The Miami Student | February 2, 2023

‘They’re choosing money over us’: Talawanda School District prepares for budget cuts

A brief HERstory of ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ and its impact on mainstream media

ALICE MOMANY CAMPUS & COMMUNITY EDITOR

KASEY TURMAN

THE MIAMI STUDENT

Brianna Johnson has been a student in the Talawanda School District (TSD) since preschool. During that time, she has challenged herself academically through Advanced Placement (AP) classes, played a variety of sports like cheer and track and field and participated in many student organizations such as National Honor Society.

But over the next few years, Johnson and many other students will be stripped of their extracurriculars.

On Dec. 15, the Talawanda School Board members voted on a series of cuts, reductions and fees that will yield $5.3 million the next four school years after an operating levy failed to pass during the November midterm elections.

“Our leadership team looked at the services we currently had as well as the state minimum requirements,” Ed Theroux, superintendent for TSD wrote in an email to The Miami Student. “Using the state minimum requirements, our team identified many areas of revenue-generating as well as cuts/reductions."

The school district is made up of Bogan, Kramer and Marshall elementary schools, Talawanda Middle School and Talawanda High School (THS). To relieve the school district of its financial hardship, the school board voted on a plan that will tap into a dormant fund, which consists of money raised by alumni classes for student activities. The school board is also instituting a “pay-to-play” fee for all high school and middle school sports and band students, as well as eliminating staff positions, removing art, music and physical education in the elementary schools, reducing area bussing, instituting fees for AP classes,

Spoilers ahead for the entirety of the “RuPaul’s Drag Race” franchise. RuPaul is a drag titan.

THE MIAMI STUDENT

Height is a fundamental component in basketball. The average height of a Division I basketball player is 6 feet 5 inches tall. The most successful basketball players are incredibly tall. However, this is not the case for Mekhi Lairy.

At 5 feet 8 inches, Mekhi Lairy is the shortest basketball player in the Mid-American Conference (MAC), and one of the shortest players in college basketball. At 145 pounds, he’s one of the lightest too. Throughout his career, Lairy has always played against taller opponents. His height has always been a problem, but it hasn’t stopped him from scoring 1573 points and counting at Miami,

cutting extracurricular activities and more.

“They’re choosing money over us actually growing and learning,” Johnson said.

Students worry about the future of the school district

As Johnson, a junior at THS, prepares for her senior year, she said the district has many opportunities for students beyond the classroom, but she’s worried it will not be the same due to the cuts.

“Talawanda, in past years, has been a really good school at giving you opportunities,” Johnson said. “But I feel like that will be taken away from the students, and they won’t be

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good for sixth all time among Miami University basketball players. He’s still not done.

“I’ve been dealing with my height and height problems since I was a kid,” Lairy said. “I’ve always been around bigger players and opponents.”

Despite this obstacle, Lairy has been a consistent top-scoring player. In 2017, Lairy, who attended Bosse High School in Evansville, Ind., set an Evansville city career scoring record with 2,237 points. He is placed 22nd in career points in the state of Indiana. In 2018, he finished second for the prestigious Indiana Mr. Basketball award. Romeo Langford finished first that year, and he is currently averaging 20 minutes a night with the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs.

The beginning of Lairy’s basketball career

During his time at Bosse High School, Lairy played under the guidance of Coach Shane Burkhart. Burkhart remembers Lairy as a dependable player who consistently led the team in points.

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exciting sentences, but they still make sense.

It might be surprising to learn that they were actually written by an AI program called Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT). ChatGPT launched in November 2022. The chatbot allows users to write prompts or questions which the program will respond to.

To some, the idea that a program can write coherently like this is frightening. Others, however, welcome the new technology with open minds, prepared to find a way to work it into society.

With several studio albums, various pieces of apparel, books, chocolate bars and even a Chia Pet, RuPaul is the face of the drag industry — which is no surprise given that his reality show has remained on air since 2009.

The “RuPaul’s Drag Race” franchise has been a smash hit, and if you don’t believe me, just take a look at the many spin offs: “RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under,” “RuPaul’s Drag Race: UK vs The World,” “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” and more.

It has also allowed for events such as “RuPaul’s DragCon LA,” “RuPaul’s DragCon NYC” and “RuPaul’s DragCon UK” to take place.

RuPaul’s empire is growing, and it doesn’t seem to be stopping any time soon.

The show’s 15th season premiered on Jan. 10. As someone who spent her entire winter break – and now spring semester – rewatching the series, I couldn’t help but notice how much has changed.

In order to understand the evolution of “Drag Race,” we’ve got to go back to season one, which had a significantly lower budget. In fact, it’s become a bit of a joke within the fandom for its obnoxiously bright, low quality filter, which would not return for future seasons.

Only nine queens competed in season one, with Bebe Zahara Benet emerging victorious as the first winner of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” Since then, contestant numbers have increased and now fluctuate between 12-16.

Other changes the show has undergone include improvements to the Werk Room, where queens get in and out of drag, and the main stage, where queens lip sync and show off their runway outfits. The judges panel has also experienced several changes, with RuPaul and Michelle Visage being the only consistent judges since season three.

But perhaps one of the most important developments to come of “Drag Race” is the way it’s helped bring drag and queer representation into the mainstream.

Drag has existed for centuries, but it wasn’t until the premiere of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” that the art form was truly brought to the public’s eye. In this way, “Drag Race” was revolutionary: it gave everyone with cable access to drag.

Sure, there were pieces of media that featured drag such as “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and “Pink Flamingos,” but those were films people had to actively seek out (and cult films that were not popular when they came out). The same goes for drag shows.

“Drag Race” was on people’s TVs, in their homes. It wasn’t something that needed to be sought out, and as the series progressed, it gained an enormous following and critical acclaim, including 12 Emmys.

In addition to pioneering queer representation on TV, “Drag Race” has also brought transgender representation to light. It’s important to note this wasn’t always the case, though. Originally, transgender contestants weren’t cast. Earlier seasons also used offensive, transphobic language.

LUKE MACY ASST. CAMPUS & COMMUNITY EDITOR

“In recent years, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has made significant strides in various industries, from healthcare to finance and beyond. The technology is being used for

tasks such as diagnosing diseases, automating mundane jobs and even creating art. However, with these advancements come concerns about the future of jobs, privacy and ethics.”

The above sentences seem normal at first. They’re not necessarily

In the classroom, while some professors are weary about ChatGPT, others are already thinking about ways to incorporate it into classes.

Nathan French, a professor of comparative religion at Miami University, created an account for the

Luckily, “Drag Race’s” treatment toward transgender individuals has improved, in large part thanks to Peppermint, the show’s first openly trans contestant. Peppermint advocated for “Drag Race” to become more trans inclusive during her time on season nine. Now, the show has

CHLOE SOUTHARD STAFF WRITER

KETHAN BABU

UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL HISTORY. PHOTO BY JAKE RUFFER. GRAPHIC BY ERIN MCGOVERN

SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS VOTED ON A SERIES OF CUTS, REDUCTIONS AND FEES THAT WILL YIELD $5.3 MILLION THE NEXT FOUR SCHOOL YEARS. PHOTO BY BO BRUECK.

GRAPHIC BY REECE HOLLOWELL

able to do specific things or challenge themselves or try a new sport.”

Nico Motta, a junior at THS, also sees many obstacles ahead for students.

Motta, who has been in the school district since kindergarten, plays on the football and lacrosse teams and sees the upcoming “pay-to-play” fee as a negative installment for students.

“You’re kind of limiting a lot of student athletes, and then everyone has to make tough choices,” Motta said. “And that means you’re pretty much limited to one sport as well.”

Many athletes like Motta are unsure what sports they will be able to participate in next school year.

“What if your parents can’t afford it and you can’t afford it, or you don’t have a job?” Motta said. “That’s really unfair.”

Faculty and staff feel the effects of the cuts

In addition to students, faculty and staff are also preparing for the cuts.

One of the positions impacted by the cuts will be school psychologists. The school district employs five psychologists, one at each school. According to the plan approved by the school board, two will be cut before the 2025-2026 school year, leaving the district with only three.

David Annable is the school psychologist at Kramer Elementary. Annable is the senior psychologist in the district, so his job is safe, but his colleagues’ jobs are in jeopardy.

“Because there’s five of us, there’s one of us per building, but if there’s only three of us, we’re going to have to split up the work differently,” An-

Things to do

Join University Senate during their annual budget symposium.

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nable said.

Annable works full-time at Kramer, so he is familiar with his students and knows their needs and services individually. After the cuts, though, he’ll need to spread his team out across five schools, which will make it harder to be fully knowledgeable on each student.

In addition to the decrease in psychologists, the number of social workers and counselors will also be reduced.

“It’s entirely possible there will be days in the elementary schools where there is no mental health staff,” Annable said.

While some faculty and staff are waiting to hear from the district about the status of their jobs, others are leaving the school district before the cuts.

On Jan. 6, Jay Volker, the head coach for the THS football team and student services worker, announced his resignation on Twitter due to the school district eliminating his teaching position next school year.

“My beliefs of the importance of athletics in the development of young men and women do not align with district beliefs,” the tweet said.

Volker did not respond to a request for comment from The Miami Student. A call for reform outside the community Holli Hansel, the communications director for the Talawanda School Board, believes the issue of funding public schools extends beyond the local community.

Public school districts in Ohio receive money through a combination of state funds, local property taxes and federal funds. The Ohio Department of Education (ODE) distributes

aid using a formula based on student and teacher ratios, staffing levels and costs. ODE also provides supplemental funding based on student needs and demographics.

Hansel argues that the formula is not equitable for all school districts, including Talawanda.

Hansel said Talawanda struggles for funding because much of the land in the district is owned by Miami University, a tax-exempt institution. The school district is also surrounded by rural and agricultural communities, which makes it difficult to pass a property tax.

“Even though the total dollar amount for a farm is a lot of money, that farm may not actually be earning income at the level in which it is being

7 p.m.8 p.m. Hall Auditorium

Sterlin

taxed,” she said.

Hansel also acknowledged the surrounding communities have a lower median income, and a majority of residents in the district don’t have kids in the schools.

“When you think about the fact that most people living in the community do not have a child in one of our schools, they just don’t necessarily have a direct connection to the district, and they may feel less likely to support a tax issue that is a cost to them,” she said. Will it be enough?

Despite the cuts, reductions and fees, Thereoux doubts the plan will solve long-term financial problems the district faces.

“Our plan will help extend the

years before we are out of money,” he wrote. “We still will deficit spend and be out of money in approximately 2030. Additional difficult decisions will need to be made to avoid state takeover.”

Hansel said she can’t imagine what the district will look like if the state takes it over, but she worries that the students will be the most affected.

“We can’t expect our young people to be prepared for the modern world,” she said, “without the programs that [Talawanda] has in place and the amenities and resources.”

momanyaj@miamioh.edu

turmankd@miamioh.edu

City council approves Oxford comprehensive plan

land use and development, mobility, housing, economy, sustainability, culture and recreation, community well-being and utilities. Each element contains actions to achieve goals related to the element, with 162 actions in total. The plan also highlights which goals are community priorities.

“This is a long-range plan, but the work of governance is also trying to roll with opportunities,” Councilor David Prytherch said. “We have plans and then you also just have to act strategically, so I think it’s going to be a little bit of walking with our minds up here but also with our eyes toward [the end] and that might get messy sometimes too.”

LUKE MACY ASST. CAMPUS & COMMUNITY EDITOR

At Oxford City Council’s Jan. 17 meeting, council members unanimously approved the Oxford Tomorrow comprehensive city plan.

The plan was helmed by the Oxford Planning Commission, which was assisted by MKSK Studios, a Columbus consulting firm.

Sarah Lilly, one of the MKSK consultants and a Miami University graduate, introduced the plan at city council’s Jan. 3 meeting.

“The Oxford Tomorrow comprehensive plan is truly a community-driven vision for the future of Oxford over the next 10 years and beyond,” Lilly said. “We engaged community members through a number of different methods throughout the process.”

Events included open houses where members of the community were invited to interact with commission members and give feedback on the most important parts of the plan, with 345 people participating throughout the three public input meetings.

During council’s public participation, Ann Fuehrer, consulting facilitator for Oxford Citizens for Peace and Justice, applauded the plan’s civil engagement while also asking citizens for continued engagement.

“I agree that [the plan] is elegant and detailed and having over 800 members of the community and 30 steering committee members participate in putting it together really does signal the importance of public involvement,” Fuehrer said. “That said, the role of the public is not done.”

The 149-page comprehensive plan has eight elements, including

The new comprehensive city plan replaces the one created in 2008. That plan did not include sustainability goals. The new plan also focuses on more clearly defining future land usage. All councilors were in agreement, each voting yes to the comprehensive plan, which will take effect Feb. 16. The plan will focus on working with community priorities such as improving city water softening and promoting renewable energy sources, with the planning commission choosing goals annually for the year.

“Thank you to the staff for shepherding us through this whole process,” Mayor Bill Snavely said. “I think it’s a really good example of working with the public.” Oxford City Council will meet again at 7:30 p.m on Feb. 7, 2023, in the Oxford Courthouse.

macylj@miamioh.edu

Miami professors anticipate AI in classrooms

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program and fiddled with it to see how well it worked.

French, who teaches Islamic studies, said he could see himself using ChatGPT to help assist students who don’t fully know Arabic yet, so they can work with harder-level Arabic texts while still learning the language. However, he doesn’t want the tool to become a replacement for learning the language.

“I think the challenge is going to be to demonstrate to students that they should be confident in their own thinking and coming to terms with what they don’t know,” French said. “I worry that there will be those who run to AI because they want to just get the right answer. And as anyone in third grade will tell you, your teacher takes away your calculator because they want you to learn the steps.”

With the writing capabilities of the technology, some teachers like French are concerned that students might use the tool to plagiarize, having the program write papers or portions of papers for them.

Mack Hagood, an associate professor of media and communication, said he’s worried students might rely on the technology as a crutch when they are overwhelmed with work.

“Students are stressed out,” Hagood said. “When they get in that really stressed out mode and they’re just concerned about the end result of a grade, that’s when these temptations to use these kinds of tools are really powerful.”

Brenda Quaye, assistant director for academic integrity at Miami, is aware of these concerns and makes it clear that using AI to complete work without permission violates academic integrity.

“If a student is just kind of wholesale using some program or app to churn out work, and then they are

Lawsuit against Miami for COVIDera decision sent back to lower court

LEXI WHITEHEAD SENIOR CAMPUS & COMMUNITY EDITOR

Miami University has been in court for more than two years after two former students sued the university for breach of contract and unjust enrichment, according to court documents.

Sarah Baumgartner, who graduated from Miami in May 2020, and Mackenzie Weiman, who graduated in May 2021, were enrolled as students in spring 2020. According to Franklin County Courts, they each filed suits against Miami, Weiman on Oct. 6, 2020, and Baumgartner on Nov. 6, 2020, before consolidating their cases.

Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and Miami moving all classes online for the remainder of the spring 2020 semester, the plaintiffs argued that they paid for a full semester of in-person classes and access to campus and instead got online classes without access to campus.

submitting it, that would be considered academic dishonesty unless a faculty member has given a student specific permission to complete the assignment in that way,” Quaye said.

“But more broadly than that, what we want both students and faculty members to think about is if the AI is going to be used, how should it be used?” While Quaye said she hasn’t seen problems with ChatGPT yet, she doesn’t think it will be hard to tell if a student has used it based on problems with previous technologies.

“I’ve seen an increase in the usage of [paraphrasing generators], and it’s really obvious … very odd word choices, words that have a very specific meaning that probably shouldn’t be changed get changed,” Quaye said. “Just based on my knowledge of what ChatGPT churns out and what I’ve seen so far in the various conversations that I have had with colleagues, it’ll probably be pretty similar that there’ll be some telltale signs.”

OpenAI, the company that owns ChatGPT also launched a program Jan. 31 called the AI Text Classifier, which is able to detect how likely a group of text was generated using AI technology.

Heidi McKee and Jim Porter, professors of English, have studied AI programs together since their first research article on digital writing in 2008. McKee said although ChatGPT is good at giving information, it does not understand the information it’s giving — something she refers to as rhetorical context.

“They’re able to write really well-crafted prose, no grammatical mistakes, unless you ask it to put some in, but ChatGPT, even as the developers acknowledge, has no actual idea of what it’s saying, and it doesn’t know the rhetorical context of the situation,” McKee said. “So it sometimes can say things that are wrong. It sometimes even within a single

essay repeats itself in ways that even contradict itself.”

The use of AI programs can also vary based on class topics. While ChatGPT is able to respond to prompts based on information users give it, it can’t think for itself.

“What we’ve been labeling as AI lately, it’s just a machine learning that’s been branded as this thing that we’re now calling AI,” Hagood said. “It’s machine learning to recognize certain kinds of patterns and then extrapolate from them in cases where the objective is really narrow … Those are the things that we started … calling AI and then so it has the connotations of this Hal 9000 Artificial Intelligence.”

For assignments where critical thinking is required, ChatGPT might not be able to do students’ work for them. However, for classes in areas such as electrical and computer engineering, professors such as Peter Jamieson actually encourage the use of these programs, letting students use the tool to find answers to questions.

“For us when we teach things like programming or design, I see no reason why you wouldn’t have a ChatGPT window always open just like you have your browser window to go search on Google,” Jamieson said.

Quinn Classen, a sophomore software engineering major, hasn’t seen ChatGPT or any other tools in his classes yet, but he worries about relying too heavily on AI.

“It really gets me excited about the future of technology,” Classen said. “But if we’re not careful enough to make sure that the human touch and things [are] maintained, then we run into a lot of issues … A human thinks about a billion things at any given time, for even the simplest task, which is what slows us down, but it also keeps us grounded.”

Aidan McLaughlin, a sophomore computer science, philosophy and

math major, however, is more hopeful toward ChatGPT’s presence in the classroom.

“ChatGPT, I think, is the most powerful accelerant for learning that was put out in the last 10 years,” McLaughlin said. “It’s a stride similar to Google. I think in the classroom it has applications to help detangle students when they get stuck … It’s like having a best friend who is a world expert in every topic.”

French also serves on University Senate and said other senators have brought up concerns over the technology during meetings. French said although people should be cautious with using these new tools, they should also be willing to try incorporating them.

“My concern is those who would outright ban these instruments, those who would discourage their usage in any circumstance,” French said. “There’s an argument to be made that they’re going to be very helpful to future learners and future teachers and future researchers as well.”

The discussion of AI use is not just confined to the world of education. In its other uses, testers have found some problems with the programs.

“They still have biases that are shaped into them from the data that’s offered to them from the people who originally designed them,” McKee said. “For example … someone asked [ChatGPT] to write code to show the characteristics of an effective scientist, and ChatGPT immediately wrote: ‘true, white male.’” Although ChatGPT pushes the boundaries of technology, its presence still worries many.

“Some people are afraid of AI because they think it’s so smart,” Hagood said. “It’s going to take over the world, and I’m afraid of AI because it’s so dumb.”

macylj@miamioh.edu

Although Miami did refund students for housing, parking and other fees on a prorated basis, it did not refund any of the instructional fee or the surcharge for out-of-state students.

Baumgartner and Weiman submitted a motion for certification to file a class action lawsuit, in which a group of people with similar grievances file a claim against a common defendant jointly.

On Nov. 29, 2021, they submitted their revised definition of their class: “All undergraduate students enrolled in classes at the Oxford campus of Miami University during the Spring 2020 semester who paid the Instructional Fee and/or the Non-Resident Surcharge, and who were not given a full refund of those fees (pro-rated for the number of days remaining in the semester from when classes transitioned online to the last day of exams).”

Court documents show that on Dec. 13, 2021, the trial court found that the definition met the requirements for class certification, which would allow Weiman and Baumgartner to serve as representatives of that class. Miami appealed this decision.

Almost a year later, on Dec. 1, 2022, the Ohio Court of Appeals found that the trial court failed to conduct a rigorous analysis of the requirements for class certification and reversed the decision.

According to the Ohio Court of Claims, Weiman and Baumgartner have since renewed their motion for class certification, proposing a schedule for the motion and hoping the lower court can now conduct an appropriate analysis of the requirements.

The details of the case and damages have yet to be discussed in court, as the class certification has been the main concern so far.

whitehan@miamioh.edu

ASG passes special elections bill and resolution to recognize National Gun Violence Survivors Week

META HOGE SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Miami University’s Associated Student Government (ASG) passed one bill and one resolution at its first meeting of the semester on Jan. 24.

Senators first voted on a bill that would amend ASG’s bylaws to have its special elections permanently held on The Hub.

Previously, students running for positions in special elections would be voted on and elected by current senators. Holding special elections on The Hub lets the entire student body vote rather than current senators, which can allow for a more accurate repre-

sentation of constituents.

ASG passed a resolution to hold last semester’s special elections on The Hub, but the resolution only allowed for that election cycle.

ASG’s special elections occur to fill senate seats when there are five or more vacancies.

For this election cycle, there are 13 open seats: five Senators-At-Large, two Off-Campus Senators, two On-Campus Senators, one College of Engineering and Computing (CEC) Senator, one College of Arts and Science (CAS) Humanities and Social Sciences Senator and one CAS Physical Sciences Senator. Students can work on their election packets and petitions now, which are due Friday, Feb. 3 at 5 p.m.

Elections will occur Feb. 7 at 7 a.m. to Feb 8 at 7 p.m.

The bill passed with 30 yeses and one no.

Senators also voted on a resolution to recognize National Gun Violence Survivors Week, which takes place from Feb. 1 to Feb. 7.

The resolution outlined encouraging all students to support efforts to prevent gun violence and to honor those who have been affected by gun violence.

The resolution passed with 27 yeses, two nos and two abstentions.

ASG’s next meeting will be held at 6 p.m.

GRAPHIC BY SEAN SCOTT

Rocket construction brings Miami Aeronautics and Astronautics to new heights

edge base for it.

The group then discovered the Spaceport America Cup. This rocketry competition involves the construction of chemically fueled rockets by students and launching them to see how high they can go.

Participating in the Spaceport America Cup would replace the “Design, Build, Fly” competition and give AIAA a major project to focus on. It also allows for a knowledge base to be built up in terms of preparation for the competition, which stays the same annually.

“The nature of the Spaceport America Cup really gave AIAA the opportunity to build up new experience in our members,” Martini said.

WILLIAM KWAN

THE MIAMI STUDENT

Miami University’s branch of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has had a meteoric ascent, making a comeback after losing its extracurricular status during the pandemic.

Much of that success has been driven by the (literally) rocket-fueled rise of AIAA’s dedicated rocket design and construction team, Miami University Rocket Propulsion Laboratory (MURPL), and its entry to the Space-

port America Cup competition.

Sawyer Martini, a senior engineering major and co-captain of MURPL, said he was highly excited for the rocket competition.

“Part of the reason why we are so motivated to do all this is that we simply really love rockets,” Martini said.

Aayush Gadal, a senior mechanical engineering major and the other co-captain of MURPL, said the impetus for AIAA to seek out a new competition began with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. When the pandemic started, AIAA’s activity

stagnated. It lost its official status as an extracurricular, its major leaders and its access to resources during lockdown.

“We basically had nothing to do since all our leaders were gone and COVID messed up our schedule,” Gadal said.

AIAA previously competed in the “Design, Build, Fly” competition, which has guidelines that change each year. Martini said the group felt it was no longer practical to participate in thatcompetition as there was no opportunity to build up a knowl-

MURPL, under Martini and Gadal’s leadership, plans to build its rocket from commercially available parts. The rocket is set to launch at the upcoming Spaceport America Cup, beginning June 19, in New Mexico. MURPL hopes to launch their rocket 10,000 feet.

Much of the work on the rocket was done via planning and simulations of the necessary components, in an experiential learning process.

Martini and Gadal were motivated to lead Miami’s AIAA to participate in the Spaceport America Cup not only to bolster the club itself, but also to help members gain experience in their prospective fields.

“The Spaceport America Cup is one of the most important competitions of its kind; you have a chance to make history,” Martini said.

The Spaceport America Cup is attended by multiple large names in the aeronautics and astronautics industry, such as SpaceX, VirginGalactic, and SierraSpace.

Students of many different majors have helped MURPL. For example, political science majors have helped with fundraising, psychology majors with advertising and website design. The business behind networking with industry officials, the team’s brand, and funding is a prime opportunity for business majors.

“[The competition] is really something that integrates students from every major, and can benefit them all,” Gadal said.

Martini and Gadal hope the experiences learned from preparing for the competition will also prepare students for the “real world,” in how they can put their education to practical use.

In addition, they also hope the competition increases optimism about space exploration.

“We really believe that everyone should support space exploration, because it is ultimately something that gives us hope for the future,” Martini said.

kwanwz@miamioh.edu

JACLYN WENHOLD

THE MIAMI STUDENT

Miami University announced a new partnership with Amazon on Jan. 13. The partnership offers Amazon employees the opportunity to pursue higher education at Miami’s regional campuses through Amazon’s Career Choice Program, which helps employees pay for tuition at affiliated institutions.

Alecia Lipton, associate director of media relations at Miami, said that many employees taking advantage of this program are working full time and gravitate toward the online option or taking evening classes on the closer regional campuses.

“So often people will say, ‘I wish I could go back to school, but I can’t because of the cost,’ or ‘I can’t because of the work schedule,’” Lipton said. “With this partnership with Amazon, we’re able to give those people not only an education, but a Miami education.”

Ande Durojaiye, vice president and dean for Miami’s regional campuses, said the process of Amazon picking an institution is competitive.

“Amazon has to learn about the institution — the programs you have, the accessibility of the programs — and make sure that it can be [something] their employees benefit from,” Durojaiye said.

Amazon’s program offers a maximum of $5,250 per year to put toward a higher education curriculum at Miami.

“If a student has a combination of scholarships and the money from Amazon, they can cover their entire cost of tuition,” Durojaiye said.

Amazon’s offered amount, combined with scholarship eligibility, creates an accessible financial opportunity for an education online or at Miami’s Hamilton, Middletown or West Chester regional campuses.

Considering this application process, Devon Cox, regional associate director of admission recruitment, said that even with a possibility of a

GRAPHIC BY CAITLIN DOMINSKI

paid education, Miami’s application procedure stays the same.

Applicants are eligible to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), apply for grants and loans and apply for scholarships if they meet the requirements of a full-time undergraduate student.

With the students’ search for funds to create a possible college education, Amazon is investing $1.2 billion to educate more than 300,000 employees by 2025 in the U.S.

“[It’s] a really big bonus for [the Amazon employees] to know that they are earning money, but also that they’re earning skills … to improve in their career,” Cox said. These lifetime skills can lead to job security.

This recent partnership also meets demand for working adults who want to continue their educational journey for their current or future roles.

Durojaiye said Amazon and other large companies recognize the importance of higher education and are supporting educational opportunities by partnering with institutions like Miami.

“[The partnership allows] for Miami to engage with a major company that’s employing individuals from all walks of life, and it’s [also] a chance for Miami to showcase the amazing educational opportunity that we have for those individuals,” Durojaiye said.

“[It’s] a pathway for Amazon employees to advance in higher education … We can [now] expand our footprint, expand who we connect with, and really show that Miami is committed to educating all.”

Three students have enrolled in the program for spring, and Lipton said she sees this partnership continuing, especially through word of mouth of the employees who had good experiences.

She believes this program will only grow in numbers when the summer hits and August applications start to roll in.

wenholje@miamioh.edu

TAYLOR STUMBAUGH

THE MIAMI STUDENT

Miami University’s Pi Beta Phi chapter was suspended after its 2017 spring formal where guests went to the bathroom in sinks, broke items and behaved generally unruly.

Now, it’s making its return to campus in the 2023-2024 academic year.

Approximately one third of Miami’s undergraduate student population is a member of a fraternity or sorority organization. There are more than 50 different Greek Life chapters at Miami, but not every chapter maintains its status as a recognized organization.

A fraternity or sorority can be suspended or have its chapter revoked from campus through Greek Life violations, which can include hazing, academic dishonesty and alcohol abuse. The penalties range from educational programs to suspension.

Three institutions, the organization’s headquarters, the campus and the Panhellenic Council, come together to decide whether a chapter will be suspended.

Kim Vance, director of the Center for Student Engagement Activities and Leadership, said the first step is addressing the behavior to see if the chapter should be closed immediately or placed on probationary status.

“There was a collaborative decision between the university and the national office to close the [Pi Beta Phi] chapter,” Vance said. “Based on National Panhellenic Conference rules and procedures, a return agreement was signed between the Panhellenic Association and Pi Beta Phi.”

The Panhellenic Council, which consists of delegates from each chapter, voted on that return. The council, the organization and the university can negotiate to reinstate the sorority sooner, but usually it is settled under the return agreement.

Vance said the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) is the governing body for the 26 NPC organizations that exist, 17 of which have chapters at Miami. However, only 16 participate in the formal recruitment process. The NPC has specific processes for chapter suspensions and returns that all the organizations have agreed to.

Alyssa Ciango, assistant director of the Cliff Alexander Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, said under the return agreement Pi Beta Phi will come back to campus in 2023 to observe and then fully participate in the spring 2024 recruitment process.

“Now the responsibility of the Panhellenic Association and Panhellenic members is to welcome Pi Beta Phi and to learn about that chapter and who they are and their values and what they’re going to bring to the community,” Ciango said.

There are a few ways a sorority or fraternity gets reinstated like Pi Beta Phi did.

Most campus policies are similar with a few variations depending on the university. Miami has a policy requiring all social sororities and fraternities to be part of a governing council. The Panhellenic Association is Miami’s governing council for 17 sororities that are all member organizations of the NPC. If the chapters that are part of Miami’s Panhellenic

Association decided not to recognize Pi Beta Phi, then it couldn’t return.

The Interfraternity Council (IFC) is the local governing body that serves the affiliated fraternities within the council. If headquarters wishes to reestablish a suspended chapter or install a new one on campus they need the support of IFC in advance.

Once that happens, the group is on track to reinstate their chapter. Having that relationship means they are in compliance with Miami’s policy that a sorority or fraternity be affiliated with a council.

“It’s different for each council but the best way is a collaboration between the headquarters, the campus and the council,” Vance said.

Members of chapters also need to participate in leadership training and complete their chapter modules so they know what their requirements and responsibilities are.

A special case is the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity that is returning to the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) community. The chapter became inactive during COVID-19 because they could not host in-person recruitment activities. They were not suspended or expelled.

Because there are no undergraduate members, graduate chapters and graduate chapter advisors, which are similar to alumni chapters, are trained and connected to Phi Beta Sigma and help with the process, Vance said. The fraternity is working to recruit new members and reestablish themselves with the help of Miami and NPHC. stumbata@miamioh.edu

MIAMI’S CHAPTER OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF AERONAUTICS AND ASTRONAUTICS IS WORKING ON BUILDING A ROCKET, WHICH THEY WILL ENTER IN THE SPACEPORT AMERICA CUP COMPETITION. PHOTO PROVIDED BY SAWYER MARTINI.

How Greek Life organizations get suspended – and come back

Miami partners with Amazon: ‘A pathway for Amazon employees to advance in higher education’

THE CENTER FOR STUDENT ENGAGEMENT ACTIVITIES AND LEADERSHIP HOUSES THE CLIFF ALEXANDER OFFICE, WHICH GOVERNS FRATERNITIES AND SORORITIES AT MIAMI. PHOTO BY JAKE RUFFER.

Miami Senate working session accepts feedback on campus free speech policy

LUKE MACY ASST. CAMPUS

& COMMUNITY EDITOR

On Monday, Jan. 30, Miami University faculty met over Zoom for a Senate working session — an optional meeting that goes in-depth over a certain topic — to discuss additions to Miami’s campus free speech policy.

The session was moderated by Nathan French, a university senator and professor. Amy Shoemaker, vice president and general counsel, and Dana Cox, associate provost for faculty affairs, co-hosted the session.

The current policy reads, “The University is committed to maintaining a campus as a marketplace of ideas for all students and all faculty in which the free exchange of ideas is not to be suppressed because the ideas put forth are thought by some or even by most members of the institution’s community to be offensive, unwise, immoral, indecent, disagreeable, conservative, liberal, traditional, radical, or wrong-headed.”

The working session was hosted to discuss a proposed addition to the policy, which would include a procedure for students or faculty members to submit complaints that their speech rights have been violated by a university employee. The policy previously had no procedure for investigating complaints.

According to the draft for the procedure, the complaints will be filed through EthicsPoint. The Office of General Counsel will determine if a complaint has enough information to investigate an alleged violation. Anonymous complaints will not be investigated.

The new policy would also add a standing Hearing Committee that consists of three faculty and three other staff appointed by the provost. A Hearing Committee Administrator will also be designated by the provost and will appoint committee investigators and Hearing Panel members to cases. Three Hearing Committee members will make up each Hearing Panel and listen to the investigation before determining an outcome for the case.

“There are lots of spaces in which a person might feel that their right to freedom of expression could be impinged upon in a university campus,” Shoemaker said. “This is intended to address that full panoply of possibilities

From student government to advisory boards: How students make a difference on campus

through this ability to file a complaint.”

While the meeting primarily focused on questions about how this will work in relation to classes, Shoemaker shared that the policy also affects other areas of campus, such as residence halls.

“We can’t police for content where we provided an opportunity for freedom of expression,” Shoemaker said. “If somebody were … to post a confederate flag on their door, that’s content-based, and even though it’s incredibly offensive to a number of individuals … we can’t police for content.”

During the meeting, professors raised concerns about the bill. One professor of women’s, gender and sexuality studies worried the bill might affect what she can teach in class.

“This bill does not change Miami’s values in any way,” Cox said. “The university isn’t going to change their perspective on academic freedom as a result of this bill. The university is not going to change our curriculum in response to a student grievance.”

Other professors referenced a case from 2022 where an adjunct professor at Hamline University showed students an image of the Prophet Muhammad. The professor, Erika López Prater, warned students that the image would be shown, but a student reported the incident as Islamaphobic. López Prater’s contract was not renewed for the next semester.

The proposed bill doesn’t have a specific set of outcomes for a hearing, leaving the decision to the panel. Multiple attendees raised concerns about this and worried that the decisions could lead to the firing of non-tenured professors.

“I think it is really important, even if this isn’t used a lot, to get a clear policy on how decisions are made by the panel,” Kevin Reuning, an assistant professor of political science, wrote in the Zoom chat. “This policy can be weaponized by bad faith actors, either by flooding it or by going after particular faculty or staff. Without putting rules/restrictions on it, I think we make that potential problem worse.”

The University Senate will vote on the bill at a future meeting after it has been revised.

macylj@miamioh.edu

OLIVIA PATEL THE MIAMI STUDENT

With dozens of vice presidents, deans and other administrators, a Board of Trustees, a University Senate, and plenty of other committees and departmental leadership, Miami University has no shortage of decision-makers.

Add to that more than 20,000 undergraduates and graduates across four campuses, and it can be hard to see how one student can make a difference at Miami. That hasn’t stopped people from trying, though.

Members of Associated Student Government (ASG), the Dean’s Advisory Board (DAB) and other organizations at Miami continue to show that students actually hold a significant amount of power at the university. Run for office, make a change

Madelyn Jett, former student body president, pursued multiple initiatives based on student demand, such as organizing a wellness trip to Hueston Woods and promoting diversity, equity and inclusion on campus.

“When you run for student body president or any position in student government, you run typically with a campaign of different initiatives that you say you will pursue so students can get a feel for what different candidates will focus on,” Jett said.

Jett said this helps the students being represented know which candidate to vote for based on the changes they would like to see on campus. For example, in response to demand from the students, Jett and her former student body vice president Aidan McKeon added a new position within ASG called director of transgender equity and inclusion as part of their platform.

McKeon agreed that in order to fully render a larger body of students, their interests must be represented through the agenda of ASG representatives.

“As a queer student myself, I felt like I was able to not only represent a larger body of students but bridge the gap between Spectrum and ASG, which was a relationship not previously established before,” McKeon said. “I do feel like the intent was definitely to give more representation to a specific group of students that has been struggling on our campus.”

Beyond student government

While ASG is the most well known student representation association on Miami’s campus, the DAB also works to better amplify the voices and needs of the students.

All students involved in DAB work directly with Kimberly Moore, dean of students, whose main responsibility is to make sure the students of Miami feel supported. Jackson Cool, a first-year majoring in secondary social studies education, is a member of the 15-student board.

“Our main job is to bring [to] light subjects brought to us by students, whether that be concerns about mental health or student parking,” Cool said.

Members of DAB can’t directly change university policies or practices based on the feedback they receive from students. Instead, Cool said they play a vital role in conveying demands and requests from students to the staff in charge, such as the dean of students.

Quick turnovers limit progress

As Jett puts it, being a part of student government resembles a mixed bag of representing a variety of problems and concerns. Representatives have little time in office, and although they push to get initiatives accomplished in their short term, not every concern can be dealt with.

To combat this, figures such as Jayne Brownell, vice president for student life, take initiative in pursuing projects ASG members are unable to bring to fruition during their tenure.

“You can’t always do what students want to do in their timeline,” Brownell said. “We in the student life department bring institutional knowledge and can play the long game the way that students can’t.”

Brownell said the cohesive relationship between faculty and stu-

dents at Miami is vital to the continued success of students. While students are able to represent ideas and concepts important to the student body, faculty members and representatives are the ones who assist in taking a student’s request or demand to the next level.

Change can escalate starting from anyone on campus, and can grow quickly through students communicating their concerns to a representative, such as a member of ASG, DAB or an administrator.

“We as students are all super well-interconnected,” Cool said. “I have people who come to me saying things like ‘we need more support from faculty and staff,’ and I’m only a freshman.”

While Brownell acts as more of a starting point for where to go when a student has a concern, Jett and McKeon brought prominent issues to high ranking faculty at Miami, including President Greg Crawford.

“Faculty members such as President Crawford and Jayne Brownell are the people who are there to listen and work with students to do what they want to do,” McKeon said.

Whether students are looking to be put in the spotlight of being a representative, there are various outlets to have their voices heard, even beyond ASG and other official governing or advisory bodies. Leaders of various organizations can bring up issues that are relevant to their specific organization to members of ASG as well as DAB.

“Any student who has a passion for making the university better could get their voice heard by administrators, faculty and staff,” Jett said. “You can get involved through any sort of student organization, even outside of ASG.” patelou@miamoh.edu

Transforming Oxford’s landfill into solar energy

EVAN STEFANIK STYLE EDITOR

Oxford sealed its landfill in 1989. And eventually, its surface could sustain enough solar power to run the city.

In 2021, Oxford signed a threeyear exercisable lease option giving BQ Energy Development the right to build and manage a solar farm on its 20-acre closed landfill on Riggs Road. However, Clean Capital acquired the company the same year, stunting the process indefinitely.

In the meantime, Oxford’s usual supplier, Duke Energy, must connect electricity to the line on the southern end of the future construction zone. BQ will then assume all responsibility for the project, but first it needs

the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to approve its design.

Chantel Raghu, the Oxford City Council representative for the environmental commission for Oxford, predicts this upcoming structure will fuel close to 150 homes and spare residents from expensive rooftop installations.

“We’re essentially renting the land out to a private company, so we don’t have to pay for the upfront build of it,” Raghu said. “Which means the cost to enter into it and get the benefits is so much more accessible to everybody.”

Residents can already subsidize wind energy by purchasing renewable energy certificates (REC) which invest in windmill farms nationwide, but Oxford owns no windmills. Michael McNulty, BQ’s senior project

manager, said putting up such massive foundations would weigh the landfill down too much and therefore solicit an excavation. That requires permission from the Ohio EPA and a risk of releasing the toxic gasses once smoothed into the ground and trapped by plastic.

Out of all of Oxford’s ideas for diverse energy, Raghu said solar is the most feasible.

BQ’s progress on a southwestern district of Columbus’ landfill inspired Oxford city manager Doug Elliott to pursue it here.

“We’re looking to reduce our carbon footprint, for both the city facilities, our operations, as well as for the community as a whole,” Elliott said. “I’m confident that we’re going to have a project [on the landfill], it just

takes some time.”

David Trelevan, Oxford’s environmental specialist, encourages the landfill’s transformation.

“The potential use for the landfill in the future is very limited because of the trash underneath it,” Trelevan said. “This is unique for southwest Ohio.”

Trelevan said Oxford receives its electrical services from predominantly green sources. The city’s new comprehensive plan includes a section dedicated to sustainability.

Shana Rosenberg lives near the project’s site and said she will have no obstructing view besides some reflection in the daytime. Before, she saw only the remains of Oxford’s construction materials. Rosenberg suspects property

owners wanting a more urban aesthetic might feel differently, but she applauds the city for its work.

“With the election of certain city councilors in the past few years, there’s been more and more of an understanding of why it makes sense for the city to go into sustainability,” Rosenberg said. “It’s so good the town is expanding this renewable energy capability for us. It’s helping the planet and our citizens right now.”

Oxford’s other renewable energy efforts include a wind-subsidized electrical aggregation opt-out program and the expired Solarized Oxford Program, which allowed bulk purchases of solar panels for 16 local homes, churches and business.

stefanec@miamioh.edu

CHANTEL RHAGU SAID SOLAR ENERGY IS THE MOST FEASIBLE OPTION DUE TO THE TOXIC GASSES LOCATED IN THE SEALED LANDFILL. PHOTOS PROVIDED BY: BQ ENERGY DEVELOPMENT

ABBEY

ELIZONDO SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Spoilers for “Emily in Paris” below. Tread at your own risk.

Did I binge-watch season three of “Emily in Paris”? Yes. Do I remember half of what happened? I don’t think it was necessary.

Emily Cooper was assigned a job at the French brand Champère in Paris because her manager couldn’t move to a new country. After being thrown into French culture, Emily tries her best to succeed at bringing American business to French luxury, with a few stumbles.

For those of you who have been here since the beginning, you know that the show has gotten better overall. The characters have developed into realistic people, besides Emily of course. The scenery is immaculate, showing me all the places I would want to visit in France. And the plot has actually taken into account the ruthless nature of the business world.

But for a show based around an American woman making her way in the French luxury market, it devotes maybe a third of the time to Emily’s struggles.

This season used one of my least favorite tropes in media: miscommunication. Emily has to decide between staying with her old boss from Chicago to run Champère or joining a new company with the French manager who boycotted the company. Instead of making an adult decision, Emily waits until the two women realize she’s deceiving them.

I know this isn’t a show to take seriously, but can’t the writers think of something better than this trope?

Part of the problem is Emily’s char-

Landmark documentary filmmaker Philomena Cunk takes us on a historical odyssey in ‘Cunk on Earth’

acter, which has hardly grown since season one.

Alfie, Emily’s British boyfriend from season two, has more character growth than Emily (need I remind you of the title of this show?). He becomes friends with Gabriel, helps him bond with his girlfriend, and treats Emily as an adult. This confuses her since her communication skills are that of a middle schooler at best.

A few of his actions irritated me, like when he stayed in Paris for a month after separating from Emily. But he acknowledges his faults.

We know Emily, though, and she cannot resist going back to Gabriel. They form an adorable friendship bond by supporting each other’s careers and relationships. The problem comes when their partners only see their previous romantic connection, leaving them no choice but to pick up the pieces of their fractured lives yet again.

For a moment, I thought the writers would keep Gabriel and Emily in this platonic friendship. They visit a ball pit with colorful lights and drinks for a few hours, enjoying each other’s company without forced romantic or sexual tension. I got my hopes up.

My mistake. I appreciated the multitude of relationships explored in this season. The show developed on that front, but in terms of quality, it’s just another Netflix original for people to binge in one sitting.

Are you still watching? Next season, I’ll have to press no.

Rating: 4/10

@earlgreyincense elizonar@miamioh.edu

SEAN SCOTT ENTERTAINMENT CO-EDITOR

Move over, David Attenborough. There’s a new British documentarian in town.

Philomena Cunk, a serious force in documentary filmmaking, has been in the business for a while. From 2014’s “Moments of Wonder” to 2016’s “Cunk on Britain.” Now, she’s taking on the world in “Cunk on Earth.”

The five-part series is a stunning journey through history from cavemen to the Cold War. It’s the greatest piece of media since the 1989 Belgian techno-anthem “Pump Up the Jam.”

Through the five-episode epic, Cunk asks experts the sort of hard-hitting questions Attenborough would never dare to ask. How did being shot in the head affect Lincoln’s ability to lead? How do you play an orchestra — do you blow into it, or is it one of those ones where you rub a stick on the strings? Perhaps most importantly, why don’t bicycles have toilets?

If you have dreams of developing a toilet-equipped bike, though, don’t.

Cunk is already working on copywriting it.

The show, which premiered on BBC on Sept. 19, 2022, and on Netflix on Jan. 31, 2023, has a simple premise: why rely on an omniscient narrator who knows everything when it’s more fun and relatable to be guided through history by a bumbling idiot who knows nothing at all?

And Cunk is the perfect bumbling idiot.

In the second episode, “Faith/ Off,” Cunk sets out to settle the debate of which is better, Christianity or Islam. Instead, she goes on a nearly four-minute detour to a castle to explain in one shot how life would have been for her in medieval times — a feast laid out, flute music, Merlin being decapitated, Robin Hood, Gandalf, a dancing bear and, most importantly, “a space invader shitting a harpsichord made of glass horses onto the floor.”

What does this have to do with religion, I hear you ask. And I answer with a question of my own: why does it matter?

Cunk has high hopes for her new show. She starts every episode with a reference to the greatness of the previous episode or the show’s potential for awards. If there’s one thing a show host needs to ensure success, it’s confidence, and Philomena has it in droves.

Apart from nuclear weapons

(which Cunk tragically learns still exist in episode four), Cunk isn’t phased by anything, keeping a straight face for most of the show. It truly takes an expert to deliver lines about the Titanic being the world’s first single-use submarine and Michelangelo omitting an anus on his statue of David without at least cracking a smile.

Surprisingly, none of the experts crack throughout the show, either. Sure, their hope for humanity may die a little with each misguided question, but they don’t let it show beyond their eyes. Even when Cunk goes on long-winded tangents about her mate Paul, her Aunt Carol or her ex-boyfriend Sean, the experts keep their cool.

And in case you’re wondering, yes, they are real experts. And all they’re told is that they’re being interviewed for a BBC documentary.

Some experts come back for seconds, though. Laura Ashe, a professor of English from Oxford University, appears in both “Cunk on Britain” to speak about King Arthur and on “Cunk on Earth” to provide expertise on the Dark Ages.

My favorite expert, though, is Cambridge professor of Philosophy Douglas Hedley, who miraculously turns Cunk’s ideas about brain pipes and peas into a legitimate philosophical inquiry.

Shout-out to Doug. You’re a real one for that.

“Cunk on Earth” may not teach you anything, but it’s a transformative two-and-a-half hour experience that simply can’t be missed.

Rating: 9.5/10

scottsr2@miamioh.edu

had several trans contestants including Kerri Colby, Sasha Colby, Gigi Goode and more.

In its 13th season, “Drag Race” welcomed Gottmik, the show’s first openly trans man to compete.

“Drag Race” eliminated the transphobic language that was previously used, and it now gives trans contestants a platform to bring awareness to their transitions and struggles. The inclusion of transgender contestants has even encouraged other queens, such as Jasmine Kennedie and Bos-

co, to come out as well. RuPaul is perhaps the most popular drag queen of all time, but “Drag Race” has allowed for several other queens to establish a name for themselves and launched them into stardom. Some of my favorite drag superstars to emerge from the show are Trixie Mattel, Katya Zamolodchikova, BenDeLaCreme, Bianca Del Rio, Symone, Shangela, Jinkx Monsoon and more.

Trixie Mattel now has her own makeup brand, Trixie Cosmetics. She’s recorded four studio albums, starred in a documentary and runs the Trixie Motel. Mattel hosts a popular podcast and webshow with Katya Zamolodchikova; the two have even published books together and are currently touring.

BenDeLaCreme and Jinkx Mon-

soon are also touring together. The duo has starred in “The Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Special,” a film released in 2020. Shangela has become a wellknown DJ and singer. You may recognize her song “They Call Me Laquifa,” which appeared in “Dance Moms” and has since become popular on TikTok. Shangela was also the first drag queen to compete on “Dancing With the Stars” in the U.S.

These are only a few success stories to come from “Drag Race.” Each and every success is exciting, though, because we’re now seeing significantly more drag queens in the mainstream. Queer and trans people are getting the representation they deserve.

I can’t wait to see how “Drag Race” will continue to evolve in future seasons. Let’s face it, the series isn’t ending any time soon. With a cinematic universe comparable to (and better than) Marvel, the “Drag Race” franchise is here to shantay and stay.

@_chloebowie_ southacr@miamioh.edu

LEXI WHITEHEAD SENIOR CAMPUS & COMMUNITY EDITOR

Valentine’s Day can be a controversial holiday, with some people wearing red and pink colored lenses and others calling it a made-up capitalist holiday.

However you spend your Valentine’s Day, from hanging with your beau to contemplating revenge to avoiding anything heart-shaped, here’s a list of movies to get you into the lover (or hater) spirit, along with where you can stream them.

Underrated

“Serendipity” (2001) — PlutoTV or Paramount Plus

If you want to believe in fate, watch this movie where two strangers attempt to find each other again after sharing a beautiful night together.

Say Anything” (1989) — Hulu

Lloyd Dobbler, a nobody, tries to win over Diane Court, the beautiful valedictorian.

“Can’t Buy Me Love” (1987)

Amazon Prime Video (for rent)

Young Patrick Dempsey plays a nerd who pays the most popular girl in school to go out with him.

“Letters to Juliet” (2010) — PlutoTV

If you like “Mamma Mia,” you’ll probably like this simple and fun romcom with Amanda Seyfried in Europe attempting to rekindle someone else’s past love. Oh, and her character’s name is also Sophie.

Classics

“13 Going on 30” (2004) — Peacock

This has been one of my favorite movies since I was a kid, and I would be remiss to not include it.

“10 Things I Hate About You” (1999) — Disney Plus

Bring back teen movie adaptations of Shakespeare plays!

“When Harry Met Sally” (1989) — HBOMax

If you’re in love with your best friend, this one’s for you.

“Pride & Prejudice” (2005)

Amazon Prime Video (for rent)

There’s a picture of Matthew Macfadyen as Mr. Darcy in the dictionary next to the definition of yearning.

“Juno” (2007) — HBOMax

While the romance isn’t the central point of this film, the sweet naivety of Juno and Bleaker (thrown for a loop when Juno gets pregnant)

earns it a spot.

Something a little different “Stardust” (2007) — HBOMax

A fantasy/adventure movie with a fallen star, an evil witch, a vengeful prince and an enemies-to-lovers romance.

“But I’m A Cheerleader” (1999) — Paramount Plus

A satirical but heartwarming movie about a conversion camp.

“Palm Springs” (2020) — Hulu

At her sister’s wedding, the maid of honor gets stuck in a time loop with Andy Samberg.

“Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” (2010) — Netflix

Unfortunately, more than one man has called me Ramona Flowers. Fortunately, that hasn’t ruined my love for this very quirky movie.

Tear-jerkers

“(500) Days of Summer” (2009) — HBOMax

A non-linear story about a failed relationship starring Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (2004) — Amazon Prime Video

Hoping to forget a certain someone? This movie might make you change your mind.

“A Ghost Story” (2017) — Paramount Plus

After dying, a ghost watches as life moves on without him.

Anti-valentine’s Day “Shiva, Baby” (2020) — HBOMax

The most anxiety-inducing movie I’ve ever watched.

“Chicago” (2002) — HBOMax

Gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss.

“Legally Blonde” (2001)

Amazon Prime Video (for rent)

Elle Woods doesn’t need a man; she has a Harvard education, a gorgeous wardrobe and a cute dog.

“Thelma & Louise” (1991) — Amazon Prime Video

Two best friends take a road trip and end up on the run from the police.

“Do Revenge” (2022) — Netflix

Watch this if you want to live vicariously through two girls seeking revenge on those who have wronged them, or if you enjoy references to classic teen films.

“The Menu” (2022) — HBOMax

The highest-end dinner gone wrong.

A brief HERstory of ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ and its impact on mainstream media

“Emily in Paris” season three helped me waste my last day of winter break

Love, hope, tears and murder: Movies for your Valentine’s Day

CONTINUED FROM FRONT

AMES RADWAN FOOD EDITOR

I have been a vegetarian for twelve years, but I had always sworn up and down I would never go vegan.

The voyage of Veganuary Sweet treats and more: What’s new in campus dining

“I can’t give up cheese and ice cream,” I’d say, or: “I love Pulley omelets way too much.”

But plant-based foods have been steadily on the rise since I first decided to give up meat in 2010. So when a friend of mine first brought up going vegan for January back in the fall exam week, I decided to take the plunge and say yes.

Little did I know that going vegan for the first month of the year is actually a widespread social media challenge and charity based out of the UK, not just an idea from a vegetarian college student.

Veganuary started in 2014 and raises awareness about the environmental impact of animal production; the organization aims to help support a more sustainable manner of food production — a plant-based one. According to its 5-year plan, Veganuary’s impact worldwide has assisted in the immense growth of the plant-based food market in recent years. That’s a 76% increase in global sales of plant-based meat from 2018 to 2021, according to the Global Food Institute’s 2021 Plant-Based State of the Industry report.

It’s true that in recent years, I’ve discovered that my anti-vegan excuse of needing to keep cheese, ice cream and eggs in my diet has become ineffective as more plant-based products hit the market. There are plant-based versions of everything nowadays, from dinosaur nuggets to alfredo sauce.

In going vegan for January, I tried a great many of these products. Here are some of my favorites:

JUST Egg:

When I spent a week at my aunt’s Seattle apartment this J-term, she stocked a bottle of this product in her fridge just for me. This creamy, plant-based liquid cooks to perfect scrambled “eggs” or omelets, and I stretched just one bottle to five portions. As soon as I got back to Oxford, I started keeping a bottle of this in my own fridge — it’s definitely my new go-to product.

Daiya Cheddar Mac & Cheeze: Not only is this deliciously cheesy pasta plant-based, it’s also gluten-free, making it a great option for those with multiple dietary restrictions. It was easy to make, provided three full portions and tasted vaguely like Cheetos — a flavor I miss as a longtime vegetarian. (Spoiler alert: Cheetos aren’t vegetarian. If you didn’t know, now you know.)

Immaculate Flaky Biscuits:

I am a huge fan of biscuits and gravy, which I can usually make with any biscuit recipe and a packet of mushroom gravy. While most biscuits have some form of milk in them, these do not! Their unfortunate downside is that they aren’t stocked at Kroger, so you will have to go to Jungle Jim’s International Market in Greater Cincinnati to find them — but it’s worth the drive.

SO Delicious Dairy-Free

Frozen Dessert: I cheated a little with this one, because I’d tried it before Veganuary. My mom is lactose intolerant and we have spent years trying different brands of plant-based ice creams, and this one (specifically, the Salted Caramel Cluster flavor) is easily the best ice “cream” I have ever tasted. Notice how I didn’t say the best plant-based ice cream. This stuff is fantastic and addicting. I might not be making the journey back to milkbased ice creams ever again.

As for vegan eating outside of my own kitchen, that is where I met most of my struggles with Veganuary.

There are certainly more options for vegans than I thought there would be Uptown. Ramen Hachi’s mini curry (one of my personal favorites) is vegan, and they also stock a mouthwatering plant-based miso ramen bowl. Fridge & Pantry, Moon Co-Op and Krishna all have plenty of vegan options, as does Bagel & Deli. And, of course, many build-yourown chains — like Chipotle, Subway and Rapid Fired Pizza — are easily accessible to plant-based customers. But there are definitely more restaurants here in Oxford that are

not vegan-friendly, and it’s always a struggle to ask a waiter: “Is this vegan?”

Additionally, I can’t speak for the dining halls, as I didn’t visit any during Veganuary, but other on-campus locations did not live up to the vegan hype.

In Armstrong there are only nine main entree options: Red Zone’s pulled oats BBQ sandwich; Pulley Diner’s vegan chicken sandwich, vegan black bean burger and vegan chicken tenders; Kabar’s tofu stirfry bowl and made-to-order sushi; and build-your-own bowls at Field to Fork and Evergrains at Haines (which also has gyros).

That’s nine vegan entrees to exactly 50 non-vegan entrees in Armstrong, and those numbers completely exclude breakfast options, which contain even fewer vegan dishes.

I know that the vegan population on campus is small compared to the non-vegan population, and maybe those numbers are proportional — I have no idea. But whereas non-vegan eaters can (and do) eat vegan food, it doesn’t work the other way around. Even in the past week and a half, I have already seen three different vegan options in Armstrong run out before dinnertime.

But in the end, I enjoyed eating vegan for a month. It was far easier than I thought, and I have decided that my New Year’s resolution (a month late – sue me) will be to eat at least one completely plant-based meal every day for the rest of 2023.

The ingenuity of the plant-based food industry never ceases to amaze me, and I want to keep trying new things. The best part of Veganuary, though, was discovering that foods I already enjoyed were vegan. Next time you eat something without meat in it, take a look at the ingredients — because you may already be on your way to a plant-based lifestyle.

radwanat@miamioh.edu

MEREDITH PERKINS COLUMNIST

As an on-campus student who uses the 16-swipe Diplomat Standard meal plan, just about all of my meals come from Miami’s dining halls, with a good 75% of them being from MapleStreet Dining Commons.

With Miami dining expanding its offerings for the spring 2023 semester, nearly all of the dining halls have added new equipment, stations and offerings.

The most popular option, without a doubt, has been ice cream.

While Western Dining Commons has had a soft-serve station for years, it has been in-and-out of use for years, only temporarily opening operations for short, few-month stints before closing down. Living on Western campus my first year, I waited my entire fall semester hoping the ice cream station would open.

At my bi-annual start of the semester dinner, the first thing I saw when I walked into Maple was a passerby with a bowl of Oreo swirl ice cream. I was immediately intrigued. Where did this come from?

Tucked away in the back corner of MapleStreet (and Garden, too!), a new fan-favorite has emerged: the soft serve machine.

The MapleStreet ice cream station — next to the pasta and pizza stations — is equipped with vanilla, chocolate and swirl self-serve softserve ice cream and a toppings bar featuring Oreos, chocolate chips, fruit, whipped cream and more.

After the first few days of operation, the ice cream station added cones to its toppings bar, allowing students to make their own cones in addition to bowls.

While the ice cream station has been incredibly popular (with the machine even running out of ice cream on some occasions) it replaced the dining hall’s Medi Bar, which offered tzatziki salad, kabobs, steamed

vegetables and other tasty offerings.

As a frequent former user of the Medi Bar, I eagerly await to see if the station will be continued elsewhere, as its elimination means the elimination of fresh vegetables and meat in favor of ice cream.

Maple has another exciting new offering as well: the panini press. At the salad station, students can request sandwiches and paninis freshly-made and receive with them a side of crispy saratoga chips: a combo that has become a quick favorite of mine.

At Garden, additions to breakfast have been center stage, with a new waffle-making station and an array of sauces and syrups at the Miami Grind station. Just this morning, I was able to make a cinnamon sugar waffle with a caramel-drizzled latte — all without having to use my declining dollars at Starbucks. With new options at the dining halls, dining halls have been crowded. Anyone who has tried eating lunch or dinner at Garden in the last few days knows the near-impossibility of finding a free table or, if you’re with friends, a table bigger than four seats that hasn’t already been snagged. While dining options change over the course of the semester, at least for now, there’s never been a better time to get a dessert in the dining halls.

perkin16@miamioh.edu

Opinion: there’s a statue missing at Yager

JACK SCHMELZINGER SPORTS EDITOR

So much of what was relevant in today’s football landscape can be traced back to one former Oxford, Ohio resident: Sid Gillman.

The famous “West Coast” scheme that every offense in the NFL or college today either uses or partly uses?

The guy who invented it idolized Gillman. He built it off of concepts that Gillman came up with. Of the 56 Super Bowls ever played, 28 of them were won by direct coaching descendents of Sid Gillman.

The spread offense? Many say he invented it. He was one of the first to use his tight ends and running backs in the passing game. He was the first coach to watch film. He was the first NFL coach to hire a strength trainer. He is the only coach who has ever been inducted into both the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame, despite the fact that he himself never won a Super Bowl or national championship.

Gillman got his first head coaching job at Miami University. He roamed these streets. He lived at 14 East Spring St. His former abode now bears the moniker “Titos and Tatas.”

But anyway, you know the statues at Yager Stadium? The Cradle of Coaches ones on the south concourse? There are ten of them. The eleventh, Sean McVay’s, is being built soon.

But Sid Gillman, the greatest coach ever to call Miami home, and maybe one of the greatest minds to ever call football a passion, isn’t one of them.

Four of the men honored with statues — John Pont, Bill Arnsparger, Ara Parshegian and Paul Dietzel — were recruited here by Gillman. But still, he isn’t honored. Gillman coached at Miami from 1943 to 1947. He went 31-6-1 during his four seasons here. In his final season, Miami finished 9-0-1 and beat Texas Tech in the Sun Bowl on New Year’s Day in 1948.

Jessie Dai: a hoops journey from China to Oxford

But in 1949, he took the job as Head coach of the hated Cincinnati Bearcats. When he took the University of Cincinnati job, he poached much of Miami’s program to Cincinnati, including Miami’s head coach and star quarterback. For the five years following, Miami had to deal with trying to recruit against Gillman, who had an affinity for breaking rules. This left a sour taste in the mouth of many Miami people.

Despite all of his great accomplishments, Gillman wasn’t inducted into the Miami Athletics Hall of Fame until 1991, over twenty years after many of the men whom he recruited to Oxford were already enshrined. He still doesn’t have a statue.

At the ceremony where those statues south of Yager Stadium were revealed, back in 2010, Lucy Ewbank, the then 104-year-old widow of Miami coaching great Weeb Ewbank said this about Gillman (who died in 2003):

“You can have him. [Gillman] owed everybody in Oxford when he left.”

Some people took their resentment of Gillman to the grave. But in my opinion, it’s time for Miami to forgive the greatest football mind ever to call this place home.

Now granted: every statue currently up there is of a man who graduated from Miami. Gillman did not. He went to Ohio State. The Athletic department says the statues are reserved only for men who graduated from Miami.

But still. Sid Gillman, one of the greatest minds in football history, a man whose influence is felt in every single game, on every single play, today, forty years after his coaching career ended and twenty years after his death, deserves a statue. He’s an alumnus we can be incredibly proud of. He might be the most influential man in football history.

To whomever it may concern: it’s time to honor Sid Gillman with the statue he deserves.

@jackschmelznger schmelj2@miamioh.edu

Hockey swept at home by North Dakota

JACK SCHMELZINGER SPORTS EDITOR

Miami University hockey’s struggles continued this weekend as the team got swept at Steve “Coach” Cady Arena by National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) opponent North Dakota.

North Dakota (12-11-4, 6-8-2 NCHC) beat the RedHawks (7-17-2, 2-13-1 NCHC) 4-1 on Friday and 8-0 on Saturday. The losses extended Miami’s losing streak to seven games. In six games since the new year, Miami has been outscored 32-2.

So far in Head Coach Chris Bergeron’s four seasons at the helm of Miami hockey, the RedHawks haven’t been up to the unenviable task of getting themselves out of the basement of the NCHC, which is colloquially referred to as “Hockey’s SEC.”

Earlier this season, it seemed like this 2022-2023 team might be different, after a road win over No. 16 Massachusetts-Lowell and a resounding road sweep over Canisius College. But once the NCHC schedule started, the RedHawk success stopped.

Miami’s roster is bursting with talent. Bergeron’s most recent recruiting class was his best on paper by far. With more experience, hopefully the team will become more consistent. This is the same team that beat No. 4 St. Cloud 5-0 in early December. They beat North Dakota at the famed Ralph Engelstad Arena earlier this year too. We know they have what it takes to compete, as deep down as it may be.

All eight teams in the NCHC make the postseason tournament, so if these RedHawks figure it out at the right time, there’s no ceiling to where they can go.

They hit the ice again this weekend for a series at St Cloud. Game one is on Friday at 7:05 p.m., and puck drops on game two at 5:05 p.m. on Saturday.

@jackschmelznger schmelj2@miamioh.edu

Similar to her teammates, Jessie Dai laces up her kicks to improve daily. However, when she steps on the court, she faces challenges unfamiliar to her teammates.

“My teammates sometimes [tell] me something, and I [don’t] understand,” Dai said.

Unlike her teammates, Dai’s hoops journey started halfway across the globe.

Dai was born in DaQing, China to two former basketball players. Following in her parents’ footsteps, she picked up the sport at a young age.

As an only child, basketball occupied much of Dai’s free time. After a few years of playing, she noticed that she felt like her best self when on the court.

“When I grew up, I felt that [was] what I wanted[ed],” Dai said.

Women’s basketball is not popular in China. Dai understood that the United States was the place to be if she wanted to become a better hooper. Therefore, she moved to the U.S. during high school to seek greater basketball opportunities.

“I feel [that] American basketball [is] more professional and more competitive,” Dai said. “I would learn academic[s] and basketball both together. [It] would make me more coachable.”

Dai attended Bella Vista College Preparatory School in Scottsdale, Arizona, and as one would expect, adjusting from China to the United States took time. Dai’s little knowledge of English made the initial adjustment difficult.

“The culture, the food, [and] the language, I would say, was hard for

me,” Dai said. The first few practices were especially rough for Dai. Communication is critical on the hardwood, so not understanding your teammates prevents high-level performance.

Fortunately, Dai’s teammates helped overcome the language barrier by embracing her early on.

“They help[ed] me a lot, to be honest, even off the court,” Dai said. “I feel that it [was] helpful for me. I like[d] it so much.”

The difference in the style of play of American and Chinese basketball was noticeable for Dai.

“When I came here, I understood nothing,” Dai said. “I [didn’t] know how they wanted to play. Defense is different even though it’s basketball.”

However, Dai knew basketball in the U.S. was for her after participating in the 2018 Chinese under-17 games. She played well, averaging 12.6 points, 5.0 rebounds, and two steals per contest, but she didn’t like how practices in China would drag on. She learned a lot but felt she wasted much time on the court that could have been used to improve.

“[The] U.S. is more professional. In two hours, they will get everything right,” Dai said.

After high school, Dai took her talents to the next level at Odessa College, a junior college in Odessa, Texas.

Despite being from another country that played a contrasting style of ball, Head Coach Kris Baumann still worked with Dai so she could be the best version of herself on the court.

“I’m international,” Dai explained. “Also, I’m Asian. I have to say that they have discrimination in [the] U.S., but my coach trust[ed] me even though at the beginning I [was] not

adapted to the game. He still said, ‘you can get it.’”

Coach Baumann’s trust paid off as Dai had a successful first year, averaging 11.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, and shooting 34%from behind the arc. Her performances earned her a Western Junior College Athletic Conference Honorable Mention honor.

Dai’s on-the-court potential caught the eyes of Miami University’s coaching staff. She could not see herself playing in anything but a RedHawk jersey after she visited the campus.

“When I just came here,” Dai said. “I saw the school. It’s really beautiful.”

Practices still come with language issues; however, the coaching staff, led by DeUnna Hendrix, are right there to help Dai get to where she needs to be on the court.

“I feel like I’m improving every day,” Dai said. “My teammates and my coaches help me through everything.”

Miami is home to over 1600 international students. The warm welcome from her teammates has her confident that others that struggle finding their way in a new country have the resources to overcome their challenges.

“The professors will help you,” Dai said. “Your friends will help you. That’s how you will improve. You will get there. You will get better everyday.”

You can catch Dai and the RedHawks at home against Western Michigan on Feb. 8 at 7 p.m. @stevenpepper38 pepperse@miamioh.edu

“He always plays as if he’s the best player on the court, which 99% of the time, he is,” Burkhart said. “He never missed a practice, and he never missed a game; he was dependable.”

According to Burkhart, Lairy’s best attribute is his efficiency. He led his team in points, assists and steals. To most, this would be surprising, as there are several players taller than Lairy who struggle to put up the same numbers he does.

“We knew what we had with him, but a lot of people didn’t,” Burkhart said. “A lot of high level conferences claim you have to be 6’4” to be great, and obviously Mekhi didn’t fit the bill. If Mekhi Lairy were 6’3”, he would have been Mr. Basketball in the state of Indiana: he got all the accolades that Romeo Langford had.”

Lairy’s efficiency and dependability were apparent during the 2017 state championships. In the first round, Bosse High faced Brownstone Central, the 2nd ranked team in the state. In that game, Lairy had scored 40 points, leading the team to win in overtime.

In the second game of the day, Lairy had scored 35 points in the first 3 quarters alone, propelling the team to the state semifinals.

“That kid could have easily gotten 40 points again if he was needed at all in the fourth quarter,” Coach Burkhart said. “But you never would have known that he had scored 35 points because he doesn’t talk about it. You kind of have to hype him up as an individual.”

Lairy in red and white

After he graduated high school,

Lairy found himself in Oxford, Ohio, ready to continue his basketball career.

Since 2018, Lairy has made his mark on the Miami RedHawks basketball team. With a total of 1555 career points and counting, Lairy currently sits fifth on Miami’s alltime career scoring leader board, inching up on Miami legends Ron Harper and Wally Szcserbiak. In the 2021-2022 season, Lairy scored 435 points: the most of his career and the second most on the team, behind Dae Dae Grant with 561 points.

Even when facing opponents several inches taller than him, Lairy has thrived on the court. One thing he has done to overcome his height difficulty is increase his speed. “[My height] is something I’ve adjusted to with my speed and quickness.”

When Travis Steele came to coach the RedHawks basketball team in 2022, he understood that Lairy was a tough player.

“He’s a warrior,” Steele said. “I read this quote to the guys the other day: ‘It’s not the size of the man, it’s the size of the heart that matters.’ And I think that really describes Mekhi.”

With the 2022-2023 season underway, Lairy has once again proved that his height is no difficulty for him. In the first 21 games of the season, Lairy led the RedHawks in average points (17.4), assists (4.2) and steals (1.5).

“Last season didn’t pan out as we expected, due to health issues and things like that,” Lairy said.

“We played hard for each other, but unfortunately we didn’t accomplish our main goal, which was the MAC championship.”

So far in the 2022 season, the RedHawks have struggled similar to last season. With a record of 7-15 (1-8 MAC), the RedHawks have unfortunately found themselves in a losing season once again.

As the season begins to wrap up, Lairy is ready for his future after college basketball, with his goal being to play professionally. Steele has high hopes that Lairy will play professionally despite the NBA’s height standards.

“The NBA gets really caught up in size and height,” Steele said. “If you look at the previous five NBA drafts, I would say the guys that have been drafted 6 foot, 2 inches and below are few and far between. You have to be really exceptional in order to play in the NBA. He’s only 5 foot, 8 inches, but he’s athletic. He can still get up there and dunk the ball. How many 5 foot, 8 inch guys can dunk the basketball?”

The RedHawks have left much to be desired so far. Hopefully, the team can pull it together and finish the season strong. Lairy says he’s hoping to end his college basketball career on a high note.

“I’m excited for the opportunity to go win the MAC championship during my last year of college basketball, and make my family proud.”

STEVEN PEPPER STAFF WRITER

Mekhi Lairy: 5 feet, 8 inches, and one of the most prolific scorers in Miami history

Miami basketball has a unicorn on its hands

Mid-American Conference women’s basketball standings (as of 1/31)

JACK SCHMELZINGER SPORTS EDITOR

Most 300-pound athletes don’t end up playing basketball. Most great athletes from the Dominican Republic don’t either.

But still, Anderson Mirambeaux, a 6-foot-8 305 pound forward from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, is here in Oxford, and is a captain for Travis Steele’s Miami University basketball team. The big man is averaging 13.1 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.7 assists for Miami this season. He’s shooting over 50%from the floor, and he hasn’t missed a game all year.

Mirambeaux moves like a bull in ballet shoes when he’s on the floor.

He’s great backing down defenders in the post, and once he gets down low, he’s got a seriously deep bag. He’s a great passer, and he’s even dangerous with his face to the basket.

When he was younger, he applied this incredible athleticism to baseball more than basketball.

“I used to play baseball too,” Mirambeaux said. “You know, Dominicans play baseball.”

But even when baseball was his first sport, it wasn’t his first love.

“I used to go to baseball practice and then come home and go straight to the basketball court,” Mirambeaux said. “It was just more fun for me. I enjoyed it more, playing with my brother and my friends.”

But it wasn’t always in his plans to move to the United States and pursue a career in basketball. When he was playing in the 2015 FIBA Americas U16 Championship, one of the coaches from the United States’ team talked to him and convinced him to come to the U.S.

So he moved to West Virginia, where he enrolled at Teays Valley Christian School. At the time, he

didn’t know any English.

“It was honestly tough in the beginning. Really tough. I couldn’t speak to nobody, so it was hard at the beginning. In class I was sitting there just looking up and not knowing what was going on,” Mirambeaux said.

Thankfully, he felt much more comfortable out on the basketball court.

“On the court, everybody speaks the same language,” Mirambeaux said. “Basketball is basketball everywhere. I just let my game talk for me.”

In Mirambeaux’s senior season, Teays Valley rolled to a 24-5 record. Mirambeaux was named to the AllUSA West Virginia first team. In February of 2019, he even scored 20 points in an upset over renowned powerhouse Oak Hill, a team that contained current NBAers Cole Anthony and Cam Thomas.

Coming out of high school, Mirambeaux got some interest from Division I programs, but no one bit with an offer. So he went to a junior college, Trinity College in Athens, Texas. In two years there, he averaged just over 13 points and eight rebounds before transferring to Cleveland State last year. He only averaged 5.5 minutes per game there though. But Mirambeaux, who described himself as “positive and cool to be around” when asked, still considers it a good experience.

“Everything didn’t go the way I wanted to,” he said. “I didn’t get as much playing time as I wanted to. But it was a really good experience. We were one of the best teams in the Horizon League. It was a really great experience. I learned a lot about college basketball.”

What he learned at Cleveland State was apparently constructive, because a year later — now at Miami — Mirambeaux is having the season of his career.

Mid-American Conference men’s basketball standings (as of 1/31)

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

He arrived on campus in June, and by October, his teammates had voted him captain, along with fifthyear guard Mehki Lairy and redshirt-junior guard Morgan Safford.

“I feel like I’m one of the loudest guys on the team,” Mirambeaux said. “And I always want my teammates to succeed. Plus, I’ve been in college basketball for a minute now, so it just felt right.”

First year Head Coach Travis Steele’s first RedHawk squad hasn’t seen much success this season, at least as far as the standings show. But Mirambeaux loves playing for Steele.

“Oh, he’s a great coach,” Mirambeaux said. “He loves basketball, that’s something I love about him. He’s really into it. You have to play hard for him, but he makes you want to.”

One of Mirambeaux’s most astonishing qualities is his floor IQ and passing ability. Earlier in the season, Steele compared him to Arvydas Sabonis and Vlade Divac, two of the best passing big men in basketball history.

“He’s one of the most unique guys in college basketball,” Steele said. “He weighs 320 pounds, he’s 6-foot-8, he can score with his back to the basket, he’s nimble. But once you really start watching him, the thing that stands out is his IQ. We’re gonna play through him … because he can make decisions.”

Sitting dead last in the Mid-American Conference as of publication, Miami basketball isn’t having a great season by any stretch. But if you like basketball, sports or just unusual things in general: “The Dancing Bull,” Anderson Mirambeaux, is a great reason to take in a game at Millett Hall. You may never see another hooper like him.

@jackschmelznger schmelj2@miamioh.edu

Miami women’s basketball (8-13, 3-5 MAC) stats leaders

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

Miami men’s basketball (7-14, 1-7 MAC) stats leaders

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

National Collegiate Hockey Conference standings

Emoni Bates fails to impress, but RedHawks lose MAC toilet bowl at home

led them to peg Bates as a late first or early second rounder in the upcoming NBA draft, should he decide to declare.

Bates’s Eagles have had an abysmal season in 2022 despite their starpower.

The Game

EMU came into Saturday’s game at Millett Hall with a record of 4-16 and 1-6 in the Mid-American Conference (MAC). The only team keeping pace with them in the basement of the MAC standings: our Miami RedHawks.

take the lead 20-17. The teams went back and forth for the rest of the half, and Miami went into the break trailing 40-38.

Less than a minute into the second half, Miami hit a shot to tie the game. From there, it wouldn’t be tied again. Less than a minute later, EMU pulled back ahead with a three-pointer. The Eagles didn’t look back, and the score finished 74-69.

JACK SCHMELZINGER

SPORTS EDITOR

This is kind of embarrassing to admit, but I showed up to Millett Hall over two hours before tipoff on Saturday. Like a little kid on Christmas, I woke up in a good mood, for I was about to see Emoni Bates in person, the only former five star recruit EVER to play at Millett Hall. I was about to witness history. Emoni Bates: The former prodigy Bates, a 6-foot-10-inch guard,

hasn’t had the most linear career, to put it nicely. In ninth grade, he led Lincoln High School (Ypsilanti, Mich.) to a Michigan State title. The next year, he was on the cover of Sports Illustrated and became the first sophomore to ever win the Gatorade National Player of the Year. For context, some of the recent winners of that award: James Wiseman, Chet Holmgren, R.J. Barrett, Jayson Tatum. Going a little farther back: Kobe won it in 1996, Lebron in 2002 and 2003, and Dwight Howard in ‘04… You get it. Impressive stuff.

Before his junior year in high school, Bates reclassified to become a senior. The next year, he was the youngest player in college hoops, playing for the University of Memphis at 17 years old. Lower back and finger injuries hampered his first year, and before his sophomore year, he decided to transfer back home to Eastern Michigan University (EMU) Eagles, whose campus is in his hometown of Ypsilanti. Bates’s closest advisors have said that they’ve talked to over twenty NBA executives and other people in the know. Those conversations have

In EMU’s most recent game before Miami, Bates scored 42 points in a loss to Toledo, including 29 straight at one point in the first half. It was a vintage performance, one that reminded anyone watching why Bates once graced the cover of Sports Illustrated as a 15 year old.

It was a battle of 1-6 squads at Millett Hall on Saturday. Miami was favored by six points before the game. For Miami, playing one of the worst teams in college basketball at home, this game was basically a must win.

And at first, the RedHawks looked great. Miami jumped out to a 15-4 lead before the under-16-minute timeout. But after the commercial break ended, Head Coach Travis Steele subbed out three of his starters and EMU went on a 16-2 run of its own to

Bates played 39 of 40 minutes, but didn’t follow up his incredible performance at Toledo. He finished with 17 points, six rebounds and four assists on 5-of-18 field goal shooting.

Miami got a good game as usual from fifth year captain guard Mekhi Lairy. Lairy finished with 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting, but also had five turnovers. Senior captain forward Anderson Mirambeaux had four assists, a few of them awe-inspiring, but turned the ball over seven times.

First-year guard Ryan Mabrey started hot from three, but he cooled way off and ended up shooting just four-of-11 from beyond the arc.

With the loss, Miami falls to 1-7 and dead last in the MAC.

The RedHawks host Toledo (156, 6-2 MAC) on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Millett Hall.

ANDERSON MIRAMBEAUX IS MAKING THE MOST OF HIS FIRST REAL SHOT IN DIVISION I COLLEGE BASKETBALL. PHOTO BY JAKE RUFFER

Fairness can prevail with the help of Miami University and Attorney General Yost

SARAH BAUMGARTNER

GUEST COLUMN

Students and graduates of Miami University can be proud that our school is recognized nationally as a “Public Ivy” and a top 50 national public university. The education, resources, campus life and our college town of Oxford are among the best in the nation. It’s because of these factors that I, like so many others, decided to attend Miami.

However, our student experience was deeply diminished in the spring of 2020 when the COVID pandemic caused a hastily-implemented pivot to an exclusively-virtual learning environment. While I, of course, understand the need for our school to take precautions and put safety first, the result simply was not what we bargained for when we decided to attend

— and pay for — college at Miami University.

According to the university’s promotional materials, it has a long-standing commitment to the tradition of a vibrant on-campus, community environment. The main page of their website is unambiguous in its assertion that their value is found in their in-person classes and campus life, stating, “You Will Thrive. A breathtaking campus. An ideal learning environment. Immerse yourself in a community that values community.” To further underscore its value when providing information regarding tuition and fees, they say that “Miami is committed to providing the greatest return on families’ educational investment.”

The university clearly distinguishes between its in-person undergraduate classes and its online classes in

its enrollment documents and agreements. In fact, when I and my fellow classmates paid tuition and fees and registered for Spring 2020, classes were listed as “face-to-face,” as opposed to “online” or “hybrid.”

So, when we paid for that semester, there was the common sense and tacit understanding that we would receive on-campus services and in-person classes, as students have almost every year since Miami University was founded in 1809.

No one should be faulting the school for switching to online classes, but it is fundamentally unfair that we paid for in-person instruction, access to facilities and services that we did not get.

Now, more than two years later, the university has still not provided impacted students any refund whatsoever for tuition. As an in-state

student, I paid more than $9,400 in tuition and fees to attend in-person classes during the 2020 Spring semester. For my classmates from other states, that amount was nearly twice as much.

In response, I am a lead plaintiff in a lawsuit on behalf of my classmates seeking a reasonable refund for the difference in tuition and fees we paid for in-person educational experiences versus less valuable online courses.

Miami University and the Office of Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost have the ability to rectify this injustice, and our hope is that they will take part in a good faith conversation with us about our case.

Many students went into debt to pay for the in-person classes and could have paid less or taken out smaller loans for less valuable online courses. Attorney General Yost has

said he does not support widespread loan forgiveness, but instead favors tailored solutions that make sense for those in need. Not only does our case fit that bill for those who relied on loans, but it is a matter of fairness for all affected students.

The foundations for Miami University were first laid by an Act of Congress signed by President George Washington. It is appropriate then to recall his sage words: “Truth will ultimately prevail where there are pains to bring it to light.”

We hope that bringing attention to this matter will encourage Attorney General Yost and the university to act in the interest of fairness for Ohio students.

Sarah Baumgartner is a lead plaintiff in a lawsuit vs. Miami University.

Why you keep seeing $40 water bottles everywhere

influencers professing the bottle is the only way they can enjoy water, social media marketing has made the brand’s popularity explode.

Google searches for the Stanley water bottle have quadrupled since November 2022, with hundreds of millions of TikToks posted with Stanley-related hashtags. The $40 water bottle is very popular with mom influencers, lifestyle bloggers, nurses and college students, but it is far from the first “it” water bottle to capture social media by storm.

From Yetis to S’wells to Nalgene, millennial and Gen Z consumers have embraced the expensive water bottles as a status symbol; using stickers to showcase personality and sleek packaging to signal personal aesthetic often creates an appearance of “having it all together.”

In 2019, Hydroflasks went viral as a must-have water bottle for “VSCO girls” and spread as a staple “emotional support water bottle” for college students.

can have the appearance of being a healthy, productive “it” girl who’s always on top of trends. It’s no secret why hundreds came back to campus with a new Stanley Tumbler: a Stanley at your study station shows you’re stylish, sleek, hydrated and productive — the kind of person who’s doing it all, and doing it flawlessly.

The fact of the matter is, when you buy a Stanley Tumbler, you’re not paying $40 to hold water — there are dozens of 40 ounce insulated water bottles that cost less than half of Stanley’s price tags. You are paying $40 to join the hype. To carry the cool container. To be a part of the in-group. To join the conversation.

the best time of day to show women beauty-related content so content reaches them when their self-esteem is lowest.

In the case of the water bottle industry, Big Water Bottle attempts to convince women that expensive water bottles will fix their lives and make them magically healthier, skinnier or prettier — targeting the core of what women are constantly told they need to aspire to be.

Expensive water bottle companies market the narrative that upping water intake will give you the glowing, clear skin of your dreams, despite the fact that there is no known scientific link between oral water consumption and skin hydration.

MEREDITH PERKINS COLUMNIST

If you’ve been seeing the Stanley Tumbler water bottle everywhere, you’re not alone, and you’re not seeing it by accident.

The 40-ounce water bottle, complete with a handle and cup holder-friendly fit, boasts a hefty price tag — over $40 after shipping — and has amassed a cult following, fueled

by social media marketing on TikTok and other platforms.

The cup, created in 2017, reached viral popularity after Stanley’s leadership team met with a team of female social media bloggers, who promised the influence of “women selling to women” via popular female bloggers creating content with the bottle and using affiliate links to receive commission.

From Stanley unboxing videos to

By decking Hydroflasks out in carefully-curated sticker combinations, many Hydroflask drinkers use their water bottle as a way to signal to the world the way they want to be perceived: a nature lover, an activist, a Christian or a fraternity member, for instance.

To this day, Hydroflasks remain one of the most popular water bottles at Miami — I seldom go a day without hearing the heart-stopping thud of a metal Hydroflask dropping in a lecture hall.

The Stanley Tumbler is the latest fad in conspicuous consumption: by carrying a 40-ounce water bottle, you, like your favorite influencers,

The feeling of being in the ingroup encourages consumers to amass collections of the latest trendy water bottle to be a part of the current obsession. TikTokers in the Stanley community boast collections of 12, 25 or even 40 Stanley cups in their viral videos — thousands of dollars for a collection that will inevitably be replaced by the next-cooler-thing in six months.

While there’s nothing wrong with wanting a trendy water bottle — I myself admit I enjoy the Owala I bought to replace my lost water bottle — there is something wrong with the overconsumption these trend cycles inspire.

This leads to the big question: why are water bottles a source of status-signaling in the first place? Why is it suddenly so popular to care about your water bottle brand, and why is this trend affecting so many women, specifically?

It is no secret that marketers intentionally prey on women’s insecurities, even funding studies to find

Fitness models holding Stanley Tumblers may really use the water bottle as part of their daily hydration, but water isn’t how they got six-pack abs.

While drinking enough water each day is important, buying an “it” girl water bottle isn’t going to fix everything in your life, and it surely isn’t superior to drinking from a $5 water bottle.

The takeaway: no product is going to “fix your life.” The assumption that consumption will fix everything you dislike about your life never truly fixes anything. Instead, buy what you need, sustainably use what you buy and, if you need something new, it’s okay to participate in trends — as long as you remember that a trendy water bottle isn’t going to magically change your size.

perkin16@miamioh.edu

Uncovering our killers What it means to witness

ELIANA RILEY THE MIAMI STUDENT

In light of the recent gruesome and heartbreaking University of Idaho murders, I’ve thought a lot about our generation’s obsession with true crime.

Following the deaths of four University of Idaho students, several content creators took full advantage of the story. Numerous TikTok accounts proposed their timeline of events and their conjectures about who was responsible for the suffering of the four students.

Many conversations arose in my circle of friends over what had happened. Each one of us proposed a different storyline. Each one of us drew our own conclusions. The obsession that the internet, my friends and I had with this horrifying murder was obvious and chilling.

After the suspect was brought into police custody, the chaos and conjecture over the story died down. We gained closure, as if we had been a part of the story ourselves.

Why are we so passionate about true crime? Why are we so obsessed with the killer narrative?

In 2021, “Criminal Minds” was the most streamed show in the U.S. “Last Podcast on the Left,” a comedy podcast that focuses on true crime, averaged 2.5 million downloads per week in 2019. Finally, Netflix’s docuseries “Dahmer” garnered 701.37 million hours viewed less than a month after its release.

We consume entertainment that tells the story of a killer on a massive scale. The reason for our obsession?

We like to fear what we know we will never have to fear.

We watch these grotesque

crimes and brutal murders from the comfort of our living rooms, underneath a pile of blankets that somehow safeguard us from the horror. We can sit there in terror but simultaneously be grateful that we will never be victims; we will never encounter our killers.

The problem with this mentality is that we are much closer to our killers than we might realize. Our true crime obsession is as real as the killers themselves. We devour every detail of a murder, thirsty for blood and in-depth description. We know the murderer’s names, but we cannot name their victims. We know the killers’ motives, their methods and their mentalities.

Of course we would never commit these crimes, but there’s something voyeuristic about the way we consume a killer’s story. We can only engage from a distance, watching and waiting to see what unfolds.

In a way, it appears as though our lust for stories filled with blood and sadism is almost as passionate as the murderer’s own yearning to kill. We see serial killers and murderers on the fringes of society. We gawk at their horrific crimes. We say we could never do such a thing.

Yet we want to know what it’s like with every minute detail included in the tragedy.

Last month, I began reading a true crime novel by Peter Vronsky called “Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters.” In the preface, Vronsky describes his reason for writing the novel. He tells the story of his two distinct interactions with two of the most infamous serial killers of all time: Andrei Chikatilo and Richard Cottingham, who murdered at least 52 and 17 people, respectively.

Vronsky ran into both killers by accident and didn’t know who they were at the time. While he eventually discovered who the two killers were following his interactions with them, he mentions how insignificant the two men had appeared to him.

The truth is that most killers are not geniuses, nor are they influential.

Most appear as normal people, ones we might brush past on the street without a second thought. They move like apparitions, there one moment and gone the next. Many have families and jobs. Others are people we might describe as odd or anti-social. But almost none of them are obviously killers from the first glance, even from the first conversation.

So we act like we’re untouchable. We consume every detail of a true crime narrative and still maintain an attitude of invincibility. Meanwhile, our killers commit their crimes invisibly in our own cities and communities. It seems we are much closer to them than we think. We engage in their sadistic and morbid crimes without committing them. We pass them on the street, and we do not know who they are.

As Vronsky explains it, “What makes me different from you [is] that I have uncovered the transparent monsters who had tramped across my path– my serial killers–while you perhaps have not uncovered yours.”

rileyej4@miamioh.edu

ROSEMARY PENNINGTON GUEST COLUMN

By now, many of us have seen part or all of the video of the killing of Tyre Nichols by five Memphis police officers. Many of us mourn with his family and with Black Americans across this country who experience state violence.

For some of us, this digital witnessing may not have been by choice — we may have seen the video in a news story or in Twitter or on TikTok. We did not seek out the video but were still captured by it. This type of digital witnessing has become unavoidable given that we live with our phones ever by our sides.

To witness something is to become bound to it and to the community of individuals who witnessed the event with you. John Durham Peters has gone so far as to suggest that “To witness an event is to be responsible in some way to it.”

To be responsible to it.

What does it mean to become responsible for the witnessing of an act of state sponsored violence? How are we, who are removed physically from the event, to act upon this responsibility?

Here’s one way: Do not continue to circulate the video of Tyre Nichols’s death. Do not turn this tragedy into a digital spectacle. Others may do that (and likely have already begun doing that), but you do not have to participate in this spectacle. You do not have to re-share an image or a snippet or the video in its entirety. You do not have to participate in the turning of a murder into a meme.

What you could share are the videos and images and stories already being shared about who Tyre Nichols was as a man. Share the video show-

ing him flying on his skateboard. Share the photos of the loving father. Witness the man, not just his death. You could also share the work of activists and scholars who are working on the issue of police violence. Elevate expert voices who can provide context and perspective. Seek ways to learn and avoid adding fuel to an already raging fire.

And check in on your friends. We have lived through so much trauma over the last several years. Between COVID, political violence and the violence experienced by marginalized communities, there’s a lot of hurt and a lot of sorrow. We get through the trauma by caring for one another. We must care, too, how we can for the victims.

Tamar Ashuri and Amit Pinchevski have pointed out that witnessing is an inherently political act. However, they note that “on the field of media witnessing the victim is the one who gives the most powerful account.” Though the always-on media environment in which we live means we sometimes witness things we’d like to avoid, it also means that victims who are so often missing in news stories of violence are not forgotten.

Tyre Nichols. Breonna Taylor. Elijah McClain. Ahmaud Arbery. George Floyd. Tamir Rice.

We witnessed their deaths and by continuing to tell their stories we serve as witnesses to their lives.

What it means to be responsible beyond that, I don’t know.

What I do know is the realization of a better world cannot happen if we ignore this responsibility — a responsibility that binds us all together and serves as a reminder that the work of creating a better world cannot be done alone.

Valentine’s Day isn’t just for lovers: A guide to the best Valentine’s Day spots in Oxford

CATHERINE HERCULES THE MIAMI STUDENT

I have experienced 20 Valentine’s Days in my lifetime. Of those 20 lovedrenched days, I have only been in a romantic relationship for two of them. My earliest memories of this beloved holiday are mornings waking up to cards, chocolates and the occasional Webkinz from my parents.

When I think of Valentine’s Day, I think of decorating my valentine box and picking out the best tiny cards with precious trinkets to hand out

to my class. I picture the sickeningly sweet and powdery cookies at the class party and the Pinterest-inspired games hosted by glowing parents full of love.

Although this day gets backlash for being for “couples only,” Valentine’s Day can be the perfect opportunity to spend a day speckled with red and pink hearts around anyone you enjoy. It is the best holiday for all, regardless of relationship status.

It can be a stressful day to plan for anyone wanting to have a fun time with friends, impress a loved one or treat a potential future partner. It can

be even harder on a student budget in a small town like Oxford.

When I was a freshman, I started dating my boyfriend in January. Our first holiday together was Valentine’s Day here in Oxford. I was nervous about what we were going to do, since neither of us had a car and we had less than $100 in our bank accounts. But we figured it out.

This year will be our third Valentine’s Day on campus, so as a self-identified expert in date nights, I believe that there is so much more to do in Oxford for a lower price than one might expect. Valentine’s Day does not need to be elaborate or expensive and can be done successfully within a walking distance of any dorm or off-campus residence. Whether you have been together for years or just started getting to know each other, I will walk you through the best places in our little college oasis to take your Valentine or Valentines and that will spark those warm and fuzzy feelings.

Rock climbing at the Rec

For the more adventurous type, the best Valentine’s option on campus is the bouldering wall at the Rec Center. This portion of the rock climbing wall requires no equipment (besides closed-toe shoes), is available for use

any time the Rec is open and is completely free. This is a great option for getting to know someone or a group of people. Bouldering gives you the opportunity to freely talk to each other and engage in conversation while doing a fun activity.

Ice Skating at Goggin

Another on-campus option that I highly recommend for a group of friends or a new couple is the Moonlight Skate on Saturday, Feb. 11th at Goggin Ice Center from 9:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. This late-night event is date night-themed for the upcoming holiday, so you can expect some romantic tunes as you gracefully skate the ice with your loved ones. Moonlight Skate admission is free with a student ID and skate rentals are $3.50.

You’re Fired (Uptown)

If your friend group or partner is more on the artistic side, You’re Fired is the place to be on Valentine’s Day. This paint-your-own pottery studio Uptown is a creative way to be yourself and get to know another person. On Feb. 14, You’re Fired will be having a “Date to Paint” night where the studio fee is 2-for-1, so two people can paint for only $8 plus the cost of the pottery. This is perfect for a small group of friends to pair up and con-

nect on a deeper level.

A food tour

The ultimate Valentine’s Day activity for foodies is to do a food tour. This can be done at restaurants Uptown or in a dining hall. If you’re going Uptown, I recommend visiting different places for each course to enjoy a variety of cuisines. This can be easily done at the dining hall as well and could be fun to do a makeshift three-course meal. Each person can take turns picking out what the pair or group will have for an appetizer, entree and dessert, which is perfect for large groups with meal plans. While Valentine’s Day has been historically disliked by non-couples, I believe it is the best holiday for everyone no matter if they are in a relationship. It gives you a time and a place to remind those around you that you love them and appreciate the role they play in your life.

This upcoming Valentine’s Day, remember that anyone can enjoy the red and pink hearts and the special date night events, because there is always someone in our life that we can shower with love.

herculcc@miamioh.edu

J-Term freedom: a blessing, but also a curse

HALLE GRANT THE MIAMI STUDENT

During finals week this past December, I kept trying to motivate myself to study by remembering that I got to go back home after all of my exams to spend time with my family and hometown friends. This grew old fast, as I was reminded that being home would last for six weeks — not three, like the rest of my friends from home returning from college.

Miami having such a long winter break is both a blessing and a curse. For me, I found it to be more of a curse, as I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do to keep myself busy for that amount of time. With my parents and siblings being out of the house for half of each day, I went from being with people 24/7 in the residence halls to being by myself the majority of the time.

Not only was I sad to leave my friends behind for so long, but I was

sad to leave my almost “perfected” daily routine behind.

It felt like the semester had just begun, and I had just fallen in love with my class schedule and daily routine, down to the minute. I had specific times to go to the gym, dining hall or to hang out with friends depending on the day of the week.

Though the thought of leaving this “perfect” daily and weekly routine was unsettling, I tried to get myself excited to create a new routine for when I returned home. One thing I did in order to really have this set in stone was to sketch out what I wanted to accomplish over break with all of the daunting free time.

Once I returned home the Friday of finals week, I gave myself Saturday and Sunday to lay in bed all day and just go with the flow, then started my “new routine” the following Monday.

Instead of just waking up every morning whenever I wanted and then not knowing what to do once I was

up, I set alarms and goals for what I wanted to do most mornings. This mostly consisted of cooking myself a delicious breakfast and making my way over to the gym to move my body. Once I got a good sweat in and made my way back home, the rest of the day was up in the air. Though it was such a small part of my day that was a set routine for the six weeks of J-term, it made me feel like I actually accomplished something and didn’t just sit around all day. The same went for the rest of the day. Even if I only went to the gym or grabbed lunch with a friend, it made me feel so much better about sitting on TikTok or watching Law and Order for the rest of each day.

My “home routine” only consisted of going to the gym, reading for pleasure, babysitting occasionally and seeing my friends, but it made me feel like there was at least some structure to my break. These small goals that I

had set for myself made me feel like I was making good use of my time while being home with pretty much nothing to do.

Additionally, one of my biggest life-savers, aside from having a solid morning routine, was taking a J-term class that I was going to take during the spring semester anyway.

Even though it’s a lot of work during the 3-week period, it was so worth it to knock out a 3-credit course with all of my free time. So not only did I feel ten times more accomplished every day that I completed work for my class, but I also made room for another course that I wanted to take this semester.

Winter break is called a “break” for a reason, so even if you didn’t feel like your break was particularly productive, it didn’t have to be if you didn’t want it to. If you wanted to accomplish more and didn’t quite get there, use that as motivation to be productive this spring semester.

For me, these small goals and additions to my day made me feel like I actually did something with the month and a half for which we were home. Don’t get me wrong, binge-watching Law and Order is definitely an accomplishment, but not one that I am especially proud of — so knowing that I did more than that gives me peace of mind that the break was used adequately.

granthn@miamioh.edu

RILEY CRABTREE THE MIAMI STUDENT

So you’re single on Valentine’s Day? It’s that time of year where all your favorite couples give each other extravagant gifts, flowers and chocolates. But what about people that aren’t in relationships? All of us single folks with nobody? Do we just get nothing this Valentine’s Day?

Now, I am an absolute expert in all things single. I mean, I’ve lived the single life for 18 entire years. I’ve never gotten fancy chocolates, a nice dinner or even a card.

I used to think I was probably one of the loneliest people out there when Valentine’s Day rolled around. The operative words here being “used to” and “was.”

Now, I’m as happy as can be every time the holiday rolls around — and you can be, too. We don’t have to scowl and curse our relationship status every Feb. 14. Being single and independent is actually an amazing thing any time of the year. I would much rather be in no relationship than a relationship with the wrong person. I’ve learned a lot about loving myself in the past few years. You have time to reflect and make the positive changes you want to see in yourself.

Have you always wanted to learn how to crochet or play the piano? Spend time learning the basics and take advantage of not having plans this Feb.

14.

Self-love has helped me to learn who I am. I’ve found strength and

comfort in exploring my passions and interests. I’ve found that we’re all our own person, even when we’re in a relationship, and we don’t need someone else to validate that for us. Being in a relationship shouldn’t be the be-all and end-all to our lives. We have other goals, whether it be specific, like climbing Mt. Everest, or a broader one — and we need to remember that these goals are a part of us and they matter just the same as any potential partner. They have the same level of importance as any partner that we may have, and we deserve time to ourselves to figure out our goals and make sure they’re accomplished. Our lives are so much more than a relationship. Most importantly, we have to re-

member that we should always value our health and happiness in whatever we do or whoever we may be with. Being with someone just so we can say we have a boyfriend or girlfriend, even if they make us unhappy, isn’t healthy.

Some people aren’t always in a relationship, and that’s okay, because we can find happiness on our own. This much I can attest to.

There are absolutely no expectations for Valentine’s Day when you’re single. There’s no chance of missing dinner or getting the wrong flowers. You don’t have to worry about making any reservations or a date going wrong. There’s no expensive steaks, chocolates or other gifts.

You just have to worry about yourself and your own happiness. Take

the day to focus on you. So go out and buy yourself some half-off chocolates, flowers or other presents the next day. At least you’ll know they’ll be what you like.

This is a great time to just enjoy a night in. Watch a new movie marathon or that TV series you’ve put off for months. It’s time to do things you want to do.

Enjoy being single while you still can. Just enjoy yourself. It really is the best gift.

crabtrr@miamioh.edu

Being single on Valentine’s Day is actually the best gift

ROCK CLIMBING AT THE REC CENTER IS A FUN, INEXPENSIVE, AND UNIQUE DATE IDEA.

PHOTO BY JESSICA MONAHAN.

THE MOONLIGHT SKATE ON SATURDAY, FEB. 11 WILL BE DATE-THEMED SPECIFICALLY FOR VALENTINE’S DAY. PHOTO BY JESSICA MONAHAN.

How to cope with being single on February 14th

PATRICK SULLIVAN HUMOR CO-EDITOR

So, you are expecting to be alone and miserable for another Valentine’s Day?

In order to help all the sad, pathetic students who will be single this year, I dusted off an old alter ego of mine: The Luv Doctor. You’re welcome.

As a man who has never been in a relationship (except of course a week long fling in sixth grade. I still love you, Kaitlyn.), The Luv

Doctor is an expert on burying the pain of being alone. It would be rude of me to assume anyone’s situation and what they are going through during this cold, wet season. So, I will simply tell you what The Luv Doctor will be doing, and encourage anyone to join me on this path because misery loves company.

The first thing The Luv Doctor will be doing is calling every restaurant in Oxford and, under fake names, will be asking for reservations in order to book every table. He could use your

help. The first targets must be Paesano’s, Sorriso and Gaslight.

But don’t stop there.

If everyone joins forces, we can even fill the Hamilton Restaurants. If all these restaurants are filled with fake reservations they will be forced to turn away all of these sickening, happy couples. You must act fast because surely they are filling up already. Not on our watch.

For the next step, The Luv Doctor recommends deleting all social media now. This is more for you than for disrupting happy

couples. Once all those posts come flying in about all of your friends being “in love,” you are going to want to jump off the top of the Bell Tower. What’s even worse are the Instagram ads for Valentine’s Day cards and candy because they assume that not even you would be so lame as to spend Valentine’s Day without a Valentine. They are wrong.

After you delete your social media apps, The Luv Doctor plans on going directly to his sports betting apps and putting his semester’s tuition on a nine-leg parlay that is definitely going to hit. If you do not have any sports betting apps, get them. You will definitely make money. If you aren’t making money, don’t worry. Almost every person that stops gambling quits right before they make a big hit and win their money back. The pain of losing money and the rush of dopamine after winning a third of that money back is just enough to dull the pain of being alone on Valentine’s Day.

Okay, now you have made it to the evening of Valentine’s Day; the pinnacle of loneliness. Go hit up Brick Street. You will spot the Luv Doctor at the bar taking a shot for every couple he sees making out on the dance floor.

After downing two T-Cans, you should call your ex. If they don’t pick up, just call six more times. If they still don’t pick up, then leave a voicemail about how you still love them. And really lay it on thick. Let it out. Finally, finish the night with another T-Can, and peacefully go to bed.

Get a good night of rest because you only have 364 days to find someone to make sure you are not alone for yet another Valentine’s Day night.

Luv Doctor out.

sulli293@miamioh.edu

BY MACEY CHAMBERLIN

Student Testimonials from J-Term

TEDDY JOHNSON HUMOR CO-EDITOR

Have you ever thought about studying abroad during J-Term? You probably have because everyone who ever studies abroad in J-term posts multiple pictures of whatever European country they are visiting and they are incredibly keen on telling you about it. If you haven’t thought about it, read some of these testimonials and you’ll be abroad next January too.

Waltun Martin, Art major, studied in Florence, Italy

“I signed up for this study abroad experience purely out of a desire to see the many sculptures and art museums scattered throughout Florence. Prior to my trip, I had never seen what a naked human looked like. But thanks to the countless nude sculptures in every art

museum, I have an entire collection of polaroids I can show Mom and Dad when I get home. I can’t wait to show Mom and Dad how big the sculptures were. My biggest takeaway from this trip is that size doesn’t matter! Art is beautiful regardless of size!”

Jadarrison Quamar, Linguistics major, studied in the Land Down Under “G’Day mates! Let’s get anotha shrimp on the barbie! Believe it or not, Australia is just like you would imagine. Kangaroos everywhere and Outback Steakhouses on every corner. The more inland you get the more friendly the Kangaroos are. I had a nice conversation with a Kangaroo at an Outback Steakhouse before we were interrupted by a stingray that claimed to have killed Steve Irwin. Some of the coastal Kangaroos were taking tourists hostage, so we spent most of our time studying the Australian dialect inland. Best trip ever!”

Lizzariz Golderspin, Economics major, studied in Luxembourg

“I loved the proximity Luxembourg had to all the other countries. One day I could be running from soldiers at Buckingham palace and the next I could be in Switzerland trying to trade pictures from my OnlyFans in exchange for chocolate. The best part of the trip was easily smuggling my LuxemBORG, to every country we went too. I only encountered one issue, remembering the trip. I made it through half of most days before passing out drunk in whatever castle I visited. Oh well, I had fun!”

Vincent VanBlip, Mechanical Engineering major, studied in Germany, forgot English

“Die besten Autos kommen aus Deutschland! Früher dachte ich, dass die Amerikaner die besten Autos bauen. Aber das Studium bei einem deutschen Automechaniker

hat mich vom Gegenteil überzeugt. Jetzt kenne ich die Überlegenheit von Volkswagen und die deutsche Sprache. Ich habe vergessen, wie man Englisch spricht.”

Ginga Brud, Zoology major, studied in Kenya

“I never imagined how close I would get to all kinds of wild animals this trip. I went on a few safari trips but my teacher and I spent most of the time following and acclimating to living life with Aardvarks! It is truly unbelievable how I can receive academic credit for such a cool trip. I only wish my teacher would not have been mauled by the Aardvarks on the last day, otherwise the trip would have been a 114 out of 12 not a 110 out of 354. I encourage anyone interested to study abroad during J-Term.”

john1595@miamioh.edu

Back to School Dump

TEDDY JOHNSON & PATRICK SULLIVAN HUMOR CO-EDITORS AMES RADWAN OPINION AND FOOD EDITOR

Man earns nickname “The Rizzler” after getting 37 women to buy him drinks this weekend

“Bed Bug” found in King Library turns out to be a student who was studying in the library for the entirety of J-Term

First-year girl goes deaf after listening to too many sorority chants during rush week

Opinion: Greek life orgs are cults in disguise

Sheer number of fire alarms going off in residence halls leads to student boycott of mac and cheese cups

Stanley Cups double as weapons to throw at that idiot kid in your FYIC group

Social Commentary: AI drawings freak me out

Miami dining halls think adding ice cream machines will distract from the poor quality food options

Record number of breakups in weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day

Opinion: People who studied over J-Term won’t shut up about it

Rumors are circulating that the Crawfords will be spending Valentine’s Day at Brick

Scientists are working on new AI created girlfriends; single men everywhere rejoice

Miami hockey team now forcing first-years to enter a draft after losing 0-8 to North Dakota

Brick Street’s under 21 cover now rivaling that of Miami’s in-state tuition

Brick is now denying the underage hockey players after going 2-18-2 in the early season

Studies show women value humor in men less; maybe that’s why both humor editors are single

Opinion: your class crush isn’t cute, you’re just lonely

ASG creates initiative to match future Miami mergers; approval rating rises to 100%

Breaking News! Clueless classmate finally admits they have “no idea what’s going on”

First-year student discovers that you can’t actually leave if your professor is 15 minutes late

Fraternity pledge describes himself as “sexy,” wonders why he got 30 bids

Fresh new TikTok trend involves actually showing up to your classes for once

Nobody cares why the chicken crossed the road

GRAPHIC

Eye on Miami- Cathy Wagner

EVAN STEFANIK STYLE EDITOR

Eye on Miami is a new series profiling Miami’s stylish professors!

Style is a language – and Miami University English professor Cathy Wagner is fluent in it.

As a traveling poet, she used to give readings of her own writing to crowds of fellow artists across the country. It exposed her to various new fashions, inspired by arguably the most hip people around.

She experimented with everything, from rips head-to-toe to her favorite antique leather weightlifting belt. Eventually, she learned to express herself and curate her aesthetic.

It involved plenty of thrifting.

“I don’t really have as much time to thrift anymore, but I used to love it,” Wagner said. “I still love getting used clothes though because you can put unique things together in a new way.”

Before starting as a professor, she lacked the money to spend in most

other places. Now, she empathizes with those who struggle to afford.

“There’s so many things that intersect in the decisions you make, like how much money you have and issues of class,” Wagner said. “It takes a certain amount of privilege to really be eccentric on purpose and be welcomed and celebrated.”

She also understands the feeling of pressure to assimilate to costly trends, so she limits herself to more professional creative choices during her service in the union effort and

Tiktok Trends Are Taking Over Oxford – Again.

on Associated Student Government’s (ASG) Senate.

“When I was just a poet in the English department, I could be a little wack,” Wagner said. “Now I try to make folks at large feel comfortable with what I look like and not alienate them with my fashion. You need to think about audience and purpose.”

But even long before her time at Miami, Wagner had already started to aspire to the world of fashion by observing a personal icon of hers who walked the hallways of her high school, Millie Bently.

Bently, a year older, astonished Wagner with her flash-dancey apparel, flowered long-johns and a wrist full of bangles back in 1985. One time while visiting Bently’s house, Wagner practically waded through clothes on the floor and heard about her new favorite spot to shop.

“I asked her how she had so many clothes and she told me she went to the veteran’s store, so at that point my younger sister and I started going and got really interested,” Wagner said. “In those days, thrifting was so much better. The clothes were high quality.”

Since settling into her adult life at Miami, she often notices students succumbing to the common ‘college’ look, sporting only campus merch. Early in her career, one even admitted to her that ‘it’s one of the only things allowed.’

In true English professor fashion, Wagner encourages students and everyone else to portray themselves in their best image first.

“Wear what makes you feel most authentic,” Wagner said. “That’s the bottom line.”

stefanec@miamioh.edu

GIVING CIRCLE GRANTS

Have a project or an idea that needs funded? MIAMI Women wants to invest!

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

• Applicants are invited whether solo or in groups, teams or organizations.

ALLISON LEE STAFF WRITER

While the start of the new semester is coming to a close, the Miami RedHawks are showing off their holiday gifts and winter purchases all around campus.

Mini Uggs, liquid makeup and Lululemon Define jackets are taking this college town by storm, and to no surprise, TikTok influencers can be attributed to the latest crazes.

Dubbed ‘basic’ in 2014, Uggs fell out of style for a majority of the late 2010s. Even though I grew out of my baby pink Bailey Bow Uggs by the time I hit 11 years old, I still wish I would’ve kept them for nostalgia purposes.

But the cutesy, frilly boots aren’t the ones back in style — the house slippers are.

Now, I’d like to make a clarification: I’m not talking about the Ugg Disquette slippers. I’m talking about the Ugg Tasman slippers.

Typically, I’m not one to hop onto trends that are sure to change come next month. That’s why I’m still wearing my beat up old reliable Disquettes. That and the fact that there were no Tasmans to be found in my size anywhere for a reasonable price.

I mean, seriously, people. I’m feeling a little left out looking at all my classmates in their Tasman minis while I’m stuck with my backless slippers, leaving my heels vulnerable to slipping out on my trek to Irvin Hall every day.

My parents love to ask why I’m wearing slippers out and about, especially when there’s snow on the ground.

But, that’s the appeal. They’re cute and they’re comfortable; they really seal the deal on the ‘putting effort into my effortlessly comfortable just-woke-up’ look.

While I struck out on buying new Uggs over winter break, I was influenced to follow the crowd in buying the Lululemon Define jacket.

My mom has several of these from her marathon era, and is probably pondering why I have one, since I don’t have a single athletic bone in my body.

The only way I can explain this trend is like this: it gives the appearance of a snatched waist. Lululemon took the word ‘define’ very serious-

ly when designing and producing this jacket.

As most Lululemon products are, this jacket was made with exercise in mind. It’s comfortable to wear, easy to move around in and provides warmth on a brisk day.

Even in this harsh winter weather, I see students subtly flexing their jackets below their open winter coats — other students opt for no layering of a winter jacket, which makes me cold just looking at them.

The one trend that takes the cake, however, is the liquid makeup phenomenon.

Popularized by Glossier’s Cloud Paint in 2017, liquid blush has been stealing hearts all over TikTok.

But it isn’t just liquid blush that has a chokehold on people — it’s liquid everything.

Selena Gomez’s brand Rare Beauty has not only a blush, but a liquid highlighter (which, I can confirm, lives up to the hype.)

Skincare brand Drunk Elephant has liquid bronzing drops, made impossible to find in stores after TikTok influencer Alix Earle posted her makeup routine.

After matte-style makeup was all the rage in 2016, it makes sense that makeup influencers are doing a total 180 on what they think is in.

Going hand-in-hand with the ‘clean girl’ aesthetic, liquid makeup gives the appearance of a ‘second skin,’ making the user’s skin look supple and glowy.

I used to be extremely anti-makeup, since all I had ever known was the cakey powders clogging my pores. It’s refreshing to see makeup companies rebranding themselves with skincare in mind as well, as many of these products practically melt right onto the skin and moisturize as well – perfect for the skin-destroying winter.

With second semester finally rolling in, I find myself scanning the crowd of students in Armstrong, carefully inspecting lecture halls and scoping out the party scene Uptown to see if what I see on TikTok will transfer over to Oxford – and, once again, I’m not surprised to see that it has.

And I’m loving it.

• Grants awarded for programs, projects, initiatives, and research that are not profit-making endeavors.

Think big! $100,000 awarded in grants last year.

Finalists will be part of Hawk Tank, a live, fastpitch event on April 27, 2023, where our Giving Circle members will vote for their favorite projects to receive funding.

Past winners include: Miami Women’s Hockey, Miami Inclusivity Program, Girls Who Code, and many others. For more on past recipients, visit GivetoMiamiOH.org/HawkTankUpdates.

APPLY BY FEB. 10, 2023. GIVETOMIAMIOH.ORG/WGCGRANTS

A Student Journalist Takes On LA: Season One

means, I am not exactly sure. But I do know that as an Ohio native of 22 years, I probably possess some of those skills.

MAGGIE PEÑA ENTERTAINMENT CO-EDITOR

What did I do over J-Term?

Oh, I just met Conan O’Brien and Eric Lange (Sikowitz from “Victorious”) and was in the audience at “The Late Late Show With James Corden” and was on “NFL Total Access” and got a private tour of the FOX Studios lot. No big deal.

Just kidding. It is a huge deal, and I will be talking about it for the rest of my life.

Last semester, I got accepted to Inside Hollywood, a study away program through Miami University’s Media, Journalism, and Film Department. The program has been around since 2013 and has been giving students an inside look at the entertainment industry ever since.

Because of COVID-19, everyone going on the trip knew our visits around Los Angeles would be limited. We knew we wouldn’t be able to see any filming sets, and we knew we wouldn’t be able to shadow any professionals.

But I don’t think any of us knew how life-changing the trip would be. And the famous people I met and the shows attended weren’t even the best parts.

Before the trip, I had a panic attack — I wanted so badly to not get on my cross-country flight that I said to myself I would just stay in Ohio, forfeit the trip entirely.

I hate planes, OK? How does a hunk of metal stay suspended in the air??

Luckily, someone I love convinced me (by showing me an explanatory video of airplane science) that it would be incredibly stupid to miss out on the trip because of my fear of flying, so off I went. I took Spirit Airlines and luckily made it in one piece.

I got there late on Dec. 30, so my first real day in LA was New Year’s Eve — quite a fun day to be in the big city. But because it was the first time I was spending New Year’s Eve outside of Ohio and away from my family, I began to worry about the relationships of the trip: What if I didn’t make any friends? What if I was so painfully awkward nobody wanted to be around me?

It’s true what everyone told me before I left: those 15 people became my family in California.

We had two weeks in the big city and a packed itinerary. The first week we mostly met with industry professionals in our apartment clubhouse. We met with a variety of alumni (and other talented, non-alumni) from music, film, TV, post-production — you name it, we learned about it. We met with recent graduates and veterans of the industry.

Every single person had incredible insights for us, not just about their work, but about how to make it in a new, big, scary city. And I will forever be grateful for the time they gave us and the relationships I made with them.

One thing kept coming up in our sessions, something I had never thought of as an advantage: the “midwestern work ethic.” What that

The Saturday of the first week, we met with three individuals who work on sets as production assistants and assistant directors. What was supposed to just be a session about troubleshooting and problem-solving on set turned out to be one of the most impactful conversations I have ever had in my life.

I knew, after that short session, what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I knew, after that short session, that I wanted to be an assistant director. I knew, after that short session, that I wanted to move to LA, at least for a little bit.

That talk set me on the path to becoming an assistant director. Before that session, I knew I wanted to be involved in “production,” but what does that mean? That encompasses so many jobs; the talk introduced me to a position I didn’t know existed, and it’s a position perfect for me and my skill set. The weight of the unknown lifted off my shoulders.

I hope those three individuals know how much they changed my life.

I also went to my first mixer, with a bunch of alumni, which was a great way to learn networking (ew) and meet new, cool people (not ew, actually very fun).

The rest of the trip flew by, but everything in the second week was still exciting and insightful. We went on tours to Paramount and Warner Brothers Studios (where I got to sit on the “Friends” couch, which I will talk

about every single change I get — yes, I love “Friends”). We went to Netflix Feature Animation and Netflix Productions. We got to watch the taping of “The Late Late Show With James Corden.” We got to go to an LA Kings game and sit in a private, fancy VIP box. We got to meet Conan O’Brien. We got to tour the NFL Network and be on actual TV. A packed final week. And a bittersweet end. Well, “end.”

As my Instagram post said, that was only season one.

penaml@miamioh.edu

Christmas In The Big Apple

Christmas present I was excited to say the least. I had wanted to see more of New York City since I first visited it back in 2019. The city has an endless amount of shops, monuments, and places to visit and I wanted to see it all.

My sister further surprised me with tickets to the Rockettes’ Christmas Spectacular and so we began our ten-hour journey from my hometown to New York City on a charter bus rented out by a local travel agent.

The trip there was almost as fun as being in the city itself. My mom is skeptical of flying and would never trust either of us driving, so the tickets my mom purchased were for a bus tour, meaning they would drive us to New York and back. We had around fifteen hours to explore, and then they’d pick us up to head back home.

The bus was booked through a local travel agent in my town, so most people on my bus were people I knew from my town. I even found out some of my old high school friends booked tickets as well and it was nice to catch up.

My favorite part of the bus ride was how it felt different from other road trips. The organizers planned lots of activities to occupy us like watching Elf and Hallmark movies. They even passed out hot cocoa and fresh cookies. When they hosted a raffle I surprisingly won a four-day trip to anywhere in the U.S. There wasn’t a dull moment 0n the bus and it was by far the most fun I had on a long-haul drive.

When we reached the city, my sister and I had a clear itinerary for the next 12 hours. We first stopped at the Bryant Park Holiday Market and looked at all the vendors, crafts and lights displayed. Rows upon rows of homemade crafts and presents surrounded an ice rink flanked by garland and lights. It was an amazing ex-

perience to see the Christmas spirit of the market. I had never experienced anything like it in my small town.

Our next stop took us to the Christmas Spectacular. The historic Radio City Music Hall was far more beautiful than I anticipated with glistening chandeliers and the hall’s art-deco style. What was even better, though, was the show that followed.

Watching the Rockettes perform is something I recommend everyone has on their bucket list. While they still performed some of their more well-known numbers and moves like the kickline, there were new elements and something for everyone to enjoy in the show. I watched people young to old walk out of the performance with a large smile on their face.

By this point, I was craving the essential New York slice of pizza. My sister and I managed to find Little Italy Pizza on 45th St. It had plenty of options: pastas, calzones, Sicilian and Chicago-style pizza, and more. I decided to try the margherita pizza and it happened to be the best decision I’ve ever made.

Now, I’ve never had New York pizza, but I have had quite my fair share of pizza and when I say this was the best pizza I had in my life, I’m not exaggerating. The sauce, the cheese, the crust — there was something in every bite to love.

After eating I wanted to check out the hub of all things Christmas in New York City: Rockefeller Plaza.

Sadly, actually seeing the iconic tree there was extremely difficult. Imagine you and every other like-minded tourist all congregating in the same place at one time. It was difficult to fight our way through the crowd to see the tree, which was lackluster in comparison to how television and movies portray it. It was definitely not worth the crowd and most certainly not worth my time.

I decided I needed to do something I would enjoy. One goal of mine while in “The Big Apple” was to visit The Strand Book Store after seeing it featured on the Netflix series Lily and Dash.

I was not disappointed by the almost overwhelming amount of books. On three floors, aisles of books stretched upwards of fifteen feet and a whole rainbow array of books lined the walls. Even more notable is the low prices and wide mix between new and used books. I was in a book lover’s dream and picked up the rest of the Bridgerton series for less than twenty dollars!

My sister’s main goal in New York City was to get cheesecake, and get cheesecake we did. Our next stop took us to Veniero’s Pasticceria & Caffe in East Village. Desserts could be taken to go or eaten in the shop. Due to the bitter weather outside, my sister and I settled into the warm, vintage style cafe.

Veniero’s offered an entire menu of desserts and coffee, most of them based around its Italian roots. I chose the classic New York style cheesecake and my mother’s homemade version soon paled in comparison. It was the exact taste of New York I was hoping for on my trip.

Compared to my trip back in 2019, my latest venture to New York City was the trip of a lifetime. Between the magic of the Christmas holiday and the charm of New York’s local offerings the city offered one of the most memorable experiences of my life, one that I got to share right alongside my sister and will now treasure for years to come.

crabtrr@miamioh.edu

PENA ALMOST CRIED FROM JOY SITTING ON THE COUCH FROM HER FAVORITE SHOW,

Storms, Sea Monsters, and Sustenance: Sensational Seattle

There’s something about Seattle that just always calls to me.

Maybe it’s the constantly gray, cloudy sky with a near-permanent haze of rain — my favorite kind of weather. Maybe it’s the industrial city style or the progressive, modern vibe. Maybe it’s just the perfect humidity level in the air that ensures that my curls can never have a bad hair day there.

Maybe it’s all of that combined and more, I’ll never quite know, but I know this: when I am invited to spend some time in Seattle, I am not going to say no.

My aunt lives out there and has for about a decade; the last time I went to visit her was 2016, and Seattle has changed a lot since I was last there. Still, it felt the same from the moment I stepped off the plane at SEA. When I saw six different people wearing paisley bandannas, rainbow tie-dye or hiking gear within the five-minute walk from my gate to the baggage claim, I knew I was in the right place.

The main reason I went to Seattle was not particularly my aunt – sorry, Aunt Jaime – but, rather, my love for hockey. My home team, the Tampa Bay Lightning, had an away game against the Seattle Kraken on Jan. 16, and seeing as how I had never been to an away game in all my years of being a loyal Bolts fan, I was absolutely pumped to go.

It was just a quick walk from my aunt’s apartment, and Climate Pledge Arena is beautiful, with greenery covering its walls, an immense amount of plant-based foods and fantastic views of the game no matter where you may be sitting. From the Kraken’s pirate mapthemed intro to their sea shanty third-period hype song, the arena’s theming was constantly on point.

Plus, the Lightning won — 4-1, although two of those goals were empty-netters — so that was the cherry on top of an awesome first away game experience.

I also watched plenty of hockey on TV. My dad was there for the first few days, and he, my aunt and I went to a bar a few hours before his flight out. There, we watched the Kraken take on the Edmonton Oilers in a more local scene than Canada.

Later on the trip, my aunt and I had a night in to watch the Lightning vs. the Vancouver Canucks, and I got to watch Steven Stamkos score his 500th goal — live from the PNW, on my aunt’s couch. Now that is something I will never forget!

I also got a bit of a taste of my aunt’s life in Seattle. For instance, I got to visit her workplace, a high-tech office full of neat toys and beautiful views.

She also has a few close friends that I’d heard of for years — her grad school roommate, Helen, and Helen’s husband and kids — and I finally got to meet them. Doing Harry Potter puzzles on their dining table and laughing over ice cream might not have been touristy, but it was still ridiculously fun.

Speaking of tourism, I did do plenty of that, from trying (and failing) to geocache at the famed gum wall to shopping the entirety of Pike Place Market. I wandered the ten-floor Seattle Public Library, which is a marvel of modern architecture in which floors six through ten are one big spiraling ramp so you can just keep going down, down, down. I walked the coastal trail and my dad got a coffee from the first ever Starbucks.

It was all amazing — all of it — so much so that I started looking at grad schools in Seattle during the trip.

But what really sold the Emerald City for me was the food.

Food pretty much rules every facet of my life in one way or another, so that shouldn’t come as a surprise. I had exactly sixteen meals’ worth of time in Seattle, and I made every single one of them count.

I tried three restaurants and some bar food while I was there. Whether it was a pita sandwich filled with falafel and fried cucumber from The Golden Olive, Korean soft tofu and mushroom soup from Cho Dang Tofu, Impossible tacos and “smokey” corn bisque from Veggie Grill or a black bean burger with mushrooms and sweet potato tots from Buckley’s Pubs, I couldn’t get enough of the Seattle restaurant scene.

At Pike Place Market, too, I had some of the best food of my life. I have never tasted samosas like those that I bought from the Pike Place booth version of Washington restaurant Saffron Spice. A friend of my aunt’s also recommended Maíz, an authentic tortilleria right next to the first Starbucks, for their handmade tortillas and champurrado (a warm drink sort of like a thick, spicy hot cocoa). They gave me one tortilla for free — I went outside to eat it thinking I was off on my merry way, but as soon as that warm corn flavor hit my tongue, I turned around and walked right back inside to buy a dozen more.

I only wish I lived closer so that I could eat food like that all the time.

But it’s okay — I know I’ll be going back to Seattle someday. After all, they couldn’t keep me away if they tried after this winter break!

radwanat@miamioh.edu

AMES RADWAN OPINION & FOOD EDITOR

Pole, pole you live: summiting Kilimanjaro

most made the squishing in my toes seem normal.

We were all still singing when the trail opened up to a sea of tents.

“Wait, that’s it?” one of my group members said.

“Well if it’s like this the whole way, I can totally manage that,” another called.

Ah, what innocence.

But we found our tents and began changing clothes. We had a few hours before dinner so there was plenty of time to relax and rest up for our next day of hiking. After I peeled off my socks and replaced them with fresh, dry ones, I cleaned out my bag and reorganized it. My hands wrapped around my phone and I pulled it out. I sighed.

Maybe it’s cliche, but after not having a signal for so long, the thing felt almost toxic in my hand. Toxic because I knew that it had the power to ruin this experience or make it less authentic. Toxic because I kind of wanted to open it anyway.

ABBY BAMMERLIN

MANAGING EDITOR

“Pole, pole,” John said softly.

All I could do was nod in response. I was beginning to black out, stumbling over every step. My head felt like someone took a bat to it. I could barely walk in a straight line, but my feet kept moving one after the other.

The top of the mountain was within sight, but I kept my eyes down.

The sun was starting to rise. We’d been walking for over seven hours non-stop at around a 30% incline. I knew we had to be close, but I didn’t look up.

“Pole, pole,” John said again as I tripped over a large step.

So there I was 19,000 feet up, 8,000 miles from home, and just one minute from the summit of the tallest freestanding mountain in the world: Kilimanjaro.

But with every step, I realized how much my body was faltering without the normal oxygen levels. Every thought I had related to breathing, to walking, to moving. And in the moments I couldn’t think of anything else, my brain just repeated the same Swahili words over and over.

Pole, pole. Pole, pole. Pole, pole…

Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro was not a lifelong dream for me. But it was definitely something I’ve had on my mind. I’ve been a rock climber for over 13 years, but mountaineering is something completely different. The technical skill and physique it requires is different, but mostly it takes a different mindset.

And I’ve never been one to say no to a challenge.

Kilimanjaro is 19,341 feet tall. At the top, there was only 47% oxygen. The route we chose, Machame, is the second hardest of all the routes on the mountain and would require us to hike over 35 miles across six days. All uphill.

Kilimanjaro was definitely not short of challenges.

I trained for about four weeks. Most would recommend four months. I would probably recommend four months. But unfortunately, I didn’t realize I’d be going on the trip until four weeks out. So for those four weeks I worked out twice a day, everyday. It absolutely destroyed my body, but I knew because of the nature of the trip, I would have two weeks of not being

able to train because I’d be volunteering at a local village.

The first day of the climb was an easy 5 km hike through Kilimanjaro’s tropical rainforest. It was absolutely beautiful. The forest was full of vivid green, ginormous plants with a subtle ambiance of the sound of birds calling for one another.

Over the first couple hours, our group settled into the pace. We chatted back and forth or just walked wide-eyed taking in the scenery.

“Pole, pole,” our guide, Calvin, called.

Pole, pole means “slowly, slowly” in Swahili.

“Pole, pole.”

Another group had arrived and a familiar warning was given out to some unknown clumsy climber.

This trip was meant to be transformative, at least that’s what I wanted it to be. It was meant to challenge my mind just as much as my body and that wouldn’t be possible with this toxic piece of metal and plastic constantly pulling my mind and body towards it.

The mountain gave such pure energy. Something untouched and everlasting. The mountain had so much in store for me, it was only fair I gave it my undivided attention, which meant feeling every moment a little slower.

I pushed my phone in the deepest part of my bag. And it was gone. Out of my mind and away from idle hands.

The next few days we continued hiking between six and nine miles everyday. We passed through its many biomes including the Cultivation Zone, Forest Zone, Heather-Moorland Zone and Alpine Desert Zone. What makes Kili so unique is every day you wake up in a new biome, with each one looking more alien than the last.

As we exited the forest zones on the third day, the scenery turned more two-dimensional. There were a few bushes here and there, but it was mostly made up of mossy rock. When you looked left and right you could see clear across the side of the mountain, even catching glimpses of other climbers on other trails.

We stopped once for a water break.

“Guys shhh,” I said, shushing the rest of my group. They looked at me like I was crazy, but quieted down. Suddenly the silence I was catching between conversations hit everyone like a brick. It seemed to flood our ears as smiles inched up everyone’s faces.

“Wow,” one of my fellow climbers whispered.

I had never heard that type of silence in such a large, unconfined space. A gift from the mountain.

We packed up quietly and continued on.

Unfortunately, by day three we were starting to get used to the constant threat of rain. It had rained off and on the day before and the clouds were beginning to gather in the distance. We were still two hours from our next camp when the sky opened up and released a waterfall of rain on top of us.

To make it worse, I was beginning to feel a headache coming on. The altitude sickness was starting to set in. I stopped talking as it only made the pounding in my head more intense.

I did say I wanted a challenge, right?

I tried to sleep, but the headache was starting to move to the top of my skull. My tentmate that night spent most of the night vomiting. Another had skipped the last four meals.

But no one was willing to throw in the towel.

We started the trek at 11:30 p.m. in complete darkness. The temperature was something under 0 degrees Fahrenheit. The wind cut into our faces and seemed to scoff at my four layers under my coat. It wasn’t long before I lost feeling in my toes and my water bottle froze.

One of our guides, John, kept a watchful eye on me as I sat down for a break. Everytime I sat, I would black out. It felt like I was falling into a deep sleep until I was jerked awake and met with John’s “pole, pole” as he stood me up. I lost my sitting privileges soon after.

It was seven hours of grueling hiking. Every part of my body ached to stop except my feet. They kept pushing forward even as my own mind told me this was a bad idea.

“Pole, pole,” John said.

I glanced up and realized you could see the entire galaxy in the sky. I have only experienced that one other time in my life. The Milky Way felt so close you could reach up and grab it.

I was blacking out while walking now, but the top was so close. I didn’t look up. I wanted to remember every step and moment that led me to the top. I wanted to feel every bit of the pain and cold pass through my body. I wanted to remember exactly what I went through to fully appreciate the end.

Once I stepped onto the peak, I threw my head up and took a deep breath. I let myself cry for a moment before being pushed into a photo.

The irony is every single photo I have of myself at the top has a big fat thumb in it. Not very aesthetic for Instagram. When my friends saw it they were so apologetic and felt bad. But it honestly didn’t matter to me.

“Pole, pole,” John said to me as I started to descend.

My heart was full. People say the photos don’t matter, memories do. And I’ve never felt something to be truer in my life.

I came home terrified. Eventually, I had to unpack my backpack. Eventually, I had to look at that metal and plastic thing that I had buried deep away. And eventually, I knew I’d become addicted again. It’s almost impossible not to when my work, my friends, my education and everything else is neatly packed into that device.

I was terrified of the magic of the mountain wearing off. Would it become just something I’ve done on a list of things I’ve done in my life? Would I feel the same “living in the moment” feeling that I did then? Would I enjoy singing in the rain again? Would I ignore silences or shy away from necessary pain?

I grab my phone now and open it to whatever social media app my brain is craving.

“Pole, pole,” my brain recites.

I set my phone down.

Guides can often be heard calling their most enthusiastic clients back with a quick “pole pole.” And with good reason. Ascending a climb like Kilimanjaro too quickly can make climbers incredibly sick. The higher climbers ascend, the less oxygen becomes available and the more likely it is that climbers develop altitude sickness.

Altitude sickness is very common once you reach a height over 8,000 feet. If you end up developing altitude sickness, it can cause a headache, nausea, dizziness, and problems breathing. If left untreated, it can result in even more serious health implications or even death.

But based on our route, we wouldn’t start to feel altitude sickness until our third day, if we felt it at all. So for now, we were just getting used to slowing down and appreciating the place we found ourselves in.

But it wasn’t long before the rainforest lived up to its name. The rain came quickly and without any warning. We rushed to cover backpacks, our clothes and cell phones. I paused as I got out my cell phone to see if anyone had messaged me. Obviously, I didn’t have a signal even if they had. A feeling of disgust creeped up on me.

Why did I even bring this? I had an actual camera and, in airplane mode, a phone is really just extra weight. But when I packed my bag, it wasn’t even a thought in my mind.

“Pole, pole,” Calvin warned my group as they braved a muddy hill just ahead of me. I stuffed my phone into the bottom of my bag and I turned to continue with my group.

The rain continued for hours, soaking into our socks and boots. We laughed as Calvin rapped every Kendrick Lamar song we could think of. And when we couldn’t think of anymore, Calvin gave us some of his originals. It al-

One of the girls in our group started complaining about having to walk. She asked how much further. She asked when it would stop raining. She whined about her feet. She complained about being wet. And with every word I felt a knife going into the base of my skull.

“I hopped off the plane at LAX,” a member of my group began to sing.

I looked up for the first time since the rain began.

“With a dream and my cardigan” he continued.

I smiled as this kid belted “Party in the USA” by Miley Cyrus at the top of his lungs and couldn’t help but jump in. We sang every song we knew, even if it was just a handful of lines. We were out of breath and laughing by the time we reached our next camp.

I’m sure he started singing to stop the girl from complaining anymore, but in the end, his small way of passing the time changed my whole outlook on the day. We were literally singing in the rain on Mount Kilimanjaro. Another gift from the mountain. My groupmate said it best.

“I’d rather have a wet day on Kilimanjaro than a dry day anywhere else,” he said between Imagine Dragons songs.

The night of the fourth day we finally made it to our last camp before the summit. We were exhausted. The hike that day had started at 6 a.m. and was just over 9 miles. Now we had just three hours to get some sleep before the guides would wake us up to begin our long trek to the summit.

That night, we had our med checks. The entire trip I had consistently had a 98% blood oxygen level with a pulse around 65. But not that night. That night, I had a 57% blood oxygen level with a heartbeat of 116 beats per minute. Most people would have hospitalized me, but my guides chalked it up to a faulty machine and sent us to bed.

I imagine myself one more time drenched and singing. Or the silence seeping into my ears. Or being on the side of a mountain gasping for air. Or at the top of that mountain, crying because every moment was worth it.

A final gift from the mountain.

@abby_bammerlin

DURING OUR TRIP, OUR GROUP WAS ACCOMPANIED BY A MAN KNOWN SIMPLY AS MR. ROCKSTAR. HE WOULD PLAY HIS GUITAR AND SING BOTH AMERICAN AND SWAHILI SONGS. BUT BY FAR MY FAVORITE WAS HIS RENDITION OF “CAN’T HELP FALLING IN LOVE.” PHOTO BY ABBY BAMMERLIN.