Independent Northeastern Illinois University
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
A&L
www.neiuindependent.org
Vol. 36 Issue 6
Sports
Review: Freaky Deaky Show and the experience
pg. 14
NEWS
NEIU Police reported incidents at student housing pg. 4
Take us to the polls:
Worth the Wait
Elena Molloy
Inside: Candidate guides for US Presidential and US Senators races pg. 9
Cubs end 108-year championship drought
pg. 16
2
www.neiuindependent.org
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
NEWS
Police Blotter The following offenses occurred at NEIU’s main campus between Oct. 25 and Nov. 4:
Nov. 3 – P.E. Building: A student reported being concerned about a stalker on campus.
Oct. 25 – The Nest: A victim was verbally threatened over moved furniture. The student who made the threats was referred to student-due-process.
Nov. 4 – Parking Facility: A male was observed smoking marijuana in his car. A citation was issued.
Oct. 26 – The Nest: A Ventra card and television were stolen by an unknown male that the victim met through Tinder. The offense is currently under investigation. Nov. 3 – FA Building: Chicago Fire Department responded to a fire alarm. The alarm was reset.
The following offenses occurred at NEIU’s Carruther’s Center for Inner City Studies: Oct. 28 – Criminal damage to state supported property: An unknown offender shot through the fourth floor window from outside. A wall was also damaged. The offense is currently under investigation.
35
Four lines for $160 No more worrying about running out of data or surprise overage charges. Keep saving even more because of where you work.
4 $35 lines for
/
$
25
up to 10
/ line
Unlimited
line
25/mo for additional lines 5 to 10
$100/mo for 2 lines. $30/mo/line for lines 3-10. Plus $5/mo/line discount applied w/i 3 invoices. Req. eBill. Discounted phone additional $25/mo/line. Other monthly charges apply.** All rates per month.
Get unlimited data, talk and text all while on the Sprint Network. Enjoy mobile optimized streaming videos, gaming and music. And, unlimited 4G LTE data for most everything else. Streaming is optimized with video streams at up to 480p+ resolution and music streams at extreme quality at up to 500kbps. Gaming limited at up to 2mbps. Data deprioritization applies during times of congestion.
Offer for employees of
Higher Education
Be sure to mention this code. Corporate ID: GVVRT_ZZZ
$
Call Sprint Sales: 866-639-8354 Visit a local Sprint Store: sprint.com/storelocator
sprint.com/save **Monthly charges exclude taxes and Sprint Surcharges [incl. USF charge of up to 17.9% (varies quarterly), up to $2.50 Admin. and 40¢ Reg. /line/mo. and fees by area (approx. 5–20%)]. Surcharges are not taxes. See sprint.com/taxesandfees. Activ. Fee: Up to $30/line. Credit approval req. Sprint Unlimited Freedom Plan: Includes unlimited domestic Long Distance calling, texting and data with video and music streaming that may be optimized and 5GB of high-speed Mobile Hotspot, VPN and P2P data. After the 5GB, MHS, VPN and P2P usage limited to 2G speeds. Third-party content/downloads are add’l charge. Int’l svcs are not included. All while on the Sprint Network. Quality of Service (QoS): Customers who use more than 23GB of data during a billing cycle will be de-prioritized during times and places where the Sprint network is constrained. See sprint.com/networkmanagement for details. Usage Limitations: To improve data experience for the majority of users, throughput may be limited, varied or reduced on the network. Sprint may terminate service if off-network roaming usage in a month exceeds: (1) 800 min. or a majority of min.; or (2) 100MB or a majority of KB. Prohibited network use rules apply—see sprint.com/termsandconditions. $5 Discount: Select SDP and CL only. Receive a $5/mo/line discount for lines 1–10 on Unlimited Freedom Plan. Avail. for select company/ org. liable business lines, eligible company/agency employees or org. members (ongoing verification). Tax ID req. to establish business acct. Discount subject to change, avail. upon request and applies to monthly service for Unlimited Freedom Plan. No additional discounts apply. Account must remain in good standing to receive svc credits. Other Terms: Offers and coverage not available everywhere or for all phones/networks. No discounts apply to plan. May not be combined with other offers. Restrictions apply. See store or sprint.com for details. © 2016 Sprint. All rights reserved. Sprint and the logo are trademarks of Sprint. Other marks are the property of their respective owners. N165614
Rut Ortiz
An executive meeting of the Board of Trustees gathered to discuss the pros and cons of executing a doctoral program at NEIU on Oct. 31.
The pursuit of a doctorate Rut Ortiz A proposed doctoral program in Linguistics may be making its way to NEIU. The Board of Trustees convened with Dr. Shahrzad Mahootian and Dr. Judith Kaplan-Weinger of the NEIU Linguistics department on Oct. 31 to discuss the approval and implementation of NEIU’s newest academic program. This would be the first program of its kind for the university. “There will be a few bumps in the road,” said Interim President Richard Helldobler. “But I think four to five months on the fast track, we could get it to the Board.” The program would require approval from the Illinois Board of Education and accreditation from the Higher Learning Commission after it is funneled through the Linguistics department, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Board of Trustees. Helldobler said that if the IBHE and HLC approved the program by May 2017, recruitment materials could be developed in summer of 2017 and the inaugural class would begin in the fall of 2018. Currently out of the nine Illinois
public universities, NEIU is one of two not to offer doctoral programs. The other institution that does not offer a doctorate program is Eastern Illinois University. When compared against private universities who offer the same degree for higher tuition, NEIU would be the competitive choice for students in terms of affordability. The budget for the program would be a definitive factor. “The first year we really have to invest $79,250. Where do you come up with that money?” Helldobler asked. “The way Northeastern budgets their new programs is they take in their commitments, which is the money off of the top.” NEIU would figure out commitments such as salaries and utilities that would be paid out. These figures, in addition to tuition, would fund and supplement the program after its launch. The program is projected to turn around a profit of less than $20,000 in its third year. Students from other institutions would be able to transfer into the program. “The M.A. by itself is 36 hours,” Kaplan-Weinger said. “For students
coming in with M.A.’s, we can take in up to 18 hours of transfer credit.” Mahootian gave examples of marketable careers for Linguistic majors such as teaching, data mining, and language documentation and preservation. She also described employers such as Accent Language Services, Microsoft and Rosetta Stone, “these are the companies that are now hiring linguists. It’s really all over the map in a good way.” NEIU would enable students to teach as graduate assistants at the undergraduate minor level. The doctorate would take a total of 58 credit hours to complete for students who do not possess a master’s degree including a dissertation. “I think it does bring a lot of cachet to the university just to be mentioned in the same breath with the U of C or Northwestern,” said Trustee Jonathan Stein. “I would certainly like to see this go forward as quickly as possible.” The Board will move the topic for approval from all of the members at the next Board of Trustees meeting on Nov. 17. “Let’s do it,” said Chair Carlos Azcoitia. “I support it.”
www.neiuindependent.org
Rut Ortiz
A’viands corrected four violations cited by the Chicago Department of Public Health in a span of seven days.
A’viands cleans up their act Rut Ortiz The Chicago Department of Public Health gave NEIU food service provider A’viands one week to fall into compliance after four violations were found in its health inspection on Oct. 27. The health department cited A’viands for being out of compliance in four areas: the pizza station, a sink in the kitchen, the dumpster outside on the loading dock and a remote corner in the storage room. “We didn’t fail it, there had to be a follow up,” said Mark Weiner, A’viands food service director. “You’re in limbo for a week, we were not on a pass or fail. We had four violations that we had to correct. “If the violations weren’t corrected to the inspector’s satisfaction, we would’ve failed.” The inspector cited A’viands’ pizza station for not having a sneeze guard at the open work table in between the pizza station and the grill. “It needs a sneeze guard because the front of it opens to the public,” Weiner said. “So while he was here, I went ahead and I ordered a sneeze guard.” Weiner explained that out of five or six sinks that his team uses on a day-to-day basis, the CDPH said one was out of compliance. “It’s huge, it’s a monstrosity. What he did was, he filled up the middle section of the sink, and he let the water out,” Weiner said. “And water and some debris from the pipe started coming up from the third compartment.”
He said that a backed up pipe needed to be replaced and NEIU’s Facilities Management responded immediately. The two other citations were a common dumpster out on the loading dock that various departments utilize and old mouse droppings found in a corner of the storage room. “When (the inspector) went to check it, there were some white garbage bags that were hanging over, they were like kind of protruding out and you can’t have that,” Weiner said. “That’s got to be secure, that’s got be closed.” He said that A’viands uses black garbage bags and does not know which department left the bags protruding out of the communal dumpster. An email was sent out to all university departments informing them that if a department was taking trash to the dumpster, the trash bags had to be fully in the dumpster with the the lid firmly closed. As to the fourth violation, Weiner said the mouse droppings are gone. “I bought a shop vac and we pulled everything out,” he said. “We scrubbed it and bleached it.” According to Weiner, NEIU contracts its pest control to an outside company, which comes to campus weekly. “We have our Chicago business license updated every year,” he said. “We’re in substantial compliance.” A’viands passed its second inspection as of Nov. 3.
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
3
4
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
NEWS
www.neiuindependent.org
Duckworth announces support Safety incidents for educational reform provide insight for changing campus Terrie Albano
Education is vital to the nation’s security, and we need to invest in it like we do with military equipment said U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth, a veteran of the Iraq war, to a group of students and faculty from NEIU and other state universities on Oct. 18. University Professionals of Illinois, a faculty union affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, hosted a roundtable discussion on higher education at its downtown offices. “We are right now building a fighter jet called F-55 Fighter Jet. It is 10 years over schedule, and over 100 percent over budget. It was supposed to cost $200 billion. It’s now at $400 billion and counting,” she said. “And that’s just one weapon system that we are spending money on as taxpayers. If we spent a smidgen of that, just a portion of that, if we just had $50 billion dollars and gave each state $1 billion, that’s what we could do for education, for MAP Grants, for all of these things. And yet we don’t.” Duckworth, a Democrat from Hoffman Estates, served in the U.S. military and lost both legs when her helicopter was shot down in Iraq. She is running for the U.S. Senate against Republican incumbent Sen. Mark Kirk. “I served in the military and we have to invest in our Defense Department because we have to lead the free world. But in that discussion of national strength and our role as a global leader, our role as a global democracy, nobody ever talks about education as part of that foundation,” she said. AFT President Randi Weingarten facilitated the roundtable with university faculty and students from
NEIU, Western Illinois University and University of Illinois. Duckworth spoke about her vision for education, the legislation she has sponsored and her opponent’s voting record and controversial statements. She also took questions from students and local media. Duckworth grew up in the Chicago suburbs and when her father lost his job, her family became “destitute.” During her senior year in high school she said she was “the only one in my family with a job.” She said if it weren’t for the social safety net, like Food Stamps, and especially for the public high school she attended, she wouldn’t be where she is today. “Thank God it was there. Thank God it was free. And thank God I didn’t have to win a lottery ticket to get into it.” Duckworth said. Even during that tough year, Duckworth said, “I had hope. I knew if I finished high school, I could go to college.” Duckworth, along with the other Tammy — Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin — is a sponsor of In the Red Act, which would allow students to refinance their debt at a lower rate, increases Pell Grants and community college funding. Unfortunately not only has Kirk refused to support the proposed act, Duckworth said, he derogatorily said it was an “entitlement.” She said her plan for free community college would be paid for by closing corporate tax loopholes, where CEOs get millions of dollars in bonuses but the businesses skirt paying taxes on it. “It doesn’t cost taxpayers a dime.” Duckworth said. The astronomical $1.3 trillion in student debt, which tops credit card
debt, drags down the economy and something has to be done about it, she said, adding that Illinois is no. 8 in the nation with most student debt held. Patricia Burchfield of NEIU said she is looking at about $40,000 in loans by the time she graduates. But in a sense, she said, it is a privilege because some students are locked out of borrowing. “I go to a college where a lot of student can’t apply for loans,” she said. According to Burchfield, students can’t apply for loans because either they don’t meet the financial criteria or they are undocumented. “Will the funding include undocumented students?” she asked. Duckworth said, “Some of it will and some of it won’t.” The congresswoman did point to a program at Harper College that includes undocumented students. Harper College is in the district she represents in Congress and other education and immigration bills that she supports. Duckworth has been at the receiving end of racist and xenophobic comments. At the Oct. 30 debate between Duckworth and Kirk, she said that her family has “served this nation in uniform going back to the Revolution.” Kirk responded that he’d forgotten the congresswoman’s “parents came all the way from Thailand to serve George Washington.” Duckworth’s mother is an immigrant from Thailand, and her father was born in the United States. Kirk was forced to apologize for the comment and two groups, Human Rights Campaign, a gay-rights group, and Americans for Responsible Solutions, a gun-control group, pulled their endorsements of Kirk,
Laura Rojas NEIU police are working closely with the Nest regarding safety incidents that occured on Oct. 12 and Oct. 15. “We’re working closely with The Nest. This is a new building here on campus—everybody is kind of getting a feel for the NEIU campus and living there,” NEIU Police Lt. John Schulz said. “Every university has a different student body, a different student makeup, (there are) new RA’s, resident assistants that are being trained to deal with the problems and it’s kind of a learning experience for everybody.” The first incident involved an intoxicated 17-year-old, non-NEIU student who had to be escorted off campus. The second incident, unrelated to the first, involved inappropriate touching. Lt. Schultz said the intoxicated minor was visiting a relative who lives at The Nest. Schulz said there was no alcohol present at the scene and no citations were issued to either party involved. The relative called campus police because the intoxicated minor had overstayed his welcome and did not want to go home, according to Schulz. He added the minor was also violating curfew at the time of the incident. Regarding NEIU’s no-alcohol-on-campus policy Schulz said, “It’s a dry campus but if you’re in The Nest, it’s a private residence, and if you’re over 21 and a resident, you are allowed to have alcohol in your room or suite.” Whether having a dorm-like environment and The Nest’s alcohol
policy will mean more incidents are inevitable, Schultz said, “I have no take on that. That’s university policy and I follow university policy.” Schulz said a way to prevent further underage drinking on campus would be to immediately report to police if any student sees such situations are taking place. “The Nest has their resident assistants that patrol the public areas,” Schultz said. According to Schulz, this was the first report of under-age drinking and removal from campus. Both occurrences are only “isolated incidents.” The second incident involved another resident who reported to be inappropriately touched by a nonNEIU student who was visiting their roommate. A third party witness reported the incident to the police on Oct. 15. According to Schulz, the victim who had allegedly been touched inappropriately explained the situation but declined to sign an official complaint form. The other party involved in the incident who allegedly committed the act has been since banned from university property. The other party could have been charged with battery. “That was the classification of it, any unwarranted touching by another person is considered a battery and that’s what this was,” Schulz said. However no charges will be filed against the banned party due to the victim’s refusal to sign complaint forms.
www.neiuindependent.org
Opinions
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
5
The Independent Dakota Access pipeline encroaches native land
The Independent is a public forum for the university and community around Northeastern Illinois University. The Independent is completely student run and receives no prior review of its content by anyone other than its student editors. Views presented do not necesarily represent those of the administration, faculty or students. The Independent is a member of the Illinois College Press Association and Associated Collegiate Press.
Editorial Board Editor-in-Chief Brett Starkopf Managing Editor Robin Bridges Production Editor Pablo Medina News Editor Rut Ortiz Opinions Editor Danny Montesdeoca Sports Editor Spencer Jones Arts & Life Editor Jason Merel Online Editor Christian Gralak
Independent Staff Copy Editor Desiree Dylong Dovid Bulgatz John Cummings Rabica Qazi Production Staff Cecilia Hernandez Writers Laura Rojas Idoia Solano Carlo Varquez Terrie Albano Melissa Johnson Cartoonists GN Eterntiy Wiley Photographers Elena Molloy Marketing and Advertising Director Samantha Sandowski Payroll Manager Saddaf Waseem
Pablo Medina If there is a will, there is a way, and the human spirit will fight its way to truth and honor. The Dakota Pipeline, an oil pipeline project created by Dakota Access LLC, has attracted much attention and criticism for its placement and desecration of federal respected Native American land between North and South Dakota. Since the beginning of the pipeline’s federal approval in Aug. 2016, the construction has continued with hundreds of thousands of protesters surrounding the sites and stopping workers from continuing their project. One of the protestors is an American actress, Shailene Woodley, who joined the cause to fight for tribal land protection in early October until her arrest on Oct. 8 for criminal trespassing and engaging in a riot. Besides Woodley, other protesters have been arrested and attacked by National Guard teams with dogs, sound cannons and pepper spray. In her Oct. 20 interview with TIME Magazine, Woodley noted the hypocrisy of the United States. Woodley said the general US population is ignorant of its lack of respect towards the Native American culture. “We wear their heritage, their sacred totems, as decoration and in fashion trends, failing to honor their culture. Headdresses, feathers, arrows. Moccasins, sage, beadwork,” Woodley stated. “You know what I’m talking about, Coachella. Walking around the flea market this weekend, I can’t even tell you how many native references I saw being used in a way that feeds our western narrative.” Woodley hit the nail right on the head, because that statement is a perfect description of how the Native
Photo courtesy of Woodley’s live-stream on Facebook
Shailene Woodley was arrested on Oct. 10 while protesting the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
American tribes have been ‘honored’ throughout their treatment in AngloAmerican history. I stand with Woodley’s argument that the pipeline is encroaching on reservation lands of the Great Sioux tribal community that were taken advantage of previous federal generations. What were once large prosperous groups of people — doing their own thing before European colonization — are now 2 percent of the entire U.S. population. Woodley is not the only celebrity that sees through the motives of the American Oil companies at work. Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Affleck and even President Barack Obama know the pipeline construction is a disrespectful spit-in-the-face to the indigenous Native Americans, and a danger to the public’s environment and agricultural resources.
In a Q&A at the #NoDAPL movement in the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative town hall at Laos on Sept. 7, Obama answered a question about his issues with the Dakota Access pipeline. “As many of you know, the way that Native Americans were treated was tragic. One of the priorities that I’ve had as President is restoring an honest and generous and respectful relationship with Native American tribes. And this issue of ancestral lands and helping them preserve their way of life is something that we have worked very hard on.” As admirable as his response was, the construction of the pipeline has continued with no opposition from the federal government under his brow. Though Obama’s judicial administration had interrupted the construction on a part of the pipeline
in North Dakota in Sept. 6 and 9, a federal appeals court rejected the tribe’s appeal to halt the construction of the pipeline on Oct. 9. Not enough is being done on his part to help change this construction to either favor both sides with careful planning, or to help protect the protestors from arrest and brutality from the National Guard protecting the construction of the pipeline. The Dakota Access company may have the money to fund an expansive and potentially unstable pipeline that is not guaranteed to avoid explosions, but there are just as many citizens who don’t want a pipeline to destroy the very land they live on, Native American or otherwise. The pipeline will obviously result in greater profit and prosperity to oil giants and state governments, but at the cost of the safety and violation of human rights.
6
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
Opinions
www.neiuindependent.org
US bombed Yemen, doesn’t anyone care? Danny Montesdeoca
Courtesy of Discott via Wikipedia Commons
Students gather in protest of tuition hikes at the University of Cape Town.
Education: A basic human right Melissa Johnson How hard would you fight for your right to an education? Students at Johannesburg’s University of the Witwatersrand answered with a series of year-long, nation-sprawling protests. Recently, these protests have become militant. Since the end of October, hundreds of students at universities across South Africa have blockaded roads and clashed with police. Students are protesting for the right to free education and against deeper inequality in a movement that has come to be known in the twitterverse as #FeesMustFall. University students brought a number of campuses to a standstill, protesting a proposed eight percent increase in tuition that many students cannot afford. This comes after a failed ten percent tuition hike proposed by South African President Jacob Zuma. Students say the current system is not only anti-poor, but anti-black as well.
As some may or may not remember, Northeastern had its own season of financial discontent last spring when Governor Rauner cut funding to all public state universities, resulting in the closure of Chicago State University amongst others. This disproportionately affected those with a black student majority population. Hundreds of students and faculty across Illinois brought signs and counter-arguments by the busload to the capitol building for protests that lasted several days. Chicago is over 13,000 kilometers away from Johannesburg and yet they are both faced with the same existential grievance: the price of an education. This is an issue that is frustratingly philosophical to understand, as it is to deal with, in a practical sense. It’s not just a matter of money, it’s what the money implies about those who are not fortunate enough to have a lot of. “Education is a basic right for everyone,” says Sinawo Tambo, a second-year student and protest leader,
“So the issue we have with fees is that they exclude the majority of people in this country, because it puts a price tag on education.” It’s easy for an official such as a president, a governor, or just a wealthy person with power who has already completed school, to dismiss a tuition raise or a budget cut as trivial business. From their particular standpoint, education is always affordable. In a way, they need to be educated too. An education is more than just a diploma with your name on it. Education is freedom. Freedom from ignorance and fear. Freedom from poverty and oppression. Freedom from a society that actively promotes one class of people to neglect another. It’s why dictators, past and present, try to keep their populaces as uneducated as they can possibly be. If the masses are uneducated they are much easier to control. Education is a basic human right, because humans have the right to be free.
The U.S. has had a history of supporting oppressive and destructive regimes in all corners of the world. On Oct. 12 the U.S. bombed three radar satellites in the Houthi-controlled area in Yemen. One of the most concerning things about this is the lack of coverage this has garnered by the American bourgeois press. This would mark the very first time the U.S. has taken direct military action in Yemen since American troops pulled out of the area 18 months ago when the Houthis, a Shia insurgent group, overthrew the Yemeni government, forcing the U.S. to withdraw their forces in the area. U.S. Pentagon officials have called this a “limited self-defense” retaliation. The Pentagon claims that U.S. warships were targeted off the coast of Yemen, and the attacks, they believe, were carried out by Houthis. Houthi officials deny any involvement in the attack. They have even offered aid in the investigation of these attempted bombings, according to The Guardian. Even before these events transpired, the U.S. has been playing an indirect role in the destruction of Yemen by aiding the Saudi-led coalition by providing them arms, refueling their jets and providing logistical support, according to Vox. In August, the U.S. approved of a $1.5 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia. A few days after that deal was signed, the Saudi-led coalition bombed a Doctors Without Borders hospital killing at least 11 people. In early October, the Saudi’s bombed a funeral where over 100 people were killed, according to an article published by the New York Times. In a report by The Intercept, the MK82 guided bombs used in the
bombing of the funeral are without a doubt American manufactured. Pictures of bomb fragments at the funeral site clearly shows the role that U.S. plays in the Saudi-led destruction of Yemen. These are only two out of the many atrocities that Saudi Arabia has carried out in Yemen. The Humans Right Watch has described the bombings as apparent war crimes. Apart from the bombings, Saudi Arabia has enforced a water and air blockade in Yemen, preventing the import of foods and medical supplies into already one of the poorest countries in the region. A photo essay published by Quartz Digital News shows the devastating effects this blockade has had on Yemen. Saudi Arabia is a well-known U.S. ally, and one of the biggest allies they have in the Middle East. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, as of August, the U.S. has imported 1,142,000 barrels of oil daily. The U.S. also imports most of its oil from Saudi Arabia. In fact, it only trails Canada in oil imports to the U.S.. Reagan’s administration openly supported ruthless dictator Augusto Pinochet of Chile, who turned the capital of Chile into a torture camp. This practice remains consistent today with the U.S. supporting the theocratic regime of Saudi Arabia. The U.S. must denounce and stop the sales of arms to Saudi Arabia. Their indirect role in the war crimes carried out by Saudi Arabia should not be tolerated, especially now, since the U.S. has directly bombed Yemen. This presents the possibility of a new war for our neo-liberal leaders to happily engage in, in order to keep their economic relationship with Saudi Arabia in good standing. War isn’t inevitable, it’s sought after.
www.neiuindependent.org
Opinions
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
7
Courtesy of DVIDSHUB via Flickr
Veterans Day commemorates all those who have served in the U.S. armed forces such as these Marine veterans in line during the NYC 2011 Veterans Day Parade.
Veterans Day: Giving honor where honor is due Yolanda T. Amon Veterans Day is Nov. 11. Many government offices and public schools will be closed, and for many, it will be the start of a three-day weekend. There will be celebrations all over the nation honoring our country’s servicemen and servicewomen for their courage, commitment and sacrifices. I have to be honest, I never really gave this holiday much thought. It could be because I don’t have many veterans in my family. It could be that when I see a veteran I never made the connection of their service to my life. According to Military.com, 180,000 people enlist every year and
begin the journey from civilian to soldier. This journey involves basic training which could take anywhere from seven to 12 weeks, depending on the branch of service in which the civilian enlists. This year I challenged myself, as well as others, to pause for a minute and think about the sacrifices our veterans have made. Many of them serve our country for one reason to protect our way of life. Veterans deserve to be honored for that commitment alone, but also for their courage and sacrifices. Hence there are many programs set up for veterans and their families. Despite programs like veterans pension programs and free or low cost
medical care, veterans are voicing their concerns about appreciation and compensation for their service. Recently, the Pentagon asked thousands of California National Guard members to repay bonus money given to them for reenlisting during the last decade. This oversight resulted in soldiers having to repay debts or face penalties on bonuses that they received close to a decade ago. At this point soldiers can petition to have this debt forgiven but the process has proven frustrating for many veterans. For a country that emphasizes honor for its veterans the situation in California and many other injustices toward them tell a different story.
Many veterans left their families behind in order to protect our country. Some of them returned home permanently wounded. Some of those wounds are visible and some are not. Unfortunately, their heroism comes with a price and they continue to make sacrifices even after they return home. A new study completed by the Department of Veterans Affairs found that nationwide, 20 veterans commit suicide a day. The risk of suicide for veterans is about 21 percent higher than civilians. After considering their sacrifices, commitment and courage, I definitely would say that our veterans have contributed greatly to our country and
deserve a national holiday. Chances are Veterans Day will be observed by your employer or school, and it might even be the start of a three-day weekend. I encourage everyone to take a little time and thank a veteran or even help a veteran. Get involved and pay honor where honor is due. For volunteer opportunities to help veterans please visit chicagovets. org. The City of Chicago Veterans Day Ceremony is Nov. 11 at 11 a.m. The ceremony will take place at Soldier Field, patrons can enter through Gate O. The other ceremonies and celebrations can also be found by visiting chicagovets.org.
8
A&L
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
www.neiuindependent.org
Tyler Bohm: ‘The Future is Behind Us’
Artist Tyler Bohm spoke at the NEIU Fine Arts Center Gallery on Oct. 25.
Jason Merel We are living in the future. It is undeniable as you look at the technological advances made in the past century. But is it the future that society was expecting? Tyler Bohm explores this question with his exhibit “The Future is Behind Us,” on display in the NEIU Fine Arts Center Gallery until Nov.18. The artist talk on Oct. 25 gave students and faculty a chance to discuss the various influences behind each of his works. The exhibit consists of several one-off pieces, as well as two distinct series. “The Future is Behind Us” is the inspiration for all of the work found in the exhibit. The titular piece is mixed media and plexiglass. Up close it is clear to see that there are layers of painted plexiglass which overlap to create additional dimension and depth. If you step back about 15 feet it becomes clear that the composite image is that of a 1950s-era, classic American nuclear family, looking into the sky at Earth--- implying they are on the Moon. The rest of the series are mixed media on plexiglass and look very
Pablo Medina
‘World Map’ is one of Bohm’s one-off pieces made from mirror plexiglass.
modern and familiar. They almost seem like branded products of a video game company. “Game of Life” elicits strong nostalgia of 80s arcade games, with a futuristic, almost alien flair. “Cipher” is a tablet with many of the symbols that appear on the other pieces in this series, all seemingly connected through some sort of grid. “There’s an implied order within all of these networks and systems but the exact meaning of that order is intentionally elusive,” said Bohm. This theme of translation is also expressed in “Rosetta Stone,” which is a black plexiglass silhouette of the actual Rosetta Stone, with inscriptions of Asimov’s three laws of robotics, emoji representations of the three laws, and a long binary code sequence. Finally, “Everything Emulator” depicts one of these
futuristic plexiglass pieces as though a virus, eating or infecting (or assimilating) a more traditional, framed painting. More recently he has created the “Peripheral Visionary” collection. The pieces are acrylic on wood and plexiglass and are meant to show very little detail when viewed from directly in front. As you move to the periphery of the piece, a portrait appears of a sci-fi writer that Bohm considers influential and ahead of their time. The three pieces of this collection depict writers Neal Stephenson, Margaret Atwood, and Samuel Delany. He creates the effect by using a grid of strategically painted blocks. “I feel like these authors are looking at the future from a very different perspective,” Bohm said. “So
they seemed like appropriate subjects for portraiture.” You can see the inspiration for this series in his piece “Mona Lisa Defragged” as well. It is a pixelated image of Mona Lisa composed out of painted blocks, with the “defragged” identical color scheme next to it. “Defragging” is a digital rearrangement of information which allows for easiest storage and retrieval, with the least quality loss. A lot of his work has been oneoffs lately, Bohm said. The inspiration comes from various concepts he wants to explore, involving technology and science fiction. One of his more interesting pieces, conceptually, is “Drone.” It is a pixelated image of a military Predator drone. The pixels are hexagonal cells in a honeycomb pattern that were
filled with beeswax. The various colors were achieved by melting crayons into the wax. Bohm said he wanted to explore the juxtaposition of the creative nature of a bee drone with the destructive nature of a military drone. Finally, one piece in the collection stands apart from the others in both media and topic. It is called “Almost Utopia” and consists of hundreds of hand-painted model train figurines, assembled into a group that shapes the commonly known, thumbs-up “Like” symbol from social media sites--- with a single figurine near the edge. Bohm said he was thinking of the herd mentality of social media when he made it. He wanted to explore the concept that if you have more likes, somehow the message you are conveying has more importance or validity. “That can be sort of a destructive social dynamic sometimes,” Bohm said. “The joke is that this would almost be utopia, if everyone could just form some sort of conformity or some form of consensus. But of course there’s this one person who is off to the edge.” Tyler Bohm lives in Columbus, Ohio. He has spent several years working in the architectural field, which has clearly influenced both his creative process and his choice of media. The pieces in this exhibit were created between 2014 and 2016. You can stop by the NEIU Fine Arts Center Gallery Mon-Fri from 11 a.m to 6 p.m.
Check out our online issue at neiuindependent.org
www.neiuindependent.org
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
9
10
Tuesday, October 25, 2016
www.neiuindependent.org
www.neiuindependent.org
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
11
12
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
www.neiuindependent.org
Tammy Duckworth (D)
Mark Kirk (Incumbent - R)
A&L
www.neiuindependent.org
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
We’re hiring Apply at: bit.ly/IndieApply
13
14
A&L
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
Idoia Solano Halloween arrived a week early this year. Freaky Deaky music festival was proof of that. It was a Halloween catwalk in which attendees could not only enjoy their favorite artists’ performances, but also show off their costumes, some of which were highly elaborate. Show and spectacle were not only present on stage while musicians were performing, but everywhere the entire time.
www.neiuindependent.org
One of the popular choices among women was dressing up as Harley Quinn, the supervillain from DC’s “Suicide Squad.” Another frequent choice was painting their faces as catrinas, becoming colorful human skulls, which was actually a more comfortable choice, as it didn’t require specific clothes, just some flowers on the top of the head. Among men, the most frequently seen outfits were zombies, the Joker character from “Suicide Squad,” creepy clowns (now
mainstream) and every kind of mask, especially those used by the group Anonymous. The three day event brought out some creative costume collaborations such as the group of Power Rangers. But there were also some really original ones, for example a group of girls dressed up as bees, and the boy of the group as the beekeeper, or another group representing Alice in Wonderland, with each member dressed up as a different character of the movie. Animal costumes are always
popular, and Freaky Deaky wasn’t different, there were tons of people dressed up as cats, dogs, bears... with multiple accessories, such as kitten ears, panda masks, tiger tails and even bird wings. The most original ones tried to dress up as things that are currently mainstream, that’s the reason why there were attendants with Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton masks and others dressed as crazy Cubs fans, given the team’s recent
success. Freaky Deaky was definitely a high-quality festival when it comes to music, with amazing performances of well-known musicians from different genres. But it was also such a spectacle when it came to the people attending and their crazy Halloween. Most of them were really original and elaborate, challenging the low temperatures without jackets, but making the event even more special.
www.neiuindependent.org
A&L
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
Dj’s Lil Dicky and Flatbush Zombies performed with over two dozen artists during the three day music festival and carnival.
15
All photos by Spencer Jones
The local vendors of ‘Freaky Deaky’ Carlo Varquez When people hear music festival, some may not think of the vendors as part of the experience. But, in reality, a music festival would not be the same without a grilled cheese and a quesadilla with sauce dripping from the side or the official tour hat from a favorite DJ. This was especially true at Freaky Deaky, which happened at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Oct. 28-30. People go to music festivals excited to see their favorite artists and discover new music. As the long day passes, many find themselves checking out what is good to eat or what merchandise is available. Freaky Deaky has really exploded into one of the largest Halloween events in the Midwest and Chicago vendors have an important role in providing the “Freaky” experience. Howard Johnston and his brothers run Cheesie’s Pub & Grill. If you don’t know Cheesie’s yet, they specialize in being creative with grilled cheese sandwiches. “Most of our crowd are kids that go to these festivals and they love their grilled cheese.” said Cheesie’s employee, Joe Mullenix. “They go crazy for it. The perfect ‘festie’ food for everybody.” The food truck has its own menu
that serves six different sandwiches and tater tots. The menu also has a truck exclusive item called “tendie tots”. “We like to use that menu as much as we can to serve at all our different festival events, functions, and parties,” Johnston said. And if you are wondering, the hottest item Cheesie’s sold over the weekend was the “Tenderizer,” a grilled cheese with mozzarella and cheddar cheeses, chicken tenders, bacon, and “tendie” sauce. Doom Street Eats was another trendy food vendor at Freaky Deaky.
“We do fun takes of traditional food,” said Luke Petillon, from Doom Street Eats. “We have tacos and quesadillas, but instead of chicken and pork, we do bacon mac and cheese quesadilla and spicy potato beer cheese tacos. We just do fun stuff.” Doom Street Eats is based in Chicago. They do some corporate catering, but their main business is with music festivals. “We have done Bonnaroo, Coachella, Voodoo Fest, Firefly, Taste of Chicago….literally from California to Delaware.” Petillon said.
What has made Doom Street Eats successful around the nation is their ability to adapt to the location they are in. “We do not have a food truck. We work in a tent and that allows us to change the menu.” Petillon said. “So a menu in New Orleans versus Chicago versus Tennessee, we can tailor what we are doing with that crowd.” Grassroots Chicago, a merchandising vendor that specializes in hats, was also at Freaky Deaky. Based in Colorado, there is a new Chicago location that opened in the West Loop.
Jorge Hurtado of Grassroots says they have already been to a couple music festivals in the Chicagoland area, such as Spring Awakening and North Coast. “We do collaborations with lots of entities- music festivals and artists. We actually did the official hat of Freaky Deaky this year,” Hurtado said. “We are doing a lot better than we expected… not the typical crowd we cater to but that also serves as a challenge. This is a new audience that we can appeal to. It’s been good overall, definitely.” For Grassroots Chicago, a new crowd served as a good learning experience for the business. Hurtado said, “We had to push things harder. We are a pretty well known brand within the festival circuit, so people come to our booth on a mission. Other than that, we had to alert people coming in, whether it is talking to people or handing out stickers. Little things like that.” So it turns out Freaky Deaky is not your average music festival. It is a giant Halloween event right outside of the city with great food and merchandise vendors ready to add to the experience. Come next year and join the experience. The vendors will be more than prepared to serve hearty festival food from scratch and the best apparel from every artist.
16
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
www.neiuindependent.org
Sports
More than a win Top: A fan holds a “World Champs� sign in celebration of the Cubs first world series win in over a century, Nov. 4 in Grant Park. Bottom: The brick wall outside the right field bleachers on Sheffield Avenue are coated with messages to those who died without seeing the Cubs win. | Brett Starkopf
www.neiuindependent.org
Brett Starkopf It happened. It actually happened. The Chicago Cubs ended their 108-year championship drought by beating the Cleveland Indians 8-7 in extra innings in Game 7 of the World Series on Nov 2. To actually express what the win means is a little difficult because it’s more than just a championship. It’s bigger than that. The win is bigger than baseball. It’s family. It’s life. It’s a liberation. A liberation from what the generation or two of Cubs fans endured and then passed down to their children who passed it down to their children. Born and bred in the captivity of curses where losing was all that was known, 5 million Cubs fans rejoiced and not only celebrated with each other at the World Series parade in Grant Park, but with their loved ones whom they lost without witnessing this moment. It’s spiritual. At the rally, Cubs General Manager Theo Epstein thanked Cubs greats Ernie Banks and Ron Santo for sending down the rain that caused the delay that allowed the Cubs to recuperate and score twice in the top of the 10th inning. During Epstein’s introduction press conference in 2011, he predicted in five years the Cubs will be ready to contend. His prophecy came true. Two decades before that, Harry Caray predicted that Cubs will make the World Series with a team comprised of a veteran manager to manage young players who are also veterans. And sure has God made green apples, his prophecy came true. It’s cathartic. When my grandfather passed away in 2008, my dad turned to me all teary eyed and said, “he never saw the Cubs win.” Aside from wishing me and my brother health and prosperity, my
dad also wished he can watch a World Series with us. He turned to me with those same teary-eyes, hugged me like I had been away for 10 years and breathed a sigh of relief that inside his body for 67 years. Various news outlets reported about Cubs fan, Wayne Williams, who drove from North Carolina to Indiana to honor a pact he had with his father. They agreed that when the Cubs make it to the World Series, they would listen to it together. So Williams set up a chair, draped the “W” flag around it, and listened to the game with his father at his father’s grave site. One fan brought chalk to Wrigley Field and wrote their late loved one’s name on the side of stadium, leaving the chalk behind so others can do the same. Hours later, the stadium was covered with the names fans who were not around to see them win. “People are just leaving the chalk for the next person,” a fan outside the stadium said on Nov. 3. “It honestly felt like the Western Wall in Israel.” This team made millions upon millions of people feel something nobody alive today has felt and that’s what makes this so special. That’s what makes this more than just a win. The Cubs reset the clock. Finally, the weight of goats, cats and Bartman’s from the past century have been lifted and fans can breathe easy because the Cubs are no longer the “Loveable Losers.” Although the final game of the series had storybook ending, this is not just another underdog story. The Cubs were the best team in baseball from start to finish and were predicted by many to win the World Series. And this should be the start of something entirely new for hopefully a very long time. Anno Catuli 000000.
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
17
Elena Molloy
The Blue Sea
An estimated 5 million people lined the streets from Clark and Addison (top) and filled Grant Park (bottom) for the Cubs’ World Series pa-
Brett Starkopf
rade, Nov 4. The gathering is the seventh largest in human history according to Fox 32’s Nic Flosi.
18
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
Sports
www.neiuindependent.org
Yoga classes offered at the PE Complex Terrie Albano What do Victor Cruz, Elena Delle Donne and LeBron James all have in common? Yoga. “Yoga isn’t just about the body, it’s also about the mind and it’s a technique that has really helped me,” James told Brian Windhorst (then of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer) in 2009. “You do have to focus because there’s some positions that can really hurt you at times if you aren’t focused and breathing right.” Mind. Body. Breathing. Focus. These are the ancient discipline’s fundamentals. Yoga means “to yoke” or “to join” in the Sanskrit language, and
it has been practiced for thousands of years. Based on Indian sacred texts called the Vedas, yoga, simply put, is a system of mental and physical practices for attaining well-being and inner-knowledge. It also helps manage stress, which is the number one reason that students give for taking yoga classes. At NEIU, students can take group yoga classes Monday through Friday at the P.E. Complex. There are basic yoga and yoga stretch classes taught by three different teachers, Tom, Dee and Nancy. Nancy Vankanegan has taught yoga at NEIU since 1999. She leads Thursday’s Yoga Stretch class from
12:15-1:15 p.m. and Friday’s yoga class from noon to 1:15 p.m. Besides the length of the class, Vankanegan said Yoga Stretch incorporates breathing and yoga poses with other fitness methods like Pilates and strength training, which may appeal more to students wary of yoga. “The number one benefit is the conscious awareness of the breath,” Vankanegan said, which can decrease stress levels and give you a sense of satisfaction. “Movement into the poses (called asana) using conscious breathing teaches one to move through the mundane activities of life in a more conscious manner.” Balance, flexibility, strength
improve through yoga too, she said. Yoga can also reduce chronic pain and help heal from injuries. “Sometimes chronic pain is caused by habitual movements and yoga asana practice can break those habits as the yogi (yoga student) learns to move with ease and in alignment to avoid repetitive motion injuries.” In addition to the group classes, Vankanegan teaches a 300-level Yoga Philosophy and Practice class at the P.E. Complex. Students learn about yoga’s history, philosophy, lifestyle in a classroom setting, and practice poses, breathing and meditation in the studio. “Most people consider yoga to be asana or postures, but yoga is a
The P.E. Complex offers yoga classes Monday through Friday.
complete system of living that incorporates deep philosophical ideas,” she said. “Since the ‘language’ of yoga is Sanskrit and the practice comes from ancient India the ideas can seem exotic, but in fact yoga ideas are present in all major schools of philosophy.” Other aspects of yoga including meditation, behaviors (to self and others), and the importance of self-knowledge are investigated, she said. Students are welcome to take a drop in class for $5. Classes run through Dec. 10. For more information, go to www.neiu. edu/campusrec or call (773) 4424131.
Terri Albano
www.neiuindependent.org
Sports
Health myths: What’s right and wrong? Pablo Medina Sometimes when you want to stay healthy and in shape,you’re quick to take advice from anyone. However, not every health tip given by students, exercise enthusiasts or even some health professionals are grounded in reality, and some people confuse real health facts with health myths. Some of the popular myths like drinking eight cups of water every day, eating fats or carbohydrates leads to weight gain, and skipping meals to lose weight are still talking points for students these days. The question remains: do these myths have some legitimate scientific backing to support them? The answer is both yes and no. Some of those myths are actual methods in maintaining proper health, while others are misunderstood perceptions of the body’s natural functions. For example, fats and carbohydrates get blamed for adding extra pounds on the body. The reality is that carbohydrates and fats are essential to balancing a healthy body. NEIU nurse practitioner David Worrell stressed the importance of keeping certain nutrients in a person’s diet. “You need fats and carbohydrates for energy, and your proteins are the building blocks to muscle,” Worrell said. NEIU Advanced Nurse Practitioner Catherine Schacht spoke of the importance of protein to healthy eating habits and a balanced diet. “You might not feel like you’re getting as hungry if you’re consuming enough protein,” Schacht said. And as for drinking eight glasses of water per day? Among health professionals,
this is an acceptable practice. Worrell notes to keep an eye on one’s urine color throughout the day. “If your pee is clear, then your body is well hydrated, and if it’s thick and yellow, then you need more water in your body,” Worrell said. Staying hydrated also helps a person from fatigue and heart problems. According to the American Heart Association, drinking water allows the blood to pump through the body easily and it lets the muscles contract and relax efficiently. Keep exercise in mind. T he more a person sweats during the day, the more water that person will need to drink. Diuretics, like caffeine and certain vegetables (cucumbers, celery, carrots) induce more urine, which can also dehydrate a person. In addition, if the person doesn’t sweat during a long workout, it is a sign that person is dehydrated or heat exhausted. Among the different health tips passed around campus, some of them are about sexual health and pregnancy. “I work in women’s health, so most of the myths I hear are related to women’s health,” NEIU Advanced Nurse Practitioner Catherine Schacht said. “A lot of them have to do with whether you can or cannot get pregnant based on menstrual periods or what the sexual activity is.” Schacht acknowledged the misinformation supplied by incoming students, and aimed to enlighten students about the responsibilities of sex. “There are a lot of students that need a review of basic physiology, but there are just as much that are well informed and know exactly what they’re doing,” Schacht said. “You can be safe all the time, through either ab-
stinence or birth control, something that works very well, but taking your chances doesn’t work.” The health center in the NEIU campus dispenses materials for safe sex such as lubricants, male and female condoms, birth control, and pamphlets that aid in understanding sexual behavior and signs of sexual illnesses. “In our setting here, anyone can come get condoms for free, limit of two each day,” Schacht stated. “Every student can come in and see me and there is no charge for the office visit. If they have any kind of insurance, it almost always covers birth control, as part of the Affordable Healthcare Act.” “A lot of people say, ‘I got tested on and I’m healthy,’ and they don’t have any idea what the tests were that were done, but they went to a clinic or a doctor, and say they’ve been tested and everything is okay,” Schacht said. Some patients take test results and health findings with a grain of salt, and don’t consider all of the choices to a healthier lifestyle. With the winter season approaching Chicago and NEIU, the health of students will be put to the test in the coming months of November and December.
NEIU Health Services is located in E-051.
Office hours are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Appointments can be scheduled online through their student health portal at neiu.studenthealthportal. com
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
19
Fantasy Basketball: Add/Drop
Spencer Jones The 2016-2017 NBA season is just over two weeks in and we’re already starting to see some great fantasy pickups. If you had one of the top three picks in your fantasy draft and didn’t pick Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Anthony Davis or LeBron James, you might need to reevaluate your future fantasy choices. Though these four players will be off the market for the rest of the season, there’s a few reserves that could add a boost to your roster. Add em’: - Doug McDermott If you have the chance to pick McDermott up in your league, do it. If no one else has benefitted from the arrivals of Rajon Rondo and hometown hero Dwayne Wade, McDermott has. McDermott scored in double figures in two out of the three regular season game he’s played this far, and continues to put up solid numbers in rebounds and assists as well. - Joel Embiid Surprisingly, Embiid is available in leagues via ESPN, CBS Sports and Yahoo. The Philadelphia 76ers starting center has had a steady pace to his game. With Nerlens Noel out with a knee injury, Embiid and Jahlil Okafor are ready to control the paint for the next few months. - Tim Frazier The unsung hero for the New Orleans Pelicans so far has been Frazier. Everyone knows what Chicago native Anthony Davis can do when healthy, but Frazier has been the only player consistently battling with Davis on the team. If you’re playing in a category league, he’s going to help your team with assists, points and steals.
Drop em’: - Derrick Rose Rose has been playing well, but the New York Knicks haven’t. At this moment head coach Jeff Hornacek isn’t running the ball through Rose, which is affecting his assist totals. Rose did have a great outing against his former team, the Chicago Bulls, scoring 15 points while dishing out 11 assist and collecting seven rebounds. If there’s free agent guards in your league averaging more than five assists, pull the trigger. - Otto Porter Jr. Though he had a good outing last week against the Toronto Raptors with 23 points and 13 rebounds, Porter Jr. has been inconsistent thus far. The Wizards are struggling early and team chemistry still seems to be a key issue. He’s a player you should keep an eye on, but he’s not worth a fantasy roster spot right now. If you’re looking for a wing player to take Porter’s spot take a look at Terrence Ross or Tony Snell who are widely available. Keep an eye on them - Clint Capela Capela is one of the main beneficiaries of James Harden moving to point guard. He’s a work in progress offensively, but his rebounding and shot blocking abilities should help your team. If you’re lacking a big man pick him up, but be aware he’s a raw talent at this moment. - Tony Snell Snell was competing for the starting small forward spot with Michael Beasley. The role usually goes to Khris Middleton, but since he’s recovering from a ruptured hamstring, Snell looks to have solidified the spot for now.
2016 Nutcracker_NEIUIndepedendent
10/31/16
4:09 PM
Page 1
2016-2017 Ruth Page Dance Series
Victor Alexander, Co-Director Dolores Lipinski Long, Co-Director
Featuring Guest Artists from Cuba’s National School of Ballet
“Journey to a magical land!” • The Beacon News
December 3 & 4, 2016 Northeastern Illinois University Tickets: online at neiu.edu/tickets or in person at NEIU Information Center Info: www.ruthpage.org