Spartan Daily Vol. 160 No. 19

Long distance: loving from afar

By Brandon Nicolas STAFF WRITER

Studies show that 32.4% of romantically involved college students are in a long-distance relationship, according to a 2021 National Library of Medicine survey.

This means a significant number of San Jose State students in a romantic relationship, are in a long-distance relationship.

Nacho Morales, communication studies junior and an international student from Spain, is one of those students.

“Don’t get confused because it’s really difficult,” said Morales. “There are people that try to romanticize long-distance relationships – there is more bad things than good.”

that partner being very close and doing things that, if you were in the same room, would be very easy,” Papa said. “Sitting side by side or putting your arm around one another – literally feeling the person’s heat releases internal experiences that are different from seeing someone virtually.”

The adult attachment theory analyzes the emotional bond between romantic relationships.

“The emotional bond that develops between adult romantic partners is partly a function of the same motivational system – the attachment behavioral system – that gives rise to the emotional bond between infants and their caregivers,” according to an overview of the theory by R. Chris Fraley psychology professor at

Psychology assistant professor Lesther Papa said proximity is one element that makes long-distance relationships challenging.

“If it is somebody that you are very close to and emotionally attached to, then, there are chemicals in your body that released associated with pleasure, relaxation – things that are happy,” Papa said.

He said, with the loss of physical proximity, emotional proximity must take its place for long distance to work.

“You have to use that proximity of thinking about

University of Illinois.

“Attachment styles are basically a blueprint for how you connect with people,” Papa said.

In January, Morales moved into the International House, leaving his partner back home in Spain.

The International House is a residency near SJSU that accommodates international students from 20 to 35 different countries each semester.

RELATIONSHIPS | Page 2

One of the struggles was learning communication –understanding that our schedules are different and understanding we have to communicate when we are available or how we are feeling that day because we aren’t close to one another.

Katherine Hayden professional and technical writing junior

SJSU students reflect on the ups and downs of long-distance relationships. Psychology assistant professor highlights the science behind proximity.

ILLUSTRATION BY CAROLYN BROWN

Closet provides professional attire

By Mat Bejarano STAFF WRITER

The Spartan Career Closet and Spartan Clothes Closet are two programs that work to provide accessible clothes for students at San Jose State.

Trisha Gilges, who manages the Career Closet, said she was inspired to start the program in 2018 after seeing other universities start their own programs to assist students with professional clothing.

“We started off super small, asked for a few donations, got a small budget and purchased a few things at that time,” Gilges said. “After the pandemic, it really took off.”

She said the program receives thousands of pieces of clothing per semester.

“We were doing like 50 to 100 appointments a semester and we’ve shot up to about 500,” Gilges said.

She said the closet carries an array of sizes for students who aren’t able to find clothes that fit.

Gilges said students will be called back when their size becomes available if the organization cannot find clothes suitable to students.

In 2021, the average American spent $1,754 on apparel and services, according to the Consumers Expenditures Report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Gilges said the best part about her job is seeing students’

reactions after picking out their outfits.

“I’ve literally had students almost in tears when they’re so excited because they got a whole free outfit,” Gilges said.

“Something that would have cost them hundreds of dollars if they were to go to Macy’s and try to find something like it.”

Christa Bacon, resource and operation lead at the Career Center, said new business clothes can help students make a good first impression.

“We could really see where there was a need for the students to have professional clothing for interviews,” Bacon said. “We had minimal funding and we’re really surprised by the success that it had, like the overwhelming desire for students to have that professional outfit so that they can feel really confident going into an interview.”

Bacon said the best part of impacting students is making the job process a little easier

for them.

“An interview is a very stress inducing thing for most people,” Bacon said. “They can come in and get that outfit for that interview and I think the goal for the closet in my mind is making a stressful event easier.”

Gilges said the Career Closet works with other organizations on campus, including the Spartan Clothes Closet.

The Office of Sustainability and SJSU Cares partnered to create the Spartan Clothes Closet, which allows students to donate clothing to help other students according to the Office of Sustainability’s website.

Office of Sustainability intern Rebecca Carmick said the Clothes Closet has helped 250 students since its opening in 2020.

“The Clothes Closet initiative was designed to help alleviate two major issues: massive waste generated annually by discarded clothing and students unable to meet their basic needs,” Carmick said. “It is important to have a place on campus where students are able to get necessary clothing items that come at no cost to them.”

Carmick said the Clothes Closet has grown to what it is today because of donations from students, faculty, staff and alumni.

RELATIONSHIPS

Continued from page 1

“When she’s in class, I’m sleeping,” Morales said. “We have only the morning to talk.”

Business administration junior Clemence Labatut is an international student from France who met her boyfriend back home last summer.

“The difference in time is the hardest thing,” Labatut said. “We don’t sleep at the same time – it’s hard to call and text each other.”

She said she looks forward to the beginning and end of her days because those are the moments they can call each other.

“Essentially, if you take somebody who is talking on their phone or is on FaceTime on their phone and you freeze frame that . . . somebody is literally talking to an inanimate object,” Papa said. “That is what’s happening mutually.”

Labatut said, aside from FaceTime and texting, she uses apps such as Instagram and TikTok as another means of communicating with her partner.

Katherine Hayden, English professional and technical writing junior, has been with her partner for almost four years,

two of which have been long distance.

“One of the struggles was learning communication – understanding that our schedules are different and understanding we have to communicate when we are available or how we are feeling that day because we aren’t close to one another,” Hayden said.

She said she had to work with her partner to recognize when to provide solutions for each other, and when to listen.

Hayden said NoteIt is another means of communication that she and her partner enjoy using.

NoteIt is an app allowing friends and partners to draw and send letters to each other that appears on their phone’s home screen.

“We’ll write on it and share thoughts,” Hayden said. “It’s funny because one or the other would forget about it and we’ll see a new drawing or message – it’s cute.”

Hayden and her partner, who attends San Francisco State, are enrolled in the BayPass Pilot Program, a two-year pilot program run by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and Bay Area Rapid Transit.

The BayPass Pilot Program is a two-year pilot program that provides a single pass to some 50,000 Bay Area residents, giving them free access to all bus,

rail and ferry services in the nine-county region, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

Hayden said the act of making day trips shows mutual commitment to the relationship and helps reassure both partners.

“Being vulnerable and being honest and, like, I know we are busy with school, but I also want to see you,” Hayden said. “[Dates] don’t have to be activity based, it could just be studying – the presence of being together.”

The mutual decision to enroll in the program shows the intention from both partners to commit a day to meet.

“What tends to lead relationships into trouble is saying, ‘Let’s just see.’ ” Papa said. “That’s not intentional . . . not having intention hurts relationships.”

He said partners in relationships should be mindful of the objectives they want to achieve and not leave them for fate to decide.

Papa said to keep long distance exciting, partners can change up what comes next in their relationship and establish what they can accomplish in the coming future.

“The big thing for keeping up the hope is finding what’s important,” Papa said. “That is going to be different for each couple and who will have to find a way to

“The clothing that they donate is what helps keep the Clothes Closet fully stocked all year round,” Carmick said. “Additionally, we take graduation gown donations so that the garment can get another use and students that may not take part in the ceremony because of costs will be able to participate.”

Speech pathology graduate student Alejandra Canas, who works as the peer career advisor at the Career Closet, said the point of the Career Closet is to give to every student an opportunity at getting work attire.

“We get a wide variety of students whether they’re low income, or middle class or in between,” Canas said. “It’s open for everyone, regardless of economic status.”

Canas said she didn’t know about the Career Closet until she started working there.

“Looks are the first thing that people notice about you, regardless of whether we like it or not,” Canas said. “If you present yourself as a well put together [and] professional person ready to work, it already increases their perception of you.”

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meet their needs virtually.”

Planning trips and visits are more challenging for Morales, who said he has no intention of returning to Spain until the end of the semester in June because of financial reasons.

“Barcelona is so far from here and it is extremely expensive to travel,” he said. “We are young . . . we are poor.”

Morales said he and his partner exchange chocolates and flowers to remind one another they are thinking of them.

“As you’re thinking about wanting to be with your partner, dig in terms of gratitude for what you already have with this person,” Papa said.

He said reflecting on one’s relationship and acknowledging the memories made helps to feed the positive outlook one has on their long-distance relationship.

“I know that [when] I come back to Spain, I will be so proud of myself and of her and of our relationship,” Morales said. “I want this feeling, and I am looking forward to it.”

MAT BEJARANO | SPARTAN DAILY

Dress clothes hang on a rack at the Spartan Clothes Closet at the SJSU Career Center in the Administration Building on Wednesday.

MAT BEJARANO | SPARTAN DAILY

Ties hang on a wall at the Spartan Clothes Closet at the SJSU Career Center on Wednesday.

Two SJSU groups offer no-cost clothing to students.

A.S. approves funds for Spartan Racing

By Enrique Gutierrez-Sevilla STAFF WRITER

The Associated Students Board of Directors approved funding for Spartan Racing in a meeting in the Student Union on Wednesday.

Spartan Racing at San Jose State is a design team of over 100 students, who manufacture and compete with a Formula One style open-wheel race car against other colleges in the U.S.

The team applied for $4,736.62 financial support from the board to support their car assembly.

Business administration senior, Aaron Hylton, is Spartan Racing’s treasurer and business lead.

“In our current season budget, we have around $55,000 unfunded right now, most of which are coming from competition expenses we requested to alleviate some of our members so they can actually come to compete with us,” Hylton said.

The A.S. Board approved $4,330.64 from Spartan Racing’s initial request.

Spartan Racing is also a conglomerate of several student organizations including Spartan Racing, Spartan Racing Baja, Spartan Racing Electric and a mechanical engineering team.

“Coming to this, we try to obtain appropriate funding, not too much, because we understand we have to share this with the rest of the college and we try our best to do that,” Hylton said. “We knew that some of the more critical components, such as the vehicle control unit, dev board, tires and rod ends are some of our big ticket items this part of the season.”

Mechanical engineering senior, Ashwin Viswesvaran, is the chief engineer for Spartan Racing and represented the organization for their funding proposal.

“Our goal on the team is to provide our members a practical experience of working on a system in the car that’s directly relevant to industry standards – and very similar to vehicles you see on the road today, while simultaneously improving our

vehicle and competition performance,” Viswesvaran said.

Viswesvaran said the tires, rod ends, control unit and development board are important assets to their vehicle design to ensure the vehicle does well at competition and mechanical designers can get data based on execution.

“It’s critical that we have appropriate tires to really extract the true performance out of the car to get amazing data to look at and learn from,” Viswesvaran said “Our vehicle control unit and development board is extremely critical to not only operating the car and allowing the driver to actually accelerate and slow down the vehicle –but it’s also critical to the advancement of our control systems that will allow us to implement many systems you see in Formula One such as drag reduction system, trash control and regenerative

braking.”

Viswesvaran said Formula Society of Automotive Engineers is an important experience for many people in college.

The Formula Society of Automotive Engineers is an international competition of university teams who design and manufacture race cars to see whose vehicle performs best, according to the Formula Society of Automotive Engineers website.

“It not only opens the door to many interning full time positions, but it also gets the team and the school a lot of attention from prospective employers and sponsors,” Viswesvaran said.

Magnus Herrlin, A.S. director of internal affairs , said he approved Spartan Racing’s funding.

“Some RSO’s [recognized student organizations] need more money and other RSO’s don’t touch a nickel, so we want to

get the money to students who need it,” Herrlin said.

He said recognized student organizations that need funding have a limit of $2,700 when applying. However, when organizations need more money, they ask A.S. for more.

“I believe that all RSO’s should be entitled to the exact same amount, it may not be fair to others,” Herrlin said.

Herrlin said A.S. would like to change the hard limit, so more student organizations can receive funding.

“It’s a massive relief for us,” Viswesvaran said. “We have extremely high expenses, especially with inflation and cost skyrocketing every year, so it’s great to have this money at this time of the season.”

Nobel Prize winner speaks at SJSU

By Alina Ta STAFF WRITER

Alvin Roth, Nobel Prize winner and Stanford University economics professor, spoke to San Jose State students about the economics of controversial topics in today’s society at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, on Wednesday.

Roth was the co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics for his work in market design and his work in matching theory, according to an article by the University of Pittsburgh.

Markets are merging processes that factor in supply and demand, according to an October 2007 article written by Roth in the Harvard Business Review.

According to the same article, market design focuses on the “detailed rules” within well-functioning markets.

Roth was also one of the experts who helped revolutionize kidney donations around the world by using an economic theory to make kidneys more available, according to a Dec. 17, 2019 BBC article.

“He is certainly an expert,” said Philip Held, a consulting professor at Stanford University. “There’s a lot of underestimation of the fantastic contribution [he made] with . . . organ exchange.” Held said Roth doesn’t give himself enough credit for putting today’s modern approach to kidney donations on the map.

During the lecture, Roth said his interests also include other repugnant or controversial markets.

He said markets connected to controversial issues include repugnant transactions.

He said repugnant transactions are, “transactions that some people would like to engage in but some people don’t think they should be allowed to [. . .].”

He said he wanted to focus on situations where people state someone else should not be able to participate in certain transactions for moral reasons, regardless of whether or not it affects them personally.

“I think [. . .] a big question that economists have to come to terms with, that we haven’t yet, [. . .] is, ‘Why does some markets get social support?’ ” Roth said.

Roth said economists should focus on why markets with less social support are pressured to be banned and to take into account if these markets should be banned too.

He said one example of this is the debate between whether or not people in society should treat drug addicts as criminals or as victims.

Roth said one side of the debate is to end the drug crisis by aggressively prosecuting drug addicts as criminals.

“On the other hand, there’s this harm reduction movement that says, ‘You know, we hate drugs and drug addicts . . . but we don’t want them to die overdose deaths,’ ” Roth said.

He said this side of the argument prefers to focus on harm reduction measures such as opening supervised drug injections sites.

Roth said this creates tension between these two sides of the debate because despite the other side’s intentions, supervised drug injection sites are illegal in the U.S.

He also explained that people living near these injection sites would not be concerned that drug addicts may travel into their community.

Roth said these concerns don’t change the fact that countries that treat drug addicts more like patients have fewer overdose deaths.

“So of course, just as we don’t

want any contract killing, we don’t want any drug addicts,” Roth said.

He also said it’s harder to understand what to do for drug addicts in comparison to what to do for contract killing.

“And so perhaps, you know, as market designers, we should be thinking [. . .] about what else we can do [. . .] but it’s very controversial,” he said.

Roth said there are also other examples of repugnant transactions, including other examples that differ in political support for certain controversial topics.

“Sex is a good place to look for repugnant [transactions] because people want to have sex with each other and we don’t want them to,” Roth said.

He said same-sex marriage is a good example of a repugnant transaction.

Roth said for decades, California banned and legalized same-sex

relations multiple times because of changing circumstances.

Roth said for example, same-sex marriage was not always banned in California because there were already pre-existing laws banning same-sex sexual relations.

“Not long after in 1977, California passed a ban on samesex marriages,” Roth said. “Before, they hadn’t had that because the people who worried about samesex marriage felt protected by the ban on same-sex sex.”

He said after the ban was taken away, the state quickly moved to ban same-sex marriages in California.

Roth said this back and forth between banning and legalizing same sex marriage continued in California until the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same sex marriage for all 50 states in 2015.

He said economists should be thinking about how to navigate these controversial and morally

contested issues or “markets.”

“This is a problem that’s important for economists,” Roth said. “It’s too important to be left just to the philosophers and politicians.”

Roth said he’s been studying controversial markets because he thinks economists should know more about why some markets get support and others don’t.

He also said it’s an exciting time to be an economist.

“Right now in Silicon Valley, we’re seeing the growth of lots of markets,” Roth said. “We’re seeing lots of markets be invented and designed and evolved and regulated, and economics is about that.”

ALESSIO CAVALCA | SPARTAN DAILY

(Left to right) Patrick McGowan, Ashwin Viswesvaran and Aaron Hylton discuss the fund request with the Associated Students Board of Directors on Wednesday in the Student Union.

Follow Enrique Gutierrez-Sevilla on Twitter @SpartanDaily

ALINA TA | SPARTAN DAILY Nobel Prize winner Alvin Roth presents a graph during a lecture at MLK Library on Wednesday afternoon.

Temporary tattoos are henna good

By Matthew Gonzalez STAFF WRITER

Forensic biology senior Maryam Moshref sparked her passion for henna through a white lie.

A day before the Muslim Student Association at her high school celebrated the holidays of Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, Moshref volunteered to do henna art on over 30 people.

Henna is a plant-based dye used frequently during various Middle Eastern and African celebrations that acts as a temporary tattoo, staining the skin a brownish-gold color with any desired design according to The Henna Guys.

Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha are two major celebrations on the Muslim calendar, with Eid al-Fitr commemorating the ending of the Ramadan fasting period and Eid al-Adha marking the end of hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca, according to Britannica.

Moshref said her love for henna and the idea to start a business came as a result of her busy school schedule preventing her from maintaining a conventional shift-based job.

She said strict rules about tattoos within Muslim culture makes henna a popular alternative and allows for self-expression.

“People are fascinated with henna because it was some sort of body-art modification that is temporary, but at least it’s expressive,” Moshref said.

She said she likes to inform people about the cultural importance of henna, but also wants her clients to be able to personalize the art she puts on their body.

“I’ve done a piece recently where [the client was] Filipino so instead of doing the main moon, I did the Filipino flag with the sun,” Moshref said.

Although she allows clients to customize their henna, there are certain lines Moshref said she wouldn’t cross.

“I really care about educating people about the meaning behind [henna]. It is something that you do carry, not

in a sacred way, but it is traditional,” Moshref said. “So I wouldn’t use henna for derogatory pictures or anything like that.”

Forensic biology senior Desiree Castro said she met Moshref in one of her classes and immediately knew she was creative when she would catch her drawing in the middle of lecture.

Castro said Moshref was extremely warm and her honesty will help her in pursuing henna as a business.

“If you wanted something, she’ll tell you whether she can do it or not,” Castro said. “And that’s a good thing about being a business person – if you’re honest about the work and what you can produce.”

Castro said though Moshref is the first person who has done henna on her, she always enjoyed the aesthetic of the art form.

She said she’s happy her best friend can invest time into actively engaging in her culture through art.

“From somebody who didn’t really know the significance behind [henna,] being able to see her share with everybody what it actually means and also being allowed to express her art form like this – where people get to choose what they want and stuff – it’s really good,” Castro said.

She said she notices how busy Moshref is during the week and loves that she’s investing in herself and making quick cash from doing something she loves.

“It’s really good to see [her business] grow and expand into something that I thought would just be something super fun for her into something that could be a really good side hustle for her,” Castro said.

Global studies junior Gisselle Escobar said she was introduced to henna in middle school through a classmate.

Escobar said her henna designs were often trivial and didn’t have too much, but it was a good way to temporarily tattoo herself, something her family vehemently opposes.

“My mom’s Mexican and my dad is Salvadorian, so that’s why he has

an issue with tattoos, because in El Salvador tattoos are associated with gang members,” Escobar said. “So my family has a bad relationship with tattoos.”

She said art is at the core of self-expression.

“Since art is a form of expression, I feel if someone isn’t accustomed to expressing themselves, how are they going to sympathize with other people’s emotions if you’re not in touch with your own?” Escobar said.

Moshref said she’s working hard to promote her business and hopes to build a clientele in the SJSU and San Jose community.

She said vending would be a good way to get her foot in the door.

“I want to be able to get started on booths and just pay for vendors and then have that way so I can build up clientele,” Moshref said. “I think in the future, if this really takes off, I think I’d probably like a website.”

MATTHEW GONZALEZ | SPARTAN DAILY

Follow Matthew Gonzalez on Twitter @MattG2001

Maryam Moshref does henna on forensic biology senior Desiree Castro’s right arm in her dorm at Campus Village A on Thursday, Feb. 23.

Jeremy’s Campaign: tips for collectors

By Jeremy Martin

The popular and extremely competitive nature of retro video game collecting makes it hard for collectors to effectively add to their collections. But it can be easier with the aid of these helpful tips.

Here’s my tips on collecting retro video games in San Jose and the surrounding Bay Area.

Networking can be the difference between scoring that rare video game for your collection or losing out. In other words, if you have a retro gaming store in your area, develop a friendly relationship with the owner.

After all, video game store owners are people too. On top of it being a nice gesture, this can also work in your favor.

If you develop a relationship with store owners, they’re more likely to hold a product for you when it comes in.

You can even inform them about what you like to collect and oftentimes, they can keep an eye out for those items, according to MetalJesusRocks in a Sept. 24, 2021 YouTube video.

MetalJesusRocks is a respected YouTube content creator within the retro gaming community.

When developing a relationship with store owners, it’s good to follow the shop’s social media.

More often than not, they’ll create social media accounts for their business and post about different items in the shop.

Most big name shops in the immediate area like Gamehop Downstairs, The Retro Fix, Retro Rewind and Cartridge Cartel all have Instagram accounts.

It also really helps to join groups like Killer Games Swap on Facebook and other social media sites. Gamers can get information on video games and acquire certain titles from other fans, who are often more than happy to help.

Don’t just look for what’s popular, even if you’re a big fan of these titles.

Chances are, if something

is popular in the retro video game community, it’ll be expensive and hard to find.

This is especially true with Nintendo titles, including just about any video game in the Pokémon franchise.

To combat this, collectors should go after video games that are easier to find because they are on a less popular system.

Instead of hunting for video games on the Super Nintendo, try searching for ones you may want on the PlayStation 2 or original Xbox.

There are times you can easily find cheaper retro video games for other, less popular consoles according to the same MetalJesusRocks YouTube video.

Going against the status quo is a good way of not only acquiring video games at a great price, but also improving your experience with video game collecting as a whole.

Retro video game collectors should be very selective over what systems and video games they’re collecting.

It’s never good to blindly purchase a bunch of video games just to try them, no matter how tempting this might be. Trust me, I’ve been guilty of doing this.

Speaking from experience, things can get out of hand pretty quickly if you don’t limit video game related purchases for your collection to what you really want to or enjoy to play.

Being selective about what you buy will help refine your video game library and save precious shelf space.

If you don’t have discipline and a selective attitude about the video games you’re buying, you’ll have way more than what you realistically know what to do with.

As many hardcore gamers know, there are several places that will give you trade-in credit for old video games and systems you don’t want anymore.

Any potential collector should take full advantage of this.

Why not trade unwanted video games in for the ones that you actually want? Stores can either offer trade-in credit or cash for your video games.

Many stores give more in-store credit than cash, allowing more bang for your buck.

You can sell your retro video games back to not only most retro video game stores, but also at GameStop. The company has started taking select retro video games in its stores, according to an April 15, 2015 article by GameSpot. These businesses need to make money too at the end of the day, which means trading in video games will come at the cost of not getting the full market value.

Trading in towards big ticket items you want versus buying them at full price can help contain the size of your collection. It will also help you get rid of old, unplayed video games, allowing you to acquire big money titles for what seems like a steal.

condition or have cases that are close to mint condition.

Gamers can purchase plastic video game protectors on Amazon that’ll help protect their video games from scratches and major damage if they’re dropped or mishandled.

Protectors can be purchased on Amazon for NES, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64 or GameBoy video games and many other retro video game systems on the secondary market.

These consoles’ video games all originally came in cardboard boxes, making them more vulnerable to damage.

Gamers should also invest in getting replacement cases for video games, particularly for systems, like the PlayStation, GameCube, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3, as it is common to find video games for these systems with beat-up cases.

Replacement cases are also easy to get on Amazon for video games on these consoles at a decent price.

The only caveat is that most of these cases aren’t branded as Nintendo, PlayStation or Microsoft cases, but are made in the same style.

If you don’t care about the branding on the case, then replacement cases can be a viable option to improve your collection, rather than just buying more and taking up space.

Not only that, but replacement cases can make your video games look almost like they’re brand new. These are my top tips when collecting video games, especially for anyone on a budget or looking to save space in their shelf or gameroom. Happy collecting.

I would recommend investing in protecting your collection, especially anyone collecting on a budget or with limited space.

new video game you’ve been eyeing, hold off and buy plastic video game protectors for rare titles or even replacement cases for ones that have damages.

on the secondary market have cases that aren’t in the best condition. Moreover, you’re going to want to protect video games that are in good

The same thing can also be done for older Xbox and Xbox 360 video games, but it is slightly harder to match replacement cases up with originals.

GRAPHIC BY VANESSA TRAN

SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Chris Rock slaps back at Will Smith

By Jeremy Martin SENIOR STAFF WRITER

On March 27, 2022, in a move that shocked the world, Will Smith walked on stage at the Oscars and slapped Chris Rock across the face.

The altercation happened after Rock made a joke at the expense of Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith’s wife.

Rock has stayed quiet about the whole ordeal until he addressed the slap during his newest Netflix comedy special “Selective Outrage” that was released on Saturday.

Rock referred to the incident several times during the special saying, “I do not need another rapper mad at me.”

Rock said that he was trying to finish what Pinkett Smith started, after she criticized the lack of diversity in the nominees for the 2016 Academy Awards, which Rock also hosted, according to a March 5, 2023 E! News article. One of Pinkett Smith’s wishes in 2016 was that Rock not host the Oscars, according to the same E! News article.

Rock’s jokes at the Oscars are part of his job and his professional persona. Not to mention, the G.I. Jane joke that Rock aimed at Pinkett Smith wasn’t necessarily bad.

What do you expect if you are sitting in the front row of the Oscars during a comedian’s monologue?

He said, “Jada. I love you. G.I. Jane 2, Can’t wait to see it.” He was of course implying that she

looked like a character from the movie “G.I. Jane” with her head shaved.

The underlying pain in that joke was that Pinkett Smith shaved her head because she suffers from alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease that causes hair loss, according to a National Institute of Health website.

“G.I. Jane” was released in 1997, about a woman successfully placed in combined reconnaissance training, despite everyone expecting her to be unsuccessful in her efforts, according to IMDb. In the movie, actress Demi Moore has a shaved head.

In this day and age, you’d think it would be viewed as empowering and a much more positive crack at Pinkett Smith than Will Smith made it out to be. It is generally more acceptable that people can wear many different hairstyles as statements of their own uniqueness.

Smith’s reaction to the joke was entirely unprofessional and unjustified.

No matter how a joke makes someone feel in the moment, they should never resort to intense profanity or violence, especially at an event like the Academy Awards. Millions of people watched Will Smith slap Chris Rock in the face for a small joke, which will forever be a part of Rock’s legacy.

Despite all of the many accomplishments Rock has had in his career, from his great roles as an actor to his game-changing stand-ups, he will forever be

known as the guy who got slapped on stage by the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

Smith even acknowledged that he was wrong shortly after the Academy Awards last year, issuing an apology to Rock. Smith said in his apology, “I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong,” according to a March 28, 2022 article by CNBC.

During his Netflix special, Rock was venting about the incident the only way he knows how: through comedy. Throughout the entire fiasco, Rock just stood back and made jokes about the incident, rather than resorting to violence like Smith.

This shows that Rock should be seen as more of a man for standing back and taking the incident in stride than Smith ever was for delivering that famous slap. When it comes down to it, Rock was just doing his job and Will Smith was being overly sensitive.

During the Netflix special, you can immediately tell that bringing up the incident was his own way of healing from the ordeal.

Even Marlon Wayans agreed during his guest spot on CBS Mornings, where he spoke about his feelings on the comments Rock made in his special, according to a March 8, 2023 People article.

“What you heard was somebody that was hurt, somebody that was finding their way to heal in that moment,”

Wayans said.

Cracking more jokes about the incident was the best way Rock could respond, especially when it’s been nearly a year.

In his comedy special, Rock said he “took that shot like Pacquiao,” referring to the former world champion boxer, and that he had nothing to do with any “entanglement” that went on between the Smiths.

“Entanglement” is a reference to Pinkett Smith’s 2020 confession of infidelity with her son’s friend and R&B singer, August Alsina, on Red Table Talk, a TV talk show that Pinkett Smith stars in, according to an April 12, 2022 US Weekly article.

Rock went on to say that the slap “still hurts.”

“I have summertime ringing in my ears,” Rock said. “Drums Please!”

During his special, Rock also said that Smith practices “selective outrage” and that the incident has changed his perception of Smith.

It was pretty evident that Rock is still salty about the situation and rightfully so. This will be a

stain on a legendary career.

It is absolutely undeniable that what Smith did was outrageously inappropriate and that Rock did the right thing. As the bigger man in this situation, Rock surely deserves to vent and get his thoughts out about the incident how and when he sees fit.

Anyone who watches the comedy special will immediately see how wholesome and mature of a venting session it really is, as after almost every other joke, Rock makes sure to say that he isn’t trying to offend or diss anyone.

Rock even addressed the reason as to why he didn’t resort to violence and fight back against Smith at that moment.

It was because he “has parents that taught him to never fight in front of white people.”

Obviously this statement, at face value, is a joke. Looking at the bigger picture, he basically means that his parents raised him better than to resort to such violence.

Access Magazine and The Spartan Daily regret these errors.

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