Thursday, October 6, 2022

Where do we go from here?

Astronaut Scott Kelly shares life lessons

By Madeleine Afonso and Claire LaLiberte STAFF WRITERS

The mysteries of space have captivated the human race for centuries, driving us to learn and explore. Since Yuri Gagarin first reached orbit in 1961, over 600 people have ventured beyond Earth’s atmosphere. One of them is Captain Scott Kelly, who the Wisconsin Union Directorate Distinguished Lecture Series (WUD-DLS) welcomed to campus on Tuesday.

Kelly logged an impres sive 520 days of spaceflight with NASA — the fourth-longest of any American astronaut. Three hundred and forty of those days were spent consecutively during his Year in Space, a joint endeavor between NASA and the Russian space program (Roscosmos) that sent Kelly and his “Russian broth er from another mother” — cos monaut Mikhail Kornienko — to

the International Space Station together for nearly a full year.

Kelly described the perspec tive shift that comes with being in space, saying he saw “that we’re all on this planet together with out political borders — you don’t see those from space. And you understand that big problems take cooperation.”

One’s worldview changing after going to space is commonly referred to as the “overview e ect” and is something that many astro nauts, including Kelly himself, have discussed.

Scientifically, Kelly’s year in space provided a unique oppor tunity to study the e ects of longterm space travel on the human body — he has an identical twin, Mark, also a former astronaut. This opened the door for NASA’s landmark twins study, measur ing the physical and psychological changes experienced by Scott and using Mark as a sort of control.

The brothers are genetically almost identical, which allowed NASA to easily observe changes in Kelly’s genome over time. The study reported changes in gene expression and telomere length, which are the ends of chromo somes that tend to shorten as people age. NASA predicted the telomeres would shorten at a fast er rate while in space, but results showed they lengthened.

“My first reaction was ‘That’s really weird’,’’ Kelly told the Daily Cardinal. “We found out later it was due to radiation [exposure].”

Many beneficial findings regarding human health and genetics came out of the study, and Kelly emphasized that for our future, spaceflight and its accompanying research are worth the investment.

“I think we’re getting to the point where, hopefully, we’ll see some really exciting developments in genetics,” Kelly said. “But are

we going to cure cancer from spaceflight? Probably not. Will we get other things, [like] scientific discoveries? Yes.”

Kelly deemed it “a privilege to be able to fly in space, espe cially when you’re doing it at the expense of the taxpayer.” He expressed his belief that “with that privilege comes an obligation to talk about it.” As a result of this principle, Kelly shares his experi ence in public speaking engage ments all across the country, relat ing the lessons he learned in space to people’s everyday lives.

The former astronaut explained how he applied to the program with NASA completely on a whim, as he was focused on a career as a Navy pilot at the time. To his surprise, Kelly was accept ed in the same class as his brother, making them the first relatives to both be selected to NASA. He then began working for three years to understand the complicated and

sophisticated machinery that is a NASA spacecraft.

“I had this idea that taking risks, being willing to make mis takes and at times willing to fail, is what separates people that are really successful,” Kelly said in his talk.

He described di cult risks and failures in school and with the Navy that preceded his remark able achievements with NASA. Kelly emphasized how far he had come from being “the kid that couldn’t do his homework” to “get ting ready to fly in space for the first time as the first person in [my] class of 35 other people.”

Kelly attributed his successes to his years of hard work and the many risks he’d taken with the understanding that he may fail, as well as people skills that he deemed crucial for living with others in space. He encouraged his audience to take on the same mindset in their own lives.

takes no action on abortion referendum proposal

By Gavin Escott and Zoe Kukla STAFF WRITERS

Republicans in the Legislature swiftly shut down Gov. Tony Evers’ latest bid to overhaul Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion ban on Tuesday morning, gaveling in and out of a special session in seconds with no debate.

Evers called the special session in a speech on Sept. 23. He asked the Legislature to consider a state constitu tional amendment that would have allowed Wisconsinites to change state law through referendum, specifically Wisconsin’s 1849 near-total abortion ban that makes no exceptions in cases of rape and incest.

At the time, Evers said this would enable Wisconsin voters to take on abortion them selves. During his announcement, he cited Sen. Ron Johnson, who previously said the legality of abortion in the state should be up to Wisconsinites, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

However, Republicans in both the Assembly and Senate refused to consider the Governor’s proposal Tuesday. Senate President Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield) and Assembly speaker pro tempore Tyler August (R-Lake Geneva) each opened and closed their respective sessions in seconds, even as August was met with shouts of “no” and “coward” from multiple represen tatives on the floor.

Evers expressed his disappointment in a statement Tuesday.

“The people of this state should have the right to take a stand at the ballot box. But true to form, Wisconsin Republicans have refused to act,” he said. “That’s not leader ship. And that’s certainly not democracy.”

Both Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) and Senate Majority Leader

Devin Lemahieu (R-Oostburg) dismissed the special session as a “political stunt” meant to distract from the governor’s fail ings in a joint statement on Sept. 23.

“Governor Evers would rather push his agenda to have abortion available until birth than talk about his failure to address rising crime and runaway infla tion caused by his liberal D.C. allies,” Vos and LeMahieu said. “Hopefully, voters see through this desperate political stunt.”

Though most Republican lawmakers were absent from Tuesday’s special session, numerous Democrats showed up in protest.

Rep. Francesca Hong (D-Madison), who represents most University of WisconsinMadison students living south and east of cam pus, told the Daily Cardinal that Republicans’ refusal to bring the vote to the floor demon strated a disconnect with the public.

“We have a dysfunctional govern ment when the leader who has the power refuses even to debate an issue that many Wisconsinites — the major ity of Wisconsinites — want us to take action on,” Hong said. “For the govern ing body — the body with power — to not even debate the issue is cowardly and un-Wisconsinite.”

Hong and fellow Democratic Rep. Robyn Vining (D-Wauwatosa) both attend ed Tuesday’s session in pink attire, with Hong wearing a pink Planned Parenthood hat and Vining in hot pink pants. Hong said the attire represented their solidarity with abortion rights activists.

“Abortion is healthcare. And everyone that we love, and someone that you love, is going to need an abortion someday,” Hong said. “It’s important that they know that leaders in their government also reflect

their interests.”

Following the special session, Evers joined Lt. Gov. candidate and current Rep. Sara Rodriguez (D-Brookfield) for a rally outside the Capitol. Evers, Rodriguez and other abortion rights activists gave speech es where they called attention to repro ductive rights and the importance of the November election.

“I believe people deserve a voice since the Republicans have failed them in this building,” Evers said.

The governor also underscored fur ther consequences for the state’s colleges

and universities if Wisconsin’s 1849 ban is allowed to stand.

“If this continues, our [universities and institutions] accreditation to prepare OB/ GYNs will be taken away from our medical schools here,” Evers said.

Abortion training is required for obstet rics-gynecology training, but religious and moral opt-outs are available for stu dents who seek them, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

Evers concluded the rally by urging Wisconsinites to take to the polls if they want to see changes in the legislation.

Business and Advertising

Blood centers collect for Hurricane victims

By Gavin Escott STAFF WRITER

When Hurricane Ian approached the coast of Florida in late September, blood centers across the United States made preparations to send available supplies to a ected areas.

Among those participating in the national response were multiple blood centers in Wisconsin.

In a release, ImpactLife, a nonprofit blood center with locations across the Midwest, announced they had been asked to send shipments of type O red blood cells to Florida as part of their role in the Blood Emergency Readiness Corps.

The Corps is a group of cen ters across the country that work together to ensure blood is ready and available to parts of the country experiencing emergencies, such as a natural disaster, that would disrupt blood supply.

“[Hurricane Ian] will shut down the local blood centers,” ImpactLife Madison supervisor of donor ser vices Kory Armstrong told News 3 Now. “They won’t be collecting blood. What they have on hand is

what they have, and when they run out, they need help from elsewhere. That’s when we come in.”

Heading into Hurricane Ian, blood collection organizations nationwide had an average of one to two days’ worth of blood sup ply, according to the Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapies (AABB). The Category 4 storm, which left hundreds dead and thousands without power, has strained low inventories in Florida and the Southeast and made trans porting blood more challenging.

The AABB strongly urged eli gible people in una ected areas to schedule a blood or platelet dona tion appointment as soon as pos sible to maintain a stable and ade quate supply of blood and platelets, which could save lives. The need for platelets is especially urgent, given platelets have a limited shelf life of five days, and the breadth and dev astation wrought by Hurricane Ian would last longer.

In the release, ImpactLife said they would prioritize local needs before shipping blood components

outside of their direct service region, but if they had more donations, they could give more.

Erica Davidson with ImpactLife told News 3 Now the amount of blood the center could ship depend ed on donation turnout.

“When the need is called upon, and we have surplus, we are able to help out,” Davidson said.

Vice President of Marketing and

Donor Relations Amanda Hess said more donations are needed to sup port Hurricane Ian victims.

“We are asking all potential blood donors and our blood drive coordi nators to help us answer the call,” Hess said. “We will need to increase our donations this week and next to continue meeting local needs while also supporting the region a ected by Hurricane Ian.”

Understanding UW’s emergency alert systems

By Ian Wilder STAFF WRITER

The Daily Cardinal

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Members of the University of Wisconsin-Madison community are familiar with WiscAlerts, the cam pus emergency notification system. However, there are complex intrica cies involved with what qualifies as a WiscAlert, O -Campus Alert or a Crime Warning.

There have been multiple inci dents in the past where the public took to social media, particularly Twitter, to share their discontent that WiscAlerts had not been issued for crimes in the campus area.

Most recently, multiple students took to Twitter questioning why there was no WiscAlert issued after the June 14 State Street assaults on three individuals.

WiscAlerts are issued when there is an “immediate, actively occurring and confirmed emergency situation on campus [or an actively occurring threat that’s heading toward cam pus] that requires the community to take immediate action in order to stay safe,” University of Wisconsin Police Department spokesman Marc Lovicott told the Daily Cardinal.

For example, a UWPD website says that an active shooter head ing toward campus could qualify as a WiscAlert. An active shooter situation occurring away from campus, posing no current or per ceivable future threat to campus would not meet the criteria out lined for WiscAlerts.

UWPD manages the campus Emergency Notification System, more commonly known as WiscAlerts. According to the 2022 Annual Security and Fire Safety Report, “all UWPD managers are authorized to initiate and use the WiscAlert system.” The notification system is mandated by the Federal Clery Act.

The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, more commonly known as the Clery Act, requires that higher education institutions implement certain safety and security pro tocols, and disclose certain sta tistics pertaining to crime within the campus geographical area.

WiscAlerts are initially issued in English, followed by a message

o ering translations to Spanish, Chinese, Tibetan, Nepali and Hmoob/Hmong.

UWPD also operates Off Campus Alerts, which are similar to WiscAlerts but cover the area with in the boundaries of Lake Street, the coast of Lake Mendota, Butler Street and Johnson Street. They’re also opt-in, as compared to WiscAlerts which wisc.edu emails are automati cally enrolled in.

This means events like Tuesday’s sexual assault in the Fahrenbrook Court area are tech nically not required to receive o campus or WiscAlerts. Despite being a largely student-dominated area, the incident did not occur on campus or within the downtown reporting area.

O -campus alerts are slight ly more narrow-scoped than WiscAlerts. These incidents occur outside of the UWPD jurisdiction and therefore rely on the City of Madison Police Department to con firm the reports and relay relevant information to the UWPD.

“The incidents may have quali fied for an O -Campus Emergency

Alert,” said Lovicott of the June 14 assaults. “However, these alerts must be timely… and we can only issue an alert when we become aware of the actively occurring incident and have verified the information. We do not send out emergency notifications for inci dents that previously occurred.”

The final and most common form of safety alerts are crime warn ings. Crime warnings are the most broad and widely applicable form of safety alert available to UWPD, and are required under the Clery Act.

In order to issue an alert, UWPD looks at “where the crime occurred, the nature of the crime (serious/nonserious, violent/non-violent), the nature of the threat (general threat versus limited threat to a specific person) and whether or not there is a continuing danger to the commu nity or continuing crime pattern.”

of Directors

Additionally, crime warnings are only required within so-called “Clery Geography,” which covers on-campus property, public proper ty within the boundaries of campus or “immediately next to or acces sible to campus and on-campus property,” as well as non-campus property, which is property owned by UW-Madison.

Non-campus property is “used in direct support of, or in rela tion to, UW-Madison’s educa tional mission, is frequently used by students, and is not generally connected to main campus.” An example of non-campus property would be the Arboretum.

Within the past year, crime warnings have been issued for moped thefts, sexual assaults and petty theft.

WiscAlerts are issued primarily through wisc.edu emails. However, WiscAlert text alerts are opt-in. UW-Madison students, faculty and sta can sign up online to receive them by text. Other community members and parents or guard ians can text UWALERT to 77295 to enroll for WiscAlerts for a six month period. Additionally, WiscAlerts are issued on certain internet platforms, such as Twitter.

CAMERON LANE-FLEHINGER/THE DAILY CARDINAL

B-Side Records relocates to new State Street storefront

By Meghan Spirito STAFF WRITER

B-Side Records is the only record shop left in downtown Madison. However, development company JD McCormick proposed demolish ing three buildings to make room for a five-story development on the 400 block on State Street. JD McCormick’s proposed project will displace three small State Street busi nesses which have been there for decades, including B-Side Records, which resided at 416 State Street.

B-Side Records owner Steve Manley spoke to The Daily Cardinal about the store’s history, transition to the new storefront and his thoughts on property companies adding new high-rises to State Street.

B-Side Records opened at 436 State Street in 1982 by two recent University of Michigan graduates who were former record store clerks. Manley recalled shopping at B-Side immediately as a fellow college stu dent big on record collecting.

“B-Side had a cool and interest ing selection for such a small shop,” Manley said.

Manley was working for years

at Suburpia, a sandwich shop at 514 State Street.

“[It] is the exact storefront B-Side just moved into. Moving back into the same spot I first worked at in Madison is a pretty wide, satisfying and unlikely full circle,” Manley said.

Manley struck up a deal where the owners of B-Side could get dis counted subs in exchange for dis counts on records. This deal was Manley’s first step into B-Side. He ended up working at the record store in the summer of 1983. Since then, Manley worked his way up from clerk to store manager to store owner by the mid-2000s.

Manley believes the mid-2000s were not the most ideal time to buy a record store as CDs and digital down loading became more prevalent.

“Vinyl seemed like a dead for mat, while CDs were fading fast. In those years it was a severe struggle to keep the shop open. Then, when all seemed lost, the outlandish and farfetched Record Store Day concept was invented by a few record store guys out east who then carefully planned and organized it with art

ists and record labels into a national annual event,” Manley explained.

“That was the spark for the vinyl revival, which saved many struggling record stores, including mine. It was and still is astonishing,” Manley con tinued. After 39 years in its origi nal location, property company JD McCormick submitted a proposal for a 5-story, mixed-use development which would displace B-Side.

“I was upset because JD McCormick never told me about the demolition proposal and I found out second hand from a friend who saw a public notice on a City of Madison website,” Manley said. “It was not completely shocking that JDM wanted to tear down my build ing for mainly student housing, as I had been o ered only a month-tomonth lease for years and had heard rumors about such a plan. But it felt shady the way they went about it.”

JD McCormick claimed to have communicated with the building’s tenants and assisted them in relo cation. According to Manley, JD McCormick made no e ort in con tacting him when the development was first proposed.

SJP defends message of chalkings

By Noe Goldhaber STAFF WRITER

Jewish and Palestinian leaders criticized the university’s response to alleged antisemitic messages writ ten in chalk around the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s campus on the first day of classes.

Chancellor Mnookin and Vice Chancellor of Student A airs Lori Reesor asserted they understood Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) had taken responsibility for the chalkings.

SJP maintained that they had no involvement. However, SJP defended the message of the chalkings.

“[SJP] supports the message of the chalking, Zionism is a project of racism, and genocide and ethnic cleansing and stealing of terrority and stealing of homes,” said Julian Cooper, board member and representative from SJP. “We agree with that senti ment wholeheartedly but the chalking was not an SJP activity.”

On Sept. 13, Alan Klugman and Michael Blumenfeld from the Jewish Federation of Madison and Wisconsin Jewish Conference, called on UW to investigate who was responsible for the alleged antise mitic messages. Their statement was signed by Jewish and political leaders across the country.

“It is important to identify wheth er a UW student organization, indi vidual students or an outside group is responsible and ensure that any nec essary education and accountabili ty can be pursued,” the September statement said.

In her response on Sept. 16, Chancellor Mnookin reaffirmed the harmful nature of the messages chalked on campus and claimed that she understood SJP to be the group responsible for the chalking.

“[The chalkings] went beyond political views about Israel and Zionism and included antisemitic statements that wrongly and unfairly ascribed actions and beliefs to our Jewish students based on their par ticipation in Jewish student organiza tions,” said Mnookin in a statement.

“My understanding is that a student

organization, Students for Justice in Palestine, has taken responsibility for these chalkings.”

Mnookin also claimed UW-Madison would reach out to SJP to address the harm caused by the chalkings.

“Our Student A airs leadership has reached out to SJP’s leadership and will be speaking to them to emphasize the impact of their actions and the harm caused by these chalk ings,” Mnookin said.

Vice Chancellor Lori Reesor echoed this statement in an email to members and families of UW Hillel, one of the Jewish organizations refer enced in the chalkings.

Cooper confirmed UW reached out to SJP and that the organization took no responsibil ity for the chalkings.

“The chancellors are only approaching this issue by finding someone to point a finger at, rather than addressing the real-life genocide of Palestinians,” Cooper said. “The chancellors should be proud of the anti-apartheid and anti-occupation activism taking place on their cam pus rather than try to silence it and discredit it.”

In an email on Oct. 3, the university announced they will not take a posi tion on the Israel/Palestine conflict, but did not clarify why Chancellor Mnookin was led to believe that SJP took responsibility for the chalkings.

“We have not taken, nor will we take, a position on the

Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” the university said.

Cooper believes that the university might have been misled to believe SJP took responsibility for the chalking because the organization published a statement in defense of the chalking.

“My personal opinion is that they probably made the assumption that when we defended the statement we were taking responsibility for it — which is not true,” Cooper said.

SJP chose to write a statement in defense of the chalking because the organization believes in the open criti cism of Zionism.

“Criticism of the Zionist settlercolonial project, as well as the organi zations on campus who have consis tently demonstrated their support for it, is absolutely valid and necessary,” SJP’s statement said.

Madison for Palestine, a local Palestinian rights organization, also published a separate statement criticizing UW’s response to the chalking incident.

According to Cooper, the state ment from SJP has amassed over 200 individual and organizational signa tures, including one from Madison for Palestine.

“As students who benefit from attending a university currently occu pying Ho-Chunk land, we believe that it is every student’s moral obligation to speak out against organizations on campus that engage in or support colonialism, racism and genocide,” the SJP statement said.

Much of State Street’s architec ture are one-to-three story brick buildings built in the late 1890s — the original “old world” character of State Street, as Manley would describe it.

“Though I enjoyed my 39 years at the old store, in the end, I’m relieved to be out of that location because the new 2022 B-Side location is supe rior in every way: bigger, cleaner, more structurally sound, with much more storage and other amenities,” he said.

B-Side Records closed its original location on Sept. 22 before reopening at 514 State Street on Saturday.

“The move was not easy — mov ing never is, and there was a stagger ing accumulation of four decades of stu to sort through. But we were fortunate to have 17 people assist us over the course of the process, including three key problem solv ing handymen,” Manley said. “I was hoping to be closed for less than a week for the move, but looking back, we were lucky to be closed only nine days before reopening on Oct. 1. It was a huge project.”

514 State Street is a block closer to

UW-Madison’s campus than the orig inal location. Although they have only been open a few more days in the new storefront, Manley said being closer to campus near some bigger chain stores has not hurt business.

“I’m optimistic about the next several years. So far everyone seems to love our new, more spacious and attractive location.” Manley said. “Incredibly, vinyl is more popular than it’s been for decades, and even CDs are making a bit of a comeback — even with young people. Again, I credit the organizers of Record Store Day for starting this trend of going to record stores and collecting records. It’s been trending for more than 12 years now, with no sign of slowing down.”

Although the relocation from B-Side Records’ original 40-year storefront was a loss to part of State Street’s history, Manley is hopeful for the future of the new store’s loca tion and the future of vinyl.

“This revival of physical music is like a really good dream, and I am happy and grateful to be able to con tinue my life’s work as a record store guy here in downtown Madison,” Manley said.

Twitter threats made against UW Health gender services

By Jasper Bernstein STAFF WRITER

Threats against UW Health came after a nine-tweet thread was shared about “gender ser vices for minors” available at the hospital in late September.

The tweets were published online under username “Libs of TikTok.” The Twitter pro file, which has 1.3 million fol lowers, has a history of using its large platform to target the LGBTQ+ community, espe cially regarding gender-based medical care. The page also has over 895,000 followers on the right-wing Truth Social, along with thousands of paid Substack subscribers.

Started in 2021 by for mer real estate agent Chaya Raichik, the account quickly came under fire for its contro versial tweets, along with the inclusion of identifying infor mation — allowing Twitter users to target individuals and organizations mentioned in the tweets. Such tactics resulted in escalating threats, including bomb threats against named hospitals. The “Libs of TikTok” account has gone through multiple suspensions, most recently a seven day ban in late September.

Comments on the original Twitter thread were negative, with some insulting the gen der-based services by calling them “woke” and questioning the specific doctor performing the surgeries.

The Madison Police Department quickly began investigating the post after it gained national media atten tion. According to a report by Channel 3000 News, the inves tigation found all activity was first amendment protected and led to no direct security threats, only exterior photos of the buildings.

Included in the tweets were screenshots of the UW Health website, with highlights showing gender-based care is available to minors. Although it is true that many genderbased services are available to minors, the post did not high light that parental consent is required for these procedures and medications.

“The use of puberty blockers as well [as] all other gender ser vices care for minors requires parental consent,” UW Health explained in a statement to the Daily Cardinal.

The “Libs of TikTok” account later posted a followup to the original thread, not ing UW Health “scrubbed their entire website” of genderbased services. Although UW Health did not comment on this tweet, the page, describing care to “help transgender, gen der expansive and nonbinary adults and children,” appears to remain up and visible.

Ultimately, the health sys tem is standing by the genderbased services mentioned in the tweets.

“We have not made any changes to our gender ser vices program and standard appointments and operations continue,” said UW Health. “UW Health fully supports our patients who identify as LGBTQ+ and our expert clini cians and staff who provide patient-centered and evidencebased gender services care.”

UW Health and Madison police are dealing with any security concerns stemming from the thread.

“The health system takes sit uations like this very seriously and is working closely with local law enforcement to moni tor for the safety and security of our patients, providers and staff,” said UW Health.

COURTESY OF UW-MADISON STUDENTS FOR JUSTICE IN PALESTINE

Where do the Badgers go from here?

By Donnie Slusher SPORTS EDITOR

This isn’t typical Wisconsin behavior.

The firing of a coach midseason — a consistently success ful one at that — is a move often reserved for universities that are “panicking” or “impatient.” The Wisconsin Badgers have been called many things, but those two words were seldom mentioned before this past weekend.

In fact, the last Badger football coach to be fired was Don Morton in 1989 — who won a total of six games in three seasons. The last Badger men’s basketball coach to get the axe was Stan Van Gundy in 1995. Firing coaches is not a part of the Wisconsin way.

There are times when the fir ing of a head coach signifies that the season is over – that nothing matters until a new coach is hired in the o season. This isn’t one of those situations.

Interim head coach Jim Leonhard is highly favored in Madison for his familiarity, loyalty and résumé as defensive coordinator for the past five years. The second half of the season is both an opportunity and a test for Leonhard as head coach.

Above all, the rest of the sea son will hopefully provide Badgers decision makers with enough knowledge to know where to go from here.

Concern

Firing a coach in the middle of the season is dangerous. It could completely destroy any momentum for a late-year rally. If the coach was well-liked, players could be upset enough to mentally quit on the sea son. Certain players may even view the decision as the program quitting on the season.

The reactions to the move indi cated that at least some players were upset. About an hour after the news broke, star running back Braelon Allen tweeted, “Anyone who want ed Coach Chryst gone isn’t a part of this team.”

There’s no telling who Allen was specifically referring to. If he’s

talking about his real teammates, that could be cause for concern. It’s absolutely imperative for Leonhard

o ensive coordinator and quarter backs coach for six years under Bret Bielema prior to coaching the Pitt Panthers. His experience will be sorely missed.

Current o ensive coordinator and play-caller Bobby Engram was only hired by Chryst this past o season. This is his first year coor dinating and play-calling. It’s not ideal that Engram must command the entire o ense with such little experience.

Ohio States either. Even the rela tively tougher opponents – Purdue, Iowa and Minnesota – are familiar Big Ten West foes.

to lose.

to retain the favor of his locker room and prevent conflict.

The pressure is ultimately on Leonhard and the coaches to keep the players engaged. This season is only lost if the team decides so.

Another major concern is the state of the o ense after the loss of Chryst – an o ensive-minded head coach. Chryst has been the lead o ensive decision-maker at Wisconsin since he became head coach in 2015. He was also the

The situation is even more wor risome when considering the state of Wisconsin’s o ense this season. In the three games played against Power Five opponents — all loss es — the Badgers averaged a mere 15 points and 301.6 total yards of o ense per game.

Optimism

On the bright side for Leonhard and the new-look Badgers, their remaining schedule isn’t notably di cult. There are no more New Mexico States, but there aren’t any

Leonhard will travel to face an ideal first opponent this weekend in the Northwestern Wildcats. The Wildcats are also in the West division and currently sit with the worst total record in the Big Ten at 1-4. Leonhard’s Badgers will have an opportunity to settle into the new regime against a non-intimidating opponent.

Ultimately, the Badgers wouldn’t make this drastic of a decision if there wasn’t a clear reason.

Leonhard received head coach buzz for years. There’s a chance Wisconsin’s decision makers want ed to see a sample of Leonhard’s as the Badgers’ head coach before making a firm coaching decision in the o season.

Some close to Wisconsin, like 247Sports’ Evan Flood, indicated Leonhard is viewed as the run-away favorite to win the position once the season ends. It’s likely his job

It’s not hard, either, to see why he’s so favored. Leonhard was born and raised in Wisconsin, became one of the greatest defensive play ers in Badger history and returned to Madison to lead one of the best defenses in college football for years.

In the press conference follow ing the decision, Leonhard told reporters, “[There are] very mixed emotions at this point, but I feel like I can take this opportunity and help this place grow. That’s why I came back a number of years ago, and that’s why I haven’t left and that’s the mission that I want to continue forward with our guys.”

If Leonhard ever aspired to be the head coach at Wisconsin, these likely weren’t the circumstances he envisioned. The young coordi nator was thrown into the middle of a disappointing season in which his team has a losing record and problems everywhere. It’s up to Leonhard to play the hand he was dealt and try to salvage this headscratching Wisconsin season.

Wisconsin suffers loss to Lakehead in exhibition opener

By Dayne Hagedorn STAFF WRITER

The Wisconsin Badgers faced the Lakehead Thunderwolves in an exhibition game Sunday afternoon. The game provided a first look at the rebuilding Badger lineup. Despite the Badgers seemingly controlling play throughout much of the game, Wisconsin fell late in overtime, 3-2.

The first period started poorly for the Badgers as a misplay by starting goalie Jared Moe gave the puck to Geo Dempster of Lakehead in front of the Wisconsin goal. Dempster did not miss his opportunity and put the Thunderwolves ahead 1-0 2:20 into the first period.

Following the Lakehead goal, Wisconsin turned up the pressure and started to control the pace of play. Lakehead penalties with 12:41 and 7:08 remaining in the first period provided the Badgers with increased momentum despite failing to score on either power play.

After maintaining an edge throughout the first period, the Badgers found the back of the net with 2:07 remaining in the period. Cruz Lucius deflected a shot in front of the net drawing the Badgers level with the Thunderwolves. Assists on Lucius’ goal were given to Tyson Jugnauth and Mike Vorlicky.

The first period ended with the Badgers and Thunderwolves even at 1-1. Wisconsin, however, held a commanding lead in shots on goal leading 18-6.

The second period began as the first had ended with the Badgers once again controlling the pace of play.

Another Lakehead penalty with 14:59 remaining gave the Badger power play another appearance. The Badgers once again were unable to convert.

Halfway through the second peri od, Wisconsin changed goalie Jared Moe for Kyle McClellan, a transfer from Mercyhurst.

McClellan faced his first chal

lenge soon after his entrance as Jack Gorniak was assessed a minor pen alty with 8:30 remaining in the second period. The substitute goalie was up to the task, however, and kept the score even.

Both Wisconsin and Lakehead finished the second period with five shots on goal, bringing the totals to 23-11 in favor of the Badgers.

Wisconsin was given an oppor tunity to start the third period with a numbers advantage, as Joe Mack was called for tripping 21 seconds into the period. The Badgers, once again, could not convert on the power play opportunity.

Lakehead did not miss the same opportunities as the Badgers. Following an interference call against Wisconsin’s Ty Smilanic, the Thunderwolves scored a crucial power play goal with 10:54 remaining in the game.

Wisconsin’s offense continued trying to get past goalie Max Wright

without success. With 3:23 remaining on the clock, Lakehead held a 2-1 lead and called a timeout to regroup defen sively. However, this timeout worked in the Badgers’ favor as Carson Bantle scored with 2:11 remaining. Corson Ceulemans and Brock Caufield earned assists on the play.

After Bantle’s late equalizer, the Badgers and Thunderwolves entered overtime with the score 2-2. The Badgers nearly ended the game as Carson Bantle hit the post, but the puck did not cross the goal line. Adding insult to injury, Bantle was assessed a two minute minor penalty for high sticking with 1:04 remaining in the extra period.

Lakehead converted on their powerplay opportunity, ending the game with only 31 seconds remain ing in overtime.

Wisconsin appeared to be the bet ter team throughout the game, but their o ense failed to convert on their chances to score. Nearing closer to Big

Ten play, this exhibition experience has shown where the Badgers need to improve.

Wisconsin travels to Columbus next weekend to face Ohio State on Friday and Saturday to begin the Big Ten season.

Jim Leonhard Interim Head Coach

“[There are] very mixed emotions at this point, but I feel like I can take this opportu nity and help this place grow.“

Concert Review

B.o.B has the magic in him

By Jackson Baldus STAFF WRITER

We are now over a decade removed from the glory days of his career, but B.o.B still has the magic in him. The Atlanta rapper’s latest concert series “Better Than Drugs” marks his triumphant return to the touring lifestyle since his 2017 “Elements” tour.

To kick o the night, the crowd was treated to a sam pling board of local rap flavor.

Midwest talents Nino Cruz and Praise Da Wolf fed o each other’s emphatically executed verses, delivering an impres sive stage presence in a brief but passionate joint set that established the tone for the night. They were followed by Stoughton rapper Freddie Da King whose mellow, emotional flows had the crowd fired up. Despite the change in pace, his performance earned him chants of “Freddie!” as he left the stage. The energy imme diately pumped up when Tha Mid City Kid took the stage bouncing around and spitting old-school Eminem-style bars that had me hooked.

After the local rappers, B.o.B’s tour openers were ready to turn it up a notch. At this point, they had to overcome some technical di culties to satisfy the appetite of a crowd anticipating the headliner’s per formance. The first opener Tigo shifted the tone with his melod ic trap style that was smooth yet mosh-worthy. Next, Trap Beckham brought fans onstage for a twerk contest featuring

Review

some serious motion from an unassuming guy who was the clear fan favorite.

When B.o.B finally took the stage, the air in Liquid was electric. He kicked o his show with tracks from his new album

“Better Than Drugs.” B.o.B wasn’t afraid to get up close

and personal with the crowd right away: skillfully staying on beat and dapping up clam oring fans. The trippy beats of the songs, coupled with the mind-numbingly colorful visu als on the LCD screens, cre ated a cohesive experience that encouraged everyone to let

loose — including B.o.B.

Those waiting for the classics didn’t have to wait very long as B.o.B quickly turned back the clocks and performed his hit 2012 track “So Good.” The care free attitude of the song made it the perfect soundtrack to a night out; no one in the building

could resist the urge to shout the lyrics and dance along.

B.o.B then wasted no time in pulling out back-to-back bangers “Nothin’ on You” and “Magic.” At this point in the performance, B.o.B demonstrat ed his mastery of stage presence by getting everyone involved in the show and blessing lucky audience members with swigs of vodka and hits from his blunt.

His new single “Ocxn Waves” brought a calm moment of phone flashlight-waving in the sea of dancefloor tunes which B.o.B followed up with a freestyle verse that flaunted his rapping prowess.

By the time he performed the encore — which was natu rally his biggest hit “Airplanes” — it was evident B.o.B set out to deliver a set that was short but sweet.

He gave the people what they wanted by working in all of the tracks fans like myself feel a sense of nostalgia for. While it was great to hear club bangers, the setlist had ample room for deep cuts from an expan sive discography full of hidden gems. Despite the stellar perfor mances of his catchiest tracks, it would have been nice to also see B.o.B rap like only B.o.B can in the songs that highlight his lyrical abilities.

The “Better than Drugs” tour is now heading south with upcoming dates in North Carolina, Mississippi and Georgia. If you’re looking to party to some of the defining music of our generation, be sure to check out a show.

‘The Worst Person In The World’ is a good movie

By Spencer Ball STAFF WRITER

Released in 2021 by Norwegian director Joachim Trier, “The Worst Person In The World” chronicles four years of a young woman’s life as she moves between jobs, lov ers and aspirations.

The film opens with medi cal student Julie (Renate Reinsve) abruptly switching her focus to psychology upon realizing her passion lies in the mind rather than the body. Less than two minutes of screen time later, she becomes unhappy and pivots again to photography. Soon after, she dabbles in writing and pub lishes a story titled “Oral Sex in the Age of #MeToo.”

This cycle of career changes serves as a microcosm for the film as a whole. Throughout the film, Julie lives under a certain set of boundaries. She eventually feels trapped by said boundaries and moves on to something new. That some thing new inevitably becomes as monotonous as what came before, and she yearns to

break free once again. Julie’s resistance to boundaries leaves her unable to commit to any one thing.

This phenomenon is per haps felt most strongly as Julie moves between her two primary love interests in the film. The first is Aksel (Anders Danielsen Lie), an older man whom she falls in with imme diately after he expresses he is too old for her. She finds the relationship exciting at first, despite chafing at Aksel’s want for children.

Walking home one night, Julie crashes a party where she meets Eivind (Herbert Nordrum), a barista her age.

Throughout the course of the night, Eivind — who has a girl friend — and Julie are explic it in their adherence to the boundary of “not cheating.”

They flirt, dance and even smell each other’s armpits, but playfully refuse to take things any further. They part ways in the morning without exchang ing contact information.

Eventually — and perhaps predictably — they run into

each other again and soon leave their restrictive partners for one another. The cycle begins anew with passionate and drug-infused nights that grad ually give way to anxieties and disagreements. From there, the film deftly moves between the comedic and the dramatic as it builds towards a poignant ending that isn’t quite a sucker punch, but is far from an inevi table conclusion.

The dramedy about the freespirited 20-or-30-something who feels like a “spectator in their own life” is hardly a novel genre. Such films usually cen ter around an external strug gle: a character trying either to conform to their surroundings or to make their surroundings conform to them.

In “The Worst Person In The World,” however, Julie’s primary struggle is internal. Her resistance to a convention al, “boring” life makes Julie feel there is something inadequate about her. There is a naive selffrustration in each decision she makes to uproot her life. She feels she should be able to pas

sively accept a certain set of boundaries: to commit to one thing and stick with it.

The film is ultimately about Julie’s journey of learning that it’s okay for her to take agency in her life and decide what she wants and doesn’t want, provided she does the work to self-reflect on what that is.

The film is anchored by a fantastically layered per formance from star Renate Reinsve, who won the award for Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival. Reinsve repeat edly elevates normal con versations or simple walks from place to place with the slightest, most subtle expres sions revealing her conflict ed feelings underneath. She feels confined: yearning for something different but never wanting to admit it to anyone else — or to herself.

It’s these moments that make the times she finally does voice her frustrations all the more resonant. Despite her decisions appearing sudden to the characters around her, the observant watcher can see how

small moments slowly perco late for her until they boil over to a point of unbearability.

It’s hard to call a film with two Academy Award nomi nations underrated. It’s more accurate to say the film is under-watched, at least in many circles.

Far from a stu y foreign film restricted to cinephile appeal, Trier’s story of Julie, the young woman trying to overcome her self-defeating patterns, is an accessible and modern take on the character-driven young adult romance. Contemporary elements of social media, social justice and self-awareness are woven in authentically without falling into the trap of becom ing the primary focus. Instead, they underscore the film’s seemingly rare competence in telling a story of life and love in the 2020s.

“The Worst Person In The World” shows us that in a world where boundaries in life are inescapable, the best thing we can do is choose them before they are chosen for us.

SHANE FRUCHTERMAN/THE DAILY CARDINAL

The hip-hop icon made an appearance at Liquid, and the club was going up on a Tuesday during his performance.

Investigation finds Paul Chryst was fired for being ‘too much of a little stinker’

By Mackenzie Moore THE BEET EDITOR

Wisconsin football fans were whelmed on Sunday to learn of the firing of head coach Paul Chryst. This followed a 34-10 loss to Badgers ex-lover Brett Bielma’s Fighting Illini. While fans have been calling for this move for months, it was this past Saturday’s master class in milquetoast-ness that gained Chryst the title of “unemployed.”

Though necessary, many Badger fans thought Wisconsin would be too midwest-nice (read: cheap) to get rid of Chryst along with his 16 million dollar buyout. Being the guy who led a college football team to a stretch of mediocrity just didn’t sound like it would be enough reason — why would the university fire someone just for being bad at their job? It just doesn’t happen.

The Beet led an investigation to find the ultimate reason behind Chryst’s ousting. While the eighthseason head coach’s on-field perfor mance was relevant to the decision,

the final nail in the co n is all but surprising — according to multiple sources on the football team, Chryst is simply “too much of a little stinker.”

“When he was recruiting me, he just seemed like a normal guy. Granted, he didn’t recruit me that hard even though I was a four star player, but I thought I learned everything about him from my first impression,” said one anonymous player. “But once they got me on that flight to Madison, Coach Chryst changed. I don’t know how else to say it other than that he was sud denly just such a silly goose. An absolute rascal.”

Though interim head coach Jim Leonhard declined to speak to the media about the firing of a man commonly referred to as a “little scamp,” he did provide a source he claims has shared similar observations.

“He’s just always pulling pranks, joshing around. He’s like an even more boyish Michael Scott,” said the source. “Like one time, Coach Chryst

left practice 10 minutes early. Weird, but whatever. But then, Graham Mertz opened up his backpack and it was packed with graham crackers. Right away, Coach went into a full-on fit of laughter like it was the funniest thing he’d ever seen. You should’ve seen the toothy smile on that goofy son of a gun.”

The Beet was unable to reach Mertz about how long it took to get the crumbs out of his backpack.

Chryst’s antics were largely harmless. In fact, the only report

Rent prices got you down?

By Skylar Schultz CONTRIBUTOR

October has finally arrived at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, plung ing the campus into a bus tling season of fall fun. While the month of ghosts, goblins and ghouls brings promise of the traditional, festive frights, October is also the period in which many UW-Madison students come face to face with the scariest monsters of all: landlords.

Lease season has o cially sprung, sinking its talons into the already limited atten tion spans of many college students. As apartments fill and rents rise, escaping the dorms has become unat tainable for an ever-growing number of Badgers. As a result, innovative students are looking to stop digging into their pockets and start digging into the earth.

That’s right: Wisconsin Badgers are tunneling into the hearts of Madison’s neighbor hoods, making crawl-space sleepers the HOTTEST real estate trend of 2023-24’s leas ing season. This craze is still very new to the market, with proposed names including “cozy corners,” “under-deck oases” and “health hazards.” However, just like una ord able rent prices, these dank dormitories are here to stay.

Now, this is not to say that the location is without its drawbacks. Mold, concus sions and ADA accessibil ity laws are all major limita tions as this hot trend picks up steam. And we do mean

HOT, folks. Many Badgers (and the occasional raccoon) have incurred heat stroke after prolonged tunnel time during the summer months.

Still, safety is taking a back seat to savings, as students are being driven to their elbows and knees for such a killer deal.

“You would not believe how many people have actu ally gone for this,” said local landlord Tom Kastner. “It started with me posting an ad on Craigslist to clear some possums out from under there, but after the job was done, the kids who did it started poking around and asking me about amenities.”

Student testimonies of the cozy catacombs experience are surprisingly positive, with most being openly inter ested in adding roommates

“Like with all hous ing, the more people fit, the cheaper the split,” explained sophomore Brennan Davis. “The best way is if you’re all down to

spoon. It took some getting used to, but without real walls, you’re eventually gonna need that warmth. My roommates and I like to call ourselves ‘The Silverware Drawer!’”

Some students have pos ited the move as an act of school spirit.

“Think about it,” Davis pointed out. “Where do bad gers live? Burrows. What do badgers eat? Worms. What do badgers do? Win. Wake up, sheeple.”

At the end of the day, these once-outlandish solu tions are just symptoms of a larger problem. As long as rent prices remain out of reach, desperate stu dents will find themselves digging up increasingly uncomfortable and uncon ventional solutions to an untempered crisis.

“Is it cramped? Yes. Is it dingy? Yes. Is it bet ter than Sellery? Absofucking-lutely ,” Davis emphasized.

ed injury has been Chryst himself when he sprained his wrist doing cartwheels. Still, he had lost con trol of the locker room.

“When I play football, it’s kind of like I’m going to battle, you know? Me and the fellas,” said another player. “Sometimes, you have to do a little check on who you’re going to battle with. So when I see that bright-eyed dork smiling at me like a cartoon Easter Bunny, I can’t help but think that he won’t be able to handle himself.”

It isn’t known what Chryst’s reac tion was to his canning. However, multiple people reported seeing him gleefully blowing bubblegum bub bles near Camp Randall’s Ho-Chunk entrance before skipping away to find a swingset to play on.

Though multiple teams have already allegedly contacted Chryst about head coach vacancies, the coach’s terms are making some pause — they are said to include at least one food fight per month, an extra o ce to create a lollipop museum and a big hug from the largest o ensive line man on the team.

After being thrust into the head coach position, Jim Leonhard will have to adjust on the fly. Though Badger fans will have to wait to see what that means until they play Northwestern on Saturday, it has been confirmed that Leonhard gave players permission to relax their cheek mus cles, formally erasing Chryst’s “smiles only” rule. All players and coaching sta are now on a liquid diet until their cheeks regain strength.

Freshman misses first lec ture, repents to God

By Je rey Brown ARTS EDITOR

Four weeks into her first semester at the University of WisconsinMadison, Genevieve missed her first class.

“It was an accident!” she told The Beet. “I was in the library doing the home work for week six and lost track of time, I swear!”

Her parents are still unaware.

“Oh, they’re gonna kill me when I tell them,” she said. “We talk every day and I stayed up all night the day I forgot to call them. They’ll know something’s wrong if I don’t call them, but I have no idea what I’m going to say when they ask me how my day went.”

Her roommate Matilda shared her thoughts as well.

“That fucking nerd is going to give herself brain damage — and not the fun kind,” she said. “Now I was fuck ing wasted, so take this with that in mind, but I swear I came back to our dorm at 3 a.m. the first weekend and she was up studying her syllabuses… syl labi?… You know what I mean.”

“I have no idea what the f— is going to hap pen to her when we have actual assignments,” Matilda added. “But

I bought a s—-load of microwave popcorn.”

Local religious institu tions are all-too familiar with this time of year.

“We see this all the time,” said a clergy mem ber of St. Paul’s Catholic Church on State Street.

“Boy, if I had a nickel for every freshman who came to me in tears because they missed their first lecture, it still wouldn’t be enough to settle the church’s law suits… but it would be a lot of nickels.”

“Beyond the free snacks, the overdramatic bulls— from freshmen is one of our biggest draws,” another local church lead er told The Beet, under the condition of anonym ity. “But no one wants to hear that God doesn’t give a s— about you missing class. Considering all the

sins I’ve witnessed on or near this hellhole of a college, those dumb kids have nothing to worry about missing class.”

They continued, “And I just have to say: God made one mistake and it was not making a f—ing com mandment against public urination, you disgusting freaks. Stay away from my goddamn flower beds.”

Genevieve has double checked all of the fine print on her loans and grants. To her bewilderment, she found no clauses revoking the money due to missing a single class.

She is currently work ing with the university’s writing center on a the sis-length apology email to the professor — whom The Beet reached out to for comment.

They responded, “who? Sent from my iPhone.”

opinion

Youth at the booth: younger candidates

By John Kulis STAFF WRITER

In the upcoming midterm elections on Nov. 8, many issues are proving to be divi sive among voters. Topics of abortion, immigration and gun control seem to be sepa rating people further apart. Although, the electorate may be disregarding a seemingly pressing issue as well: the high average age and lack of term limits in our congress.

Here at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, campus is full of young adults hop ing to impact the world. If we are able to avoid catastrophic events, many of those among us can expect to live another 60 to 70 years in this country that we call home. In recogniz ing this, we must see ourselves and the things we hold dear as the future of the nation.

Unfortunately, with the U.S. Senate among the top 10 old est chambers of government in the world, with an average age over 64 and the U.S. House in the top 20 with an average age over 58, our collective future is ignored by elderly policymak ers from both parties.

With the median age of 38 in the U.S., our campus popula tion skews toward a younger representation with its makeup of mostly young adults. This should be viewed as a positive trait of a balanced society, albeit one that is not thoroughly rep resented in congress.

The designers of our consti tution understood the balance between inexperience and the need to have youthful repre sentation when they set the age requirements of the House and Senate at 25 years old and 30 years old, respectively. What these men of the past failed to see was that it would become routine for people to live and serve in congress into their late 70s and 80s.

In the 117th congress, we have 11 senators aged 75 or older and 29 members of the house over the same age threshold. With there being only 100 senators, this means the elderly individuals are con trolling over 10% of one of our key chambers of government.

This is not to say that no older populations should be allowed in government, as they can bring valuable experience and perspective. However, there is no logical reason for them to be over represented. This overrep resentation can spell trouble for our future as these policy makers lack a connection with the youth and the direction in which our age group wants to drive the country.

Due time for age limits

As a generation, we need to cooperate in order to raise the representative voice of the youth. We can do this by get ting more involved with civil issues and standing up for what we believe in. With the

way in which our system is run, we must push for change from the top in the way of term limits.

In data from the Congressional Research Service, we see that newly elected representatives aver age being almost eight years younger than their returning

such as the greater number of resources they have because of connections gained from time in office, greater finan cial capital because of the large amounts of money in our government and the basic name recognition they bring with themselves.

In the House of

hesitant to change when it comes to our elected officials.

It is only when they do some thing extremely wrong that we call for them to be ousted, and even then there is sometimes a reluctance to put a new person in a position of power.

This is our problem, as it allows the same power brokers to drive policy for the future when they are commonly not forward-thinking.

Having the same voices dominate our country’s politi cal discourse is beneficial for no common people. Instead, it leads to cohorts of power being created that prioritize their own schemes and agendas over those they are said to represent.

counterparts. A similar age gap is seen between newly elected senators and return ing members of that chamber. These numbers point to what we already know: returning incumbents exacerbate our age representation problem.

Across elections, it has always been understood that the incumbent, or the person currently in the seat that is up for election, has a great advan tage over whoever attempts to run against them. There have been multiple reasons for this,

Representatives, we have 14 members who served 16 terms. Over a dozen times, these same men and women are put into positions of power, even though they are 30 years removed from their initial campaign.

Looking at the Senate, over a tenth, or 13 senators have been serving since before the year 2000, meaning they have been passing legislation before many people of voting age were even born.

Too often, it seems we are

As election season approaches with its unend ing amount of smear ads and political rallies, we as the youth and future of this nation must look at factors beyond the normal talking points. In order to see a prosperous future, people from both polit ical parties must support new and younger candidates. Only in this way will we be able to unite as a generation and push for policies that better all involved.

John Kulis is a sophomore staff writer currently studying Economics and Psychology. Do you think American vot ers should favor younger can didates in congressional elec tions? Send all comments to opinion@dailycardinal.com.

European governments favor far-right politics

By Sofia Piolanti STAFF WRITER

The last three United States presidential elections have revived the popularity of farright groups and political fac tions. With right-wing popu lism and nationalist ideals on the rise in the U.S., there has been a lack of focus on interna tional politics and the shift to far-right tendencies in Europe.

The 2022 Italian General Election — a snap election after the demise of Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s government — has potentially put into power the most extremist right wing alliance since World War II.

Giorgia Meloni, the country’s first female Prime Minister, is the face of the Italian conser vative Brothers of Italy party. She has formed a political alli ance with other far-right parties in Italy, including the League led by Matteo Salvini and Forza Italia led by previous Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

The origins of the Brothers of Italy party are rooted in neofascim, leaving other Europeans worried about the future of their own countries. This fear is jus tifiable as other members of the European Union have started to make their own shift toward far-right politics. The Swedish Democrats, a party with roots in neo-Nazism, had election suc cess in Sweden — a notoriously liberal country.

Marine Le Pen, the lead

er of the far-right party in France, also made extreme advancements into the French Parliament with 89 newly elected lawmakers. This gives her a high possibility of win ning the next election and increasing her party’s power in the country. Additionally, the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and newly instated Prime Minister of the non-EU United Kingdom Liz Truss are rising right-wing political powers.

This shift to the extremist right will have disastrous con sequences, not only for the EU, but for all international poli tics. Donald Trump has already shown continuous support for Orbán, especially after the Hungarian Prime Minister’s speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in August. Additionally, Berlusconi and Salvini continue to show unwavering support for Putin in the midst of the Russian-Ukrainian war.

Attention to these elections in Europe are crucial. Human rights and progressive social conditions in Western coun tries will be severely cut under these extremist conservative governments. The simultane ous implementation of antiliberal social programs by major EU governments could cause a domino effect for gov ernments worldwide.

For example, Giorgia Meloni,

the new Italian Prime minister, is against current immigration policies, LGBTQ+ lobbies, cli mate fundamentalism and glo balism. Marine Le Pen shares Meloni’s anti-immigration sen timent along with Truss imple menting attacks on labor unions and approving increased o shore oil drilling.

The United States is not immune to the international influence of policies like these. The current GOP already stands on a majority of these policies, including anti-immigration and anti-globalism. The popular ity of these policies through out the EU and the majority of countries America has friendly relations with can incentivize the extreme right of the U.S. Republican party to seek sup port — monetary or otherwise — to regain their power in the government’s executive branch.

Historically, as overseas gov ernments move further toward the right, the United States fol lows. With the Cold War came a surge of libertarianism and free-market ideologies that provided a platform for future conservatives like Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. The dictatorships of the Soviet Union and China, labeled as “communist governments,” increased the right-wing senti ments of fearful Americans.

This pattern is particu larly worrying considering the invitation of Hungarian

Orbán is a direct invitation for Europe’s far-right lead ers to provide an influence on American national politics.

United States politics won’t necessarily follow the current European trends of rising right-wing politicians, but the right-wing politicians of the United States might use this as an advantage to increase inter national friendly relations.

Steve Bannon, the Trump administration’s former chief strategist, has been promot ing a global populist revolu tion in Europe for years. He also previously served as an “adviser-counselor” to afore mentioned right-wing French politician Marine Le Pen.

Citizens of the United States and of other countries worldwide should be aware of the international rise of far-right nationalism and its potential influence on their

governments — not only as a preventative measure for themselves, but to advocate for change in the countries that are already experiencing this political extremism.

American foreign policy, especially with the threat of overseas ultra-conservative governments, is a key fac tor in voting decisions. With the United States midterm elections around the corner, awareness toward the upris ing of extremist right-wing politicians and policies in European governments is more crucial than ever.

Sofia Piolanti is a freshman studying Political Science at the University of WisconsinMadison. Do you agree that theriseoffar-rightextremism needs to be broadcasted all over the world to raise aware ness? Send all comments to opinion@dailycardinal.com.

COURTESY OF PRESIDENZA DELLA REPUBBLICA VIA WIKIMEDIA

life & style

Don’t let confidence blow way!

By Cory Dyner STAFF WRITER

As my summer of platform flip-flops on Lake Mendota, Simon & Garfunkel blasting in my ears on a BCycle and laying out with my numerous novels in hand fly away with the fast wind of fall coming in, I remind myself of something to keep in mind as the time of the parka rolls around the corner: confidence. Clearly, that time is moving real fast as the weather gave us a little jump scare and the jean shorts turned to jeans in the span of a week… so I plan to make this quick.

First thing first… do not let the confidence of “Hot Girl Summer” blow away with this isthmus wind. Although this phrase is beyond overused, extracting the idea of confidence from this truly has an impact on day-to-day life.

A little side note: this goes for everyone. Everyone, no matter what gender or age, feels insecure at times. We can all use a bit of confidence.

Whether you did absolutely nothing this summer or had a fantastic job or internship, do not let it alter your perception of the fall.

As someone who finds herself at a non-stop pace, consistently picking up responsibilities left and right, I burnt out real quick.

I lost a lot of confidence last semester both men tally and physically. I learned how important it was to step back, breathe for a minute and take time for myself. It is easier to do this during the summer as fewer responsibilities are at play. However, as fall midterms emerge, and honestly come faster than the wind, staying confident is crucial for success.

Take the little things you thrive at and use them as an engine to boost confidence. If you have a particu lar moment within a study routine that has been suc cessful in the past, push for that and allow it to help increase confidence in other parts that seem weaker.

But hey, if that does not work (which even I do not have 100% confidence that it does) I always like to zoom out. If receiving a bad grade feels like the worst thing in the world — zoom out.

Take a second to realize just how small that one, little grade on an exam is compared to the rest of your life.

Zoom out from that one class to look at the four

or five other classes you have. Zoom out to acknowl edge that it is one semester, out of a year, out of four years and out of your entire life. If a class is not your strength, accept that fact and use it to inspire inter est in something else you are more confident in.

As we live in a time of social media and constant com parison to others, many struggle with insecurities, fear of missing out (FOMO) and a major lack of confidence.

As someone who used to struggle with this often, I have developed one rule: confidence is key. Point blank period.

If you are insecure about yourself, you are not going to want to put yourself out there and engage in conversation. You cannot rely on anyone else to boost confidence besides yourself.

Not only does it boost your own confidence know ing people listen to you, but it will probably boost theirs as well. If one night does not work out then zoom out. There are so many more nights to come.

Don’t let the changing of seasons change how you see yourself. Keep up that confidence and let the fall breeze carry you into the new year!

My fall bucket list

By Emily Nordhaus STAFF WRITER

Since the fall weather set in later this year, I didn’t start my yearly fall traditions as early as I typically do. I nar rowed my normally extensive list down to eight essential fall traditions that will inspire you this fall.

1. Bonfire at Picnic Point

As the crisp fall air sets in, cozying up with some friends around a campfire is the best possible way to enjoy the night sky. Add gourmet s’mores and you have created the per fect night (Life hack: replace Hershey’s chocolate with a square of Ghirardelli milk chocolate with caramel inside — your life will be changed).

2. Fall color walk

A review of BelAir Cantina

By Kodie Engst STAFF WRITER

Just one step inside the BelAir Cantina restaurant and the mouthwatering smell of food rolled over me. I hadn’t been feeling too hungry prior to get ting on the waitlist but suddenly I was ravenous.

BelAir Cantina is a restaurant known for its tacos and tequila selec tions. On their website, they describe themselves as a “Mexican-fusion” res taurant, where “Oaxacan meets L.A. food truck style cuisine.”

The Madison branch is located on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, just around the corner from the Capitol building, making it an easy walk from campus.

Though it took 40 minutes to get seated, we walked in without a reservation at the height of dinner rush on a Thursday. The restau rant was packed from the moment we entered to the minute the kitch en closed at 10 p.m. —

just another mark of how popular BelAir is in the Madison area.

From the patrons to the staff, most were college-aged and every one seemed to be having a great time. The walls were wood paneled, and complemented with dec orative tile and bright colors all over the res taurant. The music only added to the upbeat and colorful – but not over whelming – vibe. Each element had an authen tic, yet modern, twist.

Our server was help ful in narrowing down our food options from the expansive menu — because every option looked so good we had trouble making a choice. We decided to start our night with chips and salsa ($2) from the appetizer menu.

The chips were housemade, per the menu. They came out hot and fresh with three house salsas, each more delicious than the last.

For our main courses,

we got two zihuatanejo shrimp tacos, a corn and black bean taco, and a carnitas taco, as well as a birria bowl ($14.51). The tacos are usually a little over $4, but Tuesdays and Thursdays boast “$2 taco night” deals, knocking $8 off our bill.

The food came quick ly and defied description by way of deliciousness. The birria bowl was as big as my head and for $14, well worth the price. I took half the bowl and a taco home.

Three and a half meals, a delicious appetizer and a virgin horchata for the price tag of $27 (not including tip) is definitely affordable for an everyonce-in-a-while treat, though I recommend calling ahead about res ervations and wait times – learn from my mistake!

Overall, Belair Cantina was a great experience. It is walkable from campus, affordable for students and offers great vibes. I will be going again.

Grade: A

My family had a yearly tradition of going on a “fall color drive” when I was liv ing at home. College may have taken away my ability to get behind the wheel, but it can’t take away my ability to enjoy the changing leaves. I plan to walk through Picnic Point and the Arboretum.

3. Trader Joe’s run

It is no secret Trader Joe’s can create some of the wildest fall-flavored treats that taste amazing. Make sure to keep an eye out for their butternut squash mac & cheese, pump kin rolls, pumpkin-spiced espresso beans and salted maple ice cream to spice up your pantry.

4. Curl up with a spooky book

Nothing screams cozy fall vibes like curling up with a good book. To keep with the fall theme, I plan to read “Salem’s Lot” by Stephen King, “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley and “The Hunting Party” by Lucy Foley.

5. Go to the farmers’ market

Many people are surprised to find out the Dane County Farmers’ Market at Capitol Square is open through Nov. 12.

While the summer vegeta bles are delicious, I can’t wait to buy maple butter, honey crisp apples and cider donuts. It is a must-do in Madison.

6. Get a pumpkin spice latte

A fall staple I can guar antee will be delicious. Is it really fall if you don’t get a pumpkin spice latte? Worried about being basic? Ditch the Starbucks and try Peet’s pumpkin spice cold brew with brown sugar jellies.

7. Go to a haunted house

Despite the lack of haunt ed houses on campus, there are quite a few in the greater Madison area. Schuster’s Farm and Screamin Acres both have great setups and never fail to scare me. These will give you the shiver you’ve been missing.

8. Decorate your room

Make your room align with the fall spirit by getting string lights, pumpkins or a flannel blanket. After deco rating, invite friends over to watch a scary movie in your new space.

Short and sweet, fall is meant to be packed with activ ity. Make the most of the great weather by getting outside and spending time with friends.

BelAir Cantina produces authentic yet modern vibes with its festive decor.

fall breeze

see the beautiful fall color

Madison