North Texas Daily - 4/20/17 by North Texas Daily

VOL. 109 No. 13

Apartment complex proposal near Fry Street area denied

THURSDAY, APRIL 20, 2017 This is a performance by Slay-Vannah in UNT Drag Show at the Union. Koji Ushio

Dazzling in drag

By Bianca Mujica, Sarah Sarder & Cierra Edmondson

he audience stomped their feet in a makeshift drumroll while they waited for the results. After a few long minutes, the winner was declared. Crystal Wildfire beamed at the cheering ballroom as she was crowned the 2017 UNT Drag Queen. On Friday, April 14, the University Program Council partnered with the Residence Hall Association and the Pride Alliance to host the second annual UNT Drag Show. Hundreds of people attended to watch eight queens compete in the presence of Alyssa Edwards, a former contestant on the reality show RuPaul’s Drag Race. “This has been a rollercoaster of a lot of different things,” said Rachel Morales, live event coordinator for UPC. “This event was a challenge to figure out, but it was really fun.” Drag is when individuals perform while dressed as the opposite gender. They adopt new names and personas, transforming themselves into a queen or king by using makeup, wigs and outfits. On April 14, it consisted of male UNT students dancing and lipsyncing in extravagant costumes. They would be judged by the winner

By Julia Falcon A public hearing to consider adoption of an ordinance to rezone approximately 1.39 acres from a residential area to commercial was denied again on April 7 at the regular city council meeting. Opposition of apartment complexes proposed for the area has been denied as residents feel it would not be compatible with their needs. The last time city council considered rezoning the area was at a March 8 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting in order to make the area of the city compatible with the Denton 2030 plan. Residents have historically opposed efforts to build singleoccupancy buildings in the area and prefer multi-family units that are more favorable to their needs for the neighborhood. The most recent proposal by Park7 Development, a 640-bed singleoccupancy apartment building, falls in line with past denials in the area. History of attempted change In Denton, residents have been outspoken about the building of apartment complexes or other student housing buildings on Oak and Hickory streets. Another student housing development was first purchased by EdR housing company in September 2015, originally with 374 units, then scaled down to 300. When the project was first proposed to the Planning and Zoning

SEE HOUSING ON PAGE 3

IN THIS ISSUE NEWS Custodians pg 4 UNT custodians share their experience and the reality of working behind the scenes across campus over the years.

ARTS & LIFE Bubbly & Co. pg 5

Family-owned Bubby & Co. turned their hobby of making bath bombs into a business and recently opened a kiosk at Golden Triangle Mall.

SPORTS Softball column pg 9 Sports editor Reece Waddell explains how turnover of players has hindered the North Texas softball team from success.

OPINION

Streaming media pg 14

The Editorial Board discusses how streaming media shouldn’t be banned due to violent acts of a few across platforms.

NTDAILY.COM

of last year’s drag show, as well as representatives from the UPC and the RHA. The event was first brought to campus last spring, and it was so successful that those working the doors had to turn away hundreds of people hoping to get in. UPC decided to bring it back this year, with over 700 seats instead of the 500 that were available last year. Auditions were held in late February and early March to find student performers. Of the 21 that tried out, eight made it through. “We wanted to keep it in the style of a drag race, which is why we made it a competition,” said Miles Alexander, the choreographer for the show’s group dance. “A lot of other places just do the show, so this is unique.” The chosen ones – Lotus Vajara, Crystal Wildfire, Selena, SlayVannah, Doll Parts, Dixie Normus, Sabrina the Teenage Bitch and Jerikah – spent the weeks before the show practicing and preparing for hours at a time. When the day finally arrived, the line to enter the University Union ballroom was nearly 100 people long two hours

SEE DRAG ON PAGE 6

Mean Green soccer poised to contend again in 2017 Krum: The By Matt Brune With eight conference titles since 2001, head coach John Hedlund has built the Mean Green soccer program into a steady machine of quality players. Last year’s senior class included five players who all played a key role and started at least 10 games in Marchelle Davis, Hailey Sutton, Rachel Holden, Alexsis Cable and Anna Flobeck. Despite losing those five players and defender Chelsei Soto, Hedlund and his two assistants have found seven recruits who they hope can have an impact as soon as they step on the field at North Texas in the fall. They have three transfers on the way as well. The soccer machine stops for no one. “We’re bringing in a total of 10 players,” Hedlund said. “We feel we’ve covered every area [of the team]. I feel pretty good about this recruiting class. All of the newcomers passed the first task of impressing assistant coaches Fleur Benatar and Daniel Dobson throughout the recruiting process. Benatar has plenty of experience recruiting the Dallas-Fort Worth area, as she was the head coach of the Texas Woman’s University soccer team for 11 years. When it comes to analyzing recruits, she admits there’s a lot that goes into it. “There’s a lot of things we look for initially,” Benatar said. “The overall body physique, first touch, their body language and their overall production.” Recruiting local or at least within Texas has been North Texas’ mantra during Hedlund era. Every player, except one, from last year’s team was from the Lone Star state, which comes as little surprise — the DFW area has some of the top high school and club teams in the state. With top-echelon talent in his own

backyard, Hedlund doesn’t see a need to go too far out of state. “[DFW] is really our recruiting base,” Hedlund said. “We tend to stay in Texas because the state is loaded with players every year. We’re in [our] comfort zone and I think players are as well when they come here from the DFW.” Now a sophomore, defender

Dominique James was one of the highly touted recruits Hedlund and his staff were able to bring in. The staff took a risk on her, however, especially with James coming off two injuries. The setbacks even left James

SEE SOCCER ON PAGE 10

town that voted for Trump By Anna Orr, James Norman & Omar Mirr Krum, nestled just east of Denton, is a small town of 5,000 residents, and according to 2016 election data, a lot of Trump support. With their precinct bringing out one of the strongest showings for Trump, there is a question that remains: does Krum feel they voted for the correct person? Would the citizens change their vote if they could do it again? And lastly, with change on the horizon, what can we expect from the town’s politics in the future? Krum is in voter precinct 4000 in Denton County. The precinct had 1,777 voters in the 2016 election, with over 80 percent voting for the Republican ticket—17 percent higher than Denton County’s total Republican vote. Census Viewer estimates Krum has an estimated 2,077 registered voters, 58 percent of which would most likely lean Republican. That lean comes from its agricultural past, but future growth may mean change for the small town. Krum’s history and growth In 1887, Krum was founded as a town right off the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe railway. As a town known for its wheat and cotton industry, the city has been involved in three major fires that have forced the city to restart a few times.

North Texas senior forward Rachel Holden (16) dribbles just inside the box against Old Dominion on October 23. Holden has since graduated and now plays for FC Dallas. Dylan Nadwodny

SEE KRUM ON PAGE 2

STARPARTY makes a Daft Punk-inspired mark in Denton By Abby Jones

STARPARTY is a cover band based in Denton that is brought together by the similar love for Daft Punk. Kelsey Shoemaker

If you’ve ever found yourself in the midst of an impromptu dance party at any of Denton’s ubiquitous small music venues, it’s likely you were at a STARPARTY show. “STARPARTY is an intergalactic disco drama,” the band’s frontman Jake Steinberg said. Most of STARPARTY’s members have been playing music virtually their entire lives. Steinberg, who had been doing covers of electronic-pop duo Daft Punk on his own, was approached by a member of another band who was interested in doing the same thing. When that band member passed away unexpectedly, the remaining group still wanted to carry out that idea: a Daft Punk cover band with some individuality of their own. “I became to surrogate leader for this idea,” Steinberg said. “And we just received an incredible embrace from

the community.” Five years later, the STARPARTY brand is somewhat modeled after “Interstella 5555,” a sci-fi cartoon realization of Daft Punk’s 2001 album “Discovery.” According to Steinberg and bassist Paulo Castillo, the movie tells a story of an intergalactic dance band kidnapped to perform on Earth. STARPARTY aims to embody this storyline in their live performances— like you’re watching a band from outer space. However, STARPARTY also has a handful of originals. These 10 to 11 songs follow a storyline similar to “Interstella 5555,” with the members of STARPARTY as the main characters. “Our violinist is like the heroine, and the band members help her against this space queen archetype,” Steinberg said. “It’s all very Disney-oriented.” Steinberg and drummer Matt Woods

are the only original members of STARPARTY out of their current sevenmember lineup. “My favorite part is the shows,” Woods said. “Actually playing live and feeling the energy from the crowd. In the past five years, we’ve played in just about every venue in Denton.” “Current and dead,” Castillo added. Steinberg said that the success of Daft Punk’s single “Get Lucky” helped the band tremendously, and garnered more interest in their label of a “Daft Punk cover band.” STARPARTY focuses heavily on their live performances rather than studio recordings. With avant-garde costumes and creative uses of light and projections, their shows are designed to be memorable and good, clean fun.

SEE MUSIC ON PAGE 5

NEWS

THURSDAY, APRIL 20, 2017

Page 2

NEWS AROUND THE WORLD Thousands evacuated after deadly Syria bombing Thousands of Syrians were evacuated from war-torn towns on Wednesday with tight security in place after a weekend bombing against those leaving government-held areas killed dozens, including 70 children, Agence France-Presse reported. The evacuations are part of a deal struck between government and opposition forces to relieve the suffering of thousands in besieged cities by regime and rebel factions.

At least two shot dead amid mounting protests in Venezuela A teenager died in Caracas, Venezuela and a woman was killed in San Cristobal, near the Colombian border as protests rage throughout the country, the BBC reported. Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets across the country to demand an end to the 18-year-long socialist regime. More than 30 arrests have so far been made in Caracas and supporters of the government are holding a rival rally this week.

UK Parliament approves prime minister’s request for General Election About a year after Brexit, British citizens will vote on June 8 in a General Election called by Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday, the New York Times reported. The outcome of the election will shape Britain’s relations domestically and abroad. 522 to 13 members of parliament voted to hold elections this summer at the request of May. She faces criticism from members of the House of Commons as she promised a year ago she would not hold snap elections.

Israel says Assad still has several tonnes of chemical weapons Israel’s military said Wednesday that it believe Bashar al-Assad still possessed several tons of chemical weapons, weeks after a deadly chemical attack killed dozens, Reuters reported. Israel, along with many other countries, blames Assad’s military and regime of violating international law by using chemical weapons against his own people. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said French intelligence services would provide proof to the international community that they do not possess such weapons.

Production Team

Business Adam Reese | Director 940-565-4265 adam.reese@unt.edu Adela Francis | Advertising Director 940-565-3989 adela.francis@unt.edu

Faculty Advisor Gary Ghioto | 940-891-6722 gary.ghioto@unt.edu

To pitch a story, or contact the Editor-in-Chief, please email northtexasdaily@gmail.com

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Krum explains Trump vote KRUM CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Krum’s location just off Interstate 35 has been able to steadily grow the town since the 1970s. While the area has a population of about 5,000 people today, there is a push in Krum that could lead to serious changes down the road. From 2000 to 2010, Krum grew by 110 percent, the fifthhighest growth rate from the period among cities with a population of 1,000 or more in 2000. Della Davis, a 75-year-old resident, and author of four books on the town, said she sees the change coming. But she doesn’t want it. “When I grew up, there were 300 people, and you knew every one of them,” Davis said. Davis said the people coming into Krum are younger and like “big-time stuff.” They are changing the demographics of Krum, making it a younger place. In 2010, Krum’s median age was about 33. While Hargis said Krum has stayed relatively stagnant, he acknowledged that Krum’s future could see new business coming in. With the economic change, many question whether Krum’s political leaning will also change. “I want it to stay the same,” Davis said. “But it’s not going to.” The residents As President Donald Trump nears the famous 100-day mark, residents in Krum have high hopes for the businessman-turned-politician. Krum resident Dennis Bernhardt, a 59-year-old welder and business owner, voted for Trump in 2016 and said despite the hang-ups Trump has run into, he wouldn’t change his vote. “I like the way things are going,” Bernhardt said. “I’m sure with

anyone who’s not a politician there’s going to have to be some things he learns.” Davis said her opinion of the president changed since he was elected and has come to think of him more positively. “I thought he was obnoxious [before the election],” Davis said. “And I didn’t think he had the sense to run it.” Krum’s precinct had 285 people vote Democrat. One of those residents was Doug Lewis, 39, who is the IT Manager for the Frank W. and Sue Mayborn School of Journalism at UNT. Lewis voted for Hillary Clinton in the election, because he said he is “not a conservative,” and doesn’t believe Trump is qualified. “He’s a TV celebrity,” Lewis said. “He’s a lot of ‘anti’ things that I don’t think he should be ‘anti.’” While Lewis said he didn’t approve of how Trump behaved on the campaign trail, he decided that after Trump was elected, he would “give it the old college try” and try to accept it. Does Krum approve of Trump’s job so far? Bernhardt said he liked how Trump was addressing deportation and defended the president. He doesn’t believe Trump was trying pick on races but is trying to keep the country safe. “At this time and this world we live in, I think he’s just being cautious,” Bernhardt said. Bernhardt did say though, despite his approval, he would like to see Trump get healthcare “straightened out,” as well as make sure our international ties are in good shape. “Obamacare is kind of okay,” Bernhardt said. “You’re forced to pay

Krum overwhelmingly voted for President Trump during the election in contrast to the rest of North Texas being a majority democratic. Kelsey Shoemaker for this insurance, but it’s not doing any good. But sick people need [it], whatever happens.” Davis meanwhile, has grown to support Trump and said it stems from the media and the establishment’s treatment of him. “They’re so mean to him,” Davis said. “They don’t want him to be president. They want him fired.” Davis said she believes the news sometimes doesn’t tell the truth about Trump. And his advisors have not been helping him. Lewis, on the other hand, said he doesn’t believe Trump is following through on his promises or shares the same values as his voters. Krum’s reasoning behind Trump It wouldn’t be entirely accurate to explain away Krum’s support for Trump with the trope of a small town swinging more red than blue. Sometimes, it may not be Trump they actually support. Davis said the primary reason Krum residents didn’t vote Democrat was because of Hillary Clinton. “If [Bernie] Sanders had run, I would have voted for him,” Davis said. Police Chief Terry Hargis echoed a

similar thought. “People were more pro-Trump because they were more anti-Hillary,” Hargis said. Davis explained how Krum used to be historically a Democratic town. Though, she noted how that may be changing because of the younger generation coming into town. “They go by the person,” Davis said. “The party isn’t even considered anymore.” Lewis also added he believes Clinton being on the Democratic ticket did drive a lot of residents to vote for Trump. In recent history, the area has also tended to vote more Republican. Lewis speculated that it could have also come down to partisanship. Though, he does believe there has been a change in some. “I feel like there’s been some shift,” Lewis said. “It seems like he made this whole laundry list of things he was going to do right away, and none of it really is coming to fruition.”

@anna_orr2 @jamestnorman_wl @omar_mir27

Denton now has 8.5 miles of bike lanes, a goal of the city’s Master Plan By Jynn Schubert Two years after Julie Anderson was appointed to be the City of Denton’s new bicycle and pedestrian coordinator, or “Bike Czar,” Denton’s mobility plan and its continued progress is sparking a revision to the wording in the Master Plan. The powerpoint, which now features a crossed out “Implement Bicycle Master Plan” under the transportation section, outlines the entire Simply Sustainability project. “‘Implement’ makes it sound like the plan has not yet been started, but Julie is hard at work and she’s been doing a lot of good stuff, so we’re changing the wording,”

sustainability coordinator Stephanie Corley said. “We haven’t finalized the plan, but something along the lines of, you know, ‘Continue progress on.’” Anderson’s work has allowed the city to dedicate 8.5 miles of bike lanes and 9.5 miles of sharrow lanes, or road lanes that are expected to be shared equally between cyclists and vehicles. “So much of the plan since the time they implemented it in 2012 has already [been achieved],” Corley said. “So we’re trying to find a way to honor the fact that they’ve achieved these goals and continue progress with them.” Anderson attained her master’s

degree in city and metropolitan planning in 2012 and previously worked on a similar bicycle and pedestrian project for the city of Topeka, Kansas. The mobility plan seeks to follow in the footsteps of other metropolitan planning organizations that “echo the overall goal targets set by the U.S. Department of transportation in 1994 by attempting to double the percentage of trips made by foot and bicycle, and to simultaneously reduce the number of injuries and fatalities suffered by bicyclists and pedestrians by 10 percent,” according to the city’s website. An increase in bicycle and pedestrian transportation coincides

with Environmental Protection Agency’s suggestion of “building public transportation, sidewalks and bike paths to increase loweremission transportation choices” as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emission, helping to ease a major concern in Denton. “I think she’s done some pretty tremendous things so far for the city,” Corley said. “As far as I know, there are no plans to do anything other than continue the implementation of it.”

@jynnwashere

American Vanguard on campus: What you need to know By Jynn Schubert The American Vanguard, a white supremacist group made famous by their controversial college posters that surfaced mid February, continues to maintain a presence both in Denton and on the UNT campus. Aside from the posters (portraying a white man and woman above the words “We have a right to exist”) the group has also been alleged of “doxxing” certain left leaning students at Texas Woman’s University and UNT, as well as allegedly being connected to the appearance of YouTuber Steven Crowder as he impersonated a transgender woman at Denton’s Women’s Day Strike in March. Doxxing, defined as “to publicly identify or publish private information about (someone) especially as a form of punishment or revenge” is a form of cyber harassment that both conservative and liberal

students have been accused of using against each other since the presidential election in November. Though none of the students wished to be named, both sides expressed a desire for more open communication. “As far as my personal experience, I have had pictures of me taken and posted online without my consent,” One liberal student, who will remain anonymous for their safety, said. “At tailings on campuses we have been spat on, and I have been filmed at almost every event I have helped to organize.” Crowder, the conservative host of what he calls “the most politically incorrect comedy channel on the web” where he runs his talk show, Louder With Crowder, was allegedly invited by local members of the AV to “crash” the Day Without a Woman Strike on The Square, where he and a friend impersonated trans women while filming local protesters.

Antifa DFW, an anti fascist group tweeted the day of the event, warning individuals to “be on the lookout” for Crowder, the AV, and political science freshman, Joseph Kane, who denies any involvement with the group. Antifa is a strong opponent to the AV, who cites American Fascism as being a key pillar of their beliefs. “The damage done to this nation and its people will not be fixed if every issue requires a vote, if every point must be debated, discussed, or deliberated upon,” reads the AV’s manifesto. “Democracy has failed in this once great nation, now the time for a new Caesar to revive the American spirit has dawned.” Other key points include A Nation For Our People (which states that “a multicultural nation is no nation at all”), A Nation of Values (which states that “it is vital now more than ever to create a society based

on preserving and upholding the natural order that binds us”), and An Independent, United Nation (which states that America should strive for “an economy that is self-contained and free from the inf luence of international corporations, led by a rootless group of international jews, which place profit beyond the interests of our people, or any people”). Although it clearly states at the bottom of the manifesto on their website that the organization does not support any criminal activity, and that all members must support and uphold the law, there have been concerns expressed with the nature of a white nationalist group on campus.

@jynnwashere

TRENDING @ntdaily @thedose_ntdaily @ntd_sports

#SerenaWilliams

The star tennis player announced she was 20 weeks pregnant Wednesday. Williams posted a photo of her baby bump on Snapchat.

#AaronHernandez

Former NFL player Aaron Hernandez was found dead in his prison cell early Wednesday morning. He was serving a life sentence after being convicted of murder in 2015.

#BillO’Reilly

The Fox News channel parted ways with The O’Reilly Factor host this week. O’Reilly has come under fire for numerous harassment allegations, The New York Times reported.

#NorthKorea

After an increase of friction between the U.S. and North Korea the Chinese government has “opposed words or actions that could further raise tension,” the BBC reported.

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UNT’s Delta Gamma chapter tries to expand hockey through “penny wars” By Robert Warren UNT’s Delta Gamma sorority selected different sports to represent and collaborate as part of its Anchor Bowl event on April 6 to support service for sight through “penny wars.” One of those is the most popular winter sport: hockey. But hockey has always had to deal with a lack of engagement from Americans in contrast to other sports. And in Texas, it’s even harder. “The culture affects how hockey is doing,” said Mikayla Corwin, interdisciplinary studies junior and Delta Gamma sister. “Texas is a football state.” Chloe Rogger, applied behavioral analysis and Delta Gamma sister freshman, said she always hears about football and baseball but not much about hockey unless it’s from a die-hard fan. The Dallas Stars hockey team was founded in 1967 as the Minnesota North Stars and merged right before the 1978-79 season with the Cleveland Barons due to financial reasons.

Young Hoon Kim, associate professor in the department of hospitality, said ice hockey makes less than 1/3 of what other professional sports such as football or baseball make. He added that the best way to expand the game is by sharing knowledge of it through both middle and high school involvement. During their inaugural season in Dallas, the Dallas Stars played their first game on October 5, 1993 against the Detroit Red Wings at Reunion Arena, winning 6-4 in a sellout event. In 1999, the Dallas Stars won the Stanley Cup against the Buffalo Sabres in a six-game event that brought some recognition to Texas hockey. This inspired kinesiology junior Nick Henderson and criminal justice senior Daniel Schulman to start playing hockey at a young age. Now, both of these hockey players play for the UNT ice hockey team. Schulman added that if more kids are exposed to hockey at an early age then it may lead to an expansion of hockey.

Kinesiology department chair John Nauright and Kim traveled to Moscow to attempt to expand hockey globally. They shared ideas that focused on early childhood education on the sport, raising awareness for ice hockey at critical stages of children’s development. “It deserves to be integrated into the household,” said Logan Staab, a marketing senior and Delta Gamma sister. Kim and Nauright have attempted to focus also on the financial feasibility of the sport, especially in a state like Texas that doesn’t see snow let alone icy lakes or ponds. Kim said he addressed misconceptions like the expensive nature of hockey, compared to other sports. “You can rent gear,” Kim said. “You don’t have to buy everything – or you can get it used.” Kim added you don’t have to play hockey in the winter. Technology now allows ice rinks to function in all seasons. “It’s also good to know the rules

of the game in advance,” Kim said. “It makes it easier to watch and appreciate.” Kim said parents could introduce ice hockey with other sports to their kids at an early age by just taking them to see the sport. “It’s not necessarily about just the ice hockey,” Kim said. “Team building sports are important for our kids.” Renting gear, hand-me-downs and buying used gear are all ways to keep hockey affordable. A notable thing, however, is the fact there is no ice hockey rink on campus where members can play. The UNT ice hockey team has to drive to Fort Worth in order to play the game. “If you go to a Stars game,” Schulman said. “You may see people there who just want fights, which doesn`t really happen often anymore.” The amount of violence is a big misconception also, Henderson said. “Hockey is not nearly as violent as people think,” Henderson said. “Hockey is a self-policing sport.”

(Left) Logan Stabb, Nick Henderson, Chole Rogger, Daniel Schulman and Mikayla Corwin (Right) pose for a portrait in front of Sage Hall as part of a Delta Gamma promotion of sports teams through Anchor Bowl event supporting service of site and ODA. Kaitlyn St. Clair Henderson said that the biggest complaint with people who watch hockey on television is the puck size, but you can see it in person. He added that it is a misconception of how cold the rink is and that if the cold rink is

stopping anyone from going, they sell long sleeve shirts at hockey games for a reason.

@Robofthunder

City council denies single-occupancy apartment complex proposal HOUSING CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Committee, there were less parking spaces than beds and it was higher than three stories. On Dec. 6, 2016, the proposal was postponed again, agreeing on waiting another six months for the final proposal. More apartments, more problems Many residents who live along Oak and Hickory streets said they did not want any more traffic blocking their driveways and cluttering the neighborhood. As UNT and the city have grown, the amount of traffic in

the area has skyrocketed, with many students and visitors of the area parking in front of residences along the historic streets. Denton residents, like Donna Morris, spoke out about their concerns at the public hearing. “Sometimes you feel like you’re standing on a railroad track with your arms out trying to stop the locomotive, that’s what’s happening in our neighborhoods over there, north of the square, west of the square,” Morris said. “How many times have we been here saying no to SROS? They bring in more traffic, cars, pretty pictures, with their designs saying they’ll do this and that

and it doesn’t happen.” Morris lives on Oak Street and said she’s had problems leaving her driveway in the past few years because of the traffic. During the presentation, Paul Levine, a developer from the Park7 Development group, suggested that the distance to the UNT campus would reduce the need for cars and would in fact not cause more traffic. A mixed commercial and residential zone would allow a 100foot height barrier to the building, while if still zoned as a residential zone the building would have a 45foot height barrier. The proposed building would have been 68 feet tall.

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Minutes from the Planning and Zoning Committee stated that Devin Taylor, vice chair of the Planning and Zoning Committee, kept questioning the request. He suggested that commercial zoning in the area would not be a good fit. The chair of the Planning and Zoning Committee suggested to approve the plan with an overlay district but then withdrew his motion. Future changes A future land use plan was presented at the meeting, showing that the proposed zoning plans would be compatible with UNT and suit the

needs of the students. “The walking distance from the site to the blue line is a five-minute walk, and seven minutes to get to the academic core,” Levine said. “I want to point out that we believe that this will reduce the need for cars to get to campus and would certainly help with the congestion along Oak and Hickory.” The Planning and Zoning Committee denied this request 5-2, and city council denied it 4-3. Lee Allison, a local consultant for Park7, said that when he met with residents on Dec. 7, they were opposed because of concerns about insufficient parking, insufficient

enforcement of parking, building height, locations of dumpsters, traffic, future improvements to scripture street, noise during construction, code enforcement, capacity of current existing infrastructure, and impact on surrounding businesses. “Fry street would like it, (Killer’s Tacos) would like it, and I think it would help surrounding small businesses that are struggling,” Allison said.

@juliafalcon22

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A custodian’s life: Working behind the scenes, sometimes at a cost chemicals and long hours and rely on tight schedules to continue their work every day.

By Celeste Gracia & Jackie Guerrero Custodians at UNT work behind the scenes to keep hallways, classrooms and common areas clean. Sometimes, the job takes a toll on them physically. Some have gotten physical repercussions for their labor and have unusual sleep patterns associated with their shift times. At UNT, Custodians work on a salary and earn merit pay. They each receive the state standard amount of breaks and “good benefits,” like discounts on tuition prices for their children, health insurance, vacation time, sick leave and retirement. Many of them deal with harmful

Health and Wellness Center In the Health and Wellness Center, Freddie Logan and Josefina Espinosa arrive to the building at 12:30 a.m. Logan cleans the first and third floor while Espinosa tends the second until their shift ends at 9 a.m. Cleaning starts at 1 a.m., after retrieving supplies from their janitorial closet. Logan, 65, cleans the bathrooms first and the dental offices next, she said. Cleaning involves taking out the trash, vacuuming and dusting if needed. Espinosa, who has worked at

UNT for four years, cleans the X-Ray rooms, consultation rooms and nurse’s station. After taking out all the trash, she sweeps, mops and vacuums. She said she doesn’t have any “bothers at all,” but she does worry about communicating effectively with others, as Spanish is her primary language. Logan plans to retire soon after working at UNT for 25 years, including 10 years at the Physical Education Building. During the summertime, many custodians complain about it being “really hot” in the PEB because the air conditioning doesn’t come on until 7 a.m., she said. “They’ve had to work in real hot buildings, but that’s been going on for

UNT custodian Freddie Logan cleans the foyer of Chestnut Hall. Logan has worked for UNT for almost 25 years. Kady Shirley

years,” Logan said. The workers were told by their supervisor that they are working on resolving this issue. From all the “wear and tear” on Logan’s knees “after so many years of being on it,” she expects to get knee surgery soon. “I’ll soon have to have [a knee replacement],” Logan said. “Right now it’s kind of swollen from being up and on it.” Logan said that when she goes home, she doesn’t go straight to bed. Instead, she’ll sleep in the evening from about 5 to 11 p.m. “Some nights I don’t sleep good,” Logan said. “It makes a difference when you get a good night’s sleep.” Both custodians enjoy the company of those around them. Logan is called “Miss Freddie” by the workers at the offices. Espinosa is “very happy with [her] area.” “I’m very content with my work,” Espinosa said. “I like my companions, co-workers and my supervisor. For me, everything is good.” Willis Library With the same shift as Espinosa and Logan, Maria Mangel, 62, begins her work on the second floor of Willis by cleaning the bathrooms and taking out the trash. Her main focus is keeping the main study area tidy at all times. While cleaning, she uses gloves to protect herself from harmful cleaning liquids. She said that UNT gives the custodians classes on how to take precautions with chemicals they use on the job. UNT also provides masks, although Mangel doesn’t use them because she sweats a lot when she puts them on and “gets frustrated.” When Mangel gets off from work, she sleeps right away for at least three

hours, then three more hours at night before work. She notes, however, that “there’s a lot of [custodians] that don’t sleep.” “They get out of work and get busy doing their things like chores,” Mangel said. “In the afternoon they sleep straight until they have to get up again at night.” Mangel wants to retire soon. She’s had an herniated disk on her spinal column that makes her job much more difficult and may force her to stop doing her job. “It bothers me,” Mangel said. “I feel tired.” Mangel said that over the past nine years of working at UNT, she gets along really well with her co-workers and supervisors. She also remembers “beautiful moments” she’s had with students and has nothing to complain about them. “I am really happy because ever since I got here the students are really good,” Mangel said. “One time the trash can fell over and [students] ran to help me. During Christmas, there was a boy that gave me a Christmas present. One student saw me and felt the need to tell me that if I felt sick, he would pray for me.” Maple Street Hall Starting at 6 a.m., Maria Del Carmen Galvez cleans the cafeteria with the other two Maple Street Hall custodians, Wayne Tollbert and Andy Anderson. They finish cleaning the cafeteria around 6:30 a.m. and break up into their floor assignments. Galvez takes care of the first floor duties: cleaning up the lobby area, laundry room, TV room, water fountains and ice machine. After breakfast, Galvez vacuums the hallways and entrance

area until 2:30 p.m. when her shift is done. Since working here in September of 2002, her time here has been “good” after the new housing director, Gina Vanacore came in, Galvez said. She was not allowed to speak on some of her previous encounters due to an ongoing lawsuit with a former custodial supervisor, but said everything is good now. She has made “many friends” along the way while working as a janitor and enjoys her connection with the students. She is what some might call a “mother figure” to residents at Maple, talking to them during their times of need. “I am nice with all the students,” Galvez said. “It’s [a] natural [relationship] because I am a mother.” Her relationship with some students is so close that she said she’s even been asked to visit the student’s families at their homes outside of Denton, like Dallas and Houston. Galvez’ conversations with the people who reside and work at Maple Street Hall help with her faith, she said. She prays for all her friends in the morning and night, and encourages her friends to do so as well. “I pray for them every day. For God to take care of them and [that they] get good grades,” Galvez said.

@celllyg @gagaart1

UNT music entrepreneurship competition finalists vie for $18,000 in prizes By Robert Warren The first ever UNT music entrepreneurship competition announced this past Thursday the finalists and honorable mentions moving to the final round on Friday and grand finale event Sunday. The audience can vote for favorite competitors, as do the judges, in the final round for prizes totaling over $18,000. The competition began with workshops in January and submissions of business plans for review in March. Dr. Fabiana Claure, founding director of the project, said she wanted to create a movement with this project that would spark students to look to seek help, mentorship and have a better understanding of what it is like to create a business plan from start to finish. The competition Judging the final competition alongside the audience is Stan Levenson, Deborah Brooks and David Cutler, guest artist in residency and author of the Savvy Musician. There are three finalists in each of the two tracks – graduate and undergraduate – and four honorable mentions. Thursday’s finalists in the graduate track were Sabrina

Bachliter, Kyle McKay and Jesse Myers. Undergraduate finalists include Kurtis Shaffer, Rachel Phillips and a team business plan called Eclective consisting of members Evan Adams, Grant Carrington, Austin Poorbaugh, Austin Simonds and John Snyder. In the honorable mention for graduates category was Jennifer Guzman and Sean Murphy. The undergraduate category was Andrew Williams and William Root. “I want this to be a College of Music-wide initiative that will involve students and faculty in embracing entrepreneurship as a fundamental skill that musicians need to develop while they are in college,” Claure said.

work and specifics of writing one, especially those without a business background. “Being an artist is, like, what can you offer that’s different?” Finance junior Prince Martin said. “I feel like they are being forced to think out of the box on a day-to-day basis. They just have to translate that to the business side of things and just use that to create a business plan.” Students can often become overwhelmed with their schoolwork, Claure said. But this competition offers for them an opportunity that pushes students to actually go through and put together a business plan, knowing they could potentially get a financial return for their efforts.

It’s not about the money For Claure it isn’t just about the money, though. The experience is just as rewarding. And with the competition only nascent, she said the engagement was “amazing,” having received 17 initial business plan entries for the competition.

Music entrepreneurship background Claure said she participated in national conferences with her husband William Villaverde while they were both teaching assistants at the University of Miami. They saw some problems at their university with learning gaps and deficiencies of students enrolling in the college of music. Most of their peers on full scholarships were international. They realized for American students, there was a gap in music education training before

“Usually things are hard because we have not done them before,” music education sophomore Alan Olmos said. He added it’s hard to come up with a business plan when students are not often familiar with the

entrance into college. They noticed American students had to take many remedial courses and were less competitive when it came to scholarships. They worked on creating a school, The Superior Academy of Music, that would have a unique curriculum addressing the issue. Their goal was to get students to graduate from their school and enter college on university scholarships. With a lot of support, and a business development service called The Launch Pad, they developed a business plan. They entered a business plan competition in the school of business at their university — not in the College of Music because there wasn’t one. They swept through the competition and made it to the final round. They got second place, winning almost $10,000. This allowed them to gain exposure with the community and got people invested in their business. A few months after graduating they opened the doors to their academy. It has been open six years and has been featured twice on PBS national television and has students on some scholarships. The entrepreneurship competition at UNT, Claure said, is influenced by her past experience in the field. She herself

entered a competition, and now finds herself running one like the one she participated in. But this one has a purely musical focus. “It’s about the whole experience of having to create a plan for yourself,” Claure said. “And getting potential supporters and

exposure doesn’t hurt.”

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Fabiana Claure, director of career development and entrepreneurship in music, sits in front of a piano. Through this competition, Claude wants to create a movement throughout the College of Music allowing students to take charge of their careers. Jennyfer Rodriguez

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UNT student couple looks to spread the gospel with their relationship By Cydne Robinson He enters the room with a set purpose, greeting everyone with a smile. He stands proud in front of the audience with a gleam in his eye. As he looks around the room, he speaks from his heart, his words f lowing out like waves. With his girlfriend, marketing junior Charmecia Goree, by his side, fellow marketing junior Joshua Okpara is reassured that this sermon is what some people need. Okpara is known around campus as “the man with a purpose.” He shares his words, wisdom and faith with the students around him, always trying to portray a sense of joy around him when he shares his beliefs to people without being too harsh. “Everybody has their own right to what they believe in and we should have the right to share it with everyone,” Okpara said. In order to inspire people around UNT, he wanted to find others who shared his philosophy. About a year ago, Okpara founded the group Dedicated Men. He has three simple goals for these men to learn: professionalism, networking and leadership. Through this organization,

Okpara wanted to provide a way for people to come together and learn from each other. He said he wanted individuals to feel safe and welcome in college. Too often, students leave high school feeling scared, and Okpara wanted to make sure this organization provided them with the guidance they need and the skills that will help them succeed. Dedicated Men holds more than just leadership to heart. Okpara also hopes to share his religious messages with those around him. He’s been working on sharing his beliefs since he was little by going to church. He said his job is to do God’s will and help people be the best that they can be. And to him, UNT is the perfect opportunity to do just that. “I felt like I could bring knowledge, my spirit and experience to help UNT become a better place,” Okpara said. Goree also had the same goal, and looked to Okpara for advice. Her smile and her love of God gave people around her a sense of hope. That’s what drove her to start Faith Filled Women of Christ. Initially, FFW was supposed to be a bible study. “I had a lot of friends who had gotten to college and either lost sight of their relationship with

God or they wanted to establish one because they had not been brought up knowing or having that relationship with him,” Goree said. Goree realized she wanted to do more than just a bible study. Okpara suggested Goree start a GroupMe so she could start building an organization. In the GroupMe, Goree would post inspirational morning messages every day. Slowly, her friends began adding their friends, starting a chain reaction that eventually led to a huge GroupMe chat. On March 23, 2016, FFW became an official UNT organization. At the end of the day, both groups began to create a brotherhood and sisterhood. “I joined [Dedicated Men] to be a part of something,” human resources freshman Aquerius Dickens said. “And to receive brothers who push me and encourage me to perform at my best in and out of the classroom.” Theater sophomore Micaela Workman knew FFW was meant for her. Workman was a part of the group before it became an official UNT organization. After two semesters of just being in the original group chat, she started to become more involved. “I am a proud member of Faith Filled Women and I love this

group of ladies,” Workman said. Okpara’s ultimate goal after college is to be a motivational speaker. Eventually, he would like to go back to college and give back to the community by speaking at high schools. He also plans to open a business to establish himself. Goree currently works at the Comfort Inn and Suites in Corinth and is a member of Play Like a Girl and the American Marketing Association. When she graduates, however, she plans on making big leaps forward. Goree said she does not know exactly what she wants to do as a career, but she does know she wants to spread the love of Christ and help make an impact on people’s lives all around the world. “The main concept of Christianity is love and if I spread [the love] I feel like I [am] doing my part of making the world a better place,” Goree said. Okpara and Goree have combined events within their organizations, mostly involving meetings about courtships and dating. Since Okpara holds Sons for Christ bible study on Tuesdays and Goree hosts FFW on Fridays, they combine to host worship fests as well. They also co-host a YouTube channel

Senior Joshua Okpara, founder of The Dedicated Men at UNT, poses with his girlfriend, Charmecia Goree at a worship event on campus. Sara Carpenter together that talks about their daily lives as a couple. Their goal is to encourage other younger couples about the effects of courtship and dating. Through their organizations, Okpara and Goree have pulled individuals together to unite and create a sense of community. While they said not everybody has to believe in what they believe in, they get excited to share their faith with those willing to listen.

“The way you dress shares your beliefs in your own style of fashion,” Okpara said. “Me sharing my belief with everyone is letting others see my point of view with the world. Not saying I’m right or my beliefs are better than yours, but my belief is to expose people [to the fact that] there are more things out there.”

@babycyd15

Daft Punk cover band STARPARTY embraces passion with performance MUSIC CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 “That’s one of the redeeming qualities of pop music for us,” Steinberg said. “You can include a lot of different types of people in one type of music.” Steinberg added that the atmosphere at shows is incredible, and they thank the Denton community for being so supportive. “There are some times in your personal life where you’re going through some crap, and you play one show, and you forget how

amazing Denton treats you,” Castillo said. “They come to a show and dance their butts off.” “It’s always been a dance party,” keyboardist Daniel Forrester said. “There’s not many dance bands in Denton.” While they do have a threesong demo recording of their oldest originals, STARPARTY has not yet recorded any of their Daft Punk covers. They believe the visuals and the audience’s aura are part of what makes the experience so special, which is difficult to recreate on a recording or CD.

“We’re very much interested in [recording more], and we have a lot of people right now who are interested in us,” Steinberg said. “It’s just a time management issue.” Outside of Denton, STARPARTY has also played in Dallas and Austin. As much as they’d love to grow outside of the Denton community, it’s not a goal they force themselves to meet. “STARPARTY was formed upon somewhat of a casual basis, so we also don’t put a lot of pressure on ourselves to reach

or attain certain career marks,” Steinberg said. “It was never something that we said ‘we’re gonna need your signature in blood to take this as far as we can go.’ It’s really just something we enjoy doing together.” The members of STARPARTY have excellent friendships between each other outside of the band, despite other endeavors. “I’m in five groups right now,” Castillo said. “STARPARTY has by far been the most friendly. I want to hang out with them more out of just being a musician.” “I was welcomed so warmly,”

vocalist Ava Thompson said. As the newest member of STARPARTY, she joined the band about three or four months ago. “I’ve never been in a band before, and I’ve never had this kind of experience,” Thompson said. “It’s been really positive for me beyond just the scope of making music. It’s been good for me as a person.” While they might be a cover band at their core, STARPARTY has no problem playing other people’s music. Steinberg says they adore

utilizing the opportunity to put their own spin on music that was never intended for a band to perform live. “The stigma of a cover band is something we’ve kind of had to endure, but it’s also something we revel in and embrace,” Steinberg said. “To me, Daft Punk writes some of the best pop music that’s ever been written. It’s very intricate and I’m passionate about it.”

@abbyfjones28

Bubbly & Co. blows bath bomb expectations out of the water By Nina Quatrino You get home from what felt like the longest day ever. You take your shoes off, pour yourself a glass of wine and drop your bath bomb in the hot tub. The water changes from color to color as the bomb spins and fizzes. Bubbles fill the tub, and you finally settle in to relax. Sounds amazing, right? Bath bombs have been an ongoing trend since the 1980s, after originally being used by doctors as aromatherapy techniques. According to an article from Cosmopolitan in 2016, bath bombs have made a major comeback. Considering the health and wellness-minded world we live in today, people are more obsessed with organic products now more than ever before. It’s no question that when the Wolf family, creators of Bubbly & Co. Bath Bombs, decided to open a Denton location business would be booming. “We have three locations now [in] Wichita Falls, Denton and

Lawton, Oklahoma,” manager Chloe Wolf, 19, said. “We try and target areas that don’t have bath bombs.” The kiosk inside Golden Triangle Mall has generated returning customers and positive feedback since opening a little over a month ago. “March 15 was our first day here in Denton, and we have been doing extremely well,” Wolf said. “We figured this would be a good location because of the universities and college kids; this is the age that people want [bath bombs] the most.” Fairly new, the whole business has been around since Christmas time last year. What had started as a fun hobby between daughter and step-mother became a new way of life for the Wolf family. “My step daughter Chloe and I started making bath bombs for ourselves for fun,” Bubbly & Co. founder Shelby Readen, 31, said. “We started making them for friends as gifts, then some friends of started wanting to buy them. Finally, my fiancé [and Chloe’s dad], Chris Wolf,

“Black widow” bath bombs sit out on display at the Bubbly & Co. kiosk in the Golden Triangle Mall. Jake King

was like ‘why don’t you set up a little store?’ The rest is history.” Initially, the family planned on staying around just for the holidays. But after seeing that they couldn’t keep shelves stocked fast enough, they realized they had something bigger in the works. “Every two days I sell out,” Wolf said. “They have to drive down from Wichita Falls and restock my cart.” “We opened with a small weekly goal and we made that in two days, and we had tripled that [goal] by the weekend,” Readen added. What makes Bubbly & Co.’s bath bombs different than other bath bomb distributors is not only what they look like, but what’s inside. “There is coconut oil in them, that’s the number one thing,” Wolf said. “We don’t use corn starch, and I believe Lush uses corn starch and some other different things in their products. Ours have Dr. Teal Epsom salt, so you’re getting the pain relief therapy from it [and] sensual oils, so you’re getting aroma therapy from it as well. The coconut oil is where the softness comes in, it’s like having lotion applied without having to apply lotion.” Wolf and her step-mother, father and a handful of close family friends are the only ones who make the bath bombs. Each product is constructed organically by hand. The unicorn bomb and mermaid bomb are their best sellers. They also have a ring bomb that reveals a ring inside the bomb after it fizzles in the bath. The gold bar bath bombs leave a shimmer on the skin when you get out of the bath.

Chloe Wolf is the manager of the location of Bubbly & Co. She and her step-mother make all of their products by hand. Jake King “We make what our customers ask for,” Readen said. “Since we’re small and local, I get a few suggestions for a certain bomb, so I head to the shop to try it out.” Reagan Souder, 21, is a regular customer of Bubbly & Co. and said that they are comparable to and just as good as Lush. “In my opinion, you should always support your local businesses,” Souder said. In comparison to Lush, the main noticeable difference is their prices. The variety of different bath bombs is another factor as to how the company manages to stay in business with big name competitors. Bubbly & Co. breaks the barrier and opens the doors to gender neutrality when it comes to their products. They try and

make bombs that anyone could enjoy, regardless of gender or age. “We have a bath bomb called the Pokébomb, it has a little Pokémon figurine inside,” Wolf said. “That one I love because it breaks the barrier between little boys wanting bath bombs and girls wanting bath bombs. I feel like that is something that’s important, even at a young age, to get that exposure. To say that only little girls take baths and use bath bombs is not true.” As for the future, Bubbly & Co. seems to be going big places. “We have social media, like Facebook, and sales online are in the works!” Readen said. “My goal is to start a store in a different state, like maybe a ski town in Colorado. I already presented the idea to my dad. It’s just a matter of getting the

funds.” Wolf said. Wolf and her boyfriend, who is also on board, moved out to Denton together to manage the Denton location. Wolf says that throughout the whole process, she has gained a stronger relationship with her father and step-mother. According to Wolf, the business wouldn’t be the same without the support of her family. “We [have been] through a lot as a family, and I love seeing my [parents] happy,” Wolf said. “That is very important to me. The family bond is what keeps it together.”

@ninaquatrino

NTDAILY.COM | PAGE 6

Students find themselves through drag performances DRAG CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 before the doors opened. By the time people began filing in, the line had extended around most of the third floor. Every single seat was taken, as was the space along the walls. The lights went out and hundreds of voices screamed. Alyssa Edwards walked into the spotlight, sporting enormous blonde hair, black stilettos, a shimmering pink dress and matching gloves with claws at the fingertips. She spoke directly to certain audience members, conversed with one of the contestant’s mothers and asked the drag queens about their participation in the show. It was time for the show to begin. It’s show time Makeup bags of various sizes were scattered around the room. The surface of the small counter is completely covered with foundations, cream blushes, eyeshadows, lipsticks, concealers and a plethora of other knickknacks. UNT political science major Eric Duran, 21, ran frantically back and forth, searching for a glue stick so that he can glue his eyebrows down. This is the life of a drag queen. “When you get on stage, in an instant, you’re the character, you’re the song and you just perform,” Duran said. “Everything becomes about the audience and making them laugh, making them feel something.” The process of transforming into Industria Revolutia, Duran’s dragself, is no small feat. At the time of his character’s conception, Duran found himself heavily interested in Steampunk, a subgenre of science fiction that blends fantasy, technology and designs based upon 19th century industrial steampowered machinery. This would

become the basis from which Industria Revolutia would be built. Duran imagines that Industria is an insane, mental patient that has escaped from the asylum. He describes her as being a lone-wolf and a black widow when it comes to her lovers. “As a drag character, I like to have fun with Industria,” Duran said. In what he considered to be a very conservative high school, Duran experienced severe self-esteem issues. He found solace in watching RuPaul’s Drag Race, a reality-based drag competition hosted by Logo TV. For Duran’s first time in drag, he dressed up as Katy Perry for Halloween. He wore a rainbow corset, a tutu and pink heels for an event at his high school. “It was interesting to put on a dress, but it’s fun and I just continued from there,” Duran said. “There was never any severe opposition to doing it and my parents are my biggest supporters.” Duran’s step-father David Pritzker, 54, said he supports Duran in every way. He said he is happy that Duran is able to express himself in drag, and recalled supporting him at his first drag show. He even found that his son made “a pretty goodlooking girl,” he said with a chuckle. “I’m a proud father, but I’m a little shy when it comes to coming up front and doing stage presentations,” Pritzker said. Duran often thrifts for pieces to add to his wardrobe, but he proudly admits that a significant portion of his belongings for drag have come from his parents. When the time came for Duran to participate in his first drag show, the opportunity came to him through GLAD, a legal rights organization that is dedicated to the ending of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression. “I was very nervous,” Duran said.

Eric Duncan puts the finishing touches on transforming into Industria Revolutia. His drag-self is inspired by the Steampunk genre. Sarah Sarder

“Of course there were going to be some sort of nerves before a show. My mom says that I will never beat my first show because it was my very first and it stood out the most.” At the moment, Duran performs by lip-syncing, but hopes to later incorporate more comedy, stand-up and music with his ukulele. His most frequented location for performing is Mable Peabody’s, a local LGBTQ space. “I like to show a more fun and silly side that says not to take yourself too seriously,” Duran said. “I try to live by that because I know that life doesn’t have to be so serious.” More than just a show John Collins, 18, competed in the show as SlayVannah. Although he was one of the youngest performers, he was one of the few who had performed in drag in before. In the spring of 2016, he competed in Miss Kerr Hall. It was his first semester in college, but he still took the crown. “When I first came to UNT, I was just little quiet John,” Collins said. “But each time I perform, I feel more like me.” Before Miss Kerr Hall, Collins hardly knew anything about drag. His friend convinced him to participate and that’s when he fell in love with the culture. The fans, the music and the enjoyment of performing gave him an adrenaline rush. “It’s pure bliss and I’m definitely doing it again,” Collins said. “It’s made me more outspoken, more fun, more gay. My shell is gone. Now I really embrace who I am.” As a freshman, competing against upperclassmen sometimes felt intimidating for Collins. But he

Top: This is a performance by “A third-place of UNT Drag Queen” Selena in UNT Drag Show at the Union. Bottom: Selena is called as “a third-place of UNT Drag Queen in 2017” in UNT Drag Show at the Union. Koji Ushio said the experience helped him grow as a person. “It gave me more confidence, but it also made me more humble because there were really good people there,” said Collins, an English and marketing student. “I realized that I wasn’t there to win but to have fun.” Collins said the encouragement he received from his fellow performers made him feel like he found his home within the university. Even though queens might have strong personalities that sometimes clash, that is nothing compared to the joy Collins gets from being part of a show. “The community is really supportive and is always there for each other,” Collins said. “They are sweet and kind and they take you

in.” In addition to performing, Collins also finds joy in the transformation of becoming SlayVannah. It is a long process that can take several hours, but for Collins, it is the calm before the storm. “When I’m putting on my hair and makeup, I look in the mirror and I’m not John anymore,” Collins said. “There is someone new coming out of me with each stroke of the brush.” After two hours of performances at the drag show, the judges made their decision. David Montalvo, whose drag name was Selena as a tribute to the deceased MexicanAmerican singer, won third. Dylan Asher, or Sabrina the Teenage Bitch while in drag, placed second. And Patrick Ramos, also known as Crystal Wildfire, took first.

Although he didn’t place in the top three and does not want to pursue drag as a career, Collins intends on keeping it as a large part of his life. It gives him the opportunity to unapologetically be himself while also being a voice for the groups he identifies with. “I want to be someone to look up to while in drag,” Collins said. “When we’re up there, we are representing UNT. We are representing the gay community and ourselves. And at the end of the day, drag just gives me life.”

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Officer’s hardships spark desire to protect UNT By Omar Mir The sky turned its deepest shade of pink as loud roars filled the brisk autumn air. The Mean Green were taking on Rice at Apogee Stadium, and the roar was the crowd celebrating a score as the words “Mean Green touchdown” resonated throughout the stadium and most of campus. Far behind the commotion of the game, the bellowing fans and the trumpets of the ‘Mean Green’ brigade stands a 6-foot-6-inch man, arms crossed, observing the thousands of people surrounding him in section 109. With a cold poker face, the world around him goes into an absolute frenzy. He remains cool in his uniform, as it is time to escort thousands of fans safely out of the stadium. Another day, another football game. Through the madness, he wouldn’t trade a second of it. Officer Gerald Shepherd has been with the UNT police department for almost a decade now and has been in law enforcement for over 15 years. Memories of patrolling football games are just a small part of Shepherd’s daily life. In his time as an officer, Shepherd has worked in juvenile detention, a special removal unit for the Sheriff’s department and

On Friday April 14, UNT police officers Gerald Shepherd (left) and Chad Terrill (right) talk outside of the Gateway Center before heading back out on patrol. Katie Jenkins

now works as a campus patrol officer at UNT, keeping students, faculty and visitors at safe. Growing up has its hardships Gerald Shepherd grew up in Denton as the youngest of three siblings. His parents were a big influence in his life. Shepherd said he wouldn’t be where he is if it was not for the way they brought him up. “The way I was raised, I was always gonna have my jeans on, shirt tucked in and belt buckle gig line straight,” Shepherd said. “That’s how I was raised.” He said he remembered middle school as being a great time, where after school he and his friends rode bikes into open fields while trying to shoot birds with little pellet guns. “They called it southeast Denton,” Shepherd said. “Across the tracks, under the bridge, if you look real close there’s a sign there, right after the train tracks. It says southeast Denton.” Shepherd was always athletic. He was 6 feet 4 inches his sophomore year and took part in almost all the after-school sports, including football, basketball and even track. It was the track where Shepherd truly found himself. He held the school records in high school and won the 2000 and 2002

conference championships with the UNT track team. During his senior year he injured himself, pulling his hamstring during practice, and that was when Shepherd realized he would never be able to participate in track like he used to. The multiple scholarships that were coming his way as he went into his senior year quickly became an afterthought. “I was never the same again,” Shepherd said. “It was a huge setback. I banked on it.” Despite this, Shepherd continued his education at UNT, graduating with a sociology and psychology degree. His love of sports, family and Denton came together — paving the path to working in law enforcement. When his father passed away in 2008 of pneumonia, Shepherd’s desire to protect other people and their families’ memories grew strong. “In reality, I feel like when people pass away they are supposed to leave you stronger,” Shepherd said. “That right there, it helped me not fear anymore. Dad was a big guy, 6 feet 2 inches, worked as a foreman

all his life. He would’ve been proud to see me as a police officer.” Protecting the future It was not long before his senior year in high school that Shepherd had a son. Devon is currently 13 years old, but Shepherd can’t help but think about the environment his son grows up in daily. Through the hardships he’s gone through, he hopes to help enlighten his son’s generation, including UNT students, in regards to topics such as police brutality and gun control. “It is what is being taught to that person when they are growing up, at the end of the day,” Shepherd said. He hopes to break common misconceptions about police officers by showing a human side to the tough persona police officers present. Shepherd recalls a time after a plethora of recent incidents involving police brutality across the country when his son asked him why police officers were acting out in such a manner. “That person, at that moment, lost the reigns of the authority and

the power that he had, and he acted on his own,” Shepherd said. “That wasn’t the authority and the power we were given to act that way.” He mentions it is a lack of basic communication proficiencies that lead a few police officers to ruin the reputation of so many others, such as when officers act out using their guns rather than the various tools police officers are trained in. He implied more than half the job of being a police officer is effective verbal communication, as well as being physically fit and mentally aware. Shepherd also stressed on our self-control as humans and reiterated his notion of the root cause of this behavior, saying it can sadly happen anywhere. “Regardless of people wanting to call it discriminate or racial, or whatever it was, I tell myself you can never totally control another person,” Shepherd said. “They have to keep the reigns on themselves. They lost the reigns.” Shepherd said he has been disappointed and disheartened to see such violence repeating itself. Shepherd said he feels that is a standard we feel across UNT -

a standard of excellence, safety, integrity and maintaining a general cohesiveness with the students and faculty around campus. “He’s very patient with the community,” said Anna Rodriguez, Shepherd’s friend and UNT police station dispatch supervisor. “In special situations, he has [a] calmness about him. It’s his best quality. He treats others with respect and it shows how he is respected around the community.” The UNT police might have garnered a reputation for pulling too many people over, but Shepherd makes sure the community knows that UNT is home to everyone in the community, including the officers. He said all they are trying to do is protect their home court. That’s exactly why he wants to help make sure UNT itself never has to experience that sort of heartbreak. “We hold each other to a higher standard,” Shepherd said. “When you see such things happen, you say to yourself, ‘I need to make sure this doesn’t happen here.’”

@Omar_mir27

Barbara Jordan Media Awards honors Texas journalists By Nicole Lyssy The 2017 Barbara Jordan Media Awards luncheon was held on Thursday, April 13 at the University of North Texas’ Apogee Club. The awards ceremony is an annual event that honors some of the state’s brightest journalists. The 12 honored recipients offered heartfelt acceptance speeches as family and friends watched from the audience. Named after the congresswoman from Houston who successfully overcame barriers set by multiple sclerosis, all 12 selections were chosen from a range of mediums and were recognized for their part in portraying individuals with disabilities in a respectful and positive light. The event began with the Frank W. and Sue Maybron School of Journalism Dean Dorothy Bland speaking about the importance of storytelling. Representatives from the governor’s committee presented the awards. Before the award was presented, gentle voices read small selections of each winner’s work over a speaker system while soft music played in the background, allowing the winner time to make their way to the podium to accept their gold medallion. Each winner thanked family and friends, as well as the subjects of their pieces. The hopeful nature of the ceremony lingered long after the last award was given, and the feeling of

excitement for journalism’s future was bright. Bland noted UNT’s involvement with the Barbara Jordan Media Awards in the past. “We were asked by the Texas Governor’s committee on People with Disabilities to host the event after a very successful event in 2014,” she said. “The work displayed was amazing and inspirational. It was a first class event and wonderful to see young talent educating and empowering others to share so many heartwarming stories on a variety of platforms and topics.” Author Deborah Nowinsky was recognized for her book “Your Inclusion in Theatre.” She said she was inspired to write the book after being approached by a theatre teacher at a conference. “A teacher approached me and said, ‘Do you have a book? We need a book to take into the classroom,’” Nowinsky recalled. “I [thought], ‘How do I spread the message of inclusion in theater? I guess I’ll have to write a book.’ Teachers can take the guidebook into the classroom or theater and would have my step-by-step guide, exactly how we do it in my theater.” Nowinsky elaborated on how she found out about the Barbara Jordan Media Awards in the first place. “My book has been rejected by every publisher in the world,” she stated. “My editor [encouraged me to] self-publish it and put it on Amazon. A friend of mine sent

The 2017 Barbara Jordan Media Awards held its annual event that honors reporters reflecting individuals with disabilities. Kelsey Shoemaker

me the link about the Barbara Jordan Media Awards. I sent in five books, and I thought [that] even if it doesn’t win, if it could touch one person on that panel and they learn something from it, we’ve won. I sent it out in January, and totally forgot about it.” When Nowinsky received the call that she’d won, she said she felt shocked. “I started to cry, because it was so unbelievable that finally this panel heard the voices of the passion of my actors,” Nowinsky said. “Finally, it has reached somebody who understood what it was like to be an actor with a disability and the pride they have in themselves. It was pretty amazing to win, and whether it gets picked up by a publisher or not, I don’t even care, because we’re doing great.” High school senior Miranda Alexander’s story focused on a young student in a wheelchair. The story came to her attention through the PTA Board. “I was notified about this young boy [who has] always wanted to share his story,” Alexander said. “They contacted Frisco ISD TV, and I just wanted to jump right on it and be able to capture the essence of Jaxon.” She touched on an important life lesson she has learned through following this story. “He’s taught me that it’s not just about the chair. It’s about the boy in the chair,” she said. Alexander found out about the Barbara Jordan Awards contest through her executive producer and teacher. She decided to enter and was pleasantly surprised when she won. “I was so excited,” Alexander said. “That was honestly such a great day. [When] I found out that I won an award and that it was going to be held at the school I’ll be attending next year, [I felt] great.” Bland said she felt pride in the work UNT’s journalists have done to affect the future of storytelling. “We are extremely proud that past and current students were recognized for their work,” she said. “Diversity is a core value of UNT, and it’s inspiring to see the amazing work being done

@reporter_nikki

Jimmy

NTDAILY.COM | PAGE 8

Helping elementary students discover college life

Above: Students from Dolores Huerta Elementary in Fort Worth ask questions about college to their pen pals from UNT and Texas Women’s University. Left: Eddie Arellano, coordinator of the Discover College Life Project, stands with a group of his elementary students during their annual visit to UNT. Courtesy Eddie Arellano By Bianca Mujica Eddie Arellano snapped photos every few seconds, smiling proudly between each click of the camera. In front of him, two dozen elementary kids were bubbling with admiration as they bombarded college students with questions. They were all participating in the Discover College Life Project, a program led by Arellano, that encourages elementary-age kids to see university in their future. Students from Dolores Huerta Elementary in Fort Worth, along with their parents, toured the campus on Friday, April 7, as part of the program’s annual visit. They also met their pen pals, students from UNT and Texas Woman’s University, who talked about the many aspects of being in college. “The program is more important now than ever,” Arellano said. “We need to inspire the next generation of American dreamers.” The program began in 1991

when Cesar Chavez visited UNT to boost a movement led by his farmer worker’s union. At the time, Arellano was a new teacher at Washington Heights Elementary when his fourth graders’ skit about the Mexican activist won district and regional history fairs. Their college pen pals in Hispanic Students for Higher Education invited the class to perform for and meet Chavez. After seeing the effect the experience had on his students, Arellano decided to bring his students back to college the next year. This visit marked the program’s 25th anniversary. “The purpose of the Discover College Life Project is to encourage everyone to find what they’re interested in,” Arellano said to his students on Friday. “When you finish school and you start working, you want to do something you enjoy.” Linda Espino and her 7-year-old son Christian are participating for the first time in the program, unlike other students who have been

involved for several years. However, Espino’s younger sister was in the program and is graduating from high school with a full scholarship to Texas State University in San Marcos. This involvement in the program from a young age helped foster an academic motivation that Espino wanted to instill in her son, especially since she herself was unable to pursue the teaching career she had hoped for. “I have other kids at home, so my mom had to take the day off so I could be here with Christian,” Espino said. “But she came with my sister and she loved it, so she told me I needed to bring him.” The Discover College Life Project is an after-school program open to all students at Dolores Huerta Elementary with parental and teacher consent. College students have to apply to participate, and those that are not assigned a pen pal are still able to participate in or volunteer with the program. Both students and parents

are encouraged to have a pen pal, most of whom are students in organizations with Hispanic roots. The elementary students are all bilingual and many of their parents only speak Spanish, so Arellano wants to ensure that his kids have positive role models from similar backgrounds. “For many of the students move on past elementary school, what they always remember is coming to the university campus,” Arellano said. “Even if they decide that they’re not coming here to UNT, the goal is to get them to move on past high school.” Another student in the Discover College Life Project for the first time is Esmerelda Salas, 7. Her parents were unable to accompany her on the college visit, so her brother Francisco Salas, 19, came with her. He is a student at Tarrant County College in Fort Worth but wants to transfer to a four year university. The trip was an opportunity for both of them to learn about higher education.

“I think she’s excited about college and will have these memories for a long time,” Salas said of his younger sister. The chance for both of them to be immersed in the university experience for a day was something they were both eager to experience. Salas hopes that by pursuing his own education alongside Esmerelda, he will motivate her to do the same. “College is fun and I want her to have fun,” Salas said. “And even though it’s hard, it will be rewarding in the end.” In order to keep his students excited about college even when they’re not visiting campus, Arellano keeps them active in the program yearround. The kids research subjects they are interested in and keep a portfolio with their activity for the year they participated in. They also had their first fundraiser in Denton on Wednesday to raise money for future activities. Arellano said keeping the program alive is difficult, but what keeps him motivated is when he gets calls from

students and parents every summer asking if it will be available the next year. He’s seen how it has helped the kids grow and push themselves to succeed in school, but he wants Discover College Life to grow. “I challenge other elementary schools here to create a project like this one,” Arellano said. “We need other teachers and schools to start doing pen pals with college organizations.” Arellano was the first in his family to attend college, and after spending five years at UNT, he wanted to help more students like him do what they once thought was impossible. “You want the best thing for your children, and the best thing you can give them is education,” Arellano told the children’s parents. “If you have education, you have power.”

@BiancaMujica96

Untangled: normal people finding big solutions By Travis McCallum

Engineering Junior Zachary Simpson demonstrates how to remove violations from the problem in the DFG. Untangled 3 is the latest prototype in the award-winning game created in Discovery Park. Travis McCallum

Anirban Chakraborty, Satyanarayana Chivukula, Alok Pal and Zachary Simpson pose. The four men are the core members on creating Untangled 3, the newest iteration of the Engineering game. Travis McCallum

Red circuitry floods the screen screaming “HELP! HELP! HELP!” Violations plea to be untangled in the garbled mess of power conduits. With the careful flick of the wrist, the player tactically rearranges the perfect composition of cells until the crimson dies down and all that remains is the tranquil onset of a green job well done. Electrical engineers face challenges of figuring out how to fit electrical components in portable devices. Untangled is a strategic computer game based on electrical engineering concepts, and the UNT electrical engineering program has taken a placement problem from integrated circuit design and encapsulated it into a game. Professor Gayatri Mehta leads the team, crowdsourcing Untangled to make it broadly accessible with the goal of discovering creative mapping algorithms by looking at the kind of strategies players use. She wants to develop more efficient algorithms that will help engineers explore the design space of reconfigurable architectures in a better way, which would help in the advancement of low power portable electronics. “Players do not need an engineering background to play Untangled,” Mehta said. “It has the potential to increase interest toward STEM. Anyone can play. The goal is to engage broader audience.” The idea of Untangled began when Mehta was following a 3-D protein folding game called “Folded.” She asked herself how she could do something similar with her own research. She proposed the idea to the National Science Foundation, who funded Untangled. Due to Untangled’s success, Untangled 2 was funded as well. Moving with the momentum, her third proposal for Untangled 3 is currently being funded by the NSF. Untangled has more than 12,000 solutions generated by players all over the world. Launched in 2012, it has won international competitions,

winning awards such as top 10 in the gaming categories and people’s choice awards. When Untangled was first released, it intentionally lacked a real solution. The team wanted to gauge player scores and build a “gallery of solutions” players created. After the first competition, the development team posted the gallery and challenged players to beat those top scores. “I would like to see how people use these out-of-thebox approaches and solve this problem,” Mehta said. The newest game in the series, Untangled 3, has a better interface and unique design where the same problem is used on multiple levels with different angles. It examines how players tackle a problem with new solutions. The game has been in development since January 2016, and is expected to release by the end of April, offering both a single player and group player mode with plans to expand to multiplayer in a future patch. Untangled 3 will utilize HTML5 as opposed to C# and Silverlight, which Untangled and Untangled 2 used. In Untangled 3, players explore a Data Flow Graph (DFG) which presents an electrical engineer problem. The bigger the graph, the more computational resources needed. The goal is to reduce the size of the DFG by turning red blocks into white blocks — thereby reducing the energy usage. Players increase their score by compacting blocks, reducing violations and finding the least complex solution in the fastest time. Diagonal blocks are more complex than vertical or horizontal ones. The higher the score, the lower the energy used in the solution. Compacting is taking two units and finding the shortest distance between them while violations occur. Ideally, a player wants to compact a graph using only 4-way architecture styles, meaning each block can communicate with its immediate neighbors (top, bottom, left and right.)

In addition to the gameplay itself, a chat box allows players to communicate with each other and a statistics box as an in-game log to track previous actions. In the new group mode for Untangled 3, players simultaneously work on one giant puzzle that is broken down into smaller pieces. The developers then combine all the pieces together for a finished solution. Complex problems are hard for one person to solve. Multiplayer allows both collaborative and competitive teamwork. While Untangled had a maximum of four players working together, Untangled 3 will have 40. “So when people are trying to pack, we give them a puzzle which has a bunch of blocks, colorful blocks connected with some wires,” she said. “So, they’re looking at, ‘why there’s a big mess of wires here? So, I need to untangle them and put them in aesthetically the best possible way, right? And try to go with the most compact version?’ Because it’s visually appealing to them.” While they are doing that, the development team is recording the cool moves and strategies used to develop better algorithms and train computers to do that. The lab is interdisciplinary, with electrical engineering students working on the mathematic models behind the scenes. Computer science students help with programming by putting the framework together and visual arts and sciences students work on the aesthetics and graphics to make it pretty. Volunteers range from TAMS to Ph.D students. Challenges the developers face include how to make it more fun, how to keep players engaged and visualization. There is the question of representing the game in a way that engages broader audiences while making a 2,500 grid graph visually appealing. “We are teaching them engineering concepts while hiding all the details from them,” Mehta said.

@Travis_McCallum

SPORTS Page 9

THURSDAY, APRIL 20, 2017

NTDAILY.COM

COLUMN UPCOMING GAMES

Failure to retain players has North Texas softball stuck in a rut of mediocrity

Thursday • Conference USA tennis championship begins Friday • Track @ John Jacobs Invitational • C-USA tennis championship continues Saturday • Softball vs. Florida Atlantic at 1 and 3 p.m. • C-USA tennis championship continues Sunday • Softball vs. Florida Atlantic at noon • C-USA tennis championship concludes

MEAN GREEN QUICK HITS

Basketball Sophomores Ja’Michael Brown and Rickey Brice Jr. are both expected to transfer out of the Nor th Texas men’s basketball program. The announcement came last Friday, just one week after junior Jeremy Combs announced his intention of transferring. Nor th Texas softball is in second place in the C-USA west division with about two weeks left in the season. The Mean Green trail division leader Louisiana Tech, who has a 12-3 conference record. Softball Nor th Texas softball is in second place in the C-USA west division with about two weeks left in the season. The Mean Green trail division leader Louisiana Tech, who has a 12-3 conference record.

By Reece Waddell When head coach Tracey Kee was hired in August 2013 as the fourth softball coach in program history, many expected the program to experience a swift turnaround. In 16 seasons as head coach at East Carolina University, Kee sported a 684-362 record and led the Pirates to four NCA A tournament appearances. So, when the Mean Green finished with their best record in program history at 31-22 in Kee’s first year, it seemed like things were trending upward. Until they weren’t. Since their record-setting campaign in 2014, North Texas has gone 63-85 for a 0.468 win percentage. Last year, the Mean Green went on a 14-game losing streak during the last month of the season that ultimately cost them a berth in the Conference USA tournament – which was being hosted right in their own backyard. Part of the struggles can be attributed to poor conference play. Including this season, the Mean Green are 25-40 in C-USA dating back to 2015. In 2014, North Texas’ only winning season under Kee, the Mean Green went 14-9 in conference. So what has changed since their 31-win season almost three years ago? Most of it is player inexperience. Of the 15 players on their roster, 10 of them are either freshmen or sophomores. The nine underclassman hitters currently combine for a .239 average, while the lone underclassman pitcher in sophomore Lauren Craine has an inf lated ER A of 6.60. Opponents are also hitting .318 against her.

With so many young players, it’s hard to reasonably expect this team to be good in clutch situations. When the game is on the line in the late innings, the Mean Green only have a few players to turn to for a big strikeout or hit with runners in scoring position. Over the last three seasons, inconsistency has plagued this program. And look no further than the turnover of players. This past offseason, the Mean Green lost six players. Two of them were to graduation. The other four – Lauren Miller, Casady Webb, Mackenzie Dawson and Kay Kay Hayter – all left the program at various points throughout the summer and did not return to the team. But the exits didn’t stop there. Prior to the 2016 season, five more players with eligibility left the program, including outfielder Taylor Schoblocher. Coming off a season where she posted career numbers, Schoblocher was a force in the middle of North Texas’ order. In 2015, Schoblocher hit 0.389 with a .833 slugging percentage to go along with 17 home runs and 42 RBIs. Pretty much everyone expected her to come back for her senior season and build on those staggering numbers. Instead, she decided to quit the team. Schblocher told the Denton RecordChronicle in May 2015 she would remain at UNT as a student and finish her degree but did not feel comfortable playing for Kee or associate head coach Natalie Kozlowski. “There were some things that happened during the year,” Schoblocher said in an interview with the DRC. “There was a bit of a hostile environment. I lost the love and passion for the game.” It’s not the first time Kee and Kozlowski have been accused of creating a hostile environment, either. Although she is one of the winningest active Division I softball coaches, Kee and Kozlowski were suspended and later fired from East Carolina in 2012 after a school investigation revealed, “an emotionally

hostile environment in the program, identified potential NCA A violations and noted shortcoming to oversight of property and fiscal matters.” Only Schoblocher has publicly said she left the program due to a hostile environment, but it begs the question why the other eight players left during the past two offseasons. Transfers happen all the time in college sports for all sorts of reasons. Having nine players leave the team over two years, on the other hand, hurts more than just chemistry and morale. It hurts your appearance and ability to win. For a coach that has already been fired for these allegations once, appearance is everything. Even more concerning moving forward is the fact that North Texas’ three best players will graduate next month. Seniors Stacey Underwood and Jessica Elder, who have been the backbone of the pitching staff, are on their way out as well as senior infielder Kelli Schkade, who has

hit the cover off the ball this season. Schkade leads the team in nearly every offensive category with a 0.360 batting average, 0.640 slugging percentage, seven home runs and 23 RBIs. Meanwhile, Underwood has a 2.82 ER A and 12-8 record, and thrown 136.2 innings this season – 4.9 innings less than Elder and Craine combined. Only time will tell if the younger players can evolve into integral pieces for the Mean Green. One thing is certain, however. If North Texas wants to get out of the rut of mediocrity, they will at least need to retain players to build around in the future.

@ReeceWaddell15

On Sunday, March 12, North Texas softball head coach Tracey Kee (center) and UTEP head coach Tobin Echo-Hawk (right) met with the C-USA umpires before the game begins. Katie Jenkins

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NTDAILY.COM | PAGE 10

Behind the scenes: By Jaz’man Hampton The field of sports medicine is often a wild one. Since college and professional sports are played at such a fast pace, many injuries occur in the blink of an eye. When an athlete goes down, the athletic trainers are always the first ones on the field or court, tending to the injured, and it’s no different at UNT. The North Texas sports medicine staff consists of four full-time athletic trainers, four graduate assistants and more than a dozen student athletic trainers. The department also has medical consultants on staff in optometry, neurology and cardiology. Athletic trainers are at every game and practice and are there not only to treat injuries but to prevent them as well. “The easiest way of describing [an athletic trainer] is a health professional dealing with people who are athletic in some way,” assistant athletic trainer Elizabeth Winland said. “Even if that’s just Grandma Sue walking for 30 minutes.” Sports medicine is a large, diverse field many students want to pursue. Unfortunately, many jobs within the field often get confused with other positions. Athletic trainers, for instance, are often misconstrued for physical therapists. Although the two may have a similar knowledge of the body - as it pertains to movement in athletics –

they come from two totally different educational backgrounds. Winland has been a certified athletic trainer since 2009 and began her career as a volunteer student athletic trainer in high school. In this never-panic career, Winland tries to keep a poker face, no matter what injury she is dealing with. From a small sprain to a broken finger to even a football player going into shock after realizing he just tore his ACL, Winland has seen almost everything. But there is one injury so violent she will never forget it. “I had a football player who landed on the end of a football,” Winland said. “Once the game was over he came to me and said that he was peeing blood. [We went to the hospital] and found out that he had actually lacerated his kidney by falling on the ball. He spent several days in the hospital but he’s fine now, and his kidney healed on its own.” Better known as Liza to Mean Green athletes, Winland joined the North Texas sports medicine staff in 2015 and is the main trainer for the women’s basketball team. On occasion, she assists other teams as well. Receiving the opportunity to work as a collegiate athletic trainer at a Division I university like North Texas was always the goal for Winland. “I kind of worked my way up,” Winland said. “I went to a DIII private liberal arts school, worked for a high

The life of a North Texas athletic trainer school, a DI junior college, then came here. I knew I wanted to work for a DI [college] in some capacity.” Winland said. As an athletic trainer, Winland often has to multi-task. At one point in her career, Windland oversaw 250 athletes at once, which required her to get organized and learn time management skills. Now at North Texas, Winland only oversees the graduate assistants, specifically track and field trainer Jazmine Wilson and swimming/tennis trainer Francesca Lavezzoli-Nelson. Lavezzoli-Nelson is new to North Texas and is in a graduate program for reaction events and sports management. Although she has been in the program since August 2016, this is her first time working with and treating collegiate athletes. “It’s pretty difficult having two teams,” Lavezzoli-Nelson said. “The most stressful part of it is never being out of season. Swim is a fall sport, which goes into the spring, and tennis starts in January and goes until May.” While she is still learning the ropes, Lavezzoli-Nelson said there is one thing in particular she has noticed treating athletes. “They’re normal students,” Lavezzoli-Nelson said. “They just have this extra stress – sports – so when you approach them you have to be careful because sometimes they can be on edge.” Along with being a graduate assistant student trainer, Lavezzoli-

North Texas senior guard Candice Adams drives the lane against Southern Mississippi University. Adams wears a brace when she plays after she tore her ACL before joining the Mean Green. Colin Mitchel Nelson attends classes three days a week in addition to working. She said that she learns both in the classroom and on the job at games and during practice. Because they are always around, many players, like women’s basketball freshman forward Jada Poland, have developed close relationships with the trainers. Poland regularly sees Winland for

treatment for her Achilles and has become close with Winland. “Usually in practice when my Achilles starts hurting really bad I go to the side and Liza stretches them or gives me some [medicine] and that helps,” Poland said. While athletic trainers are rarely the stars of the show, they are almost always there behind the scenes

waiting and watching. In a moment’s notice, they could be called into action — no matter the circumstance. “Athletic trainers are employed at Disney World, NASCAR, the rodeo, in professional sports, in Hollywood and on Broadway,” Winland said. “Athletic trainers are everywhere.”

@misfitoffaith

Sophomore Lauren Craine maturing in second season with Mean Green By Morgan Price

this season came on March 25 against the University of Texas at San Antonio when she threw a complete game shutout. She needed only 94 pitches to get through 7.0 innings, scattering seven hits while never allowing the Roadrunners to scratch across a run. Craine attributes most of her performance in the circle to her confidence, and moving forward, knows it is something she has to maintain. With the possibility she may be the only upperclassman in the pitching rotation next year, Craine will soon have to take over the leadership role held by Underwood and Elder. “If she continues on the course that she currently is, she can definitely be an impact player,” head coach Tracey Kee said. In her freshman season, Craine made five starts in 28 appearances, pitching a total of 63.1 innings.

There may be three pitchers in North Texas softball’s bullpen now, but next season, only one of them will be returning. With seniors Jessica Elder and Stacey Underwood graduating next month, sophomore Lauren Craine will be the lone pitcher remaining when the offseason begins and until new recruits are brought in. Just last year, Craine was a wide-eyed freshman that hung on Underwood and Elder’s every word. With two upperclassmen mentoring Craine, she grew up quick. Craine has increased her win total from one to four with two weeks remaining this season. And she never forgets how she got here. “[Elder] taught me a new change up. [Underwood] has helped me stay confident,” Craine said. “Seeing them go out there confidently has helped me.” Craine’s standout game

This year, 11 of her 19 appearances have been starts. She’s tossed three complete games and has almost doubled her strikeout count from 16 to 30. “I feel like last year I didn’t really know what to expect coming in,” Craine said. “I gave up a lot of hits and I didn’t really know much about my motion. I’ve learned to trust my body, instead of trying too hard to throw a pitch and overthink it.” Craine spent a majority of the offseason changing her pitching motion and focusing on spinning the ball. Much like a breaking ball in baseball, spinning the ball in softball makes it more difficult for hitters to time their swings and make contact, ultimately leading to more strikeouts. Her improvement has not gone unnoticed. “Her balls look really good, which makes a hitter want to hit it,” Underwood said. “[But] then

it has great late movement and they can’t hit it. And when they do [make contact], it doesn’t go anywhere. She has such great command of her pitches. I think that makes her special.” Conference play has been a strong point for Craine throughout the season. While her ERA in C-USA is 5.00 — slightly above average — two of her three starts have been complete games. With only three pitchers on staff, going late into games was something Kee hoped Craine would be able to do before the season started. Before playing the University of Southern Mississippi on April 8, the Mean Green had been undefeated in conference play at home. And while they dropped game two of the doubleheader, North Texas eventually won the series with a 9-6 victory in game three. In the finale, all three pitchers

made appearances in the circle, with Craine pitching 1.0 inning and giving up one run on two hits. “[The series against Southern Mississippi] felt like a big turning point for me,” Craine said. “Last year we had trouble with conference and we weren’t confident. I personally didn’t have the strongest weekend in the circle but our pitching staff and offense worked well to grind through.” Although Craine has not seen a significant jump in her numbers from year one to year two, Kee has been pleased with Craine’s work ethic when she does get playing time. “When given the ball, she’s making the [most] of her opportunities and as a pitcher that’s not always easy to do,” Kee said. “You never know when you’re going get that ball. It may be to start a game, middle relief,or closing the game.”

While her pitching is a clear asset to the team, Craine’s bubbly personality and dugout dances are one of the first traits that stands out to her teammates. “She’s a really goofy person,” Elder said. “She can always put a smile on people’s faces even in tough times. She’s a fun person to be around.” Whether it’s cheering on her team during a game from the dugout or trying to keep the energy high and the attitudes positive, Craine has a one-of-akind presence. Things just wouldn’t be the same at Lovelace Stadium without her. “I think without her we would be missing a key part of our team,” Underwood said. “She’s the life of the party.”

@morganprice

Girl’s soccer team looks to the future with new recruits SOCCER CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 questioning if she would play soccer at the collegiate level. During the recruiting process, James experienced what thousands of athletes across the country encounter once the courting starts — tons of phone calls and visits as she weighed her options. “[Recruiting started] my junior year of high school,” James said. “[I was contacted] often. They called me during

class and I’d have to go out in the hall and talk to [coaches] and then I’d get emails and stuff like that.” The same process happened with all of the incoming freshmen this season, and Hedlund felt a slight sense of urgency after losing the leadership and talent from those five seniors. As the fall season approaches, he has already set the standards high for those incoming players and expects them to really elevate the team.

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“There’s actually a few that I think have the potential to come right in and start right away,” Hedlund said. “And there could be others as well. I think the competition is going to be great.” Hedlund went on to name midfielder Elle-Marie DeFrain as one of the players that he could see coming in and making an impact right away. Although he is a stern coach on the field, all of Hedlund’s players value his critique and coaching. It’s this kind of character — the

willingness to be coached — that Hedlund looks for in recruits, and has resulted in almost two decades of winning records and championships. “When they have high character, they’re a lot easier to coach,” Hedlund said. “They’re going to work really hard for you and always be in shape.” While character and resilience and other intangibles are something all of the coaches look for when recruiting players, it is often one of the hardest things to

find out about a player. “It’s hard to gauge,” Benatar said. “Sometimes they can get up here and it’s better or it’s not what you thought. It’s taking a chance a lot of times, but over time we get to know them as a player and we feel we get the right match.” The 2017 freshman class will have more pressure on them than in a usual season because expectations are raised for the three-time defending C-USA champs. However, expectations

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were raised in recruiting as well, setting up one of the more intriguing and pivotal classes, according to Hedlund, North Texas has seen in a few years. “This is a really good mentally tough and physically strong class,” Benatar said. “They’ve come off of high-profile teams and they’re competitive [and] those pieces will be an asset for our team immediately.”

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NTDAILY.COM | PAGE 11

North Texas tennis graduate Kamilla Galieva working toward pro career By Cesar Valdes As the morning sun begins to make its way over the towering fences of the Waranch Tennis Complex, Kamilla Galieva prepares her body for what’s to come within the next couple of hours. Nearly a year after graduating from North Texas, Galieva is now facing the uphill battle many aspiring former collegiate athletes must go through in their hopes of becoming a professional athlete. “I wanted to be a professional tennis player since I was 7 years old,” Galieva said. “I still want to pursue my goal. It was my option A all the time to play professional tennis.” She raises her long, lanky legs behind her back and begins to gently tug at them one at a time as she circles around the court. It’s time to get to work. She starts to warm up by practicing her service. Each strike gradually becoming more intense, more powerful — all while remaining just as accurate as the previous. Soon, Galieva begins her practice session with the Mean Green’s volunteer coach Raj Lama and one of his other younger students. It’s the price Galieva has to pay. Lama trains Galieva, and in return, she must help him with his own students. The 21-year-old Galieva is experiencing the truth she knew all along: nothing is free. “If coach trains you, you have to pay coach,” Galieva said. “You have to pay for training. You have to pay for racquets, for

Sophomores

clothes, for strings. Everything.” Financial obstacles have haunted Galieva nearly everywhere she’s gone. Before coming to North Texas, Galieva was originally slated to play for the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. However, upon completing her freshman year there, UALR was facing a budget deficit of over $800,000. After already having cut the men’s tennis program years prior, the women’s program was the next thing to be eliminated. “In March, we had a compliance meeting [with our] director, coach and the whole team,” Galieva said. “They told us they would close our program because they didn’t have enough financial aid.” Even today, earning enough income to live comfortably can be a struggle for the Russian native. She works as a tutor with UNT and gives private tennis lessons to help supplement some of her income. But even that’s not enough at times. Of the nine total players on that final UALR tennis roster, Galieva was one of two players who were able to find a school to play for that following season when she joined North Texas. With the Mean Green, Galieva didn’t have a staggering win-loss record. She finished her career with a 13-14 record in singles. Even though she didn’t have eye-popping numbers, her hard work and dedication to her craft did not go unnoticed. “Kamilla is probably the most

hardworking person I’ve ever met,” sophomore Maria Kononova said. “I know she started playing tennis kind of late, but she put in so much work, so much effort, and her desire is on fire. She made huge progress from the girl I met the first time and the player she is now.” Back on the practice court, it’s a backand-forth battle between coach and player. There’s never a light moment between Lama and Galieva. What started as a light return drill turns into a tense, vigorous slam session. Galieva’s once pale skin was replaced by a fierce, rosy coat. Lama tried to calm his student, but there was no cooling Galieva. Her shots were money. As Galieva walks to the bench for a drink, she shouts,”Denton is boring!” Now it’s Lama who is heated. He’s sent into a lecturing frenzy reminiscent of a father telling his daughter to be grateful for what she has. “He’s one of the best coaches,” Galieva said. “When I was in college, he helped me a lot with technique or tactic problems. When I was in matches, his suggestions helped me a lot.” With a light smirk on her face and Lama unaware, Galieva raises her right hand and flaps her fingers to her thumbs. “I love it,” Lama said about his practice time with Galieva. “I don’t feel like I waste my time.” Despite the early mornings, the long hours of practice, and countless other

sacrifices, professional tennis offers no guarantees. About two weeks ago, Galieva played a pro tournament in Mississippi, but a first round exit caused her to leave empty handed. “The girl was better than me,” Galieva said. Galieva is determined to stay the course

UNT students square off in intramural FIFA tournament

Ja’Michael Brown transferring out of North Texas By Clay Massey & Reece Waddell

@Clay_FC @ReeceWaddell15

@The_CesarValdes

Kamilla Gaviela swings at the ball during a practice session on Tuesday. Galieva has played tennis at UNT for three years after the University of Arkansas at Little Rock disbanded their tennis team due to lack of funding. Jake King

Rickey Brice and

After two seasons with the Mean Green men’s basketball team, sophomores Ja’Michael Brown and Rickey Brice Jr. are transferring. Brice was the first seven-footer to sign with North Texas since Sean Riley in 1994. Last year, Brice appeared in 27 games, starting 11, and averaged 5.1 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. Brown appeared in 62 games for North Texas the past two seasons. He averaged 8.0 points per game during his freshman campaign, but averaged just 5.8 points per game in 2016. In his freshman season he started 18 games. Last year he started only 12. Men’s basketball head coach Grant McCasland said Brown’s decision to leave ultimately boiled down to one thing. “He wanted to be close to home,” said head coach Grant McCasland. “I’m excited about his future and where he’s headed because I feel he he has a great direction on where he’s headed and what’s best for his family.” Brown and Brice were both recruited by former head coach Tony Benford, who did not return at the end of last season when North Texas went 8-22 and failed to qualify for the Conference USA tournament. The transfers came exactly one week after junior forward Jeremy Combs announced he was leaving the program April 7.

and follow her dream. Even if she doesn’t see early success in tournaments, Galieva is not going to let it get to her head. She knows ultimately, winning boils down to one thing. “To see success, you have to be extremely talented,” Galieva said.

Students focus intensly as they play in a FIFA tournament hosted by the Pohl Recreation Center Intramural Division on April 13. Sara Carpenter

By Deondre Jones Down 3-1 with only a couple minutes to go, Jesus Duran knew he had an uphill battle ahead of him if he wanted to defend his FIFA championship crown. As the clock dwindled down, the organization behavior and human resources junior threw all of his team forward, hoping for a few last second goals. He got one, but the equalizer never came. As Duran looked on in agony, media arts freshman Ade Dina anxiously awaited the final virtual whistle so he could be crowned the new FIFA king of UNT. “It’s kind of crazy because I talk a lot of crap and don’t really lose,” Dina said. “But I didn’t feel like I played the best people this tournament had.” The championship match featured Arsenal and Juventus, with Dina opting for the Italian club. Both competitors exchanged goals early in the match, but Dina had the momentum on his side

throughout and never relinquished it. “In this FIFA you have to use a physical team,” Dina said. “There’s no way around it, and the team that stuck to me was Juventus.” Hosted annually by the Pohl Recreational Center, the FIFA tournament is played on the PlayStation4, with 36 students coming out this past Thursday to battle for the title. To play, students had to sign up with IMLeagues.com before the start of the tournament. Billy Mathew, assistant director of intramural sport clubs said the 36 students that showed up was a fraction of the number of people who actually registered. “On IM Leagues there were about 70 people,” Mathew said. Each game is single elimination with six minute halves. The camera is displayed with the Tele-Broadcast view and fatigue on. The majority of players opted to use powerhouse clubs like Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, but

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the two finalists opted for less popular selections in Arsenal and Juventus. Mathew said these video game tournaments were originally started in hopes of bringing more people to the Rec Center. “A lot of times it brings in participants who might not come to the Rec Center,” Mathew said. “So hopefully they get in here for this and know that they can use it for other things as well.” For Dina and Duran, however, it was all about FIFA and claiming some bragging rights. “We work together,” Dina said. “So when we heard about the tournament [Duran] mentioned that he was the defending champion. When we got to the [championship game] it was like ‘put your money where your mouth is and let’s see how good you really are.’” Dina usually plays FIFA up to 15 hours per week, including weekend leagues where he plays upwards of 40 games so he can improve his numbers. After the loss in the finals, Duran said he believed the outcome would have

been different if he passed better and had more possession. He also said he had trouble moving the analog stick on his controller at times throughout the championship match, but did not place blame on a faulty controller. “Sometimes I wanted to cut in, but the reception [of the controller] would be a second off,” Duran said. “By that time it was too late.” Despite losing his title, Duran gave credit to Dina after the match. “I believe we both have very similar styles,” Duran said. “He knew how to pass and knew when to adjust.” In the semifinals, Dina won a tight match in overtime using the golden goal method, which meant that the first person to score wins. In regards to his game plan, Dina used a consistent approach for his opponents, which was to frequently go on the counter-attack and put them on their heels. The strategy worked. “I had to play faster than him,” Dina said. “[Duran] likes a lot of possession and I was able to have two counter attacks where I ended up scoring.” After winning, Dina was rewarded with a PS4 copy of FIFA 17 and an intramural championship T-shirt. Even though he didn’t win back-toback titles, Duran was glad he got the opportunity to compete. And both Dina and Duran plan to be back next year to square off yet again. “It hurts because I love sports and competitions and I do it for the love of competing,” Duran said. “I don’t get mad. I always shake my opponent’s hand before and after the game. In life you win some and you lose some, and I’ve been fortunate enough to win one.”

@deondrejones34

OPINION Page 12

THURSDAY, APRIL 20, 2017

Fox News’ place in the sexual harassment plague

By Gabriela Macias Last week, The New York Times exposed several sexual harassment allegations against Fox News’ biggest star, Bill O’Reilly. The investigation found that the network has stood behind the No. 1 cable news host regardless. The report also found five women who either O’Reilly or the network paid in agreement to either not pursue legal action or to not make the allegations public. The total amount in those settlements was reportedly about $13 million. This is not surprising because last year the network had a similar case involving its former CEO, Roger Ailes, when he was accused of harassment by at least 20 women. We also have a president who bragged about grabbing women inappropriately and against their will. But still, he was elected to the highest office in the land. Over and over again, we see powerful men getting away with perpetuating violence against women and being rewarded for it. They are given opportunities no one would imagine. They are given infinite amounts of second chances. Because when the news breaks, it is not the men who get dissected or their actions judged.

It is the women – victims and survivors – who are taken apart, whose intentions are questioned and whose clothes get analyzed to an appalling degree. We live in a country where 75 percent of people who experience sexual harassment do not report it. Where, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, over half of the sexual harassment claims in 2015 resulted in no charge. Given all this information and the importance of action, what is most alarming about the reporting is not that O’Reilly and Ailes got away with it. What is most surprising is how unmoved we seem towards new reports of women being abused. How numb we as a society have become, but not out of indifference. Because in a way violence against women has been normalized so often by movies and TV. It looks glamorous and also temporary. It is something that happens once and is overcome, quickly forgotten later on. What we do not see on the screen is the real toll it takes on the person. The permanent mark it leaves. We should address sexual violence, not as a taboo but as a reality that every women can face, and how men need to be held accountable for their actions, regardless of their position or potential for recovery. We need to acknowledge that we live in a time where the term “rape culture” is a clear depiction of the environment surrounding women. In her essay “The Careless Language of Sexual

Violence” Roxane Gay brilliantly explains, “This phrase denotes a culture where we are inundated, in different ways, by the idea that male aggression and violence towards women is acceptable and often inevitable.” We cannot accept this behavior as a norm. We need to create an environment in which women can feel safe everywhere, especially in work spaces. As a society we need to care, not because it could have been our mothers, sisters, friends or aunts - we need to care because women are human beings who deserve respect and dignity. We need to protect each other because it is not just “locker room talk,” it is an admission of power abuse. Women’s bodies can and will be abused if we all stand by and continue letting it happen.

@Gaby_Mac22

Illustration by Samuel Wiggins

NTDAILY.COM

The U.S. stake in the fight against Syria

By Matthew Li What President Donald Trump has done that former President Barack Obama failed to do was show an actual commitment to removing chemical weapons from Syria. This is not the first time that Bashar Al-Assad has used sarin nerve gas on his own people. The first time, in 2013, 1,729 innocent civilians were gassed while the United States watched silently. Instead of punishing Assad for breaking the Geneva Protocol, which has been upheld by 140 countries since World War I, Obama made Assad promise to destroy his chemical weapon cache. However, a western intelligence officer reported that Syria had 45 sites capable of producing chemical weapons, while only 23 sites were disclosed by Syria. It is not unlikely that Syria hid some of its chemical weapons in anticipation of using it in the near future. The 59 cruise missiles that launched against the Sharyat airbase in Syria last Thursday are the most recent actions by the U.S. against Assad’s regime. These chemical attacks appear to be the result of Trump’s last straw, as he went against his non-involvement policy in Syria. These views were consistent

throughout his campaign, but Trump has attributed his policy change to Syria’s brutality on innocents. When reporters asked him if Assad’s actions had crossed the line, he responded: “It crossed a lot of lines with me. When you kill innocent children – innocent babies – with chemical gas, that goes beyond red lines.” As violent as Trump’s actions were, the missiles had little effects on the airbase. Less than 24 hours after the attack, planes took off once again from the Sharyat airbase. These airstrikes sent more of a message than directly preventing future attacks, and shows that the U.S. will no longer tolerate Assad’s crimes. It is saddening to see so many conflicting opinions coming out of the White House. Everyone working directly with Trump should have the same opinion in order to present a unified front. Not to mention that Trump has done a complete 180 on his “stay out of Syria” stance. Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, represents his intention to an even stronger degree. In a CNN interview, she said that the U.S. doesn’t only need a more controlling influence in Syria, but there is no possible way for peace under Assad. She believes in a total regime change. Her views clash with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who commented that there is no need to switch out Assad. He has made it clear that these gruesome attacks against Syrians are not at the forefront of America’s interest, which he says is to defeat ISIS. What the U.S. needs now more than ever is to actually present the image of a united America, whose representatives all hold similar core

values. With Russia upset about the attack, Tillerson, Haley and the rest of the Trump administration need to show that the U.S. can act as one. According to The Associated Press, Russia knew in advance of Syria’s attacks, but there is still no proof of Moscow involvement. But since the U.S. warned Russia of their attack, Syrian forces removed most of their planes from the airbase. A former Syrian pilot told AP that the damage caused to the airfield could be “fixed within hours,” and unless the control tower or communication system was damaged, which they weren’t, there would be no lasting damage to the airbase or Assad’s regime. This whole ordeal has taken its toll on U.S./Russia relations. While accusations over hacking and spies have already strained the fragile relationship, the U.S.’s direct action against Syria has pushed Russia to its limits. Russian President Vladimir Putin brought a warship to the Mediterranean to protect Syria from future U.S. attacks, and Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian prime minister, has said that these attacks have undermined Moscow’s trust in the Trump administration. While a proxy war was already raging between the Russian-backed Assad regime and U.S.-backed rebels, a direct clash between the two superpowers would lead to immense losses. Although these attacks indicated a more decisive and vindictive America, we must take measures to ensure that we do not step on the toes of other great powers.

@matthewli2000

The flawed approach to modern network coverage

Ilustration by Antonio Mercado

By Gabriela Macias

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A lot has been said about the role mass media played in the 2016 election, especially when considering major cable news networks. One of these is CN N, which heav ily covered the campaigns and their af termath. One of the recurring themes in CN N shows is the use of political pundits. To be clear, the def inition of “pundit,” according to MerriamWebster, is a person who gives opinions in an authoritative manner, usually through the mass media. At f irst glance, this might seem totally inof fensive, as there is absolutely nothing w rong w ith people sharing their opinions. But this has taken a completely new turn w ith paid pundits defending irrational and misleading statements on national T V. This of ten turns into hourlong segments of in-f ighting between commentators and serious journalists tr y ing to get a point across. But although this might seem surprising, it shouldn’t be. In a New York Times inter v iew to CN N Worldw ide president Jef f Zucker, we see an insight on how news shows have turned into a ver y disruptive version of realit y T V. Zucker comes from being

an executive producer on NBC’s “Today” and later, the entire network. A lso produced actual realit y T V shows, such as “Fear Factor” and “The Apprentice.” Of course, the latter elevated its lead developer into the forefront, President Donald Trump. So you could say Zucker understood Trump better than anyone. A f ter all, he was the one who made Trump famous. But the most worr y ing sign is how Zucker v iews the news and the role it should play in the mass media. In the inter v iew, he said, “The idea that politics is a spor t is undeniable, and we understood that and approach it that way.” Not only is this horrif y ing, it gives into the narrative that news should be made for enter tainment. The networks thrive on conf lict and drama. This is exactly why pundits have become so coercive. During the campaign, Trump surrogates and pundits were paid by either the campaign or network, sometimes both, simply to go on air and defend him. But these appearances would of ten turn into screaming matches w ith little substance in the end. The frequency of outrageous things said on air are not only of fensive, they are an insult to intellect and good journalism. Modern news pits journalists

against each other, to ask ridiculous questions to people they know w ill say something even more ridiculous. This gets in the way of actually informing the public. It gets in the way of qualit y time when real, pressing issues facing the nation should be properly discussed, and a way which only ser ves the network and fails to enrich the knowledge of its audience. Zucker referred to pundits as “characters in a drama,” but they are not. The spread of misinformation makes the networks lose credibilit y and it takes the whole essence of the Four th Estate away. The role of news networks shouldn’t be to play to whatever tune the administration wants to. It is about keeping people accountable. News shows shouldn’t be modeled af ter “The Bachelor” or “The Kardashians.” Contrar y to what Zucker may think, journalists have a dut y to ser ve and f ight for the people, which is something no one should ever forget.

@Gaby_Mac22

NTDAILY.COM | PAGE 13

China’s trade goals increase Trump’s policies

By Matthew Li President Donald Trump’s isolationist policies are advantageous for a China on the rise. By minimizing U.S. international influence, Trump is leaving open an economic power void that could easily be filled by any other country. Ever since Trump took office, Chinese President Xi Jing Ping began to paint China as a globally oriented community. Chinese media is underlining China’s role in the global scene and portraying itself as a world power capable of spreading its influence to all corners of the world. The way that things are

happening now, China is antithetical to America. While Trump prepares to cut funds for the Environmental Protection Agency, Xi vigorously defended the Paris Agreement on curbing greenhouse gas emissions. When Trump left the TransPacific Partnership, China began to propose its own trade organization that would allow it to retain power in the Pacific. Everything Trump does, China has an answer. This type of tit-for-tat game that China plays has allowed it to gradually spread its tendrils into the depths of the entire world. Even the 45 percent tariffs that Trump has proposed on Chinese imports would hurt U.S. consumers more than Chinese exporters. Trump’s past accusations of China being a “currency manipulator” might have a grain of truth. For a country with a cheaply valued currency, it can subsidize its exports easily and therefore be able to get more

bang for its buck when exporting to foreign countries. Since the Chinese government has complete control over its staterun banks, it can easily change the value of its currency. By limiting the amount of foreign investment, and by changing the amount of liquidity in state-run banks, the exchange rate of yuan can easily be manipulated. By keeping exchange rates low, it can consistently collect money through its taxes on exports. This money is then used on military excursions in the Philippines that also allow it to pressure the U.S. into giving it more favorable terms. The U.S., in turn, has also held the threat of investigating China directly for being a “currency manipulator,” which would lead to possible sanctions by the international community in exchange for its cooperation in dealing with North Korea. On April 15 the Treasury Department presented to

What an English degree gets you

By Kara Jobmann As an English major, the snarky and condescending questions from people on what you plan to do with your life are endless. Nobody asks what a person majoring in journalism will do. But for an English major, there are many who do not see the benefits of the degree. For all students going to college, choosing a degree and graduating is a scary thing. Entering the adult world where people expect you to act a certain way and have everything together, while also finding a job and officially being on your own, is hard enough without people mocking the degree you spent $40,000 on and four years pursuing. English, art and history majors all receive the same kind of flak. But English majors have a set of skills that many people operating in today’s society don’t always have. First and foremost, English majors have a firm grasp on the language they speak and write. With this ability, English majors can communicate, vocalize emotions and navigate through choppy waters. English majors are well read, meaning that they have an idea of what past societies and histories look like. While there

aren’t any studies to support just how many books English majors read, one can imagine how much they read per week. Some forums have people claiming they read anywhere from three to five books per week as an undergraduate. The ability to read gives insight into the human condition, the past and the present. There are assertions from writers like James Baldwin stating that the poet captures and puts words to things that others cannot. The English major not only has a solid grasp on his or her language but on grammar as well. You can blow off grammar and spelling all you want, but the importance of these skills cannot be neglected. A person may have the most brilliant ideas, but if he or she cannot vocalize or put it into words, what good is the idea? Earning a degree in English is no simple task, so the idea that it is an easy major is frankly preposterous. Reading huge books and analyzing sections of ancient texts to find deeper meaning is not something that everyone can do. Reading and analyzing texts deepens the understanding of that culture, the writer and the time that person was living in. Writing 10page papers on these texts is also no cakewalk. When you major in English, you learn more about the world from the people who were there. Books are a portal to the past. Books put into words complex emotions, like the fear of death or the fear of living, and are described in ways that people can relate to. Books allow people to feel that they are not alone. Earning an English degree is much more difficult than just

Illustration by Samuel Wiggins Congress a report on its major trading partners, and informed them that China has not been deemed a “currency manipulator.” Will Trump really go after China? He has stated that China’s currency manipulation is a huge problem to the U.S. economy, but now that the U.S. and China have to work together to babysit North

reading a book and turning in an essay. The process of writing self-reflecting papers has more struggles than many realize. Writing a paper that fleshes out your darkest thoughts and forces you to come face-to-face with the past has literally driven several authors to suicide. The pursuit of an English degree is not to knock around and not work. It is the pursuit of higher self-awareness and an understanding of the world. It is the pursuit of historical knowledge and understanding the way humans work and think. The pursuit of an English degree is the pursuit of a higher level of education, just like any other degree.

many fights with them. Until North Korea stops launching missiles, there will likely be a “peaceful tension” between these two superpowers.

@matthewli2000

Capitalism has taken over Easter weekend

By Tori Falcon

Illustration by Samuel Wiggins

Korea, his opinions seemed to have been muted. Trump is right that now is not the time to call out our allies, but he didn’t seem too eager to report them in the first place. Most likely, China will let its yuan value fluctuate minutely to the ebbs and flows of the market without any outside influence, and Trump will not start too

We all know that the marshmallow, sugar-coated Peeps are revolting. If you don’t agree with this, then you are one of the consumers of about 1.5 billion Peeps each Easter season, according to WalletHub. This makes sense when you think about the $2.4 billion made last year from Easter candy alone. According to the National Retail Federation, last Easter was estimated to have cost $18.4 billion altogether, more than the $18.2 from Valentine’s Day. Why is Easter giving Valentine’s Day a run for its money? As years go by each of these

holidays are further diluted with capitalism, which waters down the meaning of the day. I’m not a religious person, but even I am one to ask, what happened to the good Christian name of Easter? Easter is said to be the most important Christian holiday because without the resurrection of Jesus, Christianity wouldn’t be as dignified as it is. But celebrating Jesus’s resurrection is synonymous to a bunny laying pastel-colored eggs filled with chocolate and jelly beans. This correlation seems indistinct. The history of the Easter bunny dates back to the 1700s, from German immigrants who brought the idea of a hare laying eggs and rewarding good children. Introduced to America, the idea expanded to include chocolate and other gifts. Easter eggs are supposed to be associated with the start of new life and Christ’s rise from the tomb. There are many ways you can swing the socalled traditions of Easter to fit the day Christ rose, but for me, it just seems like a reach. Everything we consider an Easter tradition seems more like it was made for convenience or the vie for our cash. I’m not an outright Easter hater, it is a colorful family day and an opportunity to overconsume chocolate, but as time passes, I fear that we only enjoy it because our

economy has forced us to. We know what we know now because it is taught and bred into us to accept the structure of our system. According to Vox, it was customary for 13th century Christians to abstain from eating eggs, so an egg surplus put their dyeing to good use. That’s the convenience part. The vying for our money appears everywhere else, like when you walk into a Walgreen’s or Wal-Mart and there is an immediate bombardment of bright pastels and chocolate eggs. It is pushed upon us from every which way and even if you’re not big on Easter, you can’t tell me those half-off chocolate sales aren’t tempting on Easter Monday. Even the traditions of the tradition are being lost. I don’t know too many people whose parents actually emphasized that the Easter bunny appeared because you were a good child. Everything seems purely routine these days, just because it’s Easter and that’s what we do on Easter. I don’t doubt that there are people really grateful on Easter, and anyone who goes to church regularly can recognize the spike in attendance that day. I do think it’s important for this holiday to hold as much weight as it should to Christianity and all that the religion stands for. It might be worthwhile to not prop up capitalism in the process because, very strangely, the two have become intertwined and it isn’t the best look.

@karajobmann @falconista_

Illustration by Samuel Wiggins

The buck has to stop in college sports

By Nate Jackson We have an oppor tunit y in A merica that may be foreign to several other countries. It’s an economic and political system called capitalism. It enables its subjects to obtain the means to ow n and operate a business or corporation for their indiv idual gain. Most recognize this freedom as the “A merican Dream” and in most cases, I would agree. But in other cases, this methodolog y has led to the disenfranchisement of a subset of our culture, and that’s where the buck has to stop. Enter the NCA A, an association that has continuously produced a remarkable platform for college spor ts. In many occurrences, this platform has given the athletes an

oppor tunit y to pursue a career at the next level, and change the fabric of their family’s socioeconomic situations. So why isn’t the NCA A a professional league of its ow n? Because of the conjecture of amateurism. A mateur competition is the foundation of athletics in the college realm. A mateurism is heralded as “the central idea that people should not receive any material reward for taking par t” in spor ts. It disallows athletes to be paid a salar y for par ticipating in athletics. Most people, especially college athletes or people who are close to them, w ill acknowledge that the relationship between the NCA A and its athletes is cumbersome. This especially became the case once the National Labor Relations Board ruled that athletes qualif ied as universit y employees, and Mark Emmer t, the president

of the NCA A, deemed the repor t “grossly inappropriate.” Even though Emmer t recognizes that things must change, he

Illustration by Antonio Mercado

believes that making athletes universit y employees “would blow up ever y thing about the collegiate model of athletics.” No other corporation in A merica would be allowed to prohibit its employees from exploiting their true market value. The only association that has been able to pull that of f is the NCA A, all under the guise of amateurism. Most would argue that they’re being compensated through access to an education, w ithout the burden of debt. But just to give you a better idea of how the scholarships really pan out, the average full athletic scholarship is wor th approximately $23,204 per year. Since the NCA A restricts the compensation of the scholarship, its value is at or below the pover t y level. The amount of out-of-pocket

expenses that a normal college student accumulates in a year ranges from $1,000 to $7,000. According to Business Insider, college athletes practice or train about 45 hours a week, in addition to about 40 hours of attending school and doing homework. Which leaves them no time to balance a job and actually puts them at a def icit. Why should athletes continue to dedicate their college years to an association that isn’t w illing to reconsider their structure in order to give them a fair share? Maybe they shouldn’t. It’s a tough predicament to be in. Sometimes the road to accomplishing a lifelong dream is rugged and frustrating. Is the reward truly wor th the sacrif ice? That’s for you to decide.

@_NateJackson11

NTDAILY.COM | PAGE 14

The Cleveland Killer T

shouldn’t be the demise of streaming media

his past weekend, the ethics of live streaming was called into question through ways that even “Black Mirror” failed to make us confront. On Sunday in Cleveland, Ohio, 37-year-old Steve Stephens fatally shot 74-year-old Robert Godwin Sr. and live streamed his crime on Facebook. In another upload, Stephens claimed he had killed 15 other people, quickly giving him the name of “the Cleveland killer” in the press. The videos were circulated over a thousand times before his account was finally disabled. But the videos are still online. According to The New York Times, Cleveland Police Chief Calvin D. Williams confirmed that “investigators knew of no other killings.” A three-day manhunt was issued to find the fugitive, climaxing near a McDonald’s in Erie, Pennsylvania on Tuesday. Stephens was spotted buying McNuggets and fries, and sped off as employees called the police. Cops eventually tailed him, and they found his body shortly after his suicide. An abundance of online outrage swept the internet this week, all criticizing Facebook for allowing the videos to be published for so long. According to data from Facebook’s official statement, two graphic videos were already uploaded prior to Stephens’ live confession before noon on Sunday. The confession was not reported until the stream ended, and the first video was reported almost two hours after it was published. In total, it took almost three hours for Stephens’ account to be disabled. In this case, Facebook employees are not the only people to blame for the circulation of

add

By The Editorial Board

the videos. It wasn’t long until the video of Godwin’s murder made it to Twitter, where the victim’s grandson urged all retweets of the killing to stop. He published the incendiary tweet over an hour after Facebook terminated the perpetrator’s original uploads. More companies have recently been subjected to similar ire, as The Guardian reported last month that the Cabinet Office of the British government had to intervene in Google’s revenue system. The issue stemmed from the company, along with its subsidiary, YouTube, advertising next to “inappropriate content.” This included videos of white supremacy and hate speeches, juxtaposed against ads from companies such as Channel 4, Argos, L’Oreal and the BBC. “We’re committed to doing better, and will make changes to our policies and brand controls for advertisers,” a Google spokeswoman stated, according to The Sun. In regards to other homicides, Godwin is far from the first person to have his memory disrespected by internet hype. Last summer, Diamond Reynolds filmed the killing of her

weight to the need for marketing online. Justin Osofsky, the vice president of Global Operations at Facebook, wrote on Monday that “keeping [its] global community safe is an important part of [the company’s] mission.” He affirmed that every week, “thousands of people around the world review the millions of items that are reported” in over 40 languages. The items most likely include videos, statuses and other forms of posts. Based on the worldwide amount of internet and smartphone usage, it is impossible for streaming media to be ceased in lieu of criminal actions. Instead of solely firing back against these sites, we should redirect our critiques toward the users who spread graphic videos around. In the debate of streaming ethics, we are just as immoral as the world’s murderous perpetrators if we fail to report these videos as soon as we find them on our timelines. Not doing so makes public embarrassment for companies much more painful and further desensitizes a generation raised on the looming threat of terrorist activities.

Illustration by Samuel Wiggins

boyfriend, Philando Castile, in St. Paul, Minnesota. A month before that, Antonio Perkins was killed in Chicago while Facebook live streaming a party he attended with some friends. Last March, the Tennessee murder of Rodney Hess was also live broadcasted on Facebook. All videos are still available on the internet. Although Facebook, Google and other sites need to tighten their reporting policies – to ensure that the promotion of heinous videos is impeded – the benefits of streaming still deserve recognition. Experts have noted that streaming helps businesses strengthen connections to their customers, as it “[shows] a more spontaneous and down-to-earth side.” According to a BBC report from last year, Nissan has successfully run over 26 live streams on Facebook, while Benefit Cosmetics has garnered to up to 60,000 viewers from live promotions. “Roughly [77 percent] of Americans” own smartphones, according to January 2017 data from the Pew Research Center. About 69 percent of American adults use social media, while 89 percent of 18 to 29-year-olds are the market’s largest consumer base. These numbers alone

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