2:1 issu

News: Angel Fund distributes dona- Opinion: Campus students Sports: Superbowl on Sunday is expected to be an exciting game reflect on tragedy tions to workers during time off Page 11 Page 9 Page 5

Life: Attending a concert alone isn’t a bad thing Page 17

Old Gold&Black WAKE FOREST’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1916 T H U R S DAY, F E B RUA RY 1 , 2 018

VOL. 103, NO. 3

“Cover s the campus like the magnolias”

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Political groups react to State of the Union

On Tuesday Jan. 30, President Donald Trump addressed the Senate and the House of Representatives in his first State of the Union address. Across campus, students attended watch parties to view the televised event with their peers. Wake Forest’s chapters of College Democrats and College Republicans respond here to Trump’s inaugural State of the Union.

BY LIZZIE LORDI For College Democrats lordeh16@wfu.edu Tuesday night, President Donald Trump delivered his first State of the Union speech and, despite its length, Wake Forest College Democrats ultimately found it underwhelming. Trump stated that he has made “incredible progress” and achieved “extraordinary success” over this past year, but nothing could be further from the truth. Public dissatisfaction and frustration with the current administration continue to grow, as indicated by Trump’s historically low approval rating, even during this time of relative economic prosperity.

We find Trump’s praise for a tax bill that only benefits the top one percent and that strips the individual mandate, in turn contributing to increasing health insurance premiums, very problematic.

His praise is especially troubling as he continues to lie and mislead the public on the success of this bill, describing it, falsely, as the “biggest tax cut and reform in American history.” In addition, his self-acclamation for ending the war on “beautiful, clean coal” is concerning, especially in conjunction with his failure to address the dangers of climate change.

See Democrats, Page 8

BY MAX WILLIAMS For College Republicans willfn17@wfu.edu The country, the government and the GOP had a lot to be proud of at this year’s State of the Union. With the economy at all-time highs, ISIS on the run and middle-class Americans bringing home more money than ever, it would be hard not to celebrate a new era of prosperity.

Yet, it seemed as if Democrats could not be bothered. While staying seated for opposing presidential remarks is sadly a mainstay these days, some members of the Democratic party refused to attend. The ones who did attend sat on their hands or phones while the heroic war stories of Coast Guard Agent Ashlee Lep-

pert, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent CJ Martinez or Democratic People’s Republic of Korea defector Ji Seong-ho were celebrated.

The singular focus on derailing the Trump administration has resulted in Democrats losing what is really important: the welfare of the American people. It is their job to improve the lives of their constituents. They are making a conscious decision to do the opposite by actively choosing to shut down the government, temporarily closing the Environmental Protection Agency, National Institute of Health, Food and Drug Administration, Department of Education and more.

See Republicans, Page 8

Robert Lipsyte discusses intersectionality of sports Journalist and author gives presentation about how sports collide with politics and how athletes speak on social issues

BY DANIEL PACHINO News Editor pachdb15@wfu.edu On Tuesday, Jan. 30, the renowned sports journalist and author Robert Lipsyte visited Wake Forest to deliver a talk entitled “2018: A Collision of Politics, Sports, and Journalism.”

The talk was sponsored by the Departments of Politics and International Affairs, Communications and Education, as well as the Journalism and Documentary Film Programs, with additional support from the Office of the Provost and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Professor Alan Brown, of the Wake Forest Department of Education, introduced Lipsyte, stating “Robert Lipsyte had a distinguished career as an award-winning sports reporter and columnist for the New York Times and author of more than 20 books, including his memoir, An Accidental Sportswriter.”

Brown also mentioned that Lipsyte was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Commentary 1992, served as Ombudsman for ESPN as recently as 2013-2014 and had numerous appearances on CBS Sunday Morning and the NBC Nightly News.

Throughout his long and storied career, Lipsyte has had what he describes as two separate writing lives: one as a journalist and one as a fiction author.

“While [Lipsyte is most recognized for his role as a sports journalist,he is perhaps best known for his social commentaries and topics surrounding race, class and gender,” Brown said.

See Lipsyte, Page 4

Courtesy of ESPN

OGB

“ Social media needs to be used responsibly This column represents the views of the Old Gold & Black Editorial Board.

There is no doubt that social media is a fun place to share photos, jokes, frustrations, thoughts, memes and milestones. It is an impressive feat of human innovation that we can connect in an instant with people we care about even if they live on the other side of the world.

However, similarly undeniable is that each of our social media accounts leaves an indelible online footprint.

The Editorial Board of the Old Gold & Black encourages Wake Forest students to seriously consider the responsibilities that accompany the privileges of growing up online.

The Internet is a relatively new part of our social fabric, and our generation is among the first to have access to social media from a young age.

The Internet is a relatively new part of our social fabric, and our generation is among the first to have access to social media from a young age."

As we enter adulthood, many of us have Facebook profiles dating back to middle school. Therefore, we are in somewhat uncharted waters: it is not yet clear whether or not a future presidential candidate, for example, will be judged by what he or she posted in high school. Therefore, it's a good idea to use an abundance of caution online. We are all prone to mistakes, and while a mistake is not usually the end of the world, it’s a good rule of thumb to refrain from posting something you wouldn’t want your grandmother to see.

Old Gold&Black THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF WAKE FOREST UNIVERSIT Y SINCE 1916 JULIA HAINES

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF hainjm15@wfu.edu

BECKY SWIG PRINT MANAGING EDITOR swigrr15@wfu.edu

>> NEWS Lillian Johnson, johnlg16@wfu.edu Daniel Pachino, pachdb15@wfu.edu Asisstant Editor: Nicole Loffredo, loffn16@wfu.edu

>> SPORTS Lizzie Snyder, snydem15@wfu.edu Ren Schmitt, schmwm16@wfu.edu

>> OPINION Ethan Bahar, bahaea15@wfu.edu Kyle Ferrer, ferrka16@wfu.edu

>> LIFE Olivia Field, fielor17@wfu.edu Emily Beauchamp, beauea17@wfu.edu Asisstant Editor: Sarah Boyce, boycse15@wfu.edu

>> DIGITAL MEDIA EDITOR Amanda Wilcox, wilcaf16@wfu.edu

>> BUSINESS STAFF Nelson French, frengn16@wfu.edu

>> ADVISER Phoebe Zerwick, zerwicp@wfu.edu

Additionally, because online activity lacks the personal nature of face-toface interactions, young people may be lulled into a false and dangerous sense of anonymity while using social media.

There is an illusion that what one posts is only seen by friends, family or those one chooses to share with, but in reality, content on the Internet is never private.

A recent campus incident, in which a former student posted a video on her “finsta,” or fake Instagram account, story describing herself calling her RA a racial slur, will follow her for the rest of her life. Once something is posted, it is impossible to entirely erase, even when it's been erased from an individual's account.

Many Wake Forest students are currently in the process of applying for

competitive summer internships and jobs, and there is a strong possibility that potential employers will peruse candidates’ social media accounts. We have all worked hard in classes, research and extracurriculars to present ourselves well to employers, and it would be a shame to damage that success with our online activity.

The Editorial Board believes that our online accounts should be reflections of who we are, but that we must be responsible about what we portray.

The smartest way to make effective use of this powerful tool is to post content that is true, consistent with one’s values, collaborative and interesting. A few seconds of careful consideration can make the difference between good judgment and a seriously regrettable post.

FOLLOW THE OGB ON FACEBOOK, TWITTER AND INSTAGRAM FACEBOOK.COM/OGB1916

BROOKS HALLOCK BUSINESS MANAGER

hallab15@wfu.edu

HEATHER HARTEL ONLINE MANAGING EDITOR

harthf15@wfu.edu

>> POLICIES

The Old Gold & Black is published Thursdays during the school year, except during examinations, summer and holiday periods, by Triangle Printing of Durham. © 2014 WFU Media Board. All rights reserved. The views expressed in all editorials and advertisements contained within this publication do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the OGB. As part of our commitment to reporting news fairly and accurately, we will not remove any previously published content. If an error in either our online or print content is brought to our attention, we will revise the originally published article with an appended correction. In order to facilitate thoughtful and appropriate debate, profane, vulgar, or inflammatory comments on our website are not allowed and will be deleted. For more information on our commenting policy, please see our website. We reserve the right to reject advertisements deemed inappropriate. Our full policy, and how to advertise with the OGB, can be found on our website.

>> SUBMISSIONS

The OGB welcomes submissions in the form of story tips, columns and letters to the editor. Letters to the editor should be fewer than 500 words, and columns should be around 500 words. Send yours via e-mail to hainjm15wfu.edu the Monday before publication. We reserve the right to edit all letters for length and clarity. No anonymous letters will be printed.

>> ONLINE MEDIA

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News | Old Gold & Black

Thursday, February 1, 2018 | Page 3

Deacon Profile: Cameron Steitz

that he would hold a vote in the coming weeks. What did you think of this deal and what could it portend for DACA students at Wake Forest?

BY AMANDA WILCOX Digital Media Editor wilcaf16@wfu.edu

Senior Cameron Steitz is the Program Director for the Social Justice Incubator (SJI), a space operating through the Pro Humanitate Institute in which students engage and organize around issues of social justice.

He is also a leader of the student interest group UndocuDeacs, which was developed to organize advocacy programs and activist initiatives shortly before Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) was rescinded.

I think that protections provided by DACA are essential. It definitely calls into question and limits the barriers that prevent undocumented people from obtaining work.

But DACA is not enough; it isn’t comprehensive immigration reform or a clean DREAM Act. After watching the shutdown, I was reminded of how toxic and dehumanizing “America first” language can be.

As for Wake Forest, I think it is important for us all to recognize that our “political debates” have real consequences for members of our community.

Why are you passionate about social justice activism?

For me, this is something that I have always tried to practice even if I didn’t know to call it social justice. I am motivated by a desire to empathetically understand the experiences of the people that I love and applying what I have learned in order to engage with the communities that I am a part of.

For me, it is impossible not to notice this. I want to get involved to make a difference.

What policy-making steps would you like to see members of Congress take with regard to social justice and immigration? Any leaders you’re hopeful about for a 2020 presidential nominee?

How do you describe the campus political climate regarding immigration and social justice issues?

I’m not going to pretend that the silence and sense of apathy on this campus isn’t overwhelming to me.

I even look back at my own experience and have regrets about how long it took me to get involved.

I’m also not going to erase the incredible things that students are accomplishing on this campus.

Organizations like Student Association for the Advancement of Refugees (SAFAR), Students for Education Reform (SFER) and Wake Alternative Break (WAB) are critically engaging with social justice work.

Individuals have organized trips to take students to the March for Black Women.

Students and staff members are coordinating trainings to ensure that the university is more adequately equipped with the skills and information necessary to create safe spaces for members of our community.

Social justice is taking place on this campus, but I challenge Wake Forest — as individuals and as a university — to continually question whether or not we truly embody the ideals of “Pro Humanitate” that we love to claim.

Why did you choose to take a leadership role with the SJI? I think SJI has amazing potential for this campus. Sometimes students on this campus don’t realize how disproportionally lounge spaces are distributed across student organizations.

Having access to a physical space to

Photo courtesy of Cameron Steitz

gather with a community where you feel safe and valued is so important.

For me, SJI is just this: a community of people who are passionate about advancing justice in any area.

Tell me about UndocuDeacs. How did it start and what is its mission?

During the most recent presidential election cycle, the silence at Wake Forest surrounding immigration reform and the undocumented community became unbearable.

While efforts had been made by other groups and organizations to advocate for DACAmented students and the undocumented community as a whole, a space for people who are most impacted by these policies to come together and support one another was essential.

With the reinvigoration of SJI last fall, it became clear that this space would provide support for an organization like UndocuDeacs, which works to advance justice for immigrant communities and their families.

What is the best experience you have had at Wake Forest connected to social justice?

It is really hard for me to narrow it down to just one experience. The

Summer Nonprofit Immersion Program was a great opportunity for me to spend the summer in WinstonSalem, learn about nonprofit organizations and become engaged with community-based organizing and development in the larger Forsyth County community.

I also loved attending and being a moderator with the BRANCHES Social Justice Retreat, where I was able to learn about different identities and about myself in a safe environment surrounded by incredible people.

In your opinion, what should the Wake Forest administration and student body be doing differently?

Challenge narratives and get involved. If I have learned anything from working with UndocuDeacs, it is that you can’t claim to support DACAmented students or DREAMers if you don’t also support their families.

Continually consider how actions of the U.S. result in migration yet serve to exclude and dehumanize migrants.

Democratic leadership in Congress recently struck a deal to reopen the government without a vote on DACA, relying on Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s word

I strongly encourage everyone to look into the proposed policies that organizations like the United We DREAM Network have come out with.

Last November many of us walked out of classes and meetings in order to support a clean DREAM Act, and policies like these recognize the need for accessible pathways to citizenship and protections for people who are already in the United States.

I’m done making predictions for U.S. presidential elections; I don’t think it is good for my mental health.

However, I hope whoever wins doesn’t view immigrants solely for their “economic value.”

What makes you optimistic about the future of social justice activism in 2018?

I’m hopeful that more people will see the need for intersectional activism (shout-out to Kimberlé Crenshaw).

I’m optimistic about the potential to center the voices of people who are most impacted by and knowledgeable about areas of social justice.

As you are a graduating senior, what do you see as your legacy for SJI and UndocuDeacs? What do you hope to see each organization accomplish in the future?

I hope UndocuDeacs continues to meet the needs of students and the Winston-Salem community.

As the political and legal landscapes change, so too should groups working to advance justice. Far be it from me to say what these accomplishments should look like.

Page 4 |Thursday, February 1, 2018

Old Gold & Black | News

Lipsyte: Sports media doesn’t just stick to sports Continued from Page 1

Lipsyte garnered some of his initial recognition in 1964 as a young reporter for The New York Times when he was sent on assignment to Miami to cover the little-known Cassius Clay (who later changed his name to Muhammad Ali) and Sonny Liston fight. According to Lipsyte, the main boxing reporter did not want to attend due to Clay’s lack of recognition, so they “sent the kid.”

It was the first opportunity Lipsyte received at The New York Times to cover a fight. Clay’s major upset victory over Heavyweight Champion Liston helped propel Lipsyte’s career.

During his talk, Lipsyte described the “collision” between politics, sports and journalism throughout history and his career in sports journalism. He began by discussing Jim Bouton, a former New York Yankees pitcher. Bouton’s desire to discuss the Apartheid in South Africa and its effects on their Olympic team during his post-game interviews with reporters as opposed to his in-game performances helped Lipsyte to realize that being a sports journalist means reporting more than just sports. Since then, Lipsyte has never simply “stuck to sports.”

Lipsyte then discussed Ali’s oftenmisunderstood quote regarding the Vietnam war and his refusal to be drafted. Ali’s famous message was “I ain’t got nothing against them Vietcong.” “[Ali’s message] is shown as the ultimate political statement by an athlete,” Lipsyte said, however, he disagrees.

Lipsyte argued that Ali’s answer to the question of how he felt about going to Vietnam to kill the Vietcong was less a political outcry but more an expression of his anger and exasperation at the end of the day following hours of interviews and answering petty questions. The answer, however, became framed by the media historically as the great political statement by a major athlete.

Lipsyte compared the politics of Ali to a modern example in Colin Kaepernick. Kaepernick, an NFL quarterback, used his celebrity platform to protest the plight of African Americans and kneeled during the national anthem at NFL games. “[I refuse] to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kaepernick said.

To Lipsyte, this was a truly political statement. Lipsyte described Kaepernick’s gesture as “the most powerful political message in the sports world since

1968” when two Americans, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, raised their fists during their medal ceremony at the Mexico City Olympics. Lipsyte expressed his admiration for Kaepernick who he says has put his money where his mouth is by donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to political causes.

Lipsyte also further touched on the concept of sports media no longer “sticking to sports.” According to Lipsyte, many view sports as a sanctuary and escape from the ills of the rest of the world. During his time as ESPN’s Ombudsman, Lipsyte received numerous complaints from viewers about the intrusion of politics into sports and ESPN’s programming. The most notable outcry he recalled receiving was during ESPN’s broadcast of the 2014 NFL Draft when the Rams selected Michael Sam, a defensive lineman from Missouri attempting to become the NFL’s first openly homosexual player, in the seventh round. After Sam was drafted, he shared a passionate kiss with his boyfriend, which many ESPN viewers viewed as offensive material to air in their “sanctuary.”

In contrast, Lipsyte presented the idea that sports are a type of laboratory for

social issues. He noted the integration of Major League Baseball in the 1960’s and concluded his talk by discussing how the Olympics have become a prime example of the collision of politics, sports and journalism. In particular, he discussed the 1948 Olympics when Germany and Japan were barred from competing after losing World War II, the kidnapping and murder of 11 Israeli team members at the 1972 Munich games by a Palestinian terrorist group and Russia’s ban from this year’s games in South Korea for decades of state sponsored doping.

Lipsyte concluded by mentioning his favorite event involving this collision in Olympic history. At the 1992 Barcelona games, the U.S. men’s basketball team, often referred to as the “Dream Team,” won the gold medal. The team itself was sponsored by Reebok, but the team’s premier player, Michael Jordan, had an individual sponsorship with Nike. To combat this conflict of interest, Jordan went to the medal podium wrapped in an American flag, covering any Reebok logos. “[Michael Jordan] is a true hero because he extended the collision of politics, sports and journalism,” Lipsyte said.

History department to fund summer internships History majors can apply for reimbursement of internship expenses starting in summer 2018

BY WILLIAM MORGAN Staff Writer morgwb15@wfu.edu The Department of History is launching a pilot grant program that will provide financial support for history majors pursuing internships over the summer. The idea behind the program is to connect intellectual work in the classroom with career and vocational development. Jake Ruddiman, an associate professor of history and a member of the department’s Professional Development Committee, described such development as “experiential learning” or learning that takes place on-the-job and away from the classroom.

“The class-A professors of the history department are working to help students get a foot in the door,” senior history major Zach Triplett said.

In an internship this past summer gained through support from the department, Triplett saw fundamental skills he had learned as a history major — writing, studying and taking notes — translate functionally to the workplace.

“The history department is the first department in the college to provide this backing,” Ruddiman said.

The financial support is provided through alumni generosity, specifically a recent donation that came from the Wake Will campaign. This donation was not earmarked for faculty use and will constitute the “History Innovation Fund” for aid for students.

Through these endowed funds, or what Ruddiman called “seed money,” and the new program, history majors can apply for reimbursement of internship expenses starting in summer 2018 through summer 2020.

“This support covers paid internships, which might not cover the costs, and caters to careers in all fields,” Ruddiman said.

Depending on demand and the amount of funding requested, he estimated that two to four students will receive support each summer.

OUTSIDE THE BUBBLE

The department is dedicated to supporting its students in this expanded view of their development and education that extends far beyond the classroom. Ruddiman emphasized a “responsibility to help our students build their professional, vocational potential.”

According to Ruddiman, the program’s mission is twofold: “To provide students with the ability to explore career options as broad as their imaginations through a rich array of internships and to put stories of students in front of students.”

According to the department, the first objective is to support students with opportunity; the second is for students to share their stories, spread awareness and even mentor likeminded students.

Junior Tesia Kempski, who had a funded internship at the Gettysburg National Military Park last summer, commended the history department for “expanding the reach of opportunities” to students.The first applications will be due in April.

History majors must “articulate how their internship connects to their liberal arts education and career education,” Ruddiman said.

Train carrying GOP lawmakers slams into garbage truck

Amateur astronomer finds satellite lost for 12 years

Cape Town faces “Day Zero” as water levels drop

One person was killed and six were injured when an Amtrak train carrying Republican lawmakers to an annual party retreat in West Virginia hit a garbage truck in Crozet, VA on Jan. 31. None of the dozens of members of Congress or their accompanying family members and aids were seriously injured. The person killed was one of the three passengers in the garbage truck, which had entered the railroad crossing.

Several lawmakers, including Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) helped first responders carry the injured to an ambulance.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) confirmed on Jan. 30 that an amateur radio astronomer had found signals from a government satellite thought to be lost 12 years ago. Scott Tilley, an electrical engineer who lives on the west coast of Canada, caught the radio signal without a telescope. After Tilley contacted NASA, scientists at the Goddard Space Flight Center showed that its orbit, frequency, oscillation and spin rate all matched the lost satellite. There is hope that the satellite could be repurposed in the future.

Cape Town, South Africa is expected to run out of water in three months following severe droughts.

Heavy fines and usage limits are already in effect.

CORRECTION The Jan. 25 article “Suspects Identified in Investigation of On-Campus Shooting” mistakenly stated that the police department had two murder subjects in custody. That was an error.

News | Old Gold & Black

Thursday, February 1, 2018 |Page 5

Divinity student creates Angel Fund The Angel Fund was established by Gregory Drumwright to aid auxiliary service employees during break

BY MARY DANIEL CHEEK Staff Writer cheemd15@wfu.edu It was during a quick study break at Zick’s during finals week when Gregory Drumwright, a third-year Divinity student, came to a harsh realization. While talking with the Zick’s employees, Drumwright learned that they did not share the same excitement students had for the upcoming winter break.

This was because many service employees on Wake Forest’s campus do not receive paid time off during the winter break. Instead, they are left to search for temporary work to gain income.

The same employees explained to Drumwright how being without an income for a month affects their families.

“Some of them told me, ‘My kids won’t be getting a Christmas this year,’” Drumright said. “I encountered a problem that day that would not release me and I left feeling heavy-hearted.”

After discussing this problem among other students at the Divinity school, Drumwright decided to take action. With the help of his classmates, Drumwright created the Angel Fund, which he described as “the inspiration to develop a quick solution for an ugly problem on our campus.”

“When we see needs and encounter burdens, we need to figure out the quickest way to bring a response,” Drumwright said.

For Brenden Kee, a third-year Divinity student, the lack of paid time off for some auxiliary service employees represented an unjust inequality at Wake Forest. “[Not receiving paid time off] isn’t fair because these workers have kids and lives just like faculty and staff,” Kee said.

Drumwright initially hoped to raise $2,500 to dis-

Courtesy of Citadel Media and PR via YouTube

Divinity student Brenden Kee recorded the reactions of the workers who recieved portions of the Angel Fund, and posted it on YouTube, where it currently has over 300 views. tribute among food service employees who would not receive paid time off during the winter break. This original goal was built on the hope that just 50 people would donate $50 each.

“The Angel Fund was as simple as [asking], ‘Can y’all help me help somebody?’” Drumwright said.

Drumwright began the fundraising efforts by circulating an email within the Divinity school. From there, people shared the email across the Wake Forest campus and the Winston-Salem community.

As a result, over 100 people donated a total of $6,700 to the Angel Fund in just one week. Most of the donations came from Wake Forest students and faculty. The donors also included professionals in the Winston-Salem community and parents of Wake Forest students.

For Drumwright, the eagerness of the Wake Forest community to help address a problem was comforting.

“When people find out that there is a problem, there are people in the Wake Forest family that rise to the occasion,” Drumwright said.

After they collected all of the donations, Drumwright and a few of his divinity school classmates appeared unannounced at dining locations across campus to distribute the financial gifts.

Kee joined Drumwright in handing out the financial gifts.

In addition, Kee recorded a video, which has over 300 views on YouTube, capturing the reactions of workers who received these gifts.

“We were able to impact 25 families whose recipients were Wake Forest employees with an average gift of $300,” Drumwright said. According to the Angel Fund, this amount was designed to ensure employees could pay bills and buy Christmas gifts for their children.

Senior reflects on working with refugees Rose O’Brien, a Politics and International Affairs major, shares her experience in Italy

BY KIANA POURTEYMOUR Contributing Writer pourk17@wfu.edu The most recent installment of the ZSR Library Lecture Series featured senior Rose O’Brien, a Politics and International Affairs major from Winston-Salem. In addition to being a Carswell Scholar and a Richter Scholarship recipient, O’Brien was awarded the 2017 Martin Luther King, Jr. “Building the Dream Award” for her dedicated involvement with refugees.

According to Wake Forest University Events, O’Brien discussed “her experience working with refugees in both Italy and the US, and the life-multiplying and gratifying experience of creating friendships across religion, race, class, and nation.”

Throughout her presentation, O’Brien spoke about an enriching lesson she learned

from teaching Italian to refugees in Italy.

She learned to avoid the judgement of others based on their “single story.” According to O’Brien, we as a society must see others as “three-dimensional rather than flat,” meaning having more than just one identity.

Viewing people based on just one element of their identity, such as their background, encourages dangerous and incorrect stereotypes, according to O’Brien. She told the audience that while stereotypes often describe refugees as sexist or dangerous, those she met were “generous, funny and kind.”

O’Brien noted the unbreakable bonds that she formed in Italy; she still keeps in touch with a 15-year-old boy she met. They remain in contact through Facetime and by exchanging gifts.

She also recounted a time in the Italian school when she complimented a man’s shirt. To her surprise, he left the room and brought his shirt back in a bag to give it

to her. This Middle Eastern tradition of “Pishkesh” depicts the kind-heartedness of so many of these refugees, a trait that so many people ignore when viewing refugees through a lens of a single story, O’Brien said.

O’Brien’s work with refugees did not stop when she left Italy. Back at Wake Forest, O’Brien started Wake Refugee Day, which celebrates the successes of many refugees with the hope to spread “unity and diversity.”

She started Student Association For Advancement of Refugees (SAFAR), an on-campus organization aiding the abundant refugees in the local area. In addition, O’Brien taught English at the World Relief, a refugee resettlement agency in WinstonSalem.

Her organization, SAFAR, has had an impact on its members and the greater Winston-Salem community.

“My friend and I regularly visit two local teenage twin girls from Syria, along with

their six other siblings,” freshman Meghan Pressimone, a member of SAFAR, said.

O’Brien believes her efforts have not only helped other people, but they have alsohelped herself.

“In the process of making people feel welcomed, I felt welcomed in my own city,” she said.

While her speech displayed her desire for people to eliminate the dangers of a single story, she stated that it is difficult to get people to listen to those who are different than themselves, such as refugees.

There is a worldwide “fear of the other,” O’Brien said.

According to O’Brien, people are more inclined towards order in society than justice, so the prevalent rejection of refugees may root from fear of the changes it would make.

“In order to eliminate judgement from a single story, we can work harder to get to know each person’s story, rather than basing our opinions on stereotypes and generalizations,” freshman Caroline Fatemi said.

Old Gold & Black | News

Page 6 | Thursday, February 1, 2018

University and students battle collegiate suicide Suicide is currently the secondhighest cause of death among college students nationally

BY CONNOR MURPHY Staff Writer murpct14@wfu.edu An uncomfortable silence lay about a warm, carpeted Wake Forest conference room, as a growing body of men took their seats at a circle of tables. Some carried in stacks of chairs, after a standing crowd began to build at the door, chattering quietly.

It did not seem that anyone expected so many fraternity men to attend a university panel on male suicide.

The Student Mental Health Ambassadors are a group of P.E.E.R.S.(Peers, Educating, Engaging, Reaching, & Supporting)-educated students who seek to raise awareness of mental health issues on campus, while standing also as a resource for students who seek peer counseling.

It was the Student Mental Health Ambassadors who, with the help of Raper, hosted the panel on male suicide.

“First and foremost, we try to bring the topic of mental health to Wake Forest,” Kathryn Repp, the group’s president, said. “We want to improve the wellbeing of students and encourage students to get help if they need help.”

Each ambassador is equipped to handle emergency situations like engaging with students at-risk for suicide. As a body of students, they can appear to be more approachable to some than the professionals in the counseling center. Ultimately, their goal is to have those students feel comfortable with seeking help from a trained counselor.

The panel, led by counseling center head James Raper, covered identifying red flags among friends, talking to others about mental health, and encouraging the use of university resources for wellness.

Nationally, suicide is the second-highest cause of death among college students. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, just over 20 percent of fatalities in 2014 among Americans aged 15-24 were self-inflicted. The data reflects suicide rates at a nationwide high of 30 years.

More locally, Raper says that in his 15 years of experience, white fraternity men at Wake Forest tend to raise red flags relating to suicide the most.

“I work with men and the issue of mental health on a daily basis,” Raper said at the panel. “At this campus, my highest risk population are you all.”

The news produced a few confused looks. And yet, the room lay quiet still, a product of discomfort surrounding the subject matter.

According to Raper, getting past this discomfort is important when it comes to preventing suicide.

At Wake Forest, data from an Office of Wellbeing survey conducted last April indicated that 35 percent of students were dissatisfied with their emotional health, yet, only around 14 percent of students make use of the Counseling Center. Raper attributes some of this gap to a stigma that prevents some students from seeking help.

“If we don’t feel like we can say things out loud, then we keep them as secrets,” Raper said. “I think we all know, the more we keep secrets about things we could feel ashamed of, the more it eats at us.”

Stigma is commonly associated with mental health, and is one of the highest hurdles that the university must clear in its efforts to help students. If there is a shame associated with seeking help, students who need it are less likely to ask.

When prompted with a blind survey from the Office of Wellbeing, just under 5 percent of Wake Forest respondents expressed feeling symptoms of depression on a daily basis.

These students are, among others, vulnerable students that must overcome stigmatized symptoms of mental illness to seek help.

“When we talk about risk, we talk about danger to self or others,” Raper said. “We evaluate risk in terms of the choices they’re making that could lead to them putting their safety in danger.”

The university hopes to learn more about the mental

health needs of students this semester through students’ responses to the National College Health Assessment.

The counseling center has about 14 percent of the student population utilizing its services, which is an increase from previous years and a sign that students may be getting more comfortable talking about mental health.

“We experienced a big sea change around the fall of 2014,” Raper said. It was at this time that Wake Forest was coming to grips with the death of a student, along with an unprecedented volume of students seeking appointments.

In response, the University Counseling Center strengthened its service to patients by increasing availability.

Students can now reach a trained counselor at any time through the counseling center phone number.

The number can put students in contact with a professional counselor at any time of the day, on any day of the year. Counselors answering the phone are trained in identifying red flags with questions pertaining specifically to students at Wake Forest.

For someone in the midst of a suicidal crisis, a lonely minute can feel like an eternity.

“I sat on my bed, and for about five minutes in that moment, I really felt like there weren’t many options left for me,” one Wake Forest student said, who at one point attempted suicide and chose to remain anonymous while discussing this topic. “I remember wondering if this kind of pain would go on forever.”

Raper says that suicidal crises don’t typically last very long. While it is possible for someone to be chronically suicidal, most people with suicidal ideations will experience them for only a day or two. Intervention from a friend or a professional can often save a person’s life.

“Suicidal ideation is not about wanting to die,” Raper said. “It’s just the brain doing problem-solving. What they want is to stop feeling the pain that they’re in.”

“I know now that it gets better,” the student said, who also said that sharing their story with close friends has helped with processing the event.

For this reason, therapists at the counseling center know that reducing the impact of stigma can help students manage such crises.

With resources ahead of the curve for addressing mental health issues on campus, Wake Forest has turned to students to help in reducing stigma and encouraging use of those resources.

The program, founded in 2016, has begun to contribute

Connor Murphey/Old Gold & Black

The University Counseling Center provides free counseling services to Wake Forest students. to the campus dialogue through involvement in a series of events during Men’s Mental Health Month and in providing care packages during finals weeks for stressed students.

Repp and other members of the program are aware that for the university, outreach among students can be an effective tool for helping those who struggle with mental health issues in comfortably seeking help.

“We have students who are a bit nervous to go to the counseling center,” Repp said. “[Mental health] is kind of a scary topic to talk about, but the reality is that our counseling center is phenomenal. Sometimes it’s hard to get someone to go, so we can provide some baby steps towards that.”

For the same reasons that Student Mental Health Ambassadors can raise awareness on serious topics like suicide, Repp also advocates for other campus organizations to encourage openness among themselves — anything to help get people to talk with a professional.

By having a counselor always at-the-ready, students at Wake Forest always have someone to talk to.

“We as human beings get really frustrated when there are things that affect us that we feel that we don’t have control over,” Raper said. “Mental health is something we do have control over.”

Connor Murphey/Old Gold & Black

w

WAKE IN A WEEK Wake Forest Birthday Bash Time: Feb. 2 from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Location: Benson University Center, Third Floor Rotunda Wake Forest Student Union is putting on an event to celebrate the university’s birthday in the Third Floor Rotunda of Benson University Center. There will be food and games, including a cake decorating contest, to celebrate Wake Forest’s 184th birthday.

Special Events/Speaker: Margot Lee Shetterly Time: Feb. 5 from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Location: Wait Chapel Writer, researcher, and entrepreneur Margot Lee Shetterly is the author of Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race, which was a top book of 2016 for both TIME and Publisher’s Weekly, a USA Today bestseller, and a #1 (instant) New York Times bestseller.

Senior Colloquium Time: Feb. 7 at 5 p.m.

Location: Benson University Center, Pugh Auditorium A long-standing Wake Forest tradition, the Senior Colloquium, dates back to the earliest years of the college.

Ten of the brightest and most profound graduating students share reflections of their diverse Wake Forest experiences and how it has formed them. A reception will follow.

OPINION OLD GOLD & BLACK

T H U R S D AY, F e b r u a r y 1 , 2 0 1 8

PA G E 7

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at : w w w. w f u o g b. co m

E d i t o r s : K y l e F e r e r, f e r r k a 1 6 @ w f u . e d u , E t h a n B a h a r, b a h a e a 1 5 @ w f u . e d u

The views expressed in all opinion columns represent those of the article’s author, not the opinions of the Old Gold & Black Editorial Board

“ making a moral monetary decision Bezos tasked with Cultural Comment

Bezos exists in an unique moral and monetary universe where every decision has implications

Revelations about Bezos' wealth coincided with Amazon's selection of 20 candidate locations for its second headquarters."

Amanda Wilcox

proaching $115 billion and Amazon’s search for a second headquarters location — requires a more critical examination and calls Amazon’s corporate citizenship into question.

Let’s start with Bezos’ net worth, which totaled $114.7 billion following the opening of Amazon Go stores this month and led him to eclipse Microsoft founder Bill Gates as the richest man alive. Along with Warren Buffet, the CEO of Berkshire-Hathaway and the third-richest man in the world, Bezos and Gates collectively own more than $250 billion, which approximately equals the wealth of the bottom 50 percent of American households.

For additional context and comparison, $115 billion is 2.7 times greater than Russia’s total military budget for 2017. Bezos could afford 479,166 four-year Wake Forest tuitions at the current full price or pay for President Donald Trump’s idiotic border wall more than four and a half times. By the way, the fact that he can only pay for the wall four and a half times tells you how outrageously expen-

Staff Columnist wilcaf16@wfu.edu

Like most college students, I am a pretty big fan of Amazon. It’s difficult to remember a time before one could acquire an econometrics textbook, episodes of a television show and a supply of a favorite snack at the same time in a matter of a few clicks. Certainly, founder and CEO Jeff Bezos is due much credit for the extent to which he has revolutionized e-commerce. Amazon has grown to become the world’s largest Internet company by revenue and fourth largest by market capitalization, which certainly wouldn’t be possible without Bezos’ business acumen and willingness to disrupt the traditional way of doing things.

However, the recent intersection of two major milestones — Bezos’ total wealth ap-

sive the wall is. He also has the money to buy enough plane tickets to fly continuously between Washington, D.C. and Auckland, New Zealand for the next 171,719 years. Sure, Bezos is a brilliant man and his admirable innovation should be rewarded. But surely no one needs that borderline-appalling level of wealth. Considering the fact that Bezos can afford these absurdities, there is absolutely no excuse for the fact that liberal think tank Policy Matters Ohio recently reported that one in ten Amazon workers in that state are forced to rely on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. Amazon and Bezos have been the beneficiaries of $125 million in tax breaks in Ohio, while Bezos continues to deny his Ohioan employees a living wage. Amazon is a crystal-clear example of the absurdity of the “trickle-down” supplyside economic policies which form the basis of the Trump administration’s recent tax cut.

Revelations about Bezos’s wealth coincided with Amazon’s selection of 20 candidate locations for its second headquarters. The new headquarters has the potential to bring its home city an additional 50,000 jobs and $5 billion in investment, and as a result, approximately 238 localities sought the opportunity, many using the promise of additional tax breaks. If Amazon does this right and acts with

a spirit of corporate citizenship, it could bring a blighted city such as Newark an economic renaissance. However, the city that wins the headquarters prize risks damaging the property lots of its most vulnerable residents while only helping the already-affluent. Some of the 50,000 promised jobs will likely be high-tech positions requiring an advanced education and out-of-reach for many who are hurting economically. In addition, unless a city has an enormous reserve of surplus housing, Amazon-driven demand will inflate housing costs to the point where many current residents may be forced to move. Assuming that rapid gentrification accompanies the establishment of the new headquarters, as it did in Seattle, it’s concerning that Amazon could indirectly worsen existing economic inequality already present in American cities.

That being said, Bezos has done a great deal of good over the course of his career. Certainly, he strengthened the revival of the Washington Post, which was good for the field of journalism and good for democracy, as its new motto, “Democracy Dies in Darkness,” won’t let you forget. He also recently announced that he would send 1,000 Dreamers off to college.

However, if he fails to consider the massive societal responsibilities inherent in his job and his amassed wealth, his legacy won’t treat him kindly.

ed for the Washington Post, only one other President has attempted to remove a special prosecutor, and things did not work out too well for Richard Nixon.

Katyal declared without hesitation on MSNBC last week that “we are very possibly seeing the end of the Trump presidency” based on the new reports that Trump tried to fire Mueller, and that the only reason he did not go through with it was because the top White House lawyer Donald McGahn threatened to resign.

None of this should obfuscate the plain legal reality of the situation, however. As Katyal importantly reminded his audience both on MSNBC and in his op-ed, Trump has the power to fire Mueller if he wishes. Yet to do so, argues Katyal, would spell a calamity for both Trump personally and his presidency more generally.

Equally important is the non-legal side of the situation. While it is true that Trump may fire Mueller, it is also true that Trump lied about whether he had contemplated firing Mueller, tell-

ing the media through his lawyers that Mueller’s dismissal was never on the table.

All of this together points to the conclusion that many arrived at well before last week’s revelations, which is that Trump is virtually bereft of character and therefore wholly unsuited for his current position.

President Trump overtly defies the rule of law, whether it is through his attacks on “so-called judges” or his assault on one of the cornerstones of a healthy democracy, a free press.

Although Republicans in Congress have, until now, displayed a remarkable nonchalance with respect to allegations of serious malfeasance both by the President and those close to him, they might eventually be forced to remove Trump from office if revelations like the ones we saw last week continue to pile up.

It is not clear as of now whether Trump will actually be impeached or not, but if he ultimately is, historians will likely point to his attempt to fire Robert Mueller as the first shoe that dropped.

Recent White“ House revelations may oust Trump Political Morality

Indications of Trump’s order to fire Robert Mueller reignites impeachment discussion Drew Finley

Staff Columnist finlag15@wfu.edu Trump’s attempt to fire Mueller confirms his lack of character.

Until recently, exhortations for President Trump’s impeachment were not easily defensible.

Some aggrieved voters hastily demanded that he be removed from office in the immediate aftermath of the election for no other reason than their utter bafflement and rage that he had actually won.

Others asserted that his blatant hostility towards the press (the constant cries of “fake news,” the intentional efforts to distract and impede coverage that is critical of him) should be grounds for

Until recently, exhortations for President Trump’s impeachment were not easily defensible.”

Trump’s removal, and still more pointed to the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, declaring that the existence of an impermissible conflict of interest mandated his resignation or impeachment.

These rationales — some of which are compelling and others decidedly less so — provided fuel for the fire, but none of them represented a truly damning reason for Trump to be impeached.

But this past week’s revelation that Trump ordered the firing of special counsel Robert Mueller last June might well be the smoking gun that all of his critics have been sought to find for so long.

As Neal Katyal (a veteran Supreme Court litigator, former Acting United States Solicitor General, and the author of the very regulations that govern Mr. Mueller’s investigation) wrote in an op-

Page 8 |Thursday, February 1, 2018

Old Gold & Black | Opinion

Democrats: Trump needs bipartisan deals Continued from Page 1

We as a club support Trump’s call for bipartisanship on issues such as paid family leave, prison reform, infrastructure, investing in job training, lowering prescription drug costs and fighting the opioid epidemic. However, President Trump’s track record, as well as his failure to provide a plan on how to solve these issues, does not make us confident that he will follow through on many of these promises.

In addition, we want the President to show his desire for bipartisanship beyond stating it in a teleprompter speech.

In the past, his deeply insulting and disrespectful comments about Democratic members of Congress has reinforced the lack of cooperation between parties and this type of language cannot continue if Trump is serious about passing bipartisan deals.

Despite the glimmer of an effort to unite the country through his guests’ inspirational stories and policy issues that both parties can support, some of his language was alarmingly divisive, including his comment that “Americans are dreamers, too” and focusing on the story of the MS-13 gang that does not and should

not characterize the undocumented immigrant community in this country.

Strikingly contrasting Trump’s divisiveness and flat cadence, Congressman Joseph Kennedy III (D-MA) delivered an energetic and passionate response to Trump’s State of the Union that declared that we can “choose both;” that politics isn’t a zero-sum game, that we don’t have to choose between American workers and DREAMers, but instead can fight for both.

We as a club fully support this notion and want to especially reiterate Congressman Kennedy’s statement that DREAMers are part of our American

story. As a club, we will continue to support DREAMers on this campus and everywhere and we hope that Congress can pass an immigration deal that protects these valuable members of our society.

We hope that the sentiment of Congressman Kennedy’s speech carries into the midterm elections and motivates us to flip the House.

While we are cautiously hopeful that some bipartisan deals can be made on the issues stated above, our main focus as a club is taking back Congress so that we can get back to passing legislation that reflects our Democratic ideals of equality, opportunity, prosperity and justice.

Republicans:Partisanshipplaguesourpolitics

Continued from Page 1

The new tax law has resulted in millions of employees receiving pay raises and millions of jobs are pouring back into our nation, jobs President Obama swore “were never coming back.”

President Trump’s speech on Tuesday Jan. 30 was a manifestation of the growing partisanship that plagues legislative chambers. More and more it is apparent that party comes before country, a tragedy by any standard.

To have success in the 2018 midterms, Democrats must abandon the ‘doom and gloom’ rhetoric that has

plagued their party through years of lost elections. They, to some degree, have to adopt a calculated mix of optimism and national pride. Instead of actively fighting against legislation that is bringing wealth back to their constituencies, they should focus on the future with a fresh agenda and feasible plan of action that includes building people up, not tearing them down. Both sides need to drop this disrespectful mentality. Now is the time for action, for change, for America. We’ve heard the talking points now, and as Trump pointed out, is the time for results.

Oliver Douliery/Abaca Press/TNS

In the State of the Union, Trump argued his vision for the next year to a joint session of Congress in the House of Representatives chamber.

THE MORE YOU KNOW Undergraduate Financial Aid by Source, 2015 - 2016 Type of Aid

Total Institutional Grants Totan Institutional Loans Total Private Total Federal Total State

Total Amount $73,533,106 $313,356 $7,905,053 $20,616,671 $1,625,790

% of Total 70.7% 0.3% 7.6% 19.8% 1.6%

POLICE BEAT Underage Consumption and Alcohol Abuse • Intoxicated male was transported to WFUBMC from an off campus residence. The report was filed on Jan. 25 at 12:27 a.m. from Wakefield Dr. • Intoxicated student was found on Hearn Plaza and was transported to the hospital. The report was filed on Jan. 27 at 3:23 a.m.

• Intoxicated student became ill and asked for medical attention. The offender had consumed wine and liquor at an unknown off-campus location and was transported to Student Health. The report was filed on Jan. 26 at 9:34 p.m. from South.

• Intoxicated student attended PKA party on Macon Dr.The Uber driver asked for assistance after the student would not exit the car. The student was transported to Student Health.

The report was filed on Jan. 27 at 12:56 a.m. from East Gate.

• Intoxicated student was transported to Student Health by ERTs. The report was filed on Jan. 28 at 2:53 a.m. from Luter.

Miscellaneous/Assist WSPD • Unknown subject(s) removed a chained bike from a rack at Olin during winter break. When the victim returned the bike and chain were gone. The report was filed on Jan. 22 at 11:18 a.m.

• RA observed three bongs in a room where the door was opened.Theoffenderadmittedtobeingtheowner.Thereport was filed on Jan. 22 at 6:52 p.m. from Poteat.

• Students jumped inside an elevator, causing it to malfunction and shut down and trapping two students inside for a period of time. The report was filed on Jan. 24 at 12:02 a.m. from Luter.

•WSPD officer responded to a peeping call at an off campus residence. Victim reported an unknown suspect holding a camera and recording her as she stepped out of the shower.

WSPD officer responded and the crime scene unit was able to get prints from a window used by the suspect. The SAFE

Office and Title 9 were notified. The report was filed on Jan. 24 at 9:51 p.m. from Wake Place Ct. • Offenders were found to be in possession of marijuana and paraphernalia behind Angelou. The report was filed on Jan. 25 at 5:27 p.m.

• Several underage students held an unauthorized party inside their suite in Davis which caused the fire alarm to activate due to the heat and condensation in the room. The report was filed on Jan. 26 at 10:37 p.m.

• An unknown male yelled“f*ck you”and threw a shampoo bottle at a victim while he was in the shower. The report was filed on Jan. 28 at 2:19 a.m. from Collins.

• WSPD responded to a loud party held by SAE where there were approximately 300 people in the driveway. The music was turned down and no citations were issued. The report was filed on Jan. 28 at 4:52 p.m. from Long Drive.

•The offender attempted to kiss the victim, who temporarily moved into another room for the night. The report was filed on Jan. 28 at 10:30 p.m. from Rosedale Cir.

Opinion | Old Gold & Black

Thursday, February 1, 2018 | Page 9

Our campus“has become too sterile to violence Campus Crisis

There should have been more reflection after the recent murder

Only one of my six professors took a moment in class last week to address Mr. Baker’s untimely demise.”

Jack Beyrer

loss in the Winston-Salem State and Wake Forest communities.

This event struck me very deeply. To know that less than a mile from my residence, a place I consider my home, an act of brutal violence occurred and the loss of an individual transpired is very shaking. We all value our ability to function as a unified community on campus, and to lose someone that we welcome into our community — whether it is for a few hours or a few years — is extremely tragic and ought to be mourned properly.

Yet, only one of my six professors took a moment in class last week to address Baker’s untimely demise. The common dialectic on campus in social spaces centered around the standard small talk following Mr. Baker’s death — recent Greek life functions, sports, et cetera. It

Guest Columnist beyrjw17@wfu.edu

Wake Foresters consider themselves “for humanity” as our revered motto indicates. At our best, the campus acts as a community which cares, learns about each other and holds virtue, flourishing and individuality in high esteem.

Last Friday, Jan. 20, our community lost a young man with an amazing and extraordinary life ahead of him. What happened to Najee Baker is truly tragic, and I extend my most sincere and heartfelt condolences to his family, friends and all those who feel damaged by his

appeared that the loss of a human life was minimized in much of the Wake Forest community to a point of indifference. Are we truly “for humanity” if we cannot recognize the loss of a human life beyond the novelty of it? Some sentiments around campus reduce Mr. Baker’s death to another instance of black-on-black violence, which is inhuman, disingenuous and reviling.

Frankly, the racial or scholastic identity of Mr. Baker or his murderers is not pertinent to the fact that we witnessed a loss of a human being. Insofar as this is true, instead of intellectualizing, politicizing or classifying his death, like the piece in OGB earlier this week did in reduction of control did, let us come to together as a community to feel. While I do agree that better agenda of gun legislation ought to be pursued in this country, politicizing the death of someone who was loved and endeared to many so quickly after his death is tone-deaf.

Healing for our communities at Winston-Salem State and Wake Forest takes time, and the processing of the facts of Mr. Baker’s murder take time. A knee-

jerk diatribe on gun legislation is not a way to properly appreciate the gravity of the fact that a human life was lost on our campus.

My intention in writing this is to show others that it should not matter what one’s identity is on this campus when we face the fact that a tragedy happened. It should not be the case that only the minority communities on campus feel this death deeply. No special license, no Wake Forest bubble. In recent years, it has become clear that our campus is quite divided along racial lines, and this could be the cosmic event that unites us all in deep empathy for this terrible occurrence.

As Wake Foresters, we care about each other. We care about humanity. Any loss of life is a travesty and we need to build ourselves back up from that loss. Let us all try to make something beautiful out of a tragedy. We need to come together as people, with feelings and brokenness, and build each other up, regardless of what we look like or who we are.

Michael McAndrews/Hartford Courant/TNS

“ idealizesthesimplicityofthemind Westerncivilization Philosophy

The human mind is endlessly complex, but is trivialized into inaccurate simplicity

Kyle Ferrer

Staff Columnist ferrka16@wfu.edu The notion that humans are complex is not as bald a fact as many take it. “We’re complex” seems to live in our vocabulary as a trite excuse, not something that calls for incessant investigation. In fact, there has been some shift away from the investigation of such complexity.

Although man’s vast internalities have always interested us, humans have also repressed complexity in favor of positing a simple, graspable impetus of existence. We can trace this cosmeticism all the way back to Plato, back to what could be termed the very foundation of Western civilization. What Plato does in Book 2 of the Republic is banish the

It is this created ideal, Plato dictating to the gods themselves, that animates the reasonable human idol.” poets who tell “lies” about the gods, lies that “even if they were true, ought certainly not to be lightly told to young and thoughtless persons; if possible, they had better be buried in silence.”

These lies involve stories of insidious castration, unbridled passion and many other “vulgarities,” in turn transformed into “lies.” It is this created ideal, Plato dictating to the gods themselves, that animates the reasonable human idol.

The gods were infinitely bound-up by selfishness and turpitude, but that heinousnesss is not to be reported, for gods, in their natural state of depravity, are not something to aspire to. If humans are to become a perfect species they would have to aspire to heroes, who embody godliness, and such godliness was polluted. Reason and order must reign, not the labyrinthine, moral ambiguousness of human nature. We cannot handle such a thing. So Plato banished all those existing as a poet, an

artist, an artificer of truth, because they contained insights, these so-called lies, into the roiling regime inside us.

This banishment, this exile, is perhaps the first instance of culture that represses the recursive nature of morality and of the human soul. Admission of these “lies” would provide for a barbarous culture, but a culture that lives by suppression can refine itself into the heavens. Human complexity is reduced to an isomorphic substance to be refined and distilled into airy good. Unfortunately such a “good” is founded on obfuscation and pushes us towards an unattainable mythos.

And thus lies the western world as we (mostly) know it — a unilateral condemnation of turpitude based in willful ignorance. Any leader who has stepped in to claim both moral uprightness and moral forthrightness is masquerading, consciously or not, to cover the kaleidoscope of scenes inside us. An only moral good does not pervade us, it does not speak to a truth, it only speaks to a repugnance by it. And repugnance is indeed an available reaction, maybe even laudable one, if one finds it to be the only way to live; but engagement, exploration, experimentation, are forfeited. Inside the clasp of our consciousness is how the other half lives.

This moral superiority among the species lends itself to narrow interpretation, or rather slighted exploration.

Since a right moral system exists, so does a wrong one, and so the two are in Manichean opposition. There is no such opposition though, if we can call it that, because there was never an initial split. Good and bad are not inimical because they are the born of the same human seed. They exist slim, somewhat permeable sides of the same coin. We exist, intricately, beyond good and evil, as Nietzsche claims. As humans we cannot claim either because it is in our nature to have both. This is not relativism, but an assurance that there are depths to us that have not been explained or discovered. It is not our duty to knock those parts into willful amnesia. That is impossible. The goal is to throw them under the microscope (or try to), in an attempt the reach a purer something, a more encompassing I. Moral certitudes disallow for curious investigation. It is what Camus calls a “facile joy,” to repress and become bunkered in. It is something too easily achieved and negotiated. To proceed at a deliberate pace of blindness is to step through a shallow pool. Living is more interesting than that, or rather, you are.

Page 10 | Thursday, February 1, 2018

Old Gold & Black | Opinion

Oversensitivity“ to bias detracts from effective policing Campus Comment

Excessive attention to bias elimination makes police officers unable to do their job properly

Ryan Wolfe

Staff Writer wolfrj14@wfu.edu

Years before the tragic shooting outside of a Delta Sigma Theta party two weeks ago, the Office of Campus Life made policy choices that handcuffed the Wake Forest University Police Department’s ability to proactively police on our campus.

In January 2014, a semester before the seniors graduating in May arrived on campus, a Kappa Alpha Psi party was shut down by the Wake Forest and WinstonSalem Police Departments. Student activ-

The report found that none of the students allegation rose to the level of actual racial bias, but there were some incidents of insensitivity.” ists organized a town hall where they accused the police of having racist attitudes towards minority students and policing IFC and Panhellenic Council events differently than National Panhellenic Council (NPHC) events solely due to the racial differences in the organizations.

The administration responded by commissioning the Williams-Moss Report to investigate the claims made by minority students that the police were biased against them. The report found that none of the students’ allegations rose to the level of actual racial bias, but there were some incidents of insensitivity. The report also found that the differences in the policing of NPHC and IFC organizations was explained by non-racial factors.

Despite these findings, Wake Forest

Vice President for Campus Life Penny Rue pursued policies that created a chilling effect on policing and changed how the police interacted with NPHC parties.

Almost all WFUPD officers were forced to undergo unconscious bias trainings, which are based on the dubious science of implicit bias testing and have been shown to have little efficacy in creating a more diverse workforce. The Police Accountability Task Force, lead by the Director of the LGBTQ Center, was also created to help oversee these trainings and increase the diversity of the department. Furthermore, the social event management policies were changed in an attempt to decrease risk while decreasing the amount of armed police at NPHC events.

These actions made it clear that the current adminstration thinks it is more important to ensure that the WFU Police Department is not accused of being racist than to ensure our campus is safe. Those two goals are not mutually exclusive and

can be accomplished by improving relations with police and students. If you scan press releases over the past several years from the university involving policing, you won’t find any articles about how Wake Forest is encouraging proactive policing to stop crimes before they happen.

You’ll only see alerts about recent crimes and reports about how we are stopping our police from being racist.

The incident from a few weeks ago should be a wake-up call to the Office of Campus Life. The Wake Forest Police Department’s job is not to be the most diverse and inclusive department on our campus, their job is to keep Wake Forest students, faculty, staff and visitors safe from the dangers that lurk outside our walls. Indeed, instead of criticizing every police action through a critical theory lens, Wake Forest must let the police do their job.

beautiful despite some students who trash it.

Don’t forget about the black students who earned their way to this institution just like anyone else and sit next to white students who may or may not hold racial biases.

Worst of all, the RA who had to live on the same hall as this woman and be disrespected on social media for people to see and either laugh at or stare in horror.

Secondly, I’m both heartbroken and frustrated that there are students who try to justify the student’s use of a racial slur on social media and think that expulsion was too harsh because “everyone says stupid things when they’re drunk.” This is problematic in several ways.

For starters, it shows the lack of accountability. In the workplace, something like that would’ve led to termination. As college students, we’re preparing for the workplace and real world experiences. We’re also preparing for real world consequences, and expulsion was an appropriate consequence for this incident.

In addition, being intoxicated is never an excuse to be hateful. I’ve been drunk plenty of times in my 21 years on this Earth and have never ever called a white person the C-word to their face, behind their back or on social media. Using racial slurs is not someone just, “saying something stupid.”

It’s racist.

Any non-black person who will never have to worry about being called a n*gger needs to put themselves in a black person’s shoes. Wouldn’t you find any less punishment to be a slap on the wrist? Don’t you think an action like this goes against our motto, “Pro-Humanitate?” How would you feel if you were black, knew this girl, and had to see her in class after seeing such a hurtful video? Think before you become an apologist for actions that don’t hurt you but severely hurt others.

Hateful words are not just words. They carry power. They can cause scars that may never heal. They cause damage. And they’re not welcome here. Ever.

“ and racism cannot coexist on campus “Pro Humanitate” Campus Racism

The incedent on instagram was not shocking but very upsetting Kasy Heath

Staff Writer heatka15@wfu.edu

Before I begin, I want to make something very clear: I don’t think all white people are racist. In fact, I’m someone who will take the time to listen to white people to try to understand where they’re coming from so long as they listen to me. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get to business.

The student who on social media, admitted to calling her black RA a n*gger deserved to be expelled from this school. While I’m

I’m not surprised that a racist comment was made at a predominantly white institution. I’m still heartbroken for a few reasons.” not surprised that a racist comment was made at a predominantly white institution, I’m still heartbroken for a few reasons.

First, I’m saddened that anyone thinks it’s appropriate to use a racial slur that is packed with so much hate. Historically, people of color have been called n*ggers right before they were lynched, beaten or otherwise mistreated. That word carries the same impact it did when it was first coined several hundred years ago.

For someone to use that word on social media for many others to see is a slap in the face to every black person on this campus — Black custodians and campus facilities employees who keep our campus clean and

Word on the Quad

What is the best album of 2017?

“Ctrl” Sam Bott (‘21)

“Reputation” Lily Weng (‘20)

“24K Magic” Camille Bibb (‘18)

“More Life” Arif Ahmed (‘21)

SPORTS

T H U R S D AY, F E B R U A R Y 1 , 2 0 1 8

PAG E 11

Online at: www.wfuogb.com Twitter: @sports_ogb Editors: Ren Schmitt, schmwm16@wfu.edu Lizzie Snyder, snydem15@wfu.edu

OLD GOLD & BLACK

Eagles hope to earn first Super Bowl win The two most consistent teams in the league face off Sunday night at 6:30 pm.

BY DAN PACHINO News Editor pachdb15@wfu.edu

With the upcoming final game of the 2017-2018 NFL season this Sunday, Feb. 4, there are many important things to consider. This year’s Super Bowl pits the league’s most consistent and dominant teams from each conference, the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles. The paths each team took to get here, however, were much different.

Aside from following a home loss to the Chiefs, in week one, there was hardly a time all season the Patriots did not seem to be the AFC’s premier team. On the other hand, the Eagles’ season has been a bit of a roller coaster ride.

Heading into a week-13 matchup in Seattle with the Seahawks, the Eagles were 10-1 and the most impressive team in football, led by an MVP frontrunner quarterback Carson Wentz and a deep and talented defense led by defensive end Fletcher Cox. Philadelphia lost this game fairly handedly to Seattle, but this was hardly cause for concern, as Seattle is one of the league’s toughest road environments. The Eagles were still 10-2 and very much in

control of the NFC East. The following NFL history in 2013. In 10 starts, Foles In 2013, Foles became one of just week, in a game against the Rams, the went 8-2, led the league in quarterback eight quarterbacks ever to throw for sevEagles season was seemingly flipped on rating, yards per attempt, yards per en touchdown passes in a single game. its head. completion and touchdown percentage. See Football, Page 13 This was probably the Eagles’ most impressive win of the season to date, but it came at a huge cost. Towards the end of the third quarter, Wentz scrambled on a play deep in LA’s territory and dove for the end zone but was hit hard and suffered an apparent knee injury.

Wentz stayed in the game and miraculously threw a touchdown pass to Alshon Jeffrey two plays later, but on the ensuing Philadelphia drive, backup Nick Foles replaced Wentz while the star quarterback was taken to the locker room.

Foles was able to help lead the Eagles to a 43-35 victory in LA, but it was revealed the next day that Wentz had suffered a torn ACL, and his season ended.

At an amazing 11-2 with an NFC East title already clinched, it still seemed as if all that was left was to put the nail in Philadelphia’s season’s coffin.

Without their starting quarterback, many wondered if the Eagles would be able to win even one playoff game. Instead, Philadelphia needs just one more win to be crowned Super Bowl Champion. Since assuming the starting role, Yong Kim/Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS Foles is 4-1 and improving each week.

It is easy to forget, but Foles had one Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie celebrates with the team after of the best seasons by a quarterback in their NFC Playoff Victory last weekend against the Minnesota Vikings.

Womens' Tennis to play in ITA indoor tourney For the first time in 15 years, the team will compeat in the National Indoor Championships in Madison, WI.

that we’re still able to win the matches.”Meredith added that one of the team’s strengths is, “just being able to come back from being down and fighting back."

BY LUCY NELSON Staff Writer nelsld16@wfu.edu For the first time since 2003, the Demon Deacons Women’s tennis team (4-0) will be competing in the ITA National Indoor Championships, held Feb. 9-12 in Madison, WI. Following their victory against No. 18 Arkansas on Friday, Jan. 26, the Demon Deacons took down No. 1 Ohio State the following day, making them one of only 15 teams to qualify for the National Indoor Championships.

Getting to where they are now was not an easy battle. After losing all three doubles matches, a win against Arkansas in the semi-finals looked like a slim possibility. However, the Deacs came back in their singles lineup and secured the match when junior Anna Ulyashchenko won a second-set tiebreaker to defeat Natsuho Arakawa, 7-5, 7-6 (7-3) in the No. 2 position.

Sophomore Mary Caroline Meredith, who helped bring the team to victory with a win at No. 6 singles, commented on the team’s dynamic.

“We are mainly a singles-dominant team, so even if we don’t win all of the doubles points it’s awesome

Photo Courtesy of Wake Forest Athletic Communications

Junior Emma Davis crushes a backhand during the ACC Womens' Championship in Louisville.

A perfect example of this is junior Emma Davis’s win against Ohio State’s Anna Sanford at No. 1 singles when she came back from losing the first set to win the match in a third-set tiebreaker. The Massachusetts native has been a vital player, clinching crucial wins against Ohio State and Arkansas and earning ACC Player of the Week.

The eight players make up a young team, with freshman Eliza Omirou joining Davis in the top 80 singles rankings at No. 70 and playing No. 2 singles for the Deacons. Regardless of age, the women are a very tight-knit group.

“They will all be invited to my wedding and will be my bridesmaids. We’re all really close, which is like not normal for a team,” Meredith said. This includes her sister Chandler Carter, who leads the team as the only senior and team captain.

“It’s a good environment. I know we’re good offcourt so we’ll overcome adversity on court. Getting along just makes it so much easier and we can all practice together without tension or anything, so I think that’s important," junior Joanna Zalewski added.

The team is looking to perform well and stand out in Wisonsin, as they are the only qualifying team that is not in the top 25 national rankings.

“This is new territory for us because we’ve never been in this position before," Zalewski said. "But I think we’ll just play our best game, not hold back and work together."

Page 12 | Thursday, February 1, 2018

Old Gold & Black | Sports

Louisville dominates the Deacons 96-77

The Wake Forest Demon Deacons fell to the Louisville Cardinals on the road last Friday, losing by 19 points at the KFC Yum! Center

BY KYLE TATICH Senior Writer tatika14@wfu.edu

Wake Forest extended its losing streak to seven games on Saturday as the Deacs fell to the Louisville Cardinals 96-77 at the KFC Yum! Center.

The game, which marked the halfway point of ACC play for the Demon Deacons, was one of both positive and negative takeaways, despite the lopsided score.

Wake Forest led by as much as nine at the midpoint of the first half, but ultimately fell victim to a 34-16 run to conclude the first 20 minutes of action.

The Deacs trailed by as much as 31 in the second half and committed 20 turnovers in the full 40 minutes.

Wake Forest shot a respectable 48 percent from the field, and even outrebounded the long and athletic Cardinals 39-32. Doral Moore (16 points, 13 rebounds) picked up his seventh double-double of the season and Chaundee Brown recorded his third career 20-point game, becoming the fifth Demon Deacon to achieve such a feat in their first 20 games since 2000.

One positive takeaway for the Deacs in ACC play has been the development of Brown, who now has three double-figure games in conference play, including two

20-point performances. His first 20-point game came at Boston College when the freshman scored 18 of his 20 points through field goals from beyond the arc. `While impressed with the shooting performance of his small forward, coach Danny Manning wanted Brown to be more aggressive with his offensive attack.

It’s taken a few weeks, but it appears as though Brown has begun to take the ball to the paint on a higher percentage of possession touches. On Saturday this was especially true, as 17 of his 20 points came from either the charity stripe or from inside the three-point line.

“Be aggressive. Use my body. Get to the paint,” Brown said on his instructions from coach Manning. For Wake Forest to find success moving forward, Brown will need to continue finding ways to be more aggressive.

Wake Forest has demonstrated that it is capable of playing at a high level for limited stretches of time, however, this effort has not proven to last for more than 20 minutes in most ACC contests this year, let alone a full 40. Saturday’s game at Louisville was a perfect example.

In the game’s first 12 minutes, Wake Forest experienced success on both ends of the floor, getting Moore a quick six points in the period’s first three minutes, forcing turnovers and running the floor to play defense after a made basket.

Unfortunately for the Deacons, this success was limited to those first 12 minutes and the Cardinals quickly took over the game. At the midpoint of the ACC season, Wake Forest’s record is certainly not one to celebrate. However, there is a lot of basketball left this year.

A post-season birth outside of the ACC Tournament

is nearly impossible to achieve at this point, however, Wake Forest has an opportunity to improve with each new opponent it faces — as long as the team manages to stay together.

“We are [still together],” Brown said after the loss to Louisville. “We’re going to get back to practice and just fight. We’re going to watch film, see the wrong things that we did and correct them.”

Jeff Reinking/Louisville Athletic Communications

Junior Brandon Childress goes up against two Louisville defenders during Wake Forest’s seventh consecutive loss of the season.

An emotional Federer negotiates time Swiss tennis legend, Roger Federer earns an emotional win at the 2018 Australian Open against top competiton

BY KYLE FERRER Opinion Editor ferrk16@wfu.edu Bret Easton Ellis in his novel Less Than Zero characterizes the L.A. sun as a sort of incessant breath, whose orangewhite effulgence melts identity. He gives us “Images of teenagers, people my own age, looking up from the asphalt and being blinded by the sun.”

Now, Less Than Zero has nothing to do with tennis (the sport is used only as a point in the characters’ bulletin of wealth), but Easton Ellis’ description of the sun is great because it is Spartan, intensely moment-specific but seeming to permeate time.

Melbourne, Australia, from the 10th of January to the 28th, is a city scrutinized by the summer sun. Its rays focus all attention on Melbourne Park, the consummate host of the year’s first Grand Slam, and eventually the world receives a champion, wrought out of Australia’s crucible of concentrated radiance. Solar spotlights amid a portrait of fire incense players to compete in front of a crowd just as sweaty and ready to burst with heat at their performance.

This year’s Australian Open brought another unique set of challenges, though, with the usual top crop of players sprinkled unusually throughout the draw. Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and the late Sir Andy Murray, who seems to be on indefinite injury leave, were not concentrated in the action. They had early, uneventful departures from competition.

But for Roger Federer, it was a different story. In Melbourne this year, Federer lifted the trophy yet again. He showed the world that the usual age-associated denouement exists as narrative convention, and that Roger Federer is the furthest thing from convention the world of tennis has ever seen.

Ripping through a draw of 128 in straight sets all the way to the final, Federer displayed what we’ve come to love and expect — strokes like liquid mercury, gestures into corners with microscopic precision and a balletic whippishness that has set the precedent for economical sport.

I do not know what animates this man, but whatever

Corinne Dubreuil/Abaca Press/TNS

Austrailian Open Champion Federer is emotional after winning the 2018 championship. Throughout his career; Federer has earned sixAustralian Open titles, eightWimbledon titles, five US Open titles and one FrenchOpen title.

it is, it is some protean substance nearing the divine, incessant and doggedly triumphant.

Marin Cilic was Federer’s opponent in the final, and the match went to five sets, with final score of 6-2, 6-7, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 in favor of Federer. When Federer spoke after, his speech rolled through its acts, on a more than emotional vector, voicing thanks to venue and family, sport and sponsor. But it was when Federer was congratulating Marin Cilic on his efforts, when he told his competitor he had “another great tournament” that there seemed to be a slight reveal.

Federer went on: “Congratulations on world number three … Keep doing what you’re doing, and you can achieve more.”

The words themselves are banal, but there was a certain emotional inflection Federer turned on, when he said “keep doing what you’re doing.”

A sort of subtle vocal tremble, like the shudder of a maple seed, during his live speech, seemed to me a profound moment.

See Australian Open, Page 14

Thursday, February 1, 2018 | Page 13

Sports | Old Gold & Black

Brewers acquire two excellent outfielders With the two trades, Milwaukee has drastically increased its chances of competing in the NL Central

BY REN SCHMITT Sports Editor schmwm16@wfu.edu On Thursday, Jan. 25, the Milwaukee Brewers worked some offseason magic, managing to acquire Lorenzo Cain and Christian Yelich in very quick succession.

After the Marlins traded Giancarlo Stanton and Marcell Ozuna, clubs across the MLB scrambled to put together an offer for Christian Yelich, a 26-year-old outfielder with high upside and a remarkably team-friendly contract. The Atlanta Braves appeared to be close to acquiring Yelich, but like many deals this offseason, the conversation stalled. The Brewers then seized the opportunity, trading OF Lewis Brinson, OF Monte Harrison, INF Isan Diaz and RHP Jordan Yamamoto from their minor league system in exchange for Yelich.

In 2017, Yelich was worth 4.5 Wins Above Replacement, and though his numbers at the plate appeared only slightly above average — 18 home runs and a .282 average — his defense and consistency make him a very valuable player. Cain agreed to a five-year, $80 million contract with the Brewers, making him one of the first significant free agents to sign this offseason.

Cain, who debuted with Milwaukee in 2010, played seven seasons with the Kansas City Royals, averaging an impressive 4.1 WAR over the last five seasons.

There is no doubt that the Brewers improved with these two acquisitions, but the question is whether they

John Sleezer/Kansas City Star/TNS

Lorenzo Cain, who just signed with Milwaukee, will be a great asset at bat and at center field for the Brewers. improved enough to make the playoffs for the first time since 2011. After falling one game short in the Wild Card race in 2017, the Brewers front office is making a clear statement that they are looking to compete for an NL Central crown in 2018.

The Cubs represent the early favorite in the division, but there is no doubt that the Brewers will be an interesting story to watch during the 2018 season.

With both the Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates in full rebuild mode, and the Cardinals looking slightly weaker than they have in years past, the Brewers may be poised to challenge the Cubs for the division crown in 2018.

Of course, their roster still has some significant questions, as a team cannot plug all of its organizational holes in via free agency or the trade market. Their starting rotation hardly resembles a playoff rotation, as the trio of Zach Davies, Chase Anderson and Brent Suter, though solid, does not contain a bona fide ace.

Perhaps the Brewers will dip back into the free agent market in the pursuit of a starting pitcher, as acquiring someone like pitcher Jake Arietta could push them over the edge.

The other question facing the Brewers is which position each player will find himself at next season. With the acquisition of Yelich and Cain, the 2017 starting outfield of Ryan Braun, Keon Broxton and Domingo Santana will be broken up. The Brewers recognize that keeping the bats of Braun and Santana in the lineup on a daily basis would be in their best interest, so they have begun to toy with the idea of moving Braun to the infield.

On Braun changing positions, Brewers General Manager David Stears said, “I think that’s something we’re open to exploring in Spring Training and seeing where it leads. Obviously, it’s challenging to change positions at the Major League level, but it’s something that Ryan is open to exploring, so we’ll see where that leads. That is a possibility.”

Though the Brewers certainly have issues to work through before opening day, they have undoubtedly improved their chances of making the playoffs.

Super Bowl: Game will pit league’s two best teams Continued from Page 11

Since 2013, however, Foles could be described as a mediocre quarterback at best. After two years away from Philadelphia, Foles is back with the team who gave him his first shot and is looking to help them earn the first Super Bowl in Eagles history.

On the other side of the ball, the New England Patriots are no strangers to the Super Bowl.

This year’s Super Bowl is Brady and the Patriots’ remarkable fourth appearance since 2012.

A win this Sunday would make New England repeat champions following their unforgettable comeback win last year against the Falcons, in which they were down 28-3 with just 17 minutes remaining in the game.

There are many interesting points to consider entering this year’s Super Bowl.

First, which version of Nick Foles will show up this week? Will it be the Foles who completed just 19 of his 38 attempts for a mere 163 yards, a touchdown and an interception against the Raiders in week 16 or the Foles who tore apart Minnesota’s elite Dan Wozniak/Zuma Press/TNS defense to a tune of 26 of 33 passing NewEnglandPatriotsrunningbackJamesWhiteinactiontodefeattheAtlantaFalcons for 352 yards and three touchdowns? duringSuper Bowl LI onSunday, Feb. 5, 2017 at NRGStadium in Houston,Texas.

Another important question to consider is whether or not Patriots’ tight end Rob Gronkowski will be healthy and ready to go for the game. Gronkowksi was knocked out of the AFC Championship game against the Jaguars with a concussion, so his health is a major concern for New England as he is a focal point of their offensive attack.

This Super Bowl has all the makings of a great game. It pits the league’s two best teams from this season, even if they took very different paths to make it there.

My prediction is that this game, much like every Super Bowl that Brady and the Patriots have participated in, will be close and come down to the wire (Brady’s largest margin of victory in a Super Bowl was last year — six points.)

I anticipate the Patriots will emerge victorious, yet again, and win their second straight Super Bowl, giving Brady his sixth overall and cementing his status for any doubters as the greatest to ever play the game.

Score Prediction: Patriots 28, Eagles 24

Page 14 | Thursday, February 1, 2018

Old Gold & Black | Sports

Australian Open: Federer takes home another Continued from Page 12

“Keep doing what you’re doing,” dripped with the schmaltzy tears of disbelief, as if Federer could barely believe what he was still doing, as if he thinks it will have to, must, come to an end soon, as if the (not much) younger Cilic (or any player) is someone Federer envies because no matter how much he himself defies time, its proximity now haunts him.

Federer has nearly nothing left to “achieve,” but his spirit is one that craves achievement. That spirit itself, no matter the physical deterioration, is evergreen. The basic duality of this Federer will have to deal with for the rest of his life, and he knows it. It is as if, when speaking to Cilic,

Federer envies the ability to “achieve

more,” to have “world number three” be only a stepping stone to an unknown future of greatness. Federer is already inhabiting that future, and everything from here on is brutal and sad. Time is not of the essence, it is Federer’s essence, and he is beginning to now consciously revolt against it, even if only in subtle ways. Nietzsche defined resentment as “the will’s revulsion against time and its ‘it was.’”

Federer is beginning to see the horizon of resentment and he is beginning to see everything won now as pitted against the memory of youthful triumphs. We can try to sympathize with this great man, but like many Zhu Hongye/Xinhua/Zuma Press/TNS great men any attempt at empathy is Federer is a back-to-back Australian Open champion. He defeated a much younger player, as good as a fist clenched with air.

Cilic, in five sets in the presence of the some of the greatest tennis talent in the world.

Wake Forest committs strong recruiting class With four commits for next season, the basketball team is currently one scholarship above the limit for 2018

class is composed of five-star recruit Jaylen Hoard, fourstar recruits Isaiah Mucius and Jamie Lewis, and three-star Sharone Wright Jr. Hoard. Hoard leads the group ranking as the 28th-best recruit in the nation according to the 247sports composite rankings. Both 247sports and ESPN have Hoard rated as the sixth-best small forward in the

BY RAFAEL LIMA nation. Hoard had offers from Kansas, Oklahoma State, Staff Writer Providence and Washington before committing to Wake limara17@wfu.edu Forest. Joining Hoard at the forward position is Isaiah Duke is bringing in the top three best recruits in the Mucius who is rated as a four-star player offered by big country all at once, North Carolina already having three programs like Xavier and UConn before committing to five-stars committed, and solid programs like Notre Wake last year. Both players are very versatile with similar Dame and Syracuse are bringing five-star talents on their frames and the ability to play both forward positions. It own. The ACC is proving to be, once again, one of the will be interesting to see how Danny Manning will build best and hardest college basketball conferences next year. his lineup with them, but both are expected to be day-one With that in mind, where do the Demon Deacons stand big contributors. with their next recruiting class?

Jamie Lewis is the most recent acquisition of the team at After a trip to last year’s March Madness, expectations the guard position. Lewis was originally ranked as high as were quite high for the Demon Deacons. Even with the the 22nd-best recruit in the nation in 2016 according to departure of John Collins to the NBA, many thought this 247sports, which earned him offers from Kansas, Florida, team could be playing at the NCAA tournament once NC State and a few others, before injuries dropped him again come March. However, this season has so far been down in the rankings. Lewis has prototypical size for a unexpected even for some very pessimistic fans. In spite guard standing at 6-3 and weighing 190. Lewis possesses of the basketball team’s performance this season, Wake great ball-handling skills and, when healthy, can be one Forest is bringing one of the best recruiting classes in of the best-scoring guards in the country. Rounding out school history and even looking to possibly add another the guard position, Hoard has great size at 6-5, one of piece before everything is said and done. the tallest guards Wake has had in recent history, which Photo Courtesy of Wake Forest Communications might come in handy to improve Wake Forest’s porous Currently, Wake Forest sits as the fourth-best incoming class in the ACC according to 247sports only behind Coach Danny Manning fought hard for a talented recruiting perimeter defense.

Duke, North Carolina and Notre Dame. Wake Forest’s class, competing with other schools such as Duke and UNC. With four commits for the 2018 class, Wake Forest is currently one scholarship above the limit for next season, which is generally not a big issue because of the imminent situation of a player turning professional earlier. However, what is interesting is that Danny Manning recently offered All-American and recent Auburn decommit E.J Montgomery, which would put Manning two scholarships above the limit. As of late, Wake Forest made the list of Montgomery’s top 11 schools and the Power Forward is expected to cut the list down to five in the next few weeks.

The chances of Wake Forest landing Montgomery are small due to the interest of blue blood programs like Duke, North Carolina and Kentucky on the five-star.

However, if Wake does make the final list or even get a commit from the skilled big, Danny Manning and his stuff would be getting a huge commitment and possibly their best recruit since Al-Farouq Aminu (ninth-overall recruit at the time).

Duke seems to be the front-runner for Montgomery so far, which is a scary proposition considering the amount of talent that Duke is already recruiting. Nonetheless, Montgomery’s recruitment process is still fairly early, and a lot can happen before the next signing period.

Photo Courtesy of Wake Forest Communications The Old Gold & Black will provide more information The new recruiting class looks to add to the Wake Forest men’s basketball team’s recent success, which included a trip to as Montgomery approaches his decision and the 2018 recruiting cycle reaches its climax.

March Madness in 2017. Especially considering the legacy of Deac and NBA player John Collins, expectations are high.

Sports | Old Gold & Black

Thursday, February 1, 2018 | Page 15

Wake Forest breaks seven game losing streak The Demon Deacons defeated the Florida State Seminoles in a nail-biting win at home on Wednesday night.

BY KYLE TATICH Senior Writer tatika14@wfu.edu

Florida State traveled to Winston-Salem on Wednesday, Jan. 31 to face a Wake Forest team that had dropped each of its last seven contests.

Leonard Hamilton, head coach of the Seminoles, believed that despite their record, facing the Deacs would be no easy task.

“They play stretches where they play at a high level, it concerns you that they’ll be able to sustain that for 40 minutes,” Hamilton said ahead of Wednesday’s game.

To Hamilton’s credit, he was right. The Deacs have demonstrated instances this season where they can compete against anyone — with moments against top caliber programs such as Virginia, Duke and North Carolina coming to mind.

But Hamilton’s worry about Wake Forest stringing together 40 minutes of sustained success proved unnecessary as the Deacs played far from a perfect game in their 76-72 victory Wednesday night.

In the first half, Wake Forest allowed Florida State to attempt 14 shots from beyond the arc, with six ultimately falling through the cylinder. The Deacs also committed eight first-half turnovers, on par with their most recent outings against Duke and Louisville.

Wake Forest did not sustain 40 minutes of perfect basketball, but for the Deacs to go home with their first win since Jan. 3, it was enough, attributed in large part to a strong second half.

The Deacs boasted one of the more balanced scoring performances of the season with Bryant Crawford (19), Chaundee Brown (15), Keyshawn Woods (15)

and Brandon Childress (14) each reaching double fig- Jan. 27, Moore told reporters the team was still toures. gether and that he and his teammates would figure it While head coach Danny Manning was pleased with out. the team’s joint effort, he was particularly impressed On Wednesday evening, the Deacs stuck together with the play of his junior center Doral Moore. and figured it out — only time will tell if they can “I thought this was one of Doral’s better games. keep the momentum going as No. 20 Clemson visits Manning said. “He rebounded the ball well for us, the Joel on Saturday afternoon. blocked three shots and got three steals for us.” Moore battled his former high school teammate and fellow seven-footer Christ Koumadje under the basket all evening.

Hamilton, who spent time recruiting Koumadje at Montverde Academy, was familiar with Moore during his high school career and has been impressed with his growth as a Demon Deacon, claiming that Moore has made as much progress as any college player in the U. S. Moore failed to record a double-double in this one, finishing with eight points and 12 rebounds, but his three points in the game’s final minute sealed the deal for the Deacs, giving them a bit of momentum to kick off the second half of the ACC schedule.

With 29 seconds to play, Moore grabbed a rebound off a Florida State missed free throw, passed the ball to Woods who got it to Crawford before getting it back only to immediately find Childress at midcourt.

As Childress caught the ball at the Demon Deacon logo, he looked up and found Moore flashing to the basket for the easy dunk that would extend the lead to three.

Down three with 19 seconds remaining the Seminoles had one possession to tie the game. Florida State’s MJ Walker pulled up from beyond the arc, missed, and none other than Moore was there to grab the rebound, getting fouled in the process.

With two seconds remaining and lead of three, Moore ultimately sealed the deal, converting on his ©Mitchell Loll/Wake Forest University second free throw attempt to lift Wake Forest out of Center Doral Moore and guard Brandon Childress celebrate its seven-game losing streak.

After Wake Forest’s loss to Louisville on Saturday, 76-72 conference victory at home to break losing streak.

State of USA Gymnastics remains uncertain Former Michigan State gymnastics team doctor will spend the rest of his life behind bars after huge scandal

BY ETHAN BAHAR Staff Writer mcmukr14@wfu.edu

Fifty-four-year-old osteopathic physician Larry Nassar, who operated out of Michigan State and served as the head doctor for Team USA Gymnastics since 1992, will spend the rest of his life behind bars. Nassar was found guilty of molesting over 250 young women and possessing child pornography. The fact that this man was able to operate and even earn praise for his practice, from 1992 until 2014, is shameful, and the situation is far from being rectified.

While his trial may be over and his justice has technically been served, Michigan State, the NCAA and USA Gymnastics must all confront and dismantle the systems that lead to systemic shielding of a perverted criminal. This process has already led to the ousting of Michigan State’s President, Lou Anna K. Simon and Athletic Director, Mark Hollis will surely lead to more lost jobs at that university. Further, in the wake of the scandal, at the request of the U.S. Olympic Committee, the entire USA Gymnastics board resigned and the organization is embroiled in various lawsuits around the country.

Beyond investigating and removing faulty, Michigan State officials and USA Gymnastics employees, the NCAA has to confront reports that its CEO, Mark Emmert, had knowledge of 37 sexual assault cases at Michigan State in 2010, but chose to shield the univer-

sity. In a letter sent to the NCAA Board of Governors, Division I Board of Directors, Division II Presidents Council and the Division III Presidents Council, Emmert defended himself.

“You may have seen a report in The Athletic and subsequently repeated in other news outlets yesterday evening that infers in the headline I was informed of widespread sexual assault at Michigan State University in 2010,” Emmert said. “The implication of the headline, which has also been widely repeated, is that I was informed of sexual assaults at MSU by a whistleblower and did nothing in response. Nothing could be further from the truth.”

Emmert continued the letter by explaining the various steps that the NCAA has taken in recent years to prevent sexual assault in college athletics. Despite his claims of innocence, Emmert has been a controversial figure in the sports world for years, and is seen by many as shady. Therefore, it will be interesting to see if subsequent reporting validates Emmert’s claims of innocence, or if The Athletic’s original report holds true.

Perhaps the most shocking takeaway from this tragic scenario is that our college athletes are criminally vulnerable. It is unfathomable that so many young women could have been so brazenly taken advantage of for over two decades, all while their perpetrator was given praise and protection.

It would be naïve to suggest that a scandal of this proportion could not happen elsewhere, and universities along with programs like USA Gymnastics have a moral obligation to create new policies tailored specifically to prevent another Larry Nassar from ruining the lives of any more victims.

Johnny Crawford/Atlanta Journal-Constitution/TNS

NCAA President Mark Emmert supposedly had knowledge of Larry Nassar’s previous crimes.

LIFE

T H U R S D AY, F E B R U A R Y 1 , 2 0 1 8

PA G E 1 6

O n l i n e at : w w w. w f u o g b. co m e d i t o r s : Emily Beauchamp, beauea17@wfu.edu Olivia Field, fielor17@wfu.edu A S S I S TA N T E D I T O R : S a r a h B o y c e , b o y c s e 1 5 @ w f u . e d u

OLD GOLD & BLACK

The Grammys: A night of grandeur and groove

On the night of Sunday, Jan. 28, musical artists came together to reflect on 2017 as a year of creativity, lyrical innovation and political change

BY CALEB WOODY Contributing Writer woodcw16@wfu.edu

Anthony Behar/Sipa USA/TNS

Just like that, the 60th annual Grammy awards are over. As one of the busiest nights of the movie industry closes, we are all left pouring over the results, seeing who got their due praise, who got snubbed and who came out of left field.

With Jay-Z entering as the favorite of the show, boasting eight nominations — the most of any nominees — he quickly faded when compared to the likes of Kendrick Lamar and Bruno Mars. Lamar swept the Rap category, taking home the awards for Best Rap/Rap and Spoken Performance for “Humble” and “Loyalty,” respectively, as well as Best Rap Song for “Humble” and Best Rap Album for Damn.

Bruno Mars stole the show, clearing three of the four general awards for Record of The Year, Album of the Year and Song of the Year for 24k Magic and “That’s What I Like,” respectively, as well as Best R&B Performance and R&B Song (both for “That’s What I Like”) and Best R&B Album, again for 24K Magic. Jay-Z, the Grammys Elder and most-nominated artist, went home emptyhanded. Lastly, out of a competitive category for Best New Artist, Alessia Cara stood out amongst the rest, beating out charismatic and captivating artists such as Khalid, Lil Uzi Vert, SZA and Julia Michaels.

In addition to the awards themselves, the Grammys have often been a venue for musical artists often cited as some of the most subversive and political public figures, to have their voices heard. They also receive praise for their work, which for many comes from places of passion, activism and self-experience.

In as tumultuous of a time as we are currently in, many may criticize artists for using events such as the Grammys as their own “political soapbox.” However, I

would posit that everything these artists do, everything they stand for, is inherently political. In a day and age when the transparency of social media, the criticism of activist movements and the pervasive distrust of those who shake the status-quo permeate our society, many artists may feel that it is their responsibility to use their power to say something worthwhile. Many of the evening’s performances reflected this notion.

From the white outfits displayed proudly during the pre-show red carpet as signs of solidarity to those of the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements, to the iconic and dramatic opening performance by Kendrick Lamar, the political tension at the event was tangible even through a screen.

Kendrick Lamar began the show with a striking performance that was one part confrontational commentary and one part grounding reality. He performed his song “XXX” featuring Bono of U2 with commentary by Dave Chapelle. Including strong political symbolism, such as soldiers in fatigues, images of the American Flag, and the inherent criticism of the song choice, the performance set a startling, exciting tone for the show. It also included overt references to gun violence in African-American communities, conveyed through dancers sporting hoodies similar to the one identified in the Shooting of Trayvon Martin.

Following Lamar’s performance, Lady Gaga took the stage in a brilliant white gown, performing the ballads “Joanne” and “Million Reasons” on a white piano, draped in the wings of an angel. She ended

Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS

her performance with the single ultimatum “Time’s Up.” Ostensibly this is in reference to the Time’s Up movement, founded in early January as a response to the Harvey Weinstein controversy as well as the burgeoning #MeToo movement. Many other artists wore white and/or white roses as a show of solidarity with the victims of sexual assault and harassment in the entertainment industry.

Finally, talk of diversity at the awards show, the history of which has been abysmally white and male, has not ended. With both Drake and Frank Ocean vocally criticizing the show for its lack of black representation and the rampant under-representation of female artists, it’s easy to see how award shows such as the Grammys (which aim to represent the pulse of a modern America) are giving rise to protests and boycotts. Lorde, for example, the only female artist up for Album of the Year, declined to perform during the show. Sources cited that this was because she was asked to perform with other artists whereas other Album of the Year artists (all conveniently male) were granted solos.

In all, the Grammys, like every award show, are only as powerful as people believe them to be. With new methods of attaining fame such as YouTube and SoundCloud, historic institutes in industries like music and film will have to work harder to modernize and respond to an increasingly diversified population.

Until then, the Grammys will have to do. At least they know how to put on a good show.

Thursday, February 1, 2018 | Page 17

Life | Old Gold & Black

Lifestyle Column|Independence

Larger lessons learned at concert Sometimes going out of your comfort zone can be an enlightning experience

BY DAVID AJAMY Staff Writer ajamdg15@wfu.edu The other week I did something out of my comfort zone; I decided to go to a concert alone. I tried to convince friends to go, but no one was feeling it (probably because it was on a Wednesday night) and wasn’t being convinced by my unexceptional pitch.

So, after class I went back to my apartment and prepared physically (to look fresh) and mentally (to feel fresh) for the concert. Since I had seen Toro y Moi before, I felt more at-ease about this solo venture, but as I rode the metro the nerves did set in. I was about to go to a new district of D.C. at 11 p.m. It was something that, while somewhat scary in the moment, was really important for me.

Maybe I was nervous because I am from Winston-Salem, a substantially smaller city than D.C., or maybe it’s this odd group mentality that I feel like Wake Forest fosters. Either way I gained something from that endeavor. The feelings before and during the concert were

David Ajamy/Old Gold & Black

Toro y Moi perform at a club in a new district of D.C. on Jan. 24. something being from different worlds. I can’t even begin to explain the joy and excitement I felt during that show and how nice it was to be alone there. How nice it was to be on my own and just do me, being nomadic as I walked around the club and just danced knowing that no one I know will have to see my (on a good day) subpar dancing schools.

But I also felt free, and I felt like an adult. As cliché as that is, I feel like a kid while at Wake Forest. But now, being in

a big city and being considerably more on my own, I feel a sort of independence that I don’t feel at Wake Forest. But what I saw as a bigger take away, was not just feeling like an adult but being on my own for a moment and still having the time of my life. Obviously, it helps that I was at an awesome show, but it was refreshing to be just by myself and doing me and being in the moment. As nice as it is to have a friend with you to talk to or for comfort, I didn’t realize how refreshing it was going to be just to be with me as I danced and listened to the music.

By taking a chance, I not only learned about myself but I saw what I had been missing. Since the concert, I have tried to continue my independent ventures and be more aware of what’s around me and taking in the world. While alone, I have felt much more connected to the world around me and it’s been really special.

With this, I recommend to everyone to explore in general but especially alone (if it’s safe that is). Always make sure someone knows where you are and such and be safe, but also be adventurous and see what happens. Walk down a street and just look around and see what comes to you. Look around and feel the world around you and be the most authentic and bold “you” there is. Take some chances and see where the world takes you. But most importantly, go see Toro y Moi because wow that was a great show.

Album Review | Earthtones

Folk artist returns with funky sound Earthtones consists of eleven groovy songs including hits like “Alone” and “Any Place”

BY ALEX GIAGTZIS Contributing Writer giagaa15@wfu.edu Canadian singer-songwriter Afie Jurvanen, known by his stage name Bahamas, has gifted his fans with more deliciously chill, stripped-down tunes with his new album Earthtones. As the name suggests, the album puts forth more of the same warm, earthy sounds that Bahamas has made himself known for, yet this time around he’s adopted a new soulful, funky style that meshes beautifully with his folk rock roots.

A great example of Bahamas’ development of his new sound occurs right at the beginning of the album with the song “Alone,” which itself could be considered a symbol for Bahamas reaching out stylistically to try new things. This first track starts off with a driving guitar rhythm, with some folky undertones accentuated by reverbing guitar slides.

However, interspersed throughout the song are the soulful wails of the gospellike backup singers, which begin to swell towards the middle and culminate the song with a sweet, uplifting melody.

These soulful backup vocals continue to make appearances throughout the album, complementing Jurvanen’s rich,

of groovy R&B vocals and bluesy guitar licks. This song seems more personal; with a bittersweet and lamenting tone, the lyrics are whispered almost as if the song was a secret. The vocals likewise steal the show in “Bad Boys Need Love Too.” This song puts out a darker, heavier tone, which in conjunction with the funky guitar and bass line stands out as one of the starkest deviations from Bahamas’ previous sound. The song also features strong, moving lyrics about childhood and the struggles of growing up, portraying Jurvanen’s superb songwriting skills in addition to his mellifluous voice.

Despite his new sound, Bahamas still manages to retain some of the folk influences which are so prevalent in his previous albums. This is apparent in tracks “Show Me Naomi” and “No Expectations,” in which he utilizes heftier electric guitar riffs, producing a more rock-like tone. Likewise, the bluesy track “Any Place” shows Bahamas’ affinity for not just folk, but all roots music.

If you’re looking for some great new Photo courtesy of Amazon.com music and you’re a fan of blended Bahamas’ composes soulful and funky genres, give Earthtones a try. Bahamas music in his new album, Earthtones. manages to put out chill, groovy music breathy voice with their high-pitched, that doesn’t suffer from repetitiveness; clear trills. each song is unique and different in its Perhaps the best portrayal of the vo- own way, and keeps you on your feet cals occurs in “No Wrong,” the third while at the same time making you want track of the album. This song bears the to lounge and relax with some friends seal of Bahamas with its slower, stripped or a book. Overall, I give Earthtones a down structure, but with the addition 4.5/5.

THE HOT LIST The Pit Secret Menu It is relatively easy for the dining hall to get boring, so mix it up with these easy “Pit hacks.”

By Lillian Johnson

1.

Cinnamon toast Quesadilla

3. Fried rice with eggsi Egg and bagel sandwich

5. Root beer float Make-your-own Mongolian

7. Sandwich station grilled cheese To-go pudding

9. Ice cream sandwich Breakfast burrito Mini

DRINK OF THE WEEK

• • • • •

1.5 cups whole milk 1 tbsp. chocolate syrup 1 tbsp. honey 1 cup coffee 2 tsp. Kahlua liquer (optional) • whipped cream Freeze the coffee in an ice cube mold, in order to not water down the drink. Once the coffee is frozen, combine all of the ingredients together. Pour into two glasses and top with whipped cream.

21+ only! Enjoy!

Courtesy of Ruchi’s Kitchen

Page 18 | Thursday, February 1, 2018

Old Gold & Black | Life

Health Column | CycleBar

Indoor Cycling Studio opens Downtown A new staple in the Winston-Salem community, CycleBar, offers enjoyable classes for all skill levels

BY HEATHER HARTEL Online Managing Editor harthf15@wfu.edu

Most people probably agree that working out is never the best part in a day; you feel uncomfortable, vulnerable, fatigued and would rather be doing just about anything else. Yet somehow at 5:30 a.m. on a Monday morning, dozens of Winston-Salem residents get downtown, step on a bike and ride their hearts out to loud music and encouraging instructors for 45 minutes.

Earlier this month, CycleBar, an indoor cycling franchise, opened a new location in downtown WinstonSalem. Originally offering a few weeks of free classes, the studio is now completely up and running, offering multiple classes a day with various instructors. The classes are unique — they’re loud, difficult and focused on growth and strength. At the heart of the CycleBar story is an emphasis on personal wellbeing and health.

Dixon Douglas (‘06) grew up in Winston-Salem. After graduating from Wake Forest, he moved to Charlotte but eventually found his way back to his hometown, working in marketing and communications. His passion for physical fitness was sparked when he worked for a marketing firm whose client was Humana.

“One of the partnerships I brought Humana into was the Rock & Roll Marathons, so I would run with people and have meetings,” Douglas explained. “I would really

Courtesy of winstonsalem.cyclebar.com

CycleBar studio offers classes throughout the week at their new Winston-Salem location.

just run with anyone and ask what drives them, and they always had a compelling story. I felt that I needed to bring this passion to Winston-Salem to provide a platform for health and wellbeing in this city.”

This passion for wellbeing and physical fitness has found a home in CycleBar, as people from all walks on their health journey strap into their bike and ride for the duration of 45-minute classes. The classes are set to the beat, meaning you ride to the music and adjust your difficulty and pace accordingly. They also feature basic choreography, arm exercises and stretching.

Charlotte Bristow, a senior at Wake Forest and one of the instructors at CycleBar, was always familiar with

cycling and decided to try instructing after hearing about this new opportunity. After finding the courage to tryout, she doesn’t regret her decision at all.

“I’ve been so happily surprised by the spirit and energy everyone has brought to class,” Bristow said. “So many of our riders have never been on a stationary bike before or taken a class like CycleBar, yet they come hooting and hollering through the class like seasoned spinners.”

Every new business has its bumps, but CycleBar has seemingly navigated theirs smoothly. As Douglas was sharing his insight behind starting his new passion project, he was simultaneously dealing with the internet being down, greeting customers and working to get new riders registered.

“Just starting a business always has bumps and bruises, but Wake Forest always taught me how to navigate these challenges,” Douglas said. “We expected to run into obstacles and prioritized how best to solve them.”

While fitness and wellbeing are at the heart of the new cycle studio, part of CycleBar’s mission is to also fully invest itself in the Winston-Salem community. The company has already partnered with an organization that raises awareness for apert syndrome by offering free rides and taking donations to cover medical costs. This is only the first instance of community partnerships that the new studio hopes to continue to build in Winston-Salem, as they look to the future.

“I hope that it expands from just a place that people can exercise into an opportunity for everybody,” Douglas said.

“What I really hope to see is that somehow CycleBar is in people’s minds as a fundamental part of the WinstonSalem community and to continue to be able to work with other organizations to make health and wellbeing a centerpiece in Winston-Salem.”

Movie Review | Call Me By Your Name

Call Me By Your Name reinvents the typical love story Timothée Chalamet’s powerful performance drives the plot of this Sundance hit film Call Me by Your Name

BY KERRIANNE RILEY Staff Writer rilekk17@wfu.edu

Summer love with a twist is how director Luca Guadagnino makes viewers dive into his 2017 Sundance hit Call Me by Your Name. The press it received at the Sundance Film Festival in 2017 established its desire to be requested for a more substantial release nationwide.

Now nominated for Best Picture and Best Actor (Timothée Chalamet) at the Academy Awards this March, it is easy to see why everyone has declared it a masterpiece.

The film is centered around Academy Award-nominated actor Timothée Chalamet, whose character Elio is a young man who spends his summer in the Italian countryside with his family. His father, a professor of Greco-Roman Culture, selects a student to spend the summer with his family and work alongside him.

Armie Hammer, known for lead roles in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and The Birth of a Nation, plays Oliver, a charming American student who catches Elio’s eye.

Despite a prominent age gap standing between Elio and Oliver, as well the idea that neither is open about their sexuality, a thorny love story still blooms. From

TRIVIA

QUESTION

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spending days exploring Crema, their Italian town, to watching archaeological dives for Oliver’s work, and resting in fields in the midst of bike rides, you see a visual of how strong love can be, especially for the first time.

Beyond the story, how Call Me by Your Name was filmed seems potentially even more critical. Every scene feels vital within those two hours, capturing the essence of a lazy, almost-carefree love mid-season. Shots of nature and sounds of birds and insects make the summer daydream vivid for the audience. Specific choices such as vibrant short summer apparel, the color of flesh visible in most scenes and various landscaping shots make it easy for anyone who knows the season well to feel at home.

Photo Courtesy of imdb.com The praise for this film goes beyond its outstanding Timothée Chalamet takes on the role of a closeted actors, renowned director and various set members; it is teenager who falls in love with his father’s student. virtually entirely about the screenplay and how undertold the romantic story of two gay men is. The movie ing film to a close while giving Chalamet’s character a depicts how some individuals felt about needing to hide moment to breathe. Michael Stuhlbarg, who plays Elio’s their sexuality in the 1980’s. While some are accepting father, makes it evident that he knew about Oliver and of others, there are still those who are not accepting of Elio’s love and never wished to interrupt knowing how themselves. Guadagnino displays how intoxicating their much of Elio’s heart belongs to Oliver. His speech at love was so well, making it seem only that Elio and Oli- the end is what every child who struggles with idenver’s voices were the ones which needed to be heard. The tity and acceptance could hope to hear. What is most now famous line, “Call me by your name and I’ll call chilling is Chalamet’s last moment with the camera; his you by mine,” shows how infatuated they both become eyes desperately wanting to break the fourth wall. This not only with each other but also with the capability cinematic wonder is receiving the acknowledgment it to act upon their mutual attraction and later adoration. deserves, setting a precedent for the film industry reThe last scene brings the heart-wrenching yet uplift- garding romantic dramas.

Q: Who directed the new film Call Me By Your Name?

A: Luca Guadgnino

This question will be featured in the Tuesday Trivia night, taking place on Feb. 6 at Shorty’s

Life | Old Gold & Black

Thursday, February 1, 2018 | Page 19

Franco’s film humanizes cult classic The Disaster Artist is a portrait of passion whose emotional resonance hides under the comedy of a creative failure

BY KYLE FERRER Opinion Editor ferrka16@wfu.edu

As a post-script to this review of The Disaster Artist, I feel morally obliged to mention the recent revelations regarding James Franco’s sexual misconduct. Due to these misdeeds, Franco did not receive an Oscar nomination for what many view as a consummate performance (and rightfully so, on both counts). When writing my review, I chose not to color the film with Franco’s present circumstances, and wrote about The Disaster Artist as a purely aethetic object, to be critqued on its artistic and cultural value. That said, I do not condone Franco’s actions, but maintain the view that this film is a work of great cinematic achievment.

I’ve always been a skeptic of the sentiment, “the movie is so bad it’s good.” It seems like an odd capitulation, a strange valuation that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

I try to think of it as a sort of boiling point of badness.

Once it becomes obvious that by all conventional standards the film is a failure, a new set of non-criteria take over, and there is a perverse value acceded to the film. It becomes “so bad, it’s good.” But this is easier to conceptualize than to exemplify. If a film is really that bad, how could it ever be “good?”

Such was the apparent case with The Room, a film from 2003 that gained a reputation for its disastrous artistry and its untalented but redeemably hilarious acting. The director, writer and producer, Tommy Wiseau, has accumulated a following that has cheered his poor-quality film into fourteen years of screenings filled with buoyancy and laughter. Mind you, Wiseau’s film is meant as a drama. The auteur has since promoted it as a comedy.

He turned crowd sourcing into critical relativism. As James Franco puts it: “as soon as he realized that people were laughing at it, he had the wherewithal to capitalize on that.”

Wiseau himself is a mysterious figure. He claims to be from New Orleans, but maintains a heavy Eastern European accent. His film, The Room, was self-funded, self-promoted and self-sustained, propelled by Wiseau’s apparently bottomless fortune emanating from an inscrutable source. No one knows where he gets his money. He famously kept the film in theaters, on his own dime, for two weeks so it could qualify for the Oscars.

Wiseau’s age is also shrouded in as goofy a dramatic façade as his film. He claims to be drastically younger than his appearance, dating himself absurdly out of his obvious age-range. The man himself ’s cultish mystique

Photo courtesy of imdb.com

Photo courtesy of imdb.com

transmogrifies his film into a similarly occult creature that begs the question: Where the hell did this thing come from?

Before I saw The Room, and before I saw James Franco’s recreation of the circumstances surrounding the films production in 2003, I heard Marc Maron interview Franco on his podcast. Maron’s main question to Franco was “why”? Why put so much time and effort into recreating and presenting audiences with the milieu of a “fundamentally untalented person?” After all, The Room, some claim, is one of the worst films ever made. Couldn’t it only be a cataclysmic tautology, merely restating the obvious while pulling a mocking laugh or two? Franco’s response was not so much in defense of his film as it was in defense of himself, his interest in Wiseau and his admiration for the artistic impetus.

Franco wanted to portray sympathetically the ambition and ultimate fruition of Wiseau’s artistic project. That its dividends are perverse and shine through, as Franco says, a “cracked lens,” is irrelevant.

But the fact that Franco’s movie, in part, aims at a biopic-esque portrayal of Wiseau and the environment surrounding his movie, makes it ultimately a great companion piece. To see Wiseau as especially sympathetic, one needs The Disaster Artist, but one also needs The Room. To watch either as a standalone is like reading Joyce, steeped in vast cultural and literary history, outside of the classroom. There needs to be some nexus between the source material and the history of the artist to fully understand the point behind the pages. While everything in The Disaster Artist fires at full capacity — Franco’s acting is superb, nuanced and an eerily accurate facsimile of Wiseau himself — the disadvantage for my six friends around me was that they hadn’t seen Wiseau in The Room. Scenes are reenacted in Franco’s film, but only in quick cuts and semi-contextual ways, ones that necessarily make the film dependent on Wiseau’s original. A sort of mise en abyme is in effect; a smaller image of Wiseau’s film exists within The Disaster Artist, which makes it effective but capsular. By design, it has limitations. What causes the real Tommy Wiseau to be sympathetic is the knowledge that his suicide in The Room may have been precipitated by similar thoughts in his actual life, shown to us for (mostly) the first time in Franco’s scenes as Tommy in The Disaster Artist. That the original film itself may have saved Wiseau from personal disaster is something to be learned. We can only sympathize with Wiseau himself, and his art, by means of his life’s (and parts of his art’s) reproduction, which The Disaster Artist does with the poignancy of a pin prick.

In part, what makes The Disaster Artist borderline

great is that it makes you do something very rarely done nowadays: return to the source material, wind backward in an attempt to understand the intricacies of the present. Franco and co. force a superimposition of their material onto Wiseau’s 2003 film, and in doing so afford a deeper, more nuanced understanding of not only the film itself, but the drive behind it. In a sense, Franco is operating on an art historical plane, and like a great educator, leaves us slightly unsatisfied. We must excavate ourselves in an attempt to clarify. In order to be rewarded, we must peruse with an exacting eye Wiseau’s original, using The Disaster Artist as a sort of biographical and artistic assistant.

Of course, the self-obscuring nature of The Disaster Artist is what may limit it. People don’t like digging, and will merely settle for its sharp laughs and cringe-worthy characters. But great art never provides strict answers, it provokes. And that is what James Franco has always done. Whenever he seems on the verge of obsolescence, or veering on the edge of an eternal typecast, he finds a way to inject his art with a new life. The Disaster Artist is a film about what it means to persevere, surely it is that, but it is also a film about how history can lead to a better present. It reveals Wiseau’s humanity, the horrible as possibly ascendant, and the meaninglessly comical yet doggedly perseverant as one man’s revivification. It hopes, by extension, to revivify us as well.

Photo courtesy of imdb.com

Page 20 | Thursday, February 1, 2018

Old Gold & Black | Life

Mexican Restaurants Review

Curious to see how the Mexican food in Winston-Salem would match up with what is found in Texas, an OGB staff writer sampled many local restaurant.

BYHENRY KOONTZ Contributing Writer koonhc14@wfu.edu

Tijuana Flat’s

Taco Riendo 3

This restaurant is the most Americanized of the five I reviewed. The food is less traditional and, instead, incorporates more recognizable Tex-Mex flavors. Probably the best thing here is that they have a great mural on the wall of the deacon shooting lightning out of his cane. The restaurant also incorporates a hot sauce bar for customers that enjoy spicier foods. However, the food is nothing to get too excited about; it’s a chain, so the flavors are not as genuine. Some menu options include the burrito bowl, nachos and quesadillas.

Yes, the best Mexican restaurant in Winston-Salem is located in a gas station.

It seems sketchy at first from the outside, but once inside I immediately felt like I was somewhere in south Texas. There is a t.v. in the corner playing Mexican music videos.

Everything was completely authentic. Not only do they have items like “tongue” on the menu, but they even have Mexican sodas like Jarritos that are hard to find.

The food for its value is excellent. The ingredients are good and they make everything the right way. Dishes include traditional tacos, gorditas and enchiladas that are filled with flavorful carne asada. One of the best things about this place is how inexpensive it is. And to top it all off, they give Wake students a 10 percent discount.

Rating ................................................... B-

Tequila Tequila is a place that tries to be a genuine Mexican restaurant. The interior looks similar to many other Mexican restaurants and the food is presented very traditionally.

However, the problem is that the food just does not deliver; the meat is extremely dry and flavorless. Many of the other ingredients didn’t impress at all. Although people may go here to experience a genuine Mexican restaurant, the food ultimately does not deliver in authentic tastes and flavors.

Rating ................................................... B-

Emily Beauchamp/Old Gold & Black

Mi Pueblo

Rating ................................................... A+

The Porch

Emily Beauchamp/Old Gold & Black

When I first ate here, I knew something was not right. The fajita meat tasted perfect. The guacamole had a perfect balance between avocado, jalapeno and cilantro. The tortillas were soft and flavorful. All the little details of the food came together for the perfect meal.

When I found out that the owners of the restaurant were from Texas, everything made sense. Every dish is reminiscent of Mexican culture, while also incorporating more complex flavors. For instance, their Mexican Burger, priced at $12, pairs smoky bacon with spicy jalapenos for a mouthwatering meal. They also have appetizers such as Texas Chile Cheese Fries for an agreable $8.

Overall, this is the best Mexican food you will get in Winston-Salem. Because the food is on the higher end, it is slightly pricier and many dishes cost $10.00. The only downside is that it takes forever to get your food, and a reservation is almost always necessary on the weekends. Even so, it is definitely worth the wait.

When walking into Mi Pueblo, you are faced with a large wishing fountain and fake storefront in the center of the lobby. It was as if you walked right onto a street in Mexico.

There are chandeliers covering the ceiling and a bar to the left. The layout gave me high hopes, however, I felt as though the food did not deliver.

The flavors felt bland and did not impress me. They have the same dishes most Americanized Mexican restaurants have like chimichangas, burritos and A.C.P. Guacamole is my personal favorite food and I’ve never encountered a guacamole that I didn’t like. However, I was not impressed by the guacamole here. Their prices are more reasonable than The Porch. Many dishes and combinations cost an average of $8.00. The food comes in good portion sizes, however, there are better restaurants in Winston-Salem to get your Mexican food fix for the day.

But they get bumped up to “F+” because they let you order a pitcher of margaritas.

Rating ................................................... A

Rating ................................................... F+