March 7, 2017 | The Miami Student

ESTABLISHED 1826 — OLDEST COLLEGE NEWSPAPER WEST OF THE ALLEGHENIES

TUESDAY, MARCH 7, 2017

Volume 145 №32

Miami University — Oxford, Ohio

Miami hosts Good Samaritan Policy panel Miami, law enforcement educate students on alcohol emergencies ALCOHOL

JOE GURNIG

THE MIAMI STUDENT

ANGELO GELFUSO THE MIAMI STUDENT

A spirited chant of “thank you seniors” carried an embattled RedHawks through the final moments of last Saturday’s Senior’s Night match against the North Dakota Fightng Hawks.

Miami AAUP commits to diversity ADVOCACY

EMILY WILLIAMS

MANAGING EDITOR

Miami’s Association of University Professors (AAUP) published a statement of support for members of the Miami community experiencing “increased vulnerability.”

The statement, which the organization released on Friday, March 3, names Middle Eastern, Latinx, Jewish and transgender students and faculty as examples.

“In the wake of recent presidential orders concerning immigration and transgender rights, and as part of its advocacy for the educational mission of the university, Miami AAUP Advocacy Chapter affirms its unequivocal support for the right of all members of the Miami community to have space and time to pursue learning in safety and with full freedom of movement,” the statement reads.

According to a post published along with the official statement, the release of the statement followed a “galvanizing and moving” chapter meeting on Feb. 15 when Ancilleno Lewis, the leader of the student organization Graduate Students from All Nations, spoke to the members about recent “hate-related” activity that has occurred in the community.

The official statement addresses and condemns any discriminating words or actions targeted at members of the Miami community.

“We condemn acts and words that denigrate and/ or discriminate against members of our community on the basis of national origin, religion, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, age, sex, sexual orientation and gender AAUP » PAGE 8

‘Scaling up’ the dropout rate in the Physics deparment ACADEMICS

of PHY 191 was completely

ALYSSA MELENDEZ THE MIAMI STUDENT

The class average is an F, over 10 percent of students have dropped and even those who dedicate their lives to studying end up failing the exams. That’s Physics 191.

It’s the first of a two-class series that every Engineering major at Miami University is required to take: PHY 191 and PHY 192. It’s a class that impacts even the non-Engineering majors. They are the ones forced to listen to their friends weep for hours on end after getting their exams back.

Sound like a weed-out course to you?

A student in the class myself, I decided to investigate

Students, professors different than it is now. Back disagree on then, all the students taking the course would come to ‘weed-out’ course this issue. Why? Because in high school I was a straightA student. In my one year at community college, I was a straight-A student. In fact, my final grade in Calculus 2 was over one-hundred percent.

And yet, for some reason, I came five points away from failing my first physics exam.

It didn’t add up to me.

So I wondered: are Miami’s Physics professors intentionally making their classes unreasonably hard? Are they trying to weed people out?

History Three years ago, the set-up

the large, lecture-style classroom with their notebooks and pens, only to sit there and listen to the professor lecture and do problems from the front of the room.

But in 2014, the physics department decided to switch the class up, based on a system called ScaleUp, or Student Centered Active Learning Environment.

ScaleUp is what current students are used to. The room they sit in is different than it used to be. There are triangle-shaped tables, with room for three students at WEED-OUT » PAGE 3

Humans of Oxford Nate Floyd: Turning a new page on punk

Many Miami students don’t know when drinking has gone too far and medical attention is required.

Miami’s HAWKS Peer Health Educators along with with Greek organizations, OESCR, MUPD and OPD hope to change that.

This Wednesday, March 8 at 8 p.m. in Wilks Theater, representatives from the university and several law enforcement agencies will hold an informational session and forum for students

CAMPUS

MEGAN ZAHNEIS NEWS EDITOR

Effective in August, the location of Miami’s Student Package Center is changing — and so is the way that on-campus students pick up their shipments.

The package center, which now operates out of Wells Hall, will be housed on the lower level of Shriver Center and feature intelligent locker technology, allowing students to access their packages 24 hours a day.

“Students can pick [their package] up at any time, if they’re coming back from the library at midnight, if they’re coming from Uptown at 2 a.m,” Matt Frericks, Mi-

SAM IAMMARINO

CÉILÍ DOYLE

Nate Floyd sits at the table closest to the window in King Café, his headphones draped around his neck, sifting through his Spotify playlists while taking sips of his coffee.

The quiet, soft-spoken librarian sports a collared shirt buttoned all the way up with a dark green sweater hanging loosely around his shoulders.

Nate is a visiting assistant librarian from Indiana University (IU) at King Library. His Ph.D. is in Mass Communications with a dissertation in the Development of Journalism Education.

Nate focuses his studies on how others perceive the usefulness of journalism and the

way in which the subject is taught based off the opinions of administrators and professionals in the working world.

But despite his professional demeanor and dedication to his research, Nate has a slightly subversive side: he loves music, especially the punk rock scene.

“My favorite thing to do is to go to shows, and I haven’t seen a single punk since I’ve been in Oxford,” Nate said with a smile. “I recognize that I’m not a punk, but I do like to piggyback on their scene.”

Originally from southeastern Ohio, Nate went to Marshall University for his undergrad and his masters. However, he didn’t find his cultural niche until he discovered the FLOYD » PAGE 8

ami’s senior director for auxiliary facilities and planning, said.

Almost 2,000 of these intelligent lockers, in varying sizes, will be installed, making this the largest system of its kind in the nation. When a package arrives for an on-campus student, it’ll be placed directly into a locker, which will automatically generate an access code.

Students will then receive an email with that code — the only information they’ll need to pick up their package — meaning that student IDs will no longer be required and that students can have friends pick up their shipREAD THE REST ONLINE MIAMISTUDENT.NET

ASG passes Food Institute, livestream bills THE MIAMI STUDENT

SENIOR STAFF WRITER

DRINKING » PAGE 2

Student Package Center moves to Shriver Center

ASG

HEATHER MCCOWAN THE MIAMI STUDENT

to learn more about Miami’s Good Samaritan Policy, which allows students to call for medical attention in drug-or-alcohol-related situations while minimizing or removing disciplinary consequences.

Morgan Rice, a junior and volunteer EMT for the Oxford Fire Department, said she hopes the event will help students make safer choices when they drink.

“We’re not telling students not to drink. We just want students to be able to drink responsibly and safely,” said

During their most recent weekly session on Feb. 28, ASG Senate approved a senate resolution which creates a task force to act as a liaison between Dining Services and Miami University’s Institute for Food. The resolution was introduced in order to ensure that both the institute and dining services were on the same page concerning the sale and

distribution of the Food Institute’s produce and to eliminate any miscommunication between the two organizations.

The Miami University Institute for Food is a “collaborative initiative to engage diverse communities around issues of food, health and sustainable agriculture,” according to their website. The institution runs and operates a 35-acre organic farm, less than a ASG » PAGE 8

RYAN TERHUNE PHOTO EDITOR

This past weekend marked the kickoff of Hueston Woods’ annual Maple Syrup Festival. Read the story on page 4.

NEWS p. 2

CULTURE p. 4

ENTERTAINMENT p. 6

EDITORIAL p. 10

OP-ED p. 11

SPORTS p. 12

DENNIS ESTRIDGE TAKES OUT THE TRASH

THE INDEPENDENT ARTIST SERIES

‘FEUD’ RELIVES HOLLYWOOD SQUABBLE

REPORTING MAKES A DIFFERENCE

FOR COSTLY DINING, MU TAKES THE CAKE

MIAMI SKATES INTO SECOND PLACE

It was 5:26 a.m. in Oxford, and Estridge had just begun his shift.

Graduate students directed a collection of plays for the first annual series.

Bette Davis and Joan Crawford’s rivaly comes to life in new series.

The beginning of this semester marked a spike in reported sexual assaults.

“Few issues earn as much ire on Miami’s campus as the meal plan.”

Ssynchronized Skating Team competed in the National Championships.

2 NEWS

TUESDAY, MARCH 7, 2017

NEWS@MIAMISTUDENT.NET

Dennis Estridge takes out the trash PROFILE

KIRBY DAVIS

ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

It was quiet Uptown. Traffic lights cast red-and-green glows over leftover rain pooling in the street. The sidewalks were empty but littered with evidence of the Miami student population’s Saturday night: Jimmy John’s and Bruno’s receipts plastering the sidewalk, crumpled balls of aluminum foil and half-eaten bagels lying abandoned by the curb.

There was one person Uptown, wrapped in a neon yellow jacket.

He was collecting some more evidence — discarded beer bottles — at the edge of the park.

It was 5:26 a.m., and Dennis Estridge had just begun his shift.

After 32 years as a mailman, 24 of which were spent in Oxford, he’d planned to retire for good.

But a friend of his asked if he’d be willing to take a job cleaning up the city and its surrounding parks a few days a week, and nine years later, he’s glad he accepted.

Estridge loves helping people, and he fondly remembers the times he was able to do this as a mailman — specifically, assisting

RYAN TERHUNE PHOTO EDITOR

Estridge picks up garbage along the intersection of Poplar Street and High Street in the early morning hours after everyone has gone to bed but before Oxford residents rise on Sunday morning an elderly woman named Helen by bringing her mail to her door and helping her fix things around her house.

Working in Oxford also provides Estridge with the oppor-

Online housing hub makes Uptown renting easier

tunity to aid the community — just in different ways. He’s often able to find and return lost car keys, wallets and I.D.’s (many fake), and sometimes students themselves.

TEDx club opens the floor to Miami students, faculty EVENT

SARAH CAMINO

SENIOR STAFF WRITER

RYAN TERHUNE THE MIAMI STUDENT

A student passes by a sign advertising for a housing unit on South Main Street and Spring Street.

HOUSING

JACK EVANS NEWS EDITOR

Miami students now have a new university-backed tool for navigating the sometimes-frightening waters of off-campus living in Oxford.

Launched on Feb. 15, the new Off-Campus Housing listing site, offcampushousing.miamioh.edu, allows users to search for housing options, post their own sublease listings and talk on message boards about housing questions and concerns.

The listings include both Miami-sponsored housing like Hawk’s Landing and Miami Preserve as well as a large number of properties owned by Oxford rental companies and independent renters, all who pay a fee to have their posts displayed on the site.

These listings can then be sorted through over 100 filters, including distance to campus, type of housing (apartment, house, duplex, etc.), specific amenities, cost and length of lease.

The project is the culmination of several years of work, primarily by the one-woman office of Off-Campus Outreach and Communication (OCOC), which is run by director Jen O’Brien.

O’Brien, who took the position in 2015, saw a need to dispel the common myth that students need to sign a lease years in advance to ensure an off-campus living space during their time at Miami.

Almost 35 percent of students at Miami sign a lease before their sophomore year, according to a survey that O’Brien ran as one of her first actions as director.

With more than 16,000 spots for off-campus housing in Oxford, she felt this percentage was both too high by itself but also didn’t reflect the popular rent-housingearly myth.

“There is a disconnect here between what information stu-

dents are getting their hands on and what the city had in their records,” said O’Brien.

These facts, coupled with the data from the OCOC survey that almost 70 percent of students find housing through word of mouth, led O’Brien to work with Off Campus Partners, a company that specializes in creating these kinds of listing sites for colleges.

The website was first proposed in April of 2015 by O’Brien, and went through significant vetting, especially with Miami’s legal department. It should be noted that Miami University does not inspect or individually approve every dwelling on the site.

“We aren’t filtering anything, we aren’t inspecting anything, these are just the properties that the companies post,” said O’Brien.

As of March 2, over 1,000 unique users visited the site, and O’Brien considers the program so far to be a success. There are also plans in place to add a robust roommate-finder feature to the website.

“It feels amazing. Especially given what a long process it’s been,” she said. “Seeing students getting something out of it has certainly made the long process worth it for me.”

The OCOC survey results also indicate that 17 percent of students don’t even complete a walk-through of the property before they sign a lease. Part of O’Brien’s job is also assisting students with general offcampus housing complaints and problems, some of which could be avoided, she said, if students would make sure to be thorough before signing anything binding.

OCOC is working to help educate students by hosting indepth, off-campus housing workshops through residence halls about the leasing process. Halls can set up one of these workshops by getting in touch with O’Brien.

“Occasionally I’ll find a student on the ground,” he said (though it’s pretty rare), after which he can call the police to assist them.

Estridge grew up in College Corner and now lives just across

the border in Indiana, with his wife of 54 years.

“A friend of mine wanted to date a friend of hers,” Estridge said. “My friend said, ‘Hey, will you take her out?’ And I said, ‘sure.’”

When he was 19 and she was 16, they got married — five weeks before he was drafted into the Vietnam War. After he returned in 1970 they had two daughters, with whom they now share Sunday night dinners, along with their grandchildren and greatgrandchildren.

Now, Estridge works Saturdays, Sundays and holidays cleaning up Oxford’s Uptown and parks, from 5 a.m. to 12 p.m.

In his free time he enjoys fishing and mushroom-hunting, especially on his family’s old farm in Indiana. In the summer, he and his wife run a College Corner ballpark and concession stand, completely on a volunteer basis.

He’s just happy to be able to provide for the community.

“We just go out of our way to try to help people too, not just picking up trash,” he said, then laughed. “I’m kind of some of the eyes and ears up there.”

Standing in the inverted spotlight of the red TEDx dot, Miami faculty, alumni, undergraduates and graduate students gathered on Sat. March 4 to learn from each others’ “ideas worth sharing.”

For James Donnelly, president of TEDx Miami University, TEDx has the ability to empower the Miami community.

“Other universities have been doing [TEDx] for a really long time and have been doing a really good job and they get recognition through that,” said Donnelly. “Places like Michigan or Harvard — yeah, we know they’re good — but we have great ideas worth sharing here, too.

I think it’s really important not only for TEDx Miami University, but also for the university as a whole to be able to showcase the great talent we have here.”

That talent included Amanda Horne, a gerontology graduate student, who discussed the role of traumatic experiences in the process of aging.

“If something happened to you yesterday, you’re aging with it tomorrow,” she said. “Mental health is not a clean slate every day.”

Horne discussed the importance of art therapy, particularly for veterans with PTSD, as an alternative that avoids some of the negative connotations of traditional therapy.

“It’s not therapy, but it’s therapeutic,” Horne said. “[Veterans] are receiving resources, therapeutic resources. They have an outlet, they have a means of expression, but most importantly, it’s not stigmatized.”

Miami alum Blake Smith then took the stage to expose what he calls “the lie” of the fashion industry. In order to sell clothing, particularly within the business model of “fast fashion,” companies rely on exploiting the consumer’s insecurities. This lie, as he phrased it, tells consumers, “You are not okay. You need to buy things in order to be made whole.”

Smith has devoted his professional life to combating that messaging in the marketplace itself, and he shared

the truths he believes can help an individual move to a “place of completeness apart from consumption.”

“I know who I am. I know what I like,” Smith said.

In her presentation, Megan Gerhardt, a professor of Management and Leadership in the Farmer School of Business, also offered a unique perspective on today’s consumer marketplace. Gerhardt’s professional experiences have helped her conceptualize how to bridge the gap between older professionals and the Millennial generation.

“In 2008, I was invited to do a leadership development workshop at a company,” she said. “To them, Millennials were a problem that needed to be solved.”

But Gerhardt doesn’t see it that way. “[Millennials] hold two critical keys: new ways to solve problems and the passionate energy to do so,” Gerhardt said. “I work with leaders not to help them change the Millennials but to change themselves — to change their perspective on what might be possible.”

She calls this “gentelligence.”

“The idea that diversity is powerful is something we all understand, but I don’t think we’ve yet understood this generation as a valuable form of diversity, and I wanted to help connect that for people,” Gerhardt said.

Undergraduate Cole Agenbroad’s TEDx presentation focused on the ecological importance of connected habitats. Agenbroad cited a research experience in Banff, Canada.

“In Banff, they were able to remove a building if it was deemed to have a negative impact on the environment, while 10 miles south in Canmore, they were focused on developing directly to the edge of the valley,” Agenbroad said.

The problem, Agenbroad said, is the way these political boundaries arbitrate a wild space to the detriment of native species.

“The cost of fixing our natural world is great, but it’s one that we’ve placed on ourselves,” he said.

Finally, Nathan French, a professor of international studies and comparative religion, explored the ways people can negotiate cultural differences outside of the harmful

dichotomy of “us versus them.”

“We live in a time of ‘they,’” French said. “‘They,’ we are told, are a threat to our national security. ‘They’ are a threat to our jobs and our economy.”

However, empathy, French said, is a way past this fearful response. Once on a flight, French retold, he struck up a conversation with the mother of an American veteran. Her son was on the ground during the 2003 invasion of Iraq and, since then, fourth of July fireworks have become a trigger for his PTSD. French told her about an experience he had in Cairo when he met a student who had also been in Baghdad during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He, too, reacted violently to a fireworks display.

For French, and his friend from the plane, this was an important connection.

“Hold your breath, find familiarity of experience, and change and be changed,” said French. “[The mother on the plane] saw, in an Iraqi she had never met, her own son, based on that familiarity of experience. The value of empathy is the value of finding we.”

Deeksha Singh served on the finance committee of the TEDx event, and she enjoyed French’s presentation in particular.

“I think [TEDx talks] are really thought-provoking because they make you think about real things,” Singh said. “I’ve also lived in the Middle East so I could really relate to [French’s presentation] on a personal level. When you’re on the other side, you don’t always know what’s going on in another place.”

Attendees also had the opportunity to write down an “experience worth sharing” and get photographed in front of the TEDx banner.

Singh wrote, “I forgot to eat breakfast today.”

“Food is really important to me,” she said, laughing.

Other participants’ experiences ranged from the jocular (”cooked minute rice in 58 seconds”) to monumental, but each were a contribution to TEDx’s goal of having a “global conversation about our shared future” — a global conversation that includes Miami.

WRITE TO US, GIVE US AN IDEA EIC@MIAMISTUDENT.NET

NEWS@MIAMISTUDENT.NET

NEWS 3

TUESDAY, MARCH 7, 2017

RYAN TERHUNE THE MIAMI STUDENT

Top, a group of activists led by Miami’s Diversity Affairs Council marched Uptown Saturday under the banner of diversity, responding to recent legislation with a message of solidarity for marginlized students.

Magda Dagmar Wieslawa Orlander, below, reads a protest poem inspired by the anniversary of Kristallnacht and the election of the 45th president.

College GOP represents MU at Conservative Political Action Conference POLITICS

ERICA EDWARDS

THE MIAMI STUDENT

Miami’s College Republicans attended this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) held at the National Harbor in Maryland, continuing an annual tradition for the organization.

Both new members and veterans of College Republicans attended the conference during the last weekend of February.

Members of the organization’s Executive Board were enthusi-

astic about attending this year, and CPAC did not disappoint.

Chairman of the College Republicans, Alexander Cary, a senior Business Economics major, found this CPAC was a “very fun experience,” especially the opportunity to see a sitting president in person.

A CPAC that was not consumed with election fever was a little more calm said College Republicans Co-Chairman Noah Johnson, a junior Finance and Marketing major.

This calm and, in the words of Cary, “very relaxed atmo-

sphere,” allowed CPAC to focus on other topics. One such topic the conference focuses on this year was unity and diversity.

Caleb Stidham, the Vice Chairman of College Republicans, said that the attendees of CPAC seemed very “unified behind Trump.” Cary and Johnson both agreed.

The variety of viewpoints that showed up at this year’s CPAC helped contribute to the overall diversity of the conference.

“It really is a mix, and I think that’s what makes [CPAC] so

interesting,” Johnson said.

What makes CPAC special to conservatives is the idea that the typical political establishment of D.C., the people who work and have politics as their job 24/7, and the people who are enthusiasts, can work together towards the common goal of securing the “future of the party and the conservative movement,” said Johnson.

The itinerary for College Republicans also included meetings with the Ohio delegation in Congress, with additional meetings in other congressio-

nal offices. There were about a dozen total meetings.

During these meetings, the College Republicans’ Executive Board spoke with representatives’ staffs and internship coordinators, about how to make opportunities available for the College Republicans’ members, Johnson said.

“It was a nice time to take all of these political concepts that people learn about in class or that we discuss here at our meetings and really see them in action, to see how government works,” said Johnson.

Are faculty “weeding” students out of their courses?

FROM PAGE 1

each side, nine students per table. There are about 100 students per class. And instead of the entire class period being a lecture, students now spend the majority of their class-time working together with their side of the table to solve “whiteboard problems” given to them by their professor.

Stephen G. Alexander, the chief departmental advisor for Physics and a professor of the class, said the department started working towards this shift eight years ago, with the assistance of Robert Beichner, the man who invented the Scale-Up method. Research shows that students learn better by doing. And that’s the entire reason the switch was made: to help students understand the material better.

Has it worked?

That depends on who you’re talking to.

Adam Coon, a sophomore Mechanical Engineering major who took the course in fall of 2015 said, “I hated whiteboard problems. I wouldn’t pay enough attention to understand the concept, so when I got to the whiteboard problem, my group and I would just stare at the whiteboard.”

Kelley Patterson, a first-year student in the class last semester, had a similar structure to her physics class in high school, ex-

cept the problems they would do on their whiteboards had been done the previous day in the homework.

“Doing the problems before doing them on the whiteboard, like in homework, really helps,” she said.

But in PHY 191 at Miami, students are expected to know how to solve these “whiteboard problems” just ten minutes after being introduced to the concept and a few equations, with no previous example problems on which to base their work.

Exams Another thing that changed with the switch to a ScaleUp system is the structure of the exams.

In the past, the questions all consisted of free-response problems, the same way most math and other Physics classes have their exams set up here at Miami.

But with the switch to a ScaleUp system came the onslaught of multiple-choice questions. Why? Alexander said it’s for efficiency.

With a class of nearly one-hundred students, grading completely free-response exams is impossible.

This semester, the exams generally have 14 multiple-choice questions and two free-response.

The thing that kills students on the multiple-choice portion of the exam is that it’s either all or noth-

ing. There’s no in-between. And each multiple-choice problem is worth five out of a total of 100 points.

“I was frustrated with the multiple-choice exams, and that was the main thing that messed me up in the end. Like, I understood the concepts, but I would make a tiny mistake in the problem, and it would cost me five percent,” said Ben Amend, a Physics and Math double-major.

In addition to hating the large

of the class.

And trip students up, these multiple-choice questions definitely do. According to Jennifer Blue, a professor in the physics department, exam scores became so bad after the switch to ScaleUp, that professors had no choice but to drop their students’ lowest exam score.

How about it being a weed-out course now?

Weed out or not?

“It weeds out the weak, whether that may be intentional or not.”

COLIN EVANS

MIAMI UNIVERSITY FIRST-YEAR

weight these multiple-choice questions carry, students don’t like how professors list answers that are often arrived at by a simple mistake along with the correct answer.

“The multiple-choice format is good because you get guidance on the questions, but it ends up trivializing the problem. The answers are designed to trip you up,” said Nick Hutchison, a former student

According to Alexander, the class is not a weed-out class. But in a survey of 38 students of the class, 35 of them claim that it is.

Why the disparity in views?

Are students just not trying hard enough and unreasonably checkoff their failing grade to the fact that it’s a weed-out?

It all comes down to how one defines the term weed-out course.

“We don’t have a set quota of

people we need to fail the class like some medical programs do.

The material is just challenging,” Alexander said. “That’s why so many people end up dropping.”

In other words, he defines the term “weed-out course” as a course where the professor is actively trying to get a certain number of students to drop, something that PHY 191 isn’t doing.

What’s surprising, however, is that most students who define PHY 191 as a weed-out class agree with Alexander.

“I don’t think they want people to drop. Professors are always doing their best to help us,” said Colin Evans, a first-year Computer Science major who is taking part two of the class.

And yet, Evans still claims it’s a weed-out course.

Why? In simple terms, because people are being weeded out.

According to Grade Distribution statistics that Miami reports every semester, of the 482 nonhonors students in the class last fall, 70 had dropped by the end of the semester. That’s close to 15 percent. In Fall of 2013, the last year before the switch to ScaleUp, the drop rate was eight percent.

The year before that was similar — 9 percent.

“It weeds out the weak, whether that may be intentional or not,” said Evans.

Culture

4

SHUMANDB@MIAMIOH.EDU

TUESDAY, MARCH 7, 2017

Graduate students direct plays for first annual IAS THEATRE

KELLY BURNS

THE MIAMI STUDENT

Miami University’s theatre scene was alive and well this past week thanks to the Independent Artist Series that took place around campus.

The Independant Artist Series, which premiered this year, is a series of performances put on and directed by graduate students. The series serves as part of their capstone program.

Each director chose to adapt an established play or bring their own original to the series based on their personal interests. Kayla Loree, the director of “The Eradication of Schizophrenia in Western Lapland,” chose this particular play, which deals with mental illness, after she became interested in psychology as an undergrad.

“Once I got the theatre bug, I didn’t want to pursue psychology, but I wanted to kind of marry the two together,” she said. “I did a report about this play last semester and was just so infatuated by the idea of it.”

The other shows in the series range in topics. “Blu” and “Mac’s World,” which were directed by Jeffrey Miller, deal with the effects of bullying.

“For Remembrance, Rosemary,” directed by Natasia Reinhardt, looks at victims of abuse through the lense of Ophelia from “Hamlet.” David DeVita directed “The Latest Show,” which centers on a late night television program.

Casting for these shows began in November when other students audi-

in Western Lapland” involves a split stage where two shows are going on concurrently. The audience watches one side and then the other before the story becomes clear. Doree loved the play when she studied it in psychology during her undergraduate studies and felt honored to be directing an adaptation of it for her capstone program.

“Directing is something that I think is really fun,” Loree said.

“Somebody’s putting their artwork in your hands and you get to interpret it, and I feel like that’s such a big opportunity. To be able to put your own spin on somebody else’s established art is so cool.”

The plays required hours of work and rehearsal each week to bring them up to each director’s expectations. For Loree, whose play was put on in experimental space, the bonds within the cast are what helped her pull off the show.

“We were able to get a really good connection between the cast members, even with some of them being theatre majors and some of them being like ‘I just kind of want to try this out,’” she said. “We’ve been kind of able to build it into a family, which is great.”

As the premiere of the series got closer and closer, directors stepped away and handed control over to the stage managers for tech week.

Lienhart remembers the week as stressful but rewarding. She and the other stage managers ran shows in their entirety to make sure that they were as good as they could be.

“We have three different shows

BETH PFOHL THE MIAMI STUDENT

The Independent Artist Series, in its inaugural year, allows graduate students to direct and produce a play of their choosing. tioned and were cast in a play as cast or crew or both.

The audition wasn’t exclusively open to theatre majors, though.

“Several theatre majors, as well as non-majors, attended the casting call in which they read sides from the pieces and were cast from there,” said junior theatre major, Nate Bissinger, who auditioned and became a part of “The Latest Show.”

Doree’s stage manager, Lauren Lienhart, is a first-year theatre major.

The technical aspects of the play, as well as the focus on mental health, which was a major theme throughout the entire series, inspired Lienhart to become a part of the program.

“The Eradication of Schizophrenia

that were being produced within the series this week so there was a lot of load-in and load-out involved,” Lienhart said. “Every night we would run every show at least once.”

She worked in tandem with the stage managers of “Blu” and “For Remembrance, Rosemary” before all three shows premiered last weekend.

“We all worked together in order to make things run as smooth as possible, and it ended up being a really fun experience,” Lienhart said.

The response that the shows received, even before they officially premiered, was beyond expectations. Loree opened up her dress reTHEATRE »PAGE 9

BETH PFOHL THE MIAMI STUDENT

Danny Heller acts in Kayla Loree’s production of “The Eradication of Schizophrenia in Western Lapland” during the IAS.

19 and published: Freshman Alex Taylor co-authors novel BOOKS

EMMA KINGHORN THE MIAMI STUDENT

Alex Taylor always wanted to be a writer.

And at age 19, she is about to publish her very first novel.

Her passion for writing was born at a young age. Enchanted by American Girl Dolls and their accompanying books, Alex composed her first piece of writing at age 7, titled “Meet Alex”.

She recognized the power of writing and often claims that, “Story is the most powerful thing on the whole planet.”

One particular story niche captured her mind: Growing up in the age of dystopian powerhouses such as “The Hunger Games” and “The Maze Runner,” Alex was caught on the idea of centering a novel in a post-apocalyptic world.

“I always knew I wanted to write a book like that,” she said. “Always.”

She did just that.

Her first novel, “Breathe”, cowritten with best-selling thriller novelist Jack Patterson, is set in the post-nuclear war future. All remaining forms of human life exist in cities encased by bubbles and rely on their daily issued pills to fight nuclear radiation. But as the population increases beyond the capacity of these bubbles, the government must find a way to weed out the unneeded citizens.

However, instead of developing a dramatic and heart-entrancing love story to drive “Breathe,” Alex chose instead to showcase a strong sisterhood based on her own sibling relationship.

“I wanted to change it up,” she said.

Her little sister, Ansley, is 4 years younger than her. They are very close now, but for much of their childhood they fought. The two sisters in the novel have the same struggling relationship — at times very difficult, but founded in love.

It was Patterson, one of her dad’s friends from college, who recognized Alex’s talent early in her childhood.

He remembers visiting a bookstore with her when she was 10 years old and watching her grab books off the shelves that seemed too large and adult for a tween. She eagerly told him that she wanted to be a writer and showed him pieces of writing she had done.

“She’s got some writing chops for a 10-year-old,” Patterson remembers thinking.

A few years later Alex sent him more pieces, and Patterson was again taken aback by her natural talent.

“I know how bad I was when I started out. I was terrible,” he said, “And here was this girl. . .she’s got some raw talent.”

When Patterson extended the opportunity to co-write a novel together, high school sophomore Alex jumped at the opportunity. They spent almost three years planning, drafting character sketches and hammering out chapter outlines.

Balancing a writing job while being a full-time and involved high school student wasn’t easy. A cheerleader, a thespian and dedicated student, Alex was involved around the clock and would often set the book aside.

Having deadlines to send pieces to Patterson wasn’t always enough, and Alex would ask her parents to keep her on track for her own deadlines. However, writing for so long

on a focused story took its toll on her passion.

“It burnt me out,” she said of her decision to take a six-month hiatus from writing.

Her parents and Patterson never allowed her to give up entirely, at one point even threatening her education.

“It was a college requirement,” she said. “They said ‘if you want to go to college, you’re finishing this book.’”

After returning to writing with a motivation to finish the novel, the moment finally came over winter break. “[Finishing the novel] was the best feeling in the entire world because I never thought it would happen,” she said.

Gearing up for “Breathe” to be published on May 30, Alex has now turned her focus to her studies and long-term goals. While is pursuing a creative writing minor and wants to continue writing, she wants to do so on the side. Right now, her focus is her psychology major and a comajor in film studies. Alex hopes to one day write screenplays and direct.

Her interest in screenwriting was born out of her parents nightly television watching ritual. Staying up until the early morning with them, watching classic shows like “Criminal Minds,” she fell in love.

“A good TV show can change your life,” she said. “Writing is great, but not everyone reads.”

“Everyone has a show that they love,” she added. “Media is the more accessible version of what I love: stories.”

However she tells stories, Alex plans to do so brilliantly.

“I don’t want to be mediocre,” she declared. “I want to live my life outside the box.”

Hueston Woods hosts syrup festival COMMUNITY

DEVON SHUMAN CULTURE EDITOR

The Hueston Woods State Nature Preserve comprises 200 acres of beech and maple trees that have never been cut down. Since Matthew Hueston bought the land in 1797 and fell in love with the area and with the production of maple syrup, it has been preserved and protected, and it now represents the largest mature beech maple forest in Ohio.

Which only makes it fitting that for the past half a century, the area has also played host to the Hueston Woods Maple Syrup Festival, an annual celebration of maple syrup production in Ohio.

“Maple syrup production is really the reason we have a park, so we try to do this every year,” said the park naturalist, Shawn Conner, as the 51st annual festival kicked off this past weekend.

Spanning two weekends, the festival offers visitors the ability to learn about the history and craft of making maple syrup. Hayrides leaving from Pioneer Farm on Brown Road transport syrup-lovers into the heart of the Nature Preserve, where they can enjoy a short

guided hike among the towering beeches and maples. The guides make periodic stops along the way to demonstrate how the trees are tapped before concluding at the sugar house, a cozy, smoky hut where the sap is boiled down into the pure finished product.

And of course, there is plenty of opportunity to try said product. Concession stands display an assortment of vessels containing the sugary concoction, from massive gallon jugs to artistic glass vials. A wide array of treats such as maple popcorn and maple candy are also available, while a grill by the sugarhouse offers maple hot dogs, maple burgers and funnel cake drizzled with maple syrup. And each morning, the Hueston Woods Lodge hosts a pancake breakfast, complete with sausage and coffee.

Perry Gordon, a recent retiree from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, has been conducting the sugarhouse presentation since 2011. Gordon sees the festival as a great opportunity to show people how much work truly goes into the production of maple syrup.

“A lot of people, they have no idea where that bottle of syrup comes from,” he said. “It gives people a sense of how much work goes into this, that it’s not just turn on the taps and there it is. There’s a lot of work involved.”

RYAN TERHUNE PHOTO EDITOR

Visitors to the 51st annual Hueston Woods Maple Syrup Festival can purchase jugs of pure maple syrup. The festival celebrates the history and craft of Ohio maple syrup production.

On average, it takes 40 gallons of sap to produce one gallon of pure maple syrup, a figure that becomes even more staggering when one witnesses the lethargic drip of sap exiting the tap and falling into the metal pail hanging from each maple tree. According to Conner, on a good day, a tree might yield two to three gallons of sap, which is 97 percent water. The boiling process can then take up to several hours.

Blake Kaiser, who began working as a naturalist at Hueston Woods this year, was drawn to the old-fashioned nature of this process and even plans on trying it himself next spring.

“This is almost a lost art, I guess,” he said.

“When you think of farming, you don’t think

of things like this, of maple syrup production.”

Kaiser believes that the festival offers a great opportunity for families to come to the park, enjoy the outdoors and learn about this production process.

“It’s important, I think, to get a lot of the kids out from the video games and in front of the TV screens and all of that kind of stuff and come out and see how all this stuff’s made they’re pulling off shelves at the grocery stores,” he said.

The festival continues this Saturday and Sunday. The pancake breakfast is served from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Hueston Woods Lodge, while the tours run from noon to 4, starting at Pioneer Farm.

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‘Feud’ revitalizes legendary Hollywood squabble TV

KEVIN VESTAL

THE MIAMI STUDENT

In the age of diss tracks and subtweets, celebrity feuds are more rampant than ever. From Drake and Meek Mill to Taylor Swift and Kanye West/Katy Perry/(insert name here), it seems like half of Hollywood has a score to settle.

“Feud: Bette and Joan” proves that this trend goes back decades by retelling a story of monumental celebrity warfare. Millennials may not be familiar with the lifetime rivalry between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, but they will instantly recognize their loathing in contemporary stars.

“Feud” marks producer Ryan Murphy’s third television series this year, after “American Horror Story” and “Scream Queens,” nearly putting the “Glee” producer in league with Shonda Rhimes.

Even before the debut of his latest FX show, Murphy’s successful track record has already secured “Feud” a second season that will spotlight the relationship between

Prince Charles and Princess Diana of Wales. As for the inaugural hate-fest, “Bette and Joan” couldn’t be more fitting.

Crawford (Jessica Lange) is petty, unable to accept that she has been dethroned by the “amoral” Marilyn Monroe. Davis (Susan

women fight over everything from their salaries to their placement in publicity photos. Director Robert Aldrich (Alfred Molina) is tasked with keeping the peace – and more importantly, keeping either star from walking away.

Despite the feud of “biblical pro-

“Millennials may not be familiar with the lifetime rivalry between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, but they will instantly recognize their loathing in contemporary stars.”

Sarandon) is in a similar strait, unable to find satisfying work on Broadway. Realizing that leading roles for older women are no longer being written, the two enemies join forces to create them instead via horror film “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” As soon as they sign their contracts, the two

portions” promised by the show’s documentary-framing device, the relationship between Davis and Crawford thus far seems stuck in a high school hallway. A dressing room conversation between the two at first signals mutual respect.

“You’re really good,” Davis says.

“I mean that.” Seconds later, how-

ever, Crawford accuses her co-star of being controlling, leaving Davis to storm off in search of a revenge stunt.

The show stays loyal to history while offering plenty of camp, but the loose recap of the actresses’ troubled past together fails to convey why they behave the way they do. Competing for roles and for men is never pleasant, but not receiving a thank you card after sending a congratulatory bouquet is hardly grounds for bad-mouthing someone’s career.

The drama may not yet be explosive, but the seeds have at least been planted. With a slap to his young masseuse’s ass, the temperamental Jack Warner (Stanley Tucci) epitomizes the film industry’s blatant ageism and sexism in the 1960s. Rather than address their frustrations with their industry, Crawford and Davis actively choose to aim their arrows at each other instead, much to the delight of the tabloid press.

Lange and Sarandon both shine in their roles, and Jackie Hoffman’s Mamacita makes a great

foil as Crawford’s German maid and sole confidant. She obediently waddles around the study with a wagon full of pink gifts for grips, rolling her eyes at her boss’s effort to win favor from the crew.

Kiernan Shipka’s B.D. Sherry parallels Mamacita as a counterpoint to Davis, questioning why her mother would pounce on a blonde wig once used by Crawford as a staple to her costume. It will be side characters like these who will serve as a gateway to the stars who, despite multiple congruences, are utterly alone in the cosmos.

The real story behind “Feud: Bette and Joan,” however, will not be about the violent enthusiasm Davis exhibited while kicking her co-star in the face for the camera, nor will it be about Crawford’s successful sabotage of her rival’s Oscar campaign. The real story of “Feud” is in the pain that celebrities inflict on themselves. The prideful one-upmanship is merely dessert.

Loving Adam Sandler movies without shame FILM

HALEY MILLER

THE MIAMI STUDENT

I pride myself on having generally good taste in comedy. I was raised on a steady diet of “Jeopardy,” followed by “Seinfeld,” during the weeknights of my youth. I have been known to check out numerous anthologies about the history of “Saturday Night Live” from my public library and thanks to many sleepless nights filled with Comedy Central stand-up specials, I have a well-developed understanding of the current comedy scene.

I own Aziz Ansari’s book, Modern Love, as well as Amy Poehler’s Yes Please, Tina Fey’s Bossypants and Mindy Kaling’s Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? and Why Not Me?. Not to mention, I’ve been watching Amy Schumer since before she became a cultural touchstone — that’s right, I knew Amy before “Trainwreck.” This is to say, when it comes to funny things and people, I like to think I know what I’m doing.

I realize I may sound like a snob but just wait, I am about to redeem myself. That’s right, me, pretentious comedy nerd extraordinaire has got a confession: I love Adam Sandler movies. I love them unconditionally and I love them despite every impulse I have

A.J. NEWBERRY THE MIAMI STUDENT

to hate them. It’s an on-again/ off-again totally shameful, toxic relationship that I can’t seem to shake.

These include “Billy Madison,” “Mr. Deeds,” “The Wedding Singer,” “Eight Crazy Nights,” “50 First Dates,” “Click,” “Grown Ups,” “Grown Ups 2” and let’s not forget my personal favorite, “Just Go With It.” I know that most of these movies rely heavily on poop jokes and running gags usually involving Rob Schneider, but I don’t care. I love them anyway.

There is something primal and instinctive to having a good belly laugh at Adam Sandler goofing around with his buddies, playing the same guy he’s played for 20plus years. It comes easily and doesn’t require too much thinking. The movie is going along and suddenly Adam gets especially mad and does that VOICE WHERE HE YELLS! Or maybe Rob Schneider or David Spade or a different short comedian makes a cameo as a weirdo!

Maybe you laugh because you

genuinely find a joke especially hilarious, or maybe you’re laughing because Adam Sandler is supposed to be married to Salma Hayek (“Grown Ups,” “Grown Ups 2”) or wooing Drew Barrymore (“The Wedding Singer,” “50 First Dates”) or he is torn between Brooklyn Decker and Jennifer Aniston (“Just Go With It”.)

I can stomach Adam as a leading man, at least more than his occasional co-star, Kevin James, who also has been paired with Salma Hayek and Rosario Daw-

son romantically. At least in “Just Go With It,” Adam’s character is a plastic surgeon as opposed to Kevin James’ high school teacherturned amateur wrestler and zookeeper.

But I digress; here lies my most shameful secret, laid bare for the world to read. I hope this makes at least one person feel a little less alone in their Adam Sandler addiction. If one comedy snob could admit his or her suppressed Sandler affinity, then I’ll count this article as a win.

Like it or not, HBO’s ‘Girls’ is an important millennial voice TV

KIRBY DAVIS

ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

“Girls” kicked off its sixth — and last — season on Feb. 12. The dramedy has been a magnet for public hostility since its 2012 premiere, chiefly stemming from controversial star and showrunner Lena Dunham. Complaints also generally decry its appallingly unlikable characters, as well as its nudity (excessive even by HBO’s saucy standards).

But, like it or not, “Girls” is important, and maybe even revolutionary. The show, in its troubled protagonist’s words, is not a singular defining millennial voice but certainly “a voice of a generation” — and an essential one.

It’s easy to compare “Girls” to HBO’s other New York-set, four female-led dramedy, “Sex and the City,” but the former’s being a generation younger isn’t the only thing that sets them apart. Both feature a writer main character as the eccentric axis around which their other, equally eccentric friends revolve, but are there any other discernable similarities between Carrie Brad-

shaw and Hannah Horvath? Marnie’s and Adam’s dingy Brooklyn apartments and the “SATC” ladies’ palatial suites? Is “Girls” narrated by a laptop-bound Hannah, mature enough to reflect upon her and her friends’ romantic indiscretions rather than sob about them over the phone to Jessa’s voicemail?

The answer, to all of the above, is no.

Before “Girls’” initial release, Dunham and producer Judd Apatow promised their show would stray from “Sex and the City” territory, as well as “Gossip Girls’”, a soapy six-season romp through Manhattan’s imagined prep school social scene. “’Gossip Girl’ was teens duking it out on the Upper East Side and ‘Sex and the City’ was women who figured out work and friends . . . there was this whole in between space that hadn’t really been addressed,” Dunham told The Hollywood Reporter in Jan. 2012.

That “in between space” follows the twenty-something shenanigans of Dunham’s character Hannah, a struggling writer recently cut off from her parents, and her friends: neurotic Marnie (Allison Williams),

freewheeling Jessa (Jemima Kirke) and peppy Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet), along with a host of males ranging from artsy and aloof to downright crotchety.

These are archetypes, and not radical or subversive by nature,

behavior,” Morris wrote. “The show . . . has the confidence to jump along a tightrope of displeasure.”

Almost every character on the show is the textbook definition of what older generations fear about

“‘Girls’ is important, and maybe even revolutionary.

The show, in its troubled protagonist’s words, is not a singular defining millennial voice but certainly ‘a voice of a generation’ — and an essential one.”

but their relationships, interactions and dialogue are.

The show’s fifth-season run last year may have been the first time its praise outweighed its widespread public criticism. Last April in the New York Times, Wesley Morris commended the show’s “finding ways of dramatizing its satire so that it doesn’t always seem satirical.”

“Few shows better explore the complications of personality and

millennials: self-destructive cocktails of narcissism, apathy and the inability to communicate properly with anyone or to hold down a job (or even obtain one).

In most other millennial-targeted shows (“Gossip Girl,” “Pretty Little Liars,” etc.) an impenetrable barrier exists between their viewers and the flawless versions of fellow youths they see onscreen. The only thing on these shows more absurd than 30-year-olds playing

high school sophomores is the drama they generate amongst themselves; it’s frothy, entertaining TV, but it’s not relatable.

“Girls” shatters this barrier, thoroughly and unapologetically.

True, its home in HBO provides more opportunities than, say, The CW or Freeform, but it sets an example that other channels can follow (perhaps with less gratuitous sex scenes).

Through its titular “Girls,” the show presents real twenty-somethings who make bad decisions and deal with the consequences, usually poorly. They wear underwear with holes in them and eat cupcakes for breakfast and fight over things other than boys. They candidly struggle with mental illness and they’re not flawless and things don’t always work out for them in the end.

TV isn’t a spectator sport; anyone watching anything wants to see some parts of themselves in the show’s characters. They want to be able to relate in some capacity, and usually this means reaching for trivial connections that aren’t really there. With “Girls,” women (and probably some men) watching, they don’t have to reach.

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89th Oscars ceremony takes steps toward diversity, but still has a long way to go ‘Moonlight’s’ win marks progress for the Academy FILM

JACK RYAN

THE MIAMI STUDENT

I’ll spare you the preface — everyone knows what happened Feb. 26 on the stage of the Dolby Theater, as the biggest awards show of the year came to a close. We’ve all seen the image of producer Jordan Horowitz holding “Moonlight’s” Best Picture card with Warren Beatty looking like a scared little kid behind him; we’ve all seen the bewildered faces of A-list stars as the bizarre sequence unfolded.

But now, nine days removed from not just the craziest moment in Oscars history, but one of the craziest in the history of live television, it’s time we settle from the hot takes on which PricewaterhouseCoopers accountant is to blame and look closely at the true winner of the night — “Moonlight”.

The film is a number of firsts for the Academy — the first movie with an all-black cast to win Best Picture, as well as the first LGBTQ movie to do the same. Following a historically controversial year where no people of color were nominated for any of the major acting awards, many are responding with a sense of redemption for the Academy, praising it for its push for diversity.

“Moonlight’s” win was certainly unprecedented — at least accord-

A.J. NEWBERRY THE MIAMI STUDENT

ing to FiveThirtyEight, which used awards season wins and nominations to make predictions for Oscar night, and found “La La Land” to be its frontrunner by a large margin — but it doesn’t necessarily herald the realignment of the film industry in the way that people are expecting it to.

“Moonlight” was written in 2013, coordinated in 2014 and shot in late 2015, before any of the 2016 Oscar nominations were even announced.

The year’s other two Best Picture films that focused on diversity, “Fences” and “Hidden Figures,”

were also written and coordinated before last year’s Oscars. We are currently riding the tail end of work that was created much earlier than many think; we are seeing movies that were made in lieu of the industry’s former sentiments, rather than as a result of changed minds.

This continued inequality extends into the realm of the Oscars as well.

While people celebrate Mahershala Ali and Viola Davis making up half of the acting Oscar winners (Best Supporting Actor and Actress, respectively), imagine if Viola had run in, and likely won, the appropriate

category for her role — Best Actress.

It would have been much more fitting for one of the greatest actresses of a generation, and Naomie Harris of Moonlight would have most likely taken home the Supporting Actress trophy in Davis’ place.

Even more so, imagine if Denzel Washington had taken home the Oscar, and the Academy had taken the sexual harassment claims levied toward Casey Affleck with the same level of anger that they did toward “Birth of a Nation’s” Nate Parker.

While Affleck privately settled his lawsuits out of court, Parker is es-

sentially blacklisted from Hollywood, despite his completed trial and acquittal. Of course, the Academy is notorious for devaluing major scandals of white men in the past, bestowing both Roman Polanski and Woody Allen Oscars after their controversies.

All that stood in the way of an assumed sweep of the acting categories was self-inflicted category fraud and a blind eye turned toward Affleck’s past in the name of “performance over person.”

We are at a crossroads of equality in our current cinematic landscape, as institutions like the BAFTAs look to make diversity a necessary requirement for nomination — and inevitably encourage studio executives and producers to hedge their bets by creating empty roles for ethnic characters, essentially quantifying diversity.

Last year, amongst the “Oscars So White” buzz, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the president of the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts & Sciences, announced, “This is a membership organization, so we are all involved in this discussion and moving the subject of diversity forward.” She also called on the industry itself to create more roles for people of color, and work harder to tell their stories as well. We at least know now that one of them is sticking to this conviction.

‘Logan’ delivers a fine superhero movie, better character drama FILM

SAM KEELING

THE MIAMI STUDENT

Wolverine has been the biggest player in the “X-Men” film franchise since it began way back in 2000, renewing the industry’s fascination with superheroes and jump-starting Hugh Jackman’s career. It’s a shame, then, that his first two solo films as the clawed mutant never quite figured out what makes the character so intriguing to countless fans. However, Jackman’s ninth(!) and final outing as Wolverine, “Logan,” hones in on the most intriguing parts of the character with surprisingly powerful results.

Taking place in 2029, “Logan” finds the titular character in bad shape. After a huge movement to terminate all of mutantkind, there are seemingly only three of their kind left: our grizzled anti-hero, the mutant-tracker Caliban (Stephen Merchant), and a very old, very frail Charles Xavier/Professor X (Patrick Stewart). They live as recluses somewhere below the Mexican border, with Logan driving limos with the hopes of making enough money

to get away from all the chaos.

The film’s setting marks a jarring change from the rest of the franchise. Director James Mangold takes his inspiration from classic Westerns and post-apocalyptic fiction à la Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road.” Logan and Xavier are stuck in limbo; they are figurative and literal wanderers, searching hopelessly for purpose or safety, looking back on the death of everyone they loved and looking forward to nothing but their demise. It’s a decidedly bleak drama, where hope rarely reveals itself to its characters or the audience.

To make matters worse, both Logan and Professor X are dying. The former is being poisoned by adamantium, the metal in his body that grants him his healing ability and metal claws. The latter’s all-powerful brain is breaking down, causing devastating seizures that harm not only Xavier, but also any mutant around him. Watching their mighty powers fail and cripple these once-great heroes is one of the many effective emotional aspects of “Logan.”

Logan is slowly decaying from

alcoholism and illness when he is approached by a young girl named Laura (newcomer Dafne Keen), whom Logan discovers is actually a science experiment by an evil corporation designed using his own DNA. She is another claw-wielding, re-

“Jackman’s ninth(!) and final outing as Wolverine, ‘Logan,’ hones in on the most intriguing parts of the character.”

generating mutant. Logan is forced out of his rut to protect her from the mutant-hunting Reavers, led by Pierce (Boyd Holbrook), tracking her down.

Family dynamics are where “Logan” truly shines. Xavier and Logan have always shared a father-son relationship, and Stewart and Jackman play it perfectly in this movie.

Their interactions are tense and Logan is distant, largely due to his fear of the inevitable: losing the last per-

son that he loves. Xavier, on the other hand, longs to return to normalcy he firmly believes to be achievable, even as his former pupil discards the notion as absurd.

Adding Laura into the mix puts Logan in the position of Xavier, protecting their child figure from emotional and physical evils. The chemistry between these three is remarkable. As they drive Laura north in hopes of evading Pierce and his Reavers, they glimpse images of normal life. Xavier and Laura grasp at whatever semblance of happiness they can, and Logan shies away from it.

“Logan” does suffer from certain problems, some of which run rampant in the superhero genre. For one, the antagonists are cut-anddry baddies with no characterization whatsoever. This is especially saddening when it comes to Pierce; Boyd Holbrook proved himself as a talented actor in Netflix’s “Narcos,” yet he’s given nothing to do here except look cool and speak in a Texas drawl. Merchant’s Caliban is a nifty plot catalyst and little else.

When it comes to action, “Logan” takes full advantage of its R rat-

ing, with extended scenes of brutal mutilation and bloody dismemberment. Unfortunately, Logan’s fighting style is decidedly straightforward: slicing and dicing with the occasional stab and flip. As a result, some of the actions scenes (aside from a particularly exhilarating one at a farmhouse) feel repetitive and bloated, and take away from the condensed, ultra-focused storytelling.

These minor problems could have a bigger effect on a less impressive movie, but “Logan’s” powerhouse performances ensure that the film doesn’t lose its way, as it rushes to a poignant ending. Stewart and Jackman, neither of whom are expected to return to the franchise, get worthy send-offs for their characters.

Both seasoned actors, they get one last chance to create nuanced performances out of action heroes, and they do just that. A break from costumed spectacle and emphasis on character complexity is exactly the note this beloved character needed to end on.

Reading ‘Harry Potter’ for the first time — as an adult BOOKS

AUDREY DAVIS NEWS EDITOR

In my first eighteen years of life, I managed to avoid all things “Harry Potter.”

I tried reading the books in second grade when someone gave me the first four, but after my dad and I read the first chapter together, we deemed them uninteresting. In fourth grade, I sold those same first four books in a class mini-mall for $40 of fake money — I didn’t even think twice about giving them away.

As I got older, I never once regretted my decision. Whenever my friends talked about the books or movies, I would simply stop listening just in case I one day decided to give the books another try. I live by a strict “no watching the movies until after reading the books” policy, so I never watched the movies either.

In early December 2015, I sat in my small journalism class listening to every single person in

the room discuss “Harry Potter” and Miami’s Quidditch team. I knew the gist of the story, but I didn’t know the rules of Quidditch, so I began asking questions. Many of my friends in the class were appalled when they discovered I had never even read the first book. Even my professor was shocked. How could I have possibly gone so long without reading the most popular series in the world?

My professor approached me at the end of class and explained why he liked the books so much and how he thought I should give them one more try. I, admittedly, was hesitant because my life seemed just fine without having read or watched “Harry Potter.”

But when I got back to my dorm, I called my parents. My birthday was in four days, and I had an idea for one more present: the first “Harry Potter” book.

“Those books are for children, Audrey,” my dad said, laughing at my request.

However, on the first day of my nineteenth year, my parents gave in and bought me a “children’s” book. I read “The Sorcerer’s Stone” in a day. I was hooked. I needed more, and I needed it now.

A self-described nerd, my family shouldn’t have been surprised when I added a few new books to my Christmas list. My

mom to let me buy “The Chamber of Secrets” on my first day home for break but was forced to wait until Christmas to read the next two.

Luckily, ABC Family held their yearly “Harry Potter” marathon before Christmas, and I was finally willing to watch the movies. I recorded them all, so I could watch each one as I fin-

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dad criticized my choices, as expected. Instead of my usual historical fiction selections, I wanted the next three Harry Potter books. I even convinced my

ished the books.

I’m only on “Order of the Phoenix,” but I’m emotionally connected to the characters and very determined to finish the

series. In fact, (spoiler alert) when someone told me that Sirius Black eventually dies, I had a not-so-minor meltdown. I wasn’t prepared. That was when I realized just how much these books now mean to me.

I don’t regret my decision to wait so long to read the books.

In fact, I think I have a much greater appreciation for them.

I avoided (almost) every single spoiler, so I’m able to experience so many different emotions as I go along.

If you think you missed your chance to read “Harry Potter” in your childhood days, you are wrong. Take my advice and just get past the first chapter of the first book. J.K. Rowling, in my opinion, takes a very long time to introduce the story in each book, but once you get past that, it becomes an amazing experience that makes you wish you were a student at Hogwarts.

Reading Harry Potter at 19 years old was most definitely worth the wait.

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TUESDAY, MARCH 7, 2017

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FROM FLOYD » PAGE 1

at IU, which was blossoming in a way he never experienced at Marshall.

“I felt like I had some citizenship there when I was younger, I don’t feel that connection as strongly anymore, but I still love live music,” Nate said.

Nate uses music as a mnemonic device of sorts.

The way he remembers how he felt or what was happening during a particular time in his life can be traced back through his playlists on Spotify. Some tracks represent various relationships, while others relate to current events both in Nate’s life and throughout the world.

“When I’m at a punk show, I enjoy the

music, but I also feel like I’m there as kind of an ethnographer in the sense that I’m observing this scene,” Nate said. “When you’re not super involved in something but you’re just observing, you kind of see some things that others who are fully invested can’t see.”

When considering whether or not there was a connection between his research into journalism education and his appreciation for the punk rock scene, Nate paused briefly.

“There’s a connection between the study of media and audiences and this joy of listening to music and watching people who are playing,” Nate said. “But also I enjoy music in the same way that anyone else does, independent of my research.”

FROM AAUP » PAGE 1

FROM FLOYD » PAGE 1

identity,” it reads.

The meeting also included a discussion about how to create a more welcoming atmosphere for international or undocumented students and faculty. Members were encouraged to think beyond measures of safety and to be conscious when planning social events that individuals are not unintentionally being excluded from these activities.

“It’s clear that the times are calling on all of us to work harder to protect our students and faculty and to create an atmosphere in which all of us can learn and thrive,” the post says.

The statement also serves as a call to action to the Miami community.

“We call on all parts of the community, including Miami leadership, to commit to doing everything in their power to affirm and protaect the human and civil rights of members of the Miami community,” it reads.

The full statement can be found on the Miami AAUP website.

at IU, which was blossoming in a way he never experienced at Marshall.

“I felt like I had some citizenship there when I was younger, I don’t feel that connection as strongly anymore, but I still love live music,” Nate said.

Nate uses music as a mnemonic device of sorts.

The way he remembers how he felt or what was happening during a particular time in his life can be traced back through his playlists on Spotify. Some tracks represent various relationships, while others relate to current events both in Nate’s life and throughout the world.

“When I’m at a punk show, I enjoy the music, but I also feel like I’m there as kind of an ethnographer in the sense that I’m observing this scene,” Nate said. “When you’re not super involved in something but you’re just observing, you kind of see some things that others who are fully invested can’t see.”

When considering whether or not there was a connection between his research into journalism education and his appreciation for the punk rock scene, Nate paused briefly.

“There’s a connection between the study of media and audiences and this joy of listening to music and watching people who are playing,” Nate said. “But also I enjoy music in the same way that anyone else does, independent of my research.”

WWW.MIAMISTUDENT.NET

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LIFEGUARD: SALARY: $9.00/ hr. – Must possess or be enrolled in lifeguarding certification course and CPR/FPR, as well as complete and pass routine training sessions with Oxford Parks and Recreation Department.

RECREATION TECHNICIAN: SALARY: $10/hr. – App. 12-15 hrs. per week April – September.

Assist with sports field prep, sports programs and other community events as needed.

Previous outdoor field work and sports experience a plus; must be able to lift 50 lbs. Flexible schedule includes some weekends, evenings and early mornings. Valid Driver’s License required.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE: ACity of Oxford application must be mailed, faxed or delivered to: Oxford Parks and Recreation Dept. c/o Casey Wooddell 6025 Fairfield Road Oxford, Ohio 45056 Office: (513) 523-6314 cwooddell@cityofoxford.org http://www.cityofoxford.org Please note position(s) of interest.

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9

TUESDAY, MARCH 7, 2017

FROM THEATRE »PAGE 4

FROM DRINKING » PAGE 1

hearsal to the public after they had sold out the shows, and the dress rehearsal almost sold out.

Lienhart is ecstatic that they got the response that they did.

“The cast and crew have worked insanely hard the weeks building up to opening, and it was awesome to see the message of the show resonate with so many people,” she said.

The Independant Artists Series isn’t over yet. “The Latest Show,” directed by David Devita, will run April 5-8 in Williams Hall.

Rice.

During her time at Miami, Leslie McNeill, the assistant director for peer education and substance abuse prevention, has seen the severe consequences that high-risk drinking can have on students.

“Sometimes people talk about being afraid to call [police], but there’s nothing worse than somebody losing their life,” said McNeill.

McNeill said the implementation of Miami’s Good Samaritan Policy came from a push from the students themselves.

“Good Samaritan came about

because students advocated for it, and when I look at major changes that have happened on campus, students are the ones that make it happen,” said McNeill.

Chief Jones of OPD and Sgt. Susan Tobergate of MUPD will join members of OESCR and HAWKS in a panel discussion to answer student’s questions about what to do if someone is overly intoxicated and how to properly get them medical attention.

“The panel’s goal is encourage students to call and never hesitate because they are worried about getting into trouble. That’s the whole reason why Miami established the Good Samaritan Policy,”

said Rice.

Pamphlets on sexual assault and pens with the signs and symptoms of alcohol poisoning printed on them will be available for students to take following the presentations.

This event is part of a HAWKS campus-wide effort during March to raise awareness about high-risk drinking and what students can do to engage in lower risk drinking and legal drinking. This can include drinking less, being wary of where someone drinks and being careful on spring break with drinking, drugs and sexual activities.

Miami’s Good Samaritan Policy states that student protection is not available to students who vio-

late other university policies that warrant disciplinary action such the possession of false identification, assault or property damage.

They also state that the university requires students to meet with OESCR and take an educational course and/or meet with a university substance abuse specialist in order to learn, assess and possibly be referred for further treatment.

This is to help students learn from a serious mistake so they can avoid similar mistakes in the future.

If you do identify someone who needs immediate medical attention for any reason, call 911 or Miami’s police number: 513-5292222.

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Opinion

10

EDITORIAL@MIAMISTUDENT.NET

TUESDAY, MARCH 7, 2017

Survivors who come forward change the campus culture The following piece, written by the editorial editors, reflects the majority opinion of the editorial board.

T

he beginning of the semester marked a spike in reported sexual assaults at Miami, with five Campus Crime Alerts for sexual assault sent out in the month of February alone. Most happened in dorms on campus, all on the weekends and all in the early hours of the morning.

All the victims were female.

Meanwhile, the university is currently under federal investigation for what The Miami Student reported as “its handling of sexual assault cases.”

In a letter addressed to Miami President Gregory Crawford, the Ohio State Department of Higher Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) stated that Miami “failed to promptly and equitably respond to complaints, reports and/or incidents of sexual violence of which it had notice.” This, the student who filed the complaint said, encouraged a “sexually hostile environment” at the university.

This is a new development in an age-old yet complicated story: the story of sexual assaults on college campuses. Consistently with this topic, the same studies are cited, the same stories are told and the difficulty (and importance) in reporting more than the hard facts of each individual case lies in the notion that sexual assault happens

“The pattern is predictable and its horror...lies in that.”

in a pattern. Generally, the victim is assaulted, they are scrutinized by either the peers they confide in or their own previous beliefs, and then the report falls into the blackhole of university logistics and politics.

The pattern is predictable and its horror ­­– and the difficulty of chronicling it in a way that will motivate already-disillusioned students into inciting change – lies in that. Indeed, according to the University of Kentucky Center for Research on Violence Against Women, only about 37 percent of rape cases ever get prosecuted, and only 18 percent of those end in conviction. More patterns: women who know their attacker are far less likely to report

OSU, Miami assaults shed light on epidemic SEXUAL ASSAULT

HANNAH MEIBERS COLUMNIST

Within the month of February, there had been five reported sexual assaults on Miami University’s campus. They occurred off-campus and on-campus, leaving many students and faculty to question why the number of assaults have increased in this past month. However, Miami is not alone in these attacks.

The Ohio State University recently lost one of its students to sexual assault: Reagan D. Tokes. Tokes was kidnapped, assaulted and murdered by Brian Golsby. In The Ohio State University President Michael Drake’s full statement, he told his students, “As always, the safety and well-being of our community is our first priority.” Many students took their campus’s law enforcement with a grain of salt; however, they did not realize how much this protection would mean to them in a time of tragedy.

Riley Sagan, a freshman at OSU, gave an insight on the change Tokes’ death has created on campus. “You’re always going to be affected by the death of someone at your school, even if you didn’t know them.” Sagan spoke to the fear murder and sexual assault on campus can instill.

The Ohio State University is known for its school spirit and size, raking in approximately 66,000 students for the school year of

their case immediately after it happens, prosecutors typically take cases they can win, white victims typically get more cases prosecuted than victims of color and any data on rape cases is based solely on reported rapes, which are significantly fewer than rapes and sexual assaults that actually happen.

A break in the pattern happens when victims come forward against whole institutions, just as that student did earlier this year when they issued the report to the OCR against Miami. But it also doesn’t have to be that revolutionary. Nor should it have to start with the victim. It’s clear that the Miami community caught on to the toxic environment before it was

brought under official investigation. The university trained counselors at the Student Counseling Center, strengthening its commitment to Title IX and implementing a Prevention Education Coordinator which will, in theory, stop sexual assault before it can start. But prevention efforts need to come from the community as well, and community input is – this cannot be overstated – extremely valuable.

The simple fact of the spike of reported sexual assaults in February likely means one of two things: first, there were simply more sexual assaults, or second, more victims were empowered to report them.

One way to move toward discovering which is more true is by participating in campus-wide feedback. Currently, Miami’s annual sexual assault survey is circulating in students’ emails, and the only way for Miami students and faculty to get a more accurate picture of the campus climate is by having its students take the time to answer the survey. While it’s true that victims and survivors shouldn’t have to relive their trauma, reporting assault is a way to prevent future assault on campus.

Take the time this week to answer that survey. It could mean a world of difference to future Miami students.

A.J. NEWBERRY’S EXTROSPECTIVE FIELD JOURNAL

2016. Just as Tokes’ rape and death affected all of OSU, so too have the increasing sexual assaults at Miami.

Miami University Police Department’s Chief of Police, John McCandless, discussed the commonality of sexual assaults on college campuses.

“College campuses are very safe places to be ... We live in society, so we live where anything possible can happen,” McCandless said.

According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, one in five women and one in 16 men are sexually attacked while attending a college campus. However, 90 percent of these assaults are not reported.

The question is, have victims become more comfortable to step forward and report, or are the assaults actually increasing?

McCandless remains unsure. “I would like to believe in a greater comfort level in victims. Could sexual assaults be increasing though?

I guess.”

We can only hope so. Coming forward isn’t easy, but neither is living in fear.

It’s important to remember that you are not alone. Chief McCandless, on behalf of the entire Miami University Police Department, wants Miami students to know, “We really hope that anyone who’s been victimized knows they can call us.”

MEIBERHL@MIAMIOH.EDU

A.J. NEWBERRY NEWBERAJ@MIAMIOH.EDU

Ask Angela: Should I stay or should I go?

RELATIONSHIPS

Hey Angela, I need to get some input on my current dilemma. I have this “boyfriend” ... I put boyfriend in quotes because he isn’t really my boyfriend.

This guy is someone that I liked to have fun with on the weekends around 2 a.m., if you know what I mean. We have had this routine of “hanging out” for almost 2 years now. Recently, he has been acting sort of weird, not responding to late night texts, Snapchats, etc.

However, he hits me up every once in a while and everything is totally normal. I really want to keep hanging out with this guy but I can’t help but think I’m just hurting myself!

Should I ditch him? And if I do, how do I find a new “boyfriend?”

Thanks Girl, Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Dear Should I Stay or Should I Go, My first reaction to this — kick his ass to the curb.

This situation is all too familiar.

The feeling that the guy you’re seeing is your “boyfriend” without the title or commitment, the 2 a.m. weekend sex that is the highlight of your week, the internal tug of war of “Do I stay because it’s convenient and consistent, or do I move on because he’s kind of a dick?”

I wish I had listened to my friends when they gave me this advice, so I’m not going to sugarcoat it. This is what you need to hear. And for those of you who are used to some classic Angela zingers, look away now, because it’s about to get real.

The reality of the situation is that he’s using you. Perhaps you’re using each other — I’m sure you get something out of hanging out with him too. But trust me when I say that

the levels of care are so disproportionate in this relationship that it’s almost comical. And if the scales are out of whack, it’s time to say goodbye.

Quite frankly, I don’t like how he thinks that this can all be on his terms. He leaves you hanging nine times out of 10, but you’re supposed to answer at his every beck and call?

I think not.

Even if you’re just looking for a bang-buddy, you deserve someone who will at least respond to your messages and say, “Hey, I’m busy tonight, how about next Friday?”

You deserve someone who is down for something casual, provided that’s what you want, but will still treat you like the damn princess that you are. It doesn’t need to be hearts and flowers, but a McDonald’s run after morning sex, a simple hello when you see each other on your way to class and the decency to care enough to see how you are

every once in a blue moon wouldn’t hurt.

And while on the subject of bang buddies, let me just address this now. There is a horrible notion on this campus and perhaps in society as a whole that you’re allowed to treat the person you’re having sex with like a piece of trash. No strings attached is not an excuse or justification for a guy to treat you like anything less than a friend. Hence the term fuck “buddy.”

You can be friends with the person and in fact, you should be. It’s so much easier when you’re good enough friends with someone to talk about these things, to open up the lines of communication.

The point of having a bang-buddy is to have someone to have a good time with, both inside and outside the bedroom. You don’t have to be “dating” (I know that’s a big scary world to a lot of people, myself included), but there’s nothing wrong

with going to grab lunch or see a movie.

You are hurting yourself at this point. It’s time to move on because there’s someone bigger (wink wink) and better on the horizon for you.

Don’t hang around waiting for this loser to text you at 2 a.m. this Saturday. You deserve better.

As for how to find a new “boyfriend,” don’t start looking on Tinder, don’t start looking Uptown and at the bars. Start with the cute kid sitting across from you in your PoliSci class. Start with that guy in line behind you at Starbucks. You’ll be surprised what you find when you stop looking and start seeing.

So start by saying goodbye. Don’t make the mistake of staying around and regretting it like I did.

Sincerely, Angela ASKANGELA@GMAIL.COM

EDITORIAL@MIAMISTUDENT.NET

OPINION 11

TUESDAY, MARCH 7, 2017

In terms of costly dining, MU takes the cake DINING SERVICES

JAKE GOLD

GUEST COLUMNIST

Few issues earn as much ire on Miami’s campus as the meal plan.

The hours for dining halls are bizarre and unwieldy. Buffet swipes disappear after each semester. The Diplomat Discount, giving 33 percent off every declining balance purchase, is gone.

Another big one: cost. Even the lowest tier of Diplomat meal plans (dubbed Diplomat Minimum) costs almost $2,000, which seems — at first glance, at least — to be

an absurd amount of money for something with so many glaring weaknesses. Gallup reports that the average young adult spends $173 per week on food, or nearly $9,000 per year.

So is the meal plan really such a bad investment? Let’s look at the numbers.

Assuming that each declining balance dollar is equal to one U.S. dollar (which, as you’ll soon see, is not a great assumption), a meal swipe costs between $7 and $8, based on the Diplomat Minimum and Diplomat Standard meal plans in 2016-2017.

Depending on how much and how often you eat at buffet locations, that’s not a bad deal. But if, like many students, you’re left with over 100 meal swipes remaining at the end of the semester, you’re effectively paying more than $12 per meal. That’s less appetizing.

But declining balance is where the university’s meal plan goes nuts.

Based on a brief comparison of prices at Armstrong’s Emporium vs. Walmart, the average cost markup exceeds 85 percent.

A college staple — Kraft Mac & Cheese (2.05oz) — costs $0.80 at

Here’s to the fools who dream: Let the upsets inspire you ENTERTAINMENT

ALISON PERELMAN GUEST COLUMNIST

I knew I was going to have to wake up in the middle of the night, miss the red carpet interviews and settle for a blown-out image through FaceTime if I wanted to watch the Oscars.

The night of the Academy Awards is like Christmas for me — a night I look forward to all year because of the speeches, the jabbing jokes and the video montages of the year’s best movies that make my heart swell. I was determined to watch it live with my family, despite the six-hour time difference between the U.S. and Luxembourg. It was tradition.

It wasn’t perfect, but I still got to laugh at Jimmy Kimmel’s surprised tour group, hear Viola Davis give yet another powerful speech and share a play-by-play of the night with my mom and sister in our group text.

My favorite to win everything was “La La Land.” The film follows Mia (Emma Stone), a struggling writer and actress, and Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), a passionate pianist desperately trying to save jazz, as they navigate the difficult paths to their dreams in present day Los Angeles.

I immediately fell in love with the music, the colorful sets and costumes, Stone and Gosling’s chemistry, something I can only describe as “my kind of ending” and the oldHollywood feel of it all. The bittersweet message and those few music notes leave me inspired, hopeful and satisfied, yet longing for something at the same time.

The night — and “La La Land’s” six wins — built up to the final minutes when the 2017 Best Picture was announced. I held my breath, waiting to hear Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway announce “La La Land,” the film I knew deserved Best Picture.

“And the Academy Award goes to … ‘La La Land.’”

My face lit up in my dark room and I cheered silently, grabbing my phone to share my giddiness in a text to my family back home.

Then suddenly, as if I had blinked for a second too long, I didn’t know what was happening. Fred Berger awkwardly stopped in the middle of his speech and Jordan Horowitz was saying something I didn’t understand. “‘Moonlight,’ you guys won Best Picture. This is not a joke,” Horowitz said, motioning for the other cast and crew to replace them on stage.

It had to be a joke. But who would make that kind of joke at the Oscars? Suddenly I realized no one in the Dolby Theatre knew what was happening either.

Horowitz repeated the words into the microphone, holding up the Best Picture envelope so the cameras could zoom in on the words.

“Moonlight.”

I didn’t move. Maybe, even though I was almost 6,000 miles and nine time zones away, I didn’t want to disrupt what was happening anymore than it already had

been.

But it was real. And then it was over.

There was no grand exit — just figures shuffling around on the TV screen on my computer screen and words I couldn’t fully process.

It was as if someone had suddenly turned on the lights, brought me back to reality and said, “Okay, bye now.”

I was both confused and pissed when I went back to sleep at 6:30 a.m.

I will admit, I haven’t seen “Moonlight” (though I want and still plan to), but “La La Land” has easily become my favorite movie. So I was disappointed when it didn’t get the all-time win I thought it deserved, and even more riled that the “La La Land” crew had been handed the award and then literally had to give

glimpse into expressions of grace, humanity and camaraderie among fierce rivals contending for Hollywood’s biggest movie prize in a high-stakes race to the finish,” wrote Variety’s awards analyst Kristopher Tapley.

The article, and the directors’ positive outlooks, reminded me of the real relationships that exist between Hollywood stars. They are proud or happy when a co-star or co-nominee wins, and are genuinely interested in and love each other’s work. It finally made me feel okay about the mixup that had interrupted an otherwise normal Oscars night.

And, more importantly, it spoke to the dreamer in me — the dreamer that had been pulling for “La La Land,” a movie about dreamers. Everything Chazelle and Jenkins were

Shouldn’t I have been happy people were actually talking about the entertainment industry? That, finally, I’m not one of the few who cares?

it away.

My anger continued into the next day, fueled by the never-ending discussion of the shocking ending and my Twitter feed full of article links about reactions, what went wrong and who was at fault.

Shouldn’t I have been happy people were actually talking about the entertainment industry? That, finally, I’m not one of the few who cares? Maybe I knew they weren’t really interested — sensationalism and viral videos abound. Or maybe it was because I was still upset about what happened.

I simply didn’t understand how those in the Academy — the same people who have been through the struggles and rejections and breakthrough moments — could not see the importance of a film about those very things.

But a few days later, one of the articles I decided to read — Variety’s “The Morning-After Interview” with Damien Chazelle and Barry Jenkins (writer/directors of “La La Land” and “Moonlight,” respectively) — changed how I looked at the whole situation.

While other articles kept replaying and questioning what had happened, this article was the first I’d read that had more substance. It was about the people who were actually involved and affected in the now infamous Best Picture incident. It didn’t just focus on the ending of the Oscars; it moved on to focus on the future.

In it, Chazelle and Jenkins discuss their separate but entwined paths to the Oscars, similarities in their careers and thoughts on what’s important moving forward.

“In an odd way, the most embarrassing snafu in the history of the Academy Awards offered a rare

talking about — production time and film debuts at festivals and record achievements and still being struck by it all — was something that I wanted to be a part of too.

It left me feeling hopeful and reminded me why I want to join the entertainment industry one day.

I think I will always be upset that “La La Land” didn’t get the win I think it deserved. But I did have a thought after reading the article that I just couldn’t get out of my head — the upsets and their aftermaths are the things that should inspire us to keep going.

They should remind us why we started in the first place, why we want to keep going, why we should keep going and why we should work hard and strive for our dreams.

Because we were rooting for the underdog the whole time, because we are the underdog with no chance. Because we want to make a difference. Because the unexpected happens all the time, and good can still come from it. Because dreams can be taken away, but they can also come true at the same time.

Chazelle created a beautiful film about dreams and the messy road it takes to get to them. Emma Stone’s “Audition” song says it all — an ode to seemingly foolish dreamers and all they do. And Jenkins now knows that road all too well.

“It’s messy, but it’s kind of gorgeous,” he told Variety about the moment his dreams did come true.

And isn’t that the point? To enjoy the journey and find beauty in the struggle of attempting to reach our dreams.

Call your mother. miamistudent.net

Walmart, but $2.05 at Emporium.

Given that there’s a cap on places that can accept declining balance dollars (i.e., OSU won’t accept Miami dining dollars, nor will any restaurant in the state of Wyoming) there is no impetus for Miami to charge less at places like Emporium or Sundial (I know what a $5 Caesar Salad looks like, and it’s not the one they’re serving).

Now, to be fair, Dining Services doesn’t have the logistical finesse of Walmart that keeps their food dirt-cheap. But that doesn’t mean that they can’t reduce prices. Mi-

ami’s dining needs to work for the students, not strictly for a profit.

Because the meal plan is so pricey, I’m sure they can afford to take a hit.

And to give credit where credit is due, the new declining balanceheavy meal plan, dubbed Diplomat Plus, is a step in the right direction, but still overpriced. Our students need to be able to afford to eat on campus; if we bring down the prices of food, we can make our declining balance dollars stronger.

GOLDJB@MIAMIOH.EDU

Left out to dry: Left-handers living in a ‘right’ world LIFE

GRAHAM VON CARLOWITZ EDITORIAL EDITOR

At work the other day, I was dutifully waiting on Steinkeller’s waffle cooker to produce the 16th waffle (and the 10th burnfree one) in the past hour. More specifically, I was standing to the left of the cooker, my right hand glued to the handle. To my left stood a new employee, Gary or Ned — let’s go with Ned — who was scooping butter into minicups.

“I can’t stand this thing,” he barked, spiking the 2-oz. scooping apparatus into the frozen bucket of “ice” butter. “Why don’t they have one for left-handers?

And why am I scooping so much butter?”

Ned brought up a good point.

There was no way we needed that much butter for a Sunday afternoon. But his handedness comment left me curious, too. I began wondering how many other employees had complained about right-handed tools, wondering what else would be tedious as a left-hander, wondering how I overlooked this demographic so often in my life.

Ned (I’m still wondering what his real name is) told me of an online store specific to those who wield a dominant left hand, blandly named leftyslefthanded. com. I’ve never been so excited searching for tools like scissors, oven mitts and can-openers, but then again, I can’t remember the last time I searched for any of those in general.

Looking at all the left-handed hoopla, I was reminded that my youngest brother, Jackson, is a member of this unnoticed minority. He, too, deals with a righthand dominant world, especially being a guitar player. He took up strumming the instrument only a few years ago — a good 15 years into his stint as the sole left-

hander in my family — and even so, he learned to play on a righthanded guitar.

When asked if he would prefer to use one for left-handers, Jackson spilled his guts, saying, “No, since I did it with my right hand from the start.”

Other than being a left-hander, Jackson is the youngest of eight boys, so it stands to reason that he’d be so pithy with his speech.

How much crap do lefthanders have to put up with? And is it worth the daily tribulations of being slightly inconvenienced by backwards tools?

Yet, I can’t help but think about how often he’s been forced to do things without his consent. How much crap do left-handers have to put up with? And is it worth the daily tribulations of being slightly inconvenienced by backwards tools?

According to my brother, yeah, he guesses. He’s just adapted to using everything upside down and never really complained about it.

What a life. And, as much as Ned (or maybe it was Jeff) complained, I wouldn’t mind flipping my perspective in life for a day or two. How different would my shift have been if I had been standing to the right of the waffle maker?

The world may never know, but I like to think that my perspective would be a little different, that the waffle isn’t as burned on the other side.

VONCARGH@MIAMIOH.EDU

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12

TUESDAY, MARCH 7, 2017

Hockey seniors reflect on Miami career, look to future HOCKEY

CONNOR MATHENY THE MIAMI STUDENT

As time wound down on Saturday night, a win for Miami Hockey seemed impossible, but the fans would not let The Brotherhood finish their season on a bad note.

The crowd did not care that the RedHawks could not win their final series. A “thank you seniors” chant echoed throughout the Steve ‘Coach’ Cady Arena as the eldest members of the team played their final minutes as Miamians.

The men’s hockey team was swept by the No. 15 the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks.

The two-game sweep leaves Miami with an overall record of 9-18-7, a National Collegiate Hockey Conference record of 5-13-5-3 and a 6-8-3 home record.

The RedHawks’ 3-2 loss on Friday night secured their spot as the seventh seed in the NCHC. They will face Minnesota Duluth in the first round of the playoffs this week.

Miami also lost 5-2 on Saturday night.

The series over the weekend was Miami’s last of the regular season -Saturday night was Senior Night for the graduating players. Miami has four seniors leaving their program: Justin Greenberg, Colin Sullivan, Anthony Louis and Johnny Wingels.

Senior forward Anthony Louis leads the team in goals, assists and points with 13, 24 and 37, respectively. Louis’ assist and 124th career point on Saturday night moves him up to 22nd on Miami’s all-time scoring list, just one point ahead of head coach Enrico Blasi.

Louis was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks in the sixth round of the 2013 NHL entry draft and defensemen Colin Sullivan was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in the seventh round of the 2011 NHL entry draft.

“I plan on signing with [Chicago] and going to finish the year out in Rockford. My only plan is to go from there, work hard and hopefully get a shot, but as of now I’m kind of focusing on making it as far as we

ANGELO GELFUSO THE MIAMI STUDENT

Despite losing to North Dakota 5-2, The Brotherhood honored its four departing seniors during Saturday’s game. can here,” Louis said.

“Rockford” is the Rockford IceHogs, a professional hockey team in the American Hockey League based out of Rockford, Illinois. The IceHogs are the top minor league affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks.

Sullivan, a Boston College transfer, also wishes to continue playing hockey after college, but has a slightly different plan than the rest of the seniors. When Sullivan is done playing hockey, he plans to have a career in the military for four or five years. Sullivan has not decided what branch of the military he wants to join but he knows that he wants to do something in special forces.

“It’s just something I have always wanted to do. I have a lot of family members that have been in the military,” Sullivan said. “Before I reap the benefits from this country I want to serve it first.”

Of the three active seniors on the Miami roster, forward Justin Greenberg is the only one not to have been drafted by an NHL team. Greenberg has played at Miami for four years.

Before that, he took an extra year after high school to play juniors in the North American Hockey League for the Texas Tornado.

Greenberg is unsure about his exact plans after college, but is certain that he would like to continue playing hockey.

“I’m going to try to play hockey [after graduation]. Then if I can’t go down that avenue, I’m getting an accounting degree, so I can hopefully use that,” Greenberg said.

The RedHawks have a fourth senior on its roster, although he doesn’t dress for games. Defenseman Johnny Wingels began playing at Miami his freshman year, but his career was cut short due to concussions and injury during the spring of his first season.

Despite his injuries, Wingels decided to stick around and help program.

“I’m sort of a student coach, I guess you’d call it. I go on the ice everyday and help run practice and take some stats during the game, so I’m staying involved the best I can,” Wingels said.

Wingels plans to finish out his finance degree at Miami and then move back home to Chicago to pursue his career.

Regardless of their plans for after graduation, the four seniors all agreed that they have noticed significant growth, both on and off the

Miami Collegiate team skates into 2nd place

ice, since arriving at Miami.

“On the ice, just working with the coaches, especially Coach [Brent] Brekke,” Sullivan said. “Just the little intricacies about being a defenseman that people who aren’t used to the game of hockey would really notice.”

Even though Wingels hasn’t played since his freshman year, he too has undergone significant personal growth through Miami’s program.

“The Brotherhood, the culture we have in the team, it’s always pushing you to get better as a person and as a hockey player. But the personal aspect of it is something that, I think, is unique to this program, as opposed to other hockey programs,” Wingels said. “It’s something that really prepares you for the real world.”

Wingels will miss the hockey aspect of Miami the most considering he will not have the chance to play professionally, “This is the last team I’ll be a part of, so this is something

I’ll always remember.”

A creed hangs in the players’ lounge at the Goggin Ice Center.

It reads: “I will leave this program better than I found it.” It serves as a reminder to The Brotherhood that they all play for a team with a significant and historic past, but they are all there to leave their own mark on the program, in the best way possible.

Each player understands their role in Miami’s history, and they are grateful to have had the chance to do so.

“Thanks for everything. Whether it’s fans, teachers, the coaches that I’ve played for, the guys that have been my teammates, it’s been the best four years of my life,” Greenberg said.

Of the eight teams in the NCHC Miami has the second fewest seniors, along with Omaha and St. Cloud State. Although they have a small class, the seniors’ contributions to the team are intangible.

Last season there were ten seniors on Miami’s roster, and seven the season prior. It’s clear that they’re small in numbers, however, they have been effective leaders for the large freshman class and have left their mark on the program.

“They’re obviously a small group, but a very impactful group to our young team, so they’ve had to lead the way and teach our younger guys what it means to play at this level and what it means to play at Miami,” Blasi said. “I think we’ve always had a senior class that have always left their mark and kind of passed the torch.”

The RedHawks’ will open its bestof-three NCHC playoff series at No. 2 Minnesota Duluth on Friday, March 10. The following games will be held on Saturday, March 11, and, if needed, on Sunday, March 12. Miami has not in regulation, since it played Western Michigan on January 28.

Miami Women’s hockey wins CCWHA championship, read more at miamistudent.net

SKATING

MAX DAVIS

THE MIAMI STUDENT

To cap off the month of February, Miami’s Synchronized Skating team competed on the national stage at the U.S. National Championships in Rockford, IL. The group of 52 athletes split among three teams represented Miami in the Collegiate and Senior divisions of the competition. Teams compete in either long or short programs within the divisions, and these programs differ by duration and number of required elements.

This competition is the pinnacle of the season where the team can showcase their talent against the nation’s best. Throughout the season, which runs essentially all year, the teams train both on ice and in the gym to perfect their routines.

Within the Collegiate division, our 12-time national champion RedHawks finished as a close second.

“The teams skated very well and were well prepared. They couldn’t be mad with anything they had done. Sometimes the numbers don’t shake out in your favor,” Coach DeGirolamo said.

The team finished with a score of 86.40, just shy of the top mark

ANGELO GELFUSO THE MIAMI STUDENT

Twelve-time national champions, Miami’s collegiate team finished second at the U.S. National Championships. of 88.22 set by the team from the University of Michigan. They were well ahead of the third place Michigan State team that finished with a score of 75.66.

Senior Paige DiToppa of the Collegiate team reflected on her time in the program.

“Skating for Miami is a real honor -- there’s no other team like it. Even though the outcome wasn’t what we hoped for, every skater came off the ice knowing we did all we could and that we put everything into the competition. We did what we came to do, and the team should be proud,” she said.

Within the Senior Division, Miami fielded two separate team to compete. Of the two teams, the Senior team ended the competition with a score of 113.19, leaving them just shy of a spot on the podium. Miami’s Junior team took

ninth place in the Senior Division with a score of 82.07 -- a solid performance.

“We went in without any placement expectations, and just tried to focus on what we could control,” said senior Selena Morris. “With that mindset, we finished with our highest scores of the season and really felt our hard work was rewarded.”

During the two-day contest, skaters are able to reconnect with old coaches, teammates and friends. As the season winds down, the team will compete in the ISU World Synchronized Championships on April 7 and 8, as well as hosting their Annual Spring Ice Show on April 28 and 29.

“Though it was disappointing not to win, we are motivated to win next season and look forward to training harder to do so,” DeGirolamo said.

BRIANNA NIXON THE MIAMI STUDENT

Miami baseball played their first series at home over the weekend, beating Illinois State University by scores of 8-7, 8-6 and 9-4.

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