The Miami Student | January 29, 2019

ESTABLISHED 1826 — OLDEST COLLEGE NEWSPAPER WEST OF THE ALLEGHENIES

Volume 147 No. 14

Miami University — Oxford, Ohio

TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019

Audrey Davis, TMS managing editor, dies in hometown

Miami senior Zhizhe Han:

‘A big car guy’ and ‘a really good friend’

ANGELA HATCHER MEGAN ZAHNEIS CEILI DOYLE JACK EVANS THE MIAMI STUDENT

CEILI DOYLE NEWS EDITOR More than anything else, Zhizhe Han loved fast cars.

In his four and a half years at Miami, Han, who went by his last name, drove a Dodge Charger, then a Civic SI, a Mazda IX7, an Infiniti G75 and finally a Mazda Miata.

His friends said Han’s love of speed was like that of Takumi Fujiwara, the speed-demon protagonist of the popular anime racing movie, “New Initial D: The Movie,” said Yaniui “Jerry” Huang, a Miami senior and Han’s roommate and best friend.

According to Huang, Han died by suicide in the early morning hours of Sunday, Jan. 27, in Hueston Woods State Park. Han was 22. Details of the death have not been confirmed by authorities. Kimberly Moore, dean of students, said the university could provide no further information about Han’s death.

Han is survived by his parents, Xinzhao Han and Wei Hong Zhang, of Hangzhou, China.

“He would not always share the dark sides or the deep sides of himself,” said Han’s friend Weihao Chen, a Miami graduate student. “We didn’t have a chance to see if he was depressed. We are only guessing he was depressed because he didn’t actually tell us about these things. He did not mention [seeing] a doctor.”

Han was a computer science major who dreamed of one day opening his own car repair shop in Vancouver, Canada.

He loved Hueston Woods. During his time in Oxford, Han raced through the winding roads of the state park and found peace in nature. Han and Huang would sometimes drive out to Hueston Woods to watch the stars.

“I would call him ‘Capital Hueston Woods,’” Chen added. “He probably spent more time in Hueston Woods than anyone else.”

Han hated seafood — couldn’t stand to even smell it, let alone eat it.

“Sometimes he ate McChickens,” Huang said, “because they’re only one dollar.”

Han loved what his friends called “real Chinese food.”

During their first year, Han and Huang

PHOTO FROM FACEBOOK

would drive to Cincinnati to find it, and it was during those frequent drives and dinners together that the two first became friends.

Huang’s first impression of Han was that he was really funny.

“We made a lot of jokes together,” Huang said. “We traveled a lot, but Han was not really interested in traveling [so much as he] loved spending time with his friends.”

Huang and Han visited Miami, FL, and Toronto with their core friend group, most of whom have graduated and returned to China. The two roomates played PC games together on their desktop at home, watched videos about cars and shot hoops at the Rec. Chen recalled one summer when Han and he took a computer science class together at Miami and spent most of their free time in Oxford talking about cars.

“Every time I needed to change a brake or add some new parts I always called Han,” Chen said. “He knew so much about cars.”

Han took care of his friends.

He was the kind of person you could rely on to pick you up from the airport, even in his loneliest moments, Huang said.

“We didn’t know exactly what he was thinking, but we always saw the bright side of him,” Chen said. “He was very funny. We laughed together. We had fun together. He was a great friend.”

Miami senior Audrey Marie Davis died suddenly on Wednesday, Dec. 26 in her home town of Hicksville, Ohio.

She was 22 years old, and an editor at The Miami Student.

Audrey died of natural causes while babysitting for two preschool children. The exact cause has not yet been determined. Her father, John Davis, said she had no known history of medical problems. She is survived by her father, her mother, Cheryl, and her younger brother, Johnny.

Audrey double-majored in journalism and history. She began writing for The Miami Student weeks after arriving on campus and, as a junior, became a managing editor of the paper. She was a prolific writer and a natural editor who despised grammatical errors.

“She was so good right away,” said Reis Thebault, editor-in-chief of The Miami Student when Audrey was a freshman. “She was quiet around the editors but totally fearless.

On one of her first assignments she came with me to talk to this group of foul-mouthed, foul-tempered union rep workers and was not at all intimidated…She was always kind and CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

If you or someone you know needs help, call 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. You can also text HOME to 741-741 for free, 24-hour support from the Crisis Text Line. Outside of the U.S., please visit the International Association for Suicide Prevention for a database of resources.

If students need support during this difficult time, please contact these resources: Student Counseling Services, 195 Health Services Center, 513-529-4634, or the Dean of Students office, 110 Warfield Hall, 513529-1877. doyleca3@miamioh.edu @cadoyle_18 AUDREY IN PRAGUE DURING HER SEMESTER ABROAD. MANAGING EDITOR ALISON PERELMAN

ARENA

Myaamia hockey weekend will celebrate university and tribe JULIA ARWINE CHLOE MURDOCK THE MIAMI STUDENT MIAMI, Okla. – Miami University’s first home hockey series of the spring semester will celebrate the partnership between the university and the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma. Tribe leaders and assistant athletic director Darrell Hallberg announced the event Friday at this year’s annual Winter Gathering of the tribe.

Miami will face the Omaha Mavericks on the ice Feb. 8 and 9 during “Celebrating Miami: Tribe and University.”

The athletic department worked with the Myaamia Center — an on-campus research, education and outreach initiative — and the Miami Tribe to make the game educational and interactive. They hope to use the event to raise awareness about the unique relationship between the university and the tribe. Planning for the event began in fall 2018, although the idea emerged when Chief Douglas Lankford visited the campus last summer, said Hallberg.

“It’s a celebration. It really is,” Hallberg said.

“It’s bringing the groups back together.”

The event is the latest in a decades-long history of the university and the Miami Tribe strengthening their relationship. It is a continuation of efforts by the Miami athletic department to incorporate ties to the tribe in what Bobbe Burke, coordinator of Miami Tribe relations at the Myaamia Center, called a “re-engagement.”

“It’s important to showcase in the right light

THE NEW MIAMI HERITAGE LOGO HOCKEY SHIRTS WERE DEBUTED IN MIAMI, OKLA. PHOTO EDITOR JUGAL JAIN

and that’s what we’re trying to do,” Hallberg said.

Throughout the fall semester, the Miami Heritage Logo (MHL), a symbol signifying the connection between university and tribe, was printed on tickets to every Miami athletic event, all sports schedule cards and all posters, Lindsay Sparks, assistant athletic director of marketing and fan engagement at Miami, said.

Julie Olds, cultural resources officer of the Miami Tribe, designed a shirt given to all

This Issue

Entertainment stories on page 8 & 9

student-athletes and athletic staff at Miami last fall. She designed another shirt for the upcoming hockey night to give to the players. The shirt, which bears the MHL as well as the Myaamia phrase for “The Brotherhood,” wiicihsaantioni, will also be given as a prize to students throughout the game.

The MHL will also be on the official pucks used in the game — something Chief Lankford initially joked about, but the athletic department made a reality. Myaamia students will deliver the

puck at the Friday game, and Chief Lankford will do so on Saturday. More than 100 custom pucks were made, some of which will be given to members of the tribe who are special guests.

A bingo card will be given out at the game entrance. Attendees will be able to fill their cards by doing activities related to Myaamia heritage in order to win a t-shirt or puck. Those activities include traditional Myaamia games like the moccasin game, a guessing game involving colored marbles hidden under mats, and seenseewinki, or the plum stone game, a game of chance where players rack up points based on the colors and symbols of pieces tossed in a bowl. At halftime and during breaks, the big screens will showcase Myaamia students currently attending Miami.

“Anywhere that we can incorporate the Myaamia students, the relationship and the tribe during in-game and pre-game, we will,” Sparks said.

Myaamia spiritwear will be available at the merchandise cart, and a Myaamia shirt will be the specially-priced item of the day, Burke said.

The tribe’s Business Committee, which includes Lankford, Olds and other tribe leaders, will attend the game. Miami Tribe members will receive discounted tickets.

If the event goes well, similar events could be expanded to other sports. Sparks said that the athletic department is currently discussing ways to do this.

“I think athletics is keen on this, and they want to keep it going,” Burke said.

Fenty Beauty who?

Facing the void

A Miami senior launches KCD Cosmetics, an inclusive makeup line

Graduating seniors stare down the barrel of their last semester

News » page 4

Culture » page 6

arwinejk@miamioh.edu murdocc3@miaioh.edu

Shooting their shot

Great Expectations

Men’s basketball has a shot to reach .500 in conference play against Toledo tonight.

Our columnist reflects on going abroad in search of personal growth

Sports » page 11

Opinion » page 12

This Week

2 FYI

TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019 Named the Best College Newspaper (Non-daily) in Ohio by the Society of Professional Journalists.

JACK EVANS

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Kirby Davis Alison Perelman Megan Zahneis Managing Editors

Things to do

Emily Brustoski Video Editor Megan Zahneis Magazine Editor, Copy Chief

Ben Smith Design Editor

Alyssa Melendez Web Designer

Samantha Brunn Ceili Doyle News Editors

Lindsay Cerio Business Manager

Emily Simanskis Sports Editor

James Tobin Faculty Adviser

Madeline Mitchell Kate Rigazio Culture Editors

Fred Reeder Business Adviser

Kelly Burns Ben Finfrock Opinion Editors

WDJ Inc. - Bill Dedden Distributor

Jugal Jain Photo Editor

Aim Media Midwest Printer

Designers Owen Berg Briah Lumpkins Connor Wells

Tuesday

Wednesday

Men’s basketball game Millett Hall 7 p.m.

ACDA Men’s Glee Club Preconference Performance Hall Auditorium, 7:30-9:30 p.m.

The Firecrackers Jump Rope Team from Kings school district will be there.

A Southern Ohio phenomenon gone nationwide!

Watch the Men’s Glee club prep for their conference performance!

Thursday

Saturday

MAP Movie Crazy Rich Asians Wilks Theater, 9 p.m.

Miami Performing Arts Wine Tasting Millett Hall, 7-10 p.m.

Asst. News Editors Julia Arwine Rachel Berry

Humor Editor Michael Serio

Asst. Culture Editors Maia Anderson Duard Headley

Entertainment Editor Sam Keeling

Asst. Photo Editor Bo Brueck

Asst. Opinion Editor Emily Dattilo

Asst. Magazine Editor Maya Fenter

Asst. Sports Editor Chris Vinel

Copy Editors Sydney Hill Brianna Porter Asst. Business Manager Bea Newberry

Advertising information: Send us a letter?

miamistudent.net/advertise eic@miamistudent.net

The Miami Student is published on Tuesdays during the school year by the students of Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.

The content of The Miami Student is the sole responsibility of The Miami Student staff. Opinions expressed in The Miami Student are not necessarily those of Miami University, its students or staff.

What better way to spend a relaxing night than watching a movie in Wilks? A block buster hit of the summer, based on the best-selling book of the same name – for free! You don’t even have to be rich.

Help raise money to bring performers to campus! There will be over 200 wines to taste, with some bottles valued at over $600. With an admission price of $79, it’s a bargain to be had!

CORRECTIONS POLICY

The Miami Student is committed to providing the Miami University community with the most accurate information possible. Corrections may be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication.

Giving Circle Grants Over $103,000 awarded in grants last year!

If you are a student, staff or faculty member of any of the Miami University campuses, you are invited to apply for grants ranging from $2,500 to $20,000!

• Applicants are invited whether solo or in groups, teams or organizations • Grants awarded for programs, projects, initiatives and research that are not profit-making endeavors

Think big!

Finalists will be part of Hawk Tank, a fast-pitch event on April 10, 2019, where our Giving Circle Members will vote for their favorite projects to receive funding.

Past winners include: Miami Women’s Hockey, Girls Who Code, Inclusivity Program, Opening Minds through Art (OMA) and more.

APPLY BY FEB. 8, 2019

MiamiOH.formstack.com/forms/grantapplication

4 NEWS

NEWS@MIAMISTUDENT.NET

TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019

Representation matters: MU senior creates makeup line specialized for women of color BRIAH LUMPKINS

THE MIAMI STUDENT

Kamilah Dotson, a senior at Miami University, is using her passion for cosmetics to create a makeup line that women of color can afford and use on a daily basis.

Dotson’s love for makeup developed during her teenage years. She recalls multiple study hall meet-ups with her friends where they all gathered around a screen and watched beauty gurus practice their techniques on YouTube. Dotson became fascinated with these skills and everything the makeup industry had to offer.

“I truly have a love for makeup,” Dotson said. “I feel like, when I have a full face of makeup on, I can do anything. People can’t really bother me. It gives me more confidence.”

While at Miami, Dotson has pursued her passion by doing makeup for groups — like Love You Like A Sister (LYLAS) and its annual fashion show — and occasionally doing makeovers for friends.

Dotson’s idea is reflective of today’s market. In recent years, the makeup industry has begun to adapt to the increasingly diverse population, making inclusivity crucial for most major brands. Cosmetics companies are following in the footsteps of celebrities like Rihanna (Fenty Beauty) and Kylie Jenner (Kylie Cosmetics), who offer over 30 shades of foundation, ensuring that most women will be able to use

their products.

Although these brands make it possible for many women, especially women of color, to see themselves represented in the industry, the prices of these high-end products can be costly for college students.

“The problem with things like Fenty Beauty and Huda Beauty – who have great shade offerings – is that they are $36 to $42 a bottle,” Dotson said. “I’m a college student. I can’t afford that.”

women of color in their age group could afford.

The two said their company, KCD Cosmetics — after Dotson’s initials — strives to be a combination of high quality and affordable products that women of color can depend on. Dotson and Asgedom hope to uplift women of color by creating products that cater to them in an industry that has vastly underserved their demographic for decades.

KCD COSMETICS WILL LAUNCH THIS SPRING PHOTO FROM @KCDCOSMETICS ON INSTAGRAM

So, Dotson tried to create an affordable solution. She reached out to multiple universities in search of a business partner who shared her passion for makeup and had a background in cosmetic science. She eventually came across Selena Asgedom, who graduated from the University of Toledo in May 2018 and is now Dotson’s co-owner.

“We first met over the phone and talked about what we wanted to accomplish,” Asgedom said. “We were on the same page from the get-go.”

Together, Dotson and Asgedom set out to create a line of makeup that

Although some major companies offer makeup shades that match darker skin tones, Asgedom questions the authenticity of the cosmetics industry’s push to include women of color.

“When these brands first started [offering darker shades for women of color], I feel like it was all about business, not so much about helping darker-shade people get what they really deserve,” Asgedom said. “We really do want to help darker-shade people benefit from cosmetics as much as anyone else.”

In addition to helping women of

color, KCD Cosmetics also hopes to create products for women preparing for the professional world.

“Our target market is young women, young professionals or people in life transitions who don’t have a disposable income,” Dotson said. “We want women of color to have access to high-quality, affordable, everyday makeup that they can wear.”

KCD Cosmetics will feature a wide range of cosmetic products that will be priced in what Dotson calls the “drugstore range,” which is around $9 to $12 per product.

Dotson and Asgedom will begin promotions in the Oxford and Cincinnati area, but all sales will be conducted online. The company launches this spring.

KCD Cosmetics plans to use a portion of their proceeds to give back to black communities through donations to various foundations and organizations.

“Black uplifting and black pride is just as important to KCD Cosmetics as the cosmetics,” Dotson said. “We want to make sure that is a staple of our business. We are a socially-driven cosmetic company.”

More information about their line can be found on their Instagram account, @kcdcosmetics.

Provost Callahan to retire this year ERIN GLYNN

THE MIAMI STUDENT

Phyllis Callahan, Miami University’s provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, will retire by the end of 2019.

Callahan has worked at Miami for 31 years. She began as an assistant professor in the department of zoology in 1988. In 1999, she became a full-time professor and in 2006 she rose to associate dean of the College of Arts and Science (CAS). Callahan later became senior associate dean, then dean of CAS. As dean, Callahan served on Miami’s student retention committee and career services committees. She was also co-chair of the committee that created the 2020 Strategic Plan, which aimed for increased partnerships, retention rates and diversity. It also encouraged students to study abroad and to declare multiple majors.

As provost, Callahan manages all teaching and research done at Miami and serves as chair of the University Senate, developing and implementing policies that indicate Miami’s academic priorities.

lumpkibm@miamioh.edu

New year brings new opportunities for the City of Oxford TIM CARLIN

THE MIAMI STUDENT

As Miami University quieted down for its winter break lull, the City of Oxford conducted business as usual during its Dec. 18 and Jan. 15 meetings.

During the public participation portion of the Dec. 18 meeting, Oxford Farmers Market manager Larry Slocum delivered the start of his presentation to the tune of Simon and Garfunkel. “We’re All Foodies” became an instant hit among the meeting’s attendees.

Slocum announced that the Winter Farmers Market will expand, from being held once a month to the first and third Saturdays of each month.

Slocum also introduced Tuesday Night Mini-Markets, which will begin in the spring.

The Oxford Farmers Market plans to formalize its internship program

Former MU employee’s trial postponed CEILI DOYLE

with Miami University. Slocum is looking for a Miami professor to oversee the program, which would potentially offer credit hours to students.

Council passed a new contract for the Oxford Police Employees Association at its Dec. 18 meeting. Under the new contract, all OPD employees will receive a 3 percent pay increase in 2019.

The contract also allows employees who do not wish to be a part of the union to opt out of paying union dues.

However, those employees will still be represented by the union, reflecting the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on Janus v. AFSCME. Also at the meeting, Amelia Blankenship, a lawyer at Coolidge & Wall Co., was named the city attorney of Oxford for 2019. She will not be formally employed by the city, as former Oxford law director Steve McHugh was, but will instead work on a project-by-project basis.

The Dec. 18 council meeting was McHugh’s last as the city’s law director after nearly 30 years of service.

The meeting concluded with an open discussion on potential legislation to regulate short-term rental properties in Oxford, specifically in response to the rise in number of Airbnb listings across Oxford. The legislation was written by the planning commission and revised by community development director Sam Perry.

Seemingly the only consensus reached was that the legislation needs to be reworked. Only a few of the potential revisions, such as requiring short-term rentals take place in the owner’s primary residence, were viable to be further developed.

At the Jan. 15 meeting, council approved the Oxford Fire Department’s purchase of a new ambulance. Miami University will pay one-third of the cost, as it has since 1996. The total cost

of the new ambulance must not exceed $230,000, according to the department’s contract.

City manager Doug Elliott announced that the 45 East property has completed its internal restructuring and is beginning to plan renovations.

Elliott said the property owners will submit renovation plans for the Feb. 13 meeting of Oxford’s Historical and Architectural Preservation Committee.

Elliott said the Follett’s Co-Op Bookstore property owners are taking steps to environmentally clean up and remove oil tanks before moving forward with renovations.

Elliott said he is very optimistic about the future of the 45 East and Follett’s properties and their potential impact on the future of Uptown Oxford. carlintm@miamioh.edu

CALLAHAN PHOTO FROM MIAMIOH.EDU

Notably, Callahan oversaw the unveiling and first year of implementation of the Boldly Creative initiative, a $50 million project to fund research and academic programs that focus on the most sought-after careers both statewide and nationally and which allow for more partnerships between Miami and its communities.

Callahan said in an email to her colleagues that working with Miami students “has been one of the greatest joys of my life” and she will stay on until the next provost is selected. glynnee@miamioh.edu

New semester presents opportunities for ASG Priorities include boosting senate diversity, connecting with student body, oversight reform

NEWS EDITOR

The sexual assault trial of Brandon Levi Gilbert, a former Miami University building and grounds assistant who was indicted for allegedly raping a female Miami student last fall, has been postponed by a week.

Last October, Oxford police arrested Gilbert for attacking the student in the backyard of an off-campus house after she asked Gilbert to walk her home from a bar Uptown.

Gilbert initially pleaded not guilty to five counts of sexual assault charges, including a first-degree felony for rape, during a Dec. 12, 2018, plea hearing. His trial was set to begin Tuesday, Feb. 19.

But at the beginning of January, assistant prosecuting attorney Kelly Heile submitted a third discovery package of evidence in the Butler County Court of Common Pleas, according to the case’s court docket.

Two weeks later, Gilbert’s lawyer, Wayne Staton, filed a motion for continuance to reschedule the trial, so the defense would have more time to review the prosecution’s evidence against Gilbert.

On Wednesday, Staton was granted more time to prepare for the case when Judge Gregory Howard ordered Gilbert’s new plea entry and trial setting hearing begin on Wednesday, Feb. 27.

Staton submitted Gilbert’s waiver of his rights to a speedy trial. A representative from Staton’s office explained that it was in Gilbert’s best interest to give Staton as much time as possible to prepare Gilbert’s defense.

On Jan. 15, Staton filed a motion to remove Gilbert’s ankle monitoring device, explaining that his client would be able to perform his maintenance “job duties” at his new employer more efficiently without it and citing Gilbert’s “three months of compliance” with the court.

Howard has yet to rule on the motion.

Check back to miamistudent.net for further updates and information regarding this story. doyleca3@miamioh.edu @cadoyle_18

RACHEL BERRY

ASST. NEWS EDITOR

Miami University’s Associated Student Government (ASG) hopes this semester to improve its internal operations, increase the diversity of the senate body and connect with the general student population.

Eleven seats are currently open, including 10 senate seats and one executive cabinet member position. While some of these seats were vacated by resignations at the end of last semester, many open due to students who are studying abroad or have class conflicts.

Speaker of Senate Cole Hankins said it is normal to have this many open seats at the beginning of a semester. “[Vacancies at the beginning of the semester] always provide a really nice time to hopefully broaden our reach and bring people from different areas of campus in with different ideas,” Hankins said.

Secretary for Diversity and Inclusion Courtney Rose and Off-Campus Senator Monica Venzke have developed a diversity marketing plan to try to increase diversity within ASG. They plan to use flyers, social media campaigns and listserv emails in addition to visiting various student organizations to promote the open seats and encourage students to apply.

“We wanted to ensure that we were reaching all the avenues we possible could to hopefully have the most diverse senate that Miami

has ever had,” Rose said.

Rose also aims to audit the inclusion plan that was developed last spring to examine diversity within ASG and how it advertises open positions. Rose also wants to develop a campus climate survey to be distributed internally within ASG.

Venzke and the rest of the ad hoc committee are working to standardize the oversight process and make it more transparent. Venzke said the ad hoc committee is comprised of people on the oversight committee, senators who signed an October petition expressing disagreement with the committee’s

“With the situation that happened last semester, I think a lot of issues came to light, especially with transparency.”

- Monica Venzke Last semester, ASG experienced internal controversy over how its oversight process is conducted. As a result, ASG voted to form an ad hoc committee for oversight reform, which Venzke chairs.

“With the situation that happened last semester, I think a lot of issues came to light, especially with transparency,” Venzke said.

“Senators like myself were really unhappy with [the Oversight Committee’s] decision, and you’re not really supposed to have access to the information that went about why they made that decision, so we don’t know what they talked about, who they interviewed, what they discussed.”

decision and members who agreed with the way the situation was handled.

Secretary for Communications and Media Relations Michael Zele said he hopes to make ASG more visible through constituent outreach tabling, which is something ASG has done in the past.

“There is a misconception about what Associated Student Government is,” Zele said. “Most students may not know what we do or how we operate. I hope to change this by having our members readily accessible to students.”

As a result of a bill passed in December, Secretary for Infrastructure and Sustainability Molly

O’Donnell is working to encourage Miami President Greg Crawford to sign the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment and to set a goal date for achieving carbon neutrality.

Student Body President Meaghan Murtagh said she wants to focus on health and wellness this semester. She is working on a campaign to address the negative effects of vaping, which she wants to institute not only at Miami but also at Talawanda Middle and High Schools.

Murtagh said she also plans to address binge drinking, particularly during Greek rush, by working with different organizations to educate students on the effects of overconsumption of alcohol. Similar events have been held in the past, but the rate of binge drinking on campus has not changed measurably.

ASG will hold its first meeting of the semester at 7:30 p.m. tonight in the Joslin Senate Chamber of the Armstrong Student Center. The election packet for vacant seats is currently available on its website, and applications are open until 12 p.m. on Feb. 3. Elections will be held Feb. 5 for all 11 open positions.

Applications are also open for students-at-large to become a part of the funding and audit committee, which reviews organizations’ funding requests and helps students navigate the process. berryrd@miamioh.edu

Immediately available for rent: 3 private bedrooms of a 4 bedroom/4 bathroom house on West Walnut. Well maintained. Fully furnished. Fully stocked kitchen with all cooking/eating utensils. Rec room with pool table. Free parking. Walking distance to campus. If interested in viewing please contact Chuck at 216.403.4036.

5

TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019

NEWS@MIAMISTUDENT.NET

Audrey Davis, TMS managing editor, dies in home town FROM FRONT

caring and just had a really bright future.”

She had opinions on just about everything, and during her four years at Miami she grew confident in voicing them.

Audrey hated when people changed the radio station in her car.

She had a cat named Raisin. She could lick her elbow.

As a child in Hicksville, Audrey paraded around the living room in a ballerina’s tutu and costume top.

She sang songs and danced as her audience watched in amusement.

She was in over 20 theatre productions between high school and college. She played everything from Rizzo in “Grease” to Sharpay Evans in “High School Musical.”

But in moments of sheer excitement, while telling a story to her friends in The Student’s newsroom, Audrey would tumble over her words, shriek in laughter and proclaim in mock defense, “I’m a writer, not a speaker.”

Her abiding love was for telling stories, and her friends regularly witnessed her excitement when she found a good one. Her most recently published work, “The Champion Standard,” was the cover story in the fall issue of The Miami Student Magazine.

Audrey’s younger brother, Johnny, 20, has tuberous sclerosis and is on the autism spectrum. She was patient with him and fiercely protective. A regular fan at Johnny’s Special Olympics basketball and bowling events, Audrey took great pride in her brother’s accomplishments.

She spent her summers working as a head counselor at Camp Joy,

which serves children battling cancer and other difficult life situations. She thought of it as a second home.

Audrey had a self-deprecating sense of humor. She was never afraid to laugh at herself. She was accident-prone.

In high school, while she walked back to her car after classes and cheerleading practice, she would trip over her own feet and land on the asphalt in front of the cutest boys at school. She would laugh.

She once fell off a four-wheeler in Utah and rolled down the mountain.

She had to be rushed to the E.R. Audrey was a tumbler on Hicksville High School’s cheerleading team.

She met her best friend from high school, Kate McKinney, there.

“My first impression of her was that she was really awkward…and had really weird knees. And then…I guess we just became friends after that,” Kate said.

She worshipped coffee and regularly. She would drive 30 minutes outside of Hicksville to a coffee shop.

The shop placed a sticker on the lid so steam wouldn’t escape. She kept every sticker. The collection decorated the inside of her car, along with specks of glitter from the time her friends filled her air vents with it years ago.

Audrey’s childhood babysitters were Amish, so she didn’t watch much TV, but in recent years, she watched every episode of “Grey’s Anatomy.”

In high school, Audrey visited Germany. She immediately figured out the subway system and never struggled with a map. She ordered her coffee in German. She admired the architecture while her classmates giggled and took selfies.

Years later, during college, Audrey returned to Germany. This time she traveled with her best friend and fellow Miami Student managing editor Alison Perelman.

She visited 15 countries, marking each one on a pushpin map of the world and chronicling her adventures on an Instagram account devoted to her travels, all while keeping up with her classes at Miami’s Luxembourg campus.

Audrey’s teachers and professors often gravitated to her. She was mature, a natural student, eager to learn.

She was co-valedictorian of her high school graduating class. At Miami, she was a University Academic Scholar for Writing in the Media.

Audrey was eager to teach, too.

She mentored dozens of young writers in her time at The Miami Student and was quick with an encouraging word.

Audrey loved to read.

At home in Hicksville, she would sit on one of the many lounge chairs lining her pool, unconsciously chewing her thumb and falling into the story of whatever book she had in her hand. She would read until her eyes were bleary and the words seemed to dance right off the page.

Her closet still holds her collections of books, the shelves creaking under the weight of all the memories they hold.

Audrey Davis died Dec. 26 in Hicksville, Ohio. A memorial service was held at Hicksville’s Grace United Methodist Church at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 5, and the Davis family has requested donations be made to Camp Joy in lieu of flowers.

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TRAVEL

A Week in New York City:

The Media and Journalism Hub of the US some of the most notable news companies in the world.

Brian Stelter, host of “Reliable Sources” for CNN, explained that the most important aspect of a good journalist is “being first and being 100 percent accurate.”

“Find what you’re good at, sharpen those skills, and highlight them,” Stelter added. “And know what you’re doing.”

We heard from David Folkenflik, media correspondent for NPR, who said that we as journalists shouldn’t be “critics unless we learn to accept our own criticism,” while Gretchen Morgenson, investigative reporter for the Wall Street Journal, emphasized building a “level of trust with your readers.”

My favorite moment of the trip, though, had to be when we visited The New York Times. The modern and minimalistic architecture of the building mirrored the ideals and attitudes discussed during our time with columnist Francesca Donner and social media editor Sharon Attia.

The women’s soft smiles juxtaposed their strong

words as they explained the multiple strategies involved in the Times’ gender initiative.

These women, among other guests on the trip, helped me gain a new understanding of the role of journalists in today’s world: The idea that we are the “voice of the people” and that it is our duty to explain the seemingly unexplainable.

None of these journalists got to where they are easily. There are constant hoops to jump through and paths to travel down.

On our last night in the city, a couple of new friends and I bought tickets to ride to the top of Rockefeller Center. Looking down at the lights of this beautiful cityscape, I found myself in a moment of clarity.

There are more than eight million people living in New York City, all with a voice and story to tell. This trip forced me to think about my future, and as daunting as that sounds, it doesn’t scare me.

My story is just waiting to be told. straubhk@miamioh.edu

CONTRIBUTED BY HANNAH STRAUB

HANNAH STRAUB THE MIAMI STUDENT

As our plane descended through the clouds on a sunny Sunday afternoon, I caught my first glimpse of the New York City skyline. Since this was the first time I’d been to the city in 10 years, I was ecstatic to experience it in a new light, with a wiser brain and a sharper pair of eyes.

As a 10-year-old, I saw the city with so much promise. I went there with my mom, my friends at the time and our entire middle school choir.

We hit the touristy stops but never really dove into the experience, and I remember this lust for more.

Walking through Times Square the first night, as a 20-year-old, I remembered why I loved it so much. The hustle and bustle of the crowd at every hour of the day truly told the tale of the “city that never sleeps,” while the skyscraping architecture tilted my face upwards, and millions of sounds and smells filled my senses.

Accompanying me on this trip were multiple journalism students as well as journalism professor Patti Newberry, who instilled in us the curiosity needed for this busy week as we prepared to visit more than 15 newspapers, broadcast stations, publications and media outlets.

Prior to the trip, we spent two weeks preparing with multiple class meetings and assignments, and, though I felt ready physically, mentally I couldn’t shake my nerves as we made our way through the complicated subway system during our first morning in the city. We were about to showcase ourselves to some of the most prominent figures in media and journalism and I was terrified of asking the wrong questions.

Thankfully, we had our professor’s husband, Doug Newberry, to navigate us through the daunting transit system, filled with everyone from corporate employees to families with children on their way to school.

Security check-ins became second nature as we traveled up and down elevators and staircases to conference rooms and round tables at

CONTRIBUTED BY HANNAH STRAUB

6 CULTURE

TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019

MITCHE49@MIAMIOH.EDU

Thinking back fondly and looking ahead boldy: Seniors’ last semester at Miami MADELINE MITCHELL CULTURE EDITOR

“Second semester senior year, I mean… it truly just feels like I’m still a freshman at Miami. It’s gone by so fast.”

Many Miami seniors are thinking the same thing as Caitlyn Jones, psychology and professional writing double major, as they head into their final few months of undergraduate life.

The start of spring semester marks 109 days until graduation. One hundred and nine days to make a mark here in Oxford, if they haven’t already. One hundred and nine days to spend parading around Armstrong by day and Brick Street by night. One hundred and nine days to cherish such a time in such a place. One hundred and nine days to figure out what on earth they’re supposed to do with the rest of their lives.

If that thought isn’t stressful enough, on top of finding a job, a place to live and a general plan on moving forward, seniors also have 109 days left of classes, studying, preparing for midterms and finals and all of the other normal stresses that come with being a college student.

Despite these anxieties, Jones takes comfort in coming home to Oxford one last time.

“The senior class right now is all going through the same thing, and being in Oxford is just really reassuring that we’re all gonna figure it out together,” she said.

More “first days of school” to come Jones applied to 13 graduate schools for social psychology during the first semester of this year, and is now starting to hear back from those programs, some of which are requesting weekend in-person interviews.

“I think that’s kind of something that is bittersweet because obviously it’s so exciting being able to do these interviews, but also I don’t want to leave Oxford more than I have to,” she said.

Applying to graduate school is a long, competitive, expensive process that requires a lot of work outside of the classroom. Writing personal statements, studying and taking the GRE and preparing for interviews are among the steps required to pursue a masters degree. Even though the process takes a lot of her time that would normally be spent with friends during her last semester, Jones

considers herself lucky to have found a career path that she loves so much. She is excited to help people as a future social psychologist.

“It really excites me that if I do go to grad school I’ll be able to pursue a career in something that I really care about,” Jones said. “And the professors that I had just reassured me the entire four years that this is something that I’m supposed to be doing.”

Senior public health major Divya Das is also looking at graduate schools to pursue a masters degree in public health.

She spent her J-term applying to many different programs and is hoping to hear back in March.

For a lot of students applying to graduate school, this next step after Miami is a big mystery. Das said that she might get her law degree after obtaining her masters, adding on yet another stint of schooling. As for location, she has no idea where she might find herself after graduation this May. “Living-wise, I haven’t really decided on that yet, because I don’t really know where I’ll be living,” Das said. “I kind of applied all over the United States.”

Coasting until May 18 Other seniors secured jobs last semester and are riding out their last few classes at Miami before entering the workforce this summer.

Senior business student Will Kraft is among those lucky enough to have taken a job offer in the fall, before Thanksgiving break. Kraft knows the job anxiety that many seniors are feeling now all too well.

“It was pretty stressful because they weren’t communicating before the fall career fair,” Kraft said of his employer.

“So I thought I should go, but then didn’t because I was like, ‘I have a job, it’s fine.’

And then they didn’t really talk to me until the beginning of October to initially start the process, so I was super nervous through September.”

Kraft worked as an intern with Accuity last summer. Spending the summer in Chicago at the downtown office, he knew that he had found the company of his dreams. He said he knew he wanted to work for them permanently because he felt the work he did at the company was “meaningful,” which is something he knew he needed from his future em-

ployer.

As Kraft waited outside of Café Lux to leave for his first class of his last semester, he reminisced on his last three and a half years at Miami. He said Armstrong, with its construction and restructuring over the past four years, has been exemplary of his time at the university.

“It’s mainly about being in the center of all of your friends, and getting food and getting to know the place,” he said.

“And then right when the career center became its own part of Armstrong, that’s when I started to have to worry about getting a job. But now that it’s all complete and everyone can use it, I’ve completed my four years, I’ve completed getting a job, and it’s time for a new chapter.”

No plans? No problem.

A lot of seniors still don’t have plans for post-grad life, and that’s okay. The program coordinator and liaison to the Office of Diversity Affairs at Miami’s Center for Career Exploration and Success, Kia Nalls, encourages everyone still looking for jobs to take 5-10 hours per

Nalls encourages everyone to use the Center for Career Exploration and Success as they look ahead to their future careers. The center is located in the basement of Armstrong Student Center and offers a myriad of tools and opportunities for students to feel prepared going into interviews and applying for any kind of position, from internships to full-time jobs. The center offers mock interviews, resume help, various workshops, career fairs to meet employers, networking events and even brings in employers for on-campus interviews.

On top of the services offered at the career center, Nalls hopes students will use their spring break and other free time to explore their options, take assessments to hone in on their strengths, reach out to family and friends to build their network and shadow potential employers.

To think in such a place...

In her underclassman days, Jones took heavy course loads not realizing how she would benefit from a lighter schedule

“Don’t panic, you’ve still got time. The average person works between 30-40 years of their life, so if you don’t figure it out day one, then that’s fine.”

-Kia Nalls week to think about and plan for their futures.

“Don’t panic, you’ve still got time,” Nalls said. “The average person works between 30-40 years of their life, so if you don’t figure it out day one, then that’s fine. But try to find something that really interests you.”

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average worker currently holds 10 different jobs before age 40, and this number is projected to grow. Nalls said it’s important to take the right next steps, but also to know that you might change your mind later.

“Where’s your trajectory going? What is it that you want to explore?” she said.

“Think about it as a winding road instead of a straight line.”

in her last semester. With classes limited to Tuesdays and Thursdays, weekend graduate school interviews won’t cause her to miss anything. Nevertheless, she is still worried about budgeting her time as a second semester senior who just wants to have fun and enjoy the last of her carefree days as an undergraduate.

“I’ll be with a group of friends, and everyone will be so happy, and I’ll just be in that moment,” Jones said. “I definitely am one that lives for special moments, and I’ve had this so many times that I’m in a group of friends just sitting, laughing, and I just think to myself, ‘I would never have this anywhere else.’” mitche49@miamioh.edu

Student organizations get back into the swing this spring DUARD HEADLEY

ASST. CULTURE EDITOR

Miami’s winter break is long, longer than the breaks most major universities in Ohio give. As the days of the monthand-a-half long holiday tick by, it’s easy to settle into new routines at home or abroad. Whether engaged in arctic activities, relaxing by a roaring fire or jetting off to various locales around the world, many Miamians leave Oxford mentally as well as physically for six weeks.

Once the semester rolls around again and it’s time to get back into the swing of campus life, some student organizations find it difficult to pick up where they left off nearly two months prior.

Rachael Steed is the president of Miami University Fashion and Design (MUFD), one of Miami’s largest and most active student organizations. Although she and her team stay in contact over J-term, she says that coming back to campus can still be a challenge.

“It’s hard to pick back up,” Steed said. “Before break, everyone is on a roll, motivated and really in the groove.

But on break, they’re in break mode, and we don’t want to overwhelm them with too many things to do. So once we’re back, getting motivated again and getting excited for our upcoming show does take some time.”

Steed believes that because MUFD has over 250 members and several committees, getting the gears turning after break would be even more difficult if the teams didn’t stay in contact.

“We try to stay active and keep working over break,” Steed said. “Because we try and maintain a little bit of contact with our directors and did our monthly planning dashboard over J-term, we weren’t as unfocused as we might have been otherwise.”

The same can be said for Miami’s Associated Student Government (ASG). Gaby Meissner, Farmer School of Business senator for ASG, says members continue their work throughout the long break.

“Over J-term, a lot of people work within their committees on various initiatives,” Meissner said. “They come up with a lot of legislation and hard work that is then addressed once we return from break.”

Meissner and Steed agree that communication over break is the key to ensuring a smooth transition back into business when classes resume. Howev-

er, not all student organization leaders seem to share this philosophy.

Tori Jones, president of the Miami University Taiko Group, an ensemble that practices the traditional Japanese art of Taiko drumming, said she doesn’t necessarily need to maintain contact with the club members over break.

“For us, practice just continues as normal,” Jones said. “While there are some things I take care of organization-wise, there isn’t much else that needs to be done.”

Because Taiko drumming is so physical, Jones said that muscle memory is a big help in getting things going again.

“It can be hard to get focused again after the break,” she said. “But after a few run throughs of our song and remembering ‘Oh, I need to do this,’ or ‘Oops, I shouldn’t do that weird thing with my arm,’ it all comes together after a practice or so.”

Jones went on to say that she feels larger student organizations might have a harder time acclimating to their activities, and that they rely more on effective and organized leadership.

Meissner, Jones and Steed have different opinions on how student organizations can make the transition from break as smooth as possible.

“I think it’s important to get going as quickly as possible,” Jones said. “It’s easy to fall into the mindset of ‘Hey, I haven’t seen you in so long,’ and socialize. If you get down to it as soon as you get back, it makes things easier.”

Meanwhile, Meissner thinks that J-term is a prime time to recruit new members and fill any gaps left in an organization’s roster.

“To avoid having to recruit so heavily in the spring semester, I think we should start recruitment over J-term,” Meissner said. “Because a lot of students stay at home and don’t take classes, there’s a lull in activity, and in this lull, a lot of students say ‘Oh, I want to take a bigger course load,’ or ‘I want to do more extracurriculars,’ and that new ambition is something I think student organizations can help out with.”

Steed stuck to her guns, touting communication as the most important factor for an easy transition.

“Touching base is so important,” Steed said. “Last year, we had zero tasks over break, which is great because it lets you really relax, but it then took us an entire week to get back into the groove of things.”

For the 739 different student orga-

MIAMI UNIVERSITY FASHION AND DESIGN CLUB IS ONE OF THE LARGEST STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS ON MIAMI’S CAMPUS. PHOTOS PROVIDED BY MIAMI UNIVERSITY FASHION AND DESIGN.

nizations on campus, the beginning of spring semester is an undoubtedly busy time. But by the same token, it’s also a time of activity and excitement; an en-

tirely new semester full of opportunities. Miami’s HUB web page provides information on the various different clubs and groups on campus for any

student looking to get into the extracurricular swing this spring. headledd@miamioh.edu

MITCHE49@MIAMIOH.EDU

CULTURE 7

TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019

Annual wine tasting to go all in for the arts KEVIN VESTAL

THE MIAMI STUDENT

On Saturday, Feb. 2, Oxford’s oenophiles and art lovers will unite once more to sip wine and support the Performing Arts Series.

The 29th Annual Wine Tasting Gala and Auction will be held from 7 to 10 p.m. in Millett Hall. The year’s fundraiser is sponsored by M.I.A. Restaurant & Studio and benefits the Performing Arts Series’ community outreach and education programs.

Performing Arts Series Director Patti Hannan Liberatore estimates around 250 attendees for this year’s gala and expects to raise over $20,000 between the wine tasting and silent auction.

This money will allow the Performing Arts Series to support education initiatives in Talawanda schools and bring national and international touring artists to Oxford.

Liberatore said that this year’s theme, “Uncorked: all in for the arts,” nods to the gala’s wine tasting and the gambling component that proved popular last year.

“This really is all about the arts being a winner,” she said, “and if you come, you can bet on a good time.”

Each of the gala’s nearly 200 wines were selected by Jack Keegan, who serves as the Performing Arts Series advisory board president and wine chair. For several weeks, Keegan has been in close contact with collectors, distributors and wine retailers in order to prepare for the gala.

“They start sending me lists of the wines they plan on pouring,” Keegan said. “Some of them have Miami connections and some do not, but simply love supporting the arts.”

Keegan, who instructs Miami’s viticulture and enology class, used his network to assemble the gala’s list of premium pours — rare wines from around the world that usually fetch for hundreds of dollars.

“These are wines, for the most part, that are not currently on the market, coming out of someone’s cellar,” Keegan said. “Sometimes I am quite bowled over with what people will donate.”

One premium pour ticket costs $5, while $25 will purchase six tickets and $60 will net 16.

These tickets grant attendees access to the rare wines offered and are separate from the price of entry.

Between drinks, gala goers will also be able to enjoy hors d’oeuvres and desserts, as well as play blackjack and other games of chance.

They can also bid on items in the silent action, which features local artwork, a brunch at Patterson’s Cafe, tickets to a Cincinnati Reds game and a wine tasting in Sonoma, California. There will also be concert tickets for artists such as Eric Church, Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson and Elton John.

One of the most popular items for auction each year is a dinner with Keegan himself.

Gala goers are whisked around the world as they sample rare wines at the Annual Wine Tasting Gala.

“It is a wine-food pairing dinner for six and it is to die for,” Liberatore said. “I’ve been the lucky winner on that one a couple of times and I can say with full honesty that Jack and his kitchen wizards put together a lovely meal.”

Like last year, bidding will occur online, allowing more people to participate without physically attending the gala. Although, for those who are at the gala, a bidder’s lounge will offer a place for people to sit and rest while they vie for their prize.

“We find artists who are exceptional in areas that we are trying to support on campus,” Liberatore said.

For example, Liberatore said the Performing Arts Series Chamber supplements Miami’s music department through the chamber music series. Similarly, last semester’s performance by the Chinese Warriors of Peking provided

Cuffing Season on campus With cold weather comes warm hearts REBECCA WOLFF

THE MIAMI STUDENT

Walking through Kroger, it’s impossible not to notice the holiday aisle that is lined wall to wall with pink and red hearts and obnoxiously large stuffed bears stacked on the shelves. With the Valentine’s Day aisle of the grocery store in full swing, the season of love is truly upon us.

“Cuffing season” is far from a new phenomena. It has swept college campuses for generations and social media in recent years.

With cold weather comes warm hearts, so lovers “cuff” themselves to one another in an attempt to find a snuggle buddy to get each other through the chilly months.

According to Urban Dictionary’s top result: “During the fall and winter months people who would normally rather be single or promiscuous find themselves along with the rest of the world desiring to be ‘cuffed’ or tied down by a serious relationship. The cold weather and prolonged indoor activity causes singles to become lonely and desperate to be cuffed.”

In short, getting cuffed is a fun and effective way to make it through the winter with a bit of joy and excitement, rather than lying in wait of warmer months.

First-year Hannah Matthews has been dating sophomore football player Michael Bonds since late-October. The two have been together for just over three months now and are confident that they will stay that way for seasons to come.

“I definitely did not plan on getting cuffed just for the sake of it,” Matthews said.

“We just really hit it off and it honestly had nothing to do with relationship season coming up. I really never even thought about it

like that but it has been nice having someone around for the holidays.”

However, some don’t think about the season of love as series of glorious social events, instead experiencing a strong sense of FOMO, or fear of missing out.

“There’s just a lot of couple opportunities during the holiday season, but I was alone and single so I couldn’t participate in any of them,” said Zoe Bishop, a first-year on the softball team.

Being single during a time where couples seem to be everywhere, doing lovey activities together like kissing under the mistletoe, posting “thankful for u ;)” Thanksgiving photos all over Instagram, enjoying midnight New Years Eve kisses, and of course, participating in the love fest extravaganza that is Valentine’s day, can lead people to feel alone. However, many of the things that seem to be catered toward pairs can be just as fun with a group of friends. Ice skating, Friends-givings, secret Santa and New Years Eve parties await those who choose friends over feelings.

“It kind of sucked not having a girlfriend over winter break because I didn’t have as much going on,” said first-year Thomas Garvey. “When I was at school, I was glad I didn’t have a girlfriend because I got to spend all my time with my friends and just do stuff with them.”

With Ariana Grande pledging to stay single for all of 2019 and producing hits on just how freeing it is to be independent, there seems to be less pressure to couple up, and it can be more appealing to those like Garvey to make more time for friends.

Still, those in relationships love to embrace the spirit of it.

“I would like to give a shoutout to my squishy (Matthews) for making me feel warm and awesome, even when the weather is cold and shitty,” said Bonds.

Valentine’s Day signals the end of cuffing season. As temperatures rise, more and more couples turn in their cuffs for cut-offs, bringing cuffing season to a close just in time to embrace the fearless attitude of “thank u, next.” wolffrg@miamioh.edu

PHOTOS PROVIDED BY THE PERFORMING ARTS SERIES

entertainment for students and community members of Chinese origin, while also educating non-Chinese audience members on aspects of Chinese history.

The gala is open to students and community members, provided they are 21 or over. Ad-

mission is $79 per person and can either be reserved through the Performing Arts Series’ website, or purchased at the door. Dress is black-tie optional. vestalkc@miamioh.edu

Do Not Disturb: Art in the Making CHARIS WHALEN

THE MIAMI STUDENT

Although senior art major Tom Myers has an apartment, most of his time is spent on campus in the Art Building. Partly for studio time, but mostly out of routine. He walks through the small glass doors at the front entrance of the building and takes the stairs on the left to the second floor, then turns left again. At the end of the corridor, a class is in session — he probably won’t be screaming at his art today. That’s reserved for days Tom can’t focus and the only thing that will allow him to think is cranking up music and verbalizing his frustrations with his work.

Just a few steps past the column of cinder that juts out from the wall, there is Studio 237A. For this semester, half of it is his.

Tom’s created a nest kitty-corner to the door — complete with a desk, loose pencils and paper, stacks of books, an aluminum water bottle and a swivel-chair.

The dark grey-brown cabinet against the wall to the right of the studio entrance is filled with his work: rolled up paintings of shirts and coats, and a small canvas covered in experimental stripes of deep, vibrant blue oil paint.

The cabinet hasn’t been opened in a while.

Tom has moved on from these works, looking towards his new inspiration.

“The Artist in His Museum,” a self-portrait

by Charles Willson Peale, was inspiration for Tom’s most recent collection of paintings.

“He made this natural history and painting museum- it’s full of these weird specimens. I mean look at this,” Tom said pointing to a picture of the painting. “He lifts the curtain, but only halfway to just kind of show people- as if to say ‘come into my museum.’ That’s such a ridiculously exciting image.”

Across the room, canvases hang from the wall. Strokes of reds, purples and blacks all dance together in what Tom has named “A Compendium of Uncommon Experiences.”

This is the working title of his series, and is the only accurate definition he and his peers have come up with.

“When I thought about something I would be excited to show somebody, I thought of something like that,” Tom said, pointing to his work. “Because those are made of things that I’m excited to show people and talk about.”

His series is just a few pieces, but during

one semester last year Tom produced over 115 paintings — not including any of his drawings.

As Myers explains how the painting of a broken-open hand warmer displayed on a table is one of his favorites in his new series, his right leg bounces incessantly. There’s no surefire way to justify his energy, since caffeine has never been his thing, but his inability to sit still reflects the high-traffic state of his mind. Painting is his most pursued outlet, but his creativity doesn’t stop at the end of the paintbrush.

Tom almost went to college for music. After attending a music composition camp one summer during high school, he put Bradley University in Illinois on his list of college options. He chose Miami, though, because he was drawn in by the art department.

Tom has an impressive list of instruments he can play (although he is hesitant to brag): piano, guitar, bass, xylophone, banjo, cello, the harmonica and the dulcimer. While he has never owned a banjo, he has an affinity for stringed instruments and has “played a little bit.”

Aside from music and art, Tom spent his high school years engaging in a number of activities, including cross country, tennis, speech and debate and a youth group praise band. At Miami, Tom still maintains a full schedule. He writes for Inklings, Miami’s literary arts magazine, has recently rebooted the Visual Arts Club and starred in Hopeless Romantic, a musical written by fellow student Andrew Higgins last semester.

“When I have 30 things to do in a week, I can do them and have time to spare,” Tom said with a laugh. “But if I have two, I will extend them and they may not get done.”

Back in Studio 237A, he moves through the room, shoeless, feet clad in grey, paint-stained socks. He talks quickly to himself, various trains of thought escaping his lips, clicking a pen and tapping stray nails on the walls of the room.

Tom floats to his nest, ruminating on what he believes is the most important part of a piece of art.

“It needs to leave you with questions and considerations and conversations.”

Tom and other members of the Visual Arts Club will have their art displayed until Feb. 22 in the lobby of the Art Building. whalenc2@miamioh.edu

Entertainment

8

KEELINST@MIAMIOH.EDU

TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019

The 20 Best Albums of 2018 From rap superstars to indie supergroups SAM KEELING

ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

It’s never easy to summarize an entire year of music in a few paragraphs. Or pages. Or hundreds of pages. This grows truer as more and more artists emerge on the internet, putting their own stamp on the art, whether they rise to stardom or fade into obscurity.

However, as society grows more divided and fearful by the day, and as great movements rise to resist long-standing cultures of abuse and mistreatment, there is a trend in music to make bolder and bolder statements.

More than ever, celebrities in the industry have worked toward more pointed political statements or bolder messages of empowerment. Some efforts fell into cringeworthy, half-hearted attempts at being “woke” (sorry, Justin Timberlake). Others advocated for misinformed concepts and regressed in the public eye (not sorry, Kanye). Even more troubling, stars with violent and disgusting pasts garnered pity from their fans, achieving popularity (6ix9ine) and even a twisted sort of martyrdom (XXXTentacion).

For all these problems, 2018 was also a year in which Ariana Grande became a symbol for emotional solidarity, Mitski mined complex emotions to become an indie darling and Janelle Monae turned her unapologetic identity into an Album of the Year nomination. In an ever-escalating cultural conflict, everyone is choosing a side. The highs and lows of this fight are on display in society’s greatest mirror: Music.

Putting context aside, there was also a lot of excellent music that hinted at the future while also digging into the annals of pop history. The spirit of rebellion revitalized the punk scene, and the increasingly saturated field of trap revealed a few gems in a sea of mediocrity. Soul music is alive and well, and 80s synth-pop became cool again.

Choosing 20 albums is almost as hard as writing a short summary. I cannot ignore the fact that this was created by nobody but me: There is no holistic staff pick or public consideration. Still, I find these 20 records to embody the spirit of the year as well as its highest musical moments.

20. Cardi B, “Invasion of Privacy” Though she was a veritable superstar before releasing “Invasion of Privacy,” Cardi B still had a lot to prove on her major-label debut. Like many artists striving to be taken seriously, Cardi’s efforts paid off, and “Invasion of Privacy” is filled with instantly catchy hooks and approachable melodies. Many of Cardi’s pop-rap contemporaries tend to focus on quantity over quality, which makes the polish of “Invasion of Privacy” even more appealing.

Key Tracks: “Best Life,” “I Do” 19. Mitski, “Be the Cowboy” What “Be the Cowboy” offers is a smorgasbord of musical treats on a silver platter.

Sticky, immediate and brief at 32 minutes, this dynamic collection has a ton to offer and unpack. Even if every venture or short track isn’t for you, there’s no shortage of interesting ideas from an artist who uses a surface of acerbic wit and punchy lyricism to convey a much more complex amalgamation of emotions.

Key Tracks: “Geyser,” “Two Slow Dancers” 18. Adrianne Lenker, “abysskiss” Lenker’s main band Big Thief released one of last year’s best records, and the frontwoman has carried over her excellent songwriting to a solo effort. “abysskiss” is often stripped down to little more than vocals and guitar, accentuating its intimacy. Lenker’s mesmerizing voice and melancholy melodies make this the perfect record for a rainy day.

Key Tracks: “terminal paradise,” “symbol” 17. MGMT, “Little Dark Age” They once crafted mid-aughts indie pop anthems. Then they did an about-face and embarked on difficult, psychedelic odysseys.

“Little Dark Age” finds MGMT returning to pop songwriting with a focus on New Wave synths and touches of the strange. The title track and singles “When You Die” and “Me and Michael” form what might be the most

delectable three-song streak of the year.

Key Tracks: “Little Dark Age,” “When You Die,” “Me and Michael” 16. Iceage, “Beyondless” Few bands are capable of truly evolving their sound while keeping a distinct style.

Iceage is one of them. “Beyondless,” their fourth LP, finds the post-punk group expanding their musical vocabulary, adapting multiple facets of rock (and more surprising departures) and reworking them with their signature snarl and viscerality. The Danish group’s combination of loose-limbed chaos and great songcraft makes “Beyondless” a killer rock record.

Key Tracks: “Pain Killer,” “Catch It” 15. Kacey Musgraves, “Golden Hour” The beauty of this album is not just that

and the breezy seductiveness of lead singer Syd are front and center across every minute of their latest effort.

Key Tracks: “Comer Over,” “Next Time/ Humble Pie,” “It Gets Better (With Time)” 10. Noname, “Room 25” Noname is one of the most provocative and exhilarating rappers working today. She has an otherworldly grasp of the phonetic connections between words and is unafraid to mess with them. Her playfulness gives her rapping a technical edge, the content itself gives her a lyrical edge; and the indelibly soulful and funky production gives her a musical edge. This is the best rap album of the year.

Key Tracks: “Prayer Song,” “Ace” 9. Beach House, “7” The modern masters of dream pop return with a collection of tracks that never strays

member’s unique take on indie rock blends into a fresh sound that is sentimental, turbulent and folksy all at once. Across its six tracks, “boygenius” offers a more fulfilling experience than most albums this year.

Key Tracks: “Me & My Dog,” “Souvenir,” “Ketchum, ID” 5. SOPHIE, “OIL OF EVERY PEARL’S UN-INSIDES” This electronic producer and frequent Charli XCX collaborator has the air of someone who knows exactly how to make a great pop tune or dance track and wants absolutely nothing to do with it. Her mind-bending debut is a nonstop rollercoaster between abrasive bangers, beautiful ambient tracks and songs just a bit too left-field to be called “pop,” though the description doesn’t float far out of reach. You haven’t heard anything like this before, and that makes SOPHIE one of the few truly unique, trailblazing producers making waves in today’s scene.

Key Tracks: “It’s Okay to Cry,” “Ponyboy,” “Immaterial” 4. Let’s Eat Grandma, “I’m All Ears” Pop has rarely sounded this exciting.

From the strange, epic electro opener “Whitewater” to the glistening synth-pop single “It’s Not Just Me” to the ten-minute-plus closer “Donnie Darko,” this young duo seem keen on expanding their sound into every possible corner, all with a hint of the psychedelic.

This bold breakthrough feels like a grand entrance of a major new voice in music. What does the future of Let’s Eat Grandma sound like? It’s hard to even say what they are now.

Whatever it is, the world needs more.

Key Tracks: “It’s Not Just Me,” “Falling Into Me,” “Ava”

ILLUSTRATION BY: CONNOR WELLS

Musgraves has seamlessly blended pop and country, or that the lyrics mine romance and emotion with such grace. It’s the warmth of the production and the gentle songwriting, even in somber moments, that makes “Golden Hour” a blissful, inviting, disarming experience.

Key Tracks: “Slow Burn,” “Mother,” “Rainbow” 14. Blood Orange, “Negro Swan” Temperate and meditative, “Negro Swan” finds singer/songwriter/producer/multi-instrumentalist Dev Hynes less infatuated with the R&B sounds and styles of yore, instead toying with contemporary sounds and creating an interesting blend of alternative, soul, hip-hop, and pop. “Negro Swan” is a somber and gentle record, yet it also does more work to define the Blood Orange aesthetic than any prior album has. This is what it sounds like when an already stellar artist matures to something even more intriguing and singular.

Key Tracks: “Saint,” “Charcoal Baby” 13. Denzel Curry, “TA13OO” There has emerged a new wave of rappers who use aggression as a way to heighten the energy of their music. Many of Denzel Curry’s songs — including the viral “Ultimate” and this year’s “SUMO” — make great use of this hyper-aggressive streak. But “TA13OO” proves that Curry’s appeal goes far beyond a single gimmick. The beats are dynamic and consistent, Curry displays considerable technical prowess and the subject matter ranges from darkly humorous brag-raps to raw explorations of inner and outer turmoil.

Key Tracks: “SUMO,” “CLOUT COBAIN,” “SIRENS” 12. Saba, “CARE FOR ME” It’s painful how deep inside his soul Saba reaches, diving headfirst into his grief and displaying it for the world to see. Written after the death of his cousin, “CARE FOR ME” explores his anger at the frailty of life, then expands to include Saba’s relationships, struggles with depression and life in a world that often seems unfair.

Key Tracks: “LIFE,” “CALLIGRAPHY” 11. The Internet, “Hive Mind” If you needed to define what makes an R&B group great, you would probably describe The Internet. Sublime production, inescapable grooves, laid-back atmosphere

too far from their tried-and-true formula, but also isn’t afraid to add some interesting wrinkles. With the introduction of organic drumming, the music here is given new muscle, anchoring spacey and blissful indie pop to solid ground. And the duo lets their dreams get a little weirder, like the awe-inducing vocal layering in “L’Inconnue” or the dark synth arpeggios of “Black Car.” Beach House is one of the most consistent and reliable bands in recent history. They aren’t about to change everything, but they do adapt just enough to keep things fresh.

Key Tracks: “L’Inconnue,” “Drunk in LA,” “Black Car” 8. Christine and the Queens, “Chris” A warbling synth note crescendos into a massive chord and is cut off, suddenly, by a delightful pop-funk beat. “Chris” opens on a high note and never goes down. But what’s to be expected from one of pop’s unsung champions? Hailing from France, Héloïse Letissier makes some of the finest tunes around earnest and rhythmic and endlessly danceable.

While each track is lovely in Christine and the Queens’ native tongue, the English versions supply fantastic lyrics that reward an attentive listener. Bristling with confidence and charisma, “Chris” supplies anthems for anyone lucky enough to hear them.

Key Tracks: “Comme si,” “5 dollars,” “The walker” 7. Parquet Courts, “Wide Awake!”

Take note, Greta Van Fleet. There’s a way to use the sounds of classic rock without sounding like a tribute band who tours bars. Case in point: The new Parquet Courts record oozes post-punk nostalgia but could only have been released in 2018. The rebellious, finger-to-the-man spirit that embodied so many 70s and 80s groups lives on in the quick-witted, topical lyrics on “Wide Awake!”

Production by Danger Mouse adds a level of polish that the group has never achieved before. This album doesn’t stand on the shoulders of giants — it holds its own.

Key Tracks: “Almost Had to Start a Fight/ In and Out of Patience,” “Wide Awake!”

6. boygenius, “boygenius EP” Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus and Phoebe Bridgers are talented singer-songwriters in their own right. But their supergroup boygenius proves the validity of the phrase “greater than the sum of its parts.” Each

3. Kali Uchis, “Isolation” Sometimes the beauty of an album is how it tackles a serious topic, or strikes a personal chord. But it can also be, quite simply, excellent music. For all its emotional depths, “Isolation” falls in the latter category. Blissful funk, retro soul, Latin pop, contemporary R&B, bubbly dream pop — Kali Uchis takes all of these, masters them and puts her own stamp on it. Rarely is a record as thoroughly listenable from start to finish as “Isolation.”

The list of features and producers is impressive, but make no mistake: Kali Uchis is the real star of the show, and she’ll keep you captivated until the last note.

Key Tracks: “Tyrant,” “In My Dreams,” “After the Storm” 2. Janelle Monae, “Dirty Computer” Yes, “Make Me Feel” and several other tracks on “Dirty Computer” sound like Prince. Yes, it is sometimes clear who Janelle Monae is borrowing from. So what? What’s been accomplished here is far from a rehash of the old. Instead, Monae has taken the works of the trailblazers and combined them with modern society’s most urgent problems to create a confection of musical mastery and stunning vision. Monae truly is a star for a generation. Her confidence as a black, queer woman bleeds through every rap verse and soaring vocal note. Her desire to transform her life to obtain maximum joy is infectious.

Add this lyrical mission to a package of pop perfection, and you have an rare album indeed, one that is both timely and timeless.

Key Tracks: “Crazy, Classic, Life,” “Make Me Feel,” “PYNK,” “Americans” 1. IDLES,“Joy as an Act of Resistance” This is much more than a great punk-rock album. In fact, it takes the stereotype of angry British guys playing loud music, turns it on its head, and channels it in an immensely positive direction. Frontman Joe Talbot has a menacing voice and a heart of gold. In interviews and in song, he lays bare his anger issues, his mother’s paralysis and death, his past struggles with alcoholism and the stillborn birth of his daughter. He is open about how these things tormented him and how they made him want to be a better man. The results? “Joy as an Act of Resistance,” a series of thundering post-punk anthems with lyrics that deride toxic masculinity and encourage honesty and vulnerability with yourself, and compassion for everyone else. “If someone talked to you the way you do to you, I’d put their teeth through,” Talbot snarls with his husky British accent. “Love yourself!” This threatening message of self-empowerment is just one of the charming moments on a very fun album that deserves to be taken very, very seriously.

Key Tracks: “Colossus,” “Never Fight a Man with a Perm,” “June,” “Television” keelinst@miamioh.edu

KEELINST@MIAMIOH.EDU

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019

Boy Harsher interview: the electronic duo discusses killer miners and country tunes

(FROM LEFT) JAE MATTHEWS AND AUGUSTUS MULLER. CONTRIBUTED BY BOY HARSHER

SAM KEELING

ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

In 1961, country singer Jimmy Dean released a folk tune called “Big Bad John” about an antisocial, rough miner who sacrificed his own life to save others when the mine collapsed. Twenty years later, the cult classic slasher film “My Bloody Valentine” was released. In its opening scene, a man and woman in miner’s garb head down into the tunnels, where they begin undressing and caressing each other. When the man, still in his mask, sees a heart-shaped tattoo on the woman, he goes into a fit of rage and kills her.

Aside from the fact that they both mention miners, these two have absolutely nothing in common. Unless you’re vocalist Jae Matthews and composer Augustus Muller, the duo behind the dark and addictive dance music of Boy Harsher.

In an email interview with The Miami Student, Matthews discussed Boy Harsher’s 2016 track “Big Bad John:” “it’s a

reference to Jimmy Dean’s song (of the same name) about a hero miner. But our interpretation is more sinister, and the bespoken mythical ‘John’ is an evil entity, a killer, an abuser.”

Using Matthews’ twisted take on this familiar character, Muller’s track places the killer in a soundscape inspired by the aforementioned scene from “My Bloody Valentine.” That same seductively unstable tone — an amorphous mix of lust and violence — carries into the dark, 80s-inspired synth instrumental and the sultry, whispery vocal delivery by Matthews.

Boy Harsher has a knack for finding the through line between competing or disparate ideals. They elicit emotions of sex and pain, vice and euphoria, intimacy and heartbreak — often all at once. The music combines elements of drone, coldwave, 80s-inspired electronica, and synth-pop into an evocative amalgamation, at once ethereal and visceral.

Since their 2014 breakthrough opus “Pain” (which plays like a version of New

‘On the Basis of Sex’ shows another side of RBG KIRBY DAVIS

MANAGING EDITOR

When I thought of Ruth Bader Ginsburg before seeing “On the Basis of Sex,” I thought of three things: female empowerment, the Supreme Court and scrunchies.

I did not know much about Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

The film, which follows the Supreme Court Justice through law school, professorship and the beginning of her law career, clears up a lot. Felicity Jones plays the iconic Bader Ginsburg, opposite Armie Hammer as her husband Martin Ginsburg and Sam Waterston as the blatantly sexist dean of Harvard Law School, where the couple begins the film as students.

On top of working through Harvard Law, Ruth raises her and Martin’s young daughter, Jane, attends his classes for him while he’s sick with testicular cancer and helps nurse him back to health. He takes a job in New York City, so Ruth finishes her degree at Columbia in 1959, only to enter a workforce appalled at the idea of hiring a woman—Harvard education be damned.

Relentlessly rejected by law firms for her sex, Ruth takes a teaching job at Rutgers as her equally qualified husband enjoys enormous success. But she wants to be a working lawyer, and eventually, she’s given the chance. She, Martin and the ACLU tag-team a gender discrimination case that (spoiler alert) sets her on the path to, ultimately, becoming a Supreme Court Justice.

“On the Basis of Sex,” written by Bader Ginsburg’s nephew Daniel Stiepleman and directed by Mimi Leder (who’s most recently helmed episodes of “Shameless” and “The Leftovers”), is pretty and polished, almost to a fault.

According to the film’s actors and real-life Ruth Bader Ginsburg, though, “On the Basis of Sex” is fairly accurate. The Justice was adamant, however, at a mid-December screening, that in reality she “didn’t stumble” at all as Jones does during a pivotal courtroom scene.

But Bader Ginsburg still praised English-born Jones’ Brooklyn accent, and Hammer’s resemblance to her late husband, at the film’s New York premiere.

Also at the New York premiere, Stiepleman and Leder agreed that “Basis of Sex” does not intend to depict Bader Ginsburg as a “superhero.”

While Leder deemed the film “an origin story,” she didn’t mean the Marvel kind. “ ... Ruth Bader Ginsburg is not a superhero,” she said. “She’s a woman who, like countless generations of women before her and since, withstood the subtle slights and overt discrimination of the

“It is difficult to think of [RBG] as anything but a borderline superhuman powerhouse.” culture around her.”

Since the documentary “RBG” was released last spring, chronicling Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s workout habits as well as her legal legacy, she’s become a symbol of feminine freedom and a requisite sticker on female college students’ laptops everywhere.

Superhero or not, she’s considered one by many.

But Leder and Stiepleman do achieve their goal in “Basis of Sex” of humanizing the now-85-year-old woman. Jones plays her with considerable but measured fury at her (and all women’s) circumstances at the start of her career. While headlines detailing Bader Ginsburg’s declining health have been prominent lately, it is still difficult (for me, at least) to think of her as anything but a borderline superhuman powerhouse.

Hammer is, as usual, distractingly handsome but a solid, steady presence on screen, and Cailee Spaeny is convincing (albeit cliché, but that has more to do with the writing than her) as teenage Jane.

The film does a good job exploring her life long before she reached icon status, though it dips into sappy territory when she’s lectured by her teenage daughter about being an antiquated feminist, and subsequently has a revelation that maybe she IS an antiquated feminist.

Having seen this film, I feel I know more about the dynamic of Ruth and Martin Ginsburg’s relationship than her legal career, but I guess that’s why we have “RBG,” too. The jury’s still out on whether “On the Basis of Sex” is a fun, frivolous dramedy or a very serious romantic comedy. daviskn3@miamioh.edu

Order’s “Blue Monday” from a darker parallel universe), Boy Harsher has managed something unique among modern artists: Creating a sound that is uniquely, unmistakably them.

But the duo doesn’t approach songwriting with such specific criteria. “We’ve never really had expectations of what the music should sound like,” wrote Muller. “My taste in music hasn’t drastically changed in the last five years. We’re still referencing the same influences as when we started.”

Matthews explained that each new project comes along naturally. “Not to sound tacky, but our musical evolutions came from life events: several moves, supreme luck, happiness, some sadness. I also can’t do a whole lot vocally, so we already know the box we gotta dance around in.”

Matthews has a unique, spoken-word-esque style that developed from a history of reciting her original short stories. Most tracks feature hypnotic, breathy delivery with a healthy dose of reverb. Whether you’re listening on massive speakers or headphones, it creates an illusion of her voice echoing throughout a cavernous dance hall, while also feeling like she’s whispering secrets in your ear, so quiet you have to strain to understand her.

Like the best collaborations, Boy Harsher would lose all allure without Matthews’ vocals on top of Muller’s tracks.

Though it may not be entirely deliberate, the group’s evolution is unmistakable. 2016’s “Yr Body is Nothing” was a great full-length that explored every crevice of their sound — gnarly industrial noises, steady beats and synthesizers that wouldn’t be out of place in “Stranger Things.” The following year’s “Country Girl” EP was their most danceable release to date, featuring stellar production, groovy bass lines and high-BPM breaks.

Their upcoming LP “Careful” (available Feb. 1) takes even better production and

marries it with the best aspects of their songwriting. Muller has never seemed more masterful with his arsenal of synthesizers and drum machines, and the diversity of layered sounds allows for close listening, if you can resist the overpowering urge to get up and move.

This album’s dance-centric tracks — namely, single “LA” and album cut “Come Closer” — are more propulsive and energetic than ever. The melodies and hooks are increasingly strong, bringing to mind synth-pop legends like OMD or Pet Shop Boys, but always with a biting edge.

It’s a style that is hard to explain in words and even harder to replicate. It demands a certain type of songwriting, and not everything is up to snuff. “There are times where we jam on a song for a while and realize, ‘this definitely isn’t a Boy Harsher song,’ so we put it to bed,” explained Muller.

So what’s in this bin of scrapped projects? What genres do they want to explore outside of the Boy Harsher front?

“We make a lot of ambient tracks that never see the light of day,” wrote Matthews. “I’d like to do an entire ambient album at some point.”

Muller dreams of a side project that strays further from expectations. “I would love to make country music someday, really croon out in a desert dive. I am not sure if that’s really possible. But we’ll see!”

“Careful” is one of the most interesting, confident and consistent releases of the new year. With an NPR feature, increased media attention and a world tour, Boy Harsher seems poised to make a splash on the scene. In the midst of all the excitement, Muller prefers to remain modest: “My focus is on getting through it all alive.”

“Right now we’re just riding the wave,” wrote Matthews. “We’ll see where it takes us.” keelinst@miamioh.edu

‘The Hate U Give:’ a film that challenges America’s divide EMMA BLIVEN

THE MIAMI STUDENT

“The Hate U Give” receives its title from the rapper Tupac Shakur, who created the “THUG LIFE” acronym, standing for ‘the hate u give little infants f**ks everybody’ and regarding the cycle of societal violence. This film, based on a best selling novel, revolves around a teen girl named Starr and opens with a particularly moving scene in which her father is giving “the talk.” Most people assume this to be the talk that many adolescent teenagers receive from their parents about sex, but for Starr’s family and many others, “the talk” is an explanation of racism in America.

Starr’s mother Lisa did not want her children to become involved in the gang violence or drug culture rampant in their hometown of Garden Heights, which leads her to enroll Starr and her siblings, Seven and Sekani, at Williamson Prep.

It’s a fancy, predominantly white private school where Starr begins to lead a very divided life. Her personality at home and with friends changes while at school, where she refrains from using slang and doesn’t want to give anyone a reason to call her “too ghetto.” Although her white classmates use slang terms, when Starr

her meaning in life: to speak the truth about African American communities and how circumstances need to change.

The film starts with an intimate story of a young girl’s high school experience but takes a turn toward major political controversy, emphasizing the conflict between African American communities and the police. There are countless scenes filled with police brutality and aggression. There is one scene in particular that highlights this issue. It entails a large peaceful protest that ends with horrible violence. The police begin to throw tear gas and use force to arrest people. The film’s take on police oppression becomes evident during this scene.

There are complex moments and relationships that aren’t given enough time. I found this to be especially true in scenes with Starr’s boyfriend Chris, a white male from her prep school. Chris tries to be a supportive boyfriend throughout the film, but when Chris finds out Starr had kept the shooting a secret, he says the overused statement, “I don’t see color.”

This also occurs with Starr’s uncle, Carlos, who is a policeman. When Starr and her family stay the night at his house, he discusses how it feels as a police officer.

His statement hits a rather soft and angry spot for Starr.

“The film starts with an intimate story but takes a turn toward major political controversy.” uses those same words it makes her “hood,” as she fears.

Starr’s divided personalities are somewhat of a downfall for her. But when her childhood friend, Khalil, is shot in front of her by a white policeman, she finally breaks through her emotional barriers and is able to find her voice. Starr is forced to battle these two personas and soon decides to overcome the fact that her white friends would soon know about her life in Garden Heights. Starr also has to worry about a drug lord would target her for speaking the truth about Khalil’s involvement in drug dealing. With all these obstacles, Starr is still able to find

“The Hate U Give” wants to focus on how relevant the cultural differences are between each character, but this shifts the focus away from the film’s plot. By the end, Starr’s character is inspiring, but other characters aren’t as developed. The film expands on controversial issues, but it doesn’t always embed these issues in the characters and plot. While it could’ve done a better job of incorporating character development and narrative into its message, it is still a good look at the cultural divide in America. blivenee@miamioh.edu

Sports

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SIMANSEC@MIAMIOH.EDU

TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019

WHAT YOU MISSED

HOCKEY’S STRUGGLES CONTINUE

DEC. 19 Football Football signs its 2019 freshman recruiting class, which ranks as the third-best in the Mid-American Conference, according to 247Sports.

DEC. 30 Hockey Former Miami hockey RedHawk and current Guelph Gryphon goaltender Andrew Masters suffers 3-1 loss in his return to Oxford.

DEC. 30 Men’s Basketball Miami beats Evansville for the team’s eighth non-conference win of the season — its best out-of-conference record since 1996.

JAN. 12 Women’s Basketball The RedHawks’ senior forward Kendall McCoy eclipses 1,000 career points.

JAN. 13 Football Former RedHawks Gus Ragland, Nate Becker and Alonzo Smith compete in the SPIRAL Tropical Bowl for prospective professional players.

JAN. 16 Women’s Basketball Miami hands the Central Michigan Chippewas their first home MAC loss since 2016.

JAN. 16 Hockey Senior forward Josh Melnick and junior goaltender Ryan Larkin among 80+ nominated for the Hobey Baker Award.

JAN. 16 Softball Softball starts spring practice.

JAN. 18 Cheerleading Miami earns its first HIT (highest score possible for routine) at UCA Nationals for the first time in 20 years and places seventh in the nation in the DIA Game Day Division.

JAN. 19 Football Former Miami wide receiver Sean McVay leads the Los Angeles Rams to Super Bowl LIII.

JAN. 25 Baseball

EMILY SIMANSKIS SPORTS EDITOR

Miami hockey is slumping – badly.

After losing 6-1 to Colorado College (1012-3, 4-7-2 National Collegiate Hockey Conference) on Friday and 3-2 on Saturday, the RedHawks’ losing streak extended to six games and their winless streak stretched to 11.

The last time the ’Hawks (9-13-4, 3-9-2 NCHC) lost six in a row was during the 200405 season. Enrico Blasi was part of the last Miami hockey team that went winless for more than 10 games. During the 1990-91 season when Blasi suited up as a freshman forward, the RedHawks went 17 games without a win.

Now, head coach Blasi said: “We have to be deliberate in terms of our movement, in terms of our synergy, in terms of our compete level. Everybody just has to be on the same page. That’s another way of saying it.

We’re into January now, so we’re trying to be creative in terms of how we can say the same message over and over again.”

The RedHawks last won on Nov. 17, 2018, beating Colorado College 3-2 in overtime.

Most recently, Miami tied Providence on Jan. 5 for its last non-loss.

“We’re just trying to get back to the basics and make sure our work ethic is above and beyond what it has been,” senior defenseman River Rymsha said. “When you’re in a slump like this, you have to work twice as hard to try to get out of it.”

For a team ranked as high as No. 16 in the country this season (week of Dec. 10, 2018) according to the USCHO.com’s Top-20 poll, Miami hockey’s special teams, an inability to generate offense and its goaltending have recently kept the RedHawks from the win column.

For the past six games, Miami has been outscored by its opponents 23-8. Five of those 23 goals against have come on the RedHawks’ penalty kill, though the ’Hawks have an 80 percent success rate on the man-disadvantage through the same stretch.

At the other end of the ice, Miami has gone

AFTER COLORADO COLLEGE SWEPT THE REDHAWKS, THEIR WINLESS STREAK EXTENDED TO 11 AND IS ONE OF THE LONGEST IN PROGRAM HISTORY. THE MIAMI STUDENT MACY WHITAKER

1-for-18 (5.5 percent) on its power play opportunities. The RedHawks even surrendered a shorthanded goal to the University of Minnesota-Duluth on Jan. 18.

“It’s tough, you wish things were going better,” Rymsha said, “but this is the stuff you prepare for all summer and all year, so that when the tough times do come, you know how to work out of it the best you can.”

The RedHawks have been playing without senior forward and co-captain Josh Melnick, who had been an essential part of both the power play and penalty kill units. Despite missing the six losses with an undisclosed injury, Melnick still leads the RedHawks with 19 points.

Melnick was back skating at practice on Monday in a green, no-contact jersey.

“It’s great to have [Melnick’s] presence out there — his leadership, his ability as a player,” Rymsha said. “It should be good to, hopefully, get him back for the weekend.”

In net, junior goaltender Ryan Larkin has struggled to find his game which propelled him to an impressive 0.83 goals against average and .966 save percentage through the month of October. Since then, his GAA has

climbed to 2.59 and his save percentage has fallen to .917.

For the past two weekends, senior goaltender Jordan Uhelski has relieved Larkin during Game One and has started Game Two. Uhelski holds a 2.40 GAA and a .918 save percentage.

So, Miami hockey is slumping – badly. And it doesn’t get easier for the RedHawks.

The NCHC has four nationally ranked teams in this week’s Top-20 poll: No. 1 St. Cloud State, No. 3 Minnesota-Duluth, No. 7 Denver and No. 8 Western Michigan. Miami has to play all four of those teams before post-season play begins.

The RedHawks first travel to face St. Cloud State (18-4-2, 10-2-2 NCHC) this weekend.

The ’Hawks tied the Huskies twice at home in December, good for SCSU’s only two ties on the season.

“We know how good St. Cloud is, and we know what kind of threats they have, and we know how hard they play and how structured they play,” Blasi said. “For us, it’s just a matter of getting ready to go for Friday.”

Puck drop is at 8:07 p.m. on Friday and 7:07 p.m. on Saturday.

Baseball starts spring practice.

JAN. 26 Men’s Basketball The RedHawks defeat MAC No. 1 Bowling Green for its third straight conference win after starting 0-4 in the league.

Miami and OU battle in Battle of the Bricks EMILY SIMANSKIS SPORTS EDITOR

CHRIS VINEL

ASST. SPORTS EDITOR

JUNIOR GUARD LAUREN DICKERSON WILL BE KEY IN GAME AGAINST OU. PHOTO EDITOR JUGAL JAIN

Something’s got to give.

With the latest installation of the Battle of the Bricks rivalry tomorrow night, the Miami RedHawks and Ohio Bobcats couldn’t be more opposite.

The Bobcats (17-1, 6-1 Mid-American) enter as the conference’s top offensive unit, averaging 82.7 points per game. Their defense, which allows 64.8 points a game, ranks more towards the middle of the pack.

OK, now flip that.

The RedHawks (12-4, 4-2 MAC) have an elite defense that only gives up an average of 59.2 points. But their offense hasn’t caught up to that league-leading defense yet and currently rates as sixth in the MAC. Not to mention, the two teams are each other’s biggest rival.

The only thing the ’Hawks and the Bobcats have in common is their success.

“It’s hard to win,” MU head coach Megan Duffy said on Saturday. “It’s hard to win in this league.”

But it hasn’t been tough for either of these teams. Miami rides a three-game winning streak into the Convocation Center in Athens and sits third in the MAC East. First-place Ohio welcomes the RedHawks with its own six-game winning streak.

Most recently, Duffy’s team defeated the

Kent State Golden Flashes 79-63 at home on Saturday. Four RedHawks finished in double digits with junior guard Lauren Dickerson and junior forward Savannah Kluesner recording 19 apiece to pace the team.

Senior guard Leah Purvis finished with 11 points, while senior forward Kristen Levering tallied a career-high 15.

“Our depth was one of our greatest strengths today,” Duffy said. “We had a couple different lineups in ... I just thought we were able to use our bench and keep other kids fresh throughout the night.”

Dickerson and Kluesner, along with senior forward Kendall McCoy, score upwards of 12 points per game. The trio also makes up the RedHawks’ three leading rebounders.

The Bobcats counter Miami’s three double-digit scorers with five of their own. Ohio’s top scorer, sophomore guard Cece Hooks, ranks sixth in the MAC, averaging 16.5 points a game.

While Hooks is not a threat from 3-point land, the rest of the Bobcats are. As a team, they shoot 38.1 percent from deep – good enough for second in the MAC. Ohio and the conference’s leading gunner, senior guard Dominique Doseck, shoots an efficient 48.7 percent.

But, Miami tops the MAC in 3-point defense, allowing its opponents to hit just 21.5 percent of its downtown looks.

Something’s got to give, but history is on Miami’s side. The RedHawks hold a 55-32 advantage in the all-time series, and Duffy is an undefeated 2-0 against the team from Athens.

On Jan. 9, the Bobcats suffered their only loss of the season against the Central Michigan Chippewas, who the RedHawks defeated a week later, handing CMU its first MAC loss at home since 2016.

The win over the Chippewas spurred Miami’s three-game winning streak, but players know the season is far from over.

“We have some big games coming up for sure,” Levering said on Saturday. “It was our bye week [last week], so we had a lot of time to prepare, and it was awesome the way that our team came together … We’ll take that confidence into our next games.”

The Battle of the Bricks tips off at 7 p.m. tomorrow and can be watched on ESPN+.

SENIOR GUARD LEAH PURVIS COMING OFF 11-POINT GAME AGAINST KENT STATE ON SATURDAY. PHOTO EDITOR JUGAL JAIN

SIMANSEC@MIAMIOH.EDU

SPORTS 11

TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019

RedHawks host Toledo and look for fourth straight win SCOUTING REPORT Tipoff.............................................................................. 7 p.m. tonight at Millett Hall TV/Radio .........................................................................ESPN+/Miami IMG Sports Network MIAMI REDHAWKS Record..................................................................................................11-9 (3-4 MAC) Offense............................................................................................................ 73.4 ppg Defense...........................................................................................................70.2 ppg PROJECTED LINEUP Player (position, height, key stat) Darrian Ringo (guard, 6’2”, 5.3 apg) Nike Sibande (guard, 6’4”, 16.3 ppg) Abdoulaye Harouna (guard, 6’5”, 4.3 ppg) Dalonte Brown (forward, 6’7”, 13.4 ppg) Bam Bowman (forward, 6’8”, 9.3 ppg) TOLEDO ROCKETS Record..................................................................................................16-4 (4-3 MAC) Offense............................................................................................................80.7 ppg Defense...........................................................................................................69.2 ppg PROJECTED LINEUP Player (position, height, key stat) Marreon Jackson (guard, 6’0”, 10.6 ppg) Jaelan Sanford (guard, 6’4”, 17.0 ppg) Willie Jackson (forward, 6’6”, 10.3 rpg) Nate Navigato (forward, 6’8”, 12.2 ppg) Luke Knapke (center, 6’11”, 11.7 ppg) PLAYER TO WATCH Jaelan Sanford Sanford torched the RedHawks for 15 first-half points on Jan. 15 but was held to just four in the second half. While he’s a solid shooter (36 percent on 3-pointers), Sanford also possesses the ability to put the ball on the floor and make plays off the dribble, whether it be driving to the basket or dishing out to open teammates. He ranks second on the Rockets in total assists. “[Sanford] is their best player,” Owens said. “He makes them go. He’s capable of scoring points in bunches.”

Nike Sibande figures to be Sanford’s main defender tonight.

NCAA NET Ranking .........................................................Miami (149); Toledo (62)

’Hawks Talk JUNIOR FORWARD BAM BOWMAN PUTS UP A LAYUP AGAINST BOWLING GREEN ON SATURDAY. BOWMAN IS EXPECTED TO START AGAINST TOLEDO TONIGHT. THE MIAMI STUDENT MACY WHITAKER

CHRIS VINEL

ASST. SPORTS EDITOR

After a 71-59 loss at Toledo two weeks ago, Miami men’s basketball sat at 0-4 in the Mid-American Conference and was tied for the worst record in the league.

Oh, how quickly things can change.

Just 14 days later, the RedHawks are riding a three-game win streak and have the opportunity to improve to .500 in the MAC with a win over the same Toledo Rockets tonight.

The Rockets are the first opponent Miami will see twice this season, though neither team looks exactly as they did in the first matchup.

After sophomore guard Spencer Littleson started against the RedHawks on Jan. 15, junior forward Willie Jackson rejoined the first team for the three games since then. Jackson is Toledo’s leading rebounder at 10.3 boards per game.

Miami also made a rotation switch, with head coach Jack Owens inserting redshirt senior guard Abdoulaye Harouna into the starting lineup for sophomore guard Jalen Adaway.

While each player’s court time remains un-

changed, the substitution has made Adaway the team’s new sixth man — a role that was supposed to be filled by sophomore guard Isaiah Coleman-Lands before he went down with an injury.

The RedHawks have a bit of momentum for the first time since their non-conference schedule ended in December. They’re coming off a 67-53 home victory over the previous MAC No. 1 Bowling Green Falcons. Owens called the game his squad’s best defensive effort of the season.

But with the way his team’s been playing, Owens feels confident about Miami’s chances of ending its 11-game losing streak to Toledo.

“At the end of the day, we just have to continue to execute on both sides of the ball, offensively and defensively,” Owens said. “I think if we do that, I definitely like our chances.”

As it proved last time, Toledo won’t be a pushover. The Rockets have won four of their last five and currently hold first place in the MAC West division.

“I just think it’s going to be a great game for us,” Owens said. “Hopefully, we have the carry-over from practice to game, and we’ll have success.”

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Opinion

12

BURNSKL2@MIAMIOH.EDU

TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019 STAFF EDITORIAL

Recognizing weather’s chilling reality The following reflects the majority opinion of the editorial board.

It’s cold. Historically cold.

In grade school, we’d flush ice cubes down the toilet, sleep with spoons under our pillows and do whatever else we could think of to will a snow day into existence.

In college, we’ll hope for the best, but we need to prepare to trek to class in icy, negative temperatures.

Most elementary and high school students do not spend as much time outside as college students, so it’s unfair that we are, perhaps, the least likely to get the day off because of extreme weather.

Tomorrow, Jan. 30, threatens a high of exactly 2 degrees and a low of -3. The National Weather Service has already issued a wind chill advisory for Butler County lasting until 7 p.m. on Wednesday. However, it’s possible that Miami University will still be open, and classes will still be in session.

University policy states that canceling classes is left up to the discretion of university administrators, specifically President Crawford.

This flexible policy allows the university to continue educating its students, even when temperatures dip to uncomfortable lows, while keeping student safety in mind.

This policy is typical of universities around the country. Ohio University has an almost identical policy, leaving cancellations and closures to the discretion of its president unless the Athens County Sheriff declares a weather emergency.

In the past, Miami has canceled and postponed classes due to snow and extreme cold.

In 2018, the university delayed J-term classes until 10 a.m. on Jan. 8. In 2015, the university canceled classes from Thursday, Feb. 19 until 11:30 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 20.

There is a precedent for canceling and postponing class due to extreme cold. However, the university needs to become more lenient in how it implements this policy. When classes were canceled on Monday, Jan. 8, 2018 it was because of snow and temperatures were still in the 30s. When classes were canceled in February 2015, temperatures were similar to what they will be tomorrow. On Thursday, Feb. 19, 2015, the high was 7 degrees and the low was -6 degrees, with wind speeds up to 14 mph making it feel much colder.

We are not asking for classes to be called off every time temperatures become slightly uncomfortable, but when wind chill advisories are put into effect and temperatures drop below zero, administrators need to take student and faculty safety seriously.

When students have to spend large amounts of time walking to class in subzero temperatures, they are putting themselves in danger of frostbite and hypothermia. Faculty, many of whom do not live in Oxford, are also putting themselves in danger when they have to commute here on the icy back roads surrounding campus.

This is not an issue of students being lazy — this is about our safety and the safety of our instructors. To keep students and faculty safe, we ask that the administration become more

lenient when they implement this policy in the future.

That being said, students, if classes are canceled because of snow and extreme cold, we need to be safe on campus. Miami posted an announcement on the MyMiami homepage warning students about the dangers of frigid air and temperatures, specifically the danger of hypothermia.

We all need to take these warnings seriously and take measures to keep ourselves safe. To be frank, don’t be stupid.

Just because your Wednesday classes are canceled, it’s not an excuse to go spend the day at bars Uptown or drinking outside at your friend’s house. Alcohol-impaired judgment and cold weather is a disastrous combination.

The university will not be lenient about canceling class for cold if students do not respect

these cancellations. Be safe, stay inside and, if you have to go out, be sure to dress warm.

We need these cancellations just as much as an elementary or high school student does, so let’s be safe and take the weather seriously when temperatures dip below zero.

GOOD MORNING MIAMI

I’m fine. You’re fine.

We’re all fine.

EMILY DATTILO

ASST. OPINION EDITOR

Even if we’re really not, it’s just easier to say we are. This perpetual superficiality is all too real.

It’s fueled by the looming and continuous presence of social media and the pressure it brings to make our lives appear better than they are.

Critics of our generation comment on our incessant recording of each and every moment with a camera. But in truth, it’s usually only the positive moments that are deemed camera-worthy.

Fancy dinners, exotic vacations, new hairstyles and bright smiles grace our feeds, and glowing comments accompany them.

Two popular social media apps, Instagram and Facebook, provide completely different platforms, yet both cast a glimmer of positivity, happiness and prosperity that isn’t always representative of reality.

Instagram is the go-to spot for catchy captions and perfect outfits. Priority is placed on aesthetic, number of followers, profile pictures and likes.

Pictures are carefully chosen, edited and filtered before being posted, and though slightly infiltrated by parents, Instagram hosts a user base mostly composed of young adults and teenagers.

Facebook, however, is a generational crossover of young adults posting life updates for extended family, parents sharing their children’s accomplishments and older adults sharing political blogs. Ironically, it also tends to be the sole digital space where people feel comfortable enough to share health updates, and it offers a glance into lives that aren’t all roses and sunshine.

One of my friends from high school fit the Instagram stereotype of perfection and having it all together. She’d been accepted by an high-caliber university, she’d starred in multiple theatre productions and was a gifted singer. We’d fallen out of touch since graduating, but I assumed she was doing well, considering her Instagram brimmed with smiling pictures, new friends and new experiences.

A couple months ago, scrolling through my Facebook feed, I came across a lengthy post that

detailed her rough transition to college, her mental health struggles and her ultimate decision to transfer schools. I’d known her for years, but she’d never mentioned any of these problems.

Instagram parallels the way many of us live our lives, tending to filter out anything negative and leaving users in a distorted reality — one that, at this point, we don’t even question. It’s a bit curious why Facebook remains one of the few sites that somewhat values transparency. Perhaps because it happens to be one of the older social media websites, or perhaps because it allows users to detail life updates in a place where words are dominant over pictures.

I’m not a social media expert by any stretch, but the occasional candor of Facebook seems to be missing in the course of everyday life.

It takes effort to delve beneath superficialities.

Granted, time proves a restraint when college sidewalk encounters last six seconds at most, but I’d tend to guess in other circumstances, we could all try a bit harder. Think for a second about how many times a simple exchange like this unfolds, even over the course of a single day: “Hey, how are you?” “Oh, I’m fine, you?” “Stressed.” “Oh, yeah, same, so much to do.”

I am at the point where I tell my friends they’re not allowed to tell me, “I’m fine,” if they’re not fine. I don’t mean it in a rude way, but rather, as an effort to display that their feelings, positive or negative, do matter. “Fine” is such a mundane, useless word that wears a facade of positivity. I associate “fine” with a cloudy gray-blue day, or a subpar meal. “I’m fine,” hardly suffices for the emotional complexities human beings endure, depending on the moment and the situation.

The funny thing is, once I announced that a two-word response didn’t really answer my question, my friends began talking more honestly and feeling more comfortable doing so. A lot of us live in fear of admitting that we’re having a miserable day and not only having to explain why, but having to deal with the reactions of those we confide in.

Clearly, sharing personal stories with those other than close friends isn’t going to happen.

Unloading stressful situations on others requires a level of trust and an understanding that the friend is going to attempt to help, or at the very least, care enough to listen and validate what’s being discussed.

So let’s try to place a bit more trust in both ourselves and our friends to step outside of social media reality distortion to understand that life sucks for all of us sometimes, and it’s OK to admit that. dattilec@miamioh.edu

ILLUSTRATION BY: CONNOR WELLS

BIG EXPECTATIONS AND BIGGER REALITY CHECKS

KATE RIGAZIO

CULTURE EDITOR

My dad had a rule that I had to ask at least one question on college tours. This was easy for me. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to study, didn’t know what clubs I wanted to join and didn’t care about the quality of the university’s bus system.

There was only one thing I knew I wanted to do in college, so I only ever had one question.

“Is it easy for students to go abroad?”

I’ve dreamed about studying abroad my entire life. As a kid, I’d check out library books about different European countries just to flip through the pages and imagine what it would be like to walk down the streets of Paris, stand in a tulip field in the Netherlands or watch the Alps fly by from a train window.

When I began planning to spend my spring semester away, my romanticized visions only got more detailed.

In Europe, I thought I’d shed my high maintenance, nervous tendencies for a new carefree, adventurous attitude. I’d trade in my boring sense of style for a bold lip color, black tights and a cool hat. Not knowing anybody in the city wouldn’t be a problem because I’d instantly click with a group of friends despite only having just met them.

And, of course, I’d be totally crazy about some cute guy I met in a pub who probably plays in a band à la “P.S. I Love You.” These thoughts comforted me as my plane took off and I cried to Tom Petty’s “American Girl” while the Boston skyline disappeared from my view.

I’ve lived in Glasgow for a month now and, as you can imagine, things have been a bit different than I anticipated. I’m still as nervous and high maintenance as ever. I can’t afford to overhaul my wardrobe because clothes are expensive. I met a guy, but in a bar in America rather than in Scotland and just weeks before I left. And if I had a pound for every time I cried over a Snapchat or text from a friend in Oxford my parents wouldn’t be telling me I need to get my spending habits in

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The difference between my expectations and reality have come with a lot of anxiety.

Despite seeing paintings from Van Gogh and Monet in a museum five minutes from my flat, being moved to tears by the beauty of the Scottish highlands and booking travel plans to places I never thought I would get to see, all I can think about is home. This great adventure has me overwhelmed and craving familiarity.

With everyone returning to Oxford for the spring semester, this past weekend was probably the hardest I’ve had since getting here. I watched via social media as everyone I missed and wanted to be with so badly celebrated being back together. As happy as I was to see everyone enjoying themselves, my heart broke.

I felt selfish and guilty and like I’m doing abroad all wrong.

However, thanks to a little reevaluation and a lot of angst-fueled texts to my mom, I realized there are a lot of things my fantastical expectations have allowed me to forget.

I forgot what it meant to start over, to be in a new place with new people and no roots to tether you. I forgot that I am a cautious person who takes time to become comfortable with her surroundings and fully be myself around people.

I also forgot a new place will not completely overhaul the person you are at your core.

So, I’ve been working on mediating my fantasy with my reality. Instead of becoming instant friends with a group of strangers, I’m slowly but surely getting to know some really wonderful people. I take joy from the feeling of seeing a place that had previously only existed to me in pictures.

I’ve found familiarity by joining an improv group and spending a little extra at the grocery store on Skippy’s peanut butter. And, rather than reinventing who I am overnight, I’m continuing to build on the person I’ve grown into over the last 21 years.

So, to answer my own question: No, it’s not easy for students to study abroad. Sometimes the adventure of a lifetime comes with a lot of unexpected baggage.

It’s challenging and terrifying to voluntarily take five months and ditch everything you know to create a whole new life in a whole new place.

There are a lot of, “Holy shit, whose idea even was this?” moments. But it’s also a chance to get to know yourself, to create your own adventure and more fully appreciate the world beyond a two-dimensional image. And that, I think, is totally worth it. rigazikm@miamioh.edu