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VOLUME 114, ISSUE 42

VOLUME 116, ISSUE 5

GLOBAL RESPONSIBILITY

FILM REVIEW

SOFTBALL

OPINION PAGE 3

CAMPUS LIFE PAGE 4

SPORTS PAGE 6

Film critic Hunter Friesen reviews “Hustlers.”

Writer Mohammed Rawwas urges readers to engage in global responsibility.

Panthers win first fall game against Kirkwood.

WRC introduces intramural fee ELIZABETH KELSEY News Editor

For many students, intramural sports are a form of recreation, exercise and socialization.

“I’ve been here 25-plus years, and the camaraderie and the friendships that have been made through intramural sports are still friendships now,” said Cindy Klatt, Intramural Sports Coordinator. “These kids that were athletes in high school… still get to play, and they get to play the whole game.”

This year, however, that playing time comes with an additional fee.

The Department of Recreation Services has implemented a $20 per-semester fee for participation in intramural sports. The fee allows a student to participate in as many intramural sports and “special events” (such as oneday intramural tournaments) as they wish throughout the semester. New memberships are required each semester.

The fee is only one of the changes Recreation Services

has made for the 2019-2020 school year in an effort to be “good stewards of the students’ money,” according to Chris Denison, Recreation Services Director.

“When we went through the budget process, this wasn’t just about increasing an intramural fee,” he said. “That was part of the full package.”

Denison cited departmental changes such as reduced building hours, increased usage fees for alumni, faculty/ staff and event rentals, and energy-conscious practices to reduce utility costs.

Recreation Services was forced to re-evaluate its budget, according to Denison, because UNI enrollment has declined while the mandatory student recreation fee remained constant. This fee provides one-third of the department budget, and was, until this year, responsible for completely subsidizing intramural sports. Now, with declining enrollment leading to fewer dollars in student fees, Denison said, “our financial situation as a department has changed, as has almost

every department on campus.”

“I heard it’s because they didn’t raise their tuition, but Iowa State and Iowa did,” said Nicholas Vail, a junior business administration major who participated in intramural softball this fall and plans to play intramural basketball as well.

Other students, such as sophomore psychology major Jaylee Knowles, voiced similar opinions. “I understood it since we’re having a tuition freeze,” she said, referring to the announcement made by the UNI administration earlier this summer that tuition would be held constant for the 2019-2020 school year. “And it’s great that we’re having a tuition freeze, so I expected there to be costs coming up in random places.”

However, Denison clarified that the fact that his department’s fee remained constant wasn’t solely because of the tuition freeze. In the budgetary process, he said, Recreation Services did not ask for an increase to its fee.

However, if they had, the freeze might have intervened.

“We did not ask for an

GABRIELLE LEITNER/Northern Iowan

increase, and I don’t think anybody received an increase anyway. As far as I know, there were no departments who were given an increase on their fees last year,” Denison said. “The President decided not to have a tuition increase, which was approved by the Board of Regents, and there was a flat to all of the rest of the fees on campus. There was not going to be a raise to it.”

Denison emphasized that UNI’s mandatory student recreation fee, at $91.50 per academic year, is among the lowest in the nation. At Iowa State University, for exam-

ple, the yearly recreation fee is $321.60. However, at ISU, student participation in intramurals and group fitness classes is included in that higher sticker price.

According to Denison, it’s the difference between charging all students one price up-front and including all amenities, whether the individual student uses those amenities or not, and charging a lower price but adding “a la carte” fees.

Recreation Services opted for the second choice.

SAR improv group sparks laughs ZYRUS WHITEHEAD Staff Writer

A ballet rivalry, a silverware factory and a potato farm were just a few of the scenes audience members witnessed at Some Assembly Required (SAR)’s first show of the year on Friday, Sept. 13.

The UNI improv comedy troupe performs monthly at the ThreeHouse: A Wesley Foundation. The troupe also travels to perform with other comedy groups, hosts workshops and participates in competitions and festivals.

SAR was founded six years ago and currently consists of six members. They hope to cast two or three more mem-

See INTRAMURAL, page 2

bers for this school year.

Over 100 UNI community members attended Friday’s event.

“We like it when people have to sit on the floor,” said Micah Criscuolo, SAR member and senior general studies major.

The troupe played a variety of improv games, almost all of which were centered around topics suggested by audience members. One of the first games, “Press Conference,” involved an improviser guessing his identity, with the help of the other five improvisers in the audience asking questions as reporters and journalists to help him.

See SAR, page 4

TONI FORTMANN/Northern Iowan

Check out our special Career Fair Guide insert inside for more information about the upcoming Career Fair on September 23, 2019.

PAGE 2

SEPTEMBER 16, 2019 |

NEWS

NORTHERNIOWAN.COM

ELIZABETH KELSEY News Editor

|

VOLUME 116, ISSUE 5

College Hill fight damages car NI STAFF

A fight on College Hill last weekend led to the damage of a car scheduled to be filmed in a movie, according to KWWL News.

Cedar Falls police are investigating the fight, which occurred in front of Sharky’s on College Hill at approximately 2 a.m. on

Saturday, September 7.

An eight-second video of the altercation was posted on Facebook by the owner of the vehicle, Haki Al-Yassiri.

According to Al-Yassiri’s post, he walked out of the bar to discover the dent and used Snapchat to obtain video of the fight from a fellow bargoer. The video shows one man slamming

another into the side of a car, leading several others to join the fight before the video ends.

According to Al-Yassiri, the Ford Mustang received a dent on the driver side quarter panel. In an interview with KWWL on September 10, Al-Yassiri was especially frustrated because the Mustang was due to be

continued from page 1

“It’s kind of unheard of that you would have a lower recreation fee, less than $100, and not charge for intramurals and group activities and all the other things,” Denison said. “It’s a fine line to figure out what we can offer for the amount of budget we have.”

This isn’t the first time Recreation Services has implemented a fee for intramural sports. In 2013, the department began charging a team fee for participation, with the cost varying for each sport.

Two years later, Denison said, the financial situation improved, allowing for the fee’s removal.

However, this time around, the fee is different. Previously, if a student played multiple intramurals, he or she would pay for each event. Now, the $20 semester membership covers a student’s participation in all activities for the full semester.

This new fee setup, Denison explained, was inspired by research he and his colleagues conducted in 2010. When 89 intramural basketball managers at UNI were surveyed about their responses to a proposed intramural fee, 28 out of the 89 said they would discontinue participation altogether, but nearly double that number said they would simply reduce participation.

This led Recreation Services to implement the per-semester fee, rather than the per-sport fee, which keeps cost low for multi-sport par-

ticipants and caters to those who said they would “reduce participation” if a fee were implemented.

“We just thought it would be much easier and more accessible to more students if we had what we consider to be a lower fee that gives you access to the whole semester,” Denison said. He added that the department has striven to “keep [the fee] low enough that it’s not going to make people avoid playing or not be able to afford to play.”

For the most part, students agreed that the cost isn’t unreasonable.

“It’s not a horrible fee,” said Knowles.

“I was just like, ‘well, that’s 20 extra bucks down the drain,’ but it wasn’t a big deal,” said sophomore political science and philosophy major Sam Gingrich, who played intramural dodgeball last year and plans to do so again this year. “$20 isn’t terrible, but any more than that would be too much.”

Even so, some students have opted not to participate in intramurals in the face of the new fee. This includes Knowles, who played intramural volleyball last year but said she “probably won’t” this year, in part because of the fee.

“I tried to come back [to the administration] with something like maybe just a $10 fee if they were just going to do one event,” said Klatt, “but that was not accepted.”

The decline in numbers has made scheduling a challenge, according to Vail.

“They haven’t gotten very

GABRIELLE LEITNER/Northern Iowan

NORTHERN IOWAN

INTRAMURAL

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filmed in a few scenes for a movie later in the week.

Cedar Falls Police Chief Jeff Olson said that everyone had left the scene by the time police arrived. He said the police are reviewing the Facebook video as well as footage from the city’s new high-definition College Street security cameras. No arrests have been made at

this time.

In his interview with KWWL, Al-Yassiri addressed the perpetrators.

“Just know that your actions have consequences; they have collateral. You’re not just affecting the personal you’re in the confrontation with; you’re affecting everyone else around you in some way or another,” he said.

many teams,” he said. “For softball, they had to change everybody’s schedule and said, ‘Can you guys play this night instead because we don’t have any other teams signed up for this night?’ We were going to do ultimate Frisbee too, but we were the only team that signed up.”

Klatt said that golf and ultimate Frisbee have been cancelled, and there are fewer football and softball teams.

“Numbers are significantly less,” she said. “And I totally understand. When they’re used to not being charged, I’m sure they get a little perturbed.”

However, she noted that intramurals have been cancelled in past years due to lack of interest, even before the fee was implemented.

“I have learned that UNI kids are your basic sports kids,” she said. “They like their football, their basketball, their vol-

leyball, their dodgeball, those types of activities.” Sports like kickball and Spikeball, she said, have previously failed to garner sufficient interest, even without the fee.

However, both Klatt and Denison agree that the fee has diminished participation.

Klatt stated that at this time, 394 students have purchased the intramural membership for the fall 2019 semester, as compared to 1449 students who participated in intramurals throughout the entire fall 2018 semester. She noted, however, that this is early in the semester, and numbers may increase, since students can purchase a membership at any time throughout the semester.

Aside from cancelling sports, Klatt said, diminished participation impacts intramurals in another way.

“They want more games,” she said. “They want it worth

the money they put into it, but what makes it harder is that when you don’t have as many teams, you can’t give them that many games.” She said double rounds of play, as well as a larger pool of teams for playoffs, will be used to increase playing time.

“We have heard that there are some people who are disappointed with the intramural fee who have decided that they’re not going to participate in intramurals, and that’s unfortunate,” Denison said.

“We figured some of that was going to happen. We totally understand. We were all students trying to get through at one point as well, so we understand what implementing a fee means. I just hope that we get to a place that students understand that we work on behalf of the students [and] we’re trying our best to offer the best things that we can for the lowest cost.”

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OPINION

GABRIELLE LEITNER Executive Editor

SEPTEMBER 16, 2019 |

NORTHERNIOWAN.COM

|

PAGE 3

VOLUME 116, ISSUE 5

Yemen, praxis and global responsibility MOHAMMED RAWWAS

Opinion Writer

According to a recently released United Nations Development Programme report, the conflict in Yemen will result in 233,000 deaths by the end of 2019, with 140,000 or 60% of total deaths being children under the age of 5. The total deaths total about 1% of Yemen’s entire population. 17% of the population lives with malnutrition. If the war was to end in 2019, it would set back human development 21 years to 1998. Beyond Saudi Arabia and U.S. bombings of school buses, weddings and funerals, the majority of deaths are being caused by a famine and cholera epidemic onset by an embargo imposed on Yemen by Saudi Arabia. What is happening in Yemen right now is a genocide, one that the U.S. supports, from arms sales to re-fueling Saudi Arabian fighter jets.

Congress, under the direction of Ro Khanna and Bernie Sanders, has attempted multiple times to curb U.S. support for Saudi Arabia, first passing a bill to remove U.S. armed forces from Yemen, which Paul Ryan tried to block in the House, and was eventually vetoed by Trump. Later, Congress passed a bill to stop arms sales to Saudi Arabia, which was again

vetoed by Trump. It was a U.S.-manufactured munition that killed 40 schoolchildren in a late-2018 strike, as is the case for many other strikes which have resulted in civilian deaths, and as of late May 2019, Trump approved another $8 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia. Liberals that make up the #Resistance love to criticize Trump for his use of Twitter, but perhaps his complicity in genocide is a more substantive reason for opposing him. The U.S. has just recently stopped re-fueling Saudi Arabian fighter jets, but only because Saudi Arabia has now developed the capabilities of continuing its operations without that support.

The Saudi-Arabian intervention in Yemen has been ongoing since 2015, and its absence from the national political conversation is egregious. In fact, one of Trump’s first acts as President was to authorize a raid in Yemen which resulted in the killing of an 8-year-old girl. Since then, the U.S. continues to be allies with Saudi Arabia, even after the killing of Khashoggi found its way into mainstream attention.

Among the Democratic Primary candidates, only Senator Sanders has made an effort to discuss Yemen and has worked most closely with Representative Ro

Khanna in drafting legislation to end U.S. involvement in Yemen. Sanders represents an entirely different set of politics than any other candidate on stage, one of international solidarity instead of the technocratic, green-imperialism of Warren. But beyond ending U.S. involvement in the conflict in Yemen, the U.S. should sever diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia and sanction them until they end the embargo and their military involvement in Yemen.

Ending a genocide may seem like a daunting task, but there are many elements that all combine to the form the environment in which U.S. complicity in genocide can even occur, and more so occur with almost no visible protest from the entire U.S. populace. A simple example: just recently we had the 18th anniversary of 9/11, and the ROTC decided to trot out a Blackhawk helicopter and a Humvee outside of Schindler and Lawther Hall as a vehicle for recruitment, along with local police support and an unquestioning article in this very paper. The fact that 3,000 deaths that occurred nearly two decades ago are talked about more than 233,000 deaths that are still currently occurring in a genocide that is being funded with our very own taxpayer dollars is a testa-

a good education. We would not choose to shut down our pharmacy. We would not choose to defund our public transportation. We would not choose to cut faculty year by year or prevent our faculty from having strong bargaining rights. We would choose something different, something new, something humane.

We would choose a system in which our workplaces at the dining centers, the library and the research centers pay us living wages. A system which provides its workers with universal healthcare and strong unions, which adequately funds our high schools and elementary schools, so we are fully prepared to enter higher education. The public university began with the idea that knowledge is not accessible only to those at the top, that all among us are capable of achieving great things. We can create anew the public university, we can redefine the idea of it, we can claim our rightful place as the future of society.

So how can we, the stu-

dents and workers, achieve such a transformational change? The answer is simple: no historic, structural change can occur without millions of people standing up and saying, “Enough is enough, it’s our turn now.” Students have always been a driving force in social change. The aforementioned student-worker strikes of May ’68 are but one example. Let us never forget the brave souls of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee who drove buses to the deep South to expose the violent oppression and slaughter of people of color.

We must remember our fallen brothers and sisters at Kent State, who were protesting the unjust war in Vietnam.

And we must not only applaud but actively join the millions of students around the world fighting, protesting and walking out of class in the fight against the climate catastrophe that is beckoning.

We must apply the same logic of mass organization, coordination and commitment

PEXELS

Opinion writer Mohammed Rawwas discusses issues in Yemen and the importance of global responsibility.

ment both to how ingrained white supremacy is in our society and to how twisted our narratives on terrorism, the U.S. military and foreign intervention are.

Politicians like Trump who pretend to care about 9/11 clearly do not: beyond bragging about how his building was now the tallest since the Twin Towers fell literally on the day of 9/11, as the smoke was still clearing, Trump clearly doesn’t care about civilian deaths since 30,000 Americans die every year from lack of healthcare, yet Trump along with Republicans (and most Democrats for that matter) are diametrically opposed to single-payer. The only reason 9/11 is brought up is because it feeds into Islamophobic narratives and can act as a pretense to

foreign intervention.

Instead, we should discuss civilian casualties that are currently occurring and that we might actually be able to do something about.

We should be more critical of the U.S. military and the people who compose it. And we should not allow the ROTC to exist on our campus. On the national level, the Sanders campaign is the only one which can properly bring an end to U.S. complicity in the genocide in Yemen. On the university level, work on building a base of student organizing that can demand changes to the U.S. military’s relationship to our campus, and talk with everyone you can about the genocide in Yemen and the ways in which we can help end it, both locally and nationally. And finally, act!

that our colleagues have in the past to our present struggles. This means extending our power beyond the university and into national politics.

It does us little good to have student power at our university if our next President seeks to quash our movement. We must put someone in office who will protect, uplift, and secure our futures, someone who embraces student power and has actively participated in it. Student power and democracy are possible only by engaging in the universal struggle for who sits in the Oval Office.

There are a slew of candidates in the 2020 Democratic primary, each pitching themselves to students in their own way. If there is one word which signifies the 2020 Democratic race, it is “unity.”

Surely not all candidates mean the same thing when they say “unity,” though. We are certainly united against Donald Trump. But Donald Trump is not the true enemy of the working class, of stu-

dents, of women and people of color. Our real, existential enemy is the system which allows someone like Jeff Bezos to be worth $124 billion while so many of us struggle simply to pay off our crushing loans.

I, myself, am drowning under a mountain of $60,000 in student loans. This is what sets apart Bernie Sanders from his opposition. Senator Sanders recognizes the class struggle between those who own the wealth and those who create it.

He has a long list of enemies on Wall Street, in corporate boardrooms, and of course the Republican Party. If we are to judge Senator Sanders by his enemies, then we students and workers are not so different from him. We, too, struggle against the banks, our bosses and the wealthy. It is time to elect someone who struggles with us, for us and alongside of us. It is time the students take what is rightfully ours.

It’s time we, the students and working class, take power.

How much power should students have?

CALEB STEKL

Opinion Writer

Student power is a term rarely discussed since the student-worker revolts that raged across France in May 1968.

The French students demanded democratic, student-run universities and better working conditions for the workers of France. What meaning, if any, can student power have in this epoch of disempowered unions, massive student debt and strained higher education funding? A student’s right to exert their democratic will does not extend beyond voting for the student government, whose own power is limited to commenting upon official university policy and budgetary decisions. We are not allowed to determine the future of our institution.

We must ask ourselves: what should student power be, and what can we achieve with it? If we, the students, had control of our education, we would not choose to indebt ourselves to the tune of $1.5 trillion collectively to receive

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SOFIA LEGASPI

CAMPUS LIFE SEPTEMBER 16, 2019 |

NORTHERNIOWAN.COM

Tallgrass Prairie renamed to ‘Daryl Smith Prairie’ SOFIA LEGASPI

Campus Life Editor

During the “Prairie Rendezvous” event on Saturday, Sept. 14, the UNI Tallgrass Prairie was renamed the “Daryl Smith Prairie” to honor the biology professor on the occasion of his retirement from UNI. Speakers at the dedication included President

Mark Nook, College of Humanities, Arts and Sciences Dean John Fritch, as well as several of Smith’s former students colleagues.

Smith and his students planted the prairie in 1973.

It became one of the first reconstructed prairies in Iowa, according to Theresa Spradling, biology department head.

WILL LAFOE/Northern Iowan

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Campus Life Editor

VOLUME 116, ISSUE 5 GABRIELLE LEITNER/Northern Iowan

PMB to present ‘The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire’ GABRIELLE LEITNER/Northern Iowan

WILL LAFOE/Northern Iowan

SOFIA LEGASPI

Campus Life Editor

Fans of the band Earth, Wind & Fire will want to remember the “21st night of September” for this year in particular.

On that date, the Panther Marching Band (PMB) will perform an Earth, Wind & Fire halftime show in the UNI Dome during the football game against Idaho State.

SAR

With 315 members, PMB is the largest student organization at UNI. According to its website, PMB students represent 79 different majors, with over one-third of its membership being non-music majors.

Saturday’s game starts at 4 p.m., and the show will be performed in collaboration with BYOBrass, a UNIbased brass band founded in 2017.

TONI FORTMANN/Northern Iowan

continued from page 1

Other games included “Late to Work,” in which one improviser explained to his boss why he was late, based on the two “coworkers” behind the boss acting out excuses provided by the audience.

Another crowd favorite was “Four Square,” where four improvisers were each assigned a scenario to act out and rotated scenes in a fashion similar to the childhood game Four Square. A “director” stood on the sidelines calling out when to switch left or right in the middle of the scenes, which then picked up from where they left off when their scene rotated back to the front. Scene suggestions from the audience included sexy pants, taco, frogs, new cars, George Lopez, running out of soap and getting a really bad cramp.

First-time audience member Isabella Pedersen said she

loved the game “Montage,” where all members improvised several scenes loosely formed around one suggestion from the audience.

“They just kept coming up with the funniest editions,” she said.

Abby Wiese, a repeat attendee of SAR shows, said she was a fan of the jokes and puns in the show and that SAR brings joy into her life.

Dan Noonan-Day, a senior political science major at

Hawkeye Community College, has been a member of SAR for over a year and loves the relationships he has built with the other members of the team.

“It seems a little nerve-wracking right at first, but you really just have to get into the mindset that it’s all about teamwork and just working off each other,” Noonan-Day said.

Noonan-Day’s favorite game is called “Conductor,” which shows a story told by a

Panther|Preview constitution day address: separate and unequal

wellness wednesday

observatory show

monday, Sept. 16 7 p.m.

wednesday, sept. 18 11 A.m. - 1 p.m.

thursday, sept. 19 9 p.m. - 10 p.m.

Great hall GBPAC

rod library room 286

mccollum science hall room 137

line of improvisors each contributing their own pieces of information.

Sophomore computer science major Isaac Zeimetz joined the troupe last year as a freshman. His brother was part of the original troupe, and Zeimetz said it had always been a dream of his to be on the team. Zeimetz’s favorite type of improv is long form, a less-structured form of improv.

“It tells a real story without making you feel tied down,” he said. “It feels more organic.”

Zeimetz stressed that doing improv helps improve one’s communication skills and thinking on one’s toes.

Other SAR members Micah Criscuolo, Alex Finn and Caitlyn Niehus said they loved the improv troupe as a creative outlet and way to have fun.

“You work with what you get in life, and so this is kind of practice for that in a really weird, off-canter way,” said Niehus, a senior elementary education major.

According to Finn, the troupe gets most of their games from the “Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Improvisation Manual” by

Matt Walsh, as well as from traditions passed down from past members. However, members have also invented some games themselves.

For example, “Love Stories” is a game created by the troupe that involves creating and performing poems live on stage based on audience suggestions.

This is a favorite for Finn, a senior public relations major who plans to use his SAR experience to help plan and schedule acts for comedy theaters and other live events.

The troupe encourages anybody with or without improvisation experience to audition for SAR. Auditions will be held at ThreeHouse at 2422 College St on Monday, Sept. 16, Wednesday, Sept. 18, and Thursday, Sept. 19 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Sept. 21 at 1 p.m. Auditions will consist of different improv games for the troupe to see who meshes well with their dynamic.

“You also have to remember that while we’re trying to see if you match us,” Niehus said.

“You also have to come in with a mindset that you’re trying us out, too. You’re also auditioning to see if you like us.”

SOFIA LEGASPI

Campus Life Editor

CAMPUS LIFE SEPTEMBER 16, 2019 |

FILM REVIEW

NORTHERNIOWAN.COM

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PAGE 5

VOLUME 116, ISSUE 5

Scafaria’s ‘Hustlers’ makes it rain HUNTER FRIESEN Film Critic

We all know how the Great Recession of 2008 affected the American economy.

There are countless stories of large financial and automotive firms going under, taking thousands of employees with them. But there is one industry you may not have considered where workers took the biggest direct hit: strip clubs.

Based on a true story, “Hustlers” tells the story of four female New York strippers as they scam and crawl their way out of the financial crisis that left their regular Wall Street clients with no money to flaunt.

Directing: 5/5 Probably one of the most fun movies of the year, “Hustlers” flows with great kinetic energy that makes it endlessly entertaining.

Director Lorene Scafaria takes a lot of influence from the works of Martin Scorsese and Adam McKay (also a producer on the film) as she effortlessly keeps the movie going at top speed. Watching this, you’re reminded of great films like “The Wolf of Wall Street” and “Goodfellas.”

Scafaria also shows off her great productional talent as she makes use of several slow-motion montages combined with a perfect soundtrack of mid2000s R&B hits. Numerous moments of fluid camerawork that mix both quick cuts and long takes give the film a fresh and brisk pace.

There’s one moment where all these great facets come together in a surprise meta-cameo from a well-known singer/dancer.

The perfect music choice, the choreography of the dancers, and the blocking of the

Tribune News Service

NI film critic Hunter Friesen reviews “Hustlers,” the newest film from director/writer Lorene Scafaria. Starring Jennifer Lopez and Constance Wu, the crime drama follows the story of former strip club employees during the 2008 financial crisis. The film received an 88 percent Rotten Tomatoes rating.

movement make it the most exciting and memorable scene in the film.

Writing: 3/5 In addition to directing, Scafaria also pens the script, imbuing the narrative with themes of family and sisterhood. We see the four women come together and follow the journey of bonding through redemption. Sometimes it does get close to “Fast & Furious” levels of overdoing it, but the strong performances from the leads make it believable to watch.

Scafaria also uses a flashback framework structure as the story cuts between the past and present with the quartet plunging deeper into the moral gray areas

of their actions. There’s a constant feeling of having already seen this technique done before several times.

However, it’s very interesting to see this kind of story told not from the demeaning point of view that plagues similar films, but an unmalicious female perspective.

Scafaria does slip up when it comes to the moral reasoning of the actions and character development as they are both put to the sideline in favor of more dancing scenes. In her defense, the dancing scenes are the best part of the film and a treat to watch. However, each begins to feel empty near the end as the lack of depth and ethical stakes become too obvious to ignore.

Acting: 4/5 Holding the story together are two excellent performances from leading ladies Constance Wu and Jennifer Lopez.

After her breakout in last year’s hit “Crazy Rich Asians,” Wu turns in another star-making performance as Destiny. With the good material Scafaria gives her, she sinks deep into her character and shows off her more dramatic chops.

Jennifer Lopez, surprisingly 50 years old, plays Ramona and is the best she’s been in a long time. She struts that movie star glow that keeps your eyes always glued to her, especially during her more physical scenes that give off a sense of both grace and

power.

The rest of the supporting cast is stunt cast with the likes of Cardi B and Lizzo, who play themselves. They each don’t mean anything to the story apart from their name value on the poster.

Overall: 4/5 “Hustlers” is one of the sleekest and entertaining movies to come out this year.

While its politics may be a bit skimpy and misguided from time to time, the brilliant directing by Scafaria and powerhouse performances by Wu and Lopez make this a great time well worth your investment.

PAGE 6

SPORTS SEPTEMBER 16, 2019 |

FOOTBALL

NORTHERNIOWAN.COM

JACOB POTTER Sports Editor

|

VOLUME 116, ISSUE 5

McElvain’s journey from walk-on to starting QB JACOB POTTER

Sports Editor

Much like head coach Mark Farley, redshirt freshman quarterback Will McElvain walked on to the Panther football team with the goal of eventually becoming a starter.

Hard work and dedication made that goal come to fruition. In his first collegiate start, McElvain went 25-42 for 228 yards and one touchdown, coming up just short against Iowa State in a 29-26 triple overtime thriller.

McElvain’s work ethic shined through in his second start, improving on his first showing going 17-25 for 262 yards and three touchdowns in his UNI-Dome debut against Southern Utah in a 34-14 rout.

“I have just kind of invested it [work ethic] in myself from where I grew up going to a school in Des Moines in the inner city,” McElvain said. “Went to Lincoln [High School] so that’s just how we go. You have to work for it.

We’ve always been the underdogs, and I came here and was an underdog.”

McElvain calls himself an underdog, not only because he was a walk-on, but also after several colleges questioned his height at 5-foot-11.

“There were a lot of schools that weren’t too interested in me for whatever reason like my height, or if they were they wanted me to play a different position,” McElvain said. “Then I came to UNI … They were going to give me a chance to play quarterback, so I just felt like I was more appreciated and more wanted here.”

McElvain originally committed to Iowa State, but chose to walk on at UNI instead knowing the chance he had to earn the starting quarterback spot.

Coach Farley, who is known as the walk-on from Waukon, IA, can attest to the work McElvain has put in not only to become the starter, but also to become a great quarterback.

“You ought to see the guy during the week,” Farley said.

“He works at it from the time he’s up in the morning until he goes to bed at night. He’s the last one off the field every night. He’s up in the offices all

the time. His production isn’t just happening. He’s prepared.”

After countless hours of working on his craft, McElvain is starting to see his hard work pay off.

“It means a lot because it’s been a long time coming,” McElvain said. “I originally walked on at UNI so I think the work that it’s taken me to get here, and not even knowing if I’d be able to play quarterback at this level because of the way I was recruited … makes me appreciate it that much more. I think it makes me appreciate it much more for the journey that it’s been to get there.”

The journey came full circle for the Des Moines native in his debut against the Cyclones in Ames.

“Playing at Iowa State was sweet because it was like a homecoming,” McElvain said.

“It’s like 40 minutes from home.

I had a lot of family there [and] I had a lot of friends there from high school. It was also my first game so it was surreal to kind of be back in your hometown in a sense for your first college start. Then that doubled with

GABRIELLE LEITNER/Northern Iowan

[playing against] a school that I was once committed to.”

Facing the team that he was supposed to play for gave McElvain extra motivation to put his talent on full display. “I was committed there so I kind of had a chip on my shoulder going into that game,” McElvain said. “I wanted to play well in that game … It was an awesome first game. You can’t really ask for a better scenario than that.”

McElvain looks to lead UNI at the helm for years to come with big goals for this season.

“Just start with getting in the

playoffs,” McElvain said. “Once we get there take it one step at a time, and obviously try to win a national title. I think the pieces are there.”

From the first time McElvain visited UNI, he knew it was the right school for his future.

“It was just a welcoming visit,” McElvain said. “When you’re kind of deprived of that, as hard as you work and those things aren’t happening, once you finally get that it’s kind of a warming feeling. It just felt like I was wanted. It felt more like home.”

VOLLEYBALL

Panther women finish 2-2 at Missouri Invite COLIN HORNING

Sports Writer

Looking to snap their fourgame skid, the Panther volleyball team spent this past weekend down in Columbia, Mo., for another four-game slate, this time in the Mizzou Invitational.

The round-robin tournament featured matchups against 21st-ranked Missouri, Boise State, Austin Peay and Missouri-Kansas City as the Panthers continued their difficult non-conference schedule.

“Missouri is probably the standout team of this tournament,” head coach Bobbi

Petersen said.

“They will be in the top 25 poll just because of what they’ve done in the last two weeks, but the other three teams we’re playing having also done some really good things. So it will be a very competitive and full weekend for us.”

Friday afternoon saw UNI take on the University of Missouri-Kansas City in their first match of the tournament. The Purple and Gold dominated the first two sets, taking the first set by a commanding score of 25-10 and winning the second, 25-12.

H oweve r, UMKC bounced back in the third set in a closer battle at 25-23. Ultimately, UNI prevailed in the fourth set to win their first game of the tournament, 3-1. Senior Karlie Taylor led the team with 24 kills in the game.

Despite a dominating showing in the opener, the Panthers were not able to keep the wins coming in games two and three of the tourney. Friday night drew a tough matchup against No. 21 Mizzou, resulting in a 3-1 loss for UNI, followed by a 3-0 defeat to Boise State on

Courtesy Photo/UNI Athletics

Saturday afternoon.

The Panther women turned the tide on Sunday, taking down Austin Peay, 3-1, to walk away with a 2-2 record.

Up next, the Panther women will travel to Milwaukee this weekend to participate in the Marquette Invitational.

SOFTBALL

Cats win first fall game against Kirkwood 11-7 Courtesy Photo/UNI Athletics

PATRICK HANSEN Sports Writer

The Panther softball team played their first fall game this past Friday as they took on Kirkwood Community College. The Panthers are coming off a 28-23 season, and are looking to use this fall to improve on their performance last season.

Freshman pitcher Samantha Heyer kicked off her UNI career with an opening day start, allowing two runs in the first two innings.

The Purple and Gold rallied behind their freshman

pitcher, firing back in the bottom of the second inning. The Panthers loaded the bases, scoring on a short grounder and a walk to draw in the first two runs of the game.

Keeping the bases loaded with no outs, UNI drove in five more runs as they continued to dominate the Eagles.

The Purple and Gold used a sacrifice fly by Jenny Kohl and a single by Erica Oler to force two more runs across the plate.

As the Panthers held a 9-2 lead in the eighth inning, the Eagles were able to break their five inning scoring drought, driving four runs in.

The Panthers answered right back with a sacrifice fly

by Angela Gorkow to bring in one more run in the bottom of the eighth, extending the lead to 10-6.

In the tenth inning, the Eagles put their seventh run on the board, but junior catcher Emma Valainis responded with a home run to cap off an 11-7 victory for UNI. Up next, the Panthers will play at home the next two weeks before they travel to Des Moines on Sep. 28 for a three-game weekend slate against Iowa, Iowa State and Drake.

SIERRA STEEN Managing Editor

PAGE 7

FUN & GAMES SEPTEMBER 16, 2019 |

SUDOKU ONE

CROSSWORD

NORTHERNIOWAN.COM

30 Get one more card for twice the bet, in blackjack 34 36-Across skunk Pepé 36 Warner Bros. creation 37 Author Tolstoy 38 European peak 39 “Gosh, look at the time” 42 Sundial seven 43 You, to Goethe 44 “Peter Pan” dog 45 Sediment 47 Car engine measure 51 Arthur of tennis 52 “Unforgettable” singer 53 Peter, Paul or Mary 55 Philosophy school with no classes?

17 Football non-passing 58 Biol. or geol.

Across offense 1 Really big hit 59 “Bingo!”

6 Numero uno, with 19 Fish eggs 62 Australian bird 20 __ the table: arrange 63 Opening kickoff, say, “the” 10 One always ready silverware and such and what both parts of 21 MBA or MFA: Abbr. 17-, 30- and 47-Across with quick comebacks 13 W.C. Fields persona 22 Behind, or hit from can be 14 Strand during a sleet behind 66 Sailor’s “Help!”

24 Farm song refrain storm, say 67 Woodsy path 26 Hasenpfeffer, e.g.

16 Green prefix 68 Deed 27 Open-and-__ case 69 Gallery hangings

|

VOLUME 116, ISSUE 5

SUDOKU TWO

35 Sommelier’s menu 70 Bldg. with a pool 71 “I Am of Ireland” 40 Complex woven textile poet 41 __-Caps: candy 46 Backstabber Down 48 Fenway team, famil1 Lat. and Est., once iarly 2 Grimace 49 SoCal Latinx neigh3 Em, to Dorothy borhood 4 Nine-digit ID 50 Puerto __ 5 Alpine heroine 6 Astros Hall of Famer 54 Really cool 55 Big butte Craig __ 56 Love, in Lima 7 Cardio readout 57 Hat-tipper’s word of 8 Blacken address 9 Schedule opening 10 Human/canine 59 Opposite of baja 60 “Stop right there!” shape-shifters 11 Screen symbol to 61 Shipboard yeses 64 Rocker Ocasek click on 65 Dessert pastry 12 Open-__ shoes 15 Tidied, as a room 18 Require 23 Cabernet color 24 Summer in Lyon 25 Western bad guys 27 Cut drastically, as prices 28 Prefix for “sun” 29 Elite group 31 Fancy neckwear 32 Mull over 33 Bam, bang or boom

Puzzle answers on page 8

PAGE 8

CLASSIFIEDS

SEPTEMBER 12, 2019 |

NORTHERNIOWAN.COM

|

SIERRA STEEN Managing Editor

VOLUME 116, ISSUE 4

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