Thursday, February 4, 2021 - The Daily Cardinal

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Thursday, February 4, 2021

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Food insecurity in the age of COVID-19

By Anna Feldman STAFF WRITER

You’re at the local grocery store when you realize that the only fruits and vegetables available are on a small display shelf. There’s just a few apples, oranges and tomatoes, all of which are overpriced and already overripe.

The rest of the shelves are filled with processed foods. You sigh, grab the packages that look the healthiest and make your way to the checkout line.

The city of Madison is home to one of the strongest farm-to-table movements in the country. However, even before COVID-19, while some had access to locally grown foods, many residents struggled to put healthy food on their table. A lack of fresh produce is a common reality in some Madison neighborhoods, particularly in neighborhoods with lower socio-

economic statuses.

According to the USDA, there are seven areas labeled “food deserts” in Madison, although that is a term that some people in the food justice community find stigmatizing of the neighborhood, and prefer to use the term “food apartheid.” This means that a third of the people living in these areas are more than a mile away from a grocery store or healthy food retail outlet. Most of them are located on the South side of the city. The absence of fresh food retail space or affordable options in these areas makes it that much more difficult for people to access nutritious foods.

Sarah Karlson is the Farm and Education manager at Badger Rock, one of Madison’s community organizations that works to fill the gap in providing fresh produce to its

surrounding residents and families. Located on the south side of Madison, Badger Rock is home to a Neighborhood Center, an urban production and education farm, a community garden and Badger Rock Middle School. Karlson is a huge advocate for food sovereignty, which is defined by the USDA as “the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems.”

Before Badger Rock, the neighborhood lacked a location for community gathering and green spaces. To help with increased food insecurity from COVID-19, Badger Rock started a food pantry where they distribute what they grow as well as food donated by

the Community Action Coalition and Second Harvest pantries.

Karlson describes Badger Rock as a “POC-forward space,” with 80% of its student population coming from the surrounding neighborhood. Its program is a part of Rooted, a non-profit organization that works to create healthier neighborhoods in Madison.

“The root of everything we do is relationship-building,” Karlson said.

“And the tools that we use to do that are food.”

Similarly, on the UW-Madison campus, F.H. King promotes sustainable agriculture and has gained a focus on food justice in the past few years. The student-led organization runs a garden plot at the Eagle Heights Garden where they use environmentally friendly methods to grow a variety of organic fruits, vegetables and

other plants.

The main goal of the club is to educate people on sustainability, F.H. King Outreach Director Cooper Hamilton said. “And [to get] free, fresh produce directly to students.”

The organization receives its funding from the Associated Students of Madison (ASM), UW-Madison’s student government, to distribute their produce in their weekly Harvest Handouts throughout their growing season. Their largest handout gave produce to roughly 200 people, and Hamilton believes that for some of them, this was their only access to fresh produce that week.

“We don’t discriminate on who comes to get it. If an adult passes by the stand, we’ll hand it out to them,” Hamilton said.

insecurity page 3

Instructors, students feel excitement, frustration returning in-person

By Sophia Vento STAFF WRITER

This semester, UW-Madison is offering a mix of remote and in-person courses to its over 45,000 enrolled students both on and off-campus.

In-person classes adhere to public health guidelines while seating no more than 50 students, but often fewer. Students attending in-person classes and living in the Madison area also have to maintain their COVID-19 testing schedule as they will have to show their Badger Badge in the Safer Badgers app to enter campus spaces starting Feb. 10, according to a Wednesday email to the campus community.

Nete Schmidt, a Faculty Associate in the German, Nordic and Slavic+ Department opted to hold some of her courses in-person this semester.

“Since we switched to online classes, I have been impressed with the resilience, resourcefulness and dedication of my students,” said Schmidt.

“Even though it is easy to have small group discussions in various ways — thanks to all our technology and help with technology — I still prefer being with my students and sharing the ambiance of a classroom,” Schmidt said. “While it is not a return to normalcy, it resembles a more normal classroom situation where we are all together as physical persons rather than presences on a screen.”

When determining whether to hold her classes in-person, Schmidt considered three main components: direct student engagement, participation and interaction.

“I decided that I would prioritize student presence in the classroom,” said Schmidt. “I am very grateful for the fact that we can easily maintain

safe distances and that all students are wearing masks, sanitizing and taking the situation seriously.”

Schmidt acknowledged that even in trying to accommodate all students, she is excluding some students from her classes given the current situation.

International students, unable to enter the United States, as well as students uncomfortable with coming to campus due to COVID-19, are among those unable to take courses happening in-person.

“Some students have dropped my classes this past week,” explained Schmidt. “They shared their concerns about feeling unsafe in buses or on campus, and I completely respect their choices.”

Schmidt addresses the issue of students’ potential isolation and quarantine periods by maintaining “the benefit of the full classroom instruction” for those unable to attend class.

Acknowledging that this accommodation may be perceived as a hybrid model, Schmidt instead regards it as “added personal communication” with students, includ-

ing virtual office hours.

Some students, like sophomore Emma Dahl, have experienced issues with accommodations for in-person classes. Both she and her roommate are currently trying to isolate themselves after a recent COVID-19 exposure, affecting Dahl’s ability to attend an in-person class.

“We have been told since the start of this virus that if you are exposed to someone, you need to isolate yourself to protect others from an increase in the spread,” explained Dahl. “While this is a wonderful practice in theory, having in-person classes that are not recorded or live streamed is putting students in a situation where they must choose between their education and the health and wellness of others.”

University guidance advises professors and instructors to be flexible with students in situations relating to COVID-19 that either prohibit them from attending inperson classes or participating in remote courses.

Unlike Schmidt’s plans for modifications, Dahl’s professor has made it clear that there is no scenario in which the lectures and in-class materials will be posted online.

A recent post from a class discussion forum — posted by the professor of Dahl’s course — reads: “We will not be providing video recordings of any in-person lectures that you may not be able to attend … [and] we are unable to accommodate requests for making these recordings available for today’s in-person lectures or future lectures.”

“I personally think that it is scary to think students might be sitting next to me in class after being exposed because they were afraid of missing a lecture,” said Dahl, who has been getting testing often to try and detect if she has contracted the virus from her recent exposure.

“I am overjoyed with the possibility of in-person classes. It finally feels like school again,” said Dahl. “What I do mind is not giving students the option to stay home if they feel ill or have been around someone who is ill.”

Despite the limitations, Schmidt

GRAPHIC BY LYRA EVANS

— like Dahl — is eager to be back in the classroom.

“I have enjoyed seeing students, faces and eyes, and it has been great to have students engaging actively in class-discussions, even class groupwork where they still keep their distance but also manage to form small groups,” emphasized Schmidt. “It has been truly energizing, and I sincerely hope it will continue this way.”

As of Wednesday, according to the UW COVID-19 Response Dashboard there was a 0.7% average positivity rate over the past seven days, with an average of 33.6 new cases per day.

According to a Jan. 7 letter from university officials, the university is planning for the resumption of inperson classes next fall. Completely remote instruction will not be offered as the university seeks to pivot back to primarily in-person instruction.

“We’re not simply going to return to the old normal,” said John Zumbrunnen, the Vice Provost of Teaching and Learning and a Professor in the Department of Political Science.

“Some things will be different, and better. But in-person interaction and engagement are still going to be at the core of a UW-Madison education.”

Although an emphasis on in-person instruction will be at the forefront looking forward, some courses may remain online, according to Zumbrunnen.

With this in mind, Schmidt looks to the rest of the spring semester and next fall with anticipation — wholeheartedly hoping that the pandemic will be curtailed, allowing in-person instruction to continue.

“I truly hope we can build the community that I find to be an essential part of the university,” she stressed.

“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”

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Thursday, February 4, 2021

Shon Barnes takes the helm of embattled MPD

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Shon Barnes was sworn in as Madison’s newest Police Chief on Monday morning. The 46-year-old North Carolina native officially took on the role at a socially distanced, inperson ceremony held at Madison’s municipal building.

Barnes replaces interim Chief Vic Wahl, who acted in the role following the resignation of Police Chief Mike Koval in 2019. Wahl did not put his name up for consideration for the permanent position.

Barnes has over 20 years of experience in law enforcement, during which he has worked as a Police Captain in Greensboro North Carolina, deputy chief in Salisbury North Carolina and most recently as director of development for Chicago’s Police Oversight Committee.

Barnes’ swearing-in concludes a year-long search process, which has left several community members frustrated with the lack of civilian input during the hiring process. Madison’s Police and Fire Commission (PFC), tasked with the selection of a new chief, did seek out public input on candidates, but community members were never allowed to ask candidates direct questions, leaving many dissatisfied with the city’s receptiveness to community input.

According to Matthew Mitnick, a member of the city’s Public Safety Review Committee, the PFC took few steps to allow for public input on the hiring process.

“Public input was clearly not valued.” Mitnick said in an interview with The Daily Cardinal. “From the start of these meetings, the public comment process was so difficult where members of the public had to submit a Word document form, there was a limited time as to when the

public comment would happen. There were many meetings that were in the middle of the day, it was just kind of a problematic process.”

When asked about community dissatisfaction with the hiring process, Barnes cited the PFC’s sole authority to select police chiefs in the state, as defined by Wisconsin law.

“It is totally their process … But I will say that I want to bridge the gap with anyone who doesn’t believe I’m the right person for the job,” he said.

Barnes inherits the position following a year of increased tension between MPD and the Madison community, where MPD riot police forcefully dispersed demonstrators protesting systemic racism tear gas.

Following these confrontations, the Madison City Council has considered banning the use of tear gas with the Madison Public Safety Committee recommending that the MPD use an alternative form of crowd control during a common council meeting on Feb 2. Chief Barnes voiced his disagreement with the committee’s decision.

“It’s [tear gas] a tool like any other, and if needed, it can be used,” Barnes said in an interview with The Cardinal.

During the past year, Madison Metropolitan School District has also voted to remove MPD officers from school buildings in the wake of protests against police violence, signaling a declining trust in the ability of officers.

Barnes, a former teacher and school resource officer, stated that he respects the school board’s decision but emphasized the availability of police to assist at MMSD schools: “We’ll always be responsive to anyone who calls 911, especially at our schools.”

Barnes has expressed support for the Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets (CAHOOTS) program, which would send trained counselors to certain mental health calls, that

By Ellie Nowakowski STAFF WRITER

UW students share hopeful feelings toward President Joe Biden’s plans to combat climate change but doubt whether his vision can be implemented long term.

a three-part order aimed at reducing the impact of climate change in the U.S. and working with other countries to reduce their effects as well. The order is progressive in nature but stands to be overturned

by Biden’s successor, much like

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UW students are hopeful about President Biden's plans to fight climate change.

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However, several local organizers have continued to voice their view that officers are too quick to resort to force.

“When we’ve invited police into our communities and homes, the vio-

IMAGE COURTESY OF RUTHIE HAUGE

Shon Barnes, Madison's new police chief, was sworn in on Monday morning.

When asked about police use of force, specifically in minority communities, Barnes indicated that he plans to make the MPD more transparent in their activities but that some aspects of policing will always be visually unappealing.

“You can’t repair a relationship from behind closed doors, and you have to be clear about what you’re doing,” Barnes said. “However, there’s no use of force, whether it’s a shooting or a handcuffing, that physically looks good.”

Barnes went on to affirm his commitment towards re-evaluating and ensuring the enforcement of department procedures.

“My responsibility is to make sure that the process is correct and that we have exhausted all other avenues before we do anything. And that includes the de-escalation training. That includes procedural justice training.”

MPD has implemented crisis intervention training for its officers.

lence has only increased,” said Bianca Gomez, a member of the local activist group Freedom, INC. Gomez cited several incidents, including the killing of Tony Robinson by officer Matt Kenny, as examples where the MPD was too quick to resort to force. “We never got justice for Tony Robinson, we never got justice for Ganele Laird, we never got justice for the 17 year old from west highschool, who the police gagged and punched in his own home.”

In an interview with The Daily Cardinal, Barnes acknowledged the criticisms of the MPD and voiced his hopes to help rebuild relationships with the community and reimagine what policing means in a post 2020 world.

“I kind of felt like I was getting married today, to be honest,” Barnes said. “I know that there might be some hard and tough times behind us and ahead, but I also know that we have a great future together.”

Students on Biden’s plans to combat climate change

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Madison hopes to implement over the next year: “I think it’s definitely a step in the right direction, and any police best practices that have been shown to work I always support 110%.”

Less than one month after his inauguration, Biden has begun working toward his comprehensive plans for protecting the environment. The new president has signed several executive orders thus far, many of which reverse actions taken by former president Donald Trump during his term.

On Jan. 27, Biden signed the Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad,

Trump did with president Barack Obama’s executive orders on climate change.

“I am worried that in the next four years or even less than that, I think that there’s a lot of possibility that climate change progress will be stalled if not effectively reversed,” ASM Sustainability Committee member Gabriel King said.

In order to make a sustainable difference, Biden needs to turn

his plan into policy. And, while students are hopeful for policy change, they remain doubtful about its feasibility.

“I think his intentions are really fantastic,” said Jessie Steckling, a member of Helios — a UW-Madison student organization that looks to organize and administer renewable energy projects. “He’s definitely got an understanding that we’re in a complete climate crisis and that if we don’t act immediately we’re going to have very harsh effects in the future. The goals he’s put in place are fantastic, implementation is going to be a lot harder.”

Students have taken note of Biden’s intentions to address environmental racism with the variety of plans he has has put in place.

“I’m super excited about how the focus is partially on environmental racism,” Environmental Studies major Gigi Diekelman said. “It’s important to help these people who maybe don’t have a voice and that are discriminated against in all aspects of life, even with the environment.”

Biden also promises new jobs will be created by shifting to renewable energy, a major component of his plans.

“I have hopes for the new administration with climate action,” Natalie Tinsen — Chair of ASM’s Sustainability Committee — said. “I

am particularly excited for Biden’s plan on putting clean energy jobs at the forefront as that pertains to the 3 aspects of sustainability: environmental, economic and social.”

Though Biden’s progressive plans will be difficult to implement, students encourage their peers to get involved and make a difference on a local level.

“Some of these things are so daunting,” President of Social and Environmental Business Advocates Trevor Holtz said. “These are huge, massive problems that our generation is faced with now, and all these societal problems are just growing and seeming to get worse. I think that’s a really scary thing, but I think students have to realize that there are things that you can do and there are organizations that you can get involved in that you can make small differences on.”

Biden’s plans include carbon neutrality by 2050, which students believe will be difficult to achieve from a political standpoint.

“We would have to move really fast in order to even be kept on that goal,” King said. “Nobody knows what’s going to be four years down the road, so there’s a lot of questions and a lot of uncertainties, especially because a lot of his plan is still not really well defined. He’s got broad initiatives and broad goals but he doesn’t exactly have ways to get there.”

news

Thursday, February 4, 2020

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Wisconsin groups donated to group fueling Capitol riots

By Tyler Katzenberger STAFF WRITER

Wisconsin organizations donated a total of approximately $279,000 over the past three years to the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA), which promoted the Jan. 6 Capitol riots that resulted in the deaths of five people.

RAGA is a 527 Republican electioneering group that raises unlimited money from special interest groups to support GOP state attorney general candidates across the nation.

The Rule of Law Defense Fund (RLDF), an organizational arm of RAGA, asked Americans to “Stop the Steal” in a robocall the day before a violent mob stormed the U.S. Capitol.

“The march to save America is tomorrow in Washington D.C. ... we will march to the Capitol building and call on Congress to stop the steal. We are hoping patriots like you will join us to continue to fight to protect the integrity of our elections,” the robocall said.

The RLDF also appeared on the “March To Save America” website that mobilized people to storm the Capitol over baseless election fraud claims. Other groups listed on the website included Stop The Steal, Tea Party Patriots and Turning Point Action.

In January, the nonpartisan watchdog group Wisconsin Democracy Campaign reported about two dozen Wisconsin organizations that made contributions to RAGA between January 2018 and late November 2020.

The Wisconsin Realtors Association and Michael Best Strategies, both based

+INSECURITY Hamilton stated that one reason organizations like F.H. King are so important is because there aren’t any truly affordable and convenient grocery stores on or near campus.

Additionally, he noted that the pandemic has “thrown a wrench into food insecurity on campus.”

As dining halls are closed this semester for students who don’t live in residence halls, options for fresh food near campus for students with a tight budget are even more limited. Another problem is that new students, particularly low-income students, are not informed of food justice organizations on campus such as F.H. King as well as Slow Food UW, the Open Seat and Food Recovery Network, and often don’t realize that they have access to these resources.

Hamilton explained, “You kind of have to be in the inner circle to know about programs that provide free or

in Madison, donated $50,000 and $15,875, respectively. In Milwaukee, MillerCoors — now Molson Coors — and Foley & Lardner donated $75,000 and $60,950, respectively.

Other top contributors included Kwik Trip of La Crosse ($25,000), Klondike Properties in Monroe ($20,000), the Dairy Business Association of Green Bay ($10,000) and the Forest County Potawatomi Community of Crandon ($10,000).

Donation data after November 2020 is not yet available, and it is unclear which organizations have decreased or stopped their donations since the Capitol riots if they have not issued formal statements.

While RAGA’s donations are identifiable, the RLDF is a taxexempt 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization and is not required to reveal its donors.

However, a 2017 report from MapLight was able to identify that more than 40 percent of the RLDF’s funding from 2014-15 came from dark money organizations, including the Koch Brothersbacked Freedom Partners.

The Wisconsin Realtors Association (WRA) issued a comment on their donations to RAGA that was first reported by Urban Milwaukee.

“In 2018, RAGA was actively engaged in supporting attorney general candidates, like Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel, whom the WRA had endorsed due to his excellent record on issues important to the real estate industry,” the WRA said. “WRA’s contribution was not in any way related to any activities that took place before or after the

2018 election cycle, including the protests in Washington, D.C. earlier this month.”

The Daily Cardinal was able to reach out to the organizations listed above except for Klondike Properties and Molson Coors.

The Dairy Business Association (DBA) was the only organization that could immediately respond.

“The Dairy Business Association’s donation was made in connection to a fundraiser for then- Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel in the summer of 2018,” the DBA wrote in an email. “DBA’s primary mission is advocating for dairy farmers and allied businesses in our state, and we were supporting Mr. Schimel, a Republican, in his re-election bid. RAGA supports the election of Republican attorneys general. Our donation had nothing to do with the 2020 election or any of the events that occurred afterward.”

RAGA spent $28 million against Democratic nominee Josh Kaul, who defeated incumbent Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel in 2018.

In late September of 2018, RAGA sponsored a television ad accusing Kaul of “never putting a criminal behind bars” in Wisconsin. While the ad was technically correct, it ignored Kaul’s history of prosecuting murderers and drug traffickers while working for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Baltimore and his time working on voting rights and other electionrelated litigation.

Despite encouraging the storming of the Capitol, the RLDF ran a campaign called “Lawless Liberals’’ in the months leading

up to the November elections.

The campaign launched in opposition to last summer’s Black Lives Matter protests after the murder of George Floyd, which a report from nonprofit Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project found were overwhelimgly peaceful.

Many national businesses and interest groups have also made contributions to RAGA. A report compiled by the watchdog group Documented listed donation amounts in the first three quarters of 2020, the largest of which was $375,000 from prominent conservative donor Koch Industries.

Other prominent RAGA

inexpensive food.”

Currently, F.H. King is working with UW housing to improve student access to produce by installing tower gardens outside of dorms. Tower gardens are about 6 feet tall, use efficient aeroponic water filtration systems and mainly grow leafy greens. According to Hamilton, a single tower garden can provide enough produce to feed a dozen people for a week.

In addition to Rooted programs like Badger Rock in the Madison community and student organizations including F.H. King on campus, the Goodman Community Center on the near East side and the REAP food group all work to put fresh food in the hands of community members that need it most.

Still, while these Madison organizations work to combat food insecurity, the deeper causes of these issues have only been exacerbated by the ongoing pandemic.

Stephen Ventura, Professor Emeritus of Soil Science and Environmental Studies at UW-Madison, has focused his studies on fixing the systemic issues which lead to food insecurity. Ventura started the Community and Regional Food Systems Project, which investigated food insecurity issues in eight different cities in the United States. From this, he’s concluded that food justice and racial justice are deeply entwined, and stem from the same social issues.

“They are a challenge of poverty and wealth inequity,” Ventura summarized.

In the 1980s, large grocery chains closed most of their stores within inner cities and expanded in suburban neighborhoods. A study across multiple states found that there were four times as many grocery stores in predominantly white neighborhoods than in predominantly black neighborhoods. In fact, the Black Panthers began in the early 1970s as a food security organization that provided breakfast for schoolchildren in low-income areas in Oakland, CA. One of the first urban agriculture programs that combined food and racial justice in the United States was Growing Power in Milwaukee, WI, which lasted from 1993 to 2017.

Founder Will Allen bought the last farm left on Milwaukee’s north side, far from any grocery stores and five blocks from a housing project.

Growing Power created numerous self-sustaining, community based projects. Ventura described the 2010s as the decade that saw a “huge awakening” in both urban agriculture prac-

tice and broader awareness of food justice issues.

Many food justice programs today, including Badger Rock which began in 2012, are based on Growing Power’s original model.

Due to the pandemic, Ventura says more people are becoming aware of the fragility of our food system and the value of local food chains. Increasingly, people are seeing how this fragility hurts already disadvantaged segments of society.

According to Feeding America, the same people who are the most at risk for serious health complications with COVID-19 — such as seniors, people with chronic illnesses and people of color — will also face the largest economic consequences of the pandemic.

Pantries received increased funding from USDA’s CARE Act passed in April, which put $850 million towards food pantries. Yet, according to Ventura, this will not be enough to help these vulnerable populations.

Experts and activists have different ideas on how to battle this increased food insecurity. Some food justice activists argue for federal subsidies to promote retail in underserved areas and increase SNAP benefits targeted for retailers and distributors to make it easier to sell healthy foods. Simply stated, more healthy foods should be subsidized instead of the unhealthy ones that are currently subsidized.

Ventura, on the other hand, thinks that there should be more local control of food systems.

In October, he said that the federal government “isn’t very good at sup-

GRAPHIC BY ZOE BENDOFF

donors include Comcast, WalMart, Amazon, TikTok, Google, Facebook, Uber and the National Rifle Association. Some corporations suspended their contributions to RAGA in response to the events on Jan. 6.

In the aftermath of the Capitol riots, RAGA Executive Director Adam Piper resigned from his position. In a statement, Piper referred to his time at RAGA as “the honor of a lifetime.”

Piper’s resignation came after the Democratic Attorneys General Association (DAGA) called for GOP state attorneys to leave RAGA over their role in inciting the violent mob that stormed the Capitol.

GRAPHIC BY ZOE BENDOFF

porting poor people.”

The Trump administration had tried to reduce people’s SNAP and EBT program eligibility while supporting huge commodity farmers, which made it even more difficult for local diversified farmers. To combat this, Ventura believes in creating more regional food policy councils such as the Dane County Food Council to help “deal with federal deficiencies” and supports food systems at every level, from local farmers to distribution. The agricultural systems in place should also be incentivized to “produce more and healthier food instead of commodity crops such as corn, soy, and lots and lots of milk,” he said.

Two days after President Joe Biden’s inauguration, his administration expanded pandemic-EBT and SNAP benefits by 15% by providing more money for low-income families to make up for children missing meals due to schools being closed during the pandemic.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, food justice programs provide more services and the federal government implemented relief programs. Still, a study from Northwestern estimates that food insecurity has more than doubled in the United States in 2020.

Giving support to local food justice programs, like Badger Rock and F.H. King, may be one of the best ways to help those who are in need of nutritious food.

“We need more people understanding and involved in food distribution,” Ventura said.

“People have a tendency to take care of each other.”

Life & Style Sticking to your New Year’s resolution

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Thursday, February 4 , 2020

By Chloe Herbrand STAFF WRITER

The first couple weeks of the new year bring about an excitement and a stamina to inspire us to make big changes in our lives.

However, after these moments have passed and the excitement dies down, how do we commit to continue on our journey of accomplishing the goals we have set for ourselves?

The mornings that we wake up and think to ourselves — the time has finally come for me to reach my goals whether they be physical or mental improvements can be outweighed by the exhaustion that falling out of our holiday routine and back into our work routines can bring about.

It is too easy for us to give up on an idea that we were once so passionate about, so how exactly can we avoid this from happening, and reach the end of the year feeling proud of the impact we left on

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maybe not only ourselves, but others as well?

There are multiple things that help me to stick to my goals. One of the easiest things to do is to share your goals with others and receive their support.

By telling others of what you would like to accomplish in the upcoming year, you are finding an accountability buddy. Ask someone to check in on you once a month to see if the goal is still something you are pursuing or working toward.

Focus on one goal at a time. It is easy to tell yourself, this year I am going to run a marathon, I am going to eat healthy and cleanse my body, and I am going to rekindle my passion for journaling, and I am going to do 40 push ups before bed!!

But start small. By focusing on small steps that lead to success in one goal, you will feel that amazing sense of accomplishment more often,

and it will encourage you to keep going, instead of discouraging or overwhelming you!

Finally, please remember that change takes time. My goal for 2021 is to rededicate myself to reading, a passion I have always enjoyed but have strayed far from with the introduction of a busy school schedule, social schedule and other things such as technology.

There was once a time that reading before bed was an important part of my schedule, but I fell out of this routine one year within a couple of months, so what is to make me think that it is something I will have accomplished within the first few weeks of the year?

Be patient with yourself and reward yourself for the little things.

Maybe I have not yet accomplished reading every night, but just once or twice a week is already a step in the right direction!

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New Year resolutions are hard, but you can do it with effort!

Podcast recommendations

By Hannah Rifkin STAFF WRITER

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Keeping and mantaining friendships is a very important part of becoming an adult!

How to mantain your frienships

By Danielle Farina STAFF WRITER

In elementary school, the notion of “friendship” and what constitutes a “good” friend is a lesson that is taught. Alongside basic addition and sentence formation, we learn to share our toys on the playground and to treat others with kindness.

As we endeavour on into the journey of life, however, friendship shifts from being something that is taught to us to something that we are expected to know, almost instinctively.

The friendships we cultivate become more intense and more meaningful, yet we navigate them only with the guidance of leftover, juvenile depictions given to us as kindergarteners. Adolescence and early adult years are challenging enough in terms of one coming to understand themselves — how can you identify what a good friend is when you’re still trying to identify who you are?

As I approach my twenty-first year, I’ve become

conscious of how necessary it is to be able to recognize good friends and let go of the bad ones. While I am by no means an expert on friendship and am definitely still working on applying these qualities to myself, I’ve narrowed down three aspects I think are vital to a healthy, rewarding friendship.

Honest Communication.

While seemingly simplistic, being comfortable honestly communicating with a friend is an intimidating goal to reach. This communication can spread across a spectrum of different contexts, ranging from personal feelings and experiences, worldly ideas, to most notably, how you are feeling towards one another.

An enriching friendship makes room for tough conversations and creates an environment where, if one party is upset, they feel comfortable addressing the situation, knowing the other will respectfully listen.

Challenge. Not in the form of external competition with one another, but challenge in a way that both parties symbiotically push

each other towards introspection and growth. The brain can be a very isolating place; when your voice is the only one you can hear, you begin to accept everything you think as true. It’s important to have friends who will welcome your ideas, but not hesitate to challenge them, including one’s idea of self.

Presence. It’s straightforward — good friends will be there. That is not to say that anyone should ever be at anyone’s beck and call, but a good friend will show up, case and point.

Incorporating these values into my friendships has been an overwhelming task, but it is something I actively work at. I urge readers of The Daily Cardinal to do the same, with the knowledge that platonic relationships can be damaging when there is no equilibrium. That little kid who was taught to share toys on the playground is still inside all of us, and it is our responsibility to constantly teach that kid what it means to be a “good” friend.

Since starting to listen to podcasts, I have been introduced to a new form of media that is massively different from any other kind I had been so used to consuming.

They can entertain while also informing and educating, and they don’t require you to stare at a screen.

You can listen while exercising, driving around or just cleaning your room.

Podcasts give you a way to occupy yourself with something meaningful.

There are plenty of podcasts available allowing everyone to find something they enjoy. From shows about business, or crime and mystery, to lifestyle shows giving advice and tips, there is a podcast for every occasion.

Here are two I recommend to turn you into a podcast lover

and draw you into a new world of entertainment.

The first is “How I Built This with Guy Raz” by NPR. This podcast is for future entrepreneurs, innovators and creators. Every episode Guy Raz interviews the founders of some great businesses including BirchBox, Ben & Jerry’s, Rent the Runway, Airbnb and more. It is perfect for learning the ins and outs of creating and running a business and how to turn it into an empire.

Entrepreneurs give some really helpful insights on following your instincts, trusting the process and steps you can take to make your ideas come to life. If you’re looking to start the next movement which sweeps the nation, listening to this podcast is a great way to start.

The second podcast I highly recommend is “@ Lexi” by Lexi Lombard. If

you want to feel like you are listening to the cool older sister you never had, then give this a try. Lexi’s podcast is truly a diary of a Gen Z figuring it all out in the real world.

Every concern, fear, and worry that a young adult has regarding body image, money, beauty standards, social media, and growing up, Lexie shares and addresses in her podcast.

Giving personal anecdotes and advice from her experiences, this friendly listen makes you feel less alone in a world that can be stressful to navigate.

Try out these two shows to ease your way into the world of podcasts.

See how they add some excitement to activities you would complete mindlessly. You may find your new favorite pastime.

CLAYTON JANNUSCH /THE DAILY CARDINAL

There are so many podcasts to choose from, but Hannah has some great recommendations!

arts Six new books to look out for in 2021 dailycardinal.com

By Maddie Urlaub STAFF WRITER

As we start the year off quarantining inside, there is much to look forward to in the new year such as the books set to be released in 2021. Many authors used social distancing in 2020 to their advantage to work on their upcoming novels.

The year of 2021 is the year of magnificent books being published to read. While these six novels have not been released yet, there has been a lot of commotion and gossip about them.

“Klara and the Sun” by Kazuo Ishiguro

From Nagasaki, Japan, Ishiguro is a Nobel Prize of Literature recipient and his s most well-known work is ‘An Artist in a Floating World.’

Thursday February 4, 2021

His newest novel to come, “Klara and the Sun,” is going to be released on March 2.

“Klara and the Sun” is about the Artificial Friend, Klara, who hopes to one day be chosen by a customer.

With Klara’s unique qualities, she remains hopeful that someone will soon claim her.

“The Chosen and the Beautiful”

by Nghi Vo

Not too far from Wisconsin, Nghi Vo lives on the shore of Lake Michigan.

Her upcoming novel “The Chosen and the Beautiful” is a retelling of “The Great Gatsby” in a new lighting. Jordan Baker, adopted, queer, and Asian, faces a world full of wonders in the setting of 1920’s America.

This retelling of a novel is everything including a dark, fantastical, atmospheric and much, much more.The expected publication for this upcoming novel is June 1.

“Every Last Fear” by Alex Finlay

ALLEN & UNIWSH BOOK PUBLISHERS

“Klara and the Sun” is out on March 2.

Alex Finlay is a prominent traveler, whose trip through Mexico gave him the inspirations for his first debut novel “Every Last Fear.”

Given through multiple points of view, this psychological thriller includes murder, guilt, and above all, family.

When college student Matt Pine hears that his entire fam-

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ily has been murdered, he knows that the police are lying when they try to convince him that it was all an accident. He is forced to confront his secrets and fears when he returns home.

This thriller will be released on March 2.

“Whereabouts” by Jhumpa Lahiri Pulitzer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri is not new to writing incredible books. Lahiri’s latest book for nearly a decade, “Whereabouts’’ is to be released on April 27. A woman who never quite feels at ease, with a mother desperate to find comfort after her fathers death, and her unsettling friends, she has a monumental change in perspective when boating on a hot day.

At the center of it all, the woman is stuck between the need of long-lasting ties and refusing to make the ties themselves. The novel is written in Italian and will soon be translated into English.

“The Ones We’re Meant to Find” by Joan He

Author and artist Joan He was born and raised in Philadelphia.

Young Adult novel “The Ones We’re Meant to Find’’ starts with Cee waking up in a strange place with her only memory being that she has a sister and needs to find her.

Torn by using her skills in science that failed the people before

SPANGINATOR/CREATIVE COMMONS

At a moment with abundant free time, 2021 will deliver captivating books. her, or finding another way to her sister, Cee is in the middle of a planet where everyone will do whatever it takes to find refuge.

This Sci-fi/Young Adult novel will be available to readers on May 4.

“The Committed” by Viet Thanh Nguyen Viet Thanh Nguyen’s newest novel “The Committed’’ is the sequel to the book, “The Sympathizer” which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2016.

Following the first novel, as he arrives in Paris as a refugee, him and his brother plan to escape their past at the hands of capital-

ism through drug dealing.

Commitment, betrayal, and lifetime friendships are only a few words to describe his upcoming masterpiece of a novel that will be released on March 2.

These six novels are just a few books to come in 2021 with so many more books of all genres to look forward to as well.

There has been much talk and high expectations of the upcoming novels from readers all around.

These authors’ hard work is soon to be paid off as the readers mark their calendars and countdown to their release dates.

‘Collapsed in Sunbeams’ offers subtle optimism and reassurance

By Emily Knepple ARTS EDITOR

JENN FIVE/NME

Arlo Parks is a 20-year-old British singer-songwriter with a unique sound.

Arlo Parks, born Anaïs Oluwatoyin Estelle Marinho, is a 20-year-old British singer-songwriter whose debut record, Collapsed in Sunbeams just dropped last Friday.

Parks gained notoriety after her single “Cola” came out in 2018. Since then, Parks has worked with indie favorites like Clairo and Phoebe Bridgers.

She was also slated to open for Hayley Williams on her solo tour which was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Her music was included on Micaela Coel’s “I May Destroy You” and even former First Lady Michelle Obama included “Eugene” on her playlist published over the summer.

The album gets its name from Zadie’s Smith “On Beauty” and many of the songs reflect a diary Parks revisited during the pandemic that she wrote when she was 13.

Calling the album “a time capsule of adolescence” in a recent interview with the New York Times, it’s clear to listeners that Parks is talking about something or someone, her feelings are raw and fresh from experience.

What makes her sound unique is that she doesn’t hide behind a layer of vagueness that many of her genre counterparts do.

I believe her age contributes to her honesty, as she’s only 20 years-old and living out all the

prominent feelings the album covers — grief, friendship, anxiety, depression — in her dayto-day life.

Not to say older artists can’t combat these topics or experience these feelings, too.

But as a fellow young adult, we haven’t quite had the chance to process our current realities all that much.

The dauntingness of this new reality is still new, the weight of those feelings is still settling in.

We can see this on “For Violet,” where Parks documents the loss of innocence that comes with diving into your adult years.

Parks has been cited talkng about how this entire album is about perserving your own sanity, while also giving yourself to others. A challenge that becomes prominent in your late teeange years when you begin to feel more independent.

“Black Dog,” the first single from the album pays homage to a friend Parks recently lost from suicide.

She admits that writing this song was a way of personal grieving.

Many of the songs on Collapsed in Sunbeams tackle really dark topics but she never once lets that overshadow the true, beautiful essence of her work.

It’s an album decorated with subtle optimism, it reminds us all to battle the ways we feel because there’s a chance for a better tomorrow.

The idea of a collective spirit is

crucial to Parks’ work because her music can make your feel seen.

At least Arlo Parks, and her 3,000,000+ listeners on Spotify might also be going through it alongside me, and in a time where human connection is being tested, this feeling is almost like a breath of very much needed freshair.

She also uses a technique many songwriters use to create more personal conversation.

Parks uses a series of names, like Charlie, Eugene, Caroline, throughout the album, establishing an intimate aspect of storytelling that shines through all 12 tracks.

On “Hurt,” Parks sings about a character by the name of Charlie.

She sings, “I know you can’t let go/Of anything at the moment.

Just know it won’t hurt so/Won’t hurt so much forever.” She recognizes the pain, and then talks back to those feelings.

Jon Pareles, a New York Times music critic, puts it best. She offers “solace without illusion,” a beautiful, honest description of the album.

In comparison to someone like Bridgers, Parks’ music does not solely thrive off of solely gloom and doom.

And for the record, I love Phoebe and play her music plenty. But, there’s a time and place to stream “Savior Complex’’ or “I Know the End,” and when you wake up feeling semi-hopeful, Collapsed in Sunbeams proves to be your best bet.

sports Roller-coaster of a week for Badgers precedes train of ranked opponents

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Thursday, February 4, 2021

By Joe Rickles SPORTS EDITOR

Tuesday evening’s victory against Penn State was much bigger than just a convincing home win against an underperforming Big Ten team. It was the confidence-building revenge game that the Wisconsin Badgers (8-4 Big Ten, 14-5 overall) needed as they approach the most daunting part of their schedule.

The last week for the Badgers has been quite a wild ride. A two-game road trip began in College Park, Md. as the Badgers looked to take down one of just two teams to beat them at the Kohl Center: the Maryland Terrapins. Just four days before, the Ohio State Buckeyes became the second team to beat the Badgers in Madison, so the team was looking to avenge their other home loss as well.

The game started firmly in the Badgers’ hands as they amassed an 18-point lead going into halftime. But, as we’ve seen a few times from the Badgers this season, they let the Terrapins come alive in the second half. After shooting 46 percent from both the field and from three-point range in the first half, they shot 29 percent from the field and 30

dailycardinal.com

percent from deep in the second.

The shooting slump allowed Maryland to cut the lead down to three points with about eleven minutes left. The Terrapins shot 48 percent from the field in the second half and went 7-16 from deep.

This time, however, the Badgers bent but didn’t break.

Yes, they went over seven minutes without a field goal to end the game. And yes, they were once again out-scored in the paint by Maryland, which doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. But in a conference as cannibalistic as the Big Ten, a win is a win is a win. The Badgers found their vengeance by a score of 61-55.

The Badgers picked up where they left off in the final minutes of the Maryland game on the second leg of their road trip in University Park, Pa. Not with winning play, but with sloppy basketball and poor defense.

The big storyline heading into this game was the turnover battle; Wisconsin turns the ball over at an incredibly low rate, but the Nittany Lions are known to force turnovers and turn those chances into fastbreak points.

Jim Ferry’s team did exactly that. Penn State scored 21 points on 12 Badger turnovers while the

BRANDON HARRISON /UW ATHLETICS

Senior Trevor Anderson, a.k.a "Tre Mamba," shoots a three against Brad Davison in an October practice.

Badgers tried and failed to get into a rhythm from deep. The Badgers ended the game shooting 7-28 from three-point range and forced just six turnovers. The Nittany Lions took the game by a score of 81-71, which is the highest number of points allowed by Greg Gard’s squad so far this season.

But, Wisconsin got a chance to return to Madison with revenge on the table once again, as the Nittany Lions visited the Kohl Center in the second game of the back to back. Even though the Badgers played to many of Penn State’s strengths by committing 15 turnovers, they were able to slow the pace of the game down in the second half and dominate. Notably, 11 of the 15 Badger turnovers came in the first half.

Their ability to take care of the ball and return to the stifling defense that we’ve come to expect from Gard’s Badgers (Penn State shot 34 percent from the field and 23 percent from deep in the second half) gave them a dominant 72-56 victory.

The slog begins

BRANDON HARRISON/UW ATHLETICS

Nate Reuvers has recovered from a mid-season slump in Big Ten play.

For the sake of the team’s success, one would hope that the Badgers are feeling good and confident after Tuesday’s victory.

They have a four-day rest until their next game that kicks off a brutal end to the season.

The Badgers have faced their fair share of ranked opponents throughout the season, but they also had some lower-tier competition peppered between the truly grueling contests. That won’t be the case for the rest of the season.

Wisconsin will take on AP-ranked Big Ten opponents in six of their final eight regular season games this year, starting with a game in Champaign against No. 12 Illinois on Saturday afternoon. Five of the Badgers’ last eight games will be on the road as well. They will play the Illini again in Madison, travel to take on No. 24 Purdue, and play a home-and-home series against No. 8 Iowa.

The Badgers are scheduled to take on the No. 4 Michigan Wolverines as well, but University of Michigan athletics are on pause until at least Feb. 11 due to COVID-19 variants on campus. The game, which would be in Madison, is scheduled for Feb. 14. While no official decision has been made regarding the status of the game, it’s generally considered to be in limbo.

The Badgers will also face unranked Nebraska and Northwestern in this final stretch.

While these shouldn’t be considered challenges on paper, teams like Maryland and Penn State have proven to the Badgers that they can’t afford to take any Big Ten opponents lightly.

Skidding in the snow This rough patch of scheduling comes as the Badgers have been slipping down the AP Poll. In just two weeks they’ve fallen from No. 10 to No. 19 due to losses to Ohio State and Penn State.

These losses have also dropped the Badgers to fifth place in the Big Ten behind Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, and Ohio State. Both Illinois and Ohio State are currently on three-game win streaks.

Iowa and Ohio State are scheduled to play each other on Thursday night, and no matter the result, the Badgers will jump up to fourth place.

The Badgers currently have the same conference record as Ohio State, but the Buckeyes hold the tiebreaker thanks to their victory in Madison; a loss to Iowa would put them at 8-5 with the Badgers at 8-4. Iowa, on the other hand, would fall to 7-4 with a loss to Ohio State.

Since their winning percentage would be lower than the Badgers, the Hawkeyes would fall to No. 5 in the conference with a loss.

Too-early Bracketology The Badgers and Badger fans alike should be looking forward to escaping the cannibalistic Big Ten conference

for the NCAA Tournament in Indianapolis. If this was Shawshank Redemption, the Badgers are about to crawl through the sewers of the Big Ten until the conference tournament ends for them; after that, they’ll finally be free from the competition of the best conference in college basketball this season… right?

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, CBS’s Jerry Palm and NCAA.com’s Andy Katz all have predicted brackets that are, of course, ever-evolving with each game played. Prior to their victory at home against Penn State, the Badgers had been graded as both a four and a five seed; these brackets haven’t been updated since the victory, but it’s unlikely that a win over a low-level team like Penn State would propel the Badgers into a better position. It will take wins against ranked opponents to do that.

Right now, Lunardi and ESPN have the Badgers ranked the highest of the three as a 4-seed. Palm and Katz each have the Badgers as a 5-seed in the tournament; CBS projects them to play Toledo in round one, while Katz’s bracket would have them see Wright State.

All of these brackets have the Badgers in the same corner as either No. 1 Gonzaga or No. 2 Baylor, the two best teams in the nation by a large margin. All brackets also have the Badgers in the same conference as other Big Ten teams; a necessary evil considering there are nine Big Ten teams projected to make the tournament.

Lunardi and Palm have the Badgers in the same region as Ohio State, while the Buckeyes are replaced with Illinois in Katz’s bracket.

The last time there was an NCAA Tournament, the Badgers were a 5-seed as well.

They were notably blown out

by Kenny Wooten and the 12-seed Oregon Ducks in the Round of 64.

opinion Is there such a thing as a free market? dailycardinal.com

Anupras Mohapatra SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Everywhere I go on Twitter, I see a lot of talk about the stock market.

It has been inescapable for the last few days. Since my early childhood, I have found the business section of newspapers the most nauseating.

It’s not like I have a fear or hatred of math or do not understand the basic concept of profit and loss. I just found it rather muddling early on. As I grew older, I began looking further into how Wall Street worked and right from the get go, it felt morally questionable — in addition to still being quite muddling. My feelings haven’t changed since.

While taking risks seems admirable, context matters. The folks at Wall Street work to fill the coffers of their already absurdly rich clients — and, of course, their very own pockets too.

Often acting like sharks that consume all available fish, they leave any other predators — essentially most of the normal populace — to starve to death.

Nothing quite sums up the massive income inequality, whether viewed from a local or a global perspective, more than Wall Street culture. In fact, this was the driving force behind the Occupy Wall Street movement back in 2011. With the leading slogan “we are the 99%”, protestors took issue with the gulf in wealth between themselves and the top 1% that control finances on Wall Street. While the protests at the time ultimately bore no fruit, the rhetoric certainly did not die.

Many eyes were opened, especially when the elite faced protestors from the balcony of the National City Bank Building on Wall Street, sipping champagne and wearing smug smiles on their faces. In the years since, progressives have directly referenced the elite as “the 1%” and targeted the massive wealth inequality in the form of tax reform.

Grassroots level movements around the country have seen a rise in newly elected progressive politicians but

Thursday, February 4, 2020

the inequality hasn’t lessened. If anything, the ongoing pandemic and the subsequent economic fallout has resulted in an exacerbation of this inequality.

However, in recent days, something quite extraordinary has happened that has propelled the stock market outside the business column and into the mainstream: The Wall Street elites have been outfoxed by those who, for most of their lives, found the riches stashed by the elites far out of reach. There was a forceful redistribution of wealth that, to me, felt satisfying. To understand what really happened, it is important to look at a few things.

Firstly, we must understand the concept of shorting or short selling.

Hedge funds often bet on certain companies flopping and derive profit from their downfall. Taking advantage of floundering companies facing economic hardship sounds morally objectionable to me, but such is the industry. In the context of recent events, the company of choice for investors was GameStop — a chain of brick and mortar stores that sell video games and consoles. With the pandemic limiting in-person shopping experiences and the company not having much of an e-commerce presence, GameStop appeared to be a lucrative bet for investors. The idea was that they could “borrow” GameStop stocks from a broker — with interest — and sell it on the open market at a higher price, with the expectation that the value of the stocks would further plummet. They could then buy back the stocks at a lower price to return to the broker and make a profit equal to the difference between selling and buying price — minus any interest incurred and/or commission to be paid. When done in tandem, investors can suppress stock prices and make great profits, driving companies to the ground along the way.

However, this does not need to happen. Considering the invest-

ment is dependent on pure speculation, there is infinite risk attached.

Rather than plummet, prices could rise indefinitely and leave investors facing substantial losses. In the case of GameStop, this is essentially what happened.

The cause of rapid upturn in GameStop stock prices: Reddit.

There exists a subreddit called r/ wallstreetbets — which has gained about six million members, even going private for nearly an hour due to difficulties handling a surge in new members — that focuses on investing in the stock market. Members of the subreddit are typically ordinary day traders with just about

GRAPHIC BY CLAYTON JANUSCH

enough money in the bank — and certainly enough courage — to make risky investments. Members in this subreddit were able to notice professional Wall Street investors banking on the fall of GameStop. In fact, they had caught onto something rather remarkable: The expectation of GameStop’s failure was so rife that short interest — the number of stocks shorted but not closed i.e. sold but not yet been bought back — exceeded the total number of existing stocks i.e surpassed 100%. Some members in the subreddit realized that if they bought the stocks at the current low price, they could exacerbate a supplydemand gap and cause stock prices to rise. This, in turn, would cause a short squeeze — a situation where investors try to buy back stocks in order to limit damage — which would only cause the stock prices to rise and swing the profit pendulum in the Reddit investors’ favor, directly taking away from Wall Street.

The effects have been seismic.

Melvin Capital, a hedge fund, was forced to close out its GameStop position at a massive loss and with an infusion of $3 billion from Citadel and Point72. It is estimated that collectively, GameStop short sellers lost about $5 billion this year — with profits instead reaching the hands of the Reddit investors. A similar squeeze can also be seen in stocks of companies like AMC Entertainment — which runs movie theatres and has been hurt by the pandemic. The squeeze appears to have saved AMC from a shutdown, while a slew of posts appeared on the subreddit about how the cash influx was lifechanging for the redditors. Posts asked about donating swathes of the cash to charity — a stark contrast to the Wall Street elite that often dodge taxes, let alone engage in philanthropy.

In many ways, this is a victory for the 99% over the 1%, for the commoner over the rich. The sweetest part of it all is that they exploited the infinite risk that comes with shorting fair and square, in many ways living up to the advice of investing money often patronizingly given by the wealthy elite. It served as revenge after years of mistrusting those that run the show on Wall Street and were responsible for the 2008 real estate crash — and subsequent global recession. Events that proved damaging for the commoners and their families.

However, not all is rosy in this David versus Goliath tale. Brokers like Robinhood retaliated to the workings of the free market by breaking the golden rule of a free market: they regulated trading on their platform. Robinhood prevented traders from buying stocks in GameStop on Thursday, Jan. 28, directly infringing on the Reddit traders’ right to buy stocks in the free market ecosystem.

The restrictions were partially lifted in a day, as Robinhood allowed “limited buys’’ of GameStop and AMC stocks Friday onwards. The forceful

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restriction on Thursday helped the prices of the stock to drop off a fair bit — albeit still not enough to turn the losses around — while the partial rollback of restrictions resulted in prices rising again the next day.

All of this didn’t do Robinhood’s public image any good, sparking a class-action lawsuit against them and massive outlash across the political aisle — from progressives like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) to conservatives like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). A statement was also released by the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, saying it would “closely review actions taken by regulated entities that may disadvantage investors or otherwise unduly inhibit their ability to trade certain securities.”

The future remains uncertain and fortunes could swing either way in the coming days and weeks. While this has been perhaps the most comprehensive transfer of wealth from the rich to the comparatively worse off, it also exposed a real and rather unfortunate truth — the free market is a lie. While there exists a free market on the surface, the reality is that it is a playground only for the elite.

The backlash aimed at the redditors and the action taken to shackle them the moment they partook in the free market is a realization that this system exists only due to exploitation.

Despite urging the common man to invest and diversify their portfolio, the elite could not handle being beaten at their own game, resorting to suppression tactics instead. After all, to maintain an elite status, there must be an oppressed class.

However, the victory remains significant and sweet. It conveys that in unison, even the most unjust systems can be toppled. That is something I can truly get behind.

Anupras is a Senior Staff writer and Sophomore studying Computer Science and Journalism. Is the idea of a free market a lie? Send all comments to opinion@dailycardinal.com

Rights to privacy versus safety on college campuses

By Em-J Krigsman STAFF WRITER

The right to privacy — or lack thereof — has sparked debates around the ever growing data monitorization.

In times of safety and security concern, privacy has often been sacrificed, a theme that is becoming ever more apparent in the COVID-19 era.

As the international community continues to grapple with the best way to respond to the pandemic, the world has yet again digitized. Contact tracing apps have trickled into common use, with the adoption of location tracking services as well as the notification of those who may have been exposed to COVID-19. At the surface the concept seems ideal, allowing for rapid COVID-19 identification; yet, like with all new developments, these applications unlock troubling uncertainties.

The United States hosts countless contact tracing apps, but unlike other countries, has refrained from adopting a national surveillance system. This lack of a universal policy has allowed private organizations, namely colleges and universities, to implement their own systems of COVID-19 prevention.

Regardless of the amount of data collected, these applications serve as a latent risk for manipulating privacy infringements and information getting used in ulterior motives outside of the pandemic. As students endure this real-

ity, the hope is that these contact tracing apps will at the very least slow the spread of COVID-19. This is a miniscule accomplishment universities claim is being achieved in the face of massive breaches of privacy. Nonetheless, weakness still persists regarding the accuracy of these applications.

A study conducted by research professionals at the University of Georgia found that location readers utilizing GPS can be affected by building or landscape positioning. One professional, Kelly Merry, found “on average it was seven to thirteen meters off,” an exponential miscalculation when these contact tracing services are supposed to determine COVID-19 exposure.

The same inaccuracies hold true for apps that utilize Bluetooth. Bluetooth signals move through walls and can easily flag neighbors in residence halls or apartment buildings that have never physically seen each other. With students residing in close living quarters across college campuses, this serves as a blatant vulnerability.

More so, a study published in Plos One highlighted Bluetooth imprecisions on public transportation. Faulty distance readers led contact tracing apps to identify multiple false positives and negatives, concluding it was as if the bluetooth reader spit out information at random.

At the extreme, a Michigan lib-

eral arts school, Albion College, has mandatorily instituted its contact tracing app, Aura. Students are virtually prisoners to the app as their GPS location is recorded round the clock with no way to opt out, notifying administration of students who have forbiddingly traveled off campus or dismantled their location. Despite backlash, Albion College President, Mathew Johnson, has clung to claims regarding the app’s necessity, saying “right now, we believe this is the best possible path forward.”

The app itself was designed by Nucleus Careers, a recruiting firm with seemingly no experience in healthcare applications. Predictably, multiple security breaches within the Aura app have unfolded. One student was able to easily gain access to the app’s back end servers, while another managed to access the entire database, including student names and medical records. These are glaring, yet, unsurprising flaws that take place as universities turn to unregulated technological outlets. Even so, schools such as Bucknell and Temple University are allegedly beginning to install this same faulty platform on their campus.

UW-Madison has also seen an upgrade in surveillance with the Safer Badgers app for the 2021 Spring semester, but in an email statement Chancellor Rebecca Blank has promised, “the app

does not track your current or location history in any way, on or off campus.” Instead, UW-Madison has offered Bluetooth exposure notifications that notify students in extended periods of contact with someone who tests positive for COVID-19. “Participation is optional but strongly encouraged,” said Blank in a Jan. 13 update.

At a mere glance it seems like optional exposure tracking, like that at UW-Madison, is the best solution.

This path provides an outlet of extra security to those comfortable giving access to their data.

Be that as it may, any technology use leaves a footprint.

Contact tracing applications “are effectively taking understanding of whether someone may be COVID-19 positive or not, and combining that with location information through their devices,” stated Cillian Kieran, CEO of Ethyca data protection. Kieran further warns that through location tracking, “it’s quite easy to understand who somebody might be.” Especially when too few people opt into optional exposure tracing, it becomes a clear privacy risk, allowing anonymous data to become easily identifiable.

The point is not to slam on contact tracing applications in their entirety, only to bring awareness to the competing and faulty forms that persist throughout college campuses. With

a lack of a national policy, there is no regulatory body ensuring universities’ contact tracing apps are accurate, made by experienced companies or mandating that all data is anonymous and secure. Universities love to boast about their efforts to fight COVID19, yet there remains little to no evidence proving these apps are serving as anything more than a glamorous talking point.

Contact tracing applications stand as a good potential solution to aid in COVID-19 identification, but these apps need to be taken as what they are: Experiments. Privacy infringements run rampant while the bluetooth and location services are likely functioning inaccurately. Until a tested and regulated application is created and adopted on a wide scale, we should continue to focus on social distancing, doubling up on our mask wearing and rapid testing — responses proven to work. Technology can serve as a great resource, but university students should not be the guinea pigs to these unproven methods.

Em-J is a freshman studying Political Science and Journalism. Do you think universities should use contact tracing applications? Is COVID-19 identification worth potential privacy infringements and inaccuracies? Send all comments to opinion@dailycardinal.com.

science Building a better bioimaging community: Chan Zuckerberg Initiative supports international partnership 8

Thursday, February 4, 2021

By Morgan Lock STAFF WRITER

Kevin Eliceiri, Morgridge Institute investigator and professor of biomedical engineering and medical physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is the lead investigator on a $1.2 million grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) in support of the imaging expertise network known as BioImaging North America (BINA).

BINA brings together the bioimaging community in Canada, the United States and Mexico.

They work closely with individuals and core facilities to formulate meaningful partnerships that provide guidance, assistance, training opportunities, data sharing and technology dissemination to the Biomedical Engineering community. Eliceiri also serves on the executive committee of BINA, along with lead members from eight other research entities.

“We wanted to have a wellorganized training and dissemination network across the United States and our North American partners,” Eliceiri said. “In part, it was inspired by all the wonderful things happening in Europe

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and Australia where there already were consortiums, such as Euro Bioimaging

Women in STEM, while worthwhile, are not always received in the specific lense of an engineer-

KEVIN ELICEIRI / UW-MADISON

Optical-based imaging of the breast cancer tumor microenvironment at Eliceiri lab. where many European countries got together to do such a training network.”

While UW-Madison has programs for mentorship within the College of Engineering itself, the majority of mentorship happens off the books. Clubs like

ing field. For instance, Eliceiri found his passion for mentoring through helping students outside of the classroom.

Eliceiri’s personal research entails building microscopes and developing software at both the Morgridge Institute and

UW-Madison. As his career progressed, Eliceiri has increasingly done more work with developing novel software for quantitating images. He is co-lead investigator of an NIH funded collaborative center at UW that is dedicated to developing open source software for image analysis which heavily involves both UW and Morgridge investigators.

It was Eliceiri’s passion for community building at both the Morgridge Institute and UW-Madison that motivated him to join BINA in order to do more mentoring and training in a formal setting.

“When I saw the opportunity to help create a national imaging community, I thought there was no better place than Morgridge, which has already put an emphasis on building scientific expertise communities”“In the case of CZI, I don’t really consider them just a funder, but more of a partner,” Eliceiri said.

“They’ve had a lot of major input and great ideas about how to move BINA forward.”

The Executive Committee of BINA emphasizes the community building aspect that they hope to improve by bringing on paid staff for improved organization

and increased efforts. Eliceiri’s contribution to build community locally primed him for expanding efforts nationwide.

“I have an investigator home in Morgridge, and one of my Morgridge roles was to build an imaging community across campus, that includes current Morgridge investigators Melissa Skala and Jan Huisken,” says Eliceiri. “So when I saw the opportunity to help create a national imaging community, I thought there was no better place than Morgridge, which has already put an emphasis on building scientific expertise communities.”

The CZI grant was written with largely the intention of hiring two new staff members — an experienced program director and an administrator to aid the BINA organization. The remaining funds will be used for training kits, conferences and travel, but the two staff are the main component. Both staff will be housed within the Morgridge Institute.

“BINA to date has largely been a grassroots effort here in North America to create an imaging training and expertise network, and the CZI funding will greatly help foment our activities,” Eliceiri said.

Misguiding the majority: Learn why the ‘2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans’ may not be serving you

By Forrest Ziebell

continues to remain high in the United States, and experts say avoiding a qualitative limit, which the report did, is “dangerOf the many events to come from 2020, perhaps one of ous” for Americans. In fact, the only change made to quantify the more positive was a renewed set of dietary guidelines for either of these two rather important components of health was Americans. In a nation riddled with chronic disease, informing for infants, as mentioned above. the public about what to eat could be crucial in battling obesity Another missing element is the impacts of and guidelines and related health issues. The guidelines included information surrounding red meats and processed foods. Mentions of designed to combat our nation’s growing health problems, but processed meats outstanding, no insight into the dangers of many believe it failed to do what was necessary to help a large processed foods is mentioned. These foods are generally high part of the U.S. population. in calories, added sugars and sodium, which are associated Following the release of guidelines in late December, with negative health outcomes. In fact, it is quite likely that they many nutrition officials were left dissatisfied. Naturally, each play a role in causing the chronically diseased population some improvements were made, but several key areas were of the United States today. addressed vaguely, or not at all. As a result, experts questioned Perhaps most salient is the inability to generalize the the Trump administration’s shift of the report’s authors from guidelines to most Americans, which is what the report the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee to the USDA (U.S. is designed to do. Almost half of all American households Department of Agriculture) and HHS (Health and Human report having pre-existing condition, and a slightly larger Services). Experts are unclear as to why this was, but believed percentage are overweight or obese. These people are largely it was a “completely political process.” ignored in the guidelines at a time where chronic disease is Before addressing the negatives, there were several ravaging, costing the US healthcare system 3.5 trillion annuthings the USDA and HHS did well. To begin, this edition ally. From an outsider’s perspective, it is quite difficult to is the first to include guidelines for pregnant mothers and address the complex dynamic of the public health situation infants, a group that was previously left out of the report. in our nation today, but the guidelines did little to address In addition to advising mothers to consume no alcohol, this issue. the board recommends less fish intake and more frequent According to experts, The 2020-2025 health guideintake of nutrient dense foods (fruits, vegetables, nuts) and lines for Americans largely missed the mark. While they emphasizes that products should be prepared at home to addressed previously omitted topics such as maternal avoid sodium, calories, and sugars that are often found in and infant nutrition, insight into addressing our nation’s restaurant food. chronic disease dilemma was lacking. This problem was Guidelines for infants also included pertinent new likely caused in part by a switch in publisher of the information for new parents. Before age two, the guideguidelines, from a committee that has consistently prolines say that children should not consume added sugars, duced them to the USDA, an organization that has faced which are common in fruit juice and premade baby foods. increasing opposition under the Trump Administration.

The report also notes how infants should be exposed to If you wish to change your eating habits, the guidelines foods like nuts, soy and dairy, which they are at higher are a good place to start, but public health officials say you risk for developing allergies to if they wait too long to start should do other research about alcohol and added sugars consuming them. to gain insight into areas not explicitly covered by the An increased focus on breastfeeding for children below 2020 report. While the guidelines will never be complete the age of 6 months is also helpful for promoting health for advice for everyone, they should give Americans the most ANN SELIGER / DAILY CARDINAL both mother and child, according to the report. A study by information that science has to offer in hopes of improvBinns et al shows that breastfeeding is helpful for a multi- Dietary decisions as depicted in graphic "Food Thoughts." ing their lives.

STAFF WRITER

tude of reasons, such as decreased risk of cancer and hypertension. Besides physical health, it has also been linked with improved cognition and brain function.

Despite these helpful inclusions, there were several key areas left unaddressed. One element absent from the report is clear recommendations for alcohol and added sugar consumption. Consumption of added sugars and alcoholic beverages

almanac 9

Thursday, February 4, 2020

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I Tried Coca-Cola With Coffee So You Don’t Have To

GRPAHIC COURTESY OF COCA COLA

By Nick Rawling Ever since they took the caffeine out of Four Loko I’ve yearned for another drink I can buy from a gas station that has a not-insignificant chance of giving me a fatal heart attack. Needless to say, I was thrilled when I heard that Coca-Cola was bringing Coca-Cola with Coffee home to the good ol’ U. S. of A. after offering it abroad for years.

As a red-blooded American, I don’t really care enough to do any in-depth research concerning what the beverage actually contains, but as far as I’m aware it’s basically just Coke mixed with a Brazillian dark roast — caramel/vanilla flavors also available. Perhaps CocaCola is trying to mend its brand image as it relates to South America after, allegedly, funding right-wing paramilitary death squads in Colombia less than 20 years ago.

Speaking of ethical corporations that I love to support, I was able to find the subject of this piece at Walmart. The universe must have really wanted me to try the vanilla one because there was literally only one can of the stuff left in their soda aisle and it was vanilla.

It comes in a very warmcolored version of one of those tall skinny cans that a White Claw comes in, which I guess I’ll score as a point in its favor because it is kind of sexy.

The packaging is by far my favorite part of CocaCola with Coffee though, as the liquid inside is, for lack of a better term, not bussin’.

Granted I’m not a fan of vanilla in the first place which might have skewed my review a bit, but basically what it tasted like to me when it hit my mouth was partially-flat vanilla Coke. After that came an extremely syrupy, medium-

roast coffee aftertaste like one might distinguish after taking a sip of the most decorated Starbucks drink you can think of.

Overall, it wasn’t bad enough to trigger my gag reflex, but not good enough for me to really enjoy consuming it. I give it two stars out of five. I will concede that it was significantly better when I put it over ice and that I could see myself acquiring a taste for it if I drank enough of it, but… why?

Don’t just take it from me though. My high-schoolaged little sister said before trying it, “that sounds like an anxiety attack,” and after trying it, “I don’t like that.”

Fellow Cardinal Almanac Editor Gillian Rawling said it “tastes like a shitty alcoholic drink without the alcohol.”

In conclusion, Coca-Cola with Coffee is bad and I think that you should just, simply, not buy it.

Stock Market Rocks Madison

By Hannah Ritvo The effects of the shifting stock market could be felt all over Madison during the past week. Gphi Sophomore Beth Sanders even went as far as saying the stock market ruined her weekend.

“The boys were like totally on their phones all night,” and they didn’t even notice the new top that she had bought from Pitaya.

Madison Econ majors had a bad week too, freaking out over their losses.

Freshman Henry Cruz was caught on tape saying “this is the worst thing to happen to me financially.” It was later found out Cruz had only put in 15 dollars.

Psychology major Anne Baker said she could totally tell when the stock market had gone up versus down.

When it went up, the frat boys would whoop and

play “Come On, Eileen,” while when there was a loss, the frat seemed to get morose and philosophical, whimpering quietly to “Summertime Sadness,” by Lana Del Rey. Visitors of the frat this weekend reported watching frat boys sing a little too passionately to “Gold Digger,”

by Kanye West. It can be assumed that they could finally relate to West, in the sense that girls only want them for their money.

Tensions were high at the end of the night, when frat boys reportedly beat up a film major for chiming in on their serious conversation about the cryptocurrency “DOGE” and saying that he too loves Shiba Inus.

At the dorms, stocks were the talk of the halls as well. One freshman in Witte even said she walked past a room at 2 a.m. where

she could hear them softly chanting “AMC, AMC, AMC to the moon.” She quickly ran to her RA’s room, worried for her neighbors, and mid-knock heard him mumbling too.

A Chad resident told his friends in the beginning of the year that his dad worked for a hedge fund. No one has heard from him in days, and his RA found a polaroid dated 2009 of him and his dad in the trash outside. The photo was unrecognizable and crossed out with a red X. During a casual Sellery elevator conversation, a girl was overheard talking about her GME profits. The boys in the elevator laughed and asked her where she had even heard about the stock market from. She told them she’s been on Reddit since 2018. The boys responded “b-b-but girls don’t use Reddit?!”

IMAGE BY KATIE SCHEIDT

Groundhogs Day predictions: Six more weeks of winter, detrimental climate change and a nonexistent end to the covid lockdown

By Gillian Rawling

GRPAHIC COURTESY OFWIKI COMMONS

Madison residents and students were not surprised over the prediction gifted by Punxsutawney Phil Tuesday morning.

Although him seeing his shadow usually signifies 6 more weeks of winter, most Midwesterners don’t hold his forecast highly.

“You know, it’s always fun to joke about but I think we all know, at least in Madison, that we’ll be lucky if it stops snowing by midapril,” says a professor at the University.

Phil’s predictions didn’t just end there, as they usually do each Groundhog’s day. The

famous rodent’s behavior during the ritual reflected much more than just an early end to winter.

Some say that his actions prophesied much more damning information.

One o n l o o ke r attended the formality on zoom from his home in southern California. One thing he found distinct was a deliberate wack at a decoration by Phil, knocking a ceremonial candle on his den, lighting it up in a grand display — just like the west coast.

“It was honestly kind of traumatic to remember the past year, my parents lost their house to the wildfires.

Phil’s face was so menacing during the act

— it had to have been deliberate,” said the observer.

Other climate change experts chimed in on how similar the events were to the “shit tornado” we are all about to be enveloped in.

Throughout the eventful proceedings, one observer seemed to have gotten too close to Phil, as today reports are coming in that he is experiencing a formidable cough and wheezing.

Dr. Anthony Fauci seemed unsurprised by the news: “even groundhogs have to wear masks,” he added in a stream of well wishes to the furry hero.

comics

10 • Thursday, February 4, 2021

TIKTOK HABITS

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BY LYRA EVANS

SUDOKU

DIRECTIONS: Fill in each row, column and square with the numbers 1-9

CROSSWORD

DIRECTIONS: Fill in words via the prompts across or down via their respective numbers.

DO YOU LIKE TO DRAW? JOIN US!! send your emails to: graphics@dailycardinal.com

LOVE LIFE

Across 1. Skills 5. Vows 10. Consumes 14. Entice 15. Prepare to propose 16. Dissolve 17. Press 18. Entrap 19. Skilled

BY LYRA EVANS

20. Light wood 22. Soak through 24. Cleopatra’s snake 25. Illicit 28. Minor disagreements 30. Adversary 32. Flower feature 35. Rose Bowl city 39. Pedro’s friend

40. Choir singer 41. Earth 44. Beatle ____ McCartney 45. Achievers 47. Slanted 49. Iowa or Ohio 50. View 51. Manly 53. Cure-all

58. Comedian ____ Hope 60. Horn blast 62. Welcome 63. Burn reliever 65. Mud brick 68. Aristocrat 69. Plumber’s concern 70. Stage parts 71. China’s continent 72. Love foolishly 73. Evade 74. Looks at Down 1. Defendant’s offering 2. Rustic 3. Online troublemaker 4. Taste or smell 5. Approvals

6. Raggedy ____ 7. Afternoon affairs 8. Religious dissent 9. Snooze 10. ____ Thurman of “Pulp Fiction” 11. Johann ____ Bach 12. Building extensions 13. Stair part 21. Old 23. Mama’s man 26. Afresh 27. Comedian Jay ____ 29. Musical speed 31. ____ Gras 33. Spanish water 34. Lounge about 35. Mats 36. Thanks ____! (2 wds.)

37. Bygone river vehicle 38. Main artery 42. Speak imperfectly 43. Statistics 46. Religious subgroup 48. Mob 50. Haitian religion 52. Stash 54. Zones 55. Stop 56. Supernatural 57. Road guide 58. Lacking hair 59. Bogus butter 61. Narrated 64. Supplement 66. Entreat 67. Compass reading (abbr.)