ESTABLISH 1826 — OLDEST COLLEGE NEWSPAPER WEST OF THE ALLEGHENIES
Miami University — Oxford, Ohio
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2018
Volume 147 No. 7
87 IMPOUNDED SCOOTERS FREED BY BIRD, LIME COLLIN M. FINN
THE MIAMI STUDENT
SARA CARRUTHERS (LEFT) AND SUSAN VAUGHN (RIGHT) BOTH ATTENDED MIAMI AND ARE NOW RUNNING AGAINST EACH OTHER FOR AN OHIO STATE REPRESENTATIVE SEAT. CAMPAIGN PRESS PHOTOS
A tale of two Miamians Former students and sorority sisters vie for state representative seat COLLIN M. FINN
THE MIAMI STUDENT
Sara Carruthers (R) and Susan Vaughn (D) are both running for 51st district state representative, but that’s not all they have in common. Carruthers and Vaughn are both former Miami students and both are members of Delta Zeta sorority. Carruthers attended classes with the class of 1986, and Vaughn graduated in 1982. While the two did not attend Miami together, they know each other from community involvement, particularly in theatre.
The two candidates are running to represent Hamilton, Fairfield and Ross Township in the Ohio House of Representatives. Despite their similarities, Carruthers and Vaughn have very different political views. Vaughn, a self-described “moderate Democrat,” is also a former employee of Miami University. She served as director of the Office of Ethics and Student Conflict Resolution (OESCR), now known as the Office of Community Standards, from 1996 to 2018. Vaughn says she entered the race because she saw a need for collaboration between opposing sides, something she says
The Miami University Police Department (MUPD) overcharged Bird last week when the e-scooter company paid to get their impounded scooters out of storage. A $35 charge was applied to the first 22 scooters, but university policy states that an initial storage fee of $25 should be applied. MUPD will assign the cumulative overpayment from the previous fees to what is owed on currently impounded scooters, according to Claire Wagner, the director of university news and communications. The policy was announced in a mymiami post on Monday, Oct. 15. In addition to the $25 initial charge, a $5 charge will now be applied for each day a scooter is in storage. This change goes into effect on Nov. 1. According to MUPD, there are 87 scooters currently impounded. This number breaks down to 70 Bird scooters and 17 Lime scooters. Students must park the scooters in the bike racks on campus, otherwise the scooters will continue to be impounded for improper parking violations. finncm@miamioh.edu
she experienced while at Miami. “It’s not about anti-republican or anti-anyone,” Vaughn said. “It’s a clean, fair race where people get to know the candidates.” Vaughn’s platform has campaigned heavily on the issue of tax dollars that have been sent to Ohio’s rainy day fund, claiming that Hamilton alone lost $10.5 million to the fund. Her literature, website and billboards all use the phrase “bring our money home.” “Since 2010, Kasich has been keeping tax money that, legally, should be coming back
A BIRD RIDER UPTOWN. PHOTO EDITOR JUGAL JAIN
CONTINUED PAGE 3
ARENA
The Mother of Comedy KATE RIGAZIO
CULTURE EDITOR
IO CHICAGO THEATER IS LOCATED ON NORTH KINGSBURY STREET. KATE RIGAZIO CULTURE EDITOR
This Issue
As cast of the Deltones left the stage, the lights came up on iO’s Jason Chin Cabaret theater. Audience members finished their drinks, dropped a few dollars in tips on the tables and navigated their way through the cramped aisles toward the exit. No one seemed to notice the woman who slipped in through a side door part way through the show. She was dressed in a teal jacket and black pants, her light blonde hair tinted navy by the stage lights. She had a hand tightly wrapped around the leash of her little black and white dog who stood calmly by her seat. She sat quietly observing the shuffle around her. “Is that Charna Halpern by the back door?” My friend looked over my shoulder, a smile spreading across her face. “Yeah, that’s her,” she said. “That’s so cool.” Charna Halpern is the founder and Artistic Director of Chicago’s ImprovOlym-
A department’s tragic decline
Echoes of Miami
The classics department’s decreasing enrollment means potential closure.
Travel through Miami’s haunted history with the theatre department.
page 5
page 8
Day off for voting
‘Munny’ and ‘Hatts’
All students, staff and faculty should be able to cast ballots on Nov. 8. page 12
How two medicallyunable-to-play ‘Hawks stayed on the ice. page 10
pic Theater, now known as iO, which has trained the likes of Chris Farley, Tina Fey and Cecily Strong. Along with Del Close, Charna developed an art form known as long form improvisation. Her book “Truth in Comedy,” which she co-wrote with Del Close and Kim “Howard” Johnson, is considered by many to be the bible of comedy. In many ways, she is the mother of modern comedy. Seeing her in the back of the theater felt like staring at “The Sunflowers” in the Louvre only to turn around and notice Van Gogh himself watching people walk through his exhibit. I didn’t go up to her. She was hiding in plain sight, and I didn’t want to be the one to blow her cover. But as I made my way out of the theater, everything I wanted to say to her ricocheted around in my head. I wanted to thank her for creating a space where comedy was celebrated and could flourish. For taking a chance on an art form that would trickle down to college teams like my own, giving me happiness and inspiration in ways that I had not CONTINUED PAGE 3
Style
photos, stories page 6
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This Week TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2018
Things to do
Named the Best College Newspaper (Non-daily) in Ohio by the Society of Professional Journalists.
JACK EVANS
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Audrey Davis Kirby Davis Alison Perelman Managing Editors
Shaolin vs Wudang
Kelly Burns Opinion Editor
Wednesday, Oct. 17 7 p.m. Millet Hall One part acrobatics, one part combat, one part theatre — Shaolin vs Wudang tells the true story of two clashing martial arts schools in China’s Ming Dynasty. Tickets are $12 for adults, but the code I-AM-MIAMI can save you 50 percent if you order online at miamioh.edu/BoxOffice.
Ben Finfrock Asst. Opinion Editor
Ben Smith Design Editor
Megan Zahneis Chief Copy Editor
Jugal Jain Photo Editor
Alyssa Melendez Web Designer
Emily Brustoski Video Editor Ceili Doyle Samantha Brunn News Editors
Lindsay Cerio Business Manager
Caroline Creek Asst. News Editor
James Tobin Faculty Adviser
Madeline Mitchell Kate Rigazio Culture Editors
Fred Reeder Business Adviser
Cartoonist Arthur Newberry
Asst. Photo Editor Bo Brueck
Designers Connor Wells
Photography Staff Erik Craigo G M Akand Sabik Heather McCowan Justin Maschmeyer Kat Holleran Macy Whitaker Colleen Grimm Danielle Nehring Matthew Heckert
Senior Staff Writers Julia Arwine
Friday, Oct. 19 3:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. Rec. Quad behind Goggin Laser tag. Inflatable obstacle course. Pie eating contests. Face paint. Free Chikfil-A. We can’t think of a reason not to go to this fall-themed carnival hosted by MAP. And right next door at 7:30 p.m., the puck drops on Miami vs Colorado College.
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Emily Simanskis Sports Editor
Opinion Columnists Michael Stemmler Paolo FedericoO’Murchu
Fallin’ for Goggin
Collegiate Chorale
Ruisi Luo Genevieve Dietz Zach Reichman Zaim Haq Tyler Galyon
Friday, Oct. 19 7:30 p.m. Hall Auditorium Come hear Miami’s Collegiate Choral and Men’s Glee Club perform their 20182019 repertoires at their Fall Concert, presented by the Department of Music. Tickets are $7 for students and can be purchased online at miamioh.edu/BoxOffice.
Videography Staff Rick Das
Website: www.miamistudent.net For advertising information: miamistudent@gmail.com Send us a letter? 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. 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.
Sales Competition Saturday, Oct. 20 9:00 a.m. - 4 p.m. FSB Commons Try your hand at sales with the chance to earn some cash if you come out on top — $100 goes to first place. Recruiters for at least ten companies will be there and breakfast and lunch will be provided. No sales experience required. Head to info session on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. in FSB 0025 if you want more details.
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Meet your local vendors: John Bigham Jr. Check out the video at: https://youtu.be/kCb16khMTQI
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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2018
The mother of comedy
A tale of two Miamians FROM FRONT
FROM FRONT thought possible. For being a walking example of women in comedy that are revolutionary and badass. I don’t mean to make seeing Charna sound as if I saw a vision of the Holy Mary. She isn’t a mystical enigma that only appears every couple of years. In fact, one of my friends informed me that she comes to every level one iO training class to talk to students and encourage them to continue their training with iO. Seeing her reminded me that the art form I love — and often look at as an ethereal practice so much larger than I can understand — came in-part from the wit and hard work of a woman who hasn’t stopped working since she started. It reminded me that for the first time in our history, my improv group has an equal gender split. It reminded me of my team’s artistic director, who herself embodies
what it means to be a hard-working woman in comedy. And, for whatever reason, it reminded me of Gilda Radner, a comedic powerhouse whose shoes I cried over in a museum exhibit earlier that day. I thought of my Charna sighting again Monday morning during a conversation with two of my professors. “So, you know there are ways that you can pursue comedy, right?” one asked. “There are ways you can pursue it, and if you are looking for the urge to do it, consider this the urge.” “I second that urge,” said the other. I smiled, because I know there are ways to pursue comedy, and I know that they exist because of the woman who slipped in the side door with her little dog, watching an audience leave her theater after yet another sold out show. rigazikm@miamioh.edu
to the communities,” Vaughn said. “We need to get back to the equal distribution of money to the communities.” Vaughn is vocal on social issues such as abortion and guns. She is pro-choice, and supports more restrictive gun laws. These stances have prompted endorsements of her candidacy from Planned Parenthood and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. Carruthers, a lifelong Republican, is heavily involved with journalism and media in the Butler County area. She oversees video production with TV Hamilton and has worked with WKRC, a local CBS affiliate. She also worked in the Reagan and H.W. Bush administrations as a White House Press Assistant. Carruthers says she is running because her kids inspired her to run against incumbent Wes Retherford in the primary. Retherford made headlines in 2017 after being found guilty of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.
“We had a conversation about it, and I decided, why not?” she said. “We haven’t been represented well for years. Unless you decide to make a change, you never get anywhere.” Carruthers is campaigning on a wide array of issues, including the opioid epidemic, homelessness, mental health, and education. She is concerned about school safety and has toured an Indiana school that has been dubbed “the safest school in america” by national media. “It was fascinating for me,” Carruthers said. “There are things that can be done, and I’d like to see that happen here.” Carruthers has also expressed her opinion on abortion and guns. She is pro-life, and has expressed support for the second amendment. She has received endorsements from Ohio Right to Life, the National Rifle Association, and Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones. Carruthers and Vaughn will face off on Nov. 6. finncm@miamioh.edu
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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2018
ASG passes bills to change one-door policy, distribute sexual assault resource fliers RACHEL BERRY STAFF WRITER
Miami University Associated Student Government (ASG) unanimously passed bills in support of changing the onedoor policy and distributing informational fliers about sexual assault resources at their meeting on Oct. 9. The Ingress Policy, better known as the one-door policy, requires residence halls to restrict access to all but one door from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. The university implemented this policy last semester in February 2018. Since the change occurred, there has been backlash from students who say the policy
makes them feel unsafe. ASG sent out a poll in March 2018 asking for student opinions about the new policy. Fifty-nine point six percent of respondents said the one-door policy made safety worse or much worse, and 37 percent said it had no impact on safety. Eight-hundred and fifty respondents gave personal stories within the survey of how the policy negatively affected them. Some respondents said they felt scared walking home at night because they had to walk around their building instead of using the closest door. The ASG senators presenting the bill said the university’s reason for implementing the policy was to make it easier for the
Oxford and Miami police doing their rounds on campus. They also said it was to make it easier for RAs to monitor who comes into the dorms late at night. Passing the bill shows ASG’s support in changing the policy but does not mean a change will occur. They wrote the bill to show students still care, and senators hope to work with Miami’s administration to change the one-door policy moving forward. Although ASG realizes it will likely not change to the way things were before the policy was enacted last spring, they hope, at the very least, the policy can be examined on a caseto-case basis because each dorm has different needs.
Registering hard-to-reach students
They also suggested student input be taken into consideration if the policy is changed or revoked. ASG is circulating another survey to students living on campus in an effort to gauge current opinions on the policy. The first question asks for a student’s year in school, and they hope to show that even though firstyears never experienced the old policy, they still have an opinion on the topic. Additionally, the safety committee presented a flier at the meeting outlining campus resources for survivors of sexual assault. The flier lists confidential resources such as the Student Health Services, Student Counseling Services and Sierra
STAFF WRITER
TIM CARLIN
THE MIAMI STUDENT
As the midterm election approaches, organizations are exerting an effort to register Miami students to vote – especially those who would not otherwise be compelled to participate in their civic duty. This push been felt the hardest in the College of Engineering and Computing (CEC) and Farmer School of Business (FSB), said Vote Everywhere representative and junior political science and social justice studies major Mackenzie Mercer. Mercer and her Vote Everywhere colleagues drew from the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE) 2014 Campus Report on Student Voting Rates for Miami University to better understand where they should target their registration push. The NSLVE report broke down voting data – including registration percents, voting by age group, by race and even by major. According to NSLVE, business, management, marketing and related support majors had
a voter turnout of 8.9 percent in the 2014 midterm election. Computer, information and library science majors and engineering majors had a voter turnout of 12.5 percent and 7 percent respectively. Although neither of these groups of majors had the lowest voter turnout (parks and recreation majors won in that regard with a voter turnout of just 6.5 percent), they became the focus of Vote Everywhere for registration during this election cycle. Vote Everywhere chose these two groups of majors because of their popularity on campus. Of the class of 2017, 25 percent graduated with a degree from FSB. In the class of 2022 alone, 22 percent of students have already declared an FSB major and 11 percent have declared a CEC major. “Fields in the bottom three for midterm elections, like parks and recreation, or communications, by comparison, make up a much smaller portion of our student body and, therefore, are not as accessible to change,” said Mercer. “Our goal is to get as much of our student body as civically engaged as possible.”
Vote Everywhere got FSB and CEC students to register to vote by tabling in their common areas in Benton and Farmer. “We had the ‘activist’ tees, which we kind of used as an incentive to register,” Mercer said. “If you got registered to vote, you could pick up a tee. We typically have snacks at the table, or swag. We’re really just trying to make it appealing to people.” Vote Everywhere also had tables in King Library and outside of the Hanna House in order to reach as many students as possible. CEC students received an email from Vote Everywhere on National Voter Registration Day last month to inform them where registration tables would be located. “Our goal for this year is to have 25 percent of campus turnout in the midterms, which is compared to only 14 percent turnout for the last midterm,” Mercer said. Campus-wide voting data will be released at the beginning of 2019. carlintm@miamioh.edu
berryrd@miamioh.edu
Search committee to select new BoT student trustees RACHEL BERRY
VOTE EVERYWHERE HANDED OUT SWAG AND VOTER REGISTRATION FORMS TO FSB AND CEC STUDENTS LEADING UP TO THE ELECTION.
Clippinger, Miami’s representative from Women Helping Women. All faculty, staff and RAs are mandatory reporters, so if they are told about an assault, they are required to report it. Other confidential resources include the Miami University Police Department and the Oxford Police Department. The committee will hang the fliers in residence hall bathrooms, and they also hope to get permission to put them in bars and restaurants Uptown. The bill to expand the Safety Committee duties and allow them to make these fliers passed unanimously.
A search committee has been formed to help select one of Miami University’s new student trustees for the university’s board of trustees (BoT) beginning spring 2019. Student trustees serve as non-voting members on the BoT, with the goal of helping board members understand the student experience. There are two of them on the board, and they each have staggered twoyear terms. Senior political science and professional writing major Hallie Jankura will finish her term this spring. The student trustees’ role includes attending four board meetings each year, at which they present a report informing the board members what happened in students’ lives in the past few months. Many of the board members do not live in the area and rely on the student trustees to tell them what is important to students. Student trustees also serve on the academic affairs and student life committees as part of the BoT. They also attend finance and auditing committee meetings. Jankura said she tries to stay involved on campus to get a better idea of what life is like for the whole student body before reporting to the BoT, though not a requirement for student trustees. “I do a lot to make sure that we’re being involved on campus and going to campus events,” Jankura said. “It’s completely our choice, so it’s a lot of pressure because you get to kind of give them your impression of a holistic view of what students have been up to for the past few months.” Whoever is chosen to replace Jankura will join junior Megan Cremeans, a political science and integrated social studies education major who began her term this past February. The search committee is made up of ten students in Associated Student Government (ASG), including the student body president, chief of staff, chief justice of the student court, speaker of the student senate, secretary for academic affairs, secretary for diversity and inclusion, two ASG senators nominated and approved by the senate and the
two current student trustees. Sophomore political science and black world studies major Jannie Kamara and senior urban and regional planning and economics major James Gale were elected as the two ASG senators on the committee. “I ran for student body president last year, and after doing that, I felt like I had some good insight of [sic] a lot of different parts of the school,” Gale said. “I would like to think that I would be able to contribute a valuable perspective for choosing [student] trustees for Miami.” The committee will meet twice before applications close to discuss the process and what qualities they are looking for in a student trustee. They also hope to get insight from the two current trustees and to learn more about their job to be able to better choose from the applicants, chair of the selection committee, senior political science and accountancy major Madeline Zinkl said. Zinkl said although they have not yet discussed together what type of people the committee hopes to choose, she believes candidates should be empathetic and able to represent the entire student body instead of just people who are similar to themselves. “When you’re serving on the board of trustees, you’re not just serving yourself or your friends or what they say,” Zinkl said. Applications opened Oct. 10 and will close at 5 p.m. on Oct. 31. All candidates who meet the requirements will receive an interview, which will take place Nov. 10-11. The selection committee will choose the five people they believe to be the most qualified. They will then submit those five names to Ohio Governor John Kasich, who will interview each candidate and make the final choice. Applications are available on the Board of Trustees website and are open to any Ohio resident over 18 who will be a student at Miami for the entire two-year term. berryrd@miamioh.edu
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Department of classics is underfunded and on the brink of collapse MADDIE TOOLE STAFF WRITER
The department of classics is under threat, as the smallest department in the university. In 2018, the department has 20 majors and 21 minors. The department teaches Greek and Latin languages, along with courses in the classical humanities. The university has considered dismantling the department and sending its faculty to teach in other programs. Deborah Lyons, associate professor of Greek, says the university has become more stringent on its minimums for small classes. “There is no question that they would be happier if we increased engagement or quit teaching Greek altogether,” Lyons said. Lyons recognizes the importance of a strong classics department, especially on the curriculum at a public ivy like Miami. Miami has fewer faculty in their classics department than any other original public ivy, besides the University of Vermont. The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill has over twice the amount of faculty members in its program than Miami does. “Every ivy league school has a classics department,” Lyons said. “Many of which are populated and
5 NEWS
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2018
well-funded.” The program has implemented a few techniques to try and increase their numbers. They encourage students to consider thematic sequences and second-majors in the classics, espcecially if those students are interested in attending graduate school. The department has increased the sizes of their Miami Plan classes, such as Classical Mythology to offset the smaller number of students studying classical languages. In 2018, the number of students enrolled in one of their foundation courses is 452. In addition, the department often shares the teaching of advanced Greek and Latin with students and faculty from Ohio University. They connect online through video chat and conduct class jointly. Last year, a faculty member who taught beginner-level Greek left the university. The department was not allowed to fill the empty position due to budget restraints. Students who began taking Greek last semester were able to continue their studies in the language, but beginner-level Greek language courses were not offered this semester. The department hopes to begin offering the entry-level courses again in Fall 2019. toolemb@miamioh.edu
Miami to host Ohio U.S. Senate debate next week SAMANTHA BRUNN NEWS EDITOR
Miami University, in partnership with WLWT Ch. 5, will host the final Ohio U.S. Senate debate between U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) and U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci (R-16) next Friday, Oct. 26 in Hall Auditorium at 7 p.m. Tickets are free and will be available to the Miami community on Oct. 22 and will then be made public on Oct. 24 from the Miami Box Office. Brown is a two-term Senator originally from Mansfield, OH. He now lives in Cleveland. Renacci is a four-term Representative of the 16th District
SEN. SHERROD BROWN (D-OH)
from Wadsworth, OH, where he currently resides. Brown’s campaign platform includes measures to make college more affordable for the middle class, reinvigorate the Ohio public education system, fight for small business owners and provide affordable, quality healthcare to all Ohioans, according to his campaign website. Renacci’s campaign platform includes promoting school choice, securing the border and opposing sanctuary for those who are seeking asylum, cutting taxes similar to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed last year and repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act with a “patient centric, market based system,” according to his campaign website. John Forren, an associate professor in the department of justice and community studies at the Miami Hamilton campus, will be one of the panelists for the debate. Forren said the debate is part of a series the university has instituted to give voters in the area an opportunity to hear from candidates while the university fulfills its public service mission.
REP. JIM RENACCI (R-16)
“This is right in our wheelhouse,” Forren said. “The Regional campuses aim to serve the community, and this is part of our focus on community engagement.” Forren said this is an important election year, especially so because the Senate seat in question is so closely contested. “The debate will probably attract outside attention from the mainstream media because it’s so important,” Forren said. The candidates will face off at the ballot box on Nov. 6. brunnsj@miamioh.edu @samantha_brunn
‘The Right to Grow Old’: Capturing Hondurans’ fight for life through photographs AUDREY DAVIS
MANAGING EDITOR
Tomas Ayuso has spent the last couple years traveling through Central America and Mexico, photographing people and telling their stories. In his latest project, titled “The Right to Grow Old,” Ayuso captured photos of Hondurans and their fight to live. The project is based on the idea that in Honduras, Ayuso’s homeland, this right has become almost nonexistent, he said in a lecture at Miami University on Oct. 10. Many Hondurans have chosen to migrate as a way to survive and as an act of resistance. Ayuso stood beside a projector screen that stretched across the wall of Taylor Auditorium. On the screen flashed his photos, each one with a different story to be told. There are three factors driving the migration, he said: political instability, crime and climate change leading to economic disposition. Since the day Christopher Columbus happened upon the Americas in 1492 and through every Honduran president, the country has been in a state of political instability, Ayuso said. Most of Ayuso’s photos in Honduras take place in and around San Pedro Sula, once known as the murder capital of the world and for good reason, he said. The first photo showed a police blockade from early 2018. Men donning gas masks and shields blocked protesters in the streets. People responded with violence, storming the equivalent of the White House in Honduras. Ayuso was in the middle of it all, camera in hand. “We were met by live ammo fire into the crowd,” Ayuso said. “About 50 or so people were killed, and I, myself, had my ribs broken by a swinging baton.” Ayuso said through all the violence and corruption, “people still persist.” The majority of Hondurans live on the margins of society, he said. The allure of criminal life is apparent.
“Things are coming undone at the street by street level. Here you have a neighborhood self-defense member — another way of saying a gang member,” he said as a new photo came onto the screen. Many people have taken justice into their own hands. “Vigilante justice, in a way,” he said. Politicians, dentists, police officers and more will hire these vigilante killers to do their bidding. The man in Ayuso’s photo had killed over 300 people. “It’s not to say that Honduras is an entire hellscape of ‘Mad Max’ proportions, but there is an undercurrent of darkness that happens when institutionalism breaks down to the point that is one notch above complete chaos.” Rival gangs fight to the death to control territory in San Pedro Sula, and police will beat anyone who’s a fighting-age male, Ayuso said. “In the crackdown of this fighting, you need safety in numbers. The gang becomes the herd, the protection.” Many of the gang members are only children. The OG’s (original gangsters) run their business primarily from prison, Ayuso said. “I had the illustrious pleasure of staying two weeks in prison while doing a study of them. You would think, ‘Oh, this is awful. You’re in prison.’ But no,” he said. “I went there because they invited me to, and I told the warden, ‘I’m going into the gang wing. They invited me.’ And you could see the warden get physically scared. If the warden had said no to an invitation…he would be in trouble.” Each gang controls a certain block of San Pedro Sula, and each area has its own vernacular. Ayuso showed a photo of a coffin. In it was a young boy who, despite having no association with a gang, was brutally murdered due to a misunderstanding. He used slang from his block, unknowingly, while speaking to a gang member from another area. “In that moment, they picked him up, beat him and lynched him in the San Pedro Sula
downtown, in full sight of the cops,” Ayuso said. “But the cops were in the pocket of the gang, as well. They brutalized his body to the point I really don’t want to get into, unrecognizable. The mother left the coffin open because she wanted everyone to see what they did to her baby — very much like Emmett Till.” The point of Ayuso’s project, though, is to show the trauma people have gone through and gain an understanding — not to show them as monsters, he said. Ayuso tracked the process of migrating from Honduras all the way up through Mexico to the United States. Most migrants walk for hundreds of miles, some jumping on cargo trains from city to city. “This brings us up to the border,” Ayuso said. “To make it all the way to Mexico on the northern border from Honduras, the odds are impossible.” He showed a photo of a man peering over the wall of a human trafficking den in Mexico — the vision of Texas in the distance. “To get there, I asked him, ‘What do you see?’ He said, ‘I see a dream.’ There is still a belief that [the United States] has a reputation that it helps migrants.” The next photo is of a border militiaman, dressed in camo from head to toe with rifle in hand. The man stands on the Texas side of the border, gazing out across the Rio Grande. “He is not in any way related to the government. He just thought, ‘Hey, I’ll go to the border with my nice getup and just shoot people.’” So Ayuso asked him what he wanted — what happens if he sees someone swimming across the river. “‘I’ll shoot him dead,’ he said. ‘Why?’ ‘Because they’re coming and they’re invading and they want to take our everything … They’re coming in. It’s a foreign invasion force.’” Ayuso paused. “You see the people that are traveling. They’re starving, they have threats of death on their backs.” Ayuso patrolled with the militiamen for a while and soon realized none of them had combat
TOMAS AYUSO SHARES HIS EXPERIENCE PHOTOGRAPHING THE HONDURAN MIRGRANT CRISIS JUGAL JAIN PHOTO EDITOR
experience. “I asked this guy, ‘How do you finance? You’re just hanging here in Southern Texas. How do you do this?’ He said, ‘Oh, my dad owns a pool company in Michigan.’ We traveled in their armored personnel carrier: A Honda Odyssey.” Ayuso himself is of Palestinian origin. “I’m Arab and Honduran. The enemy made flesh, right?” Ayuso joked. “You might be wondering how I got this close while keeping my physical integrity. They asked me, ‘Where are you from?’ ‘I am from Denmark.’ They said, ‘That’s crazy! I never seen a Denmark person before.’ And so it worked.”
But, Ayuso said, not everyone wants to make it to the United States. Some migrants are content staying in Mexico and creating a life for themselves there. “If driven to the brink, we will do anything to survive,” Ayuso said. “We all have this inside of us. It is within you to go under extreme stress, regardless of threats, violence, misery, etcetera. You will do anything to make your own self and your loved ones survive. It’s not this ‘chasing a financial gain’ or ‘becoming millionaires.’ That’s not it. It’s, ‘I want the right to life,’ — that’s the guiding principle.” davisa10@miamioh.edu
Style
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DAVISKN3@MIAMIOH.EDU
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2018
Your Halloween costume, your choice ANNA MINTON
Every woman has a favorite t-shirt or favorite pair of jeans that gives them the confidence to take on whatever they have that day. Long story short, most fashion choices we make in a day are for ourselves. Not for a guys attention: just because that is how we feel confident. It has become a narrative among certain women to judge others based off of how they act or dress, all in the name of feminism. Wearing a “slutty” halloween costume has been looked down on as simply portraying yourself as a piece of meat or, for this season, a trick that comes with a treat. I feel like I have to explain the basic idea of feminism itself: for women to have the same rights as anyone else. And while many of the women who seem to not be okay with giving up the right to equal pay, or the right to govern our own bodies, they have chosen to forget about respecting the one right we have had for a while now: the right to choose what we wear. Someone who truly is a feminist understands that showing some thigh doesn’t mean that you are any less of a great person. If it is acceptable to wear a certain color shirt because it makes your eyes stand out, then why is it not acceptable to wear a top that highlights your cleavage? The whole point of feminism is to give women choices. So, whether you choose to wear a tiny hooker skirt or a box on your head, wear it with confidence. Pull a Tim Gunn and make it work.
THE MIAMI STUDENT
It’s a tale as old as time. The moment the leaves fall to the ground and the pumpkin spice lattes emerge, women around the world begin to scour their Pinterest boards for Halloween costume ideas. And more often than not, many of these costume ideas follow the same theme: Slutty version of (insert common household concept here). This tradition has changed over the years. When we were kids, we were all excited to dress up like the scariest monster on our block. Or, at least, I did. My friends and I would climb down the fire escape to sneak out to the costume store, and buy whatever costume we thought would get us sent home from school. It wasn’t to impress the boys, and it wasn’t just to make our parents mad. It was because that was what we wanted to do. Things haven’t changed much since then. I’m sure if my second grade teacher saw what some female college students wore out on Halloween, or any other day for that matter, she would send them home to change. Because, despite what she may think, no one wore their costumes just for Mrs. Long’s amusement, or utter horror. For people all across the world, clothing is a way to display not just who they are, but who they want to be. Especially for women, we have adopted our personal appearance as a way to express how we are feeling at the moment. When we want to feel professional for an interview, we break out the blazers. hen we feel tired and upset, we break out the sweatpants.
mintona2@miamioh.edu CONNOR WELLS, ILLUSTRATOR
The importance of male body positivity BEN FINFROCK
ASST. OPINION EDITOR
He stares in the mirror, his friends waiting in the next room as he gets ready for the night. His eyes fixated on his problem areas, such as the second chin forming around his neck, the tiny fat on his lower belly, the line of pimples on his forehead and the puff ball in his hair that never likes to stay straight. He flexes his arms so they look less like twigs, and sucks in his gut so the fat does not show. Then he gets dressed. Tonight, he has chosen to wear the ripped jeans, because they appear trendy, and the red t-shirt, because red makes his shoulders look broader. As he ties his shoes and prepares to leave, he glances in the mirror. His hair is still not straight, pimples still grace his forehead and his second chin makes an appearance until he holds his head up high. Men do not talk about these moments of insecurity, but believe me when I say that they happen. We’re usually just better at suppressing our insecurities. I grew up in a house with a mother and two sisters, so I understand the problems women face with body image better than most of my male friends. That’s why it’s so refreshing to see the image of the model change through Aerie’s new Aerie’s Real Campaign, and the display of body positivity in Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty New York Fashion Week show. These wonderful displays of body positivity are important for all women and girls to see because they show them that all bodies are beautiful and worthy of love and respect. This year, I started thinking about my own body image and how body positivity is a message which should be conveyed to both men and women. Two years ago, I went vegetarian and started working out. I lost a significant amount of weight as I started focusing more on my health. I wanted to feel and eat healthier and it worked, and I felt good about myself. But for every person who complimented my new body, there was always another person who thought I was too thin. I realized that I focused too much on the negative comments. When I stood in the mirror I started obsessing over my various problem areas. I later learned that while it is good to care about your image, it’s unhealthy to
obsess over your body to the point where you allow it to affect your attitudes and opinions about yourself. I thought it important to meet the perfect body standard which society sets out for men and women. For men, this means a tall build, a muscular body, perfectly combed hair and chiseled facial features. However, this is standard of beauty is impossible to achieve. In September, one of my idols, Beyoncé, graced the September issue of Vogue Magazine. Among the many topics she wrote about in Vogue was body acceptance after the birth of her twins Rumi and Sir Carter. Beyoncé discussed the pressure she put herself through to get in shape after the birth of her daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, and says she had to take a different approach after giving birth to her twins because of the complications she suffered. These complications included being swollen from toxemia, and having an emergency cesaerean section. She writes about the effects pregnancy had on her body and says, “To this day my arms, shoulders, breasts, and thighs are fuller. I have a little mommy pouch, and I’m in no rush to get rid of it. I think it’s real.” While I cannot compare or relate my personal body image struggles to the ones women experience after childbirth, Beyoncé’s story taught me an important lesson: Everyone’s body is different because we all have different roles and responsibilities. I’m a 19-year-old college student majoring in political science. I spend most of my day staring at a laptop screen and walking between my different classes. I am not going to have the same body as some Men’s Health cover guy who works out seven days a week, I’m lucky if I get to the Rec at least three times a week.. Yet I constantly compare myself to those men. As a society, we have to accept body diversity and embrace healthy living. We need to promote taking care of our health and minds, while accepting that not everyone is going to fit the standards of body image that have been set out for us. Not every man is going to fit the body builder, Zac Efron build, and not every woman is going to fit runway model physic. Once we can accept that, we can continue to embracing true beauty. finfrobd@miamioh.edu
COMFORT IN FAMILIARITY: REAPPROPRIATING YOUR DAD’S CLOTHES CÉILÍ DOYLE NEWS EDITOR
In my house, back home in the suburbs of Chicago, there’s a room off to the side of the staircase on the second floor. We call it the Secret Closet, but it’s neither a secret nor, really, a closet. I’m pretty sure it’s where my mom used to keep our Christmas presents, but now it’s essentially a storage unit for all of my family’s old clothes — most of which are in the process of being designated for Ebay or the Salvation Army at any given moment. But in between items like the Whole Foods bags labeled “GIRLS 12-14 SPRING EBAY 2018” and my mom’s old clarinet case from 1982, there is a hidden treasure trove. The Secret Closet doubles as my own personal mall for all things plaid, flannel and tweed — most which was worn by my father exclusively during the 1990s — and clothing that my mother has placed a ban on me reprising for the 21st century. After going home for fall break this past weekend, I found myself FaceTiming one of my best friends while wearing a long-forgotten brown suit jacket with shoulder pads wider than my head, asking her if I should consider sporting this look to class next week... I think my fascination with stealing and wearing my dad’s old clothes mostly comes from the comfort of familiarity. I feel safe wearing my dad’s old pink-andpurple-checkered, Timberland flannel or throwing on his “pirate-esque” Grandfather shirt purchased in Ireland nearly two decades ago. It’s the same feeling I had as a kid, falling asleep in the backseat of the car with my cheek pressed up against my seatbelt—my eyelids drooping as the backdrop of the city’s skyline faded while my dad sped up on the expressway on the drive home. He has always been the captain of navigating our family, and when I wear a shirt of his, from however long ago, it feels like I a bit more capable of steering my own ship. I couldn’t tell you why I, and a growing number of young women, enjoy wearing sweaters and button-downs that Nordstrom and The Gap featured in their men’s sections in 1998, but, as unattractive as these oversized looks may seem to my parents, their modern variations are now being sold for $59.00 a pop at Urban Outfitters.
“To be honest with you, I had no idea that was in style,” my dad said when I asked him. “They’re not exactly good-fitting clothes, Kay.” I think there’s something to be said about the subjectivity of what is fashion, but personally, I like being slightly strange. During my freshman year of college, my friends dubbed my aesthetic “Portland Hermione.” Apparently it had to do something with the fact that I looked like a character that Fred Armisen and J.K. Rowling morphed together in some sort of eclectic homage to “Portlandia” and Harry Potter. I enjoy being, appearing and dressing somewhat goofy because I feel like most of my life and my career aspirations are very serious. In the past several weeks, I have been stressed out and frustrated over the state of our country following Judge Kavanaugh’s hearing and the underlying tribalism that has fractured America. I’ve watched this negativity trickle down to Miami throughout my twoand-a-half years at this university, and I have seen firsthand how a lack of empathy and understanding has contributed to some of our community’s biggest problems: sexual assault, mental health, racism, alcohol abuse, etc. And there is comfort in putting on a worn but familiar flannel in the morning — as small of an act as it is — that makes life just a little more bearable. “I guess there’s some nostalgia there,” my dad eventually admitted when I asked him what he thought of me adopting his 1990s attire. “Peculiar though,” he said. @cadoyle_18 doyleca3@miamioh.edu
CÉILÍ DOYLE SPORTS HER DAD’S FLANNEL BO BRUECK ASST. PHOTO EDITOR
DAVISKN3@MIAMIOH.EDU
7
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2018
FIRST-DAY FASHION By Jugal Jain and Arthur Newberry
Fashion at Miami is all about contrast. First-years come in with enthusiasm, dressing up boldly every day. But, with each passing semester, they slip further into sweatpants, Greek life shirts and more comfortable attire. The fashion of the average Miami student evolves as they climb toward graduation. Since the beginning of the semester, myself and the rest of the photo staff have been documenting this transition. Here is what we found:
ZACH D FIRST-YEAR
HANZHE Y. FIRST-YEAR
EMILY W JUNIOR
MARIEWETHER H FIRST-YEAR
HATHAIPAT A. (MYDEAR) JUNIOR
LASHAWN H. SENIOR
WOO SUK K. (ALEX) JUNIOR
MADISON H. SENIOR
NICOLAS R. M. JUNIOR
8 CULTURE
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2018
RIGAZIKM@MIAMIOH.EDU
Play with Ghosts:
“Echoes of Miami” blurs the line between museum and theatre HANNAH STRAUB
THE MIAMI STUDENT
This weekend, the Miami University Department of Theatre is putting on a set of shows different than a typical performance. Echoes of Miami is a compilation of ten-minute plays written and directed entirely by Miami University students and alumni. The premise of the show includes stories about eight of Miami’s mysterious ghost stories. Each short play will take place in various rooms and hallways around the Center for Performing Arts led by three actresses portraying one of Miami’s most historical figures, Helen Peabody. “There has been a lot of time put into these pieces, but it’s been an interesting process because my character gets a chance to interact with each of the actors in all the different shows,” said Laura Smith, a current freshman and one of the main actresses. Smith, along with two other actresses also playing Peabody, will introduce and uncover the mysteries of old Miami legends such as the disappearance of Ron Tammen, the murders of Reid Hall and the run-down mental asylum turned dormitory, Wilson Hall. There are three players that each identify with a different version of Helen Peabody — historic Helen, defender Helen, and man-hating Helen. As the show’s main narrator, the character of Helen Peabody interacts with most of the other actors and contributes to each of the performances. “It was a lot to take in at first, but, as a freshman, it was very interesting to memorize historical facts about the campus and almost gauge a better understanding of Miami through getting to know my character,” said Laura Smith, the actress portraying the historic persona of Peabody. “The three of us represent who Helen Peabody might have been, because we don’t really know what her personality was exactly like, and although we are three different characters of the same person, we interpret and deliver the lines differently.
ECHOS OF MIAMI EXPLORES THE MYTHS AND LEGENDS THAT SURROUND MIAMI’S CAMPUS JUGAL JAIN PHOTO EDITOR
“There is also a certain respect for these characters because they aren’t fictional, and we really want to honor and serve the history of the campus through the process,” Smith concluded. These unexplained ghost stories are a fascination of creator and producer of the show, Saffron Henke. “[Henke] has been wanting to produce this for four years, and when an email went out to all the theatre majors asking if we would write for it, I responded almost immediately,” said Olivia Gorom, one of the writers and directors of the show centered around the murders of Reid Hall. The first drafts were finalized in February of this year and editing continued well into the summer before auditions took place in August. All scripts included in the show were created and staged by a different writer and director duo with the exception of Gorom, a sophomore, who is the only
student directing the same piece she wrote. “It was a little difficult because I am the only sophomore directing and don’t have as much experience, but I didn’t want to write my own script and not see it through,” she said. These student-written scripts are one of the most unique aspects of the show. “The show I am directing would be characterized as one of the more dramatic ones, so it stands alone in that aspect, but there are also the elements that come together from each show which I think is pretty cool,” said senior Nate Bissinger, a director of a performance exploring the disappearance of Ron Tammen. “I’ve directed before, but this was very different for me because it is the first time I’ve directed mainly one actor in a show: the character of Ron,” said Bissinger. “There are also shadow puppets in mine, and that is something that I’ve never done before, so it’s been very
interesting.” Bissinger’s piece involves a more intensive character development. It focuses more on Ron Tammen’s inner struggle, as opposed to conflict with another character. “The script is very raw, and Ron’s character has to go through this journey of discovery, and has to learn to be at peace with the fact that he is in this state of being lost and can’t move on because he doesn’t know what happened to him,” he said. Directed by Caroline Avolio, Nate Bissinger, Olivia Gorom, Christiana Molldrem-Harkulich, Saffron Henke, Raechel Lombardo and Tanner McCormick, Echoes of Miami will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 18-21 in the Center for Performing Arts. Tickets are $8 for students and $12 for adults. straubhk@miamioh.edu
On a long road well traveled
RENE AND HER HUSBAND SCOTT CONTRIBUTED BY RENE MCKINSTRY
SAM CIOFFI
THE MIAMI STUDENT
Born in 1952, Rene McKinstry grew up in the neighboring town of Hamilton. While growing up 20 minutes from Oxford and attending a junior high school a few minutes away from Uptown, Rene felt deeply connected to the town. “My address was Hamilton, and even as a child I knew that I didn’t want to be from Hamilton,” she said. “So, when people asked me where I was from, I said that I was from Oxford. Who would want to be from Hamilton when you can be from Oxford?” Shortly after graduating high school in 1970, Rene left Ohio for Southern California, where she married her first hus-
band. After living out west for a few years, Rene moved back to the Midwest where she lived in Cincinnati, and then a commune in Charlottesville, Virginia during the early 1980s where she learned how to weave hammocks and milk cows. Rene decided to live in the commune after six years of being a single parent, struggling to make ends meet. Finally, after fifteen years, she returned to Oxford and married her current husband, whom she had known from high school. Upon returning, she immediately sought work at Miami University. “I wanted to work at Miami because I had been a secretary my whole adult life and the university used to offer free health care and tuition for you or your
children,” Rene said. For the next fourteen years, Rene did clerical work, mostly in International Programs at MacMillan Hall. Within this department, Rene bonded with many students, both those that came in for assistance and those that worked underneath her. “Most of the kids that I met were great students,” Rene said. “They were top notch, world travelers usually.” She described a work environment that was very much laid back and relaxed, and many of the students told Rene that she was the best boss they had ever had. “I wasn’t that much into protocol. I was sort of a surrogate mother to many of the students,” Rene said. After putting a lot of work into Miami,
Rene left in 2015. The office was about to be restructured and Rene did not want to work under yet another new boss. When Rene wasn’t working at the university, she was working as an activist. Since she was 17 years old, Rene has been protesting multiple movements, such as the Vietnam War in the 60s and the building of power plants within the area. Although Rene is currently on a break from activism, she hopes to get back to protesting soon. “I’m pretty much open to protesting just about anything that needs protesting,” Rene said. “There has always been something to be mad about. But, I can’t see myself staying at home forever and never protesting again. It’s sort of in my DNA at this point.” Rene still has her black arm band from protesting the Vietnam War. Today, Rene’s music trio is what occupies the majority of her time. From rehearsals to performances, she remains busy. She is a member of a musical group called Sirenz that has been performing around Oxford for 15 years. The group focuses on playing well-known songs that typically cater to the older generations, especially those in the nursing homes and senior centers for which they play. The band plays many songs from the late 1960s to the late 1970s, including those by the Eagles and the Beatles. When it comes to Oxford itself, Rene and her husband, Scott, sometimes play around with the idea of leaving. However, with her music and her husband’s elder mother both in town, Rene is not sure that she can ever commit to moving. “I don’t know how I could give up the musical part of my life,” said Rene. “There’s also a sense of security here, having people that you know here and there. I talk to everybody; nobody is a stranger to me.” cioffism@miamioh.edu
MITCHE49@MIAMIOH.EDU
CULTURE 9
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2018
Boos and Brews
Organizing an Organization: How to start a club at
DUARD HEADLEY
ASST. CULTURE EDITOR
MYSTERY TOUR REVEALS HAUNTED HISTORY OF CINCINNATI BREWERY FROM THE HERITAGE BREWING TRAIL
AUDREY DAVIS
MANAGING EDITOR
I pulled into the parking lot outside the Christian Moerlein Brewing Company at 6:59 p.m. and my friend Kevin and I hurried inside the building to meet our 7:00 reservation. We were greeted by a series of volunteers who directed us to the taproom. Our tour would begin at exactly 7:18 p.m. Kevin and I each ordered a beer and took our seat in the cavernous taproom. We quickly realized we were the only college-aged students in the crowd. We looked at the tour timer on the wall and realized we were about to be late for our tour. We gulped down our beers and hurried to get in line. One of the volunteers explained the rules to us, “You are about to experience five macabre vignettes, true stories that happened right here in Over-theRhine’s breweries.” Actually, only four are true. Our task, along with the 18 others in our group, was to figure out which one was false by solving a puzzle in each room. “Be careful,” he continued. “This is a working brewery. Do not stray off the path. We don’t want you to become one of the stories.” With that, he opened the door and led us into the brewery. We passed pallets of beer along the way. “I wouldn’t mind getting trapped in here,” one man said to his friend. “You and I would do just fine.” We stopped walking when we reached a desk, randomly placed amongst the equipment. Our guide was no longer with us. We looked around in confusion until we noticed a stranger had joined our group. A chill ran down my spine as the stranger in a suit began to speak. He looked straight ahead as if he could see right through us. He told the story of a young man who ran a brewery in 1919. “Even though prohibition was looming its ugly head over every Cincinnati brewery, he seemed to be in good spirits. At some point, he retreated to his office.” The man walked to the desk, opened a drawer and pulled out a gun. “The secretary said he didn’t even have a gun in the office. He never owned a gun, but at some point, something overtook him. A decision was made.” Bam. The man had shot himself in the chest and revealed a bloodstained undershirt. “Is this story true or false? That puzzle might help,” he said, pointing behind the group to dripping red letters on the wall. “Don’t die alone like I did. Work as a team. When the elevator opens, your time is up.” Our task was to find a letter in the paragraph that appeared only one time. “The question is the answer,” the last line read. People shouted out letters at random before someone finally noticed there was only one ‘y.’ And then we realized, why. The question is the answer. The gate to the service eleva-
tor opened and we filed inside. When they opened again, a young woman greeted us in German. “Guten abend! Wie geht’s?” She continued speaking in German, signaling us to follow her further into the brewery. “Wartet!” she shouted. Wait. The woman left us on a balcony and appeared on the other side of the room. She gestured to the man next to her and a wheel started spinning. All of a sudden, the man was sucked into the wheel and his head flew over the side of the balcony, hung by chains. “The button!” she screamed over the whirring of the machine. “Push the button!” We frantically searched for a button. A woman in our group found one on the wall and pressed it, stopping the machine. In English, the woman told us to pull up the chains hanging from our balcony. Each chain had a body part at the bottom. We pulled up arms, legs, brains and heads — random words were written on each one: jay, gee, eye, aye and etcetera. We were told to find a letter that was not within the words. What does that even mean? We pulled up at least 20 body parts before it hit us. There is no I in eye. In the next room, rows and rows of red and white bones hung above our heads. Our guide at this station led us to a hot tublike tank. He told us he needed to go check something out. Stay back, he warned. “Oh, someone left a stick in there. I’ll just grab that real quick,” he said. NO! Our group screamed collectively, playing along. He fell into the scalding hot tank and was presumably burned alive. His bones were our next puzzle. Tablets hung from the ropes above with patterns of bones. We had to find the tablet that matched the bones above our head. The correct tablet would have the next letter we needed. We quickly agreed the tablet containing the letter ‘L’ seemed like the best match. As we left that station, we passed through plastic-lined rooms, splattered with blood. A trail of crumpled-up papers led us to a woman at a typewriter. “Better pick all those up. Could be a clue,” someone said. I noticed a woman in a colonial dress, signaling us to come her way. Kevin and I went ahead of the group to meet her. “They always pick up the paper,” the woman said to us out of character. “We’re running out! There’s no clue on there.” I ran back to the group and told them to follow the woman and ignore the ill-thought-out red-herrings. “Well, thank you for finally showing up. I’ve been waiting on you all night,” the woman said, back in character. “And despite the fact that you’re egregiously late, I’m going to allow you to judge me like the rest of them. Follow me.” “Oh yay, I’m really good at judging people,” a woman in our group said.
The woman led us down a ramp and into a small room where a blonde girl sat brushing her hair, staring into a mirror. The word crematorium was painted on the wall. No thanks, I thought to myself. The colonial woman told the haunting story of her daughter, Lydia. “Two years ago, in 1894, Mister Moerlein bought the Cincinnati crematorium company. Perhaps you’ve heard of it. It’s where they burn the dead bodies.” Far better than what he was doing, she continued — storing dead bodies in the basement of his brewery. “Wait,” I whispered to Kevin. “Four of these are real. This could have happened. Yikes.” Lydia fancied Mister Moerlein, much to the dismay of her mother. “She’s no better than a painted whore,” the mother said. “Oh, Lydia, could you come help mother in the furnace room?” The young woman stood up, left the room and never returned. “She’s right here,” the mother said, dumping ashes onto the floor. “Stick your hands in my furnace to find your next clue.” We all turned to the wall and noticed rectangular holes. I stuck my hand in one and felt the letter ‘A’ engraved in a wooden block. We all traded notes and recorded our findings. GHNIARESTM or NIGHTMARES. The space on our sheets where the ‘A’ belonged was circled. That was our next letter. The last room had a series of items scattered across the room. If we went to each item in the correct order, we would find a shape, matching the one on our sheet, shaded in. All of the shaded-in shapes would resemble a letter at the end. I was confused. “It’s Lydia,” Kevin said. “What?” “Who else would it be? We have L, I, Y and A. This must be D.” Realizing Kevin was correct, we left the room and headed back up the stairs and into the crowded taproom. “You survived!” said a woman, handing us our prized ticket. We took a photo with our group in celebration and went in to claim our prize. “Maybe it’s a free beer!” I hopefully suggested to Kevin, wiping my eyes as they adjusted to the light. davisa10@miamioh.edu
THE TOUR IS A TEST OF COURAGE AND WIT FROM THE HERITAGE BREWING TRAIL
Want to try your hand at parkour? There’s a club for that. Looking to brush up on your Japanese drumming skills? There’s a club for that. Ever felt the desire to become involved in professional jump roping? Well, there’s about to be a club for that too. There are over 700 different organizations listed on Miami University’s HUB page, most of which are organized and run by students. Interests of all kinds are represented, from anthropology to zombie hunting. Odds are, incoming students will find their extracurricular needs fulfilled by a group found somewhere on campus. But, what if, amidst the hundreds of clubs and organizations, a hobby is unaccounted for? For those truly passionate, Miami provides the chance to join the ranks of their extracurricular armies by starting a new student organization from the ground up. Ally Astles is a first-year student at Miami. She’s double majoring in mathematics and mathematics education and possesses a passion for jumping rope. A member of the Comet Skippers, a competitive jump roping team based in Mason, OH, for the last 12 years, jump roping has become a fixture in her life. “Jump rope has been such a huge part of my life for so many years,” Astles said. “It has given me so many opportunities to travel the world, learn leadership skills and make amazing friends.” She says she’s hoping to
bring the sport to Miami to give others the chance to experience her passion. In order to take a potential club from idea to reality, interested individuals must ensure their organization is fleshed out enough to serve as an established entity. This requires first meeting with a peer mentor, someone who can evaluate the legitimacy and commitment of the club and its members. After the peer meeting, Miami requires the club’s members to fill out an official application form. To do so, clubs must have both a president and a treasurer, a full-time on-campus adviser and a constitution. The process isn’t simple and it isn’t necessarily easy. “It has been a fairly long process due to all of the steps that a student starting a club must go through,” Astles said. “But these steps are crucial for the club’s success and longevity.” For those willing to endure the ordeal, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. After the application is reviewed and approved by the Office of Student Activities, club members will attend a workshop that teaches them how to navigate the HUB and other logistics for operating and sustaining an organization. With commitment and drive, anyone interested in crafting their own student organization can see their vision become a reality. Miami University is already home to a huge variety of unique organizations and as long as students continue to arrive, that number will likely continue to increase. headledd@miamioh.edu
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10 SPORTS
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2018
SIMANSEC@MIAMIOH.EDU
Bryce Hatten and Chase Munroe – The hockey players who can’t play hockey
BRYCE HATTEN (LEFT) AND CHASE MUNROE (RIGHT) STAND BY EACH OTHER’S SIDE THROUGHOUT THEIR LATEST HOCKEY JOURNEY. BO BRUECK ASST. PHOTO EDITOR
EMILY SIMANSKIS SPORTS EDITOR
The first Saturday in October started like any other game-day for Miami University hockey’s Bryce Hatten and Chase Munroe. They walked through the loading-dock doors on the side of the Goggin Ice Center, before buzzing into the locker room. They took the pregame skate and ate the pre-game meal. But a lot of things have changed. For the first time in their hockey careers, Hatten and Munroe weren’t listed on their hockey team’s roster. They had decided to spare their bodies the pain that came with playing. Thirty-eight minutes before puck-drop, they took the elevator to the press box instead of taking the ice for warm-ups. Munroe sat on the left and Hatten on the right, next to Ben Eaves, the team’s human wellness and performance coach. “It was the first time, sitting up in the press box, watching my team play,” Hatten said. “Obviously, you get healthy scratches in juniors and college, sometimes you just don’t play games, but this is the first year that I know for a fact I’m not playing.” Just like the 27 other Miami players, Hatten and Munroe started playing hockey when they were children. One of Munroe’s family friends took him to the rink when he was four, and he fell in love with the game. When he was seven, he fell in love with goalie pads and thought it’d be “so cool” to wear them. He wore them for the Wichita Falls Wildcats, Fairbanks Ice Dogs, Michigan Warriors and Minnesota Wilderness during his junior hockey career before strapping on pads and pulling on a goalie mask with the Miami “M” to begin his collegiate career. Hatten, now 21, started playing when he was four, as well. His family moved from Philadelphia
to South Bend, Ind., and Hatten couldn’t stop playing. When he was 13, he went to play in Michigan and became a defenseman because the forwards were too fast. He played in Michigan until he was 17 and went to play for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders before arriving in Oxford. Deciding to come to Miami had been an easy decision for both of them – its winning history, the coaches and the culture drew them to the Steve ‘Coach’ Cady Arena. “The Brotherhood” kept them there. “On and off the ice, there couldn’t be a better group of guys to be around,” Munroe, 23, said. Hatten had been healthy for his entire career before the summer of the 2015-16 season. He was skating at Notre Dame, five minutes from his house, like any other summer afternoon. But as he opened up for a one-timer, he caught a bad edge and felt a pop in his hip. Stretching and icing didn’t make the mystery injury any better, and an MRI revealed a torn labrum. Hatten had surgery to repair the torn soft tissue that surrounds his hip socket. Then, he began a sixmonth rehab to get back to where he was. “It was a big-time blow for me because I was feeling really good at the time. But,” Hatten said, pausing for 30 seconds, “injuries happen.” Munroe’s injury didn’t happen all at once. His lower back and hips have given him the most trouble. Freshman year, he broke his foot and, last season, he battled a collarbone injury on top of the pain in his back and hips. For two years with Miami hockey, Hatten and Munroe ignored the constant pain. They grew closer with their teammates who turned into roommates and best friends. Hatten played 11 games for the RedHawks, and Munroe took the ice for seven. Hatten re-tore his labrum last year and couldn’t imagine another surgery and six-month rehab.
Munroe’s lower back and hips were begging him to stop playing. “Every day it hurt,” Hatten said. “It still hurts.” In March, they couldn’t ignore the pain. It had kept them from playing good hockey and kept them off the ice on game days. They both looked in the mirror, listened to their bodies and thought about their futures. “Hockey’s not going to be there for the rest of your life and I want to be able to walk and hold my kids in the future,” Hatten said softly. Exit meetings were scheduled for graduating seniors and players opting to leave Miami. Hatten and Munroe got in line, but they wanted to stay. “Leaving this place would have been the dumbest thing I could have done,” Munroe said. So, they stayed. Head coach Enrico Blasi offered them student assistant positions with the program and seats in the press box on game days. Hatten and Munroe set up drills during practice, jump in on the forecheck if the team needs an extra body, and they work one-on-one with any player who needs help with a
STAFF WRITER
The Miami RedHawks played for more than just a victory against Kent State on Saturday. They were playing for a cause. Instead of sporting an “M” on both sides of his headgear, each RedHawk wore a helmet with a colored ribbon on one side. The players picked from nine different color choices, with each ribbon color representing a different cancer. They all took the field with someone in their minds and on the side of their heads. Senior defensive lineman Pasquale Calcagno (White ribbon – lung cancer): “Personally, it really hit home for me because I’ve had a couple people in my life who’ve gone through cancer. It meant a lot that, as a team, we
could represent all cancers rather than just breast cancer -- how it’s traditionally represented in October.” Redshirt senior running back Kenny Young (Green – liver, ovarian and cervical cancer): “It was really good to be able to celebrate awareness for all cancers instead of just breast cancer.” Senior offensive lineman Sam McCollum (Orange – kidney cancer and leukemia): “I had a leukemia ribbon, so orange. I had a family friend back at home who passed away from leukemia. It was an amazing opportunity to go out and represent that in football.” Sophomore defensive back Mike Brown (Pink – breast cancer): “I wore pink for my aunt Paula. She died of breast cancer when I was five years old, so I think it’s a
know what kind of music to play to get the team going. “Whoever’s not feeling it today, we’re here to bring the energy and make them realize that they’re in a good situation still, they’re still playing,” Hatten said. “Just be positive and be thankful for what you have.” Hatten and Munroe are thankful for what they have now – more free time, a new-found bond between the two of them and a different perspective about the game they love – even if it means wearing a suit and tie to games and not a no. 30 or no. 5 jersey. So, on the first Saturday of October, Munroe sat on the left and watched the goalies while Hatten sat on the right and tracked power play stats. They silently cheered for their teammates two stories above the ice. But a lot of things haven’t changed. Even though they’ve learned more about spacing on the ice and the timing of the game while shadowing Miami’s coaches, they still consider themselves players. To the guys, Munroe and Hatten are still “Munny” or “Goopy” and “Hatts.” They still go to class with their teammates and beat each other at video games during their free time. They still sing the Miami fight song after a series sweep. This time, when they’re standing shoulder-to-shoulder around the Miami “M” on the locker room floor, they’re in suits – arms around their teammates’ sweaty jerseys, feeling like they’re still part of The Brotherhood even though they can’t take the ice. “I’m just going to accept my role,” Hatten said. “I had fun with it, still up there cheering. I’m still fired up to see the boys win two games. I go inside [the locker room] and jumping up and down, singing the song after a sweep. It’s dynamite.” simansec@miamioh.edu @emilysimanskis
CHASE MUNROE (RIGHT) AND BRYCE HATTEN (MIDDLE) WATCH HOCKEY PRACTICE WITH SOPHOMORE GOALTENDER GRANT VALENTINE (LEFT) BO BRUECK ASST. PHOTO EDITOR
‘Hawks Talk: Cancer-awareness helmets CHRIS VINEL
certain skill. “Not being able to play, it sucks,” Hatten said. “But being able to find a spot in the team and still contribute to our success for this season is a special feeling. It just makes you feel wanted.” They walk through those loading-dock doors at 1 p.m. Monday through Thursday for practice and lace up their skates. Except, they’ve traded pads for black coach’s pants and shin guards, red and white jerseys for black “Miami Hockey” sweatshirts and helmets for ball caps. “The transition kind of hits you like a train,” Hatten said. “You’re not ready for it, you’re really not. Even if you know it’s coming, it’s a hard transition.” The transition was made easier by The Brotherhood. Coaches sent them texts over the summer asking them how the transition was going. They had been there, they had hung up their skates before. Hatten and Munroe’s teammates haven’t. They can’t empathize with Hatten and Munroe, but they’re just as supportive. “They know it’s not an easy transition. We’ve been playing hockey for 18 years or whatever it is, and having to give that up,” Munroe said, trailing off. “But staying here was probably a great choice for me. They still love us and treat us the same way.” Teammates still make funny faces at Munroe during practice, and sophomore Ben Lown gives Hatten a “surfs up” hand gesture when he walks past him after practice. Still being such good friends with “the boys,” Hatten and Munroe know when one of them is having a good time and are privy to when they’re not. After skating with the RedHawks for two years, they can read a player’s body language and know who needs to be hyped up and who needs to talk. They relate to their teammates in a way coaches can’t. They can walk into the locker room and
Miami Scoreboard
great remembrance of her.” Head coach Chuck Martin, who couldn’t wear a ribbon: “It was a very emotional week with the game and the cancer-awareness. The idea of the helmets was such a good idea. The kids really were excited about that. It was a really good idea just for everything, but our kids really liked the idea. They got to pick something that meant something to them.” vinelca@miamioh.edu
Here’s what you missed over the weekend: Friday
Saturday
Soccer Buffalo …………………………... 1 Miami ………..………………….. 0
Volleyball Miami …………………………...... 3 Central Michigan ...……………. 1
Field hockey Miami ………………………….... 4 Saint Louis ……………………... 1
Sunday
Volleyball Miami …………………………… 3 Eastern Michigan ………….... 2
KENNY YOUNG WEARING A GREEN RIBBON BO BRUECK ASST. PHOTO EDITOR
Soccer Akron.. ………………………….... 2 Miami ………..………………….... 1 Field hockey Miami ……………………….….... 2 No. 10 Louisville ..……...……... 3
SIMANSEC@MIAMIOH.EDU
SPORTS 11
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2018
RedHawks dominate Kent State CHRIS VINEL STAFF WRITER
The Miami RedHawks only needed the first half to beat Kent State on Saturday. The second half at Yager Stadium was just dessert. Miami’s offense powered its way to season-highs in total yards (504) and rushing yards (295), while the defense allowed just six points to beat the Golden Flashes 31-6. “Obviously, we felt like we had to move the ball and score points,” head coach Chuck Martin said. “Our offense did that. They key, though, was that we ran the ball.” The final score is slightly misleading to how the game started. The RedHawks (3-4, 3-1 Mid-American) led in nearly every statistical category in the first quarter, but neither team pulled ahead as it ended with a 0-0 tie. Miami took a 7-0 lead on the first play of the second quarter when redshirt senior quarterback Gus Ragland plowed into the end zone for a three-yard rushing touchdown. The Golden Flashes (1-6, 0-3 MAC) threatened into RedHawks’ territory on their first drive of the quarter, but failed to capitalize. Freshman kicker Matthew Trickett pushed a 43yard field goal attempt wideright. On the next MU drive, two passing plays over 20 yards set the RedHawks up inside the five-yard line. Redshirt senior running back Kenny Young punched it in from two-yardsout for the touchdown. After Miami forced a threeand-out, the Golden Flashes caught a break. MU redshirt wide receiver Jack Sorenson dropped a punt, allowing Kent State to recover with good field position. But for the second straight defensive drive, Miami forced a three-and-out. Then for the third straight offensive drive, the ’Hawks scored when Ragland found redshirt junior wide receiver Luke Mayock for a two-yard touchdown. Miami led 21-0 at halftime.
The third quarter brought much of the same, as the RedHawks forced a three-and-out, before driving down the field for their final touchdown of the game – a six-yard rushing touchdown by sophomore running back Jaylon Bester. The rush was Bester’s first collegiate score. On its next drive, Miami extended its advantage to 31-0 with a 42-yard Sloman field goal. With a huge lead, Martin put in his backups at the start of the fourth quarter. Miami’s defense was closing in on its first shutout since Nov. 2007 until Kent State scored a rushing touchdown with under a minute left in the game. “Our defense was fantastic from start to finish,” Martin said. “They had a really good week of preparation.” Ragland threw for 209 yards and one touchdown. Young, in his second game
back from injury, led the RedHawks in both rushing and receiving yards. He had 90 yards and a touchdown on the ground and 47 yards via Ragland’s passes. “He’s a difference-maker,” Martin said about Young. “There’s little seams and some guys are getting four-to-six yards, and Kenny’s getting 20to-30 yards. And obviously, he’s a great receiver.” Young said, “I was just happy to be out there.” The redshirt senior tailback earned MAC East Offensive Player of the Week for his efforts. KSU sophomore quarterback Woody Barrett struggled against the tenacious Miami pass-rush and was sacked five times. He passed for 149 yards and led the Golden Flashes with 75 rushing yards and one score. With the victory, the RedHawks have won three of their last four games. They’ve won
KENT STATE KICK OFFS (BELOW) LED TO MIAMI TOUCHDOWNS FROM KENNY YOUNG (ABOVE) BO BRUECK ASST. PHOTO EDITOR
two straight games for the first time since 2016. On the contrary, Kent State extended its losing streak to five games. The Golden Flashes haven’t beaten an FBS team yet this season, with their lone win coming against FCS Howard in Week Two. The contest was Miami’s annual cancer-awareness game. The ’Hawks wore special helmets with a colored ribbon of
the players’ choice on them. Each color represented a different cancer. Miami travels to West Point, N.Y., to play the Army Golden Knights on Saturday. The game is scheduled for a noon kickoff and will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network. vinelca@miamioh.edu @ChrisAVinel
Hockey ‘not quite there yet’ after Ice Breaker split
PROVIDENCE CAPTAIN JUNIOR DEFENSEMAN JACOB BRYSON (LEFT) BATTLES MIAMI CAPTAIN SENIOR FORWARD JOSH MELNICK ON FRIDAY. CONTIBUTED BY RIC KRUSZYNSKI MERCYHURST ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS, ERIE SPORTS COMMISSION
EMILY SIMANSKIS SPORTS EDITOR
The RedHawks won and lost a game this weekend, and they won and lost several battles. A 4-0 loss to Providence College on a Friday night usually bodes poorly for Miami hockey. But not this weekend. Miami followed the shutout loss by shutting out Mercyhurst University 3-0 to cap its return to the Ice Breaker Tournament in Erie, Pa. “I thought we learned a lot about our team, especially some of the things we were doing with
the puck that we can’t do with good teams,” head coach Enrico Blasi said. “We corrected some of those things. I thought we did a much better job on Saturday against Mercyhurst.” The RedHawks (3-1) correcting Friday night mistakes to win a Saturday night game was unheard of last season – every series that opened with a Friday loss was followed with another loss or a tie on Saturday. Only two weekends of hockey is a small sample size, but this season, Miami hockey looks to be on track to stay consistent and avoid becoming the victim of weekend sweeps.
During opening weekend, Alabama-Huntsville rarely challenged the RedHawks on defense as the ’Hawks cruised to 5-1 and 4-0 victories to earn the sweep. This weekend, the Friars upped the pace and forced the RedHawks to play more in their own end and take advantage of what little chances they had on offense. Providence ultimately beat Miami in both ends with the 4-0 win. The Friars opened scoring halfway through the first period with goals 1:28 apart, showing glimpses of breakdowns from the ’Hawks. But the RedHawks did take the game’s first seven
shots and managed a scoreless second period, showing their ability to be patient. “Providence was a good step up from two weekends ago, so we had to play a little faster, a little harder,” junior forward Karch Bachman said. “The pace was just a little quicker. I thought we held up pretty well, the score says otherwise, but we came together as a team and faced a little bit of adversity for the first time, so that was huge for us.” Huge for the RedHawks this weekend were their veteran players, as they racked up all the points from the win over Mercyhurst. Bachman scored an unassisted goal, senior Ryan Siroky scored off a pass from Redshirt sophomore Christian Mohs and sophomore Phil Knies rounded out the RedHawks’ scoring with his first goal of the season. Junior goaltender Ryan Larkin started both nights and after the 4-0 loss, when he was forced into 29 saves, he stopped all of Mercyhurst’s 21 shots on Saturday. The rookie RedHawks still showed up and showed promise – most managed a shot on the weekend and finished with a positive plus-minus. “Pretty soon I’m going to say, ‘They’re not first-year guys anymore, they’ve played enough games now, they know what to expect and how to play and how to compete at this level,’” Blasi said. Both veterans and first-years competed on special teams. The penalty-kill units did their job
and kept the RedHawks in both games, finishing 8-for-9 on the weekend. Though the PK tempered their opponents’ scoring, the power play didn’t help the RedHawks. The ’Hawks went 0-for-11 on the man-advantage and are only 2-for-22 this season. “If there’s one bright spot for our team, our PK did a great job on the weekend,” Blasi said. “All in all, it was the first time we’re on the road, and I thought our guys did a nice job of bouncing back and learning the lessons we need to learn here in the early stages.” The power play finished as a dismal stat, but the RedHawks are off to their best start since the 2013-14 season when they also opened 3-1 through their first four games. Still, Providence plays a style of game that is similar to Miami’s upcoming National Collegiate Hockey Conference opponents. Being shut out by the Friars only shows that the RedHawks still have work to do. “It was just a reminder that we’re not quite there yet,” Blasi said. “We have to continue to work on some of the details we’re talking about over the last couple of weeks.” The RedHawks go back to work on Friday when they host UMass-Lowell at 7:35 p.m. at the Steve “Coach” Cady Arena. simansec@miamioh.edu @emilysimanskis
12 OPINION
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2018
BURNSKL2@MIAMIOH.EDU
Miami says it aims to empower us to become engaged citizens – so let us vote The following reflects the majority opinion of the editorial board. As our country stares down the oncoming midterm elections and recognizes the turning point at hand, it’s never been more clear that we have a choice to make. It’s easy to ignore the problems our country faces when we come from a place of privilege. As a byproduct of attending the most expensive public university in Ohio, many of us come from places where we don’t have to think about the quality of our public schools, where our drinking water comes from, or what the implications may be when 46 percent of Oxford’s community is living in poverty. It’s easy to think our voices don’t matter. Gerrymandering and the onslaught of political media coverage is enough to discourage our already dismally apathetic voting base. It’s easy to forget that just under 100 years ago, women didn’t even have the right to vote and racial segregation was a formal reality less than 60 years ago – and still exists in less blatant forms today. But despite all of the easy ways out, of failing to own up to the role we all play in the political environment we are now drowning in – there are still ways out of the storm. Every single eligible voter on this campus should
vote, and our university should empower us to do so by giving students, staff and faculty the day off. Universities all over the country have recognized how important voting is. The University of Hawaii, Princeton University and Columbia University all give students time off around the first Tuesday in November to ensure that students and university affiliates have the necessary time to vote. Many universities have decided to put an emphasis on student turnout at the polls. Miami has a duty to do the same. Voting is our civic duty. It’s the foundation of our democracy. But when you have a chemistry exam at 10 a.m. and a marketing presentation at 3 p.m., your civic duty falls to the wayside when you don’t feel like your life outcome is personally at stake, but your GPA might be. Depending on turnout, polls can often be overcrowded with long lines which force voters to wait before they are able to cast their vote. Students pass on voting because it might be a time-suck. Know what else sucks? Only about 58 percent of eligible voters voted in 2016. Miami has the ability to give everyone on campus the opportunity and time to vote, which will only serve our community well. No one should have to choose between making their
Conversation around mental health still feels one-sided KIRBY DAVIS
MANAGING EDITOR
According to the World Federation for Mental Health and a handful of Snapchat filters, Oct. 10 was the 26th annual World Mental Health Day. I’ve already written about my own depression, and how much it sucks, so I’m not going to continue complaining. I want to talk about only issue with initiatives like last Wednesday’s — that they often issue blanket encouragements for people struggling with their mental health to open up about it no matter what. While I’d never discourage anyone from speaking up about their mental health issues, I do think it’s important to consider what happens after they do and understand that it’s usually a small step toward feeling better — not a fix. I’ve struggled with depression and anxiety — mainly depression — since high school, but I didn’t tell anyone about it until last year. Even then, I did my best to downplay how I really felt, worried that people would think I was crazy if I gave them the full truth. I’ve since been told that this is irrational. But I’m still depressed. As I started writing this, I actually glanced at my calendar to check if the reason I’d felt so
shitty all weekend was because I was PMSing. It wasn’t. But it scares me to consider how much worse off I’d be if I hadn’t started talking about my depression with people — first a therapist, then some of my friends and family members. It’s not easy, though, and it opens the door to a whole new set of issues. For one, your friends will probably want to do their best to make you feel better when you tell them how depressed you are. It’s instinctual. If your friend is sad, you want to cheer them up; it’s not a particularly difficult or controversial concept. But it gets frustrating for both parties when you realize you can’t laugh your way out of a depressive episode, and that the best way to manage depression is through therapy and/or medication. It’s frustrating for you, because things that used to cheer you up — like your friends sending you memes or ugly old photos of themselves — don’t anymore. And it’s frustrating for your friends, I imagine, because an important role of theirs is trying to make you happy and, if you’re depressed enough, nothing is going to do that. It’s also frustrating when your friends feel like they can’t talk about their own issues with you anymore, because they’re worried about your mental state being too fragile. Again, if this is the case, they’re not doing anything wrong — they’re just trying
to be ridiculously good friends. But then you feel guilty that they feel guilty for sharing their own issues with you, which can easily become an endless cycle of apologizing for things that aren’t either of your faults. However, not everyone is empathetic and understanding about mental health issues. If you do want to talk about your mental health, try to find people who won’t judge you or make you feel crazier than you already probably do. It’s great if you can find that person (or people). But if you can’t, BuzzFeed regularly compiles social media posts about depression that are equally, if not more effective, than therapy and medication (at least for me). It’s possible to handle depression and mental health issues alone, but it’s incredibly difficult — especially for college students, when you feel like you’re supposed to be dealing with everything on your own. Mental health issues aren’t something you can fix by yourself. Trust me, I’ve tried. I don’t regret opening up to people about my experiences with depression, but I do wish that before I’d done so, I had been more patient and realized that, even with me trying to articulate exactly how I felt, you really have to experience it yourself to understand it. daviskn3@miamioh.edu
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voices heard and getting participation points for class or earning a minimum wage. When that choice is forced upon us, those who don’t think they need to vote won’t. Or those who are financially strapped won’t risk it. If the university fails to take action, professors can take matters into their own hands: cancel class on election day, and teach this generation to care about the consequences of actively choosing those who will lead us. Once students are given this option, they’ll only have themselves to blame if they fail to use all of the opportunities that have been handed to them. So, students: stop lying to the volunteers on campus who ask if you’re registered to vote. Register so you can vote in the next cycle. Go to iwillvote.com and find out where you vote if you’re unsure. If you can’t swing voting in person, apply for an absentee ballot. We must, “be heroes for our communities and future generations,” as Ady Barkan argued in his essay on dying and looking for answers in the face of unimaginable tragedy – including tragedies like wage inequality, unaffordable healthcare and power that is concentrated in the uppermost echelon of our society. It would be easy to cower under these circumstances, but we all have the responsibility to do better. Miami, let us go vote – it’s the least you, and the rest of us, can do.
Expectation meats reality: Cooking in college WILL GORMAN
THE MIAMI STUDENT
We live in a day and age where students pass time in class on their computers watching Buzzfeed videos on easy meal recipes to make at home. Food Network show binges fuel dreams of cooking up something delicious with ease. And if your parents are anything like mine, you’ve had to put up with how often they watch cooking shows at home. Basically, I grew up ready to be a skilled, intuitive chef and cook fantastic meals for myself. I was ready for a gourmet life. It seemed like the peak of human enjoyment: if you can manage to eat a restaurant-quality meal at home a couple times per week, you’re really doing something well. After years of watching my dad slowly become more fascinated with the world of cooking and enduring countless hours of cooking shows on public television, I was ready to start my own path to becoming a Chopped winner. Flash forward to the fall of 2016, two years ago, when I moved into Thomson Hall as a freshman. Dorm living did provide a solid amount of personal autonomy. However, my own personal anxieties about disrupting conversation in a common area or encountering too many people I didn’t know prevented me from using the kitchenette on our floor very often to cook something for myself. So I really was excited to live off campus my junior year. It would mean endless possibilities for some wholesome, innovative cooking, and I’d be able to truly live the life I’d wanted to while still trapped in a dorm. Now that I’m exclusively living with people I know and like, and we’ve got a full kitchen, the cooking possibilities are endless. They should be endless, right? Surprise. That’s not exactly the case. When I was shopping and packing to move in this semester, I made a list of all of the kitchen utensils I wanted to have, under some bizarre impression that by the end of the year, I’d have cooked so much that becoming a chef after college wouldn’t be the worst backup plan. My dad even signed me up for one of his favorite cooking mag-
azines this summer, under our mutual impression that I would now be able to make all types of dishes to my heart’s content. Nonetheless, yesterday morning, my breakfast was leftover, one-third-dried plain fettuccine that I had made before I went to sleep and forgot to eat, fed to me by my bare hands. And today, one of my roommates made three grilled cheeses for breakfast, lunch and dinner, at the same time. Not exactly the ideal smoothie-and-avocado toast breakfast I’d envisioned as a freshman. Not quite gourmet. Bottom line: a lifestyle of intricate cooking is really not designed for the average college student. When you’re taking four or more classes, balancing commitments between student organizations and social obligations and, quite frankly, just trying to get enough sleep, cooking is not always a top priority. I’m still a stressed college student who’s pressed for time. The only thing that’s changed from my freshman year is the setting in which I live. Sorry to break it to you, Dad. I’ll get around to that cooking magazine sometime, but for now, it’s likely that my average meal will be nine frozen chicken nuggets I heat up in the oven. And honestly? That’s okay. I just tell myself to think about all of the kitchen fires I’m avoiding by exclusively making foods that have step-by-step cooking instructions on the back of the box. Weekly meal prep means I have to think far in advance, and that’s something I’ve never been great at. Ingredients can also be expensive. Some of the most appetizing recipes take too long, and create more dirty dishes to take care of afterward. A top-tier culinary lifestyle doesn’t suit me. It might be possible one day, but it’s not today, and it’s really not looking like tomorrow will be that day, either. Maybe you’re not like me, and you’re genuinely proactive and on top of your extremely healthy diet. In fact, if you’re not like me in that regard, I genuinely salute you. And the best part? Since I’m not spending a ton of time cooking these extravagant recipes, I have more time to watch cooking videos. It’s a win-win. gormanwm@miamioh.edu