INSIDE THIS EDITION: GOLDRUSH, CHARLOTTE VS. OLD DOMINION MEMBERS OF THE NINER TIMES TEAM SHARE THEIR EXPERIENCES BEING IN THE UPTOWN RIOTS LAST WEDNESDAY
THE CHARLOTTE FILM FESTIVAL KICKS OFF WITH THE SOLID INDIE DRAMA ‘TRESPASS AGAINST US’ PG. 13
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HUMANS OF UNC CHARLOTTE: MEET SOME OF THE VOICES BEHIND THE BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT ON CAMPUS PG. 16 VOL. 29, ISSUE 4
Hunter Heilman editor@ninertimes.com
MANAGING EDITOR
Jasmine Taylor
Nick Cropper
Trevor Wilt
Kathleen Cook
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Michael Kuhn
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ADDITIONAL STAFF
Salina Dickie, Mia Shelton, Pooja Pasupula, Andy Gustafson, Alex Sands, Angie Baquedano, Daniel Head
David Mendez
Saba Solaimanizadeh, Zach Timmons, Sarah Martin, Sotori Summers
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MARKETING STAFF Blake Strickland, Michael Powers, Emily Mercado, Shelbee Barber, Ryan Scott
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NO LONGER JOURNALISTS
Collective accounts from Niner Times staff members trapped in Uptown Charlotte during the riots, protests of Sept. 21 KATHLEEN COOK SPORTS EDITOR
HUNTER HEILMAN EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Safe: not able or likely to be hurt or harmed in any way. On the night of Sept. 21 we were not safe. Initially a group of four Niner Times staff members ventured to Uptown to cover the protests in Marshall Park. When protesters split with some staying in the park and some walking up Trade St., our group split as well. Hunter and Hailey stayed in the park, where they were later joined by Saba, while Jasmine and I trailed the crowd on the move. Hunter, Hailey and Saba Prayers, gospel, silence, peace: these are the words that could describe the gathering of mourners and protestors at Marshall Park in Uptown Charlotte. Organized by the Mothers of Murdered Offspring, Marshall Park became a reverent ground to not only peacefully demonstrate for change in Charlotte, but also a
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hallowed space to mourn the death and celebrate the life of Keith Lamont Scott, the man who was fatally wounded by police Sept. 20. Regardless of what one might think about the shooting of Scott, or the Black Lives Matter movement in general, this protest was moving every person in the vicinity. Speakers spoke of disdain toward the protestors causing destruction, calling their actions “of the Devil,” while urging the crowd to “go with God” with peaceful demonstrations. At this point, unbeknownst to us when we initially arrived, Saba, an intern for the Niner Times joined us mid-speech, surprising the team with her eagerness and willingness to put herself out in the field in the name of journalism. Saba, who started as an unknown intern quickly became one of our greatest allies in this entire ordeal. After a night of peace and togetherness amongst a tragedy,
donations were collected for the family of Scott, ended with a rousing speech from public defender and UNC Charlotte adjunct professor Toussaint Romain on stepping forward to challenge authority and to demand change in the black community. “Together we win; alone, we get shot in our cars. Let’s do this together,” said Toussaint to the crowd, followed by him gesturing to a group of protestors breaking off to be rowdy. “Those brothers over there are not our enemies. They’re frustrated, they’re angry and they have the right to do so. We have to realize that we’re not only fighting for them, but also for our kids.” Toussaint said This was the point in the night when texts began to pour in from the other half of the Niner Times team, Kathleen and Jasmine, about the events going on up near the Epicentre and that we might want
SEPT. 27 - OCT. 3, 2016
to begin to make our way up there to check out the escalating situation. Kathleen and Jasmine The action began at the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department headquarters. It was verbally aggressive, but physically peaceful so we did what we came for and captured the moment through pictures. The people were receptive to Jasmine and myself, allowing us to photograph them. They also would answer any question we asked. At this point, I still felt as though it was under control and that it would not become violent. As we trailed the mob they migrated towards the Epicenter we trailed them. While the group went up the street it became increasingly violent. The further we walked, the larger the pit in my stomach grew. The group hit a speed bump in the form of police decked in riot gear on Cont. on page 6
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Dancers showcase Brazilian culture through dress and dance in the Halton Arena during the 41st annual International Festival. Photo by Natasha Morehouse
I-FEST CELEBRATES 41 YEARS OF DIVERSITY IN CHARLOTTE Campus gathers to celebrate the union of a prolific range of cultures, juxtaposing tense nature of the week’s events
SABA SOLAIMANIZADEH INTERN
A vast number of nations and cultures consolidated to host the University’s most dynamic yearly event in the Barnhardt Student Activity Center (SAC) Sept. 24. In the light of the cultural divide brought about by this week’s incidents, the festival provided a positive outlet from the city’s turbulence that inspired unity amongst the community and cultural appreciation. The event began at 10 a.m. and continued until 6 p.m., giving students and the surrounding Charlotte community time to appreciate an array of activities, music, art and food with no admission fee. Many cultures were able to embrace and celebrate their
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identity by contributing to the event. The festival is arranged with many booths, each representing their own country, aligned in a circular fashion around the Arena Floor of the SAC. This extends outside of the SAC as well, where there are more booths and outdoor games for attendants of all ages and interests. Each of the booths are run by both student and community volunteers that display staple components of their heritage, including costumes, food, face-painting, ceramics and other cultural merchandise. “The positive energy that comes from all the people being around each other is what brings us back every year and work to make it a
great day,” said Emina Smailagie, a long time volunteer of the Bosnia booth from the Charlotte community. Many of the booths even played music, bringing more vitality and dimension in addition to the objectoriented parts of the culture. Both the inside and outside stages had bands that play live music for attendants while they browse the festival. The types of live music ranged from Caribbean and Latin to African and Celtic. The festival is aligned around the Arena Floor as the focal point, where each country’s individualism is showcased through the Parade of Nations and the Festivals of Music and Dance. Dance is seen as one of the many vital artistic mediums
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through which people of different regions express their culture and values, making the dance performances on the Arena Floor a notably popular exhibit every year. “Dance is a great part of the festival … Diversity and culture is a part of everybody who lives in a big city. Everyone wants to know about other cultures and the festival is a big success because of that,” said Masoud Sobhani, a graduate student at UNC Charlotte and a volunteer at the Iran booth. Kate Poisson, coordinator of the International Festival, spoke of why the 41st year hosting the event is particularly special. Cont. on page 5
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I-FEST, cont. “We are working with the city of Charlotte as part of an initiative called Charlotte Welcoming Week, which is both a citywide and nationwide organization that is trying to make cities more welcoming to immigrants and refugees from around the world. We’re thrilled that this year’s International Festival is the capstone event for that,” said Poisson. Poisson also mentioned that there were over 60 countries represented this
year, an increase from the typical range of 50 countries that are typically displayed at the festival. The immense growth of the festival every year represents the abundant diversity not only within the University, but the entire Charlotte community as well. “The unification of diverse people is what makes the festival so special. All of us are the same. We may have different looks, different skin types, but at the end of the day we enjoy the same aspects of life,” said UNC Charlotte alumni Fred Absaloms, attendant of the Tanzania booth.
“DIVERSITY AND CULTURE ARE A PART OF EVERYBODY WHO LIVES IN A BIG CITY”
GRADUATE STUDENT MASOUD SOBHANI
An Israeli dance performed in the Halton Arena. Photo by Austin Chaney
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SEPT. 27 - OCT. 3, 2016
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UPTOWN RIOTS, cont. their way up the street This is when tensions began to rise and actions began to escalate. The police stayed their ground in the formation of a circle, while protesters ran around yelling and chanting. Somehow the barriers of the police were penetrated and the police then moved to the sides of the road. After this, the swarm of people continued up the street. We followed as the sea of protesters ventured towards the Omni hotel. We wandered closer and closer to the front of the crowd until Jasmine wisely advised we retreat further back. We had been in our more removed spot for no more than a minute or two when we heard the crackle of gunfire ring out through the air. Jasmine grabbed my hand, looked at me and said “RUN.” With that we sprinted as fast as we could, but it felt as though we were moving in slow motion. At this point, we were no longer journalists, we were civilians trying to escape
the danger. We ran up the stairs and found an open door that led to the back of a restaurant. There we stood, panting and shell-shocked in a kitchen. The workers looked at us as though we were aliens, they were unaware of what had unfolded outside. The crew allowed us refuge in their workplace for a few minutes until Jasmine and I went back out in search of the rest of our group. After talking on the phone with Hailey, we were able to find them and turned our search to safety. Initially we staked out in an enclosed elevator lobby. There we met a couple of men that were staying in the Omni on business from Kentucky. They noted our distress and invited us to go with them into the hotel. While walking from the elevator to the entrance, we had to cross over a bridge. I gazed at the scene surrounding me in shock. On the street lay a man, helpless. All around tear gas was being blasted. My eyes began to fill with water and my throat raged with a burn as I became in contact with
the propellant. I felt like I was in another world. No longer was I in the city that I loved so dearly. I was in a war zone. I was in hell. We followed them up to the lobby where we parted ways with the businessmen, thanking them for their help. Almost immediately we were approached by an employee of Omni asking if we were registered guests. When our response was “no” they informed us we would have to find solace elsewhere. We explained our sitution. That we were student journalists caught in the middle of the increasingly violent situation unfolding outside. We were only looking for a safe place to hide out until we could return to our car, but still, we had to leave. We went back down the escalators, where security guards informed us we could take shelter on a set of stairs in a hallway. We sat there for a while until a police officer came and asked us where we were trying to go. “Towards Bank of America Stadium” we replied. He gave us directions to
Protestors gather in Uptown. Photo by Kathleen Cook
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SEPT. 27 - OCT. 3, 2016
go down a set of stairs and to the left, saying that it was safe to exit. We walked quickly to the stairs only to be greeted by a crowd of people coming back up the stairs telling us it was not safe at all. There was a group wearing masks and riding around on dirt bikes outside. We followed the group back into a the Essex Bar and Bistro, where we were welcomed with no hesitation. The people from Essex were the most welcoming people I have ever encountered. They offered us waters, assured us we were safe inside and that we could stay there however long we needed to. “I’m safe,” was the phrase that echoed throughout my head once we were inside the Essex. It was the phrase that I sent out over dozens of text messages. It was the phrase I spoke over and over to loved ones whom I called. All of the sudden, the safety that I have taken for granted every day of my life was the most valuable thing in the world. It was the only thing that mattered. I sat huddled next to an outlet charging my phone while I made calls to my parents, informing them that I was in Uptown and that I was secured in a hallway. I sat in the hallway for what seemed like forever when I ventured out to see what was unfolding on the streets. CNN was blaring from a television above the bar -- I tried to tune it out, praying what I was seeing was in another city, not merely three or four blocks away. The riots were headed the opposite direction of where we parked, so after consulting our new friends at Essex, we deemed it safe enough to walk back towards Bank of America Stadium where the car was parked. When we departed the bar, the scene we were greeted with on the street was eerie. Where once there was tear gas, gun shots and riot gear there was now nothing but silence. We walked as quickly as we could to the cars, and we were able to make it back safely. The feeling of relief that washed over me sitting in that car could not be described. I held my breath until we made it safely back to the offices. Reality came crashing down when I returned to my apartment and was greeted by my family and friends. As I embraced them, the tears came pouring. I was safe. We were safe.
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SGA update: updates for parking and transportion, run-off election for freshman class president ALEX SANDS ASST. NEWS EDITOR
The UNC Charlotte Student Government Association (SGA) had their weekly legislative meeting Sept. 22. Parking and Transportation Updates Director of Parking and Transportation Services (PaTS) Doug Lape spoke at Senate to give updates and answer any questions the senators had. A document with the breakdown of how PaTS revenue is used is in a document called “Parking, where does the money go?” that can be found on the PaTS website. The Union Deck expansion is in the design process. Two-hundredthirty spaces will be added. However, the expansion of the Union Deck will be offset by the the construction of the Health and
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Wellness Center, which will take its place next to the Student Union at the intersection of Craver Road and Cameron Boulevard. The addition of the Health and Wellness Center will take away parking from Lots 18 and 19 starting in spring 2017. “I will be completely, bluntly honest with you. Parking, next fall in this immediate area, is gonna suck … It’s gonna get tighter before it gets better,” said Lape. The annual transportation fair will take place Oct. 5 in the College of Health and Human Services, College of Education plaza from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. At the fair, PaTS will disclose new information regarding the light rail, which is expected to be operation before summer 2017. If construction remains on schedule, students
can ride the light rail to and from campus as early as August 2017. Bike sharing will launch in Spring. Students will be able to rent bikes on campus by the hour. Lape asked Senate to spread the news about parking in North Deck to students who “don’t want to fight over a spot.” Several floors of parking are open in the commuter deck, but students rarely take advantage of it. On Tuesdays at noon, there are an average of around 479 open spots in North Deck. On Wednesdays there are around 390 spots and on Thursdays there are around 539 spots available. New senators sworn in, freshman class president election results in run-off Student Body Vice President and
SEPT. 27 - OCT. 3, 2016
Leader of the Senate Carrie Nowell swore five new freshman at-large senators into office. Asia Carter, Nicholas Furr, Ahmad Hill, Hilda Kolawole and Cat McDowell. The freshman class president election resulted in a run-off election, meaning a simple majority was not reached. The election is now between the top two candidates, Vivian Chikodinaka Ojimadu and Chantel Lynn. Voting will start Sept. 27 at 8 a.m. and close Sept. 28 at 5 p.m. Approved Grants A financial bill supporting student organizations has been approved. Various student organizations received a total of $3,242.14 in grant money.
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TIME CAPSULE TO CAPTURE CULTURE OF UNC CHARLOTTE NICK CROPPER NEWS EDITOR
To kick off to UNC Charlotte’s week long celebration of its 70th year as an institution, University officials unveiled their time capsule project Sept. 20 at the Belk Plaza. The time capsule will be placed in the ground once renovations for the Belk Plaza begin and it will be unearthed in 2046, during the University’s centennial celebration. The idea to have a time capsule buried on campus did not originate from a student organization, committee, Student Government Association (SGA) or any collective group of people who have some level of influence over UNC Charlotte, but from a single freshman who wanted UNC Charlotte to be remembered for how it is today. Freshman Collin Rubin had emailed UNC Charlotte Chancellor Philip Dubois about the addition of a time capsule in the University’s 70th anniversary celebration. After Rubin’s initial proposal, the project was absorbed by the SGA and a committee of University officials was appointed to oversee the time capsule. “It honestly feels amazing to know that something this big is staying on campus because of an idea I had,” said Rubin. When he proposed the idea, Rubin included the addition of some Pride of Niner Nation Marching Band memorabilia. Student Body President Fahn Darkor spoke at the unveiling, noting that the time capsule will be used as a looking glass into what University life was like in 2016. “The future of UNC Charlotte is exciting and I’m honored to be here. The time capsule will serve as a reminder to those in the year 2046 of what are campus looked like and what our students looked like.” UNC Charlotte Chancellor Philip Dubois also spoke during the ceremony, sharing a brief history of the University and commenting on some of the logistics of many of the changes that UNC Charlotte has seen in the past 10 years. “[The time capsule is] something that we could look ahead to in the next 30 years and in 2046, take a look at what people today we’re thinking about the past of this University and the future,” said Dubois during his speech. There is a limited time for students to submit their own ideas for additions to the time capsule. The form to submit ideas can be found on the
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Creator of the time capsule idea freshman Collin Rubin unvieling the capsule. Photo by Chris Crews
SGA’s website. Additionally, the space available in the capsule is limited. Size and whether the item can survive in the ground for 30 years must also be considered. Several items have already been included in the capsule. These items include, but are not limited to: a football jersey, first official UNC Charlotte class ring, a list of registered student organizations, pictures of the University and a goose feather. The plaque on the time capsule indicates “The University of North Carolina at Charlotte. In honor of its 70th anniversary as an institution. 1946-2016. North Carolina’s Urban Research University. Time capsule dedicated Sept. 20, 2016 to be opened September 2046.” Members of the UNC Charlotte Board of Trustees must first approve of the conceptual design plans before renovations on the Belk Plaza can begin. The conceptual plans were first shown during the Belk Plaza Forum in August. The Board of Trustees will next meet in October and they will be presented with the design plans for the remodeling of the plaza. SEPT. 27 - OCT. 3, 2016
List of items: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Belk Tower remnant Current maps of campus Online virtual tour Admission fliers, Demographics of student body Video about impact of UNC Charlotte celebrating 70th year UNC Charlotte T-shirt History of Levine Scholars, Honors College Pictures of buildings Second edition of Ken Sanford’s “History of UNC Charlotte” New book about the Woodward years Niner Times hard copy, Sanskrit & UNC Charlotte magazine Charlotte CRVA information International Festival paraphernalia Homecoming paraphernalia Campus master plan Light rail spike Miner cap Photos from the ceremony
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CHARLOTTE VS. OLD DOMINION· OCT. 1, 2016
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STAFF PICKS FINAL SCORE: CHAR 21, ODU 31 “ODU uses momentum with their win over UTSA last week and puts enough pressure on the 49ers offense to slide by with a victory.”
FINAL SCORE: CHAR 14, ODU 17 “ODU is tough competition. While the 49ers will be able to hang with them for the majority of the game, a field goal from ODU will deal the 49ers another loss”
FINAL SCORE: CHAR 21, ODU 35 “Charlotte will be able to run the ball. The question is if the 49ers can make it happen through the air. The Charlotte defense could have trouble too as the Monarchs are one of the more efficient offenses in the conference.”
FINAL SCORE: CHAR 14, ODU 11 “Charlotte uses the momentum of a home crowd to get their second victory against ODU, (also if ODU scores 11 points I get a free dinner.)”
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GOLDRUSH · A NINER TIMES SPECIAL SECTION
49ERS LOOK FOR REDEMPTION ANDY GUSTAFSON ASST. SPORTS EDITOR
The Charlotte 49ers return to Jerry Richardson Stadium this week after a one-week hiatus from the Queen City. Last week, the 49ers traveled to Philadelphia to play Temple in their final non-conference game on their schedule. Despite an impressive performance by the running game, namely Kalif Phillips, Charlotte fell to Temple 48-20. Charlotte opens Conference USA play with a matchup against Old Dominion. Last season, the 49ers fell to the Monarchs in a nail-biter 37-34 on the road in Norfolk. In fact, Charlotte had a 12-point halftime lead and put up more than 500 total yards of offense on Old Dominion. Fast forward to present day, Old Dominion sits at 2-2 on the season after winning their C-USA opener against Texas-San Antonio. Something to remember: Charlotte remains winless in C-USA, losing every game in their first season in the conference. The game is scheduled for 6 p.m. kickoff.
must be more production out of the passing game. Look at the victory over Elon: Olsen played great, completing 19 of 25 passes and three touchdowns. Another aspect is taking risks downfield. Olsen is averaging a mere five yards a pass, which ranks fifthworst in college football. Opening up the offense and throwing the ball more will take pressure off of Charlotte’s rushing attack.
ELIMINATE PENALTIES There are a lot of aspects of a football game that the players can’t control, but penalties do not fall into that category. The 49ers have committed 33 penalties for 334 yards through four games, averaging just over 80 yards of penalties per
game. In their only victory of the season against Elon, Charlotte only committed five penalties all night long for only 48 yards. SportsCenter and College Gameday took note of the 49er’s penalty struggles against Eastern Michigan, featuring them on a segment showing some of the most unfortunate plays of the past week. The 49ers received three personal foul penalties, allowing EMU to kick off from the 20-yard line, a totally bizarre scene in college football.
OLD DOMINION SCOUTING REPORT
averaged 43.5 points a game. The offensive efficiency comes from a balanced attack between their running and passing games. Senior quarterback David Washington knows how to protect the ball, with eight touchdowns and only one interception on the year. The Monarchs also have a strong running duo in Jeremy Cox and Ray Lawry, who have ran for 100-yard games of their own. Old Dominion, however, struggles against the run. Music to the legs of the Charlotte running backs. The Monarchs have given up ten rushing touchdowns on the year, which could bode well if Charlotte gets in red zone territory.
Old Dominion knows how to put up points. In the Monarchs two victories this season, they have
PASSING GAME WOES The Charlotte offense is able to move the ball. On the ground, at least. The trio of Phillips, Robert Washington and Ben LeMay is the center of the offense, averaging 167 rushing yards per game. Both Washington and Phillips have recorded 100-yard games of their own this season. LeMay has shown some spark as well, averaging five yards a carry. But what has plagued the offense is the lack of consistency in the passing game, something that the Charlotte program has missed since the beginning. Four games into the season and Kevin Olsen hasn’t proved the hype to be real. It’s still early in the season, but for Charlotte to start winning games, there
Justin Bridges-Thomas, wearing the honorary 49, is orchestrating the defense. Photo by Chris Crews CHARLOTTE VS. OLD DOMINION· OCT. 1, 2016
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ANDY GUSTAFSON
THE DUKE OF CHARLOTTE
ASST. SPORTS EDITOR
Head 20 minutes down Interstate contact over the summer. Once Duke 485 towards Independence High saw the opportunity to help, he didn’t School and you’ll come to the home of hesitate. He began raising money and Austin Duke. The only home Duke has the reaction from the community to known. Duke’s cause was much more than he The senior slot receiver for the expected. Charlotte football program is a born “People I haven’t spoken to in and bred Queen City native. Duke’s five years were donating a $100, playing career began when he was 7 mattresses, food, gift cards,” Duke years old with the Eastway Lions. But said. “It felt really good to see the it wasn’t until his senior year of high community of Charlotte, especially school that Duke began to grab the being from Charlotte, to see how much attention of college coaches. people love helping others out.” Blessed with incredible speed and Yet, with all the donations from the a solid set of hands, the only thing community, Duke continued to have holding Duke back from major colleges trouble finding a home for Frank. was his size. At 130 pounds, the senior Months go by and all the houses that only held offers from N.C. Central and could have been possible destinations Catawba, two small football schools. were out of his budget. Austin Duke, a native of the Queen City, did not intend to stay in Charlotte for college. “Being young and naive, I wanted A light would appear at the end Photo by Leysha Caraballo to leave Charlotte,” Duke said. “When of the tunnel, though. Duke came in year.” you’re from somewhere, you want to get contact with a realtor and explained his That process has helped Duke meet those away and see what life has to offer. Originally, I mission for Frank. But, again, houses that were expectations over his four years at Charlotte. The was looking everywhere to go except Charlotte.” options were too expensive. The realtor told Duke senior is Charlotte’s all-time leading receiver, As fate would have it, Duke remained in that she would call if houses became available. To owning each of the 49ers single-game, singleCharlotte. During his sophomore year, Duke make matters worse, Duke’s phone would break season and career records for receptions, yards would meet Brad Lambert, a coach at Wake and all contacts were lost. and touchdowns. Forest at the time, at a camp and a mutual “Something told me to pick up Frank and Now with 30 more pounds to his frame and respect between the two formed. Once Lambert physically look around,” Duke said. blonde tips in his hair, rivaling Odell Beckham became the first football coach at Charlotte, Frank told Duke of a woman that he previously Jr., Duke is looked upon as a leader of the team. recruiting Duke became a priority. But the workedfor, who owned rental properties. Ironically Certainly, Duke’s legacy at Charlotte speaks for Charlotte native took Lambert’s pitch as a myth. enough, when the two made it to the realtor’s, itself on the gridiron. But football isn’t everything Duke realized that it was the same woman he “Yo you’re lying, Charlotte doesn’t have a for the Charlotte native. In fact, it’s the work football team. I’m from Charlotte and I know spoke to on the phone the week prior to his Duke puts in for his hometown off the field that that,” Duke remembers telling Lambert. “But phone breaking. Magically enough, a house was when he told me the process, it was a no-brainer, I makes him more special. available for Frank. Two days later, Frank had a This past summer, while getting ready for his knew Charlotte was a place that I wanted to be.” home, furnished with a donated couch and bed. final season, Duke started his own non-profit Upon his arrival to University City, Duke “I was in tears, after reading what he was doing organization called “FaithByWorks.” While at his became a part of something special before ever and seeing the donations because I was so proud,” girlfriend’s birthday dinner, Duke asked a man to hitting the field. Duke, along with 18 other Bruce Duke, his father said. “This has to be his take a picture. The man’s name was Frank and at calling.” players, formed the first recruiting class in that moment his life would change, and so would Charlotte football history. Duke has also partnered with the Kannapolis “I didn’t know what to really expect, but I didn’t Duke’s. Police Department as part of their initiative “Cops “After taking the picture, something told me expect anything less than greatness and success,” Target Kids” charity that grants a Christmas to ask is there anything I can do for you,” Duke Duke said on his first time stepping on campus. shopping spree for less fortunate children in the asked Frank. “He told me that he had been “We (inaugural recruiting class) were here when area. homeless for about a month and life hit him hard there was no stadium. We didn’t have any games. “Life is so much more than football,” Duke said. and he lost his apartment.” It was waking up at five in the morning to go lift “This platform is all about how I can inspire and The two exchanged phone numbers and kept in and workout for a game we didn’t play for another motivate others to go after their dreams.”
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GOLDRUSH · A NINER TIMES SPECIAL SECTION
49ERS FALL ON THE ROAD
Charlotte could not recover from an early deficit on the road against the Temple Owls, losing 48-20
ZACH TIMMONS STAFF WRITER
FINAL SCORE
Temple Charlotte
48 20
On a cloudy Saturday in September, the Charlotte 49ers found themselves on the short end of the stick against Temple, losing 48-20. Temple got on the board first with a 36-yard field goal from kicker Austin Jones. However, Charlotte responded with an 8-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Kevin Olsen to receiver Workpe Kofa with 42 seconds left in the first frame. The score was their second connection this season. However, this touchdown would mark the only points that the 49ers would get for the rest of the half. Temple exploded for a 28-point second quarter, and Charlotte was unable to defend against the big play. Eight seconds into the second quarter, Phillip Walker hooked up
with receiver Adonis Jennings for a 51-yard touchdown that gave the Owls a 10-3 lead. Owl running back Jahad Thomas then scored on a 13-yard scamper, and later, Walker found Brodrick Yancy downfield for a 40-yard completion. Temple finished the half strong, with Ryquell Armstrong adding the final punch of the drive with a one yard touchdown run with only 40 seconds remaining. Armstrong’s run extended Temple’s lead to 31-7. “I think our guys came out and played a real physical game. I think we matched their physicality, we gave up too many big plays defensively to stay in the game, and that’s the thing that really hurt us down the stretch,” Charlotte coach Brad Lambert said. He expressed optimism about the team heading into conference play. “I told our team this is as physical as a team we’ll play all year. And
that gets you ready for conference play in understanding that our margin for error is not very big. We’ve got to be in the right place at the right time to make plays,” Lambert said. Once again, the 49ers backfield provided a spark. Kalif Phillips, in his first game back returning from injury, gave Charlotte their second touchdown with a 66-yard burst up the middle at the front end of the third quarter. The run was Charlotte’s longest play from scrimmage of the game and the fourth longest in Charlotte football history. Freshman back Robert Washington also added to his scoring totals, pounding in a four yard touchdown run with 8:35 remaining in the fourth quarter. However, the Owl running backs were not to be denied. Jahad Thomas scored on a one yard run at the 8:37 mark of the third quarter, and less than four minutes later, Armstead
pounded in another one yard score. Kicker Austin Jones provided the Owl’s final score when he knocked in a 31-yard field goal at the 12:52 mark of the final frame. “We’ll never stop fighting. We always finish until the clock stops and hits zero. I give the other team credit, they came in and did their job,” Phillips said. The game gave Phillips an opportunity to get back into the groove of things after an injury a few weeks ago. “I feel like this game actually put me back on track. The injury is gone, and I’m ready to go. The O-line gave me a great hole. It opened up quick, and I hit it quick, and all I saw was two defenders. I put my head down, and everything talked for itself,” Phillips said. Charlotte will return home Saturday Oct. 1, to face Old Dominion, at 6 p.m. in Jerry Richardson Stadium.
AT A GLANCE 49ers Owls First downs
25
26
Rush yards
231
210
Pass yards
429
507
3rd Down Attempts 8-18
5-12
Redzone Attempts
2-3
6-6
Penalties and Yards
5-40
5-31
Turnovers
2
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Workpeh Kofa breaks free from a defender against Eastern Michigan. Photo by Chris Crews CHARLOTTE VS. OLD DOMINION· OCT. 1, 2016
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COLLEGE GAMEDAY SIGNS MAKE IT TO CHARLOTTE
Andrew Josupait, a junior at Charlotte, makes signs before every game to bring the ‘College Gameday’ experience to Jerry Richardson Stadium. TREVOR WILT SPORTS EDITOR
A strong fan base is an aspect of the game that is vital for any college football team. The goal for fans is to give their team an edge at home and also disrupt the thought process for the visiting team. Andrew Josupait, pronounced Joe-Sup-eight does just that at Jerry Richardson Stadium. Josupait, a junior from Garner, N.C., can likely be found in the front row of the Charlotte 49ers student section, also known as Niner Nation, at the 30-yard line behind the visiting team’s bench. But before him and his core group of friends from Impact Charlotte Campus Ministry get to their seats, they are the first ones waiting outside the gates at Jerry Richardson Stadium, just over an hour before game time. When asked about why he started constructing these signs, he said, “I have watched the show “College Gameday” on ESPN on Saturdays since I have started college and figured that it would be pretty cool to make signs like that at Charlotte football and basketball games.” Although football season is upon us, Josupait made his first sign during his freshman year (2014-2015) at a basketball game against Southern Mississippi. “I saw a few days before that the game would be on American Sports Network and I made a
sign that said, ‘Hi Mom & Dad, Send Money.’ I made it on television for it,” said Josupait. When making these signs for football games, a trip to the store around the university is always planned during the week to get the materials needed to construct the signs. “A foam board usually costs about a dollar and a set of markers are usually pretty cheap,” said Josupait. With a new football program and in their second season at the FBS level, the 49ers have averaged just over 15,000 fans through their first two games at home in their 2016 campaign, knowing the importance of having a solid attendance at every game. Tanner Fleming, a senior on defense for the 49ers said, “A sold-out crowd is something that we can feed off of on third down especially. Getting that crowd noise and helping disrupt the opponent’s offense is huge. We love feeding off the energy that the crowd brings.” Josupait loves being that 12th man on the field for the 49ers, using the signs and time at the field to get away from the pressures that college brings each week. “The signs give me a great excuse to be crazy at football game. I also love the reactions of opposing teams players and fans when they see the signs.”
When asked about some of those reactions, Josupait said, “During the Elon football game this year, I had a lot of players comment on the sign I made for that game. I also had someone on the UTEP staff take a picture of me holding my sign up during pre-game warm-ups during our basketball game against them last year.” Although Josupait has made many signs over the last couple years, his favorite sign to this date occurred against the University of Alabama at Birmingham during last years basketball game at Dale F. Halton Arena. “The sign I made said, ‘Hey UAB, we have football!’ and it caused some angry and hateful tweets from UAB fans. It was funny to see the frenzy that the UAB fans went into over some words on a poster board,” Josupait said. When asked if he considered himself to be one of the biggest Charlotte fans, he humbly said, “I believe that I am Charlotte’s biggest fan, but I could be a little bit biased. I usually try to show my support at as many sporting events as I can.” So don’t be afraid to make signs and join in on the “College Gameday’ experience that Josupait and his friends bring to every game. You might find yourself on television with him one day.
Photo by Chris Crews
NT File Photo
Photo by Chris Crews
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GOLDRUSH · A NINER TIMES SPECIAL SECTION
2016 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE THURSDAY, SEPT. 1
FRIDAY, OCT. 1
SATURDAY, NOV. 5
Louisville, Ky.
Jerry Richardson Stadium
Hattiesburg, Miss.
#19/#23 Louisville 7 p.m. L, 70-14
Old Dominion
Southern Miss
6 p.m.
3:30 p.m.
SATURDAY, SEPT. 10
SATURDAY, OCT. 8
SATURDAY, NOV. 12
Jerry Richardson Stadium
Boca Raton, Fla.
Jerry Richardson Stadium
Elon
6 p.m. W, 47-14
Florida Atlantic 3:30 p.m.
Rice
2 p.m.
SATURDAY, SEPT. 17
SATURDAY, OCT. 15
SATURDAY, NOV. 19
Jerry Richardson Stadium
Jerry Richardson Stadium
Jerry Richardson Stadium
E. Michigan 6:00 p.m. L, 38-19
FIU
6 p.m.
Midd. Tennessee 2 p.m.
SATURDAY, SEPT. 24
SATURDAY, OCT. 22
SATURDAY, NOV. 26
Philadelphia, Pa.
Huntington, W.Va.
San Antonio, Texas
Temple Noon L, 48-20
Marshall 5:30 p.m.
UTSA 7 p.m.
15,444 AVERAGE HOME ATTENDANCE vs. Elon 15,807 vs. EMU 15,080
CHARLOTTE VS. OLD DOMINION· OCT. 1, 2016
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GOLDRUSH · A NINER TIMES SPECIAL SECTION
Photo by Chris Crews
Columbine survivor shares story
ALEX SANDS ASST. NEWS EDITOR
Columbine survivor Patrick Ireland spoke Sept. 27 at the Shooter Awareness Presentation in the Cone University Center, McKnight Hall. Ireland was shot twice in the head and once in the foot during the school shooting. He described the start of that day as a normal one in the library, being shushed by librarians for talking too loudly and then suddenly being warned of two gunmen. “Within seconds, I found myself crouched beneath this library table,” said Ireland. Ireland had gone to apply pressure to the wounded knee of a friend who had been shot. When he did so, his head raised a few inches above the table and the gunmen shot him three times. “In my subconscious, I continued to hear the screams, the pleas for mercy, the ongoing gun shots and the horrific cackles of the shooters- their laughter as if it were just a game.” On his back, Ireland pushed his body using only his left leg towards the nearest exit. “I thought about how much easier it would be just to give up … Those were just negative thoughts,” said Ireland.
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Nearly three hours passed before Ireland was able to successfully reach a second floor window, no more than 50 feet away. First responders noticed his exit and helped descend his body. After much rehabilitation, Ireland returned to Columbine High School, where he graduated as valedictorian. “The journey from that day to this one was not easy,” said Ireland. “There were many times where I was discouraged, angry but we as a community learned a tremendous amount as a result of the shootings.” Next to businesses, schools are where you are most at risk for active shooters. Chief of the Police and Public Safety Department Jeff Baker and Coordinator of the department’s Community-Oriented Policing Division Jerry Lecomte were both speakers at the event. Since Columbine, police training for active shooter response has changed drastically. Today, police policy is to “rush” to the scene and “follow the noise” when a shooter has been reported. Baker shared the equipment UNC Charlotte officers have available to them in the case of an active shooter.
Breaching kits, which can be used to break down doors, were put in all on campus officer vehicles after the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007, where the shooter chained doors shut. Officers also have shields to protect themselves when rushing towards the danger. UNC Charlotte’s police department has the ability to lock 98 percent of doors with the push of one button, a feature that only a select amount of schools have. Statistic say that only 3.1 percent of shootings end with armed citizens exchanging gunfire with the gunmen. “If you listen to the rhetoric, what do we hear most often? That everyone should be armed because they could end active shooting situations, but really what we see is that isn’t what happens,” said Baker. Baker and Lecomte highly encouraged students to download the app LiveSafe, designed by a survivor of the Virginia Tech shooting. The app includes a feature that allows users to text on-campus police. If an active shooter enters a building, “exit quickly but carefully” with hands up and fingers spreads. Do not make sudden movements towards officers.
SEPT. 27 - OCT. 3, 2016
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LIFELONG BONDS
SUNOL-ROJAS MAKES AN IMPACT
KATHLEEN COOK SPORTS EDITOR
Megan Greene attacks the ball against Mercer. Greene played high school soccer with teammate Kelly Suggs. Photo by Chris Crews
KATHLEEN COOK SPORTS EDITOR
Soccer allows for lifelong bonds to be formed. This is evident in two pairs of freshman on the women’s soccer team. Freshman Riley Orr and Mary Manser have known each other for a while, they started playing together in U8. Fast forward 10 years and they are playing for one of the top Division I schools. “When I think about U8 soccer, it’s not even comparable. We’ve both grown so much. We’re both so fortunate to be playing at the highest level,” Manser said. Manser verbally committed to play for the 49ers her sophomore year. After her commitment, Orr focused more attention on Charlotte. “When she committed there I looked at it a little more,” Orr said. Kelly Suggs and Megan Green met each other when playing U11 soccer. It was not friends at first sight for the pair. Through soccer, however, the two’s relationship flourished. “We weren’t even that good of friends at first, now we never leave each other’s side,” Suggs said. The two became very close during high school, Suggs said they “practically lived together.” “We were in the same friend group, played club soccer together, played school soccer together, had classes together, went to lunch together,”
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Suggs said. Suggs and Green were able to go on recruiting trips together, which made the process a lot more enjoyable. “It wasn’t as scary,” Green said. “You have someone there to talk to because you don’t know anyone at visits.” When rooming assignments came around the two requested they not room together, hoping to branch out a little. Also requesting not to room together were teammates Suggs and Green. The girls wound up becoming a group of four after becoming roommates. “Our roommates are best friends, so they brought us closer because they are always hanging out,” Orr said. Having a friend from high school has helped in the transition from high school to college. “They know where you’re coming from, they know who you are. It’s like a support system,” Manser said. Knowing someone while playing athletics also is useful when it comes to balancing responsibilities between playing and school. “We know people here from high school, but she’s my only friend from high school that plays soccer,” Green said. “It helps because she understands all that I have to do.”
After sitting out for a season, transfer Marco Sunol-Rojas has made his presence known on the field. He is second in the team in goals, with three so far this season. He also is responsible for three assists, giving him nine points total. After his father hung up the cleats of his professional soccer career in Costa Rica, his family moved to the states. “He wanted to bring us over to the U. S. for a better opportunity,” SunolRojas said. Having Costa Rican parents while growing up in America, Sunol-Rojas is naturally bilingual. “I don’t really remember learning English or Spanish, so that’s a plus,” Sunol-Rojas said. Coming from Costa Rica, where soccer is highly valued, Sunol-Rojas developed an passion for the sport. The five-foot-eleven forward was given the opportunity to play for the U-23 Costa Rican National Team. Though he would say he is “more American,” Sunol-Rojas felt right at home during his time with the team. “It was awesome to be able to represent my country. They call me
Marco Sunol-Rojas. Photo by Chris Crews
SEPT. 27 - OCT. 3, 2016
‘gringo’ over there because I live in America. Most of them don’t speak English at all, and they even notice a little accent in my Spanish,” SunolRojas said. “The soccer over in Costa Rica is less organized, Sunol-Rojas said. The game in both countries is different, but he enjoys playing in both settings. “A lot to do with the U.S. soccer is the structure, formations. Over there people have a lot of talent, a lot of skill but it’s a free-for-all,” Sunol-Rojas said. “It’s a different kind of soccer there and it’s fun flipping back and forth.” Sunol-Rojas received a scholarship to attend and play soccer at Greensboro Day where he would become a four-star recruit. He committed to UNC to play soccer after they defeated the 49ers in the 2011 NCAA Championship game. However during his freshman season in Chapel Hill, he didn’t feel he was in the right place. “I didn’t get to express myself the way I wanted to,” Sunol-Rojas said. With that he reconnected with head soccer coach Kevin Langan and got the ball rolling on becoming a 49er. While sitting out for a year due to transfer rules was “terrible,” SunolRojas developed a lot of discipline during his time of purely training. “It tests your mental strength and patience. I just had to put my head down and train the whole time and stay together with the team,” SunolRojas said. Sunol-Rojas found himself on SportCenter’s top 10 plays after a bicycle kick found the net against Hofstra, giving the transfer his first goal of the season. “I just thought it was a nice goal, and then everyone started talking about it,” Sunol-Rojas said. “I couldn’t have planned it any better.”
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Photo by Pooja Pasupula
HOW COULD THIS NOT HAPPEN IN CHARLOTTE? The unrest of the past week in Charlotte should be nothing unexpected, and systemic racism is to blame
CASEY ALDRIDGE OPINION EDITOR
Two years ago this month, I wrote my first piece with the Niner Times. It ran in print under the headline “Ferguson Here.” That article explored racial re-segregation in Charlotte, and the militarization of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department in the wake of the 2012 Democratic National Convention. In it I spelled out just a few of the parallels between Ferguson and Charlotte, ending with a warning: “If we don’t want the unrest of Ferguson in our streets, we can take a higher road. We can value the lives of black youth like Jonathan Ferrell and Michael Brown and millions more just like them; we can mitigate the systemic aspect of racism by raising the minimum wage, fighting gentrification and displacement and combating poverty; and, finally, we can be honest with ourselves about what the DNC left Charlotte—military-grade weapons—and begin the necessary scaling down of our militarized CMPD.” Needless to say, Charlotte didn’t listen. I was a sophomore at the time, and it was my first article, so I can’t say that I blame anyone in city government for ignoring the piece. But after a long week of unrest in the Queen City, I think it’s worth revisiting those points. Keith Lamont Scott was killed within a stone’s throw of our university on Tuesday, Sept. 20. As had happened in Ferguson a little over two years ago, neighbors and family gathered at the scene of the murder, wanting answers and voicing their frustrations. As the afternoon turned into evening and into night, community members turned out, little by little, until a sizeable crowd had coalesced. Emotions were high, and understandably so. People were grieving and people were angry. But the crowd didn’t have much of an enemy, at least until militarized police showed up in riot gear, and with control weapons. The point is a simple one. Protestors can’t toe off with a line of police until there is a line of police to toe off with. Protestors can’t kick tear gas canisters back at a line of cops until the
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line of cops has shot tear gas canisters into the crowd in the first place. Protestors can’t throw rocks at police if there are no police around. The first night of protests, on Old Concord Road, the police progressively moved the crowd towards W.T. Harris Blvd., away from the other end of Old Concord where students were arriving to join in the protest. When the protest became close enough to W.T. Harris, however, that’s when demonstrators were more or less forced to separate. Some remained in confrontation on Old Concord Road, and others marched down W.T. Harris, taking over I-85. That evolution of the protest, where it escalated from high emotions to more direct combat, was entirely instigated by the police. For much of Black America and Black Charlotte, the police are an occupying army. Black neighborhoods in Charlotte are increasingly either re-segregated and entirely neglected by the city, or they undergo a rapid and destructive process of gentrification, displacing Black citizens and families who have lived in those neighborhoods for decades. When a police officer shows up to College Downs off Old Concord Road, it isn’t because they are there to visit a loved one. They came to College Downs to make an arrest— not of Keith Lamont Scott, but of another suspect. These officers saw themselves as an invasion force with a particular target. So whether he had a gun or a book (and I lean towards the latter, based on holes in the police narrative and on testimony of eyewitnesses and neighbors who said that Scott read at that spot every single day), CMPD viewed Scott as an enemy combatant. The riots and protests that ensued in the wake of Scott’s execution, however, were not wholly sparked by Scott’s death alone. Re-segregation, displacement, racialized income inequality and opportunity gaps, the legacy of the Jonathan Ferrell case, and H.B. 972—each of these had a hand in Charlotte catching fire. And not only are each of these external and pre-existing factors the SEPT. 27 - OCT. 3, 2016
fault of city and state officials, but Black people, people of color and poor people in Charlotte have been protesting them for years, completely ignored by the public, media and government. As UNC Charlotte alum Cameron Joyce posted on Thursday, after the first night of large scale protests in Uptown Charlotte: “The research showed Charlotte has an economic and educational racial/socioeconomic equity problem. They shrugged. The research showed there is a racial/ socioeconomic displacement because of gentrification. They rolled their eyes. The research showed there is racial bias in policing and regular use of unnecessary force. They didn’t believe it. The critics said don’t militarize the cops for the DNC. They said it’s absolutely necessary. Randall Kerrick went unpunished for murdering Jonathan Ferrell. They said it was justice. …If you think this protest and riot came out of nowhere it’s because you’re disconnected from oppression and uneducated on the facts of reality of Charlotte.” Let me be very clear: the police, the city government, the state government, the federal government, the banks, the corporations, the National Guard and the media invent and incite the riots. And calling for calm without first demanding concessions—namely, stop killing Black people—is not motivated by a sense of care for our city but by a desire to control and police Black people. And that’s not going to fly. In the words of Moral Mondays leader, Rev. Dr. William J. Barber: “To condemn the uprising in Charlotte would be to condemn a man for thrashing when someone is trying to drown him. Whatever righteous indignation the public can muster ought to be directed toward the systems that created a situation where a man can drive to the bus stop to pickup his daughter and end up dead before she gets there.”
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Photo courtesy of A24
‘TRESPASS AGAINST US’ IS A POWERFULLY FLAWED ENGLISH CRIME DRAMA
The opening film to the Charlotte Film Festival is a solid start HUNTER HEILMAN EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Kicking off the eighth annual Charlotte Film Festival, festival directors struck gold when they were able to snag not only a film that recently screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, as well as a film acquired by the ever prestigious A24, but also a film starring respected actor Michael Fassbender and veteran actor Brendan Gleeson in “Trespass Against Us.” In the past, the Charlotte Film Festival has been able to snag good, albeit unknown films for the small, yet impressively crafted festival they put on each year. Last year, the festival’s two biggest draws came in opening film “Finders Keepers,” a local documentary film that detailed the absolutely bonkers journey of a man seeking to retrieve his amputated leg from a grill he sold. He enters a vicious legal battle with an attention seeking man looking for as much media attention as he can get from the situation. The closing film, “Bone Tomahawk,” was a rousing and completely unexpected western film with an impressive cast and surprisingly grotesque horror elements that would make even the most seasoned gore hound cringe. Despite its prominence, does “Trespass Against Us” live up to the smaller films that came before it? In a sense, yes and no. “Trespass Against Us” is quite a good film, but it doesn’t quite match the prowess of the previously mentioned films (not to mention some other films I saw at the festival last year), if only for its often times unique way of going
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about things. Sometimes you find that this pays off, while other times it does not. Chad Cutler (Michael Fassbender) is the son of English crime lord Colby Cutler (Brendan Gleeson), whose entire family lives together in a self-made trailer park in the English countryside. Together, they wreak general havoc on the nearby town, giving the police, more specifically its chief Lovage (Rory Kinnear) a major headache. Chad has two kids, Tyson (Georgie Smith) and Mini (Kacie Anderson), who are beginning to take after their foulmouthed, sociopathic grandfather. Seeing this change, Chad and his wife, Kelly (Lyndsey Marshal), decide that their lives with the Cutler clan are coming to an end and they must find a way out soon. Noticing this, Colby begins to send Chad on even harder missions of mischief that begins to change the lives of everyone around him. There are two things that “Trespass Against Us” does exceptionally: its performances and its music. Focusing on the performances, they’re wonderful in the realization that each of the actors in the film are stepping way outside of their comfort zones to step into the lives of each of their characters. Fassbender has never been edgier than he is here, with his broken down, messy look, nearly unintelligible accent. Seeing Fassbender, usually such a regal and dignified actor, taken down to size as Chad was a surprisingly welcome change to form for the actor. Meanwhile, in a rare role
SEPT. 27 - OCT. 3, 2016
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that doesn’t involve his trademark Irish accent, Gleeson steals the show from everyone around him. The role of Colby is the one that actors dream of when they sit and think about the roles that will define them when they die. While Colby is a character suited for a bigger and better film, Gleeson puts every ounce of sociopathic, deranged energy into it, all the while demonstrating an incredible amount of quiet restraint in his characterization of the criminal patriarch. The musical score, scored by The Chemical Brothers, is another beast altogether. In a film like this, a brooding electronic score is not what you expect to find here, but it quickly becomes the thing that makes “Trespass Against Us” so unique. The Chemical Brothers have given the film a somber, almost eerie vibe to the film, making each of the decisions the characters make seem all the more life-altering. The score also takes the value of silence into account as well, as “Trespass Against Us” is an incredibly quiet, slow-burn film, The Chemical Brothers have found reason to believe that this helps the film just as much as their vibrant score and it does. Watching the trailer to the film, you might think that “Trespass Against Us” is a hectic, slam-bang indie action film, but it couldn’t be farther from the truth. Yes, the film does offer some impressive action sequences involving car chases and robberies, but the film finds so much more life in its quieter, more intimate moments between the characters. An interaction between Chad and Colby near the end of the film quickly became much more thrilling than one of the earlier chase sequences in the film, which doesn’t knock said chase sequence, but sheds light on how well-crafted these characters are. With this slower, quieter vibe to the film, even at 99 minutes, the film feels long. The journey that the film takes us on is an arduous one,
full of twists and turns that make the film feel like its length and even more. The scenes of dialogue move by slowly and the few scenes of action help to cushion the film’s slower moments, but these come to be few and far between. The film’s final act, usually a place of quick moving action in any other film, actually felt slower than much of the rest of the film, which didn’t completely detract from the film, it was just a strange choice that made the film feel more incomplete than it should’ve. As noted above, the film also features some pretty heavy English accents that are often times impenetrable to the untrained ear. It took me a good half an hour to adjust to the film’s dialect and even then, I found myself having trouble keeping up with some of it as the film went on. Luckily, A24’s decision to release the film on video-on-demand (VOD) as well as in theaters opens doors for more subtitle options, which is almost a must for the average American. “Trespass Against Us” is a solidly crafted, attractively shot, wonderfully scored and impeccably acted crime drama that could’ve used a bit more crime and a little less drama. Regardless, the film is bolstered by a scene-stealing performance from Gleeson, as well as one from Fassbender, from whom we’ve come to expect great things. The film’s quiet nature makes it feel unique in its own right, but also struggles to keep the film going in times of slower moving acts, especially in its final act. The score makes the film an aurally magnificent film that is unlike anything else of its kind and makes the film’s more exciting scenes pop with the perfect amount of resonance. As a whole, “Trespass Against Us” does far more good than bad and I can very much so see myself watching it again when it hits theaters and VOD in 2017, though this time I’ll put some subtitles on.
DIRECTED BY: ADAM SMITH STARRING: MICHAEL FASSBENDER, BRENDAN GLEESON, LYNDSEY MARSHAL, KILLIAN SCOTT, WITH RORY KINNEAR, AND SEAN HARRIS. RUNTIME: 99 MINUTES
ACROSS 1 Time keeper? 10 Decorative Japanese porcelain 15 Foggy 16 Warms with waves 17 Shelled omnivore 18 Guitar band 19 Artful 20 Not a good sense 21 Features of some ‘Vettes 22 Johnny Vander __, only pitcher to throw back-toback no-hitters 23 They stir things up 25 Out of one’s class 28 Nut in a cupule 29 High-end chocolatier 30 It may lead to an argument 34 Et __ 35 Tusk, in fact
RATING: R FOR PERVASIVE LANGUAGE, SOME DISTURBING BEHAVIOR AND BRIEF
36 Colors 37 Allow it to go no further 39 Informal qualifier 40 Trailers often precede them 41 Meal 42 Home to Mount Kinabalu 44 Guns 45 Downed, in a way 46 Sound 48 Ending with humor 51 One-named musician whose last name is Chryssomallis 52 Lasting ability 54 Mideast unitarians 55 Elaborate procedure 56 Best Moment and Best Upset 57 Mental comparison
DOWN 1 Ink dispensers 2 Hydroxyl compound 3 Like fake fruit 4 Boomer until 2003 5 Word after A, B or C 6 Castle projection 7 More suitable 8 Emeril’s French Quarter restaurant 9 Sandford opponent in a landmark 19th-century case 10 Imminent 11 Feature of Civil War General Ambrose Burnside 12 Rubber home 13 Gets as a return 14 Web connectors, for short 22 Explosion surrounding a star? 24 Like penthouse suites 25 Troubled word 26 Ill humor 27 Sulky state 28 Dr. Alzheimer 30 Ordinary people 31 Pervasive quality 32 “__ see ... “ 33 Test with arguments, for short 35 Five-point K, e.g. 38 “Dancing With the Stars” numbers 39 A few 41 Pick up again 42 Brown University athletes 43 Confess 44 Hill crest 45 Fictional dark side 47 Taking care of business 48 __ about 49 Golden State sch. 50 Bleed 53 “Anything you can get away with”: Marshall McLuhan
GRAPHIC NUDITY. COMING TO SELECT THEATERS AND VOD IN 2017.
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SEPT. 27 - OCT. 3, 2016
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The 411 on Relationships ANGIE BAQUEDANO ASSIST. LIFESTYLE EDITOR
Relationships, relationships, relationships, what a scary, yet exciting term. Our world and our society are built upon relationships, but today I want to talk about romantic relationships specifically. At this point in our lives, a lot of us have been in a relationship or two and some of those may have been good and others perhaps not so much. Life is weird and sometimes things work out and other times they don’t, but I’ve come to find that often some relationships never even get a chance to bloom because it burns out in the ‘talking’ phase. I have been in two ‘Official’ relationships and a few ‘Talking’ relationships; I think nowadays that’s become the norm for our society. “No we aren’t dating, we’re talking.” For those who don’t know what I’m referring to, it’s a stage between getting to know each other and dating. It’s right in the middle, where you aren’t officially off the market, but you’re close to it, and it would be offensive to the other person if you were to go out with someone else. It’s like dating but without the labels. In my book, they pretty much count as relationships and after being in my fair share of talking relationships and formal relationships, I thought it would be good to make a list of what to watch out for and what to encourage in a relationship. 1.Watch out for the: “I’m way too busy to be in a relationship” speech Nope. That’s a lie. I am busy, so I get that statement on a spiritual level. I’m way too busy, but if you care about someone, and you like spending time with them, it doesn’t matter how busy you are you will part oceans and move mountains for them and that’s all there is to it. Of course, there will be times when you really are too busy for them, but to completely throw out the idea of something more than just ‘talking’ because you’re too ‘busy’ well that’s just BS. “Well how did you find the time to ‘just talk to me’ but now you have no time to date me?” That’s the real question, and if you have to ask it, then I don’t think it’s worth it. 2. Encourage each other to do more of what makes you happy If you care about the person you are with then part of your job as their companion is to urge them to be the very best person that they can possibly be. If you notice they are stressed out
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or just not enjoying life as much as they should be, then remind them. It’s amazing how much people forget that life is wonderful and should be appreciated, but often a gentle reminder to do more of what makes you happy can do the trick. If you know that they like nature, then suggest maybe spending your day together at a local park getting exercise, rather then going to the gym. Propose finding ways to fit in fun things into your lives but also encourage them to do happy things on their own. You must be happy on your own before you can find happiness with someone else.
3. Watch out if they are extremely private Privacy is good, but sometimes people take it to an extreme, and unless you are a CIA agent I expect you to tell me about your day. Share things with me that you wouldn’t with others rather than being vague. Why? Because that’s how you get to know people and if for 94 percent of the day this person you’re ‘talking’ to is MIA and suddenly is back on planet earth around 2:30 a.m., it’s time to let that phone buzz away because you know what? Sleep is important and if someone is going to ignore you all day and disrespect your sleep cycle like that then imagine what else they will disrespect. Probably the secret relationship they are in that you have yet to know about. My advice to you: do your research on people, don’t go through their phone or anything like that, SEPT. 27 - OCT. 3, 2016
just perhaps ask about meeting their friends or something of that nature. Don’t be psychotic just be precautious. 4. Encourage responsibility Do keep the spontaneity in the relationship alive, but also don’t drop everything without having a plan. Yes, taking a trip for the weekend sounds fun, but not at the expense of coming back to your life that is suddenly in complete and utter chaos. Remember that at the end of the day whatever you do with your life is for you to deal with alone. The decisions you make will mainly affect you, and if your partner makes you put them before your responsibilities and doesn’t respect the fact that you have a life before and after them then perhaps it’s time to sit down and discuss the expectations of this relationship. Responsibility doesn’t have to hinder your freedom and neither should your loved one. Those are just a few things that I could think of off the top of my head to encourage and watch out for in relationships, but this last one I decided not to include as part of the list because I think it’s the most important one and deserves more than just a number on a list. Be with someone who has a future. I cannot stress this enough if they don’t have plans or aspirations then they aren’t worth it. Yes, it sounds harsh, but being with someone who has nothing going for them is the biggest disservice that you can do to yourself. You are who you hang out with and if you surround yourself with someone that likes to laze around all day and is literally doing absolutely nothing with their lives then get prepared to end up in the same boat. Be with someone who inspires you and encourages you to be the very best person that you can be. Relationships are supposed to build you up not knock you down. This goes for all relationships, friendships, romantic, work related, everything. Surround yourself with people that want to see you rise, the moment you start questioning someone’s loyalty is the moment you should take a step back and decided whether or not continuing this relationship is worth it. Be with people that make you happy and make you thank the universe for putting them in your life. Life is too short, not to surround yourself with wonderful things.
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HAILEY TURPIN LIFESTYLE EDITOR
HUNTER HEILMAN EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
TORI SUMMERS INTERN
MORGAN FLITT INTERN
“The big point today during this demonstration was to show the higher-ups that “Hey we have a voice, we are not going anywhere and we are a vital part of this campus.” We do a lot of things on this campus as a black community, we hold so many positions. Without us here you would not be running this campus. So we just wanted to make sure that they knew that we are here and that we have a voice, we are not going to stay silent, we are not going to be quiet. Yes we have classes to go to, but this is bigger than ourselves, and that’s what we wanted the people to know that we love each other and we want this to be a community and in the future we wanna be more inclusive. The diversity on this campus, that’s something we sell ourselves on, but we are not inclusive at all. So our plan today was to be able to go and talk to people we don’t normally talk to and bring them to this event and let them know that it’s all love on this campus. We want them to spread that in their personal life, on and off campus and through the greater Charlotte community. We want them to get involved in organizations off campus like the NAACP and different things uptown. There is so much to do and we just wanted to bring people’s awareness to what happened on Tuesday night and whats going to continue happening unless we make some systematic changes. It was a little difficult, we went out there (to the Tuesday night protests). There was a mix crowd. There were a lot of people there for the right reasons but there was also a lot of people there with hostility and hate in their hearts. A lot of us didn’t come for that reason, we came because Black Lives Matter is a movement and we’re sticking behind it. We did not come to riot, we did not come to be in police officer’s faces and yell at them, we came to let them know, like we did today (9/21) that our voices need to be heard, this is a problem we identify with and we are going to continue to cover.”
- Alexis Widemon
“I want people who see this and hear my voice to know that there are people out here like me that will fight this. I am not going away. If I die today, there is always going to be someone to take my place. I am a black man in this country, and my life is not appreciated. I don’t want my children and grandchildren to be raised in a world where people can judge on the color of your skin and kill you for it. That’s not right. I am tired of being afraid. I am tired of getting out of my bed every day wondering if I’m going to be on the news dead. What would my mom do? I’m an only child. I think about that. I cry. I cry everyday. This is not right. But the first step is starting the conversation and people knowing we are not making this up. And please; stand with us against injustice.”
- Kris Long
“Our main goal is to bring awareness to the unjust killing of black men in our communities. We are tired of having things done and nothing done about it. We are tired of being sick and tired for a lack of better words. We are tired of doing stuff like this. We want to celebrate our black men; we want to celebrate our black community. We don’t want to have to be ashamed for being black. We don’t want to have to drive our cars and wonder “Am I going to get pulled over because I actually did something wrong or because of the color of my skin?: These are things that our grandparents fought for and never thought we would have to experience, so to live in this time is really surreal, that’s what we did this for. I would say to people who seek to understand to listen to understand. Don’t listen to rebuttal, don’t tell me your issues, don’t tell me how you’ve been oppressed because I have systematic proof of what happened. I don’t want to hear what I could have done, or this person shouldn’t have done this, and he would not have been killed because we have seen over and over again in the media how people of other races have done things and been apprehended the way they were supposed to be. So to have black men committing crimes if they are guilty or are not but to not have the opportunity to tell their story is unfair.”
- Robbie Miller
NINERTIMES.COM
SEPT. 27 - OCT. 3, 2016
15
“I personally feel like it was very important for our campus to do a protest, especially since it was in our backyard. It would be hypocritical of us to support the cause and not do something today (9/21). So the protest last night, a lot of students from UNC Charlotte were there, the protest was peaceful in the beginning and then the send out the riot officers which I feel like turned it into a riot, and so then you have those people who don’t acknowledge the situation for what it is. They don’t acknowledge that it’s a protest because a innocent life was lost, they acknowledge that it’s an inconvenience because they can’t get to their apartment, or they acknowledge that “Oh I’m scared because I’m in the library on the 8th floor and there’s a riot around the corner”. They don’t recognize what it’s for. They don’t see a purpose for the protest. And so today it felt necessary to have our voice heard and especially since if you go on social media last night there were a lot of thing said were very insensitive to the topic and so this was more so of a we’re gonna put in in your face, you’re going to see, and hopefully feel what we feel. It’s something about just seeing the people lay there and singing. You know, we shouldn’t have to do this, we shouldn’t have to make it this dramatic. I shouldn’t have to take two hours out of my time to lay on ground, but it’s necessary. Personally how the protest affected me was that it made me feel like I’m doing the right thing, made me feel like a purpose, it made me feel like I spoke to people in ways that I necessarily couldn’t have. A lot of people you try to talk to them and try to get it through their heads what this is, why are we doing it and they don’t get it. And so for me today this is me becoming one with my culture, becoming one with my community. This is me standing up and saying “No I don’t support this.” I’m willing to take two hours out of my day to prove it, this was a collective act from everyone to basically show that we are united, that we love one another and that we aren’t afraid to let UNC Charlotte know. It was more so of ‘you can’t avoid this. You can block us on Twitter, you can unfollow us on social media platforms, but you can’t avoid this because you’re going to walk through the Union. So it was very good protest, very peaceful, nothing went crazy and so I’m really really happy to be a part of it.”
- Bri-Anna Lewis
“On Tuesday when I went with my roommate Brittany Gwyn, we didn’t know what to expect. We arrived and saw people walking in every direction, but we decided to push forward. We got to the intersection by the East W.T. Harris exit and saw a barricade posted. I felt like I was in a movie because what I was seeing, I couldn’t believe it. We walked down the exit and saw hundreds of people lined up in front of another barricade. The people took over the streets and there was a guy stomping on a car. The police released a tear gas canister and it burned everything; my eyes, skin, lungs, just everything! Most of the crowd dispersed but continued to chant several sayings like, “No justice, no peace, hands up, don’t shoot.” About 15 minutes later the barricade pushed forward and a large group of protesters headed down the road towards the interstate, but Brittany and I stayed where we were. There were a hundred or so others who stayed behind with us as well. A couple of people were in the policemen’s faces yelling, cursing and spitting; doing everything they could display their anger without being too violent. I, however didn’t do that. Instead, I walked about 5 feet in front of the barricade with my hands in the air and I got on my knees. I said a silent prayer for a moment and went on to talk to the riot gear protected police officers in front of me. I went on and said that these issues must stop, but I also thanked the ones who knew the difference between right and wrong and the ones who wanted to fight with us, instead of against us. I bawled like a baby while speaking to them because I knew that at any moment I could get arrested or something worse could happen. Once I finished saying what I had to say, I got up and stepped to the side where I cried on Brittany’s shoulder. From there, I was interviewed by Fox News about what I did and then we went home before the violence broke out. It was a really shocking and emotional night not only for me, but for the police officers too. I was terrified, but because of my adrenaline I did what I felt I needed to do. It was the one time that my voice could be heard, so I went for it.”
- Kristine Slade 16
SEPT. 27 - OCT. 3, 2016
NINERTIMES