LIFE & ARTS
Two Bush School professors host podcast discussing American politics A2
SPORTS No. 10 men’s hoops to face historically good SEC in one of its best seasons in years B1
LAST DAY TO ADD/ DROP CLASSES
Republicans to regulate school choice, DEI in legislature
State conservatives prepare renewed mandate following last year’s elections
By Nicholas Gutteridge Editor-in-Chief
The 89th Texas Legislature convenes on Jan. 14 for the first time in two years, kicking off a monthslong session that will see Republican lawmakers attempt to pass school choice legislation, reinforce anti-DEI laws and review the role faculty senates play at universities.
Following last November’s elections, Republicans enter the biennial meeting with an 88-62 majority in the Texas House of Representatives and 20-11 majority in the state Senate, a strengthened makeup for
Gov. Greg Abbott as he pushes his top priority: school choice legislation.
“The governor is pushing the ESA school vouchers, the education savings accounts,” Bush School professor Ann Bowman said. “That is certainly an issue that was big during [election] campaigns in summer and fall, so that’s going to be at the top of the list.”
If Abbott’s vision for the controversial legislation passes, Texas families would receive access to a state-funded account that can be used to fund private education. His last attempt to pass the initiative
in the 88th Legislature failed after fierce opposition from Democrats and rural Republicans who argued that funding private education would divert sorely needed money from public schools.
The governor’s largest barrier, the Texas House of Representatives, fell during last year’s election after Republicans targeted school choice opponents in elections statewide. A day after the voting, Abbott said at least 79 of the 150 representative-elects supported the initiative and reaffirmed his commitment to passing it.
Connecting with creatures
Student finds voice through music
By Sophia Munoz Life & Arts Writer
Her siblings are fast asleep in their beds, but Jessica Pardede is wide awake.
Melodies often find the English junior at unexpected moments, keeping her restless until she captures them. Lyrics have been intertwined with her thoughts from a young age, making songwriting habitual. To Jessica, crafting an album as a full-time student seemed like the only natural response.
In the summer of 2021, Olivia Rodrigo released her first album
“Sour”, which topped the charts and was one of the best-selling albums that year. Exploring themes of adolescent love, heartbreak and jealousy, the album serves as an important piece to young adults across the country. To Pardede, “Sour” inspired her to step outside her comfort zone and share her music with the world.
“She’s very shy, reserved,” Jessica’s sister, biology senior Gwyneth Pardede said. “That’s always just been her from a very young age. So her starting to put out music — that was actually shocking to me. The first time she was just like, ‘Gwen
can you listen to my voice memo?’ I was like, ‘Voice memo?’ and then she played it for me. And I was like, this is so good, not even from a biased like, ‘You’re my sister. I’m gonna like it.’”
Eva and Gerry Pardede raised their children with a love for music. Eva taught them how to play piano and enrolled them in lessons. Their father, Gerry, taught chords on his guitar, beats on drums and tips for singing. Despite all of the Pardede children being musically inclined, it was clear Jessica had a gift.
There is a wild side to Aggieland waiting to be discovered — besides the crowds of people at Aggie football games.
From small, playful otters and striped zebras to towering giraffes and grazing livestock, fascinating animals are eager to be met at Aggieland Safari.
Originally a hunting range, the Aggieland Safari has since transformed into a place for wildlife education and entertainment that features everything from exotic animals to barnyard livestock.
“We opened in 2019,” Matthew McIntyre, an Aggieland Safari manager, said. “They were originally a wild game ranch, and they converted it to a safari. We were purchased in 2020 by Parks America, so we have three parks total.”
Covering several hundred acres, the safari offers participants opportunities to feed the animals in drive-thru stops and stroll the walkable areas to see the different species of birds, reptiles, otters and more that litter the area.
“In the drive-thru, the animals come right up to the car,” McIntyre said. “They can feed them. For the walk-thru, we actually have feeding experiences, so they can actually feed the giraffes and our tortoises, our parakeets and our goats and pigs.”
As for the safari’s most popular activities, the capybara encounters often come out on top.
Led by a professional zoo keeper, attendees can enter the animal’s enclosure, pet them and even feed the largest rodents in the world their favorite treats.
A visitor pets George the
Jessica Pardede uses passion, newfound confidence to build recording career
Inside KAMU’s ‘Inside Political Science’
Hosted by two political science professors, the podcast educates listeners by bringing in experts to discuss current issues in politics
By Tori Hillis Life & Arts Writer
When the first episode of the “Inside Political Science” audio and visual podcast was released in April, the presidential election was between then-incumbent President Joe Biden and thenformer President Donald Trump.
The podcast is produced by Texas A&M’s KAMU, a local broadcasting station,` and is co-hosted by political science professors Kirby Goidel, Ph.D., and Charles Todd Kent, Ph.D. Both Goidel and Kent use their experience and passion in political science to bring informative conversations to listeners centered on the science of politics rather than opinion.
Since then, Trump survived two assassination attempts, Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee and Republicans won the popular vote for the first time since 2004. The podcast hasn’t lacked material to discuss and breakdown, and even after the election the headlines continue to prompt conversations between these two experienced political scientists.
“I think the podcast is rooted in our deep love of politics and
a belief that it's important and that it matters,” Goidel said. “And that if people understand it better, then we can have a better political system.”
Throughout the presidential election, the co-hosts followed political headlines and voters' interests by bringing on experts across both campus and the country to weigh in on their topics of expertise.
The first episode explains political polling and how to identify an accurate poll, the third breaks down campaign advertisements with a guest political science professor and the fifth sees two guest economic professors discuss the Federal Reserve. The latest of the podcast’s 19 episodes was released in December.
“I've always been very open to the idea that we shouldn't be contained by a classroom in terms
of talking about politics, that our role is civic education, and so what we should do is talk about politics whenever and wherever we can,” Goidel said. “And to try to take advantage of the opportunities that are there so that we can hopefully engage people and teach people and teach people about the political process and policy.”
The podcast digs deeper into policies and important topics for voters by bringing in expert guests from corresponding disciplines. Kent said that if someone walks away from listening to an episode and is able to talk to someone else about what they’ve learned, then the podcast has accomplished its goal.
“Our job is getting people to think through the nuances of politics and kind of below the surface that people may not have thought about,” Kent said.
“And then by hearing from these experts who think about it every day, I think that really adds to the interest.”
As an undergraduate psychology student, Goidel remembered his political science professor challenging him to get involved in the democratic process,. If they didn’t get involved, the professor said, somebody else would and would make decisions that could impact their lives.
“But I was more curious and taken aback by, ‘Wait, who are these people? Where do they come from? What do they believe?’”
Kent said. “And so as someone with an interest in psychology, and then with politics, adding layering politics on top of it, I've just been sort of fascinated with how people think about the world ever since.”
Growing up, Kent was often excited to follow political
campaigns, largely due to his father and his job as a high school government teacher.
Kent later entered politics, working to help candidates get elected to office on and off for roughly 20 years.
“My first campaign was the George H.W. Bush campaign in 1988, and so, you know, I enjoyed that so much,” Kent said. “And then later on, I went back and got a Ph.D. in political science.” Goidel said that in order to talk about politics productively, it requires intellectual curiosity — namely, don’t try to “win the argument.”
“Try to figure out where they are and why they think the way they do,” Goidel said. “Because I think most people are pretty fascinating. And I think even the people that we strongly disagree with, I strongly disagree with, still have really interesting views about the world. And sometimes I think they're interesting and wrong and contradictory, but sometimes I'm like, ‘Wow, I've never thought about it that way.’” Kent said he can’t think of a subject more enjoyable than political science in today’s academic environment, as students have been highly interested in discussing politics.
“I find it to be wonderful to be in the classroom with students,” Kent said. “One time this year, I was a lecturer in a class called BUSH 141, which we talked about democracy and civic engagement. And so we took our podcast actually to the classroom and did it with the students, and they were very interested to talk about and to express their views and those types of things.”
Agriculture commissioner visits Brazos Valley
Sid Miller discussed agricultural issues in blitz that brought him to the Brazos Valley, surrounding areas
By J.M. Wise News Editor
In preparation for the incoming president-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller visited the Brazos Valley during a media tour to discuss current issues surrounding Texas agriculture and rural communities.
As a vocal Trump supporter, Miller told The Battalion that he is looking forward to economic growth and improved support for Texas farmers under the new administration.
“There’s no profit in agriculture other than the beef market right now,” Miller said. “I’m looking forward to the Trump administration coming back and using tariffs as a bargaining tool like he did the last administration and moving some of our agricultural products.”
The tariffs proposed by Trump range from 10% to 20% on all goods imported from other countries. Proponents argue it would protect
U.S. manufacturing and raise federal revenue, but the National Retail Federation estimates that implementing the tariffs would reduce Americans’ spending power by between $46 billion and $78 billion annually.
“I think through the new office of DOGE [Department of Government Efficiency], … we’ll see that happen,” Miller said about removing federal environmental regulations. “Some of them that will be cut will be declaring the 600,000 acres [banned from] offshore drilling that Biden just did an executive order on.”
On Monday, the White House announced that future oil and gas drilling will be banned along more than 625 million acres of coastal areas. The area includes the entire East Coast and the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
“That will be reversed,” Miller said. “That regulation will be one of the first ones to go.”
Miller serves as the state agricultural commissioner and the Texas House of Representatives. He was reelected in 2022 and will serve until the 2026 elections.
Miller has focused on removing regulations and decreasing government oversight on Texas farmers, which has led him opposing various federal proposals, such as one listing the monarch
SENIOR BOOT BAG
butterfly as threatened.
“This proposal is just wrong,” Miller said. “It’ll do nothing to help the monarch, but it’s a jobkiller … The largest problem is the overwintering grounds in Mexico … that forest, through Mexico’s deforestation, has lost 98% of the forest.”
Federal conservationists estimate that by 2080, the probability of the monarch butterfly facing extinction is greater than 99%, largely due to the degradation of the species’ habitat.
If the monarch butterfly is granted federal protection, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would determine what protections are needed to recover the species’ numbers.
“I don’t think we need to spend tax dollars on it,” Miller said. “I don’t think there would be any problem raising private money to make that happen.”
Federal protections could range from protecting the butterfly’s California habitat to increasing breeding programs across the country.
Miller’s positions have faced significant backlash from others in the agricultural industry, with his recent statements on the protection of the monarch butterfly contradicting American Farm Bureau Federation president Zippy Duvall.
“Preserving natural surroundings for America’s wildlife has long been a priority for farmers and ranchers,” Duvall said in a statement. “That dedication extends to the monarch butterfly. The use of a 4(d) rule acknowledges the work farmers are undertaking to protect the monarch while recognizing the need for flexibility in conservation efforts between diverse regions and crops.”
Conservation of Texas’ natural resources also includes preserving the limited amount of water in the state.
“We’ve run out of water,”
Miller said. “There’s only a certain amount of surface water in the state, and all of it is allocated. We’ve been through some droughts, so [a] lot of our reservoirs and lakes are low. So we’ve got to do a better job of managing our water resources.” Miller said the state needs to improve water infrastructure in growing cities and embrace technologies such as desalinization and rainwater harvesting.
“There’s a lot of things that we can do to alleviate our situation,” Miller said. “We’re just not doing any of them or at least not enough of them.”
Photo courtesy of KAMU
File photo by Robert O'Brien
BATTALION
Political science professor Kirby Goidel, Ph.D. and Charles Todd Kent, Ph.D, the hosts of Inside Political Science audio and visual podcast, poses for a photo in the KAMU studio.
The Texas State Captiol building on Nov. 24, 2019. Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller was reelected in 2022 and serves until 2026.
“Gwen didn’t learn how to harmonize until high school, but Jessica learned in elementary school,” Eva said. “ … She was maybe in first grade or second grade …. She’s the first one in the family, the youngest one in the family, to know how to harmonize.”
While Jessica’s love for music began at home, she didn’t seriously pursue her talent until her last years of high school, singing in her church’s praise band and high school choir. She continued to write songs as well because that never seemed to be a choice for her.
“Songwriting happens when it’s most inconvenient for me,” Jessica said. “So if I’m walking down the street and a car passes by me, I’ll be like, ‘I’m thinking of something right now, and I need to write it down as soon as possible.’ And so I’ll get out my phone or record my own voice singing a melody that came to my head. Or I’ll write it down on a piece of paper during class. But songs never come to me when I’m sitting down and I want to write a song. So I think that’s the most difficult part of songwriting. But at the same time, I think the inconveniences make the song sound more vulnerable.”
The songs Jessica recorded wouldn’t see the light of day until after she was moved by Rodrigo’s album in the summer of 2021. Feeling ready to share her progress, she played her voice memos to her family, who offered their full support.
“We have to beg, basically,” Eva said. “‘Please, please. We just want to listen to one song.’ And so after
that, she got comfortable because everyone in the family says, ‘We love it. We love it. Jess, can we get another one? Can we listen to another one?’ And then I think that’s what makes her think then, ‘Okay, so I guess it’s good.’”
With her family’s encouragement and her own newfound confidence, Jessica released her debut album “it’s my birthday” on Aug. 2, 2023.
“I’m thinking of all of the things that have happened to me throughout my life, and usually, my birthdays are really sad for me,” Jessica said. “I’ve never felt like there’s never been a birthday where I haven’t been crying. … I associate my birthday with abandonment and yearning and stuff like that. So it’s kind of sad, but I wanted it to have kind of a happy title because, I don’t know, I just wanted to mislead people to listen.”
While most of the songs on “it’s my birthday” tell stories of being wronged in relationships, Jessica antagonizes herself in the opening track titled “let me know.”
“The reason I put that first is because I wanted people to know that even though I am hurt, I am putting myself in a position to be the victim throughout the album,” Jessica said. “It’s kind of like my own actions that led to it. I didn’t take precautions when dealing with some people or dealing with an issue. It’s just an opening of ‘I did this to myself’ really.”
Jessica takes full control of her music production, managing every detail herself and often starting with raw recordings captured on her phone.
take care of them.
“Capybaras and giraffes are our most popular, but we also have our hippo, Howdy,” McIntyre said. “And then honestly, every animal in the drive-thru is very, very popular.”
The safari also offers a Goodbull deal for Aggie football games: If the Aggies win a home game, the establishment will have free admissions the following Sunday.
“That’s been very, very popular,” McIntyre said. “We have a lot of people … but a lot of people we talk to, they’re just in town for the game, like, ‘I didn’t know y’all were here. We saw posts,’ and things like that.’”
One of the zookeepers, Ashleigh Paulsen, said the safari also offers a zookeeper internship to those interested in working in animal-related industries. The position gives students the chance to have personal interactions with the animals and
“I had a lot of pre-vet students that wanted to do internships with us so they get more experience with exotics, but it’s an unpaid zookeeping internship that we do here,” Paulsen said.
With several animal species on the safari, taking care of all of them often seems like a tough task, especially regarding each animal’s diet.
“All our drive-thru animals, they’re all the same herbivore-type animals, so they can all eat the same pellets,” Paulsen said. “We have designated diets. They get very specific amounts of produce that we feed out every morning, fruits and veggies. They also have designated grains for those guys … we also do lots of romaine lettuce for our animal encounters because it’s low-calorie.”
Since the animals get so much human contact, they cannot be released into the wild because they lack the instincts to defend them-
CAMPUS
While some lyrics come to her in moments of inspiration, the instrumental sounds emerge through a patient process of trial and error until it ultimately aligns with her artistic vision.
“I always start with a melody and lyrics, and I always pick up my guitar first,” Jessica said. “And I write all of my songs on guitar, and then I decide whether it sounds good with piano or guitar better and see which one should be the foundation. … I think the most challenging part for me is figuring out what I really want it to sound like because sometimes it’ll start off mellow and then become something that I didn’t really want it to be. So I have to restart from the beginning and re-record everything.”
Jessica’s latest single, “if this is love” expands on her usual theme of unrequited love. In this single, she pushes her boundaries as a historically mellow vocalist by exploring her vulnerability with bolder vocals.
“I’m not really much of a yeller, so when I get into arguments with people, I usually just go quiet or shut down while they’re just screaming at me,” Jessica said. “So I think the reason why I decided to do those loud background vocals was because it depicts what I wanted to do. I wanted to scream and yell and just fight, but at that point, I was just tired. And I don’t usually like to come off as an angry person, especially to people who I love.”
As she continues to grow into her craft, Jessica hopes to experiment further by shifting her overall tone in her music from yearning for romantic relationships to appreciat-
selves if they encounter dangers.
“A lot of animals, captive animals usually, you can’t ever really release them into the wild unless you’re a rehab facility that’s designated for, and those animals don’t get as much human contact,” Paulsen said. “So they’re not usually super friendly, and that way they keep those wild traits. And then they can go back into the wild. But here, they’re used to people every day. It wouldn’t be right to put them back in nature and something bad happens to them because they weren’t afraid of a person.”
As the safari takes great pride in the safety of its animals and animal conservation, it also hosts a variety of animal conservation-related events that attendees can participate in.
“We’re always running special events, conservation charities and donations and stuff like that, particularly for World Giraffe Day every year,” McIntyre said. “We run different events and stuff and we take donations to put towards giraffe conservation, so we’re really big about the conservation aspect.”
The Aggieland Safari is a place to visit for those who are interested in learning about animals or interacting with them.
With a variety of animal-related events held by the safari, there are many activities for visitors to choose from when they stop by the zoo.
“We get to go in with animals every day,” Paulsen said. “Just being around animals honestly is the best thing for me. I love being around these guys, especially the ones you won’t see really anywhere else.”
ing her platonic and familial bonds.
“I want to start writing about friendships because friendships are really huge for me in my life,” Jessica said. “They’re really important to me — and also the things that have happened to me in my friendships. And so I want to explore my friendships on a deeper level, and I also want to write about my family and explore more happier topics.”
Jessica hopes to release another single and a sophomore album soon.
Meanwhile, her emotional and candid style continues to capture the hearts of her viewers on TikTok, earning her over 130,000 followers.
Jessica uses platforms like TikTok to build a following by sharing raw snippets of original songs along with acoustic covers of other artists.
“I’m very proud that she’s able to do that,” Eva said. “You know, I wish that she was more confident, but I pray that God will give her that confidence. I know how hard
Cities and school districts across Texas have similarly reaffirmed their opposition to the plan, including College Station ISD and Bryan ISD. In a legislative priorities list, Bryan ISD asked the legislature to “ensure public tax dollars are not diverted to private entities since they are not obligated to accept all children and are not monitored at the same level as Texas public schools.”
If passed, Texas would join 30 other states that offer a similar voucher program.
“Texas is kind of playing catchup on that,” Bowman said. “But it was certainly out in front on some of the DEI legislation, for example, because a lot of other states have looked to Texas as a model.”
Passed during 2023’s legislative session, Senate Bill 17 banned state universities from establishing or maintaining DEI offices and pursuing similar initiatives.
It went into effect last year and had several wide-reaching implications, including the shuttering of Texas A&M’s Pride Center.
The Texas Senate’s Subcommittee on Higher Education, which spearheads legislation related to universities in the upper chamber, said in its list of priorities for the next session that it aims to monitor SB 17’s implementation while also examining and recommending reforms to university programs and certificates that “maintain discriminatory” DEI policies.
“There’s a big concern about compliance,” Bowman said. “Are universities actually complying with
it is for her to even be able to let us hear the songs that she has created. So she has grown a lot since then by having the platform and sharing her music with practically the world because her listeners are from Korea, Indonesia, Germany. I mean, all over the world.”
Her audience spans far and wide, but Jessica only has one earnest wish when it comes to her listeners.
“I really hope my music finds girls like me or people like me,” Jessica said. “Honestly, just those who tend to hide their emotions when it comes to other people but feel the most by themselves. I hope that they feel seen because I know that I’m like that, and I don’t like to tell people how I’m feeling. So I just push it all into one category. I like to put it all into music because I’m not really talking to someone. I’m talking to myself, which is an escape from everybody around me. So I hope that it will reach introverts, introverts who are not great with feelings and words.”
Senate Bill 17? So I think we’ll see some kind of enforcement efforts in new legislation. Whether it be successful, I think it might — simply because of the kind of the makeup of the legislature and concern that institutions of higher education might not be following the rules quite as strictly as [the legislature] would like.”
Other listed committee priorities include reviewing faculty tenure, combating antisemitism on campuses and analyzing faculty senates to “establish guidelines for the role and representation of faculty.” A&M’s faculty senate has several important administrative duties, such as a role in forming the budget.
“In terms of faculty senates, it’s such an interesting one because it’s so internal to the institution, so internal to the university,” Bowman said. “That’s reaching pretty far into our operations.”
Over 2,500 bills have been introduced for the upcoming session, a number set to greatly increase over the next several months. By its end, the last legislature ultimately saw 11,807 bills introduced.
“I’ve heard a lot of people talking about issues like property taxes and what to do to try to get them under control,” Bowman said. “Border security continues to be an issue, so I think we’ll see a lot of that. There’s a lot of money coming into the state on the issue of casino gambling or at least expanding gambling.”
The 89th legislative session ends on June 2, beginning another twoyear break before the 90th Legislature takes charge of the Lone Star State in 2027.
Lillian Lopez — THE BATTALION
A visitor feeds a goat at the Aggieland Safari in Bryan on Monday, Nov. 11, 2024.
Chris Swann — THE BATTALION
English junior and musician Jessica Pardede sits for a photo in The Battalion’s studio on Monday, Nov. 25, 2024.
Nicholas Gutteridge, Editor-in-Chief
Totally plausible 2025 predictions
This new year has some crazy things in store for Aggies
line ticket pull backlash, A&M returns to in-person ticket pull. The same problems as last season prevail, predictably. Mass outrage
Mike Elko
spotted sans hat, prompts toupée
Two strikes down, A&M decides to try an in-person ticket pull with more accountability using a physical list.
Usually these guesses are whiny and uncreative, like “global warming exacerbates” or “World War III begins.”
Boring! No one cares. Just like no one cares which microcelebrity some random person on X thinks is going to get canceled. We want real, honest-to-Elko predictions that push the boundaries of 2025.
Well, now it’s my turn, and I intend to do it right. Happy New Year, Ags, and I hope y’all enjoy.
January 19: Luigi Mangione prison marriage, possibly to Diddy.
February 3: Chancellor John Sharp announced as new Commandant of the Corps of Cadets, to take over upon his retirement from the chancellor position. He couldn’t bear to get his fingers out of the Texas A&M pie after so many years of being in charge.
February 22: Hawk Tuah girl on Mark Welsh’s podcast, “At Ease.”
February 28: “Tornado Tom’s,” a new country-themed nightclub, opens just off Northgate.
April 18: Waffle House announced to be built in College Station. I’m manifesting, OK? We can dream.
May 25: Skibidi Toilet movie directed by Michael Bay released. This one’s not even a prediction; it’s just true.
June 8: Inspired by the success of last year’s Mexico-Brazil soccer match, A&M brings competitive Turkish oil wrestling to Reed.
June 13: Aggie baseball runs it back. Omaha, here we come!
June 15: Weezer concert in Kyle Field.
June 25: Schloss takes Texas Longhorn baseball to the Mens College World Series and quits a day later. Old Army does it twice, I guess?
July 17: Canon event. Not sure what yet, but everyone mark it in your calendars.
August 25: First use of online ticket pull system. It flops, predictably, just like registration does every year. Mass outrage from students, parents.
The university throws up its hands and says fine, if you can’t handle this, we’ll just get rid of it. A&M vs. Mississippi State marks beginning of A&M-Ticketmaster partnership. Mass outrage from students, parents.
October 11: Texas A&M Space Institute definitively proves the existence of aliens. Nation’s scientists in shambles.
October 12: Taylor Swift announces engagement to Travis Kelce. The betrothal quickly overshadows the alien discovery and everyone kind of forgets about extraterrestrials.
November 29: Rivalry game. I’m not gonna jinx it.
December 1: “Battered Aggie Syndrome” officially added to TAMU Disability Services’s list of disabilities. Help and accommodations offered to all those struggling.
December 9: Marcel Reed twink death.
Charis Adkins is an English senior and opinion editor for The Battalion.
Must-have personalities for Welsh's new podcast
What's your dream guest rotation?
By Joshua Abraham Opinion Writer
On Jan. 22, President Mark A. Welsh III will premier his much-anticipated podcast, “At Ease.” Giving a peek into the various activities and personalities at Texas A&M, he and chief of staff Susan Ballabina start by interviewing baseball coach Michael Early, with other guests to come.
But as every white man who has attempted to start a podcast knows, it’s difficult to be successful amongst the other white men also trying to start a podcast. What will you do? Who will you bring on?
Well, President Welsh, look no further!
Here are some of my best recommendations as potential guests for your new podcast.
Obviously, the first and most important interviewee would be the queen herself, Reveille X. Ever seen the movie “Up”? Let’s strap on one of those dog collars Dug had and hear the beautiful stories Reveille can grace us with. I could easily listen to what she has to say for hours on end.
Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait until that technology has been created for this to become a reality — STEM students, get on this please.
As one might guess, you probably haven’t had much experience podcasting before, and that's OK! The Aggie Network is expansive, and I’ve found someone that just might help with your podcasting skills: Brittany Broski.
If you’re unfamiliar, Broski is a social media personality and podcaster. She hosts “The Broski Report” and has interviewed many famous names, such as sing-
er Charli XCX, actress Saoirse Ronan and actor Timothée Chalamet.
But Broski graduated from A&M in 2019! What a valuable resource to help you be the best podcaster you can be. Have her on the podcast and then keep her as a consultant for her expertise.
Who knows, maybe one day she’ll anoint you as “Assistant Supreme Leader.”
One of the reasons I chose to attend this great university was watching former Aggie quarterback Johnny Manziel play during his Heisman-winning season, and seeing him on the podcast would be incredible. However, something I think you should consider for this interview is the location.
Atmosphere bleeds into conversation, and what better place to create an atmosphere than having the podcast at Northgate?
Let’s relive the times Johnny
Football tore up Kyle Field and then would tear up the bar after by setting the interview in his Money Bar.
Take a couple of shots together, play some bar games and maybe roll up a joint like Manziel did when he was a student.
We might have to wheel you out when this episode is done. History is best learned, not relived. But sometimes it’s best to come face-to-face with some people of our past, even if it’s people who we wish to not ever come across again. President Welsh, put former president Kathy Banks on the podcast.
As disliked as she is on campus, she deserves a spot. Topics you may discuss with her include her thoughts on racism and what was going through her head when she tried to shut down the physical printing of The Battalion.
Every podcaster knows no ep-
isode should be exactly the same.
Sure, have those big-name interviews, but maybe switch up the format once in a while — like maybe by going right across our own campus!
Stop by Heldenfelds Hall to ask how it feels to be the ugliest building at A&M, get a few thoughts from the campus squirrels on what their favorite scare tactics against students are and ask the Century Tree about the most awkward moments it has witnessed. We, the people, need this.
Lastly, everyone loves a good season finale. It’s the culmination of your hard podcasting work, and it should go out with a bang. But what guest to end it with?
Now, not many people are going to agree with me, but hear me out: former baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle.
The man who betrayed Aggieland? Why would we ever want
to allow him to step foot in our beloved town again? Why would we even want to associate with him again?
Again, hear me out.
Take the Yell Leaders and head west to the land where orange burns, sneak into his home and capture him. Bring him back to College Station and throw him into the recording studio. Obviously he isn’t going to cooperate, but that’s OK — you're going to make him talk.
As you were once in the military, you should be familiar with torture tactics, and what better way to treat a terrorist like Schlossnagle than by using one of the premier tactics — waterboarding! As once upon a time Gatorade was dumped on him for his achievements, now it will be dumped on him for his betrayal. Keep doing it until he is willing to cooperate and do the podcast, and then you can start. Interrogate him for his actions and embarrass him for the embarrassment he brought to our university. You’re our president, and it’s your job to hold people accountable when they don’t respect us.
Let’s put that general rank to good use.
Welsh, I hope you’ll consider these choices, and I’m so excited to see what the future in the podcasting world holds for you.
Maybe one day you’ll make it bigger than being president of our university to the epitome of modern podcasting: spreading misinformation like Alex Jones and Joe Rogan for millions of viewers.
I look forward to what you have in store.
Joshua Abraham is a kinesiology junior and opinion writer for The Battalion.
Graphic by Sophie Villarreal — THE BATTALION
SPORTS
A&M to face loaded SEC
Here’s what the Aggies need to do to compete for a championship against a stellar SEC
By Ian Curtis Managing Editor
The Southeastern Conference’s mantra of “It Just Means More” has become a tired adage over the years. Its claim of dominance in just about every major sport has — at times — been exposed as simply a hypothetical toughness it can’t live up to when games are actually played.
But there’s nothing hypothetical about how good the SEC is in men’s basketball this year. Not only is it the best conference in the college basketball, it’s bordering on being the best season any single conference has had in the history of the sport.
By the beginning of January, the worst record in the conference belonged to South Carolina at 10-3. Overall, the league went
185-23. The entire conference is ranked in the top 75 teams in the country by KenPom.com, and six SEC teams — including No. 10 Texas A&M — are ranked in the top 10 in the AP Poll.
As of now, every single conference road game apart from any teams visiting the Gamecocks will be a Quad 1 game thanks to the NCAA NET Rankings.
Combine that with A&M’s stellar 11-2 mark against a ridiculously tough non-conference schedule that’s allowed the Aggies to rank up plenty of Quad 1 and 2 wins already, and it’s not a surprise to see the Maroon and White ranked in the AP Top 10 for the first time since 2017.
Here’s why A&M is projected as a 3-seed in the NCAA Tournament by ESPN and what it needs to do to contend for its first conference title since 2016.
A unique formula
As was the case last season, the Aggies lead in the country in offensive rebounding percentage and have a stellar defense.
So what’s different this season?
How about the fact that the Maroon and White have improved in both categories. Their offensive rebounding percentage is up to a whopping 44.5% — a full 2.7 points over Milwaukee, the country’s second-best in that category.
That’s enough to turn seemingly lackluster shooting numbers into an offense that ranks 27th in the nation, per KenPom’s offensive efficiency ranking.
If you can turn nearly half of your misses into another possession, why does it matter if your field goal percentage is well into the 200s?
The other half of A&M’s winning equation has been its defense, the 12th-most efficient in the country. The Aggies are masters of working opponents late into the shot clock and are forcing their fair share of turnovers.
Combine the Maroon and White’s defensive effort with their offensive rebounding, and you have a team that can easily handle squads that can shoot lights-out, like Texas.
The Aggies handled the Long-
horns to the tune of an 80-60 victory in their SEC opener, despite the visitors coming into the game with a 3-point percentage that ranked in the country’s top-10.
Future tests and new faces
A&M will have plenty of chances to prove that its formula is successful against top-tier SEC competition. Three of the nation’s four most efficient offenses, per KenPom, belong to conference foes Auburn, Florida and Alabama.
And every conference foe boasts its fair share of talent, including several national player of the year contenders.
Particularly, watch out for doit-all Auburn senior forward Johni Broome and Florida senior guard Walter Clayton Jr. — two players the Aggies have beaten in the past but who are playing better than they ever have before, as the schools are ranked second and eighth in the AP Poll, respectively.
The Aggies’ all-SEC leader, graduate G Wade Taylor IV, has been a star throughout his time in Aggieland.
But as he deals with a lingering injury, look for others to step up in his place, including a couple of new faces that fans who haven’t been following hoops through the fall might not recognize.
Senior G Zhuric Phelps has been A&M’s most-used player this season and ranks second behind Taylor in assists while leading the team in scoring as Taylor has missed time.
The transfer from SMU has been a force defensively, ranking second in the SEC in steals.
But it’s not just about guard play for the Maroon and White.
A&M has plenty of rebounders in its frontcourt, but Minnesota transfer junior F Pharrel Payne has joined graduate F Henry Coleman III as both a legitimate scoring threat and rebounder. Coleman ranks third in both categories for the Aggies, while Payne is fourth.
Overall, this is still a coach Buzz Williams-coded A&M team. But in a loaded SEC, it will need to be Williams’ best he has had in Aggieland if the Aggies want to have any new banners hanging in Reed Arena this time next year.
