12/5/19 Full Edition

News: Lighting of the Quad photo spread Page 7

Opinion: Reflections from an outgoing editor Page 8

Sports: Men’s Soccer advances to Elite Eight Page 11

Life: Assigning a dollar value to “The Twelve Days of Christmas” Page 18

Old Gold&Black

WAKE FOREST’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1916 VOL. 106, NO. 13

T H U R S DAY, D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 019 “Cover s the campus like the magnolias”

wfuogb.com

Campus Garden sows seeds of sustainability Campus Garden promotes growing and eating while keeping the climate in mind

BY MAGGIE BURNS Contributing Writer burnme17@wfu.edu As the sweet potatoes and green beans are being harvested in preparation for the coming of icy winter, the crisp fall air can be felt in the Campus Garden. This is a place where volunteers and community members, all part of the local university community, come together to cultivate all kinds of growth.

The Campus Garden at Wake Forest is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. The garden is an organized space for students to volunteer and learn, as well as a space where members of the community can learn what it truly means to grow and eat sustainably.

See Campus Garden, Page 6 Screenshots taken from Twitter

The tweets above are from the Disney employee who accused members of the Wake Forest Basketball team of using the homophobic slurs. Head Coach Danny Manning responded, as shown in the bottom right.

Athletes accused of using homophobic slur at Disney A tweet by a Disney employee accused men’s basketball players of homophobic behavior

BY RAFAEL LIMA Sports Editor limara17@wfu.edu On Saturday, Nov. 30, four Wake Forest men’s basketball student-athletes were allegedly involved in an incident during an off-day visit to Disneyland Park in Anaheim, Calif. while they were in the city for the Wooden Legacy Tournament.

This information was publicized after Disneyland cast member Kimberlee Gigliotti tweeted about the incident in the early morning of Dec. 1. In her tweets, she included screenshots of the email she had

sent to a coach on the basketball team earlier, alerting them of the incident.

According to Gigliotti, one of the Wake Forest student-athletes used homophobic slurs toward another cast member, who was responsible for supervising the line for the Incredicoaster. Another student-athlete was also identified as showing behavior “beyond rude and disrespectful” to cast members.

“After being rude to every cast member they encountered at the attraction, one of these men decided to call a fellow cast member of mine a ‘f**king f****t’ all because the cast member caught them cutting and asked them to let the other people [get] in front of them,” Gigliotti wrote in an her email.

The email was presumably sent to Head Coach Danny Manning, as it referenced that the recipient of the email had been awarded the Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award, which Manning was awarded in 2017.

Gigliotti did not respond to requests for comment.

About 15 minutes before their game against Arizona, Manning released a statement saying that two students would be suspended from the game for their alleged role in the incident.

Student-athletes Michael Wynn and Jahcobi Neath were the two players benched during the game. The other two student-athletes who were reportedly present at the time of the incident have not yet been identified.

See Athletics, Page 4

Moving On — Part 4: After you fall down Parkinson’s disease has devastating effects, but life still continues marching forward

BY CHRISTIAN GREEN Staff Writer greecm15@wfu.edu This is the fourth and final part of a series entitled “Moving On.” The Old Gold & Black published previous sections throughout the remainder of the semester, which can also be found on our website.

Lawson is sprawled out, face-up, flat on the floor. His face is tinged bright red. He’s frustrated. He’s tired.

“Ain’t No Mountain” crackles out of an old CD player in the corner while Lawson and five fellow movement therapy participants struggle up from blue mats spread across the floor. They all make the same motions, a well-rehearsed choreography designed to help them recover from a fall at home.

See Parkinson’s, Page 5

OGB

“

This column represents the views of the Old Gold & Black Editorial Board.

OGB executive editors reflect on their time What a wild year it has been.

As 2019 draws to a close, that is a sentiment shared among people all over the world, including on Wake Forest's campus. The end of 2019 also marks the end of the current executive Editorial Board's reign at the helm of the Old Gold & Black. Editor-in-Chief Lillian Johnson, Print Managing Editor Ren Schmitt and Online Managing Editor Amanda Wilcox will pass the torch to a new set of executive editors for the new year.

But, first, we would like a moment to say goodbye to our beloved Old Gold & Black.

The Old Gold & Black is not just a physical newspaper... it's a feeling, one that cannot be replicated elsewhere."

This year has been an incredibly difficult one to run the student newspaper at Wake Forest. Our campus made national news several times for racist incidents, including the surfacing of photos of deans of admissions in front of the Confederate flag and for a racist Instagram a student was featured in.

Reporting on incidents such as these was never easy; our Editorial Board agonized over decisions of how to cover and discuss them in our pages, as we

Old Gold &Black

THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF WAKE FOREST UNIVERSIT Y SINCE 1916 LILLIAN JOHNSON EDITOR-IN-CHIEF johnlg16@wfu.edu

REN SCHMITT PRINT MANAGING EDITOR schmwm16@wfu.edu

>> NEWS

Will May, mayws16@wfu.edu Assistant: Caroline Walker, walkct18@ wfu.edu

>> SPORTS

Rafael Lima, limara17@wfu. edu Assistant: Lucy Nelson, nelsld16@wfu. edu

>> OPINION

Kyle Ferrer, ferrka16@wfu.edu

>> LIFE

Emily Beauchamp, beauea17@ wfu.edu

>> DIGITAL MEDIA EDITOR Mary-Hallet Culbreth, culbmh16@wfu.edu

>> ADVISER

Phoebe Zerwick, zerwicp@wfu. edu

GRACIE FIRESTONE

BUSINESS MANAGER

firegk16@wfu.edu

AMANDA WILCOX ONLINE MANAGING EDITOR wilcaf16@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 johnlg16@wfu.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

Web: wfuogb.com Facebook: facebook.com/ogb1916 Twitter: @wfu_ogb Instagram: @wfu_ogb Snapchat: @wfu_ogb

consider ourselves both a news source and a space for student voices. We've dealt with pushback from our readers across all sorts of levels and think about how to listen and respond in thoughtful ways. We've stayed up late every Wednesday night with our staff to put out a paper we confidently stand by each and every week, proud to see it hit the newsstands a few hours later. We can't regain the hours of sleep lost and we can't undo the stress we were (and put ourselves) under.

But we wouldn't have had it any other way.

For us, the Old Gold & Black is not just a physical newspaper, or even just

a space where we came together with people we would not have encountered otherwise to practice the art of journalism. It's a feeling, one that cannot be replicated elsewhere.

Leaving the office for the last time as executive editors will be a weird feeling.

It'll be sad, but we know that we have served the Wake Forest community in the best way that we know how — by providing a space for students to express themselves and by providing the best obtainable version of the truth. We are forever indebted to the Old Gold & Black for allowing us the opportunity to do that and for giving us a feeling that is so hard to say goodbye to.

News | Old Gold & Black

BY WILL MAY News Editor mayws16@wfu.edu

Thursday, December 5, 2019 | Page 3

Deacon Profile: Joel Tauber

sions are emphasized. Playing catch can help bridge the gap between different people. It is a repetitive action. We’re trusting each other and communicating with each other. We’re in another form of dialogue.

Walking back and forth along the same sevenmile stretch for 40 days seems like an unimaginable feat.

But that is exactly what filmmaker, artist and associate professor Joel Tauber is doing.

Tauber, who teaches art and film, is currently wrapping up a 40-day project dedicated to forging connections and promoting unity along the border wall in San Diego, California. His walk began on Oct. 29 and will conclude on Dec. 7.

Clad in a vintage baseball uniform, he is approaching the people he meets to share stories and play coach, many of whom he will film. This project and the resulting film will be compiled into an art project entitled Border-Ball.

Are you at liberty to share a story from someone you have connected with?

Can you tell me more about the route you are taking?

I’m walking for seven miles along the border wall from the Otay Mesa Port of Entry in San Diego and then up to the Otay Mesa Detention Center and back. I’m doing this every day for 40 days through Dec. 7.

I start at the pedestrian bridge at the port of entry at noon, and I interview people there and play catch with them until 1 p.m. Then I start walking. I’m meeting people and talking to them about the border, baseball, the detention center, the wall, immigration or whatever they want to highlight. We talk mostly in Spanish, because there’s a lot of people here on their way to Mexico.

I’ve been connecting with people, and we’ve been playing catch, which is even more beautiful than I anticipated.

Why did you choose certain specifics of your project, such as the 40-day length and baseball?

Our country is very religious in many ways. I don’t practice organized religion, but I believe in ethics and spirituality. Most of my work is based around ethics and environmentalism.

This is precisely because I’m not sure if those things are as central as I feel like they should be, culturally and politically. I feel like everything has an ethical dimension to it, including how we think about the border. The 40 days taps into some Bible stories — 40 days spent going up to Mount Sinai, 40 days in the desert — I wanted to reference those things without specifically talking about them to foreground that this is it. This is something that should have an ethical dimension.

In terms of baseball: I believe it contains a lot of ideals that I feel our country embodies.

Photo courtesy of Wake Forest News

There are certain ideals that we may have never reached; there’s racism in baseball, for example. The United States is far from perfect, too.

There’s been racism, genocide and all sorts of problems. But, there are certain things about our country that I really love. To me, America is at its most beautiful and most strong when we think about and embrace how we really have embodied the idea of diversity. Baseball to me is a dream for our country. A dream of an endless green field, where we can all live and play together. So, I’m trying to bring that kind of open-heartedness down to the border, where we’ve perhaps become more closed. This is a patriotic act, an act of citizenship. There’s things that trouble me: how we are turning refugees away, how we’re locking up so many people in detention centers. This is not how I see America. I see America as a compassionate country, a country that embraces immigration.

So, I’m wearing a uniform that is blue, white and red. I’m embracing the ideals that I think our country represents.

Very early in the project, I was walking up to the detention center. It’s this big concrete thing, and it’s surrounded by barbed wire. It brings up lots of feelings for me. My grandparents on my father’s side were survivors of the Holocaust. My grandpa’s brother died in a labor camp. So when I see a detention center with people who are locked up, it’s upsetting.

I was tired when I got up to the gate. I sat down in front of the wall, and these people in a car came up and asked me if I was okay, and if I needed any help. That generosity and compassion just felt so beautiful to me. These people didn’t know me, but they were asking if I needed help — an act of citizenship.

There was a family in the car. There was a woman inside whose brother is locked up in that detention center and has been for the last six months. And she was asking me if I needed help. I explained to her what I was doing there, and she was deeply moved. She wanted to help and participate, though they haven’t been able to get in front of the camera because they were worried about their own papers.

Have all your encounters been this affirming?

I’ve been ignored many times. I’m sure there’s people who think I’m a weird guy. It is strange to be walking around in a baseball uniform.

But weirdness is something that I embrace — it means we are thinking outside convention.

But mostly, people have been very affirming.

I spoke with an older man who was an amputee. He shared his story with me, and he played catch with me anyway — he leaned against the wall with his crutches. We tossed the ball close to each other, and we hugged.

Is there anything the Wake Forest community can do to support you in your endeavor?

The act of playing catch with people who are strangers to me creates a connection. We’re doing that at the border, a place where our divi-

If they know people here that would like to walk with me and toss a ball that would be wonderful. They also can help spread the word about the project on social media.

My goal here is to raise questions. We should all think about what we can do to be even more compassionate, generous and openhearted to the people around us, and to reach out to people to see if we can help them. I think that follows the spirit of what Border-Ball is.

Wake Forest Artisans Fair Time: Dec. 6 at 11 a.m.

Location: Room 401, Benson Center Over 35 Wake Forest vendors will be represented in the Artisan Fair this year. Come with plenty of cash so you can splurge on homemade jewelry, pottery and more!

Door prizes will be offered as well.

Lovefeast 2019 Time: Dec. 8 at 4:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Location: Wait Chapel Come celebrate our university's most beloved and most widespread non-secular tradition. Two services will be held this year; more traditionally-oriented patrons of the Moravian tradition should attend the service at 8 p.m.

Is that why you play catch with the people you meet?

WAKE IN A WEEK What's in the Gumbo Time: Dec. 5 at 6 p.m.

Location: Intercultural Center Presented by the Office of the Chaplain, this event is centered around the examination of traditional black and African practices for the purpose of enhancing and enriching spiritual well-being. Gumbo is provided.

Page 4 |Thursday, December 5, 2019

Old Gold & Black | News

Abbey Mei Otis speaks about poetry The renowned author discussed contemporary poetry’s place in today’s literary zeitgeist

BY CARTER MACKLE Contributing Writer mackcj16@wfu.edu

Presented by Professor Joanna Ruocco, author and poet Abbey Mei Otis, another poet presented by the Dillon Johnston Writers Reading Series, offered a unique look into the world of emerging contemporary poetry on Nov. 21. Otis, who last year published her first collection of short stories “Alien Virus Love Disaster,” is quickly becoming a writer of great regard and offered students a chance to listen to her prose, both in formal and informal settings throughout the day.

Initially quite reserved when speaking into the microphone, Otis began to feel her stride as her words took shape off the page. Quoting an excerpt from a currently unfinished chapter of an upcoming novel, Otis began to loosen up. With each new accent and voice, she would ges-

ture with her hands, sneering as if her characters would and almost channeling the various emotions of her main character, all the while hinting at something sinister and odd in the background.

When questioned about her interactions with publishing companies, as she had just published her first collection, Otis became very candid. As she explained, the monotony of waiting agents and companies to get back to her was the most time-consuming part. She even stated that the publishing of her book “felt like ages, but it (her book) just came out a year ago!”

She joked about her writing process, teasing herself in her recollection that her slow, indulgent writing style hasn’t changed since graduate school at the University of Texas. Even the portion she read for the audience, a selection from her upcoming new novel, had taken its time to come to fruition, as she explained.

Otis, being a young and emerging poet, offered a refreshing look into the oftentimes illustrious profession of a poet or author. She lamented about finding agents and

being turned down by publishing companies, but she reminded us of the underlying levity of it all,

that anyone can become an author of respect if they simply kept at it, much as she has done.

Photo courtesy of the Wake Forest English Department

Abbey Mei Otis won the 2019 Philip K. Dick Award and the Neukom Literary Arts Award for Speculative Fiction.

Athletics: Disney worker accuses players Continued from Page 1

Following an investigation of the incident in collaboration with park officials, Wake Forest released a joint statement by Vice President of Campus Life Penny Rue, Athletic Director John Currie and Vice President for Diversity & Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer José Villalba on Wednesday night.

“Following a review of the incident that was completed with the cooperation of park officials, we have determined that there are significant discrepancies among individual perspectives of what transpired,” the statement reads. “The student-athletes have been very cooperative in clarifying their roles in the alleged incident, and they expressed gen-

uine concern about how their actions were portrayed. We have concluded that the allegations on social media were not sufficiently supported by the available information.”

Neath and Wynn were subsequently returned to the roster and played in Wednesday night’s 76-54 loss to Penn State as part of the ACC/ Big Ten Challenge.

In response to Gigliotti’s tweet about the incident, many Wake Forest alumni and students voiced their concerns on Twitter against the kind of inexcusable behavior reported and demanded that the university take action to address the issue.

However, the lack of witnesses and an official record of what happened makes it hard for Wake Forest to take any extensive approach with conflicting recounts of the incident.

“[The student-athletes] weren’t with their whole team. They weren’t on campus. It’s a lot harder to figure out what actually happened because the athletes didn’t tell their coaches [initially] about what happened and, to the best of the university’s knowledge, the workers didn’t tell their bosses what happened,” said sophomore Ally Swartzberg, the co-chair of Student Government’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee. “So, there’s no recorded higher level of knowledge of what happened.

It’s just pretty much somebody posted on Twitter that this thing happened, and the athletes are saying they didn’t do it. The university absolutely wants to hold the students responsible if that’s what happened. But they can’t [at the moment] determine what happened and to what level it happened.”

POLICE BEAT Larceny • Unknown subject(s) took student’s car from Deacon Place between Friday and Saturday and did not report it. WSPD located car on 25th Street. No damage and no suspects. Report filed at 7:52 p.m. on Nov. 25.

• Unknown suspect entered the victim’s unlocked vehicle in Deacon Place and removed items. Report filed at 3:08 a.m. on Nov. 27.

• Stolen vehicle was recovered from lower parking lot of Student Drive, where two males were seen exiting the same area. Both individuals were issued trespass warning. Report filed at 1:05 a.m. on Nov. 29.

Miscellaneous • Four vehicles were damaged (shattered windows) by a pellet gun on Faculty Drive.

WSPD notified and handled the report. Report filed at 12:40 a.m. on Nov. 26.

• Unknown subject(s) took victim’s vehicle from circle parking lot at Martin.

Located by WSPD. Report filed at 5:03 a.m. on Nov. 15.

• Rape was reported that occurred off-campus in September at an unknown fraternity. Report filed at 2:22 a.m. on Nov. 26.

• WFU students were smoking marijuana on Faculty Drive. Report filed at 10:05 p.m. on Nov. 30.

News | Old Gold & Black

Thursday, December 5, 2019 |Page 5

Parkinson's: Getting back on your feet

Continued from Page 1

“It’s not if you’re gonna fall down,” the movement therapist’s voice cuts through their grunts, “it’s when you’re gonna fall down!”

First, a knee bends upwards. Then Lawson throws his opposite arm over his body and uses the momentum to roll onto his stomach. Now face-down, he crawls forward on his cushioned mat toward a chair several feet away. At the base of the chair he takes just a moment to breathe and collect himself. Then, he puts his hands on each side of the chair, making sure that it will remain stable, and his face turns to a darker red as he strains himself to pull his body off the ground. After a few exasperating seconds, his feet are under him again and you can see the pleasure in his face.

“Looking good, Keith!” calls out the therapist. “Now let’s see if you can do three more before the song is over!” The satisfaction drains from Lawson’s face.

But what replaces it is not anger; it’s determination.

This is his workout. He walks back to the blue mat and allows himself to slowly collapse back down to the ground. Then, he raises a knee and throws an arm across his body.

It’s been three years now since his diagnosis. His days are busy again. When you ask for a good date to meet with him, you get weekly schedules like this: 2/25 9-10 a.m. Movement Therapy 2/25 1-2 p.m. Support Group Meeting 2/26 10-11 a.m. Parkinson's Therapy 2/26 11-1:30 p.m. Movement Day Committee Mtg. 2/27 thru 3/2 In Miami for a PD Training Class 3/4 9-10 a.m. Movement Therapy 3/5 10-11 a.m. Parkinson's Therapy 3/5 1:30-3 p.m. Rock Steady Boxing 3/7 thru 3/9 Out of town with Parkinson’s Foundation This movement class is just one in a regime of different therapies he regularly attends. On different days he’s boxing, performing interpretive dance or hosting dinners and conversations with his local support group.

“After all those months reading bad stuff on the internet, I found a post on a Parkinson’s community Facebook group,” Lawson recalled. That post linked to an article about the importance of proactive therapy for Parkinson’s patients. It explained how movement therapies don’t just treat symptoms that already exist, but that therapy can actually slow down the progression of symptoms so that people can maintain their mobility later into their lives. That Facebook group might have been Lawson’s saving grace. “Finally, someone was saying something with some hope. Finally, it was something I could get behind and do.”

His first therapy class was part of an improvisational dance class taught for people with Parkinson’s by Wake Forest dance professor Christina Soriano. “I was skeptical going into it for sure,” recalls Lawson, “but immediately everyone in there made me feel so comfortable. All of a sudden I was just dancing.” He says that music has come to play an important part in his life since his diagnosis, something that many who experience dementia and other neurodegenerative disorders agree with. Together, his movement therapies and music restore in him a clarity and energy that the disease steals away.

After class, Lawson takes the time to speak individually with each of his fellow members. A few more people say hello to him on his way out of the building. Just like before, he’s constantly moving or talking, often both at the same time.

“I know that when I leave therapy, I feel like a totally different person,” he said. “The good feelings don’t ever totally last. A day or two without therapy, and depression is already creeping back, but when I go to therapy, it’s a really good day.”

The friends who left him after his diagnosis never came back. Instead, Lawson has embraced a new community full of caregivers, supporters, therapists and plenty of others with the same disease. The problem is, they weren’t easy to find.

Over 40 million people per year access online support groups for various health conditions, according to the Pew Research Center, but at the time of his diagnosis, Lawson’s local Parkinson’s group still didn’t have a website. Left without any support recommendations from his neurologist, it took months for Lawson to discover groups for people like him. It wasn’t until coming across that Facebook group that he finally had the two most important resources for someone newly diagnosed with a chronic disease: a community and a plan of action.

That group led him to others and then, eventually, to a local support group in his area for a face-to-face community. That brought him to people who could understand the things he felt, but even then, it took time for Lawson to get comfortable around others with the disease. This was especially difficult because, at 57 years old, Lawson is young for most of those afflicted by Parkinson’s. He remembers the first event he attended, a Memorial Day cookout for people with Parkinson’s and their supporters. “I showed up there, and I saw a lot of people that looked a lot worse than I was,” he said. He saw people constrained to wheelchairs. He saw people who needed help to eat, drink or play any of the games set up for them. He saw his own potential future, and it scared him.

“At that time, I was still only seeing the negatives in everything,” he says now. “In them, I saw those symptoms from the websites, and I saw myself.” After that, Lawson didn’t return to the group for a few weeks.

He was still struggling to break through the mindset he had built up in the months since his diagnosis. “It took me a lot of work, but eventually I understood that it was up to me to dig myself out from there,” Lawson said.

When he returned back to the support group, he started to shift how he thought about his situation. “I started flipping that mental image around. It isn’t about me sitting around until I become like those people. I ought to be using what I have now to make a difference and help them and anyone else I can.”

Since that shift, Lawson has quickly grown into leadership roles in most of his therapy and support

groups. He regularly responds to posts in Facebook groups, and he’s quick to offer his phone number to anyone in need of someone to talk to. He’s building a website for his support group so more people can find it without the months of waiting he endured. Everything he does is in service of preventing others from going down the same path he first wandered into.

His biggest push has been for getting more information into doctor’s offices, like the one he’s still visiting for regular checkups. Educating providers to better handle Parkinson’s diagnoses is the best-case scenario, but Lawson also envisions explainer pamphlets and resource guides in every office. He wants to connect the newly diagnosed with as many actionable resources as possible, not just a list of symptoms to expect.

Now when Lawson attends local events, he’s a hard man to get ahold of for very long. He bounces from working with program coordinators to watching therapy demonstrations, catching up with old friends in the community and listening to strangers tell their own stories.

At Winston-Salem’s second annual Parkinson’s Moving Day last spring, Lawson was a keynote speaker in the opening ceremony and one of the event’s leading fundraisers. Under a clear blue sky and in front of hundreds of people who have all been affected by this disease, either directly or through a loved one, Lawson recounted his experiences and lessons learned.

He spoke on the importance of communication, trying out new therapies and embracing community to combat the isolation that Parkinson’s brings. He encouraged for those with the disease to become their own advocates and to build up their support teams with people who care for them.

Most importantly, he advocated that they all keep moving, as much and as often as they could manage.

Underneath his voice, the tune of “YMCA” began to build. Fellow coordinators and fundraisers took the stage beside him and, all together, they danced. In front of them, hundreds of others joined in on the movement.

Their bodies all swayed in their own time with the music. Some with the disease struggled to match the tempo, but they didn’t seem to care. Even Lawson, on stage, stumbled for a moment. He caught himself and laughed as he jumped back in sync with the rest of the crowd. He and the rest of his community all know the question isn’t if they stumble, but when they stumble.

And then, they’ll get back up and keep on moving.

Christian Green/Old Gold & Black

Winston-Salem’s second annual Parkinson’s Moving Day was held last spring. Lawson was a keynote speaker in the event's opening ceremony, as well as one of the main fundraisers.

Old Gold & Black | News

Page 6 | Thursday, December 5, 2019

Campus Garden: celebrating the 10th anniversary Continued from Page 1

The New York Times reported that, since 1985, over two-thirds of all protein in American meals comes from animal products, primarily cattle. They also reported that those animals can eat up to eight pounds of grain for just one pound of meat, while also releasing a multitude of dangerous greenhouse gasses into the air.

Shifting from a meat centered diet to a plant-forward diet can be one of the greatest impacts on climate change that an individual consumer can have.

As methane and carbon emissions continue to rise, cutting out meat from some — if not all — meals can assist in greatly reducing those emissions, especially methane.

Nathan Peifer, the Campus Garden manager, is focusing on sustainable gardening techniques that not only create healthy food for consumption, but that also reduce emissions and environmental impact. Peifer also works to educate the Wake Forest community about how climate change relates to sustainable gardening and eating.

“We’ve had 20-plus classes come out to the garden this semester,” Peifer said. “They do everything from semester-long projects to just coming out for a tour, and we connect what they’re learning about in class to sustainable agriculture.”

Peifer and the other garden volunteers also partner with Campus Kitchen to provide produce for the meals that Campus Kitchen packages for community members. In addition to this, Campus Kitchen returns all food waste to the garden to be composted, which is one of many sustainable practices the garden takes part in.

“Through volunteering in the garden, I have realized how important composting can be. Usually most of my food waste ends up in the landfill,”

Photo courtesy of Kellie Shanaghan

Among the life nurtured within the campus garden is a healthy brood of chickens. When giving tours of the place to classes and other interested parties, Nathan Peifer makes sure to give the birds their time to shine. said sophomore Karl Gustafson, cultivation leader and garden volunteer. “Now I try and compost whenever I can so that I can divert waste from the landfill and create soil that will help our crops in the garden grow.”

The goal of the garden is not only to grow healthy crops and practice sustainable gardening techniques, it also aims to educate students, faculty and staff about the importance of eating a plant-forward diet.

“The responsibility of the individual consumer is to be educated on the impact of what they’re eating,” said Brian Cohen, program coordinator for the Office of Sustainability. “We’re not going to sit here and say, ‘you can’t eat that, you should eat this instead,’ but hopefully everyone will make educated decisions.”

Opportunities for students to volunteer and learn in the garden have recently expanded. Peifer and other volunteers created what is called the Cultivation Leadership Team, which consists of 15 student volunteers who hold garden volunteer hours every day of the week.

“The emphasis when students come out [to the garden] is on climate education,” Peifer said. “We emphasize the way our food decisions impact climate change.”

“It is easy to grow your own food and more fulfilling nutritionally,” said Julia Stevens, senior cultivation leader and garden volunteer.

Stevens said that working in the garden also inspired her to put a greater emphasis on eating more locally grown food, rather than processed, inorganic foods.

SG GENERAL ASSEMBLY

BY JESSICA SCHMIDT Staff Writer schmja19@wfu.edu I. Executive Reports President Mellie Mesfin opened by thanking the senators for their hard work in the past semester.

Chief of Staff Isabella Ryan reported that interviews had been conducted for the available position in the Safe Office. Interviews are being narrowed down in the next couple weeks and the university is hoping to have the position filled by the beginning of the spring semester.

Staff Advisor Tim Wilkinson reported that the end of student organizations for the semester is Friday, Dec. 6 for the semester to allow for students to focus on their finals. The only clubs able to meet during finals week are ones that involve studying or stress reduction. He also shared good news that fol-

lowing Senior Fifth on Nov. 23, there were no student hospitalizations. Wilkinson also advocated for the Late Night Breakfast and the Link Loot Silent Auction at the Pit Wednesday, Dec. 4 from 10 p.m. to 12 a.m., where students can eat breakfast food and use their Link Loot points to win prizes. As a reminder, these points will not be transferred over to the new semester if not used.

II. Committee Reports The Academic Committee shared news about the student athlete highlight video, which will feature student athletes and their hard work on campus.

The Campus Life Committee released the theme of Mental Health Week, which is “Let’s Talk.” The dates for the week will be finalized shortly, and the committee is very excited for all of the different activities throughout the week.

“Before I volunteered in the garden, I did not really eat vegetables or salads or anything like that,” said Gustafson. “However, once I saw how they were grown and tasted fresh ones, I realized that vegetables were not so bad. I definitely eat more than I did before.”

The emphasis that the Campus Garden puts on sustainable gardening practices ultimately allows students to understand the brevity of climate change and the opportunities that individual consumers have to fight against the impending climate crisis.

“From a climate change standpoint, every little bit adds up,” Cohen said.

“Every bit of carbon that we can prevent from going into the atmosphere makes a difference.”

DECEMBER 3 The Diversity and Inclusion Committee gave a statement regarding the controversial bias report against the Wake Forest basketball team that occured while on a trip to Disneyland. The report is still in the investigation stage as information is being gathered, and it is expected that the team’s head coach will release a statement before the next game.

The Physical Planning Committee highlighted the website that was shared with students about the other options for study spaces during finals week. They encourage students to find places outside of the library to study in order to reduce congestion.

While the Judiciary and Public Relations Committees had nothing to report, the Student Organization Committee reported that they are continuing their research into the methods by which other universities charter organizations.

Thursday, December 5, 2019|Page 7

News | Old Gold & Black

Lighting of the Quad brightens WFU Lighting of the Quad is an annual event hosted by Student Union to kick off the holiday season. Liftting spirits before finals with a celebration of the upcoming holidays, the event included a cappella performances, hot cocoa and the illumination of Upper Quad with festive lights.

Ken Bennett/Wake Forest News

Ken Bennett/Wake Forest News

Sophomores Emma Kee, Julia McElhinny and Alexa Brown partici- President Nathan Hatch makes an appearance at this popupate in the festivities as they each light their respective candles. lar event that brings the Wake Forest community together.

Ken Bennett/Wake Forest News

Basking in the glow of the candles and illuminated Upper Quad, hearts are warmed as students share this special moment with their friends before finals begin.

Photo courtesy of Ken Bennett/Wake Forest News Office

Ken Bennett/Wake Forest News

An a cappella group performs in front of the students gathered in celebration.

Ken Bennett/Wake Forest News

The a cappella performances featured upbeat and cheer- The Wake Forest community enjoys the music and eagerly awaits the ful holiday songs that spread the joy of the season. moment when the Upper Quad will finally be illuminated for the holidays.

OPINION

T H U R S D AY, D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 9

PAG E 8

Online Editor:

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

K y l e F e r r e r, f e r r k a 1 6 @ w f u . e d u

OLD GOLD & BLACK

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

“ Political ecology salvages and sustains native praxis Eco-Boost

The benefits of indigenous methods extend into a global sphere of production

Jack Portman

Staff Columnist porttjt17@wfu.edu Considering political ecology as a framework for analyzing the relationship between space, labor and environmental factors is crucial if the political-economic aspects affecting production and ecology are to be fully addressed. Take, for example a political ecology of the Caribbean.

Sugar was initially introduced in the Caribbean as a potential export product in the 16th century, and by 1585 England was the world’s foremost producer. Plantation workers became increasingly necessary as the plantation system evolved, and European colonizers began purchasing enslaved Africans to satisfy the growing demand for manual labor.

Meanwhile, indigenous populations such as the Taino, the Ciboney, the Arawaks and the Caribs declined at unprecedented rates.

A political-ecological approach elucidates indigenous empowerment...against environmental degradation.”

The widespread cultivation of sugarcane had a detrimental impact on local soil conditions and promoted deforestation as well as water pollution in the surrounding areas. As new crops came to dominate the Carribbean, the indigenous plants perfectly suited to the local environment were pushed out. Furthermore, excessive fertilization, perceived as necessary to accommodate sugarcane cultivation in the tropics, leached nitrates and phosphates into the soil profile, contributing to acidification.

The legacy effects of land use severely depleted Caribbean soils and sculpted the industrial-agricultural landscape into a monocultural profit-oriented production complex. Studies by political ecologists and geographers have found that food insecurity in the Caribbean would be best addressed by small-scale food-crop farming, as opposed to plantation-scale monoculture. However, the Caribbean’s close historical association with the plantation system has made such an adjustment difficult.

The numerous financial, cultural, political and ideological institutions which shaped Caribbean sugar production make analysis of the issues at hand an interdisciplinary effort. By addressing the crucial relationship between ecology and production, while maintaining politics, economics and modernity as interrelated and inseparable foci, political ecology can serve as a means of analyzing the nature of contemporary issues in Caribbean agriculture.

Political ecology is a crucially relevant axis of examination in discussions of sustainable resource management and environmental preservation. It locates environmental factors in a globalized political context to underscore the institutional pressures on global ecologies. Trade deals, tariffs, multinational corporations and outsourcing perpetuate hegemonic agricultural and resource-management practices, at the expense of the world’s climate. Often times, a political-ecological approach elucidates indigenous empowerment as a formative countermeasure against environmental degradation.

Just as on Caribbean sugar plantations, indigenous communities in the American west, such as the Zuni, saw transplanted settler agro-systems degrade the soils and

decrease local biodiversity. Although the indigenous Zuni community successfully cultivated crops for several millennia, the pueblo underwent a process of desertification when in situ agricultural systems were displaced by settler economic and agricultural systems.

The environmental and ecological disruption facing the Zuni pueblo began as U.S. expansion into the southwest precipitated disruptive economic and agricultural change.

To combat the desertification facing the pueblo, the Zuni Sustainable Agriculture Project and the Zuni Conservation Project formed coalitions with researchers to employ the vast corpus of Zuni soil knowledge and descriptions of traditional Zuni farming and resource management techniques to develop and inform community initiatives to combat desertification. Zuni soil knowledge and farming practices continue to be assistive in combating desertification at the Zuni pueblo.

Indigenous methods of agriculture and the associated corpuses of deep ecological knowledge are inherently suited to the environments in which they are developed.

Whereas foreign practices almost ubiquitously generate negative externalities, in situ methodologies are sustainable and enriching.

the same, structurally, every week. Other sections fiddle with graphics, backgrounds and other cosmetics that require greater aptitude, but my section’s rudimentary design allowed my skills to live in relative stasis. What kept me coming back to my section, even in an obvious forfeiture of any technical development, was the content. The Opinion section is the most ruminative of all the sections: politics, philosophy, art, hegemony, et. al. fill its pages.

I often encouraged the offbeat article, because when else will someone let you publish your thoughtful experiments, articulated with grace and candor?

Every week, in my emails to the section’s writers, I ended with a quotation. Writers like Shakespeare, Nietzsche, Didion and Baldwin all appeared, in bold, at the end of my weekly missives. As someone who considers writers creative stimulants and estimable interpreters, I include their often-aphoristic, stylish thoughts as potential inspiration. I remember once including this quote by Hunter S. Thompson from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: “Every now and then when your life gets complicated and the weasels start closing in, the only cure is to load up on heinous chemicals and then drive like a bastard from Hollywood to Las Vegas.” A writer responded with more Thompson: “This is bat country. Stay away from the ether.” Having never met this person, the response generated an immediate recognition, the bumping

up of similar intellects that forms a kind of kinship. Whenever intellectual recognition occurs, we briefly expand into another’s universe, and my few instances of cathexis, be it with faceless writers or my cohorts on Wednesday nights, gifted me twice: once with creative adrenaline and once with thicker relational cable.

And though intellectual communion with others means much to me, my time as editor and writer for the Old Gold & Black deepened, most meaningfully, the relationship I have with myself. The endless Sundays spent conjuring nebulous statements — perplexing, frustrating or even devaluing my intellect — not only introduced me to a whole history of thought outside myself, but to the patterns of my own brain that I came to rely on, and, most importantly, struggled to reinvent. As a blank canvas to rehearse diction and syntax, creative sophistication and structural nuance, the Opinion section refined my interiority. That is, it helped me plumb the depths of self and articulate all the elements colliding within it. Every week, a snatch of silence inside me rose into static, and sometimes into legible words, like sentences on a teleprompter slowly tuned to clarity.

Of course, this tuning never ends, but every chance to touch the knob helps. Sometimes, it was too hot to touch, others, too sensitive to extreme vision. But sometimes it yielded up a detail or two, and for that I am grateful.

Reflections “of a (now) former OGB staffer Obituaries

My time as editor for the Old Gold & Black has taught me about myself and my mind

Kyle Ferrer

Staff Columnist ferrka16@wfu.edu

What is there to say about my time working for the Old Gold & Black that isn’t banal? “It’s the people,” some would say, and it is, but that sentiment has become obvious and feels like scrambling some grander intellectual energy into a maelstrom of vague referents and inarticulate chatter. To gloss my experience through a phrase about relational importance reveals only a partial dimension of a place so vital to my college experience. Many disparate things have contributed to my affinity for the newspaper, and, candidly, most of them are self-centered. I’ll try to elucidate them here, but just know, like anything, language exists after the fact and strives and fails to replicate the richness of the present.

What kept me coming back to my section, even in the obvious forfeiture of technical development, was the content.”

Let’s go back to the people. Not only did the changing staff of the Old Gold & Black perpetuate the eclectic whirl of those involved in my first days at the office, but, through those changes, they all maintained a remarkable receptivity to my abstruse ideas. Not only does their infinite patience toward my own strange manias deserve a paean, but also their continued engagement with the formalized experiments I put down in their pages. It formed an implicit bond that extends out of a simple culture of tolerance and into a space of alacrity, where experiment, development and generosity merge into contagious ethos.

My position as Opinion Editor is widely known to be the least technically demanding. I’m always first to walk out the door on production night, and it’s not because InDesign, the computer program we use to format our pages, has some special affinity for me. My brisk effort suffices because the Opinion Section is mostly text.

It requires few pictures and stays relatively

Opinion | Old Gold & Black

Thursday, December 5, 2019 | Page 9

“ election process is problematic The primary Election Reform

Some entrenched norms of primary elections should be reshaped to better suit our present

Amanda Wilcox Staff Columnist wilcaf16@wfu.edu

This week, news that Sen. Kamala Harris had suspended her 2020 Democratic primary bid generated grief and bitter feelings among many Democrats, even including those (such as myself) for whom Harris was not necessarily a top choice. Many felt that the end of her campaign (especially while far less-qualified white male billionaires, such as Tom Steyer and Michael Bloomberg, continue to run) was illustrative of the larger problems and injustices inherent in the presidential primary process.

As much as we might like to believe that the best candidate will win the Democratic primary by the strength of their progressive policies, smarts and charisma, some of the deeply-embedded characteristics of the process (early contests in white rural states, widespread caucuses rather than primaries) can give more voice to certain voter populations, which in turn can unfairly benefit certain types of candidates.

Mere name recognition in the early states does not equate to national popularity, but the former can earn a spot on the debate stage."

The fault is not in our stars, but in ourselves, and such problems could be ameliorated via smarter policies. Here are two ideas: Reform primary debate qualification rules I don’t fault the Democratic National Committee for instituting increasingly stringent qualification rules, especially given the enormous size of the primary field — 20-candidate debates were a special kind of hell.

The individual donor requirements are also a step in the right direction. However, polling requirements have been the barrier that has kept many qualified, sound candidates off the debate stage, especially because early-state and national polls count. Early in the process, some polls can identify which candidates are doing well and which are facing headwinds, but often they’re more reflective of which campaigns have the most cash on hand to spend on advertising. Mere name recognition in the early states does not equate to national popularity, but the former can earn a spot on the debate stage. Herein is an explanation why Steyer, who is self-funding his campaign and blitzing Iowa and New Hampshire with ads, will be at the December debate, but not Cory Booker, Julian Castro or Andrew Yang.

It’s unfortunate that in a historically diverse

primary, every candidate at the December debate will be white. Had the DNC weighted individual donations over polling in debate qualification standards, there’s a good chance that wouldn’t be the case.

Amend the unrepresentative primary debate calendar Every four years, a mélange of intrepid senators, governors and other elected officials, all with visions of themselves at the Resolute Desk alight in their eyes, invariably start by paying a call to the state of Iowa and consuming copious amounts of corn on the cob.

Why? The small Midwestern “flyover” state holds its caucuses first, followed by primary elections in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. Consequently, those four states exercise a significant degree of influence over who voters in the rest of the country will see on the ballot in later primaries. The winner of the early contests is generally anointed as the frontrunner with all of the electoral advantages that the title conveys — media coverage, attention from prominent donors and the DNC and the imprecisely defined but existentially crucial “momentum.” Candidates who suffer a weak showing in Iowa and New Hampshire often suspend their campaigns soon after. Since 1972, only one major-party presidential candidate has won his or her party’s nomination without winning either Iowa or New Hampshire (Bill Clinton in 1992).

But while they will have an outsize role in choosing the eventual Democratic nominee, the few hundred thousand Iowans

who crowd into school gymnasiums and church basements in two months won’t look much like a mirror of America. You’d be hard-pressed to find two states that are less representative of the country than Iowa and New Hampshire — as I wrote in a column last spring, there’s a massive rural bias, and the United States as a whole is 61% white, compared with 86% of Iowa and 91% of New Hampshire.

Iowans and New Hampshirites are too old, too white and too few to merit first-in-the-nation status, critics say.

But someone has to go first — who?

One good alternative is the Graduated Random Presidential Primary system, which would allow states with smaller numbers of congressional districts to go first, followed by larger states, with some randomness to ensure that large states don’t always go last. At any rate, there is absolutely no reason that an Iowa caucus in early February should be blindly accepted without some discussion over whether that schedule is worth keeping.

The Democratic Party has done more to promote diversity, equality and inclusion than any other political party in the world. It’s past time to ensure that its most important task — choosing its standard-bearer for president — is conducted in a manner that is as democratic, fair and balanced as possible.

of towering prose, I wouldn’t have known what the hell I’ve just written about. The truth is, reading a work of fiction that has gathered the acclaim of decades and centuries is a burden. But it is a burden that produces a profound and unique joy known only to the one who has read truly. It was the discovery of Catcher in the Rye, a novel somehow not assigned to the anthology of my high school English class, that invigorated my interest. The unusual accessibility of the novel, along with the captivating familiarity of everything that took place within the story, drew me into reading it.

And that’s all anyone really needs — accessibility and the will to explore even if it is difficult.

I cannot remain entirely pessimistic about the state of fiction and literature as

we enter into a new decade. The truth is that the world is filled to the brim with honest writers who are true and vigorous.

Although I agree with the eminent Harold Bloom — the only critic worth mentioning in this respect — on a number of issues, I must say that his "anxiety of influence" is diminishing. It is impossible for anyone to be self-aware enough to classify what progression of literature we exist in, but it is also equally impossible to ignore the stylistic departure of contemporary authors from classic influence.

Although the market is saturated with cheap ventures in barren literature, there is a continual flourish in idiosyncratic expression that exists on the fringes of the bookshelf. All we have to do is be courageous and look for them.

“ Commercial fiction distracts readers from fine literature Formative Fiction

The facile achievements of lesser novels accustomes readers to mediocrity

Conor McNeely Staff Columnist mcnec19@wfu.edu

I must confess that it is truly fascinating to have adopted a cause so near to the once-nagging railings of older generations.

Growing up, I didn’t have a genuine appreciation of literature. Like my generational peers, I tore through Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, The Hunger Games and many other formulaic works and built up a haughty self-image as a seemingly voracious consumer of books.

When the discussion landed on my elementary canon of ‘"literature," I was prepared to rattle off every intricate detail that I had noticed; I was well-versed in texts that remain as shallow as a kiddie pool.

This was a time in my life and in the lives of others in which reading was primarily for pleasure, although it would quickly shuffle out as our books were exchanged for phones and Xbox and PlayStation controllers. While this cursory interest of books for young teens was, and is, a time of great joy for budding readers, society fails to realize the inherent harm that it causes to our future minds. Granted, reading a series like

The potential of young readers is corroded with negative associations between great novels and a great load of work." one of my aforementioned childhood selections isn’t something outrageous. But it does encourage damaging habits.

Let me be very clear: the very existence of commercial fiction threatens artistic integrity. This is an issue so prevalent that a large majority of students at this very school and at reputable universities across the nation will not be able to identify the gaping disparity between contrived stock fiction and a sincere invention of literary expression.

The blame can be placed anywhere and everywhere. The education system of the United States, however, might take the cake. For years, children and maturing young adults are taken by the collar and shoved into a toilet-bowl curriculum filled with some of the most important and brilliant creations of literary history. Students are mechanically forced to pore over them and learn invaluable jewels of artistry and life experience that can only truly be divined by willing exploration through rote memorization. It is in this way that the potential of young readers is corroded with negative associations between great novels and a great load of work. I would know.

My experience as a reader was marked by the very same trials, and if it were not for a flickering of curiosity into the vast expanse

Photo courtesy of MCTCampus

Thursday, December 5, 2019 | Page 10

Opinion | Old Gold & Black

“ action in U.S. is ill-advised Lack of climate Thrust

Correctives for the United States' negligence on climate are vital for our survival

Julia McElhinny Contributing Writer mceljs18@wfu.edu

In early 2019, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Edward Markey introduced the Green New Deal to Congress as a plan to reduce the use of fossil fuels in the United States to curb greenhouse gas emissions in an attempt to slow the rate of global warming. This plan includes several main strategies to achieve this goal of greenhouse gas reduction, including switching to renewable energy sources and restoring fragile ecosystems, especially through reforestation, to increase biodiversity and climate change resiliency. All the strategies constitute what Ocasio-Cortez calls the “Green New Deal mobilization," a social and economic transformation equal in scale to the mobilizations during the New Deal and World War II. Although this goal of net zero emissions is lofty, Ocasio-Cortez argues that achieving it is crucial to help prevent

How can it be morally right to pursue further development (fueled by fossil fuels) at the expense of human beings across the globe." future global implications of climate change. She also argues that the United States should take “a leading role” in reaching this goal because of its responsibility “for a disproportionate amount of greenhouse gas emissions.” This argument adds a perspective on addressing the climate emergency that is rarely discussed — specific nations (especially those in North America and Europe) are more responsible for climate change than others because of their high levels of greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, in cumulative terms, the United States has contributed more carbon dioxide per capita to the atmosphere than any other nation. However, there has been no sign of urgency in the United States to correct this.

This may be due, in part, to the fact that climate change impacts haven’t really been relevant to the American people until recently, with the intensification of California wildfires and Atlantic hurricanes. Now that the Western lifestyle is under attack, a climate emergency has been declared, and millions of people across the globe have started to demand action from their govern-

ments. However, what many don’t realize is that there has been a climate crisis for many third-world countries for several years now. Despite contributing relatively little to global climate change, countries in South America, Southeast Asia and Africa are, and have been for years, disproportionately experiencing the consequences of global warming like sea level rise, massive drought and decreased availability of food and water.

This disproportionate impact is termed climate injustice, a specific form of environmental injustice that describes how climate change does not affect all communities in the same way, wreaking havoc on the lower income countries/ communities that simply don’t possess the ability to protect themselves.

Over the past few decades, the climate justice movement grew out of the environmental justice movement, which began only two and a half hours from Wake Forest in Warren County, NC It developed as a fight against a government decision that placed an unwelcome factory on cheap land in a predominately African-American community instead of in local white communities.

This decision caused the residents to be more susceptible to health issues as a result of increased water and air pollution. As climate science has become more advanced and the impacts of

global warming have become more apparent, local incidences of environmental injustices became just a small part of the pattern of larger global environmental injustice.

How is this justified? How can it be morally right to pursue further development (fueled by fossil fuels) at the expense of other lives across the globe? Reversing the severe global warming we have caused is no longer about ensuring a future for the children of our grandchildren.

Instead, it’s about ensuring a future for humanity across the planet.

I encourage you to take action to reduce your personal contribution to climate change: opt for carpooling, walking or biking instead of driving, try to reduce your energy usage and eat less meat. Each decision you make is not inconsequential — small actions every day add up and do make a difference. Make these changes for the families who have lost their homes in severe weather, for the displaced environmental refugees, for the African women and children who walk miles every day to reach water supplies that are shrinking due to drought, and for the Pacific Islanders who have lost their countries to sea level rise. Human lives depend on it.

impunity. It’s literally like watching someone escape five stars in the Grand Theft Auto video game.

What infuriates me about the level of privilege Trump possesses is the hypocrisy of his immunity. There are so many black and brown people who are rotting in the human cages we call prisons because of petty crimes most likely driven from the oppression that’s been instituted by white wealthy racists like Trump. Even people of color who have the money and connections to fight their cases still get screwed. Yet Trump has been unlawful from the start and hasn’t so much as been handcuffed. What tickles me the most is that even if he is hypothetically prosecuted, he’ll inevitably get off either through his overpaid lawyers or a presidential pardon from whenever we’ll get another Republican president. Sigh.

Congressmen, both liberal, conservative and everything in between, need to hud-

dle up. Conservatives refuse to take action against Trump? Expected at this point (but not respected). Get together behind the scenes and start discussing laws about new presidential requirements, the ability to remove a sitting president and prosecuting a president. Given that millions of lives are affected by the executive branch, the president should be held to an even higher standard of conduct than the average citizen. This benefits everyone, because Republicans would lose it if a Democratic president did half the things Trump has done, and they would not be able to stop it.

Congressmen, get together. Republicans, you all know deep down that Trump’s actions are wrong, and you wouldn’t justify his behavior if he were not Republican. The least you can do is pass some bipartisan law to make sure a different version of Trump, no matter what political affiliation, stay in office.

“ is not the proper punitive price Impeachment Just Peachy

President Trump's actions require a steeper punishment them removal from office

Kasy Heath

Staff Columnist heatka15@wfu.edu I really hate to say it, but my desire to keep following the impeachment proceedings has disappeared. I care, but I don’t care. What is making me apathetic towards these proceedings is because even if Donald Trump is impeached, it won’t be enough for me.

The key element of impeachment that many don’t fully understand is that impeachment doesn’t automatically mean he’ll be removed from office. Even if that were to happen by some sort of voodoo power, that wouldn’t even satisfy me. The only thing at this point that would satisfy me is if that man went to prison.

Trump’s standing in our society is textbook white privilege. If white privilege could be distinguished by smell, Donald Trump would probably have a huge cologne line dedicated to it produced from some country he would consider a “shithole.” One of the most pertinent components of white privilege is the absurd lack

Trump has been unlawful from the start and hasn't so much as been handcuffed, aside from whatever escorts he pays ... to take it for him." of accountability for pretty much anything, and Trump perfectly exemplifies this.

Trump has been accused by over 25 women of sexual assault. There’s strong evidence after Michael Cohen’s testimony that Trump illegally paid off a porn star to protect his campaign. There’s strong evidence to suggest that Trump colluded between Russia and his campaign. There’s strong evidence to suggest that Trump has committed tax fraud. There’s literal, actual, hardcore, we-saw-you-do-it-why-are-youlying proof that he’s done things as petty as lying about a weather report, which, by the way, is a federal crime.

“But he wasn’t charged for it!” Many of my I-refuse-to-acknowledge-the-idea-ofprivilege peers may argue in his defense.

That’s exactly the point, fools.

No matter how much media has covered Trump’s “alleged” crimes, how much evidence has emerged, how much his close allies end up snitching on him, Trump has not truly had to answer to the unlawful actions he’s been accused of. He even has the ability to refuse to speak to Congress.

No matter what’s been said or done to hold him accountable, at the end of the day, Trump has done whatever he wants with

Photo courtesy of MCTCampus

SPORTS

T H U R S D AY, D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 9

PAG E 11

Online at: www.wfuogb.com Twitter: @OGBSports Editor: Rafael Lima, limara17@wfu.edu Assistant Editor: Lucy Nelson, nelsld16@wfu.edu

OLD GOLD & BLACK

Wake Forest advances to NCAA Elite 8 After beating Maryland and Michigan by a combined 6-1 score, the Deacs will now face UC Santa Barbara JB BLOOD Staff Writer bloojj18@wfu.edu In the playoffs, the phrase "survive and advance" is often used.

In their first two games of the NCAA tournament, the Wake Forest men’s soccer team has changed the phrase to annihilate and advance, beating Maryland and Michigan by a combined score of 6-1.

The wins were especially impressive considering the injuries the Deacs have recently faced. Midfielders Justin McMaster and Aristotle Zarris were unavailable for both games, and midfielder Joey DeZart missed the Michigan game.

In their first NCAA tournament game, Wake Forest beat the defending champion Maryland 3-0. Prior to the game, Maryland had not given up a goal in its last six NCAA tournament matches.

Bruno Lapa ended Maryland’s streak of defensive perfection with a goal in the 26th minute. Off a corner kick, Isaiah Parente passed the ball 5-10 yards in front of the box which allowed DeZart to run up and hit a hard shot. The ball deflected off a group of Maryland defenders and bounced a few yards to the right of the goal. Lapa then made a run at the ball and onetouched it with his right foot to send it into the net and give Wake Forest a 1-0 lead.

Wake Forest finished the half with five shots and held onto the lead against a physical Maryland team that had racked up 10 fouls.

The Deacs came roaring out of the gate in the second half and scored in the first five minutes. Parente dribbled and took a stutter step in front of the box and passed the ball toward the

center. The deft pass allowed Machop Chol to meet the ball in stride, one-touch it with his right foot and sail it past the goalie who was only a foot or two in front of him.

Wake Forest’s final goal of the night, in the 89th minute, was the cherry on top of an excellent all-around performance for the Deacs. Fifth year senior Tater Rennhack gave sophomore Kyle Holcomb a beautiful pass in front of the net that he sent past the goalie to give Wake Forest the 3-0 victory.

Wake Forest Head Coach Bobby Muuss was suspended for the game because of a red card received in last season’s NCAA tournament loss to Akron.

Muuss was back for the second tournament game against Big Ten runner-up Michigan and the Deacs won 3-1. Michigan came into the match playing well on the defensive side of the field, allowing only one goal in the Big Ten tournament and shutting out Wright State in its first NCAA tournament game. Additionally, Michigan tied its program record for fewest goals allowed in a season (18).

It was an evenly matched first half. Wake Forest had a 5-4 advantage on shots, while Michigan had a 1-0 advantage on corner kicks. Wake Forest goalie Andrew Pannenberg made a spectacular save in the 24th minute.

Wake Forest broke through in the 50th minute with a goal from Holcomb. Chol was dribbling down the right sideline and nutmegged a defender. He then crossed the ball into the box where Holcomb headed it perfectly to give Wake Forest a 1-0 lead.

In the 70th minute, Lapa was taken down in the box which earned the Deacs a penalty kick. Lapa took the kick himself and hit the ball hard and on the ground to the right, while the keeper dove in the opposite direction to make the score 2-0.

However, Michigan did not go down without a fight. Sophomore Derick Broche scored in the 77th minute off a rebound to cut the deficit in half.

The Deacs answered in the 84th minute with Holcomb netting his second goal of the day. Rennhack retained the ball

between the right sideline and the 18-yard box then crossed it into the box. While the cross was in the air, Holcomb onetouched it over the goalie. With that goal, Wake Forest took a 3-1 lead and punched their ticket to the quarterfinals.

“What a gutsy performance. When they came back and scored and it was 2-1, a lot of teams would’ve been a little uneasy, but we got better,” Muuss said. “I think we managed the game at the end very well.”

Wake Forest will now take on UC-Santa Barbara on Dec. 7 at 7 p.m. at Spry Stadium. UCSB has had a Cinderella run in the tournament, beating No. 12 St. Mary’s and No. 5 and Big Ten champion Indiana. Hopefully the clock strikes midnight on UCSB’s run and the Deacs continue their exceptional play to move onto the College Cup.

Photo courtesy of Wake Forest Athletic Communications

Bruno Lapa led the Deacs to another tournament win with a penalty kick conversion against Michigan.

Deacs fare well at Wooden Legacy Tournament Wake Forest advanced to the final of the Wooden Legacy Tournament, but fell to Arizona by 73-66

BY CHRISTIAN ODJAKJIAN Staff Writer odjact18@wfu.edu Wake Forest men’s basketball turned in a strong showing at the Wooden Legacy Tournament in Anaheim, Calif., this past week. The Demon Deacons won their first two games to reach the tournament final, where they couldn’t overcome the talent of No. 12 Arizona.

Wake Forest began the tournament on Thanksgiving with a win over the College of Charleston, 65-56. Having a 21-27 shooting performance from the free-throw line was crucial for the Deacs, as they pulled away late in the second half.

Thriving in his new bench role, Olivier Sarr put up a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds. Torry Johnson contributed 13 of his own. Wake Forest was also able to hold Charleston’s star guard Grant Riller to just 11 points, as opposed to his season average of more than 20.

Free-throw shooting and Sarr were significant boosts for the Deacs once again on Friday against Long Beach State.

The 49ers upset Providence in their opening game, making Wake Forest’s path to the championship a bit less intimidating. The Deacs size and experience were too much for LBSU to overcome, and they steadily extended their second-half lead to come away with an 88-75 victory.

"Wake Forest controlled that game,” said Long Beach State Head Coach Dan Monson. “We could never really

make a run because we just couldn't keep them off the foul line or keep them from offensive rebounds."

The Deacs secured 19 offensive boards, which turned into 20 second-chance points. They also set a Wooden Legacy record with a 96% conversion clip from the charity stripe in the contest, making 24 of their 25 attempts.

Sarr delivered another strong performance with 16 points and eight rebounds. Brandon Childress led the team in scoring with 17 and was joined in double figures by Isaiah Mucius, Torry Johnson, Andrien White and Chaundee Brown.

While the first two wins in the tournament were admirable, the opponents weren’t of a very high caliber. The real test came Sunday night in the championship matchup against the undefeated Arizona Wildcats.

The Wildcats led by as much as 15 in the second half, but Wake Forest was able to trim the deficit to just four with under a minute left. Ultimately, Arizona won the tournament with a 73-66 victory. Sarr came up big once again with a 21 and 13 double-double, and Childress scored 19.

The performance should be looked at as a positive by Demon Deacon fans, however. Considering the amount of blowout losses the team experienced last season, to take a powerhouse program like Arizona down to the wire is definitely a sign of improvement.

Sarr won ACC Player of the Week honors for his outstanding efforts in the tournament. He averaged 17 points and 11.7 rebounds across the three games. He is the first Wake Forest player to win the award since John Collins did three seasons ago in 2017.

"He was a presence inside in all three games and was productive on both ends of the court,” said Head Coach Danny Manning. “To average a double-double and set ca-

reer highs in points and rebounds in a tournament like the Wooden Legacy shows how his game has developed, and we look forward to seeing him continue to improve."

Unfortunately, the West Coast trip has been tainted by an incident that came to light on Twitter Sunday, which resulted in freshman Jahcobi Neath and sophomore Mikey Wynn being held out of the Arizona game. The two players allegedly used offensive language, including a homophobic slur, directed at a Disneyland employee.

After taking on Penn State in the ACC Big 10 Challenge on Dec. 4, Wake Forest welcomes rival NC State to the LJVM at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

Photo courtesy of Wake Forest Athletic Communications

Junior Olivier Sarr was elected ACC Player of the Week after posting 17 points and 11.7 rebounds over three games.

Page 12 | Thursday, December 5, 2019

Old Gold & Black | Sports

CFB Roundup: Buckeyes cruise past Wolverines Ohio State and Oklahoma maintain their status in top-10 rankings after rivalry week, unlike Minnesota and Alabama

BY BEN CONROY Staff Writer conrbd19@wfu.edu No. 1 Ohio State 56, No. 13 Michigan 27 The Ohio State Buckeyes (12-0) and the Michigan Wolverines (9-3) took to the gridiron last Saturday afternoon for the 116th installment of what many consider the fiercest rivalry in college football. The rivalry’s history weaves a unique tapestry of grit, pride and utter disdain for anyone on the other side of the ball. Even the most perfect season is sullied by a loss in “The Game,” and for this reason players from each side play as if their lives depend on the contest’s outcome. For the past seven seasons, the Buckeyes had tormented the Wolverines by rat-

Kirthmon F. Dozier/Detroit Free Press/TNS

tling off an impressive string of victories; this Saturday was no different. The top-ranked Buckeye squad thundered past the Wolverines, putting an exclamation mark on their perfect regular season campaign with a resounding 56-27 victory. Ohio State’s stars sparkled once again, as Justin Fields aired it out for 302 yards and four touchdowns and J.K. Dobbins churned out an absurd 211 yards to go with four touchdowns of his own. The Buckeyes now turn their gaze toward Indianapolis and the Wisconsin Badgers as they prepare to lock up another Big Ten title, while Michigan suffers yet another bitter defeat at the hands of their archrival.

No. 5 Alabama 45, No. 15 Auburn 48 Nick Saban’s squad looked to put the finishing touches on another excellent season as they clashed with the Auburn Tigers (9-3) Saturday afternoon. The annual meeting of these two sides is an occasion widely anticipated by sports fans everywhere; with two SEC heavyweights duking it out in a top-tier rivalry, the contest rarely disappoints. Viewers were given all they could hope for this weekend, as the Tigers emerged from the chaos with a spectacular three-point victory, during which the lead was snatched and surrendered several times by each side. While Auburn’s offense performed shakily, the defense picked up the slack, twice intercepting Alabama (10-2) quarterback Mac Jones and scampering across the opposite goal line. Special teams play once again proved to be the proverbial thorn in Alabama’s side; kicker Joseph Bulovas failed to split the uprights on a 30-yard field goal that would have evened the score late in the fourth. With the loss, Alabama’s College Football Playoff hopes vanish, while Auburn picks up its ninth win of the season in dramatic fashion.

No. 12 Wisconsin 38, No. 8 Minnesota 17

Ohio State wide receiver Chris Olave catches a 57-yard The stakes were high in Minneapolis Saturday afternoon touchdown pass against Michigan's Josh Metellus. as the Badgers (10-2) and Golden Gophers (10-2) battled

for a berth in the upcoming Big Ten title game. Minnesota was unsuccessful in the quest for their eleventh win of the season as they were routed on their home turf at the hands of their greatest rival. The Gophers failed to contain standout Badger halfback Johnathan Taylor, as he found the end zone twice in another impressive performance. While Minnesota quarterback Tanner Morgan collected nearly 300 passing yards along with a pair of touchdowns, the rest of the offense sputtered at the hands of the rigid Wisconsin defense. The Badgers surrendered just 76 yards on the ground and held the Minnesota ball carriers without a single touchdown. With the victory, Wisconsin advances to the Big Ten Championship game in Indianapolis where they will collide for the second time with Justin Fields and the Ohio State Buckeyes.

No. 7 Oklahoma 34, No. 21 Oklahoma State 16 Chaos and hostility awaited the Sooners as they traveled to Stillwater to lock horns with their in-state rival under the lights on Saturday. The two sides traded blows for the first 30 minutes, until Oklahoma’s defense roared to life and held Oklahoma State without a point for the entirety of the second half. Sooners quarterback Jalen Hurts did a little bit of everything, scoring through the air and on the ground as his squad collected a crucial road victory. Oklahoma halfback Kennedy Brooks navigated the turf with ease, cruising past the Cowboys defense for a smooth 160 yards and a critical touchdown late in the third quarter.

While Heisman candidate Chuba Hubbard ground out a solid performance as well (104 rushing yards, one touchdown), a lack of production from quarterback Dru Brown diminished the efficiency of Oklahoma State’s offense.

With the victory, Oklahoma’s playoff hopes remain intact — their fate depending on the outcome of their upcoming battle with the Baylor Bears, who they defeated earlier in the season.

Wake Forest football bowl prediction After losing to Syracuse in overtime, the Demon Deacons are down to four possible bowl destinations

BY RAFAEL LIMA Sports Editor limara17@wfu.edu After finishing the season 8-4, the Demon Deacons are going bowling for the fourth straight time under Head Coach Dave Clawson, making it a record for most consecutive bowl trips in school history.

There’s no question that this season should be remembered as a continuation of Clawson’s success at the helm of Wake Forest football; however close losses to Louisville and Syracuse ultimately hampered the Deacs chances of going back to the Orange Bowl for the first time since 2006. So, with that being said, what should Wake Forest fans expect on Selection Sunday as a possible bowl destination for the Deacs? An honest response: Who knows?

The whole ACC bowl picture is murkier than ever this year, with many teams with bowl-eligible records but no true powerhouse outside of Clemson. Virginia probably locked up the Orange Bowl bid after locking up the Coastal Division title by defeating Virginia Tech 39-30 on Friday.

The Hokies (8-4) should be in play for either the Citrus Bowl, if it opens to an ACC team, or the Belk Bowl, given the school’s proximity to Charlotte and huge appeal that Virginia Tech football has to casual fans. The Citrus Bowl spot for the ACC is contingent upon many factors, including if the ACC plays an SEC team in the Orange Bowl.

This appears to be the case, as either Georgia or Alabama are the favorites to go to the Orange Bowl so far. However, if a team like Penn State from the Big Ten goes to the Orange Bowl, the Citrus Bowl opens up for an ACC team.

This leaves the Camping World Bowl and three, or four depending on whether the Citrus Bowl takes an ACC team, Tier I bowl games as possible destinations for the Demon Deacons. Despite being an independent school,

Notre Dame is considered as part of the ACC pool for bowl selection purposes. The Fighting Irish finished their season 10-2 and seems the unanimous pick across many bowl projections to be the ACC “representative” on the Camping World Bowl against either Texas or Oklahoma State.

Now, this is where things get really weird. The Deacs are more than locked for a Tier I bowl destination (Belk, Sun, Music City or Pinstripe) as teams like Florida State (6-6), Miami (6-6), Boston College (6-6) and North Carolina (66) cannot be selected ahead of the Deacs due to the “twowin” rule that prohibits teams from being selected ahead of teams with two or more wins than the other team in their overall record. Besides that, anything else is fair game.

It's worth remembering that the bowl selection process is not really merit-based, as bowl committees’ only concern is with the number of fans a school can bring to their games.

This makes Wake Forest, the smallest Power Five school, at a disadvantaged position compared to bigger schools like North Carolina and Louisville, whose fanbase is much bigger than the Deacs’. Virginia Tech (8-4), Pittsburgh (7-5), Louisville (7-5) and Wake Forest (8-4) are all within a game from each other and could be selected in any order depending on the preference of each bowl committee.

ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach, and The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel have Wake Forest going to the Sun Bowl to face Arizona State in El Paso, Texas. CBS Sports’ Jerry Palms has the Deacs coming back to the Belk Bowl in Charlotte to face Mississippi State. However, this scenario is a bit unlikely since the Deacs played in the Belk Bowl in 2017, and Palms also has Penn State going to the Orange Bowl, which would open up the Citrus Bowl to Virginia Tech.

Bret Bloomquist reported for the El Paso Times that Sun Bowl Executive Editor Bernie Olivas showed interested in Louisville, Miami or Florida State as the preferred ACC representatives in the Sun Bowl. Wake Forest would not be an ideal selection for both the Sun Bowl committee and the school. The Sun Bowl already hinted that it would prefer a school with a bigger national profile and for Wake Forest, it would be a less than ideal trip for fans to go from the East Coast to El Paso on New Year’s Eve.

Wake Forest fans can surely expect Athletic Director John Currie to try to lobby for another bowl destination, likely the Pinstripe Bowl in New York City. Another option would be the Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tenn., yet most bowl projections have either Louisville or North Carolina as the committee pick. Both schools would make more sense than Wake Forest from a financial standpoint.

With all of that being said, bowl selection is an extremely fluid process, and everything can change by the time bowl representatives convene on Sunday. I would not be surprised if the Deacs end up in any of the four Tier I bowl games with the Sun Bowl as the likeliest destination so far. Stay tuned on Sunday afternoon to find out where the Deacs are playing this bowl season.

Photo courtesy of Wake Forest Athletic Communications

Receiver Sage Surratt was one of the Deacs' brightest points of the season with 1,001 yards and 12 TDs.

Sports | Old Gold & Black

Thursday, December 5, 2019 | Page 13

Deacon Spotlight: Ivana Raca

BY NICOLE MACKEY Contributing Writer mackan18@wfu.edu Ivana Raca is a junior on the women’s basketball team here at Wake Forest. Like most college students, she loves to watch Netflix and have lots of fun with her friends, but she also has other goals. In her junior year, she aims to make good grades and help her team to a winning season. Her college experience is unique not only as a student athlete but as an international one. If you ever go watch a game at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, you will see a Serbian flag hanging from the rafters proudly representing her family and home country.

Not to mention that you’ll see her dominating on the court. Last year as a sophomore she led the team in total scoring with 373 points, averaging 12.4 per game. She has already made a dent this year as the only non-returning starter, scoring a career high 23 points against Charlotte, 12 of which were 3-pointers, and adding three assists.

Nicole Mackey: How was your transition to the United States? Was there any culture shock?

Ivana Raca: I struggled more basketball-wise than culturally, since I’ve had some previous experience moving from one country to another. I was born in Cyprus since my dad was the coach there at the time. We then moved to my home country, Serbia, and around 12, I went to Greece so I could play basketball there.

IR: It’s tough. It’s really tough for me time-wise, so I have to stay organized. I also have to work harder than a regular student does because I didn’t grow up with English as my original language.

a PowerPoint of the campus and North Carolina for me. I felt like she was going to be a mom away from home, so that was a main reason why I came here.

NM: You speak multiple languages, so which one was your first?

IR: I actually learned two growing up; Greek at school and Serbian back home with my family. I was introduced to English as well, and around 8 years old I knew some of it pretty well.

NM: Getting back to basketball, what would you say you bring to the team on the court?

IR: I think I’m a leader by example. I will go early to shoot before practice and be one of the last to leave once it ends. I try to talk more on the court too because Coach Dane Sparrow has challenged me to be more vocal when I am out there and get out of my comfort zone.

NM: One of your teammates mentioned that you are taking Greek Myth this semester. What is the class like for you?

IR: The class is actually hard for me, because I already know the stories from back home obviously.

During the first one, my professor started talking about Zeus and I thought, “Who is Zeus?” even though he’s a main character. It confused me because I know him as “o Días,” so I have to work extra hard to translate the things he says during class.

NM: Speaking of Coach Dane, he mentioned that you watched film of Bogdan Bogdanović on the Sacramento Kings together. Would you say he is your favorite professional player?

IR: Yeah, when I watch the NBA, I love seeing him play. I like how he shoots the ball and can get to the basket, so I do think he is my favorite when it’s comes to modeling my game after someone. My all-time favorites I would have to say are Elena Delle Donne and Toni Kukoc.

NM: What made you pick Wake Forest over other schools?

IR: My coach wouldn’t let me visit any of the schools that recruited me since I was with a professional team and it was kind of strict. Coach Jen Hoover came to see me in Greece and basically had

NM: On campus, people know you as a student-athlete, but what’s something they don’t know about you?

IR: I want to write a book, but I don’t have a specific genre in mind. It would be in more a letter format with me giving the readers advice on different things, like break-ups or being on a team.

NM: How do you manage being so far away from your family?

IR: That’s the hardest part; I miss being able to see my parents and my sister a lot. The time difference makes it difficult to speak because when I wake up, it is the afternoon in Serbia and when I finish practice, it’s around 11 p.m. for them. So, I try to FaceTime them every day around noon.

NM: You said basketball was a harder transition for you. What is the difference between the style of play in Europe vs the United States?

IR: Here you have to play more physical and in Europe the play is centered more on the team. But when I arrived here I had to really focus on my basketball skills and see what coach needed for me to do on the court.

NM: I was told you struggled some with traveling [the basketball violation] at first. Do you think you have improved on that as a junior?

IR: Yes, that was really my struggle to be honest. My coaches would say: “Ivana, don’t travel, do this instead. Like, just shoot it instead of traveling while trying do that other move.” (Laughs). Now, I have for sure improved. I do it every once in a while, but I have gotten better at it.

NM: As an international student-athlete, how has school been for you academically, especially at a place like Wake Forest?

DEAC NOTES Cary, N.C. native, Caitlyn Della named Second Team All-ACC for women’s volleyball

Wake Forest men’s basketball defeated

by Penn State in ACC/Big Ten Challenge

The senior middle blocker earned All-ACC honors for the second time in her career following her selection to the All-ACC Freshman Team in 2016. She finished the season in second on the squad in terms of kills (254) and points (307.5). A versatile player, she led the Deacs at the net with 96 blocks, accumulating 96 total blocks. With a total of 978 kills, she finished her career ranking 13th in Wake Forest program history.

The Deacs fell to the Nitanny Lions 76-54 on Wednesday night. That didn’t prevent Olivier Sarr from posting a teambest 14 points and 10 rebounds, Andrien White also had a respectable game, racking up double-digit points with 10. The Deacs managed to stay within the four-point range at 22-18 early in the first half, however, Penn State gained momentum and did not stop, leading to their victory over Wake Forest.

Photo courtesy of Wake Forest Athletic Communications

Photo courtesy of Wake Forest Athletic Communications

Page 14 | Thursday, December 5, 2019

Old Gold & Black | Sports

Cover three: Ravens continue winning ways The Ravens have now won eight straight games, including wins against the Patriots, Seahawks, 49ers and Texans

BY LUKE MARTIN Staff Writer martl19@wfu.edu Thanksgiving weekend did not disappoint NFL fans this year. Divisional matchups, upsets and top-tier inter-divisional showdowns kept fans entertained from Thursday to Monday. While potential playoff participants continue to separate themselves from the rest, Week 13 did nothing for us in terms of clarifying any playoff seeding. Five teams representing four different divisions left Week 13 with a 10-2 record. One race that is becoming clearer, however, is for MVP. Lamar Jackson became the first quarterback in NFL history to have four 100yard rushing games in a season. He’s also second in the league in passing TDs, while throwing only five interceptions.

Week 13 Recap Ravens 20, 49ers 17 In a Baltimore downpour, fans didn’t get quite what they were hoping for in this matchup of talented offenses. What we got was something better. In this potential Super Bowl preview, we got to see what these teams looked like when stripped of favorable conditions and comfort. Big plays were hard to come by, so both offenses had to grind out and rely on defense.

In a loss, there were some bright spots for the Niners. Fred Warner did his thing on defense and was all over the field, and Raheem Mostert shined during a breakout game for him, running the ball 19 times for 146 yards and a touchdown.

Redskins 29, Panthers 21 The first firing of the 2019 NFL season, Washington’s Jay Gruden in October, ended up leading directly to the second firing of the year. On Tuesday, the Panthers announced Ron Rivera would no longer be coaching the team after nine seasons. This season has had its highs and lows, but this loss to the bottom-dwelling ‘Skins was too much for the Panthers

front office. Summarized almost perfectly by Kyle Allen’s flailing fumble to end the game, the Panthers struggled to perform their core competencies during this game. Christian McCaffrey was also held to 44 yards on 14 carries in a good defensive showing by Washington.

Rams 34, Cardinals 7 While the Cardinals’ 3-8-1 record doesn’t do anything to bolster confidence in the Rams, Los Angeles dominated this game from start to finish. The Rams defense was impermeable for the Cardinals running game, and Kyler Murray was affected all night by the pass rush. Jared Goff played like the 1st Round Pick that he is, as he eclipsed 400 passing yards. The Rams are hoping for fate to be favorable for them to sneak into the playoffs as a six seed, and all they can do at this point to make that more likely is play like they did on Sunday.

Week 14 Preview Ravens at Bills, Sunday 1 p.m.

The Ravens frequently find themselves in my previews, and they absolutely deserve to. This week, though, it’s their opponent’s surprising season that lands them on the list. The Bills, at 9-3, are one game behind the Patriots in the AFC East. They’ve been led by a stout defense and more-than-competent quarterback play by Josh Allen. A rare good weather game in Buffalo in December does slightly detract from the Bills advantage, but I don’t think they’re concerned over that at all. The Bills are confident, and they are ready to play with the big boys.

Broncos at Texans, Sunday 1 p.m.

The Broncos have been inconsistent this year in their results.

However, watching Denver play does not feel like watching a directionless team that isn’t improving. The Broncos have been able to keep it close with the majority of their opponents this year. The three teams that have been able to pull away and win by more than one score, the Packers, Chiefs and Bills, are proving to be solid playoff teams. Their opponent on Sunday is intent on proving they belong in that group. After a win over the Patriots that was really not as close as the score represented, the Texans still look like a team with a chip on their shoulder. Denver looks to bring the Texans back down to Earth in Houston.

Titans at Raiders, Sunday 4:25 p.m.

Oakland is likely out of serious playoff contention for their last season in California, and they only have one team on their remaining schedule with a winning record: the Tennessee Titans. The Raiders have shown flashes this season, and this is their last chance to show proof of contention against a winning team. Tennessee is still very much in playoff contention, as they wait for Houston to slip up so they can take advantage of two late-season games against the Texans and end up in the playoffs. Oakland is coming off two straight blowouts, and this game will show a lot about the culture Jon Gruden has developed there — one way or another.

Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun/TNS

Kicker Justin Tucker gave the Ravens the victory over the 49ers with a 49-yard field goal as the clock expired.

Phillies land free agent Zack Wheeler The hard-throwing righty agreed to terms on a five-year, $118 million deal

BY REN SCHMITT Print Managing Editor schmwm16@wfu.edu In contrast with the previous two MLB offseasons, signings of some of the top free agent players have been occurring somewhat early this year. With the Baseball Winter Meetings — where representatives from every MLB team will meet to discuss transactions — not beginning until Sunday, the level of activity on the market has come as a bit of a surprise.

Earlier this week, rumors began swirling that free agent starting pitcher and former Met Zack Wheeler hoped to get his deal done ahead of these meetings, and on Wednesday, Wheeler agreed to a five-year, $118 million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

At the beginning of the offseason — and presently, for that matter — Wheeler’s value was difficult to assess. Viewed as the third-best available free agent starting pitcher behind only Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg, Wheeler comes with both a relatively alarming injury history and a tremendous amount of upside.

In terms of potential, Wheeler has “stuff” in spades. Last season, his four-seam fastball averaged 96.8 mph, his slider averaged 91.2 mph and his curveball spin was in the 71st percentile, averaging 2647 rpm.

With all Wheeler’s upside, though, the

Phillies take on a considerable amount of risk. Before the 2015 season, he underwent Tommy John surgery, and his rehab stint was cut short in 2016 after he suffered a flexor strain. In what should have been his comeback season in 2017, Wheeler missed the second half of the year due to bicep tendinitis and a stress reaction in his throwing arm. Any time the back of a pitcher’s baseball card features two consecutive missed seasons, there’s reason for worry.

Fortunately for Wheeler — and now for the Phillies — he has shown signs of durability since the start of the 2018 season. He made 29 and 31 starts in 2018 and 2019, respectively, and he pitched a combined 377.2 innings across those starts.

Though his 3.96 ERA in 2019 may not jump off the page, his peripherals were better, as his 3.48 FIP suggests he was a bit unlucky, and his 8.98 K/9 is good, even though it’s not quite ace caliber.

For the Phillies, committing this much money to an unpredictable commodity speaks to the precarious situation they find themselves in as an organization. After committing about $500 million last offseason through signing free agents Bryce Harper, Andrew McCutchen and David Robertson, extending Aaron Nola and acquiring J.T. Realmuto, the Phillies finished fourth in the NL East in 2019, winning just one more game than they did in 2018.

Most glaring of their team’s issues was the starting pitching, as their 2019 group finished with the fifth-worst ERA in the NL. Nola, their ace, took quite a step back from his 2.37 ERA of 2018, finishing with a 3.87 ERA in 2019. Jake Arrieta, whom they signed ahead of the 2018 season, has

not lived up to his 3-year, $75 million price tag, as bone spurs limited his effectiveness in 2019, and he finished with a 4.64 ERA. Philadelphia recognizes that it needs to put a playoff-caliber team on the field in 2020 to justify the cash theyhave thrown around lately, and signing Wheeler should be a step in the right

direction. For them to compete with Atlanta, Washington and New York for the division title, though, the Wheeler signing will not be enough. Bounceback years from Rhys Hoskins and Nola will be necessary, and the Phillies will need to remain active this winter to plug the rest of their rotation holes with the money they have left to spend.

Dan Honda/Bay Area News Group/TNS

In 2018, Zack Wheeler had a career-high 195 strikeouts and ranked ninth in the National League with 195 innings pitched for the New York Mets.

Thursday, December 5, 2019 |Page 15

Old Gold & Black | Sports

The Special One returns to England Tottenham parted ways with longtime manager Mauricio Pochettino to bring Jose Mourinho back to the EPL

BY CHARLES HORN Contributing Writer horncs18@wfu.edu European soccer was shaken on Nov. 19 with the surprising news that English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur’s Argentinian manager, Mauricio Pochettino, had exited the club.

Nearly six months earlier, Pochettino seemed on top of the world. Tottenham had defeated titan Manchester City and had secured a legendary win in the waning minutes against Dutch side Ajax to reach the Champions League Final. Yet, Tottenham’s European success could not prevent the end of Pochettino’s five-and-a-half-year reign in charge of the North London club following a lackluster start to the season, with Tottenham sitting at 14th in the league at the time of his firing, coupled with a series of disastrous defeats including a 7-2 drubbing at home against Bayern Munich.

The initial shock at Pochettino’s departure was quickly eclipsed by the news of his replacement, the Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho. Mourinho is a proven winner, the most successful manager of this generation and an unlikely pairing for the historically stingy Tottenham.

The Portuguese manager’s success is unquestionable, both domestically and at the continental level. Mourinho’s managerial breakout occurred when his 2004 Porto side shocked the world by winning the UEFA Champions League. Mourinho’s first spell in England was with Chelsea, taking them to the top of English football with a defensive unit that conceded a record low of 15 Premier League goals in Chelsea’s 2004-2005 championship season. Everywhere Mourinho goes, success follows,

winning leagues with every club he managed since 2003 across four countries, before his title-less tenure at Manchester United, his last job before taking charge of Tottenham.

Mourinho has long been defined by a supposed emphasis on defensive soccer, with the clearest example being the 2010 Champions League-winning Inter Milan side that defeated Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona through a second leg semifinal performance that saw Inter complete just 67 passes to Barca’s 555.

Mourinho’s long ball emphasis has reemerged at Tottenham, with center-back Toby Alderweireld playing two fantastic passes from the back to set up Tottenham’s first two goals against Bournemouth.

Additionally, Mourinho’s antics are notable, with his “special one” moniker demonstrating both his success and ego. His onpitch celebrations are the stuff of legend, yet his larger than life personality can be detrimental, as his United tenure was marked by an increasingly fraught relationship with star Paul Pogba.

Mourinho has long had a complicated relationship with the media, which he demanded to respect him in the midst of his tumultuous final season at Manchester United.

Tottenham poses an unfamiliar challenge for Mourinho, as a club both not used to success, long in the shadow of North London neighbors Arsenal, and an owner adverse to the vast transfer fees that Mourinho has relied upon to build his teams.

Mourinho’s start has been excellent, winning his three out of its first four matches this is more a testament to the resources at his disposal than his tactical changes but also indicative of the heights he hopes to take the club to.

Tottenham’s attack is robust, with Mourinho full of praise for English striker Harry Kane, whom he called the best striker in Europe, and Korean winger Heung-min Son. Perhaps Mourinho’s biggest task is securing a return to form for Dele Alli, the 23-year-old English midfielder once heralded as the future of the position. After joining Tottenham at just 18, Alli dominated the midfield securing back to back double-digit goal seasons, including an 18 goal season and excluding a nine-goal, seven-

assist season. Yet, Alli’s form has dipped in the past two seasons, even costing him his place in Gareth Southgate’s England team.

Alli appears revitalized under Mourinho’s guise, scoring twice against Bournemouth and demonstrating the scorer’s eye that had captivated fans and neutrals alike.

Much of Mourinho’s success will depend on the upcoming January transfer window. Tottenham has long been plagued by a lack of depth, a problem only exacerbated by the growing age and inconsistency of their two Belgian center backs Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen as well as the lack of solid fullbacks.

Danish attacking midfielder Christian Eriksen, long one of the best midfielders in the league, seems set to leave. Mourinho will surely hope that he can bring in fresh faces and much needed defensive depth over the winter window.

Should Mourinho implant his tactical vision on the team, a vision he hopes is supported by Executive Chairman Daniel Levy, the Premier League will return to respecting and fearing its most endeared villain, the ever-entertaining “special one.”

Chuck Myers/MCT Campus

Mourinho’s most successful passage through England was at Chelsea, where he won three Premier League titles.

NHL Winter Classic to be played in Dallas in 2020 The NHL Winter Classic will be moving to its southernmost location in Dallas, Texas for its 2020 edition

BY WILL ZIMMERMAN Staff Writer zimmwj19@wfu.edu On Jan. 1, 2020, the Nashville Predators will travel to Dallas, Texas to take on the Stars in what will be the southernmost outdoor NHL game in history.

The origins of hockey are highly debated. Some contest that the game was devised in Windsor, Nova Scotia by students at the King’s College while others speculate the game comes from the area around Dartmouth and Halifax, where it was first played as early as 1773. Although the precise location of the first hockey game may not be known, one thing is for certain, the game was born outside.

In 2003, the National Hockey League paid homage to the birth of the sport with the Heritage Classic, a regular season game played outdoors between the Edmonton Oilers and Montreal Canadiens at Commonwealth Stadium, a multipurpose venue in Edmonton, Alberta. At the time, the game set an attendance record for an NHL contest, with over 57,000 spectators coming to watch.

Since 2003, the NHL has played dozens of outdoor games at venues across North America, from Wrigley Field to Fenway Park to Yankee Stadium, and even at the Big House, where a crowd of over 104,000 people watched the Red Wings play the Maple Leafs, setting the current record for largest ever attendance at a hockey game.

This year, the NHL’s outdoor game, the Winter Classic, will be played a little bit farther south of the Big House, down past Wrigley Field, Fenway Park and Yankee Stadium. This year, it will be played in Texas.

On Jan. 1, 2020, the puck will drop at Cotton Bowl Stadium, marking the southernmost outdoor NHL game to ever be played. The Dallas Stars are slated to face the Nashville Predators, and the host city couldn’t be more excited.

“I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the great history of New Year’s Day at Cotton Bowl Stadium than by welcoming

thousands of fans to witness the first ever outdoor professional hockey game in Texas,” said Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings via WFAA8.

The Stars and Predators will meet once before their New Year’s Day game on Dec. 14, which will mark the two teams’ first contest since they faced each other in the first round of playoffs earlier in 2019. During that series, the Stars, who entered the post-season as a wild card team, were able to beat the Predators, the first-place team in the Central division, in six games. The series ended in dramatic fashion, with Stars’ forward John Klingberg scoring just over 17 minutes into overtime to send Dallas into the second round. This year, the Stars and Predators are locked in a tight battle within the Central Division. As of now, the teams are separated by only five points.

Building a hockey rink inside a football stadium is no easy task, and building a hockey rink inside a football stadium in Texas is even more complicated. Construction of the rink is set to begin on Dec. 17, when workers will lay down the ini-

tial foundation for the ice, which once finished will measure almost two inches thick. Between Dec. 17 and Jan. 1, the stadium will be transformed to prepare for the 70,000 or so fans that will file in to watch the game. The entire process will be streamed and visible to fans via NHL.com.

“You are not going to believe what this iconic stadium is going to look like,” said as reported by Nicholas Cotsonika for NHL.com.

Fans across the country who can’t make it to Texas can tune in to the game at 1 p.m. on NBC. But perhaps those most excited for the game are those that will be playing in it. “[I] wasn’t sure if I’d ever get the opportunity… but now this is a dream come true, and I’m really excited,” said Stars forward Tyler Seguin also reported by Nicholas Cotsonika for NHL.com.

Seguin’s excitement is definitely warranted; everything is bigger in Texas, and this year’s Winter Classic will unquestionably follow suit.

Robert Franklin/South Bend Tribune

Since 2003, the NHL has a tradition of playing some of its games at famous football and baseball venues. This year the game was played at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Ind., for a sellout crowd of 76,126 people.

LIFE

T H U R S D AY, D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 9

PAG E 16

Online

at : w w w. w f u o g b . c o m e d i t o r : E m i l y B e a u c h a m p , b e a u e a 17 @ w f u . e d u

Ford v Ferrari booms across the screen OLD GOLD & BLACK

James Mangold's new film contains stellar acting, along with insatiable energy, but comes together as a relatively pedestrian reenactment of historical events

BY KYLE FERRER Opinion Editor ferrka16@wfu.edu I saw Ford v Ferrari with two car junkies, though their jitters through the previews quickly settled into polite interest as the film proved, by most metrics, to be standard fare. There’s little antiquing in the film, because it’s not a car show, which might have made it more interesting. It’s more a series of Cars-esque racing sequences, padded with a few grandiloquent speeches, trade minutiae played as comedy and interesting historical circumstances. Ford v Ferrari, written by Jez and John-Henry Butterworth and directed by the venerable James Mangold (Walk the Line, 3:10 to Yuma), is a by-the-numbers cultural artifact that capitalizes on its speed-laced pleasures to keep you thinly, though never painfully, engaged. The requisite metaphors about cars revving our own sexual engines, plus their anthropomorphized sensitivities, resonate as serviceable but wellworn tropes, seemingly plopped into the story to give it reflexivity. To take us into the cranky, killjoy territory that reveals cars to be just an outgrowth of mortal fear doesn’t seem appropriate, but I’ll do it anyway. Here’s Ortega y Gassat: “It is precisely because man’s vital time is limited, precisely because he is mortal, that he needs to triumph over distance and delay. For an immortal being, the motorcar would have no meaning.” This doesn’t mean that Tesla wasn’t worth splurging for, just that it belies a deep-seated something.

That said, though I was, by virtue of my birth, freed from the need for speed, Mangold’s film is exhilarating enough to watch — cars are tracked by cameras creatively proximate to them, in rope-a-dope, up-and-back motions, and the cinematography feels a bit borrowed from Pixar, with its head-out-the-window immediacy.

But nonetheless, it has force and grip, a kind of taut, centripetal intensity that remains enthralling. I wondered, quite often, where exactly they stationed these

Photo courtesy of imdb.com

Photo courtesy of imdb.com

mobile cameras, or if they had to resort to CGI. The thrill was lodged somewhere in-between any certainty.

Story-wise, Ford v Ferrari follows Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) as he tries to raise Ford, the symbol of the gray-flannel car, to the racing caliber of Enzo Ferrari and his (literally) hand-crafted works of art.

Though Ferrari produces less cars in a year than Ford produces in a day (so says Ford VP Leo Beebe, played by a simultaneously staid and unctuous Josh Lucas — a performance oozing invidious control), Ford wishes to best them at the world-famous race at Le Mans. Shelby, the only American to ever win Le Mans, is brought in to ratchet up the creativity. Ford needs technical novelty, but also sex appeal, to convince a new, moneyed generation, saturated by images of Sophia Loren and her coevals, that Ford can compete with its aesthetic superiors. Henry Ford II (Tracy Letts, relying on his staccato-boss-man style from The Big Short) a bellowing, irascible and majorly-insecure magnate, is tired of taking a “Chevy up the tailpipe” and thinks a Le Mans win will re-brand Ford’s image as the American Ferrari.

I’ll tell you that, though the story ends positively, my dad’s 2018 Ford Fusion would beg posterity to differ.

Shelby, hired as Ford’s front-man to promote as well as invent, is the kind of simply-assembled soul who prefers to “leave the yaking to the college boys,” as he says in his immolating project-launch speech, and prefers to experience life through the language that precedes all language: motion. Unfortunately, Shelby has a heart condition, but his oldest friend, Ken Miles (Christian Bale), doesn’t, and Shelby thinks he’s the driver for the job. Miles, an ornery but unquestionable talent, knows gears, motors and chassis like Shakespeare knows English. His driving is a form of endless inventing. But his personality is out of line with Ford’s steady-eddy ethos, and they don’t want to chance the PR slip-up of Miles behind the wheel, and, more importantly, improvising at the podium. As Shelby points out though, without Miles, they might as well have Doris Day behind the wheel. Miles’s wife, Mollie (Caitriona Balfe), is forgiv-

ing, up to a point. When Ken takes off with Shelby on an all-night test-drive, Mollie takes Ken on a dangerous trip in their family wagon (their son, mercifully, seemed to be home with the babysitter), berating Ken for his dishonesty, although not necessarily his passion. Interestingly, Ken reminds one of Mike McDermott, Matt Damon’s insatiable gambler from Rounders, and Mollie like a more amenable Gretchen Mol, who chastised Damon’s card-shark nature until she up and left him.

Yet Mollie is more even-keeled, for better or worse, and supports her husband amply.

What is truth for Ken Miles? When his wife confronts his clandestine friendship-cum-race-driving, she asks him to simply tell her how he feels. His response: he doesn’t know. After all, who really does? If we can interpret velocity, gear-shifting and wheel-turning as a kind of dance, then Ken’s “truth” lives beneath language, as a kind of spiritual adrenaline. Take this, from Nicole Krauss’s Forest Dark: “when I write, what I am really trying to do is dance … because dancing is free of language. To write is, in a sense, to seek to understand, and so it is always something that happens after the fact, is always a process of sifting through the past, and the results of this, if one is lucky, are permanent marks on a page. But to dance is to make oneself available (for pleasure, for an explosion, for stillness); it only ever takes place in the present — the moment after it happens, dance has already vanished.”

Ken just wants to dance. He craves energy, needs fuel.

To him, a car promises an explosion of life, and an existential enlargement formed from a kind of dissolution.

As Shelby’s narration says, “There’s a point at 7,000 RPMs where everything fades. The machine becomes weightless. It disappears. All that’s left is a body moving through space and time.” Ken may not be as articulate at Shelby, and Shelby less so than Krauss, but they all exist with an indescribable desire to dance. To put the feeling into words, or package it into a marketing campaign, dilutes its power. And if the film teaches us one thing, it’s that pure power captivates us all.

Thursday, December 5, 2019 | Page 17

Life | Old Gold & Black

Travel Column | Tucson, Ariz.

Axe throwing is easier than anticipated THE HOT Axe throwing in Tucson, LIST Ariz., can be an amazing experience for any vacation

BY KATE TENDER Staff Writer tendke18@wfu.edu Over Thanksgiving break, my family and I visited my brother in Tucson, Ariz.

For those of you unfamiliar with Tucson, the “c” is silent, so it’s pronounced “twoson.” We all incorrectly pronounced it for longer than I’d like to admit, but it seems like it would make sense. Anyway, we rented an Airbnb about 30 minutes from downtown. Tucson is home to the University of Arizona and boasts a scenic view of the surrounding mountains and an abundance of cacti.

One of our family activities was axe throwing at Splitting Timbers Axe Range.

This activity has become more popular over the past few years, as there are now many companies around different cities.

My parents participated in axe throwing in our hometown of Spokane, Wash., and the setup was similar, but the experience is based more on the company.

For us, there were three targets. We were a group of six, so we shared two targets, and a group of two shared the other

target. Our host/guide/instructor was very funny and created an inclusive environment. We all created name tags that involved puns with wood, axes, hatchets, etc. Beforehand, our instructor made sure everyone was comfortable with the inappropriate jokes he warned that he would make. It was a more laid-back experience than I was originally anticipating. Since axes can be dangerous, I thought there would be more rules. The biggest rule was to not mess around with the axes and to stay behind the designated lines in case they bounced back on the rubber mats.

In addition, it was easier than I had expected. I was going into unfamiliar territory, as most people who go axe throwing are. I thought they would be heavier, but they were more like hatchets. There were two techniques: one involved holding the axe with both hands over your head and then throwing, while with the other you hold it in one hand and wind back over your shoulder. Both were very doable and it was mainly based on preference.

While my parents said the company in Spokane just gave you a specific amount of time on a target and you could do whatever you wanted with that time, Splitting Timbers made it a competition. We would play five rounds and then count up the total points at the end. Once we did this, the top three highest scorers would play for the winner. To everyone’s

surprise, my mom ended up winning the entire thing. I enjoyed the competition a lot, and it added another element to the new concept of axe throwing. It became more about perfecting the technique and improving the ability to aim.

The highlight was throwing axes given to Splitting Timbers by Jason Mamoa.

According to our guide, he visited Splitting Timbers and gave them three axes, which were much larger and heavier than the ones we were originally throwing. It was a great experience that I would definitely recommend. If you really find your passion, they even have an axe-throwing league.

Overall, it was great to see my family for Thanksgiving and to try this new experience with them. I would definitely recommend axe throwing to anyone who is considering trying it. It would be fun with a group of friends or your family. It was a great bonding experience that fostered some healthy competition.

Kate Tender/Old Gold & Black

Axe throwing allows participants to have some friendly competition.

Super Mario Maker 2 offers unique design

BY JACK MCINTYRE Contributing Writer mcinjr18@wfu.edu Super Mario Maker 2 marks the spinoff franchise’s official debut on the Nintendo Switch console. For those unfamiliar with the central concept behind the Mario Maker games, they have two main modes. The first is Course Design, where the player can create and customize their own unique Super Mario Bros. style level.

The second mode, Course World, allows you to play levels designed by other players all over the world. Of course, many of the levels out there are utter garbage, with some even designed to kill you the moment you begin playing. Fortunately, the game has a feature to sort by the most popular courses, allowing the player to separate wheat from chaff.

The most noticeable difference between Super Mario Maker 2 and Super Mario Maker (the game’s Wii U-exclusive predecessor) is the general control scheme. Playing the original Mario Maker on the Wii U required the player to make use of the unwieldy and often maligned Nintendo Gamepad (an external controller doubling as a screen), whereas the sequel allows for the use of any Nintendo Switch-compatible controller. This simple change brings large benefits, both ergonomic and practical.

One major complaint regarding the original game was the fact that not all the level creation features were available at the outset and instead had to be unlocked one-by-one. Casting basic game features as unlockable content is like giving a kid a remote-controlled car for Christmas but making him go out and buy his own batteries. Super Mario Maker 2 rectifies this by making all level design features available right at the get-go.

The level-editing function features a vast amount of customizability. Notable features include terrain building, enemy placement, among many others. The game essentially allows you total control over almost every aspect of a Super Mario Bros. level. One of the best features is the ability to change the graphics style of the level. Options include the 3D graphics from modern Mario games as well as the classic pixelated styles seen in the older titles.

Changing the graphics impacts gameplay, with each style giving Mario the same moves and handling seen in that respective game.

While the level-editing function is enjoyable, the biggest thing the game offers by far is the sheer number of levels available to play. With thousands of levels currently out, as well as new ones being designed every day, this is a game that can stay fresh for as long as players are interested in it. The steady stream of user-made content ensures that the game always has something new to offer. This serves to make Super Mario Maker 2 unique among other

By Emily Beauchamp Finals are upon us, so here are the top 10 snacks to eat while studying for exams

1.

3.

Coffee Moe’s chips Popcorn Sour gummy worms

5.

Kit-Kats

Pretzels

Video Game Review | Super Mario Maker 2

Video game offers player made levels for others players to use

Top 10 Study Snacks

platforming games, which all have a finite number of levels as dictated by the developer.

I found Super Mario Maker 2 to be the most fun when played in a room full of friends, passing along the controller from person to person as you try to complete a challenging level. It can be a very social game, despite being purely single player when played offline (of course, if you have no friends, you can always just do the online mode). As for online play, your mileage may vary based on each player’s connection (as one bad Wi-Fi signal has the potential to snowball the entire session into a lag-filled dumpster fire). That said, this is the case for most games requiring multiple internet connections.

It is worth noting Nintendo’s gradual transition from traditional Super Mario Bros. games (with a finite set of premade courses) to the more freeform Super Mario Maker series. With the Mario Maker games, any and all levels Nintendo could make can not only be replicated but improved upon in some respect by the thousands of dedicated players out there. After all, for every four troll levels you come across, you’re bound to find at least one decent stage. Some even predict that the Super Mario Maker series will completely replace traditional Mario Bros. titles in the near future. Whether this is accurate or not remains to be seen. Overall, I give Super Mario Maker 2 4 hats out of 5, for the sheer amount of content the game offers.

7.

Pop-Tarts Grilled cheese

9.

Avocados Strawberries

DRINK OF THE WEEK Butterbeer Latte • • • • • • • •

2 tbsp. brown sugar 2 tbsp. unsalted butter 2 cups milk 1 tsp. vanilla extract 1/2 tsp. cinnamon powder Pinch of nutmeg 1 shot espresso Whipped cream and toasted marshmallows for topping

Is this a rip-off of a juice shop smootie? Maybe...

Heat sugar and butter. Once it starts bubbling, add milk and stir well till the sugar dissolves. Add the vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Simmer for a minute and add the espresso and mix well. Pour into coffee mugs, top with whipped cream and toasted marshmallows and serve!

Courtesy of My Food Study

Page 18 | Thursday, December 5, 2019

Old Gold & Black | Life

Humor Column | “The Twelve Days of Christmas”

Christmas song costs a lot of money The true cost of Christmas, according to current economic analysis

BY AMANDA WILCOX Online Managing Editor wilcaf16@wfu.edu The resident economists at the Old Gold & Black have some tough news for any Wake Forest students looking to recreate “The Twelve Days of Christmas” for their “true love” this holiday season: it doesn’t look like it’ll fit in the average college student’s budget. But take it from the ill-fated relationship between Andy and Erin in The Office — all those birds might not really be conducive for romance.

PNC Financial Services Group’s Christmas Price Index, or the PNC CPI, is calculated using a method similar to the “market basket” used to calculate the government consumer price index (CPI), which measures inflation. While replicating the song isn’t cheap — the total cost would be more than $170,000 — that’s less than one

percent more than last year. Price increases in the rest of the economy averaged about 1.8% in 2019.

The lower inflation rate for “The Twelve Days of Christmas” can partially be explained by the plunging prices of partridges and turtle doves, although if you’re looking to give your sweetheart some egg-laying geese, be prepared for a significantly steeper cost. Since the federal minimum wage last saw a hike in 2009, the cost to hire eight maids a-milking has been stagnant for the past 10 years, although as the labor market tightens, the cost to hire higher-skilled laborers, such as lords a-leaping and pipers piping, has increased modestly.

Here’s a breakdown of how much the entire song would cost, assuming you bought each gift each time as it was repeated over and over (and over and over). PNC derives its prices from the same pet stores, hatcheries, plant nurseries, dance companies and other vendors each year.

A partridge in a pear tree, times 12: $2,522.04 (Down 4.5% from last year)

Two turtle doves, times 11: $3,300 (Down 20% from last year) Three French hens, times 10: $1,815 (Stable from last year) Four calling birds, times 9: $5,399.64 (Stable from last year) Five golden rings, times 8: $6,600 (Up 10% from last year) Six geese a-laying, times 7: $2,940 (Up 7.7% from last year) Seven swans a-swimming, times 6: $78,750 (Stable from last year) Eight maids a-milking, times 5: $290 (Stable from last year; based on federal minimum wage) Nine ladies dancing, times 4: $30,211.36 (Stable from last year; reflective of the cost of a ballet company) Ten lords a-leaping, times 3: $30,000 (Stable from last year; reflective of

the cost of a ballet company) Eleven pipers piping, times 2: $5,297.74 (Up 0.8% from last year) Twelve drummers drumming, times 1: $2,972.25 (Up 0.8% from last year) Cumulative cost: $170,298.03 (Stable from last year) The takeaway? Swans are f*cking expensive. My advice is to treat your sweetheart to a nice date instead. The gifts in “The Twelve Days of Christmas” aren’t that dorm room-friendly, anyway.

Photo courtesy of Michael Gwyther-Jones

“The Twelve Days of Christmas” is very expensive this year.

Abroad Column | Israel

Israel is a learning experience for students

Students studying abroad in Israel learn about different aspects about the Jewish faith

BY JONATHAN TRATTNER Staff Writer tratjd17@wfu.edu I’m studying abroad at the Rothberg International School at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. For those who don’t know, I live in a Kibbutz, which is a type of settlement — a collective community — unique to Israel. Kibbutz Gezer, where a family friend named Varada lives, is one of more than 270 Kibbutzim (plural of Kibbutz) in Israel.

Fun fact, Kibbutz Gezer also was the first baseball field in the country!

A few weeks ago was Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and one of the two most holy days in Judaism. I was fortunate enough to spend them in the Old City in Jerusalem. On Sunday, I woke up and did some work before going to the gym (only to find out they were closed). Instead of working out, I packed and just relaxed before taking the light rail with some friends to the Old City. When we got there, we went to the hostel we were staying at, The Heritage House, and then went to Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem, where rabbis and cantors in the Reform movement are ordained.

I had a bit of a Jewish identity crisis/ revelation while at services that only became more severe throughout the holiday. Essentially, I’ve decided that I want to learn more about all the traditions

and actions I perform (for instance, why do we light candles on Shabbat, why do we make latkes for Hanukkah, etc.). Additionally, I love the communal component of the holidays and want to continue celebrating them regularly at home. Some of the best moments here have been hanging out and talking with friends over a good Shabbat meal.

Anyway, after services, we went to dinner with a philanthropic family who does a lot of great work with Israeli soldiers and integrating them back into civilian life. Their house was absolutely gorgeous. It’s essentially an apartment building turned into a giant hosting venue. They have this really cool sink in the shape of an Ark (big cabinet that houses the Torah, or Old Testament scrolls) that when you turn the faucet (in the shape of a Jewish Star) opens and spews out water.

They also have a rooftop garden with an incredible view of Dome of the Rock. When we got there, we spoke with the Clamans’ niece and her fiancé.

She’s in medical school here, and it was interesting to discuss the differences between the system here and in America (in Israel, they accept you for a sevenyear program from the get-go, while in America you have to do undergraduate work, typically four years, and then apply for a four-year medical school program).

After talking with them for a while, we got called down into dinner. Something new (to me) was a Rosh Hashanah seder, which is supposed to symbolize prayers and hopes for the new year.

Then, interspersed with wonderful food (and a fish head which was, frankly,

disturbing to gaze into), we had some deep conversations about the meaning of Rosh Hashanah and the purpose of G-D creating humans.

The conversation was a little bit uncomfortable for me and my friend (we recapped later) and only exacerbated my religious identity crisis. A lot of the guests discussed how they wake up and ask, “What can I do for G-D today?” or “What does G-D want me to do today?”

I never think of that. I don’t have any enlightening conversations with G-D. I do pray and like the idea of there being a G-D, but am not 100% sure (i.e., I’m agnostic).

So, I’m not quite sure how to identify as a Jew. It’s interesting because Judaism can refer to a culture (or a people) and a religion. There are lots of secular Jews, as well as religious Jews. This conversation just outlined for me that I’m not really gung-ho about the faith-based component of Judaism, though I’m not areligious. Religiously, I’m not entirely sure where I stand. Culturally, though, I’m definitely Jewish.

After dinner, we all went to the Western Wall (where I tried to figure out my Jewish identity). It was really meaningful to be there on Rosh Hashanah. Then it was off to bed.

Jonathan Trattner/Old Gold & Black

Pictured above is the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem. While in the country, students learn about the different traditions of the Jewish faith.

Life | Old Gold & Black

Thursday, December 5, 2019 | Page 19

Relationship Column | Dating on a Budget

Find love without breaking the bank

Relationships are hard, but don’t let money be the reason for not being in one

BY MICAH PORTER Contributing Writer portmj19@wfu.edu As social media continues to advance its upward trend, students are finding themselves entering the dating scene at younger and younger ages. From middle school to college, couples are realizing the difficulties with funding a relationship for the first time. As a national trend of teen bankruptcy sweeps across the nation, young couples are depending on the steps and strategies that help maintain a relationship without breaking the bank.

1. Online dating Free dating apps, which allow young people avenues for unconfined sexual exploration, are affordable ways to discover others in the market for love. In recent years, online dating has gained negative connotations as a desperate method of joining people with a more eminent need for attention. Regardless, searching for love on the Internet has been the motif in the love stories of many happily married couples.

2. Picnic in the park As love develops naturally over time,

to a budget. Even a few drinks at your local bar can add up quickly.

3. Bring the amount you want to spend in cash instead of using the card when you eat out. That will help you stave off the temptation to spend more than you intended.

5. Gift giving As the relationship begins to take off, gentlemen often take it upon themselves to give a gift to the lady as a demonstration of compassion.

While many girls fantasize of receiving pearl earrings or a diamond necklace, try spicing things up by picking a handmade bouquet of flowers or try wrapping and presenting a gift already owned by the significant other. If they already own it, Photo courtesy of vladans/iStockphoto/Getty Images/TNS must like it.

Here are some helpful tips to ensure that the financial aspects of they 6. Play a sport together dating are the least of your worries when seeking out a relationship. From tennis to horseback riding, sports offer a fun opportunity for coucouples learn to sacrifice and invest for fect opportunity to connect with your ples to put their relationship to the test the sake of the relationship. Young cou- partner. and compete against one another. Wake 4. Out on the town ples on a budget, looking to take their Special occasions call for a fancy dinner Forest’s campus offers such a space for relationship to the next level, might try spending time in the natural outdoors. where you and your date are encouraged you and your special someone to get out Wake Forest’s very own Hearn Plaza pro- to enjoy quality time together. At this and enjoy the fresh air.

7. Find free attractions vides a quiet sanctuary for a picnic lunch point, if funds still play a factor in the Checking the event calendars for comevening, consider the following options: or an intimate chat.

1. Seasonal foods not only taste better, munity events can be an affordable way 3. Limit eating out While dismissing the urges for Chipo- they are more nutritious and they don’t to find stuff to do. From concerts to art tle can be difficult, many couples find need to be shipped in from half a world exhibits, couples now have the ability to engage in fun activities free of charge. themselves saving hundreds of dollars a away.

2. By refraining from ordering alcohol- Experiencing a free city event can be the month by investing time in the kitchen. ic drinks when you dine out, you can sa- perfect way to enjoy a date and build a Home-cooked meals not only supply a hearty dinner, but it can provide the per- tiate the gourmand in you while sticking community.

Movie Review | Knives Out

Knives Out revitalizes the mystery genre

The original elements in this whodunnit attract special attention

BY CONNOR MCNEELY Staff Writer mcnecb19@wfu.edu Knives Out is Rian Johnson’s newest film and a momentous re-invigoration of the whodunnit genre. The movie centers on the family of the charming and eccentric Harlan Thrombey, a successful mystery author who first appears dead on his couch in a pool of blood. The family members — all veritable suspects and black sheep in their own right — are a familiar mishmash of a cast with a refreshing edition of Daniel Craig, who plays the suave and endlessly amusing private investigator Benoit Blanc; a far cry from his now stale and stark portrayal of James Bond. Highlight performances are given also from Chris Evans as the mysterious Ransom, the blackest sheep of all the black sheep, and from Jamie Lee Curtis as Linda Drysdale, who manages to maintain an air of depth underneath a comically fierce exterior.

Although Knives Out has been repeatedly described as a modern take on the

vacant streets of neighboring town; the setting begs for investigation. Johnson’s method of telling his mystery isn’t jarring or hard to follow as some critics might assert. Through a collection of sudden cuts and diverting flashbacks the narrative of the story remains intact while time is kept at bay. A good murder mystery needs an aura of nighttime, and Knives Out does just that by keeping a substantial amount of the film in the intriguing cover of darkness.

The lack of an acute realism and authentic grief isn’t a detriment to the overall quality of the film. Rather, Johnson’s clear desire to bring a lively fun back into a genre that has often stood opposed to it Photo courtesy of imdb.com culminates in a vastly successful way. PoliAs new films have been developed, the classic form of mysteries have tics and the circumstances of our modern evolved to attract more viewers through interesting modern twists. world are mixed in but kept at an acceptclassic murder story, this picture bears manifests in the essence of the characters able and humorous level. There are really a fresh sense of originality. In this era of involved, Knives Out steers clear of brood- no detectable undertones of a social mesfilmmaking where sequels and live-action ing introspection and feels like a game of sage. There is an explicit amount of reality remakes constitute the majority of the Clue, or an Agatha Christie novel with a in the message of the movie, it’s just in the reactions of the characters — not in the pedestrian cinema, Johnson’s Knives Out shot of espresso.

The general aesthetic quality of the film death of Harlan Thrombey. Each personis a vigorous adventure that promises to endure rewatching. The style of storytell- is one that draws in the curious, detail ori- ality is spilling over the top in their own ing is a crisp and energetic change to the ented eye. From the towering yet homely way, and each of those performances are traditional drama-heavy murder mystery. manor of Harlan Thrombey, filled to the used to create an intriguing puzzle — one While many other films adopt a som- brim with peculiar figurines, masks and that even the most casual viewer can’t look ber perspective on the murder itself that imbroglios of books to the interestingly away from.

FINALS WEEK MAD LIBS

Page 20 | Thursday, December 5, 2019

Old Gold & Black | Life

The end of the semester is finally here, but first we have to get through finals week. Here's some fun finals week Mad Libs to get you through this stressful time.

BY EMILY BEAUCHAMP Life Editor beauea17@wfu.edu

It studied

was in

a/an the

__________

December

Adjective

_________ Adjective

atmosphere

evening

of

the

as

ZSR

the

____________ Plural Noun

Library.

Finals

sea-

son was upon them, and you could cut the stress with a butter _________.

Noun

Many students ________________ about when they would finally get to Verb ending in -ed

go home, but first they have ____________ for their _________ exam, write Class

Infinitive (to ___)

__________ papers and __________ three projects. Food dollars and Old Golds Number

Verb

are running _________ and morale is _______________ low but a quick trip to Adjective

Verb Ending in -ing

_______________ brings new life into students as they take a/an ________ break.

Building on Campus

We’re you’ll

so be

close on

a

Adjective

and flight

yet to

so

far

away

__________, Location

from and

it

winter will

break, be

but

soon

_____________.

Adjective