The Reveille 11-6-23

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‘DO ‘DO NOT NOT LET LET OUR OUR PLANET PLANET DIE’ DIE’

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LSU students march for climate action

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Students call for university to divest from fossil fuels during march

BY SARAH WALTON & JACK PRICE @sarahrosewalton & @price_jack2024 LSU students rallied for climate action and called for the university to divest from fossil fuels on Friday, draping the Greek Theater in colorful banners before marching to the LSU Foundation building.

It was the culmination of the second annual Climate Week, a series of events hosted by Geaux Planet and Climate Pelicans to advocate for movement on climate change.

The rally continued last year’s theme of divestment, encouraging people and institutions like LSU to stop investing in fossil fuel companies. Signs reading “Divest,” “Divest From Fossil Fuels” and “Geaux Fossil Fuel Free, I’m Sorry, it’s not that hard” lined the crowd to support the message.

“These companies not only light the fire under our planet without apology, but they have set up their facilities specifically in Louisiana, extracting our natural resources for profit, destroying our land and sickening our residents,” said Jill Tupitza, an oceanography doctoraral candidate and the divestment campaign organizer for Climate Pelicans, at the rally.

“Divestment is incredibly effective,” Tupitza said. “This movement, which has garnered most support on college campuses since 2012, has been cited by multiple fossil fuel companies as restricting their ability to operate and expand. Shell even had to cancel an arctic drilling project because of it.”

The rally came after days of other events aimed at climate action. The week kicked off Tuesday with banner-making on the Parade Ground, producing three banners reading “Re-invest in our future,” “Divest from fossil fuels” and “Fight For Our Future.” All three ended up on display at the final rally.

Wednesday saw an open mic

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Ralliers protest Nov. 3 in front of the LSU Foundation Office on Nicholson Drive in Baton Rouge, La night held at Highland Coffees from 7-10 p.m. The themes were “Nature Appreciation, Climate Change, and Environmental Justice.”

At Friday’s rally, environmental justice researcher and scientist Corinne Salter focused on the impact climate change has on marginalized communities and how they believe college students have the ability to aid and educate these communities.

Salter began with a quote from famed author Toni Morrison: “Your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else.”

“As LSU students, who are literally living right next door to some of the most marginalized communities, we have this unique opportunity to use our education and our liberation to liberate others who are not as fortunate to have the same opportunities,” Salter said, adding,

TARUN KAKARALA / The Reveille

Ralliers march towards the Foundation Office on Nov. 3 on Nicholson Drive in Baton Rouge, La.

“We have a duty to our neighbors to help liberate them. When we find our ways in the dark using our science and critical thinking, do we leave others in the dark to stumble and struggle?”

Adam Dohrenwend, a geography doctoral candidate, also spoke at the rally. He was a representative from Rise St. James, a faith-based environmental justice organization based in the heart of Cancer Alley, an 85mile stretch along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans responsible for some of the highest cancer rates in the country due to high emissions from petrochemical companies.

Rise St. James launched in response to petrochemical company Formosa trying to build a new factory in St. James Parish, Dohrenwend said. “[Founder Sharon Levigne] had about 10 people at the first meeting in her living room,” Dohrenwend said. “They kept meeting and over the last couple of years, they won several court battles against Formosa.”

Rise St. James blocked the building of factories from Formosa, South Louisiana Methanol and the Wanhua Plastics Company in Cancer Alley. Dohrenwend said Formosa will try to appeal these blocks at 9 a.m. on Nov. 7 at the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeals in Baton Rouge.

LSU assistant professor Cheryl Harrison, who works in the Department of Ocean and Coastal Science and the Center for Computation and Technology, said she was at the event with two hats on.

“First hat is climate scientist,” she said. “Second hat is just as a person who cares about the world, like you all.”

She went on to describe cli-

mate model projections indicating that the only way to avoid major climate tipping points, such as the melting of ice in Greenland and Antarctica, is to dramatically reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Harrison was brought to tears speaking on the matter.

“We can’t wait. We can’t wait for our governance systems to figure it out. We can’t for our economic systems,” Harrison said in her speech. “And that’s the role of people like us here.

We need to shout and say this needs to stop because we’re all gonna die.”

After the speeches, the attendees marched together from the Greek Theater to the LSU Foundation building to push for fossil fuel divestment. The group yelled out chants like “Fossil fuel or fossil free, think about our legacy,” “Can’t eat money, can’t drink oil, leave our carbon in the soil,” “Divest, divest, it’s in our interest,” and “Climate change is not a lie! Do not let our planet die!”

Geaux Planet works on many other projects along with its annual Climate March. The organization holds events like “Bike on the Levee” and nature walks, and it highlights people in the LSU community and Louisiana with “Speaker Spotlights” and “Treehugger Tuesdays.”

The next climate march is likely to take place in November 2024. Tupitza believes organizing like this can make change.

“If we can make some noise, hold up some signs, and send a clear message to the LSU Foundation’s administration that this is important to us, we can direct tens of millions of dollars away from fossil fuel companies and into something more socially responsible,” Tupitza said.

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ABOUT THE REVEILLE The Reveille is written, edited and produced solely by students of Louisiana State University. The Reveille is an independent entity of the Office of Student Media within the Manship School of Mass Communication.

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NEWS Study at MOTHER’S SERVES abroad the Paris

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STUDENT LIFE

Local LGBTQ+ bar Mother’s Lounge sets itself apart

BY JACK PRICE @price_jack2024

A mother can be many things.

The word can be used to describe a female parental figure; biological, adopted or found. In drag culture, a mother is a protector and a mentor.

Best friends and co-founders of Mother’s Lounge, Trent Shepherd and Montanna Mercer, opened their bar with this exact idea in mind.

Looking around Baton Rouge, Shepherd recognized it’s often difficult deciding where to go out because there aren’t many places with a big mix of LGBTQ+ people.

“And that got me thinking, if we feel that way, we can’t begin to imagine how trans, nonbinary, and other parts of the queer community in Baton Rouge feel,” Shepherd said.

With Mother’s Lounge, Shepherd and Mercer wanted to create an inclusive space for the whole LGBTQ+ community, not just for gay men and lesbian women.

From that idea, Mother’s Lounge blossomed. The name comes from ballroom culture, an underground LGBTQ+ drag scene that originated in 1960’s New York. In that era, the term “mother” came to signify a person who’d take in wanderers off the street, giving them a safe place to be.

Many parts of Mother’s Lounge are an homage to the past.

A woman’s likeness used in the lounge bar’s brand, for example, is based on a picture of Mercer’s mother from a glam shoot she did in the ‘80s.

Customers walk through great red doors to reach the bar’s mirror-plated front hall.

With a marble counter, velvet booths, giant mirror balls and an outdoor seating area, the lounge bar frequently draws a crowd and always has something going on.

Mother’s Lounge is open every day but Monday, with drag performances every Friday at 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. and karaoke on Sundays. The bar also recently started a weekly event called Mother’s Motion Pictures, showing two movies each week on Wednesdays.

Since the bar opened, Mother’s Lounge has been an active part of the Baton Rouge community. The lounge has teamed up with local nonprofits such as the Mystic Krewe of Apollo and Baton Rouge Pride, according to Shepherd.

“We definitely took a risk,” Shepherd said, “and seeing people come in, let loose and be themselves is a success in itself.”

Olympics

BY MADISON MARONGE @MadisonMaronge

“This place is absolutely gorgeous,” Pontiff said, recalling his first impressions after seeing the completed lounge.

LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communication has opened applications for a new study abroad program that takes students to the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games.

According to a release about the program, students will attend both virtually in the United States and in several French cities, including Marseille, Lyon and Paris.

They’ll write and produce news stories and other content about their experience at the games all while exhibiting an understanding of various parts of French culture through their work.

The program, which is in July, is offered to graduate or undergraduate Manship School students, serving as a threecredit-hour upper division elective course under the direction of Manship Dean Kimberly Bissel.

An email sent on behalf of Bissell details the program. The course phases are outlined as such: • Group meetings via Zoom while in the United States • Several days in the field conducting interviews and gathering content for the final product while in Marseille, Lyon and Paris • Attending official Olympic

see MOTHER’S, page 4

see ABROAD, page 4

MADALYN CUNNINGHAM / The Reveille

Support for Mother’s Lounge has been overwhelming, Shepherd said. Friends and members of the community have all shown up and shown out.

Drag performer Dylan Pontiff has been working the red-velvet framed stage as Mother’s show director since opening day.

A tree sits in front of Mother’s Lounge on Oct. 11 on 143 N Third St. in Baton Rouge, La. Pontiff, better known by his drag name Santana A Savage, has been performing drag since 2010. Thirteen years ago, he was the youngest winner of Miss Gay Louisiana at just 21 years old.

CAMPUS LIFE

LSU’s Wellness Hub looks to make an impact on mental health

BY CONNOR REINWALD @Conur16 Mental health has become a focus at LSU in recent years, as it becomes increasingly apparent that students’ mental well-being is strongly linked to their academic performance and personal success. One way LSU tries to aid the mental health of its students is through the Wellness Hub. Located on the second floor of the LSU Library, the Wellness Hub allows students to learn how to improve their livelihood.

The Hub relies on a “Wellness Wheel” with 10 different “dimensions of wellness.” Each dimension is linked to an aspect of a student’s well-being.

The hub counsels students on the basics of each dimension and refers them to resources to further help with their problems.

For example, if students need

help financially, they could be referred to LSU’s Financial Aid and Scholarship Office to improve their “financial wellness.”

The ten dimensions of wellness are physical, cultural, social, financial, environmental, intellectual, emotional, sexual, occupational and spiritual.

“We wanted to ensure that students across the campus were aware of our intention to help facilitate their well-being,” Assistant Vice President for Student Health and Wellbeing Daniel Bureau said. “Part of it is encouraging students to think about all that they are doing as part of their well-being. So, my plan is to work with anyone that wants to work with me in order to build out a communications plan, do programs, create services that really support students in that pursuit of holistic well-being.”

A feature of the Hub is its utilization of student advisers, such

as kinesiology sophomore Alexis Granier. She describes her job as being available to anyone who has questions about school resources, personal life problems or general questions.

“This semester I’ve had three people come and talk to me,” Granier said. This allows for peer mentoring, which is seen as less intimidating than seeking help from a faculty member.

Wellness Hub employees must complete online training and mock interviews discussing potential problems someone could have. of course, the Hub isn’t without its share of challenges.

For instance, deep-rooted issues in a student’s mental health such as past trauma might be better addressed in a more clinical setting like the LSU Health Center.

see WELLNESS, page 4

ERIN BARKER / The Reveille

Students sit in the Wellness Hub in the LSU Library on Oct. 19 on LSU’s campus in Baton Rouge, La.

Monday, November 6, 2023

page 4 MOTHER’S, from page 3 Having performed as Santana A. Savage at another gay Baton Rouge establishment, Splash Nightclub, Pontiff said there isn’t much difference in performance styles. There is, however, more intimacy in the closer quarters of Mother’s, Pontiff said.

Mother’s Lounge is a 21-andolder bar. Pontiff said it’s nice, especially for the bartenders, to not have to worry about selling alcohol to underage college students.

“It’s nice to have a venue that’s catering to adult gays,” Pontiff said.

According to Shepherd, Mother’s Lounge opens its doors to all members of the community, including straight and/or cis allies—but the bar will always cater to the needs of the queer community.

A frequent attendee of Mother’s, Alex Marcantel said he heard about the lounge from social media and from having lots of friends in the bar industry.

Marcantel said his favorite time to go is during the day, when the environment of the bar is the best for having conversations with friends and bartenders.

“Depending on what time and what day you go there is a different vibe,” Marcantel said.

In fact, the first time Marcan-

tel went was on Mother’s opening day.

“My first impression was very friendly, very chill,” he said.

He called Mother’s Lounge a marketable middleman between Baton Rouge’s two other prominent gay bars, Splash Nightclub and George’s Place.

Marcantel said that Splash can be a little too “clubby” for middle America and that George’s feels more like a dive bar.

Marcantel also said it surprised him how kept-up Mother’s was, that he was used to legacy bars that have been around awhile or bars that appeal to a younger demographic that just don’t have the “upkeep.”

“You kind of get used to that certain bar feel, and then this is definitely more elevated,” Marcantel said.

Another patron of the bar, Angel Fernandez, said he usually only goes at night.

“At night it gets kind of full, so it turns into more of a disco club setting,” he said.

Fernandez also said Mother’s Lounge is unlike any other bar he’s been to in the area, like walking into another world.

“God, you forget you’re in downtown Baton Rouge,” Fernandez said, “You’re in this beautiful, red building with a giant disco ball on either side of the room.”

Do YOU want to be on the cover of our next issue?

ABROAD, from page 3 events in Marseille (football), Lyon (football) and Paris (canoe slalom and basketball) • Discovering how the different regions of the country prepare for and host the Olympic Games According to the release sent

by Bissell, the Olympics Project will not only serve as a great way

to travel and experience France with like-minded people, but to also build a portfolio, which can ultimately help with getting a job after graduation or applying for internships.

Interested students can submit an application online by 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 30 and join the Manship School’s Study Abroad Fair on Nov. 6 to get more information.

DAVID GOLDMAN / AP Photo

Jackie Briggs from the United States wears the Olympic ring sunglasses during the closing ceremony in the Maracana stadium at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Aug. 21, 2016.

WELLNESS, from page 3 The Hub’s location in the library has also hampered its operation, for its quiet and open setting can discourage communication. The second floor is meant to be a collaborative space with signs encouraging people to talk, but students still use the space as a quiet study area. This is a problem for the Hub because it is hard to facilitate counseling without projecting a person’s problems to the entire room.

The lack of clarity on what exactly the Hub is has also confused some students, who occasionally mistake it for a place where students can lounge.

Some other students, including frequent library visitors like civil engineering major Andrew Broussard, haven’t heard of the Hub. But that hasn’t got the Hub’s leaders backing down.

“To be honest with you, I think just the presence here is a success,” Bureau said.

As long as students are engaging in the space itself and taking pamphlets, the Hub will be seen as achieving its goal of promoting resources to students.

The Wellness Hub is staffed from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Any other time the location is a place to sit down in a bean bag or pick up a pamphlet about wellness.

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ENTERTAINMENT

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Laptop Orchestra of Louisiana concert unfolds with electronics

BY MADISON MARONGE @MadisonMaronge

When a musical ensemble takes the stage at a concert, the artists quietly file in after being announced, taking position in their assigned seats in front of their assigned instruments.

So imagine the surprise of the audience when the musicians of the Laptop Orchestra of Louisiana descended the stairs of the Digital Media Center theatre haphazardly clacking rocks together in their palm of their hands for about five minutes straight.

The Laptop Orchestra of Louisiana concert was anything but normal. Yet, the charming, experimental nature of the music from a variety of non-instruments— rocks, small circuits, marbles, leaves, grocery bags and much more — kept the audience intrigued (and sometimes a little scared).

After the first “rock” piece, the ensemble sat on a neon lit, rainbow-gradient backdrop and began to fiddle with their individual items and laptops,

producing sounds that were barely music-adjacent. Humming frequencies, piercing alarms, and objects rattling opened the show abruptly.

The show became a series of different music numbers, including Pauline Oliveros’ “Horse Sings From Cloud” and Carl Bergstrøm-Nielsen’s “Towards an Unbearable Lightness.”

Experimental music and digital media junior Olivia Lunsford has always loved the use of real-world, earthly sounds in music.

“We go to these extreme lengths to use not real instruments to make music, which helps me in my actual music making,” Lunsford said thinking back on what she learned the course focused on this concert.

The theatre was filled with these physical sounds that played off of one another, literally, as the musicians eyes dart back and forth to each other in response to a nefarious noise.

Other pieces served as a collective effort, as the sounds swelled together into some-

thing bigger than just the tap of a sound bowl or the wiggle of a loose-leaf sheet.

Faculty director Jesse Allison said the course that produces this concert, MUS 4270, has been structuring this performance all semester and, more importantly, how to interact with the ensemble.

“Some of the pieces that are performed have scores that everyone is trying to follow and kind of find their place in that score, and then others have created their own scores to collaborate with each other: how to organize, how to respond, what events to have, things like that,” Allison said.

Allison credits the music directors, Dylan Burchett and Erin Demastes, with teaching the musicians how to improvise and work with each other to create and interpret new sounds, resulting in a couple improv slots during the concert.

The concert came to end and all of the students, those who have been working toward this concert all semester, stood proudly and smiled as

MADISON MARONGE / The Reveille

The Laptop Orchestra of Louisiana musical ensemble takes their places on stage in the LSU Digital Media Center on Wednesday Nov. 1 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

they took their final bow, inviting people to the stage to see the gadgets and ask about the process.

After finishing this course, experimental music and digital media senior Andrew Valentine said he will take the lessons he learned here into his

future endeavors.

“Now, I rethink sounds I wouldn’t have necessarily produced before. Using something physical and then possibly modulating it in a program... like you’d never know that I used a rock to make a beat,” Valentine said.

PLANTFEST! 40th annual plant sale event of over 3,000 plants

BY OLIVIA TOMLINSON & LYLA MCGUIRE @oliviamersade & @lylamcguire3 The 40th annual PLANTFEST! was held this past Saturday and Sunday at the LSU Hilltop Arboretum, where the beautiful weather and the wide range of activities and plants drew a large crowd.

Over 3,000 individual plants and 300 species of plants were sourced from nurseries around Louisiana and Texas for this year’s plant sale. The event not only sold plants, but also hosted fun activities for children, a gift shop, garage sale and design

services and consultations. All items sold at the event were tax free.

The botanical garden is located off of Highland Road, only minutes away from campus. It’s usually open every day of the week during daylight hours.

Its proximity to campus makes it easy for any stressed-out student to bask in nature and learn more about native plant species.

The arboretum offered early access to current members of the Friends of Hilltop on Oct. 25, where they had the first look the plants on sale. Members were also given discounts on plants and in the gift shop,

depending on their membership level. Violet-level members received a 10% discount, while the Azalea-level received the same and free admission to the event.

Landscape architecture freshman Alianna Badeuax partook in this year’s event with her friends by purchasing native pollinators to add to her garden.

She said she was most excited to meet with professionals about potential career paths in this field.

“I love how interactive the arboretum makes the plant sale,” Badeaux said. “My favorite part is that it is in enjoyable for everyone, even if you’re not inter-

OLIVIA TOMLINSON / The Reveille

Bulbs, Corms and Rhizomes sit the LSU Hilltop Arboretum on Saturday Nov. 2 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

COURTESY OF LSU COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN

Buyers browse through plants available at PLANTFEST!

ested in plants. I brought my friends who are in other majors, and they had fun.”

PLANTFEST! is only one of many events that the LSU Hilltop Arboretum hosts every year; its November calendar is filled with volunteer work and fall camps. These events are tailored to both children and adults, like the Junior Master Gardener camp. Events like these are designed to get the entire community involved, but PLANTFEST! remains the most populated every year.

“Now that I’ve seen what the arboretum can do, I’ll be sure to make it to more events this year,” Badeaux said.

For those who are not so plant-savvy, experts were present at the arboretum, informing the public on the plants and assisting people in finding the right options.

The plant sale is not just for people interested in building up their garden, the Hilltop Arboretum said in a promotional release. PLANTFEST! is for newbies and returning visitors alike.

Monday, November 6, 2023

page 6

LSU football junior wide receiver Malik Nabers (8) prepares to catch the ball.

LSU football senior quarterback Jayden Daniels (5) runs the ball down the field.

Monday, November 6, 2023

page 7

LOSS ON THE ROAD The Tigers fell to Alabama 42-28 on Saturday in BryantDenny Stadium.

LSU football junior wide receiver Malik Nabers (8) jumps for the ball using Alabama football senior defensive back Malachi Moore’s (13) helmet.

LSU football senior quarterback Jayden Daniels (5), LSU football senior wide receiver Kyren Lacy (2) and their teammates celebrate a touchdown.

LSU football junior wide receiver Malik Nabers (8) celebrates a touchdown.

LSU football senior wide receiver Kyren Lacy (2) puts out a hand against an Alabama football player.

LSU football senior quarterback Jayden Daniels (5) warms up.

Mike the Tiger hypes up the LSU student section.

Photos by Madalyn Cunningham

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THE Daily Commuter Puzzle by Jacqueline E. Mathews ACROSS 1 Kill 5 Dentist’s directive 9 Be adjacent to 13 Forbidden item 15 Amount to swallow 16 Carried 17 Love in Paris 18 Belittle 20 Record speed letters 21 “__ before beauty” 23 Mistreats 24 __ tube; pool toy 26 Napkin’s place 27 Break a promise 29 Clergyman 32 Bring joy to 33 Eggbeater 35 One to honor this Saturday 37 Diminishes 38 Wall color 39 Eye drop 40 Amused texter’s reply 41 Bench boards 42 Catcher Yogi 43 Not as strong 45 Elegant 46 Charlotte, to Prince George 47 Toot one’s own horn 48 Wide gulfs 51 Ames & Sullivan 52 Cry of discovery 55 Beneficiary 58 Potato 60 Painting & sculpturing 61 Captures 62 Cook in a Presto 63 Most ideal 64 “The Old __ Mare” 65 See in the distance DOWN 1 Asterisk 2 Light source 3 Loathsome

Created by Jacqueline E. Mathews

4 One of us 5 Stranger 6 Luau dish 7 Tee’s forerunner 8 Kathmandu folks 9 Sudden 10 Large snakes 11 Strong desire 12 Ball holders 14 Juice flavor 19 Taken __; surprised 22 “__ whiz!”

25 Brooklyn team 27 Spin around 28 Arm part 29 Offshore oil __; floating platforms 30 Exaggerates 31 Brings up, as children 33 Tear’s partner, in phrase 34 Big success 36 Cafeteria item 38 Godsend

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39 Afternoon socials 41 Be frugal 42 Explosions 44 Help 45 MA’s Cape __ 47 “Sweet __ from Pike” 48 Grumpy person 49 In this place

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50 Performances 53 Large amount, slangily 54 Fighting force 56 Word attached to wig or wax 57 Org. for Wizards & Warriors 59 Gobbled up

SPORTS NO HELP

page 9 FOOTBALL

Three takeaways LSU’s No. 1 offense is overshadowed by damaged defense vs. Alabama from LSU’s 42-28 loss

BY MACKAY SUIRE @macthetiger

Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe played as if his life were on the line; as if a solid performance against LSU would solidify his chance at winning the Heisman trophy. It wasn’t Milroe in the running, though.

It was LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels, and his night ended just two minutes into the fourth quarter, when he was hurried into the injury tent. The CBS broadcast later confirmed that he was under concussion protocol.

“He had a head injury and was not able to come back,” head coach Brian Kelly said following the game. “Obviously have to put him through more testing before I can accurately say whether that was a concussion, not a concussion, things of that nature.”

A hit to the upper body from Alabama linebacker Dallas Turner left Daniels on the ground for what felt like minutes.

When he did walk off of the field, Garrett Nussmeier ran in from the sidelines for the next play. Incredibly enough, however, Daniels found his place behind his offensive line for the very next snap.

“It’s tough to see that situation, and to see him come out

BY PETER RAUTERKUS @peter_rauterkus

whenever things go like that.”

LSU’s 42-28 loss to the Crimson Tide was a display of offensive dominance from both teams.

It was an even larger display of

LSU football lost to Alabama 42-28 Saturday night. The loss dropped LSU to 6-3 on the season, officially eliminating the Tigers from a chance at winning the SEC West.

Despite starting the game well, a lot went wrong for LSU. Most of what went wrong was on defense, but there were issues in each phase of the game.

LSU led as late as the third quarter, but Alabama played another strong second half to seal the win.

Here are three takeaways from LSU’s 42-28 loss: Jayden Daniels probably lost his chance at the Heisman Trophy It’s really not his fault either.

Daniels might still be the best-performing quarterback in the country, but it’s almost impossible to win the Heisman on a team that isn’t a contender.

With LSU’s third loss, that all but removes Daniels from the conversation.

see OFFENSE, page 10

see TAKEAWAYS, page 10

MADALYN CUNNINGHAM / The Reveille

LSU football senior quarterback Jayden Daniels (5) prepares to throw the ball while warming up on Nov. 4 before LSU’s 42-28 loss against Alabama in Bryant-Denny stadium in Tuscaloosa, Al. is a bummer, but we knew that we had Nussmeier,” running back Josh Williams said about Daniels’ hit. “We had all our faith in him.”

Though Daniels was reevaluated soon after, and taken out for the remainder of the game, this

resilience from the team’s leader has been an obvious driving factor to a successful offensive production all season.

“Jayden Daniels is our leader,” Williams said. “We all look up to Jayden. We all migrate to him

OPINION

Column: LSU should use both Omar Speights and Whit Weeks

BY CABE BOND @PrezBond Baton Rouge is not prone to earthquakes but every Saturday, during a particular season, time stands still and the ground begins to rumble as over 100,000 passionate fans take over the city.

The fans bleed purple and gold. Their passion is unmatched, but the same shower of support can quickly become a storm of criticism, the most recent being how LSU chose to utilize freshman linebacker Whit Weeks.

The discourse started when Omar Speights, LSU’s starting linebacker, went down with an injury. Weeks excelled in his absence, and now fans want him as a full time starter.

Even with Speights returning, they’ve shown no signs of backing down.

Good linebackers are secure tacklers. That term gets thrown around a lot, but being a secure tackler isn’t just “wrapping up.”

Preventing yards after contact is a major part of secure tackling.

Giving up yards after contact is a

serious issue, and it’s one of the major arguments in the Weeks versus Speights debate.

The Tigers are unlikely to move on from Speights, per head coach Brian Kelly. He’s a senior with good size, good production and a lot of experience.

But he hasn’t played well since returning from an injury. Leaning on him isn’t a bad decision, but LSU doesn’t have to use him exclusively.

Speights is great at reaching the ball carrier, and his issues preventing yards after contact could be related to his injury. He possesses traits that only a seasoned player could have, such as knowing when to engage with certain blockers and how to read pre-snap alignments.

Still, the argument against him has a lot of validity if he continues to play at the level he’s at. Against Auburn, he had a few questionable plays in the first half.

Auburn was facing a secondand-12, with six minutes left in the first quarter. It ran a bubblescreen with the running back

see UTILIZE, page 10

REAGAN COTTEN / The Reveille

LSU football freshman cornerback Ashton Stamps (26) and LSU football senior linebacker Omar Speights (1) tackle their opponent on Sept. 30 during LSU’s 55-49 loss against Ole Miss in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Miss.

page 10

OFFENSE, from page 9 the defensive excellence that the Tigers lack.

Going into Tuscaloosa with a No. 1 ranked offense, it was expected that LSU’s race to the end zone would be hard to stop. For Alabama’s No. 78 ranked offense, however, a strong defensive performance from LSU would’ve shut it down. Instead, Milroe pieced together one of the best outings of his career.

“We talked all week about a

TAKEAWAYS, from page 9 In a year where quarterbacks like Michael Penix Jr., Jordan Travis and Bo Nix are all putting up elite numbers and play for contending teams, it’s almost impossible for a quarterback on a team with three losses to win.

Daniels had another great performance before leaving the game with a head injury, throwing for 219 yards and two touchdowns, and rushing for 163 yards and a touchdown on just 11 carries.

But just as the loss is a turning point for LSU’s season, it’s also a turning point for Daniels’ Heisman campaign.

LSU had to be perfect to win; it wasn’t Brian Kelly summarized this point perfectly in the postgame press conference.

“We played good tonight.

Good is not good enough. You have to play elite when you go on the road and play a top-10 team,” he said.

Going into halftime tied at 21, it felt like whoever made the first mistake would lose the game. Both offenses moved the ball at will, and it felt like one turnover or one wasted drive

UTILIZE, from page 9 as the receiver. The tight-end moved out wide to block and Speights engaged.

He had two other defenders and one more closing in. Once the back was even with his blocker, Speights should have disengaged. If done so, the play would have resulted in a loss.

Instead, Auburn gained 2 yards on the play.

In Speights’ defense, this move prevented a cut back lane.

However, the lane wasn’t easily available regardless of his positioning.

This wasn’t his only questionable play. The start of the second quarter had another mistake by Speights. Auburn was facing third-and-3 in the red zone. Payton Thorne rolled out and hit the tight end, who leaked out, converting the third down.

Thorne had three LSU defenders in pursuit of him: Major Burns, Ovie Oghoufo and Speights.

Speights was the farthest pursuing defender. He saw the tight end enter open space. If Speights adjusted, Auburn would’ve been forced to settle for a field goal. Instead, the conversion put Auburn in the perfect position

Monday, November 6, 2023 unit pass rush,” Kelly said. “He’s elusive. I think for the most part, the big runs were probably the things that hurt us the most tonight.”

Milroe and his offense garnered 507 total yards on the game, 288 of which were rushing yards.

The quarterback accounted for 155 of those rushing yards. Milroe also ran for four touchdowns in the game, a school record. Fans watched Milroe scramble down the field into the endzone, effortlessly dodging LSU’s defenders.

Up until that hit in the fourth quarter, Daniels was piecing together his own Heisman run.

The Tigers collected a total of 478 yards. The quarterback was responsible for 163 of LSU’s 206 rushing yards. Daniels also accounted for one touchdown.

“He’s an amazing man, Heisman candidate, of course,” Williams said about Daniels. “I mean, that’s why he’s there. He just kept rallying, rallying and putting the team on his back when we needed him. He was leading us on the

would be the difference.

It was.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, Daniels had his pass tipped at the line of scrimmage, allowing for a Terrion Arnold interception. The turnover gave Alabama the ball deep in LSU territory, and in position to take a 14-point lead late in the game.

LSU even had a chance to stop Alabama on the following drive, but a horsecollar penalty called on Harold Perkins extended the drive, leading to Alabama going up by 14 and eventually sealing the game.

A generational offense will go wasted This is nothing new, but it’s the story of the season for LSU. What’s probably LSU’s second-best offense of all time is paired with might be its worst defense ever. On what was a comparatively off night for the offense, it still gained 478 total yards, but Alabama gained 507.

Daniels ran for 163 yards and a touchdown in what felt like a generational rushing performance for a quarterback. But it meant nothing when Jalen Milroe ran for 155 yards and four touchdowns.

Stats like that draw compari-

sons to the Ole Miss game where LSU gained 635 total yards, but Ole Miss put up 706. Or Florida State where Daniels impressed

to score its first touchdown of the game.

Speights hasn’t performed to the level he was advertised.

However, starting Weeks is a risky decision.

Weeks is a strong and disruptive player. He gets into the backfield quickly and reads the field, post-snap, well. He has the potential to be a full-time starter, but he’s not ready yet.

Linebackers are responsible for a lot of tasks. The tasks get easier with experience, and this is Weeks’ main issue—he’s very inexperienced.

While Weeks had an impressive showing against Arkansas, it could’ve been better. He had two plays in near succession where his attacking angles were a major issue.

With nine minutes left in the first quarter, Arkansas was facing a first down in the red zone.

K.J. Jefferson took the snap on a designed run.

As he began to run right, the defense followed. Weeks beat both blockers but became too sharp in his attacking angle. He tripped and removed himself and another defender from the play.

It was a gain of five on what

could’ve been a defensive stop.

The second occurred on firstand-goal. Arkansas ran another designed run for Jefferson, who had running back Rashod Dubinion as his lead blocker.

As Weeks shot into the backfield, he unnecessarily engaged Dubinion. He had an open lane to Jefferson. The play was a minimal gain, but could’ve been easily blown up.

Missing big plays like these are from a lack of experience.

Angles and windows are different in college and in high school. Not understanding that is how bad plays can happen.

Somehow, the defense has to figure out how to get both players on the field, and that’s much easier said than done.

Both players are middle linebackers playing in a scheme that normally only uses one. This doesn’t mean they can’t be on the field together, but it’s a sizable roadblock. Defensive packages can change the scheme; LSU has to have a couple that features both players on the field.

Speights is a talented linebacker. He processes plays quickly; defenses follow the leader. If they see Speights com-

sideline and giving us encouragement, so we really missed him in the fourth quarter.”

Wide receiver Malik Nabers continued to shine in LSU’s offensive production. The connections between the junior and his quarterback once again led the stat sheet. Nabers accounted for 171 receiving yards. He had 10 receptions on the night and caught one touchdown.

Unfortunately for LSU, the offensive powerhouse it contained was overshadowed by a defense

that couldn’t perform. The Crimson Tide’s offensive success was due solely to the Tiger defense’s lack of aggression. It led to Milroe’s season-high performance.

LSU’s defense allowed the Tide to take control of the game.

That offensive security was never in danger of being taken away.

“Our offense controlled the tempo of the game, especially in the second half,” Alabama head coach Nick Saban said. “I think that was the difference in the game.”

MADALYN CUNNINGHAM / The Reveille

LSU football senior wide receiver Kyren Lacy (2) runs the ball and makes a touchdown on Nov. 5 during LSU’s 42-28 loss against Bama in Bryant-Denny stadium in Tuscaloosa, Al. to start the season, throwing for 346 yards, but LSU still lost by 21 after Jordan Travis threw for 342 yards and four touchdowns.

Three avoidable losses keep LSU from competing for championships this year. All three happened in almost identical ways.

REAGAN COTTEN / The Reveille

LSU football freshman linebacker Whit Weeks (40) tackles his opponent on Sept. 30 during LSU’s 55-49 loss against Ole Miss in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Miss. mit to a play, they will follow.

When he plays, the defense swarms the ball-carrier much faster.

Weeks doesn’t have the experience to identify plays presnap, but he reads the active

field well.

Playing both Speights and Weeks gives the Tigers more firepower on a struggling defense. The argument shouldn’t be who to play, but how to play both.

OPINION

page 11

Term limits are fundamentaly undemocratic; they need to go PELLITTIERI’S PERSPECTIVE MATTHEW PELLITTIERI

@m_pellittieri Come January, seven state senators and 15 state representatives will be forced out of their current positions—not because they retired or because their constituents rejected them, but because of a decision made in a referendum nearly 30 years ago.

These 22 legislators are all falling victim to term limits. In Louisiana, no person can be elected to more than three consecutive terms (12 years) in one chamber of the state Legislature.

To many, the fate of these politicians is a good thing, a necessary evil or even just a natural part of the political process.

Term limits are almost as popular as politicians are unpopular. In fact, the 1995 vote that instituted legislative term limits in Louisiana, 76% supported the change. Every X (Twitter) post from a lawmaker over 50 years old is guaranteed to have at least one reply with someone screaming into the ether about term limits and retirement.

The typical idea is that term limits will reduce corruption, variously

GRAPHIC BY MADDIE FITZMORRIS

defined as anything from the accumulation of personal wealth to a reliance on special interests to a lack of responsiveness to constituents.

Alternatively, they may be seen as a way to inject new blood into the political discourse and combat the incumbency advantage.

The evidence (and logic) isn’t on the side of these arguments.

Term limits often lead to an increase in novice lawmakers who are forced by their own inexperience to rely more (not less) on the expertise of lobbyists and special interest groups. Additionally, lawmakers forced out by term limits will often turn around and pursue

a career in lobbying.

As for the incumbency argument, term limits are 100% effective at kicking term-limited politicians out of their current positions. But is this something to celebrate? The solution to the incumbency advantage should be the elimination of the advantage, not the incumbency.

Even if term limits were effective at reducing corruption or connecting voters and their elected officials, they’d still be fundamentally repulsive.

Term limits are definitionally undemocratic. They are limits on who the people can elect. There’s not much difference between a list

of candidates the state allows you to vote for and a list of candidates it forbids you to vote for. The former wouldn’t be tolerated, and the latter shouldn’t either.

What all this means is that Louisiana legislative and gubernatorial elections aren’t actually free. The voters of 1995 bind the voters of 2023 and will bind the voters of 2027.

Three decades ago, the phantom of corruption obscured the vision of those who supported the introduction of term limits. Today, that supposed solution restricts the will of voters even as the specter they feared so much still looms

large.

Voters don’t have true choice when they’re bound by both their own low political efficacy and the ineffective bandage they haphazardly stuck on the wound to make themselves feel better back during the Clinton administration.

The solution isn’t the perpetuation or expansion of term limits.

They won’t fix problems now that they have yet to fix in the past few decades. Pushing down on an old band-aid, or slapping another on top, won’t heal the wound or stop the blood. It might even make it worse.

The actual solutions to corruption are good politicians and systems which encourage good behavior from them. Simply locking people out of another term does nothing. A corrupt politician who’s termed out may be replaced by another corrupt politician. An uncorrupted politician in the same predicament might be replaced by a corrupt one. Voters shouldn’t settle for throwing the good out with the bad.

So tear off the band-aid of term limits and start applying the ointment of elections.

Matthew Pellittieri is a 19-year-old history and political science sophomore from Ponchatoula.

Cannibalism can be an art form, not just a cheap gross-out GARRETT’S GAVEL GARRETT MCENTEE

@9are_bear One theme has always been consistent in horror: humans are not the ultimate predator. Something out there is bigger and badder and wants to hurt you-something that may look like a human or maybe something else entirely.

Maybe it wants to do more than hurt you. Maybe it wants to devour you.

Cannibalism has been in horror for decades, from the sultry and alluring vampire who wants to suck your blood to the crazed hillbilly family who just wants a little nibble.

There are even examples of everyday Joes being fearsome murderers, human people who delight in tearing flesh and gnawing on bones. Men like Hannibal Lector, who, in all honesty, could’ve been

scarier.

Don’t get me wrong, I adore the whole “I don’t have emotions” killer trope. However, I feel as though cannibalism is infinitely more ghastly and effective at scaring audiences when it comes from a place of emotion.

In general, emotions make everything better, especially in horror. It’s hard to be scared or feel anything when there’s no emotional stakes in a story. Cannibalism is no exception.

The consumption of human flesh by a human is scary. The sight and sound alone of someone being eaten, imagining that pain is scary, so writers or directors use cannibalism to be analogous for things that are scary in real life because of the emotional turmoil it brings.

A way of exploring this relation between cannibalism and emotion is to make it something a cannibal couldn’t possibly control, an allconsuming urge to eat.

This addiction to something so foul creates a complex cannibal,

someone more compelling than dear ole’ pookie Lector.

The critical success of “Bones and All,” both the book by Camille DeAngelis and the movie by Luca Guadagnino, support this notion.

For a shorthand summary, certain individuals in this story have an uncontrollable addiction to eating other humans. A tragic, beautiful and disgusting analogy for addiction that, when paired with the imagery, made readers and watchers everywhere gag.

In the iconic album “Preacher’s Daughter” by Ethel Cain, a young woman is betrayed by her lover Isaiah. Isaiah exploits her body for profit and feeds her dangerous cocktails of drugs, eventually leading to her demise. After Cain is dead, Isaiah cannibalizes her. Isaiah didn’t eat Cain because he was hungry or just because he wanted to; Isaiah ate her in a twisted and horrific attempt to keep her close to him forever, to control her even after her death.

Cannibalism can be so much

GRAPHIC BY MADDIE FITZMORRIS

more than eating another person.

It’s the action of devouring another complex individual, chomping on flesh, cramming down the soul of another, sucking on teeth like sugar cubes.

It doesn’t have to be all closeup shots of gore and horrible eating sounds; it can be a powerful tool for analogy. It’s so anti-human that to look into it is to look into the eyes of God and see nothing staring back.

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The Reveille (USPS 145-800) is written, edited and produced solely by students of Louisiana State University.

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Something that can be so scary deserves to be used properly in media. Don’t use cannibalism to just gross out an audience with the sight of lick-wet carrion. Use cannibalism to show hidden depths in your horror whilst simultaneously making people gag.

Also, this article does not condone cannibalism.

Garrett McEntee is an 18-year-old English freshman from Benton.

Quote of the Week “The thing about Christmas is that it almost doesn’t matter what mood you’re in, or what kind of year you’ve had-it’s a fresh start.”

Kelly Clarkson American Singer 1982— present