PEÑA

A Christmas Carol: Miami Edition

“But it was fun!”

“Yes, but you also jumped the fence after being asked to ‘Try the front door’ and you vomited all over the upstairs toilets.”

Cecil giggled at his debauchery. “Fine!” exclaimed the ghost angrily. “Time for you to see the ghost of Christmas present.”

The ghost snapped his fingers. Cecil was then transported before a figure that possessed the bald head of Greg Crawford, sitting on a giant pile of fruit.

“Behold, I am the ghost of a Christmas present…I mean Christmas present!”

Cecil chuckled, “Didn’t know Christmas presents died. LOL.”

“Alas, you are almost as funny as a Humor Editor. Let us travel to your nearest presents, excuse me, your near present and see what is beholds.”

“That girl will drown if you do not do something about it.”

“Eh, if she drowns from a sprinkler she deserves to die. What an idiot.”

The ghost let out a “hmph” and said, “Seems that there is nothing I can do to change you. Let us see what HE can do.”

Before Cecil could ask who, the ghost flicked his magical fruit and Cecil teleported to a graveyard.

A hooded figure towered over him. A deep black hood covered its visage, and the only thing visible was its skeleton hands.

A frightened Cecil asked the hooded figure, “Who are you?” Instead of replying, the figure pointed to something over Cecil’s shoulder.

The Miami Student Editorial Staff Christmas List

TEDDY JOHNSON HUMOR EDITOR

Editor-in-Chief: a new humor editor

Managing Editor: writers to learn where to put, commas

TEDDY JOHNSON HUMOR EDITOR

‘Twas the night before Christmas…

Cecil lies, quaintly snoring in his little residence hall. How he can sleep this soundly few can know. During his first semester at Miami, Cecil threw a ping-pong paddle through a window, urinated on toilet seats on purpose, hopped the fence at Brick, and much, much more.

It is safe to say that he did not embody the Christmas spirit and his soul was in mortal danger.

But lo and behold, the ghost of Christmas past appeared to him in the middle of the night proclaiming, “Cecil, I am the ghost of Christmas past!”

Cecil, alarmed by the ghost’s presence, exclaims, “BRO WHAT?!”

“I am the ghost of Christmas past. You have been a very bad young

man.”

Cecil snickers, “That’s kinky…”

“Enough! Follow me,” says the ghost as it motions towards a magical door that appeared in Cecil’s room.

Cecil followed the ghost through the door and ended up at Brick Street!

“What sorcery is this?” he thought to himself.

The scene at Brick seemed all too familiar to him. The Breland Country Night concert happened days ago… how could this be? Before Cecil knew it, he was seeing himself!

“What is this?” Cecil asked.

“You from a few days ago,” the ghost replied.

Cecil was then watching himself make out with a random girl in the corner of the bar. “What’s wrong with doing that? Tons of people makeout at Brick.”

“True, but no one wants to see that. Brick is hallowed ground. There is a reason Makeout Monday is a thing.”

The ghost flicked his magical fruit and they teleported to Hahne Hall.

“I don’t live here,” said Cecil with wide eyes.

“Yes, but remember that girl you were making out with at Brick?” said the ghost with a smirk.

“Shit.”

“Everyone knows that no one is looking for a boyfriend or girlfriend at the bar. However, this girl did not. Watch the events that unfold…”

The near present form of Cecil and the girl are watching a movie in her room.

Cecil says to her, “I gotta take a poops. Be back in 5.”

As he leaves the room, he lights up a ciggy cig right under the smoke detector, setting off all the sprinklers in Hahne Hall.

Present day Cecil erupted in laughter. “That has got to be one of my best pranks ever.”

The ghost’s face became stern.

He turned around and before him was Joe Biden clad in his spandex-cycling wear, repeatedly falling off his tricycle. Cecil tried to look away but could not!

“Why can’t I look away?!” exclaimed a horrified Cecil.

The hooded figure exhaled saying, “If you do not change your dastardly ways, you will spend eternity watching this scene on repeat.”

Cecil screamed through his tears, “OKAY, I WILL CHANGE!”

“Pinky promise?” said the bone chilling voice of the ghost of Christmas yet to come.

“I pinky promise!”

As the last syllable of the word came out of his mouth, Cecil was back in his bed staring at his ceiling.

“Phew, what a night,” he said.

From that night on, Cecil’s soul was saved and he did no more evil.

Merry Christmas everyone and remember to embody the Christmas spirit or else…

john1595@miamioh.edu

A Miami students’ Christmas list

PATRICK SULLIVAN HUMOR EDITOR

Dear Santa,

I am trying extra hard to get myself back on the Nice List and hope it is not too late. In order to do this, I thought I would save you some time. I took the liberty of writing what basically every Miami student wants for Christmas this year in one letter so you wouldn’t have to waste your time rereading the same thing 17,000 times. I present to you: The Miami students’ Christmas list.

1.

Classes to be pass/fail

We all remember a simpler time: seniors were sophomores, freshmen were children, masks covered our faces, classes were virtual, bars were

closed down, and kids were bored to death. Okay, so it wasn’t a simpler time, but it came with one nice amenity. All of our classes were made pass/ fail optional. This means there were students ending their freshman year with no GPA. We, as a student body, took that for granted and did not use it as effectively as we should have. So we want it back.

2. A Miami Merger

Every student that walks these halls has had to hear about some couple that fell in love on the Brick dance floor and put a ring on it. Everybody’s classmate’s friend’s cousin’s parents were a Miami Merger and, frankly, we’re tired hearing about it. Every pre-college tour acts as if the Miami Merger is a sure thing. Well, after years of looking for my merger, I

can confidently say that it is not. So now, on behalf of our student body, I am looking to Santa to bring us our Mergers!

3. Brick VIP Pass

“If I have to stand in this slow, sweaty line crowded by freshmen with fake ID’s one more time, I’m gonna lose it,” says every single person in the Brick line. And yet, every single weekend, they are back in the same unmoving line. Santa, we can only beg that you make Will Weisman’s heart grow three sizes and start handing out those coveted Brick VIP Passes.

4. A New Fake ID

Speaking of Brick, all of the under 21’s in our student body ask for a new fake ID. Do you understand that Brick’s cover is now $11.33!? That is

just about the price of a Trashcan! How am I expected to pay that cover, plus $50 worth of drinks? It’s outrageous. The average current fake ID says students are anywhere from 23 to 26. Frankly, a scrawny 18 year-old trying to pass off their 26 year old sister’s ID isn’t working anymore. We need updated ones now. Standing in that line of freshmen who haven’t gotten their fake ID order yet is humiliating and exasperating. Please, do us a solid on this one, Kringle.

5. For Chipotle to finally be stocked

The student body feels like this one isn’t too much to ask for. There is nothing worse than walking in there at 6 p.m. on a Sunday night after a day of studying hungover only to stand in line for 30 minutes. Because here’s

Campus & Community: a hardcover AP stylebook to bang their heads into Design Team: that writers would not ask for graphics three days before print Entertainment: for Ticketmaster to get its shit together so they can get Taylor

Swift tickets

Humor: more jokes and a new sense of humor

Sports: to be Ohio State Opinion: more people to have opinions because they need more consistent writers Food: for Bell Tower Dining Hall to reopen sooner rather than later :( Style: for Miami boys to stop wearing flip flops to class Video: the TikTok algorithm to put The Miami Student TikTok on your for you page Social: wants Elon Musk to un-buy twitter john1595@miamioh.edu

how it goes: You make it through the line that’s out the door, and finally it is your turn to order. You ask for brown rice. They’re out of it. You ask for chicken. They’re out of it. You ask for corn. They’re out of it. You ask for lettuce because surely they will still have lettuce. No, they’re out of it. You end up walking out of there with a bowl of beans, cheese, and sour cream. And to make matters worse, they are out of utensils. You are left to scoop it out and eat it like a Chimpanzee. Please, Santa, stock up our Chipotle.

Love, Patrick (on behalf of The Miami Student Body) sulli293@miamioh.edu

Holiday Headline Dump

Reindeers Everywhere Nervous About Elon Musk’s New Eco Friendly Self-Driving Sleigh Is Jeff Bezos Evil Santa Claus? Here Are All of Their Similarities

New Generation Trying to Send Santa Claus a DM on Instagram Instead of a Letter

Santa

The Kringles Filing for Divorce; Mrs. Claus Caught Making Candy Canes With Head Elf Bernard

Men in Santa Suits, Ringing a Salvation Army Bell Arrested for Identity Theft at a Local Mall

Boy Tries to Divorce His Parents; Wants Two Christmases This Year

TMS Humor Editors Gone Missing After Too Many Girls Wished for a Cute, Funny Boyfriend for Christmas

Reports Show Santa Filed for Unemployment for Only Working One Day a Year

Be A Dentist Mugged by the Toymaker Elf Guild

Keebler Elf Sues North Pole Elf for Not Including Fudge Stripes in the Five Main Food Groups

Rudolph to Lead New Anti-Bullying Campaign in the North Pole

Breaking News: Gregory Crawford Spotted on the Naughty List

Record Number of Families Left on Not Speaking Terms After This Thanksgiving’s Political Discussions

Present Shortage in the North Pole Due to Elves Unionizing

With The Kringles’ Losing Money Due to Santa’s Reindeer Gambling Addiction, Mrs. Claus Makes an Onlyfans

Miami University Hits New Low With Only 4% of the Student Population Being On the Nice List

GRAPHIC BY MACEY CHAMBERLIN

AMES RADWAN FOOD EDITOR

You might not be used to seeing the word “chicken” in a vegetarian recipe.

However, the term “chicken-fried” just means that the noun/food (in this case, maitake or “hen-of-thewood” mushrooms) is breaded and fried like you would fried chicken. So don’t worry — I haven’t regressed on my twelve years of vegetarianism.

If you didn’t know what chicken-fried meant, don’t worry — I didn’t either, until I was recommended this recipe by none other than the creator herself, Carla Hall.

Hall — a famous, kooky and totally awesome celebrity chef known for her captivating cookbooks, wild style and appearances on food TV shows such as “Top Chef” and “The Chew” — visited Miami University on Nov. 14. She captivated an audience at Hall Auditorium with her hilarious

and shockingly relatable tales of her childhood and rise to fame, but even better, I got the opportunity to chat with her before the talk.

I explained to her the concept of the Weekly Veg and asked if she had any recipes to recommend.

When the first excited suggestion out of her mouth had “mushrooms” in the title, I was instantly hooked.

Those of you who know me, or who are avid readers of the Veg, are well aware of my love for mushrooms. If a menu item has mushrooms in it, I will likely order it just for them. The pasta bar at Maplestreet is used to my order of “as many mushrooms as you are allowed to give me, please.” Out of the 10 Weekly Veg articles published since its beginning in late Feb., two have contained mushrooms, and I have plans for more. (Consider yourself teased, readers!)

Some people are mushroom-haters, and that’s okay. But I’m proud to say that this recipe, a Carla Hall original in collaboration with plant-based brand Califia, turned at least a few of the more anti-fungi The Miami Student staff members into, at the very least, tolerators of the ‘shroom.

Though it sounds complicated, with more ingredients than most other previous recipes covered in the Veg, it’s really mostly spices and flours — onion and garlic powders, cayenne, paprika, all-purpose flour

and rice flour. You’ll also need some basics like milk (the recipe recommends plant-based, but I used cow’s milk), oil, salt and pepper, and pepper gravy is a must, though I just got the powdered stuff from Kroger and that worked just fine.

And, of course, the star of the show — maitake mushrooms, otherwise known as “hen-of-the-woods,” otherwise known as “impossible to find in Oxford.”

Big grocery chains like Kroger and Walmart simply do not sell them here. Though I found online that shiitake or portobello mushrooms can be substituted for a “similar” flavor, I wanted to stay true to the recipe — so I made the 35-minute drive into Fairfield to visit Jungle Jim’s International Market, where I easily found them sold in half-pound containers in the iconic mushroom section.

It was worth the drive.

As for the actual cooking, once you get the hang of it it’s pretty simple. It’s only a matter of setting up your dredging stations (aka the cornstarch, milk and flour you dip the mushrooms in, in that order, before frying) and frying station, then timing it right so you’re dredging and frying without taking your eye off of the stove or running out of dredged mushrooms.

After originally making it for our The Student’s Friendsgiving dinner, I actually ended up frying up some

more a week later and found it much easier the second time. (This time, I used portobellos from Kroger, and I have to say that the maitakes fit the flavor profile better — but the portobellos were still delicious!)

Speaking of Friendsgiving, I think it’s safe to say that this recipe was generally beloved by The Student’s staff — mushroom lovers and haters alike. Seven of us tried the mushrooms and rated them out of 10 points.

Jake Ruffer, The Student’s photo editor, loved the recipe, giving it a 10/10 rating.

“I ate three of them with frightening speed,” Ruffer said.

Even Luke Macy, assistant Campus & Community editor, who is also known to be an avid hater of mushrooms, rated the crunchy, slightly spicy maitake bites an 8/10 — the lowest rating of the night.

When asked about his decision to be the only ranking under 9/10, Macy simply said, “I don’t like mushrooms.”

But he ate all of his — and that speaks volumes of this recipe.

TMS Staff Average Rating: 9.4/10

Have a recipe you’d like to see on The Weekly Veg? Email it to me and I’ll be happy to test and rate it.

radwanat@miamioh.edu

Ohana Island Grill brings a taste of the islands to Oxford

the chicken.

Most of the restaurant’s plates come in regular or mini size. I ordered the regular, and for about $10, I got a lot of food. The box is still in my fridge with one or maybe two more lunches’ worth of food in it. If you’re not looking for a large meal, I’d suggest the mini size, which seems more appropriate for one meal, but I’m definitely not mad about my leftovers.

I also tried the BBQ chicken, which was surprisingly great. It doesn’t go overboard with the barbecue flavor, but still manages to satisfy with a savory taste. Like the chicken katsu, it was also really tender and juicy.

Finally, for dessert, I ordered some malasadas for the table. Malasadas are a type of Portuguese doughnut — balls of fried dough that are then rolled in sugar.

seafood, but my friends said it was quite good. The rice had the perfect amount of stickiness, and because I substituted the macaroni salad for another side of rice, I had plenty to eat alongside my chicken.

Though I probably wouldn’t recommend this restaurant to any vegans or vegetarians, as they seem to have very limited options in that area, anyone else should definitely check it out. If you’re unfamiliar with the cuisine, the staff seemed happy to explain what each dish entails.

With a slew of restaurants in Ox-

ford, Ohana Island Grill brings a new flavor profile to the town, one that I hope sticks around.

For me, some of the food at Ohana Island Grill brings a lot of nostalgia. For you, maybe it’ll bring the opportunity to try something new and different, an opportunity I’d suggest taking. Maybe you’ll even find a new favorite spot in Oxford.

Rating: 8.5/10

whitehan@miamioh.edu

LEXI WHITEHEAD SENIOR CAMPUS & COMMUNITY EDITOR

On Sunday night, as I was checking all the emails I refused to look at over Thanksgiving break, I noticed an interesting message from Oxford To You.

The email was promoting a new restaurant in Oxford, called Ohana Island Grill. I’ve never clicked on an email from Oxford To You so quickly.

Ohana Island Grill is a restaurant that recently opened in Oxford and specializes in Hawaiian barbecue. In 7th and 8th grade I actually lived in Hawaii, and when I saw some of my

favorite foods from my time there on the menu, I knew I had to try it.

With three of my friends, I made my way to the new restaurant at 30 West Walnut Street. I ordered the chicken katsu, a Japanese-style fried chicken cutlet that I haven’t stopped thinking about since I moved back to Ohio. When I lived in Hawaii, potlucks were essential for every event and chicken katsu was essential at every potluck.

Ohana’s chicken katsu, which was served with a sweet sauce, was everything I had hoped for. It was perfectly crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. The sauce added a nice, sweet contrast that complemented

The malasadas were light and airy, and they’re perfect for anyone with a sweet tooth. Personally, I don’t have as much of a sweet tooth as I used to, but they were still really good.

Obviously, I couldn’t eat their whole menu, but there are a breadth of options past what I ordered. Ohana Island Grill has a variety of chicken dishes, seafood plates and beef and pork options, including Kalua pork. They also serve burgers, salads and saimin, a noodle soup.

Most of their dishes are served with a side of white rice and a side of macaroni salad. I passed on the macaroni salad because it contains

CHICKEN-FRIED MUSHROOMS WITH PEPPER GRAVY, A RECIPE BY CELEBRITY CHEF CARLA HALL, WERE ON THE MENU FOR THIS WEEK’S WEEKLY VEG. PHOTO BY AMES RADWAN

PHOTO

SENIOR CAMPUS & COMMUNITY EDITOR LEXI WHITEHEAD SHARED A BEVY OF DISHES WITH FRIENDS AT OHANA ISLAND GRILL.

PHOTO BY LEXI WHITEHEAD

Carla Hall cooks from the heart and styles from the soul

CONTINUED FROM FRONT

to work as an accountant in Tampa, Florida after graduation, she quit two years later.

Hall said she hated her accounting job.

“Your major is really only to teach you how to think and learn,” Hall said. “Most of you all are not going to really do the thing you major in.”

She certainly did not, as she moved to France after quitting the accounting profession, armed with 10 words of French and a single telephone number of a contact in the modeling industry, at the age of 23.

Surprisingly, it was there, in France, that Hall recognized her roots in American comfort food.

Hall, along with a few other American models living in France, would often visit the house of a woman named Elaine for a taste of home through delicious brunches. After one day eating macaroni and cheese at Elaine’s, Hall was struck with the realization that she did not know how to make mac and cheese.

She tracked down an American bookstore, found some cookbooks and began to cook.

From there, she was on the fast track to a culinary career in America. After returning to the U.S., she ran her own lunch delivery service known as the Lunch Bunch before working her way to an executive chef position in Washington, D.C.

In 2008, Hall was selected for a slot on the competitive cooking show “Top Chef” and placed as a runner-up, sparking the start of her food fame. She then graced the world’s television screens again in the 2010-11 All-Stars season before landing “The Chew,” a culinary talk show that ran for seven seasons; since its cancellation in 2018, she has hosted, judged or appeared on many other shows, such as

“Halloween Baking Championship” and “Holiday Baking Championship,” “Worst Cooks in America” and even “Bojack Horseman.”

To say that Carla Hall lives life to the fullest is an understatement, and the world loves her for it — as do the students at Miami.

During her visit on Nov. 14, Hall spent the beginning of the afternoon at a student-run seminar, providing hilarious but relatable answers to queries such as how she adapted so well to her numerous careers, when fashion mattered most in her life and how she builds her famously statement outfits in the morning.

In true Carla Hall fashion, the celebrity chef respectively had a quip for each: “Who says I kept my cool?”, “In finding my style, I was really trying to find my authentic self,” and “The way I put together an outfit is very similar to the way I put together a dish. It’s about textures, flavors, a journey. It’s just the paints are different.”

She also focused on telling her life story, assuring students that to find her way in life, the only thing she did was “to be open and say yes.” This philosophy brought her many opportunities, from cookbooks to children’s books, “Top Chef” to “The Chew” and even to interviewing Michelle Obama. Her next dream is to do a one-woman live show combining cooking, storytelling and comedy, entitled “The Good, The Bad, The Me.”

Finally, she rapid-fired some of her favorite things to the crowd: R&B music, cumin and cinnamon, going with the flow during cooking instead of following a recipe, sour flavors such as lemons and, finally, when to use certain types of vanilla. (Madagascar Bourbon vanilla for sugar cookies, but Mexican vanilla in chocolate things, if you were curious.)

And her favorite recent project? A new “travelogue” show entitled “Carla

Hall: Made with Love,” which will air Feb. 1 on Dis covery+.

In the lecture later that evening, Carla again told the tale of her rise to fame from an unapologetically real point of view.

Unafraid to mention strug gles with rac ism, sexism and even menopause — the latter of which she made a specific point to bring up multiple times throughout the talk, trying to bring awareness to a topic so often glossed over in to day’s society — Hall made the audience laugh, gasp and even tear up at her hilarious, shocking and down-toearth stories.

She also changed into three separate pairs of glasses, matching the tone of her talk to her frames.

The lecturer’s overarching theme was to discover and embrace who you truly are.

“I would rather lose a job being exactly who I am than keep a job being somebody else,” she told the captive audience, later adding, “To want perfection means you don’t want real life.”

Hall also owned up to many mistakes, gaffes and “oops” moments she had throughout her storied career, such as the time she tripped and fell live on camera, taking the opportunity to literally roll with it and perform a fun roll on the ground before getting back up. She even took the time to act

out the moment, strutting across the stage in her yellow plaid Steve Madden platform boots. “If you own the moment,” she explained, “then life goes on.”

At the end of the lecture, she answered questions from the audience, such as what her favorite costume was from the Halloween Baking Championship (the skeleton), where her famous catchphrase “Hootie Hoo!” came from (a two-part call with her husband for when one of them got lost in public), what the last thing she read was (Jennette McCurdy’s “I’m Glad My Mom Died”), what she does to relax (meditate and listen to audiobooks) and easy recipes to make in a college dorm or for a first-time cook.

For that, Hall suggested a microwave souffle of an egg, boursin cheese and spices in a bowl. She also quipped that soups, especially blended ones, are very forgiving for first-time cooks

and recommended a sweet potato and tomato bisque.

The celebrity chef ended her night in Oxford with a meet-and-greet in McGuffey Hall, where her contagious enthusiasm lit up the room crowded with fans both lifelong and new.

Senior speech pathology and audiology major Grace McKee is one of those longtime fans and called Carla Hall “one of the most authentic speakers” she’d ever heard.

“Sometimes I wondered if her uniqueness and spunk would be carried forth in person, or if some of it was exacerbated on TV, but it was truly her,” McKee said. “You could tell she was unapologetically herself.”

It’s safe to say that Hall will always have a place at Miami’s table after her visit!

TMS Friendsgiving rankings

MAGGIE PEÑA CO-ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

We may be journalists here at The Miami Student, but damn, we can cook, too.

Well, some of us can, anyway. We held our annual newspaper Friendsgiving the Sunday before break, and it did not disappoint. Nearly every section was represented, and everyone brought delicious food. But in the spirit of journalism, I thought I’d investigate… Who brought the best dish?

Though I’m an Entertainment Editor, I have a soft spot for the food sction. So, without further ado, here is the Official Food Ranking of the 2022 The Miami Student (TMS) Friendsgiving.

#12 - Chicken and gravy

My dear Editor-in-Chief Cosette Gunter-Stratton, how I love you. Do not take this as an offense, but the chicken you brought was not my favorite. It was dry and took too much work to prepare (although you had some great carving skills for never having done it before). If you made it from scratch, I would be nicer because I personally hate cooking meat and would empathize — but since it was store-bought, I’m okay with being honest with you in saying it wasn’t my favorite meal of the night.

#11 - Pumpkin pie

One of our staff writers, Megan McConnell, made a delicious pumpkin pie (likely with the help of her boyfriend, our Photo Editor Jake Ruffer). The pie was good, I just don’t love sweet things and didn’t eat too much of it. So good job, Megan! Just not my cup of tea (or piece of pie).

#10 - Drinks

Luke Macy, you’ve done it again.

One of our assistant Campus & Community editors brought drinks to our Friendsgiving, and yes, I know it may be controversial to have this as high as I do, or to even have it on the list at all, but listen — he brought cranberry soda. I LOVE cranberry soda. So good job on reading your audience, Luke.

#9 - Jell-O

Now, don’t get me wrong: Jell-O is absolutely not a Thanksgiving food. But Jell-O is one of the best desserts ever, and even if it wasn’t completely

set and ate more like a soup, our design editor Macey Chamberlin pulled through with this unconventional red dish. Don’t let anyone tear you down about your Jell-O opinions, Macey. Not even Alice.

#8 - Veggie/meat/cheese trays

Technically, there was a separate meat/cheese tray and a veggie tray, but since I snacked on them together, I am going to rank them together. My roommate and fellow editor Lexi Whitehead prepared one, and a new writer, Taylor Stumbaugh, brought the other. Lexi didn’t have ranch for her veggies, so she opted for chip dip. She was worried about this. She should not have been — the flavors actually complemented the vegetables well. And Taylor’s salami and cheese provided the perfect balance to the healthy snacks.

#7 - Chicken-fried mushrooms

Our talented food editor, Ames Radwan, graced us with their newest “Weekly Veg” menu item: chicken-fried mushrooms. And yes, contrary to the name, this dish is entirely vegetarian. Now, normally, I don’t like mushrooms; when I go to restaurants, I avoid anything with that fungus in it. But I’ll give Ames credit — they made me like a mushroom dish. Sure, their pepper gravy helped, but the crunchy outside of the mushrooms added a nice texture, and the spices packed a strong enough punch to remove my distaste for mushrooms.

#6 - Cornbread

I. Love. Bread. A lot. So when my roommate, Video Editor Hannah Horsington, brought out cornbread muffins, I knew I was in trouble… and I was. I ate SO many of these muffins. I especially liked how, even though they were a bit dry on the initial bite, they rehydrated so well in my mouth that it didn’t matter. And yes, I did stow away some muffins, and yes, I did eat them for several days after.

#5 - Stuffing

Fun fact: I used to hate stuffing. Something about all the little pieces of bread and spices floating around really didn’t do it for me. But as I’ve grown, so have my taste buds, and they really enjoyed the version of

stuffing

#4 - Green bean casserole

Every year, my mom makes her famed green bean casserole. In reality, it’s a super weird dish — it’s literally just baked green beans, cream of mushroom soup, some milk and sometimes fried onions. That shouldn’t taste good. But oh my goodness, Ames pulled through on this one. I always ask my mom to put the fried onions on only half the casserole because I don’t like onions, but because Ames is not my mother, they did not know this, so there were onions throughout the whole thing. And you know what? I actually really liked the flavor. So thank you, Ames, for helping me turn a new leaf in my culinary journey. What else is a food editor for? <3

#3 - Mashed potatoes

I will admit that I am biased because I did make the mashed potatoes, but they were some of the best mashed potatoes I have ever tasted. They don’t compare to my mom’s, but for being instant potatoes from a pouch, they really shined through. And don’t just take my word for it —

everyone was complimenting the top three items on this list, and I heard multiple praises for my 5-minute instant mashed potatoes.

#2 - Pancit canton

This was a new dish for me. It’s a Filipino noodle dish made with egg noodles and stir-fried with various vegetables. One of our senior sports writers, Michael Vestey, brought this, and Michael, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. This was one of the best foods I have had in a while. It had a savory yet tangy taste, and the texture was exactly what I expect from a stir-fried dish. It was so good I even kept some leftovers home.

#1 - Macaroni and cheese

Hannah did it again with her mac and cheese, and the funniest part is that she wasn’t even planning to make it. I’m a Kraft girl, but this mac and cheese may just have converted me. I have never tasted a mac and cheese with just the right amounts of mac and of cheese (not too creamy, not too dry), but Hannah’s recipe strikes the perfect balance. And the crumble on top, oh my God, the crumble on top. I don’t know what it’s made out of (maybe breadcrumbs? Maybe the most delicious substance on Earth?), but it shot the mac and cheese out of the park. And luckily for me, since

Honorable mentions:

Riley Crabtree, one of our newer writers, brought a pumpkin pie from Jungle Jim’s. Now, anyone who knows me knows I love Jungle Jim’s. But since we had a homemade pie, we (sadly) didn’t crack open this pie. I’m sure it was delicious, though.

We had a beautifully decorated TMS cake on our dessert table, brought by none other than Macey and her roommate, Campus and Community editor Alice Momany (the one who detests Jell-O on Thanksgiving). I don’t have a sweet tooth, so I didn’t eat any, but it was uniquely decorated and mostly gone by the end of the night, so it seemed like a hit.

Finally, one of our entertainment writers, Chloe Southard, brought some desserts and cookies. Again, not a sweets person, so I didn’t try these, but I’m sure they were very good.

Here’s to another successful TMS Friendsgiving!

our Assistant Entertainment Editor Reece Hollowell brought. The stuffing was light and flavorful, and I definitely took more than one serving of it.

Hannah made enough to feed the entire student body at Miami University and I live with her, I got plenty of leftovers.

THE MIAMI STUDENT’S FRIENDSGIVING EVENT WAS FULL OF FOOD, FRIENDS AND LAUGHTER. PHOTO BY AMES RADWAN

CARLA HALL LECTURED ABOUT TOPICS LIKE SELF-DISCOVERY AND ACCEPTANCE, SEXISM AND RACISM, HER TIME ON “TOP CHEF” AND EVEN MENOPAUSE TO A CAPTIVE AUDIENCE IN HALL AUDITORIUM.

PHOTO BY AMES RADWAN

BEFORE HER LECTURE IN HALL AUDITORIUM, CARLA HALL ANSWERED QUESTIONS IN A Q&A-STYLE SEMINAR WITH STUDENTS FROM AROUND THE UNIVERSITY. PHOTO BY AMES RADWAN

AT A DINNER WITH STUDENTS, CARLA HALL CALLED A STUDENT’S GRANDMOTHER TO ASK WHY SHE HAD NOT

TAUGHT HER GRANDDAUGHTER ABOUT HOT WATER CORNBREAD. PHOTO BY AMES RADWAN

Making friends and watching them leave

despite our often varied courseloads, we had enough overlapping interests that it worked out. We did homework together, went to parties and supported each other through various personal experiences.

During that period, however, there were three key events that shifted the trajectory of my time at Miami and affected who I would spend it with.

First, due to a series of circumstances, that large friend group flamed out and splintered off into sub-groups. I remained on good terms with most of them, and still see a few of them regularly, but suddenly the amount of people I could reliably spend time with dropped significantly.

previous two points plus a host of other problems. This ultimately led to me deciding to take the spring semester of 2021 off, further pushing back my projected graduation.

All of these combined meant that I started my third year at Miami at basically the same place I had been when I entered. I likely will not graduate until, at the earliest, spring 2024, and I’ve mostly come to terms with that.

incredibly hard to get to this point, and I can’t wait to see what they do once they’re let loose into the world.

Yet, as much as I will try to keep in touch with them and find time to hang out once they’re gone, in the back of my mind I know it’ll never quite be the same. I won’t be able to drive over to their apartment five minutes away anymore, playing Mario Party and watching movies on weekends, singing along to our favorite songs in the car.

BY HANNAH POTTS

REECE HOLLOWELL ASST. ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

On Friday, Dec. 9, one of my best friends is graduating from Miami University. In spring 2023, much of the class I came in with will do the same.

I will not.

My time at Miami has carried a host of challenges, right from the first year in which, along with the rest of the 2019-20 freshman class, I only had a little over a semester to get in-

troduced to the college experience before being sent right back home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was during that first semester that I became friends with a group of people who all lived in Collins Hall, mostly through my roommate, who I’ve known since I was a child.

Though I’ve lived in Oxford my whole life, most of my closest friends from school left for other universities, so it was nice to be able to connect with new people when I arrived at Miami.

Throughout that first year and into the second, we hung out a lot;

Second, I had become dissatisfied with my chosen major and was looking to switch into something else, but couldn’t decide on what. I entered with a marketing major and film studies co-major, but wasn’t really enjoying my time at Farmer. I then thought about becoming an education major, but that didn’t feel right either.

Because of this, I lost a large amount of credit hours to classes that would end up going nowhere for my eventual program and essentially started from scratch at the beginning of what was supposed to be my junior year.

Finally, during the fall of 2020, I experienced a severe decline in mental health, largely influenced by those

Despite how ingrained a four-year cycle is to the education system, the extra time has allowed me to figure out what I really want to do. I often wonder if, had COVID not happened, I would have stuck with my original major instead of eventually switching into journalism, where I’m much happier.

But the problem with falling behind is that the people I came in with were naturally going to pass me by.

Now, one of my closest friends — who I have known since my first year at Miami, who I have shared countless experiences with and who has helped me grow and improve as a person — is graduating. And in less than six months, the majority of that 2019-20 freshman class will follow suit.

And I’ll still be here.

It’s somewhat bittersweet; I’m ridiculously happy for my friends and peers who are graduating. They’ve all been through so much and worked so

And of course, I will still have friends at Miami. I’ve become pretty close with people I met through an internship I started last year, and joining The Miami Student has introduced me to some of the kindest and most incredible people I’ve ever known.

Many of them are also among those graduating in the spring.

Staying longer at Miami is definitely what’s best for me, both academically and mentally. It just comes with the knowledge that this is the last year I’ll be this close to some of the people that mean the most to me.

So to everyone graduating this academic year, in December or May, congratulations! Go off and do incredible things. I’ll be here to hear about them and cheer you on from afar.

The people behind the signs: my summer with the Westboro Baptist Church

ANNALISE CHAPDELAINE THE MIAMI STUDENT

I never thought I’d say this, but visiting the Westboro Baptist Church last summer was one of the most impactful and meaningful things I’ve done in my life. And no, they didn’t try to recruit me.

When I’m asked to describe it, the first words that come to mind are insightful, fascinating and fun. This usually tends to raise some eyebrows; after all, the Westboro Baptist Church is described as a “rabid hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center. It is known for picketing at solemn, sacrosanct events — vigils for victims of school shootings, military funerals and high school LGBTQ club meetings. In the media, the church is lampooned as “America’s most hated family,” harassed in public, recognized (and, members say, judged) by their last names and dehumanized.

This controversy is exactly what our research team, led by comparative religion professor Hillel Gray, looks for when conducting research on oppositional and controversial religious groups. The ultimate goal is to conduct empathic research with their members.

As researchers, we follow critical-empathic research guidelines, which means that we approach our work from a neutral perspective while trying to learn about the Westboro Baptists as people. Whether or not a religious group is morally good or bad isn’t evaluated by the research project, so we don’t judge that. What is relevant is how members experience life, who and what they value and what we have in common with them. This focus on lived experiences,

not theological or political beliefs, defined my experience at Westboro and will for the rest of my life.

Despite doing my assigned preparation and research, I was unsure of what I might expect from the church. As a gay woman who presents quite feminine, I didn’t think members would clock my sexuality from stereotypes, and Dr. Gray encouraged us to only share personal details we were comfortable with sharing (and potentially getting questions on). As much as I had seen Westboro members riled up by current events and displaying signs with anti-LGBT slurs on them, I knew that there had to be a reason Dr. Gray had visited them nine times already.

The conversations that ensued covered nearly every subject we could think of. Dr. Gray asked some follow-up questions from his previous trips, inquiring about certain members, adjustments during COVID-19 and adapting to a member’s departure or death. The other research assistants and I asked questions about end-of-life care, members’ jobs, approaches to childrearing, welcoming newcomers and mental health.

Some conversations struck home, even if I couldn’t entirely relate. Others were straight-up humorous; when I asked member Tim Phelps if the church engages in community service, he looked at me like I was joking and exclaimed, “This isn’t about the human notion of ‘charity.’ Awkward panda!” It was a bit humbling to be told that the church does not see charity and service as things one performs, but rather something that one embodies at all times. “It’s our duty,” said Phelps. “I don’t know how to put it other than that.”

Although we did not focus on specific theological questions, I still got a sense of the rhyme behind Westboro’s reason. Members talked about their commitment to following both biblical guidelines and legal authorities, which makes sense for a family of lawyers. Shirley Phelps-Roper, who is often the face of the church in the media, and her sister Abi talked to us about their vehement opposition to breaking the law, whether it be God’s or a government’s.

Westboro’s more controversial picket signs read “God brought COVID” or “Thank God for dead soldiers,” reflecting their belief that God wills everything on Earth. They are thus exceedingly careful to follow the law — since the law is God’s, it is not for anyone to disagree with or disobey.

The fascinating, revealing and often intimate conversations I had with Westboro members contrasted sharply with reminders of where I was. During pickets, signs opposing an assortment of identities, practices and beliefs garnered honks, middle fingers and jeers from passing cars. Let me tell you: realizing that passersby probably hate you is another humbling experience. There was no way for onlookers to realize I was not a member of the church, so observing pickets meant that I experienced a sliver of popular backlash against the church myself. This was frustrating and revealing; the members I talked to describe being accustomed to the judgment, but not unfazed by it.

Leaving the church building and walking through the central recreation area — not unlike a small quad on a college campus, but with a pool, playground and patio — I saw rhetoric that shook me. The f-slur is emblazoned on a banner stretching the length of the building, and a sec-

These are the good old days

COSETTE GUNTERSTRATTON EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

“How is school?”

“What

“Are you working right now?”

The holiday season is upon us, and these questions are being directed to students everywhere, usually several times, and over the course of a family dinner, a holiday party and more.

Personally, I’ve gotten really good at answering these questions — I have a script, a part I can change to better suit the person I’m talking to and even an excuse for something they’ve identified I am not currently doing or working towards.

For example, if they ask about

grad school — “I need to save up first.”

If they ask about a job — “There are jobs that will be posted in February that I don’t know exist… still looking.”

If they ask about moving out of my parents’ house — “Rent in cities is pretty expensive, and I need to save to go to grad school, remember?”

I’m prepared.

But it never feels wholly authentic.

I stare at the final week of my final fall semester and wonder if any of my answers will actually ring true in a couple of months. Will I live up to everything I’ve been saying? I really have no idea, though I repeat them with confidence.

Here’s what I do know for sure: I will miss college. And for now, I’m focusing on that feeling — I’m leaning into it.

I’m leaning into the ache that creeps into my chest when I sit in my friends’ living room and laugh, the ache that comes when I go past my memory-filled first-year residence hall, the ache that walks with me across a campus full of red, orange and yellow trees and the ache that moves my fingers across this keyboard to write for a publication that has taught me so much.

And it hurts, but that’s okay.

Because I don’t want to shy away from the feeling, and if there is something you’re shying away from now, I encourage you to turn and face it. I’m better for accepting the sadness I feel right now. I’d rather make friends with it than fight it, because that means I stay a little more present when I’m walking across campus.

I’m looking up and around, tak-

ond banner implies that homosexuality results in “suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” I’m incredibly secure in who I am, but that doesn’t mean the words didn’t nearly bring me to tears that day.

Yet, I couldn’t help but feel empathy for one mother as she described raising her son by herself, doubting her ability to do so. I laughed when Shirley’s multiple phones (long story) went off so many times in an interview none of us could take it seriously. I was confronted with conflicting instances; members talking derisively about “rainbows and unicorns” in public schools yet tearing up when remembering a member who had passed away. I was touched when Jon Phelps advised us that “the thing that works is kindness” in a relationship, but only if you “mean it, not just words.”

It’s hard for me to wrap up such a complicated experience, which hints at the point of research like the ERE project. To bridge divides, foster conversations, discuss the uncomfortable, hear new perspectives or question preconceived notions — however you want to put it, one goal of this research is nuance. The world needs more of it, and it needs more acceptance of nuance. It’s impossible to define a person by their beliefs, just as it is impossible to define a person by their lived experiences. How we view people we disagree with or are hurt by depends on factors we may not even be aware of.

So when a Westboro member asked me if I believe that they are hypocrites, my answer wasn’t yes or no. It was “it depends.”

GRAPHIC

THE MEMBERS OF THE WESTBORO RESEARCH TEAM AND THE WESTBORO BAPTIST CHURCH.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY ANNALISE CHAPDELAINE (FAR RIGHT)

RESEARCHERS JAYSON MEGGYSEY (LEFT) AND ANNALISE CHAPDELAINE (CENTER) SPEAK TO A MEMBER OF THE WEST-

BORO BAPTIST CHURCH (RIGHT) DURING A PICKET.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY ANNALISE CHAPDELAINE

do you want to do after you graduate?”

ing it in.

These are the good old days! And to quote the great Fred Reeder, advisor to The Miami Student, we are “young and beautiful.”

The Miami community is vibrant and talented, and I’m thankful to have something to miss like this. Half

in the spring!

GRAPHIC

A college student’s best friend

CHLOE SOUTHARD STAFF WRITER

Everyone has something that’s getting them through these four years. Maybe it’s your friends, maybe it’s music or maybe it’s certain substances. Nevertheless, we all have that one thing that keeps us going.

Mine takes the form of a 100-pound Great Dane. She’s got floppy ears, droopy jowls, the sweetest brown eyes (I call them baby eyes), shiny black fur and the purest heart.

I’m sure I’m not the only student whose dog is one of the things that keeps me going. Dogs have been deemed ‘man’s best friend’ for a reason. They love unconditionally, and we carry the bonds we form with them for life.

But my dog is nearly 532 miles away. She’s back at home in Pennsylvania, and I only see her when I’m on break. I don’t get to go see her on the weekends, and she doesn’t get to come visit me at school.

“Okay,” you’re probably thinking, “There are several students who don’t get to see their dogs. Get to the point.”

I know that. I’m not the only one who misses her dog. But I’m writing this in hopes to resonate with the people in the same boat as me.

Let me take you back to 2020. For me, I had to make the excruciating decision to put my be-

loved Basset Hound, Maggie, to sleep on New Year’s Eve. What a way to start off the year, right?

Months later, my family moved into our new home after losing our previous one to a flood. I was still healing from losing Maggie. I never thought I’d be ready for another dog; in fact, my dad made it clear that the Southard family wouldn’t be getting any more pets.

But after months of living in our new house, it just felt empty. There was a void in my heart that Maggie left. It didn’t feel normal to be living without a dog, without something to take care of and love.

Once summer rolled around, an opportunity fell into my lap: There was a litter of Great Dane puppies available near me. I knew my dad had said no more dogs, but I simply couldn’t let this chance pass by me. Since I was a little kid, I’d always wanted a Great Dane, and I was finally ready for another dog.

So I bought one.

Buying a giant breed dog without asking my parents — bold, I know, but I have absolutely no regrets. When my dad found out what I’d been up to, he wasn’t happy. I still prepared to bring my puppy home, and once I did, my entire family fell in love with her.

She came with the name Tater Salad, and while that’s a great name, I already had one in

mind. I called her Lolita, after the novel (I love classic literature) and the Lana Del Rey song.

I bought Lolita with the intention of moving her out to college with me — which was quite a stupid idea. I knew she’d get huge, but I thought everything would work out fine. Spoiler alert: It didn’t, and I have no clue why I thought I’d ever be able to bring a Great Dane to college.

That aside, Lolita brought me an indescribable amount of happiness after enduring such a hard time in my life. She’s the first dog I’ve ever trained, raised and cared for by myself. She’s the first dog I’ve legally had in my name.

She’s my heart dog. Make no mistake, I still miss Maggie terribly, but Lolita has shown me that I can grieve one dog and still love and bond with other ones.

Whatever I feel, Lolita feels. She can always tell when I’m having a rough day and provides me with endless comfort and laughs. When I’m happy, she’s happy. She follows me all over the house; we even share my twin-sized bed.

It destroyed me to leave Lolita when I moved out for my first year of college. It still pains me to leave her now, and I’m in my second year.

If you have an emotional attachment to your

dog like I do, you know it hurts even more to imagine how they’re feeling. They don’t understand where you’re going, why you’re gone for so long or if you’ll even come back.

Not a day goes by where I don’t think about Lolita or look at the thousands of photos I have of her. It’s hard not to have her to help me cope on my bad days, but I’ve begun to find comfort in knowing that she’ll always be waiting for me, and once I’m done with school, I’ll get to see her every day.

That’s the thing about dogs. They’re forgiving, and they love you no matter what. Even while they may not understand why you leave, they’ll always be ready to greet you at the door with a wagging tail and slobbery kisses when you come back.

So if you’re struggling with being separated from your dog, let that thought console you. Get through these next few weeks, months or years. Your dog won’t resent you, and at the end of the day, they’ll just be happy to have their person home.

MICHAEL VESTEY SENIOR STAFF WRITER

There’s something I identify with about schadenfreude - the feeling of pleasure from the misfortune of others.

“I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!” is a British reality television show with the premise being that of putting celebrities in a jungle environment and forcing them into trials, tests of physical and mental abilities — some of which can be truly disgusting.

In Series 22 of the show, which aired in November of this year, British Conservative Party politician Matt Hancock took part. In part of the show, viewers can vote for specific contestants to complete different trials. Naturally, the viewing public voted for Hancock to undergo five out of the first six trials, which included being covered in slime, feathers and custard and having his head placed in a water tank full of eels.

I feel conflicted about things like this.

In June of 2021, Hancock was revealed to have broken COVID-19 social distancing guidelines while having an extramarital affair, at a time during which people weren’t allowed to have intimate contact with people outside of their own household, according to his government’s own guidelines. This was after a year and a half of mistakes and other scandals during Hancock’s tenure as Health Secretary, responsible for all government policy on healthcare matters in England.

Hancock lost his position for that scandal — despite support from Prime Minister Boris Johnson — but remained in Parliament and in the Conservative Party. His district is a safe one — at the next general election, he’s unlikely to lose that position, given his 45-percent margin of victory at the last election.

This hits closer to home than I’d like to think.

In July 2019, the Ohio House of Representatives signed House Bill 6, which, among other things, subsidized coal power plants and reduced subsidies for renewable energy and energy efficiency measures in the state. It also

provided a bailout of $1.3 billion to FirstEnergy, an electric utility company headquartered in Akron which operates two nuclear power plants alongside Lake Erie.

In 2020, Larry Householder, the Speaker of the Ohio House, was charged by a U.S. Attorney with racketeering for “likely the largest bribery, money laundering scheme ever perpetrated against the people of the state of Ohio” — a $60 million bribe. Despite his arrest, he still won re-election in 2020, though he was expelled from the Ohio House in 2021.

On the surface, both of those politicians were held accountable for their actions. Hancock lost his position in government, and Householder lost his job entirely — but neither actually tackled the root problem.

Hancock’s appearance on “I’m a Celebrity” reportedly earned him over £400,000 — almost $500,000 — while House Bill 6 has yet to be repealed, costing Ohioans over a quarter of a million dollars per year. The legislators who sponsored and passed the bill remained in power in 2020 and remain in power after the 2022 election.

Nothing has changed, and it looks like nothing will change, not for several years at least.

Which brings us back to “I’m a Celebrity.”

We can’t always hold our politicians accountable in the ways that we might want. Those in power have too much interest in keeping it for that to be the case.

But we still have mockery. The public eye is still just that — an eye, always watching.

I can’t write this article like I believe there’s a better alternative. Democracy matters too much — and is dysfunctional enough, at least in America — for its problems to be taken lightly.

Politicians have that power, and they know it just as well as you do. What your legislator in Columbus is doing can be just as dangerous as his peer in Washington, and their actions deserve to be taken seriously, regardless of your political affiliation — but you don’t have to take them, personally, seriously.

Let’s not.

AVA KALINA STAFF WRITER

“So you just do not stop,” Michael Wisneski, a Miami University junior finance major, shared with me in a reminiscent tone, eager to share his summer experience. “Their expectation was to pick 300 units per hour. 300 per hour, which is about five per minute, which is one every 12 seconds, which is fast.”

As someone who doesn’t order from Amazon for ethical, political and environmental reasons, when I heard that my friend Michael worked in an Amazon warehouse as a full-time employee for the summer, I was immediately intrigued.

Yes, I don’t typically order from Amazon. My entire order history has consisted of six books, a satin pillowcase and a bag of fortune cookies (odd, right?) to drain my high school graduation gift cards.

Amazon has given us the ultimate convenience of having anything we could ever want in just a few days, but in doing so it has promoted rabid consumerism that is harmful to our minds, our planet and our local businesses. These ruthless consumer habits inevitably entails ruthless production, which has led to undesirable working conditions, union forming, union smashing and an overall monopolistic behavior.

Monopolies don’t start and end with Amazon; these companies have a grip on our lives everywhere. Live Nation, Ticketmaster’s parent company, is currently under investigation by the Justice Department for breaking anti-trust laws and is under fire after the recent Taylor Swift tickets fiasco.

My sources of skepticism towards monopolies, mostly podcasts featuring populist political pundits, were no match for a first-person account of one of the conglomerates’ operations, which is why I turned to Michael.

When he didn’t land a summer internship and developed a distaste for a minimum wage camp counselor job, Michael realized he could use being a physically fit 20-year-old for something else: manual labor.

For four days a week, 10 and a half hours per day and making $18 per hour, Michael spent his summer working in an Amazon warehouse.

At 7:30 a.m. each workday, Michael arrived at the 1 million-square-foot warehouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin to work as a full time warehouse picker. His role was essentially to transfer a specified item from a shelf to a bin that would then be sent down a conveyor belt once full.

Although pictures were never allowed to be taken inside the building, his 40-hour work weeks ingrained the cement walls into his mind.

In the midst of a four-story warehouse, with concrete floors, low ceilings and robotic shelves, was his ‘square.’ About 6-by-10 feet, Michael’s square was surrounded by three walls and had an opening to the warehouse floor etched with yellow tape, which he could not cross without permission under any circumstances. All that was inside the square was a wall stacked with conveyor belts and bins, a chair and two televisions.

The televisions weren’t for entertainment, news or alerts; one was to tell pickers exactly what they needed to find on the robotic shelves that approached his square, and the other was for games.

These games weren’t typical distractions. They’re challenges to increase productivity, Amazon’s attempt to make picking 300 objects per hour fun.

“The whole point is like there’s a leaderboard,” Michael said. “That screen will show the leaderboard of every person, under an anonymous username, and their hourly rate. So the whole point is, ‘I want you to be competitive.’”

Amazon tries to make work a game, but really with no prize at the end.

And, as far as Amazon jobs go, Michael didn’t throw nearly the worst lot.

Last year, six warehouse workers died in an Amazon warehouse when they weren’t allowed to leave during a tornado warning; delivery drivers have been proven to defecate in bags and urinate in bottles to make their hours; union organizers have a history of being threatened and intimidated.

Recently Amazon made an announcement to lay off 10,000 employees across all sectors of their industries, indicating that technology-heavy jobs like Michael’s may soon even be obsolete.

But at least none of that happened to him, right?

Although Michael didn’t have a scathing critique of Amazon’s operations or give me a golden fleece of an exposé, the job of the ‘picker’ seemed to be detrimental to the psyche.

Michael is one of the most social people I have ever met. He spends most of his time with his friends, roommates and fraternity brothers, and always has something to say, but in the warehouse he was alone.

From the time he digitally clocked in to his lunch break, Michael had no human interaction.

Michael spent 40 hours a week walking from one side of his square to the other, carrying objects ranging from a necklace to dog food five times per minute.

He spent 10 hours of his day with almost no conversation, following instructions from a television screen to interact with robotic shelves, yellow bins and conveyor belts. He could not check his phone, listen to music, make calls or speak with coworkers unless on his break.

He couldn’t even see coworkers from his square.

Michael did note that the warehouse provided a population — mainly younger males with no formal higher education — with a solid job and extensive benefits. There are opportunities to move up the ladder and receive healthcare benefits, overtime pay and stock options, he told me, but in order to do so you likely started at the bottom for many months.

Arguments on the inner workings of Amazon are multifaceted; it’s a monopoly, but provides ease to the everyday life. It mistreats workers, but gives extensive benefits. It requires mindless, tiring work, but supplies jobs to a blue-collar workforce.

The real questions that have to be asked are: Is this the type of job that people have to turn to in order to earn a livable wage? Why is mentally and physically strenuous manual labor one of the only ways that a young person can provide for their family?

I don’t have an answer, or a solution, but I do know that Michael can tell us what political pundits, journalists and books can’t. He can give us an inside perspective, compassion and a view into the company that we all simultaneously love and despise.

After years of skepticism, I finally looked into Amazon operations through a conversation with a warehouse worker

Schadenfreude, scandals and what accountability looks like in a changing world

STAFF WRITER CHLOE SOUTHARD NAPS WITH HER GREAT DANE LOLITA. PHOTO PROVIDED BY CHLOE SOUTHARD

CHLOE SOUTHARD’S GREAT DANE LOLITA IS BIGGER THAN SHE IS!

PHOTO PROVIDED BY CHLOE SOUTHARD

BRITISH CONSERVATIVE PARTY POLITICIAN MATT HANCOCK, SHOWN ABOVE SPEAKING AT THE 2014 CANADA

EUROPE ENERGY SUMMIT IN LONDON, RECENTLY APPEARED ON REALITY TV SHOW “I’M A CELEBRITY...

photo story

Students show out to watch World Cup at Brick Street

TEDDY JOHNSON HUMOR EDITOR

Typically, Tuesdays Uptown in Oxford are the quietest days of the week. However, Brick Street Bar decided to have a special edition of their “Beat the Clock” event on Tuesday afternoon for the U.S. Men’s National Team’s (USMNT) match against Iran in the 2022 World Cup.

One dollar pitchers of Natural light at 1 p.m. and $3 “USA Shots” helped bring soccer fans and non-soccer fans alike to support the new generation of U.S. Soccer. Whether fans could name more than one player on the team did not matter. Every person there celebrated the 1-0 U.S. win like their football team just won the Super Bowl.

According to a Brick Street employee, they did not expect that many people to show up but around 1,300 people crowded into the bar to support the USMNT.

When U.S. player Christian Pulisic scored the lone goal of the game, the Brick Street crowd erupted by throwing pitchers of beer across the bar, showering just about every person in the crowd with Natural Light.

Ben Weiss, a first-year marketing major, attended the watch party with some of his roommates and wanted to be at Brick because he heard they were having an event.

The USMNT advanced to the knockout stage and will battle the Netherlands at 10 a.m. EST this Saturday. Brick Street opens its doors at 9 a.m. to all those fans devoted enough to be showered in beer when the U.S. pounds the Dutch back to Europe.

PHOTO BY TEDDY JOHNSON

PHOTO BY TEDDY JOHNSON

PHOTO BY TEDDY JOHNSON

PHOTO BY JAKE RUFFER