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Winthrop University
March 6, 2019
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Art for the greater good Katie Karban/ Special to The Johnsonian Frankie Flood created a line of prosthetics through 3D printing.
Artist Frankie Flood whose work has been on display in Winthrop’s galleries came to campus on to lead student workshops and give a guest lecture on his work. Dillon O’neill oneilld@mytjnow.com The exhibition “Bespoke Objects” has been on display in the Elizabeth Dunlap Patrick since last December. It shows the work of Frankie Flood, a professor at Appalachian State University, and focuses on his recent endeavour into 3D printed prosthetics. He came by Winthrop’s campus on Feb. 28 to share his work with students and the community. One of the workshops Flood held was to teach students and professors in attendance how to assemble one of his printed prosthetic hands. The model used is called the raptor hand. It is almost entirely created from 3D printed plastic , save for a few metal screws and elastic string. It works so that when the wearer bends their wrist forward the fingers come together in a fist allowing for grip. They can be sized to fit any hand and cost less than $20 in total. “They’re not prosthetics in the traditional sense but they change the mindset from the original thing,” Flood said. Rachel Smith and Karsyn Rape were two sophomore biology majors at the workshop. “3D printing is on the rise, and I havent had any experience with it yet, I’ve only seen videos,” Smith said. “I thought this would just be really cool to see how a machine can build a working thing.” The workshop was held in Win-
throp’s creator space which houses As Flood went on to study art its own 3D printer. Flood instruct- in college and work in a factory ed the students step by step on himself, where he began to value how to construct the hand. functionality in art. He began cre“It was really easy, he was ating jewelry, each with their own really knowledgeable, and I knew functions, and even a line of pizza exactly what to do with him explain- cutters made from and inspired by ing it,” Rape said. motorcycle parts. The uniqueness After dealing first hand with the of these works came as a response vast potential of new technologies, to the “sterile conformity of mass the impact was not lost on those in produced objects.” attendance. “A lot of in“It a thing dustrial designi never really ers made things A lot of the projects that looked thought could be made when we cool but didn’t I’ve shown tonight, were kids,” Smith know how they they come out of an said. “I mean worked,” Flood imagine a kid said. honest place within geting a blue arm, This led me. The motivation to Flood down a they would be in awe. I would have do them is not for path of exloved to have a ploring new recognition or for blue arm as a technologies kid.” and processes money. “I want a blue he could use to Franki Flood arm now!” Rape create art. He Artist and professor said. began looking Flood’s father into how design was a factory worker who passed on could be used to solve other discithe value of craftsmanship. He and plines’ problems which eventually Flood would spend hours in their lead to creating the raptor hand. personal workshop creating togethFlood has taken this design process er. This is where Flood developed to many universities and conferan early affinity for metalwork and ences all over the country explaining crafting. how to assemble one. Beyond that, “Being able to hang out with my his design has gained international dad and watch him work on things traction online and provided accesin his spare time in the garage has sible prosthetics to children all over probably had the biggest impact on the world. my career,” Flood said. “I’m in a
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privileged place of being a professor where I don’t have to worry about money,” Flood said. “A lot of the projects I’ve shown tonight, they come out of an honest place within me. The motivation to do them is not for recognition or for money. There’s a purity to it, and that may be my own utopian purity. I don’t know if I would be making the work I was making if it was for money.” Flood now focuses his work on how crafting can serve local and global communities. He finds this work has helped him regain his power as a maker and hopes to impart that knowledge on any possible students. “When I have an idea I can make anything I want without limitations. I think that’s what we need in the world,” Flood said. “We’ve got some big heavy problems and if we can take the attitude from complaining about it on our social media and saying like ‘I’m going to try to be an agent of change,’ that’s what I mean by empowerment.” Flood’s work will be on display in the galleries until March 8. More of his work can be seen on Frankieflood.com. He will also be teaching a summer workshop that is open to the public in his own studio in Boone, NC-more information can be found on his website.
4see Flood pg. 2 for more photos
The PC master race prevails
Winthrop Esports will not include console games in their hardware and gaming schedules Zuri Anderson Staff Writer The Winthrop esports varsity team will be PC-only, according to Ken Halpin, the vice president of Winthrop Athletics. “The collegiate space has not included console gaming. Right now, our varsity program will strictly be in the PC space,” Halpin said. Halpin confirmed that funding is secured for computer hardware and furniture. The equipment includes computers, specialized gaming desks and chairs, headsets and the cost to setup the hardwired internet connection. Halpin said wireless internet is risky for frequent disconnections. Winthrop made contact with a Winthrop alumnus who is willing to donate computers manufactured for gaming. Winthrop Athletics will begin picking games after the head
coach is selected. The selection will be based off their expertise. “Based on popularity in the collegiate space, “League of Legends” and “Overwatch”...Administratively, they will be the non-negotiables,” Halpin said. Other games will be evaluated based on depiction of violence and the number of players on the team. “League of Legends” is an online multiplayer battle arena PC game developed and published by Riot Games. “League” has one of the biggest esports competitions in the world, their annual World Championships bringing in millions of viewers. The ultimate prize pool is $1 millon. “Overwatch” is a team-based hero shooter by Blizzard Entertainment, another developer and publisher known for their PC games and esports space. Overwatch League,
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Cybersecurity chat with Google
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mytjnow.com
Overwatch’s biggest esports competition, pulls in an average 110,000 viewers on the streaming platform Twitch. OWL was broadcasted on Disney XD, ESPN and ABC before. There are plans for creating a “spectator-friendly environment” for viewing the esports team, whether it is an in-person event in Richardson Ballroom, or watching on Twitch, a video game streaming website, in one’s home or dorm room. Halpin said hosting digital tournaments and competitions are one of the benefits of esports; it also alleviates travel expenses and concerns. “We want to build this as a fan-driven experience. Not just for the sport or student body, but for the people in the Rock Hill community. I think there is a lot of pride beyond our campus walls,” Halpin said. Halpin said he is aware of the
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Eagle of the Week: Michael Covil
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criticism toward Winthrop esports. “There are some people on campus upset because we are not doing more for their program. We raised the money for this program. We are not re-allocating money from other programs. And the money that will continue to sustain will come from the tuition revenue of the students on the team. This helps everybody. I can assure you that this program is taking away from nobody on campus,” Halpin said. Freshman mathematics major Tony Humphreys said he would be interested in esports at Winthrop. “I know it’s a big avenue that’s being brought into society. It’s a big thing. I would be interested in checking it out,” Humphreys said. Erin Harris, a senior mass communication major, said esports at Winthrop would help bring people together.
Opinion
Turning the tables on this semester
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Index: News 3 | Science & Tech 5 | Sports 6 | Arts & Culture 8 | Opinion 10
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PAGE 2 theJohnsonian March 6, 2019
4Flood from front
Dillon O’neill/ The Johnsonian
Dillon O’neill/ The Johnsonian
Flood showed students the process behind making the hands
Dillon O’neill/ The Johnsonian
Dillon O’neill/ The Johnsonian
The exhibit is an interactive one.
Dillon O’neill/ The Johnsonian
About The Johnsonian The Johnsonian is the weekly student newspaper of Winthrop University.
CONTACT INFORMATION Our offices are located in suite 104 in the DiGiorgio Campus Center. Phone: (803) 323-3419 Email: editors@mytjnow.com Online: mytjnow.com
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your name, major and year if you are a student; your name and title if you are a professor, or your name and profession if you are a member of the community. Letters, cartoons and columns reflect the opinion of the authors and are not necessarily the opinions of The Johnsonian Staff.
Editor-in-Chief Téa Franco francot@mytjnow.com Managing Editor Cheyenne Walsh walshc@mytjnow.com
Sports Editor Greta Conboy Assistant Sports Gabby Gardner
A&C Editor Ad Manager Dillon Oneill Victoria Howard howardv@mytjnow.com News Editor Anna Sharpe Assistant News Oriana Gilmore S&T Editor Mikayla Mangle
Assitant A&C Caleb Hinkley Opinion Editor Erin Streetman
Layout Editor Carmen Little Graphic Designer Jordan Farrell Photographers Sam Ross Camille Riddle Copy Editors Casey Smith Matt Thrift Haleigh Altman
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NEWS theJohnsonian
Keeping up with campus safety March 6, 2019
Oriana Gilmore gilmoreo@mytjnow.com
Recent concerns about off-campus safety spark discussion on how campus police protects Campus Walk residents
Lieutenant Charles Yearta offers advice for students to stay safe on and off campus
Winthrop University police, Rock Hill Police Department and Walk2Campus explained what students who are living in off-campus student housing can do to protect themselves and what the community is doing to ensure the safety of Winthrop students. Winthrop’s assistant police chief Wes Wiles said Winthrop police serve as a “support service role” when interacting with Rock Hill police and Campus Walk since the property is in Rock Hill jurisdiction. “If there’s any type of emergency call, we all monitor one another’s frequencies… we will come over [to Campus Walk]. A lot of times we’re the first responders, actually,” Wiles said. Wiles said campus police will manage the situation until the Rock Hill police arrive. Campus Walk property manager Anthony Peguese said Campus Walk management has quarterly meetings with the Rock Hill Police Department to talk about safety for the student community. As some students expressed concern about nonresidents loitering in and around the apartment buildings after 5 p.m., Rock Hill police said students should call them if anything seems out of the norm. Rock Hill Police Capt. Rod Stinson said, “Anything, if you call us, we’re gonna come. If its a suspicious person, a suspicious car, we’ll respond to it.” When residents place a suspicious person call, Rock Hill Police will respond. If they find the reported person, they will complete a field interview. Stinson said that in a field interview, the officer would gather the person’s information including their name, address and their purpose for being in the area. Field interviews provide the police department with background information just in case something similar happens again. Campus Walk residents can call Rock Hill Police to do a check-in at their building to make sure they are safe. The officer would speak with the people who are loitering to see if they are residents, or guests of residents and then handle the situation accordingly. However, the Rock Hill Police said the people who are accused of loitering have the right to not give out the information of whether they live there; they can only enforce rules that Campus Walk has provided for the buildings. Hastings said Campus Walk policy is all guests should be accompanied by a resident. If there is no illegal are harmful activity going on when the officers arrive, then they cannot take any further legal action. Stinson said residents can choose to have the officer meet with them or remain anonymous; residents should notify the dispatcher of their choice. Rock Hill officers also have access cards to enter the buildings. Campus Walk is working on new initiatives to satisfy students’ needs and concerns surrounding the safety and privacy of their community. Some other residents’ concerns were illegal parking alongside the perimeters of the apartment buildings and in the white lined spaces between handicap parking. Currently, residents who have paid for a gold or silver parking pass have the ability to call the tow truck company that is partnered with Campus Walk if they see illegally parked vehicles. Brad Hastings, the chief operating officer for Walk2Campus said one idea the property’s management has discussed is extending that privilege to include residents who park in the free bronze parking lot. Discussion about the distance between the bronze parking lot and the Campus Walk apartments sparked conversation about whether Campus Police extends the escort service to residents of Campus Walk. Wiles said Winthrop students who live in Campus Walk can call campus police to drive them from an area on campus to their apartments during the night hours. They can also get an escort from their car to their apartment if they feel unsafe. There was also an idea of Campus Walk and the Rock Hill Police Department partnering to offer self-defense courses for residents. Security around the community was also a request of parents and residents which Hastings said is something the property is looking into. In the past, Campus Walk has had problems with inconsistent security companies. Hastings said to residents, “As a company, we’re willing to make an investment. This isn’t just to show, to kinda say ‘oh we care.’ We really do care, and we’re willing to put money to work to make you guys feel safer and it’s important to us.” Campus Walk has over 85 surveillance cameras and residents have access cards to all property buildings. If residents find themselves in unsafe situations, they should call the Rock Hill Police at 803-329-7200, or call Winthrop Police at 803-323-2211.
In light of recent events, student safety has been an ongoing conversation among university officials. Lieutenant Charles Yearta of Winthrop’s campus police gave some helpful tips for students to use while on and around campus. “If a student finds themself in a situation that they shouldn’t be in, the first thing to do is to get away from that situation by any means necessary,” Yearta said. Yearta said that fight or flight is important in dangerous situations. If a student is able to run away from the situation, he encourages them to do so and to try to seek a building or well-lit area, like a parking lot. Yearta said to run and seek safety while “screaming the whole time, drawing attention to yourself.” Once the student has arrived to a well-lit area, if the student is outside of Winthrop jurisdiction, it is best to call the city police of the jurisdiction they are currently located so help will be sent as quickly possible. If the suspect has a weapon, Yearta said there is no right or wrong way to handle that situation. “Honestly, its a personal decision,” Yearta said. “Everybody’s not going to do the same thing. Everybody is going to react differently.” Yearta said the best way to try to handle a dangerous situation where a weapon is involved is try to prepare yourself mentally for what could happen. He advised students to remember some of the precautions they would use in their regular homes and try not to view Winthrop’s campus as as safe haven from all criminal activities. Yearta said Winthrop is also in a small city, which is not completely free from crime. “We have low crime compared to outlying cities, and we have low crime compared to universities of our same size, but we still have crime. We don’t want people necessarily to become paranoid, but we don’t want them necessarily to walk around in a fog or a mist not knowing what’s going on around them,” he said. Yearta said the most important thing for students to do is to pay attention to their surroundings. “A lot of times we see individuals, including our own students, who in today’s technology age, they’re engrossed in something,” Yearta said. “The biggest part is keep your head on a swivel if you can, keep your mind open, know what’s around you.” Students should remember to lock their car and residence hall doors to protect themselves and their property. Students should have local emergency contacts to reach out to someone when needed. Some emergency contacts and resources can be found on the free LiveSafe App. Once downloaded, the app will display a “select your university” or location menu. After selecting Winthrop University, the app will download the Winthrop template. Winthrop’s template has a resource page with important numbers such as the Office of Victims Assistance, Health and Counseling Services, Dean of Students Office, Campus Police and other local law enforcement in the surrounding areas including the Rock Hill Police Department. The resource page is also a convenient way for students to stay informed on parking rules, general safety tips and emergency protocol for residence halls. The app features ways students can submit tips and communicate with Winthrop police via text. Students can select the “Report Tip” tab and choose to anonymously inform the police of any suspicious behavior, crimes or knowledge they may have about an incident. This feature allows students to send photos or videos to campus police in addition to text. When students submit a tip through the LiveSafe app, the department will receive it on a monitor which is watched 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The monitor will make a continuous alarming sound so a dispatcher will know a student has submitted a tip or is trying to contact the department. The dispatcher is able to have a text conversation with the student about their safety and ask for more information about the suspect or situation. The tip reporting feature still works outside of Winthrop’s zone. “If they have [the app] set up to where they report it to Winthrop University, wherever they go it will report back [to Winthrop police],” Yearta said. There is also a feature where students can allow their friends to watch them walk from one destination to another until the student has arrived safely. LiveSafe is paid for by the Winthrop police department every year. This is a national product used by thousands of universities and is available on iOS and Android. The campus police escort service is also available for students to use when commuting across campus during the night—from sunset to sunrise—but have limited officers on duty. “We only have so many officers on a shift and those officers are not only doing escorts but they’re doing a plethora of other things. Some of it criminal justice action, some of it security-related things they need to do such as locking up buildings, checking property,” Yearta said. Every time the campus police department receives a call for an escort, the call is logged from the time the call was made, the officer was dispatched, until the service was completed. “We have run reports over the last three years, and on average for those three years, for someone to call and request an escort ‘til the time that the escort is completed, the average response time for that is 10 minutes,” Yearta said. Yearta said he understands that some wait times have been under 10 minutes while others have been over 10 minutes. Shorter wait times can be influenced by less calls and the proximity of an officer at the time of dispatch. “The times that it’s been way over that is because the officer is responding to something that takes priority i.e., an armed robbery, an assault, or there is some underlying issue,” Yearta said. Yearta said some nights there tend to be more escort requests, for example when it is raining, which causes the wait time to increase with each call. Officers are dispatched for the escort service in the order of the calls. Yearta said the dispatcher should give each student an approximate wait time, and if not, ask the dispatcher to make sure. “During that time, stay in your car, stay in the building, stay safe,” Yearta said.
Anna Sharpe | News Editor sharpea@mytjnow.com
theJohnsonian March 6, 2019
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Finding your voice on campus
The Society of Professional Journalists’ first event captured the complexity of activism, civil disobedience and free speech laws Zuri Anderson Staff Writer “It’s one of those terms that mean many things to many different people. It has been deployed as a political tactic that has allowed people to pursue political goals when the normal channels of political action has been foreclosed to them,” Michael Lipscomb said about the definition of civil disobedience. The Society of Professional Journalists hosted their first standalone event on campus, which targeted the multifaceted nature of civil disobedience and free speech. SPJ President Cheyenne Walsh said this event was an opportune moment to educate students on their rights in light of recent community uproar over campus safety and a Ratio Christi speaker who has anti-LGBT+ views. “A lot of people don’t realize where our free speech zones or what their First Amendment rights… We thought this something that needed to be discussed, and we thought this was the best way to do so,” Walsh said. The panelists were Michael Lipscomb and Nathaniel Frederick. Lipscomb is the faculty representative of the Winthrop Board of Trustees and a political science professor.
Frederick is the director of the are going to classes or in the middle African American Studies program of a lecture.” and an associate professor of mass Civil disobedience can take many communication. forms. Not paying your taxes can be The two panelists cited the civil a form of disobedience, according to rights movement of the 1960s as a Frederick. But not all forms of civil form of civil disobedience, based on disobedience are peaceful. Activist Lipscomb’s initial definition. The groups or protestors may occupy federal and state governments were spaces that are not designated as foreclosed to them due to institufree speech zones, such as libraries, tional racism and the need to prebuildings and private properties. serve the support of the Democratic “That’s civil disobedience in a way Party during that era. where you create a free speech zone “Another in a way that’s definition contrary to the would be a law,” Lipscomb form of posaid. It’s an action to litical action The panelists communicate to groups of and commuhighlighted the nication based folks what your goals are, free speech moveon disobeying ment of the 1970s to put pressure on folks laws that you where college find contrary and to use moral suasion students stormed to your conadministrative to reach the ends you’re science, recbuildings, librarseeking to realize. ognizing that ies and other you will pay the areas to protest Michael Lipscomb price exactthe Vietnam War, Political science professor ed by those,” racial injustices Lipscomb said. and other social “It’s an action issues. to communicate to groups of folks “We’re thinking about the Occupy what your goals are, to put pressure movement, but they’re harking back on folks and to use moral suasion to the logic that occurred in 1968 to reach the ends you’re seeking to and so forth,” Lipscomb said. realize.” There are repercussions for civil Free speech zones were another disobedience at colleges and univertopic of discussion. They are legalsities. Frederick cited the expulsion ly-protected spaces for free expresof Macari Cellars for protesting the sion without disruption. Byrnes Orangeburg Massacre in 1968. The Auditorium is the free speech zone Orangeburg Massacre was when on Winthrop’s campus. South Carolina Highway Patrol “Typically that expression cannot officers shot protestors on the South be restricted based on the content Carolina State University campus. of the speech. It’s based on time, “There is a willingness to pay place and manner,” Frederick said. a price. That’s what gives you a “You can’t just have a protest in the leverage of moral authority. You’re hallways, because that disrupts the willing to put your privilege, in some normal use of the hallways. People of kind of way, on the line because
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your conscience compels you,” Lipscomb said. Winthrop students occupied Tillman Hall in fall 2016 in protest of the hall’s name and in response to the Keith Lamont Scott shooting in Charlotte, North Carolina. Ben “Pitchfork” Tillman was an American politician and ardent white supremacist but contributed financially to Winthrop University. “It certainly allowed students to voice their opinions. Unfortunately, some things couldn’t happen, like the renaming of Tillman, but it certainly raised awareness,” Frederick said. There is some criticism for the civil rights movement by contemporary social activists, who claim that it “did not get anything done” due to the prevalence of many social justice issues today. “Sometimes it’s a matter of faith that these things will play out down the road, even though you can’t see the change immediately,” Lipscomb said. “You have to look at time. It takes time for those changes to happen, to lead to legislation,” Frederick said. Movements change the way people think about topics, create vocabularies and add content to “the larger political lexicon that shapes the broader social world,” according to Lipscomb. Change on college campuses depends on how much administration reacts to crises on campus. “If faculty are guarded or they are not forthright in their responses to incidents and students’ displeasure, that can fuel [students’] discontent,” Frederick said. He also noted that Winthrop does not have much of a history of incidents because the administration is usually responsive and proactive to student concerns.
Lions and tigers and scams-oh my! Winthrop’s cybersecurity is increased following a series of scam calls
Anna Sharpe sharpea@mytjnow.com Winthrop students have faced a slew of scam calls and fake emails, resulting in the loss of a large chunk of money. Scams are nothing new. Chief of Winthrop Police Ken Scoggins has worked with the university for 17 years. Scams aimed specifically at students have been prevalent since he started. “It seems like this semester has been more problematic than in times past. But it’s an ongoing thing and again, as I said earlier, it’s not just Winthrop University. Some scammers look at universities as a target-rich environment,” Scoggins said. Students have been targeted with these calls because they are considered easy targets and have “got other things on their mind.” “[Students are] interested in socializing and going to school, and many of them are intimidated when they get that call. These scammers hit a lot of different schools,” Scoggins said. The calls and spam emails students received claimed to be from campus police. The calls said the student’s name had come up in an investigation with WUPO and were prompted to wire money in order to remove their name from the investigation. “The scammers in this semester said that they were actually Winthrop campus police, that your name had come up in some type of
Jordan Farrell/ The Johnsonian investigation, a drug investigation or another investigation, and that we either have a warrant for you or we are going to do a warrant for you. But if you send us $500, if you send us $1,000, if you send us $1,500, then your name will be out of it,” Scoggins said. According to Scoggins, those affected by the scam calls lost anywhere between twelve to fifteen thousand dollars. After a parent of a student received one of the calls, it was determined that scammers were getting students’ information from the public student directory found on Winthrop’s website. “We figured that it was because the student had actually listed her mother’s phone number in the directory. As a result, we’re thinking that it would be the logical thing
Oriana Gilmore| Assistant News Editor gilmoreo@mytjnow.com
that somebody saw the number, dialed it, got the parent as opposed to getting the student,” Patrice Bruneau, assistant vice president for computing, said. “It was posted on the public internet, so we thought that they, either they used tools to kind of harvest the information or they randomly just picked people.” Once it was determined the student directory was the source of these scams, it was taken down. “Up until a month ago, if you go to the main Winthrop webpage, in the top right hand corner, there’s a search function. You can either search for the site or for people. If you typed in a name, the system would query both the employee database and currently active student database and return that information in one group,” Bruneau said. Information that was available to
the public included a student’s full name, phone number, major, hometown and email. Now, if you search a name on the website, faculty results still come up. However, you are prompted to enter in a username and password in order to access the student results. “When you search for a name, you will get the results from the employee database, and then there will be a link at the bottom that says ‘if you want the student directory information, you click here,’ but then it prompts you for your credentials, your username and password. Then you are able to get that information. It’s no longer public accessible but it’s still accessible to the people who need that access,” Bruneau said. Scoggins said creating this sort of firewall will help protect students’ information and decrease the chances of scam calls. “That was a suggestion we made very early on because we’re trying, first we’re trying to think where the scammers are getting the information to make the calls from to start with, and then once we identify where we think that they may be getting the information, we immediately started working on ways to try to fix that. Now, if they put that information behind a username and password, then the scammers are far less likely to be able to get in there and get that information,” Scoggins said. Students can use their user@ winthrop.edu username and password, the same one they would use to log into Wingspan, to access the directory.
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theJohnsonian
Cybersecurity chat at Winthrop March 6, 2019
Leader of Google’s anti-abuse research team, Elie Bursztein, talks to the Winthrop community about cybersecurity Noah Wright Staff Writer The audience gathered in Whitton auditorium wasn’t what you might expect for a university tech event. The morning of Feb. 27 as alumni, students and faculty poured into the room, many older attendees began to outnumber the few students sitting at the corners of the room. But, as dean of the College of Business Administration P.N. Saksena gave his opening speech, the audience of sharp-dressed 50-60- year-olds all had their eyes firmly planted on a 38-year-old man sporting jeans and a beret who took the podium. This was Elie Bursztein, a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University, a lauded publisher who has won five best-paper awards, and is the leader of Google’s antiabuse research team. This day, he was a speaker on cybersecurity for "The Challenge of Securing Online Accounts", part of an ongoing series of lectures called the Whitton Executive Series. As Bursztein began to address the crowd, asking who had previously had an account hacked, hands began to go up across the room. When he asked how many of those people used the same password on more than one website, the audience laughed nervously as their hands remained up. Finally, he asked a more pertinent question: “What can we do to not get hacked?” Bursztein began by giving an overview on three basic methods by which hackers steal account credentials: data breaches, where the security of a company is compromised, phishing (where users enter information onto fake web pages made to look legitimate)
and keylogger malware (used to take passwords by recording user keystrokes). Bursztein noted that in 2016, 4.3 billion users had their credentials stolen through data breaches with 12 million users being victims of phishing alone. Of these, 25 percent were valid Google accounts, with an account takeover risk 463 times higher than normal. “Password reuse is the largest source of credential theft, but phishing is the most deadly one. Most of those accounts were compromised within 30 minutes of being phished,” Bursztein said. Bursztein left the audience in silence for a moment before offering a more positive question. “How can we prevent account compromise?” Though many users only take action after their accounts have been compromised, Bursztein advocates for a proactive approach to cybersecurity. “Prevention is better than a cure,” Bursztein said. “Seventeen percent of people reuse passwords; if that little thing could change then so much could be prevented.” Bursztein went on to acknowledge that remembering passwords across multiple accounts was difficult, but suggested using a password manager application as a solution. Due to these services generating and storing unique passwords based on algorithms, they offer an easy way to manage many different passwords for different accounts and earn Bursztein’s professional recommendation. But password managers aren’t the only tool the anti-abuse researcher advocates for: a recent Google Chrome extension called password checker receives his approval for automatically sending notices of stolen credentials. The extension didn’t just draw
Cheyenne Walsh/ The Johnsonian
Elie Bursztein, leader of Google's anti-abuse research team, addressed an audience of students, alumni and faculty on how to protect oneself from hackers. his praise: downloads surpassed Google’s expectations, reaching 600 thousand in the first three weeks, well above the company’s estimate of 25 thousand. Bursztein then discussed adaptive two-factor authentication methods like access code prompts, along with biometric security measures like fingerprint scanners. Out of all the options, the security specialist believes that hardware tokens like security keys, which resist phishing attempts, provide the best options for proactive cybersecurity. “They’re the best and most secure method we have,” Bursztein said. “We are making great progress in this field and hope to keep pushing
it as a solution.” Despite knowing what methods work, Bursztein admits that while cybersecurity techniques may be advancing, the true challenge is getting users to adopt them. “We now know what to do,” he said. “It’s an adoption problem now.” Though Bursztein feels secure in the strides Google has made in cybersecurity, he still feels obligated to help users adopt these methods. Whether users be young or old, he believes they could all learn to be proactive when it comes to cybersecurity.
It’salwayssafetousedifferentpasswordsforvariousdevicestolimitthechancesofgettinghacked.Youcan download a password manager software that will help you generate and retrieve complex passwords.
Review: The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince
An exploration of the latest puzzle game that challenges players with a Brothers Grimmesque story of deception and forgiveness Joseph Calamia Staff Writer We all remember hearing bedtime stories as kids and hearing tales such as “Little Red Riding Hood” and “Goldilocks and the Three Bears.” It’s something else to play a video game inspired by the fairy tales that we grew up with and to find ourselves engrossed in a sad yet heartwarming story. “The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince” is a puzzle video game by Japanese game company Nippon Ichi Software. The game was released in 2018 for Japanese audiences, which in turn was localized by the American branch NIS America this year for the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. The game has been met with positive reviews from critics and gamers alike for its intriguing story, unique storybook visuals and challenging gameplay. However, before you start the game, it’s best to start with a little story. In a monster-filled forest, a wolf with a beautiful singing voice sings to the night, which attracts the admiration of a young prince who applauds the singing. Fearful
that the prince would reject her on knowing her identity, she accidently claws out his eyes in an attempt to cover them when he tries to meet her. Feeling guilty for causing the prince to be shamed by his parents for his injury, she resolves to make amends by bringing him to the mysterious witch that can heal his eyes. Earlier, she lies to him saying that she is a princess. She trades her singing voice to the witch to transform between her wolf form and a young princess to escort him. Together, the princess and the prince embark on a journey though monster-ridden forests, harrowing obstacles and bond with each other along the way. As the wolf, the player must balance playing as a wolf in fighting monsters and escorting the prince as a princess through a variety of areas from mushroom forest and caverns with riddles. The player will have to be careful not to let the prince get hurt or, as the princess, not fall from such great heights. Besides fighting monsters and leading the princess, the wolf solves puzzles such as using flowers that shoot projectiles, breaking platforms, balancing on breakable
paths, activating buttons, using portals and solving challenging riddles. Eventually, the player will be able to order the prince to move to various locations or carry items such as a heavy rock or a lantern. The player will get a nice challenge from each puzzle, without feeling frustrated on the difficulty of the game. In terms of graphics, “The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince” has a hand drawn feel combined with an imaginative look. The environments have a 2D look to them, giving the player immersion to a really creative and mysterious forest. The cutscenes and character sprites show influence from the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen, giving players the feeling their reading a classic fairytale. There are also little character details that make the game feel unique such as the wolf brushing herself when turning back into a princess or both the prince and princess smiling when they walk holding hands. With a run time of about five hours, the game could be completed in an afternoon or evening. Despite the run time, the player can replay
Mikayla Mangle | Science & Technology Editor manglem@mytjnow.com
levels for a variety of collectibles such as petals and flowers that the princess can find and give to the prince. This can unlock concept art for the characters and environments as well as learning about the in-game fairytale about the mysterious witch of the forest. The music in the game is also very beautiful, with a whimsical sound that makes the environment feel like an animated movie. In conclusion, “The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince” is a heartwarming adventure through familiar archetypes of fantasy stories while challenging players with creative puzzles and delivering a fun narrative that is reminiscent of a good old fashioned bedtime story that will delight you and gives the player a sense of nostalgia. If you’re interested to see if the wolf princess and the prince will live happily ever after, then be sure to find out in this harrowing tale of love and lies. “The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince” is available on the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 for both digital and physical purchase. The game is rated Everyone 10+ for Fantasy Violence and Mild Blood.
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SPORTS theJohnsonian March 6, 2019
Michael Covil
EAGLE OF THEWEEK
Celebrating the achievements of Our Winthrop Eagle of the Week in a Spirit Contest in the Big South Photo Contest.
Courtesy of Covil
Winthrop student and fan, Michael Covil, wins Big South Fan of the Year social media contest.
Joseph Calamia Staff Writer It doesn’t just take athletes to be part of The Johnsonian’s Eagle of the Week. It takes the enthusiasm and interest of fans to help show appreciation for the hard work our Eagles do. It’s also something to be recognized for our support over our athletics program. At the beginning of February, the Big South Sports Conference announced a contest for the Big South Fan of the Year. Students from the Big South universities had to post a photo in their university spirit clothes on Instagram or Twitter at a game with their school hashtag and #BigSouthFOTYContest until Feb. 17. After the finalists were announced on Feb. 18, students from the Big South universities had the chance to vote for their favorite until Feb. 25. Freshmen sports management major Michael Covil had the opportunity to join in the competition, eventually becoming one of those finalists. “The conference Twitter account posted something a couple of months ago promoting the contest, and I decided to enter because I had plenty of pictures of me in Winthrop gear. Lucky
enough I was picked as a finalist,” Covil said. Covil noted that he believes it is important for students to show up during the games of Winthrop’s sports teams to bond with classmates and show spirit. “You pay tuition. The least you can do is support the school’s athletic teams, but aside from that Winthrop games are great social events and the best way to show school pride,” Covil said. One of the reasons for Covil’s enthusiasm is a sense of nostalgia from being a fan of his prior schools’ sports teams and supporting his friends. “I’ve always been an extremely passionate fan, even back to my high school and middle school days. Being a fan is just a part of my personality, so a contest like this just fit my mold really well,” Covil said. Covil fondly remembered many moments of the current semester of basketball games for Winthrop University, showing up for home and away games to cheer on the Eagles. “A few that stick out personally are driving to Gardner-Webb to watch our women’s soccer team in the conference tournament this year, getting in the car at 3:55 [p.m.], literally right after our women’s game, and high-tailing it to GardnerWebb for a 5 [p.m.] men’s game, I made it by
the first TV timeout, and enjoying the weather at baseball and softball games, especially since I’m a huge fan of both sports,” Covil said. When the Big South Conference announced that Covil was the winner of the 2019 Big South Fan of the Year contest, Covil was proud and thankful for being able to represent Winthrop University. “It’s a great feeling. Winthrop has an especially strong athletics history, so to be able to represent both the athletic department and the school feels awesome. So many great people have been involved in Winthrop athletics and many great people have come through this university so I feel like I’m not only representing them, but the current body as well,” Covil said. With the victory from the contest and supporting the Winthrop basketball team, Covil noted and encouraged students to show their school spirit during games and show their appreciation to our athletes. “I’m just a sports fan, and having athletic teams at my school gives me a reason to support because I feel more connected than say, like a professional team because I know the players, coaches and other fans on a personal level. I’m a quiet, reserved guy, so it’s my way of expressing myself,” Covil said.
Softball swings into Charlotte Eagles go 1-2, finish February with winning record
Matthew Shealy Staff Writer Winthrop’s softball team participated in the Charlotte First Pitch Classic, which was hosted by the UNC-Charlotte 49ers in Sue M. Daughtridge Stadium. The tournament lasted from Sunday, Feb. 24 to Monday, Feb. 25 and allowed the Lady Eagles to play three games, in which they earned one win and two losses. The Eagles began their play in Charlotte with a 6-2 win over Youngstown State University on Sunday afternoon. They wasted no time on offense as senior center fielder Morgan Lowers homered to left field, scoring two runs. Lowers, who was just named one of two “Eagles of the Month” by Winthrop Athletics for the month of February, leads the team with three homeruns this season. “Coach Thees has really taught me to throw my shoulders and not go downhill or dip with my back shoulder,” Lowers said. “That’s really, really helped me focus on line drives and sometimes hit them over
the fence when I get lucky,” she said they took a 1-0 lead, with a laugh. things quickly went Junior Madyson Watson started downhill. on the mound for the Eagles’ first Majette took the game, pitching three and one-third mound for the second innings and allowing two runs. Kiley time during the tourMajette, a senior, entered the game nament, pitching four to pitch the remaining three and complete innings and two-thirds innings, allowing no runs part of a fifth, which and earning the win. Winthrop’s was not finished. two pitchers gave up only six hits Majette produced five and combined for eight strikeouts strikeouts but gave up on the day. eight hits, resulting in In their second game on Sunday, nine runs with seven the Eagles faced the 14th best team earned. in the country, the University of The Eagles only South Carolina. The Gamecocks’ recorded four hits, led dominance was evident very early by junior Ashley Westin the contest and lasted the entire brooks who had two. Matthew Shealy/ The Johnsonian game. Winthrop also had two Lady Eagles huddle up between plays. Freshman Bella Roy was first to fielding errors, which toe the rubber against the nationally contributed to the 49ers’ ranked team, giving up seven runs offensive success. they only earned three hits in just off seven hits and three walks in Through the month of February, 18 at-bats. However, they also only just two innings. Sabrina Shroades, the Lady Eagles are 7-6, but they collected three strikeouts, all of a junior, came in as relief to Roy, which came in the first two innings). have plenty of games remaining. but allowed the Gamecocks to score Their first conference series will be Winthrop was defeated 15-1 in five eight more runs off nine hits and at Campbell University on March innings. one walk. Both Eagles only recorded 9-10, before they have their first seWinthrop took on UNC-Charlotte one strikeout each. ries at home on March 15-16 against on Monday afternoon, but again The Eagles tremendously lacked could not keep up. After a promising the Longwood Lancers. offense against South Carolina, as first inning by the Eagles in which
Greta Conboy | Sports Editor conboyg@mytjnow.com
theJohnsonian
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March 6, 2019
Eagles win double overtime thriller on senior day Five Seniors Celebrate Victory over Charleston Southern
Greta Conboy conboyg@mytjnow.com The men’s basketball team celebrated senior night in victory as they beat Charleston Southern in double overtime. This was the 15th double overtime game in program history. Senior Adam Pickett hit two free throws with five seconds remaining in to lead the Eagles to an 80-78 win. “After missing the free throws prior to the last minute, it made me pretty nervous to make the last two at the free throw line,” Pickett said. “The atmosphere for senior night was a high level, and the stands looked the fullest that I have seen all season.” Pickett led the team in points with 20 on the scoreboard. This was the first overtime game of the season for the Eagles and the first double overtime since February of 2017, but was the first win in double overtime since Feb. 18, 2006 when the Eagles defeated Northern Illinois. Senior Bjorn Broman was named the Comporium Player of the Game. Broman made two backto-back three pointers for a big lead in overtime. “It was a great atmosphere for all the seniors on the team. The crowd was loud and the game was intense,” Broman said. “It was fun to hit those two threes in the second overtime, but it was a total team effort to get that win. So many guys contributed.” Broman is now 18 points away from becoming the 25th player in program history to score 1,000 career points. Other seniors, Jermaine Ukaegbu and Austin Awad, made the most of their starts as Ukaegbu grabbed
a team-high 10 rebounds and finished with four points while Awad had six points and six rebounds. “Senior night was one that I will never forget. The toughness that my team and I brought at the end of the game was amazing,” Ukaegbu said. “I’ve been fortunate enough to play with incredible men and basketball players. I loved every part of being a Winthrop Eagle due to the students and community. I will forever cherish my time here.” The Eagles Greta Conboy/ The Johnsonian shot 40 percent Senior Bjorn Broman was honored as the Comporium Player of the senior night for the game game while the Charleston and making Winthrop better as a sure that their senior night was one Southern Bucs were held to 34 whole on and off the court,” said to remember.” percent. Pickett led the Eagles sophomore guard Kyle Zunic. “I’m Eagles now have 363 threewith 20 points, Broman had 15 going to miss them a lot because pointers on the year, which moves and junior Josh Ferguson had 14. they have taught me so much in my the team into third most in a singleOverall, there were contributions first two years here. The crowd was season in Big South history and is from several different players on the amazing that afternoon. They were four away from cracking the Top 20 Winthrop bench. energetic, and it really helped us to all-time in NCAA DI history for a “It was a great senior night for get that double overtime win. It was single season. all of the five seniors. They’ve been important for our whole team to get a big part of the Winthrop legacy that win because we wanted to make
UPCOMING HOME GAMES WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6 Women’s Lacrosse vs Coastal Carolina
Women’s Tennis vs UNC Asheville
THURSDAY, MARCH 7 Women’s Tennis vs Radford
FRIDAY, MARCH 8 Baseball vs Penn
SATURDAY, MARCH 9 Baseball vs Penn
SUNDAY, MARCH 10 Baseball vs Penn
TUESDAY, MARCH 12 Baseball vs Bryant
Gabby Gardner | Assistant Sports Editor gardnerg@mytjnow.com
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A&CtheJohnsonian March 6, 2019
The ‘N’ Word
The Diversity Peer Educators hold an event to discuss the origin and the proper use of the ‘N’ word. Savannah Scott Staff Writer
Tate Walden/ The Johnsonian
Kalea Young-Gibson and Isabella Rodriguez served on the pannel at the “N” word event with other members of Diversity Peer Educators, a new organization on campus. The Diversity Peer Educators, a new and Dean Adams-Brown,” Young-Gibson said. organization on campus focused on diversity Young-Gibson also goes into why this specific and inclusion education, held a discussion on organization was made and some of the things Feb. 26 about the ‘N’ word. The panel leading they have done since beginning this year. the discussion consisted of five students within “Dean Adams-Brown brought this idea to the organization who gave their view of the word Winthrop and along with Jon’Paul Montgomery; and when it is is appropriate to use the term. they executed a plan to get [this] program on They were lead by our campus. Dean Adams-Brown saw Sherell Fuller, an the need for a traveling group that could education professor We are giving a platform back up Winthrop’s mission for with a doctorate for people to talk about the diversity and inclusive excellence, in elementary so she implemented it. We’ve done word, how they use it, why a number of programs for various education, who shared personal groups on-campus, and with this they use it and why they experiences, asked being our first full academic year for should maybe stop using it, the program we’ve gotten off to a questions and answered questions it’s showing growth in our fantastic start,” Young-GIbson said. from the audience One of those programs includes the community members. ‘N’ word event. In essence, the event Shaniya Simmons Kalea Youngexplained how the word evolved freshman political science major Gibson, a junior through history from a term of political science description into a derogatory term. and psychology major, was one of the panelists Though throughout history the term was for this event and describes the effort it took viewed as a negative connotation, the black into putting this event together. Young-Gibson community is reclaiming this word as their praised assistant dean for diversity, engagement own and as a term of endearment for one and inclusive excellence, Kinyata Adamsanother. Brown, and DPE student coordinator, Jon’Paul The panel made it be known that only Montgomery, for being the main organizers of people of African American ethnicity should the event. be allowed to use the term; because otherwise “The rest of the Diversity Peer Educators, it can be offensive and taken in a hateful way, myself included, either served on the panel or even if it is sung in a song it should not be provided behind the scenes support for the event. repeated. This was related to the treatment of It was a team effort directed by Mr. Montgomery other slurs, like the “R” word.
“”
Dillon O’Neill | A&C Editor oneilld@mytjnow.com
Audience member Shaniya Simmons, a freshman political science major, thought the event was “extremely empowering.” “Back in older generations, we would have never heard about an event [like this] but now that we are actually giving this word a platform. We are giving a platform for people to talk about the word, how they use it, why they use it and why they should maybe stop using it,” Simmons said.
Tate Walden/ The Johnsonian
The Diversity Peer Educators organization, while new to campus, is already proving to host impactful events.
theJohnsonian
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March 6, 2019
Trap Art Showcase: photostory Trap Art hosted by A. Bevy and Collegiate Curls spotlighted local African American Artists and celebrated Black History Month. Caleb Hinkley hinkleyc@mytjnow.com Many of Winthrop’s student-run clubs and organizations hosted events throughout the month of February to celebrate Black History Month. Recently, A. Bevy and Collegiate Curls, in conjunction with Hip-Hop Matters and The NAACP, hosted Trap Art in Richardson Ballroom. The event featured displays and performances by local African American artists. Charity Moore is a dance education major and member of A. Bevy. She explained what her organization is all about. “A. Bevy helps members figure out their passion, purpose and path in life.” Her organization, along with the aforementioned others, hosted the event and also provided materials for students to create their own art. Students were given the opportunity to paint a canvas or a mug while enjoying other artists paintings and performances. One of the artists featured was junior biology major Shayvone Harvin. “I always loved art,” Harvin said. “Painting brings me peace.” Harvin has been painting for two years now and she stated that all of her paintings represent women
and feminist values. “I was inspired by Vladmire Kush after a trip to Vegas,” Harvin said. Another artist present was English major Joshua Wiley. “I was inspired by this event to work on my craft,” Wiley said. “It helps me show my appreciation for black history.” Wiley enjoys the expressiveness of art. “Drawing is an expression of myself,” Wiley said. “I live for expression through drawing.” Antonio Washington is a fine arts major who loves drawing portraits and had several on display at the event. Washington has been drawing since high school and likes to show fashion and feelings such as “getting a broken heart and thinking of past lovers” through art. Daisha Finley is an artist and local entrepreneur. She runs her own shirt shop and has incorporated her art into her business. “The drawings are inspired by my personal life,” Finley said. Finley specializes in photo and film, as well as art. She sells her shirts on her website: visualsbydaishafinley.com. One artist not only displayed his art, he started
creating his own portrait on the spot. Devon Ford is an art grad student who has been painting his whole life. “I live for it,” Ford said. “My painting tonight is inspired by the culture.” The event included a few performances throughout the night by local African American performing artists. Local student rapper Jo Pastel made an appearance and performed some of his music. He took time to talk to the audience and reminded them to “embrace what you’re doing and enjoy being together.” Trap Art was a successful event and gave students the opportunity to view, display and create art. The event also celebrated African American art and culture. Several artists were able to get more exposure for their art and share their passion with others. A. Bevy, Collegiate Curls and Hip-Hop Matters each have weekly meetings and hold events like this throughout the semester. For those who may be interested in joining, more information can be found on Winthrop’s website.
Sam Ross/ The Johnsonian
Shayvone Harvin finds that painting brings her peace. Her paintings are centered around women and feminist values.
Sam Ross/ The Johnsonian
Devon Ford did a live painting at his table, which he said was inspired by the culture.
Sam Ross/ The Johnsonian
Antonio Washington had his portraits on display. Washington expresses feelings through art.
Sam Ross/ The Johnsonian
Joshua Wiley uses his art to show an apperciation from black history. His drawings are very expressive.
Sam Ross/ The Johnsonian
Daisha Finley uses her art to make a business. She runs a shirt shop with all original works.
Caleb Hinkley | Assistant A&C Editor hinkleyc@mytjnow.com
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OPINION
theJohnsonian
Turning the tables on this semester March 6, 2019
Tips to make the most of the second half of the semester
Erin Streetman streetmane@mytjnow.com Interim grades recently came out, and for some, the grades were less than ideal. Drowning in D’s, just barely passing or losing hope of keeping a scholarship, students begin to doubt themselves and their abilities. If this sounds like you, there is still hope! Here are a few tips to help you turn your semester around. First, start by being realistic. Your teacher can’t bump your grade up from a D to an A, but you may be able to change that C into a B+ or that B- into an A+. Getting there, however, is going to take a lot of work and motivation. Make sure you stay motivated throughout the rest of the semester, whether that is through friends holding you accountable for your work, self-motivation or whatever works to keep you going. Form study groups to help keep yourself organized and on top of things, or make an appointment at the Writing Center so that you have a self-set deadline for rough drafts. Remember that A’s and B’s aren’t everything, and your self worth is not defined by your grades. One of the tips you will hear over and over again is to stop procrastinating and start your work early. This is easier said than done for many reasons, but how do you actually accomplish it? The best way that I have found is to break your
due dates down into small daily tasks. Have a big paper coming up? Save one day for research, one day for taking notes on each of the articles you find, one day for making your outline, and then break your paper sections down into daily or hourly tasks. Can’t focus on that big assignment you need to get done? First, find out what is distracting you. If your phone keeps going off, put it on silent and move it to a different room. If your roommates won’t be quiet, put in headphones or move to a quiet study room. If you find that you are paying attention to anything except your work, maybe it is time for a change in scenery. Go grab a drink from Starbucks and sit in Digs or on the benches on Scholar’s Walk. Changing up your study locations can Erin Streetman/ The Johnsonian help you feel like you aren’t dents studying a foreign language trapped in schoolwork. like French or Spanish with class Make sure you are utilizing the assignments, papers, studying, or resources on campus. Office hours speaking. The library has a program or class tutors can really help if to help students with research called you are struggling to understand “Book-a-Librarian” where a student class material. These come with can get a one-on-one session with the added bonus of showing your a librarian that knows their subject professor that you are trying hard best. All of these are free resources to do well in their class. The Writaround campus that can help stuing Center is a free resource to dents stay accountable, stay motihelp with grading papers or other vated, and ultimately do well. written class assignments and can Lastly, make sure to keep help you set personal deadlines. The language lab in Kinard can help stu- your health as a top priority. Take
breaks during your studying to do something you really enjoy. Make sure you are eating well and drinking enough water so you can stay healthy, focused and energized. Most importantly, get enough sleep. You cannot retain information, stay motivated, or focus in class if you do not get enough sleep. Your health is more important than your grades, and if you fail to take care of yourself, your grades will follow suit. Remember, you are not defined by the numbers on your transcript.
Internalized prejudice
Stigmas create harmful stereotypes that can lead to internalization of biased beliefs Erin Streetman streetmane@mytjnow.com
Erin Streetman/ The Johnsonian
As I sit with two of my friends, we start talking about career choices. In her spiel, one of them mentions that she “just wants to make people feel good about themselves.” A bit later in the conversation, I follow her eyes to a group of people behind me as she remarks “wow, her skirt really should be longer.” I’m struck by the irony immediately and call her out on it. In psychology, we call this cognitive dissonance - the discomfort that comes from holding two conflicting beliefs or attitudes at the same time or from acting against your own beliefs. For example, you may hold the belief that women who have children should be able to have jobs as soon as they feel they are ready, but when your friend just had a child and decides to go back to work, you
tell her that she should be taking care of her child instead. In this era, and at Winthrop, many of us feel a lot more open to people of different races, sexualilities, genders, religions, etc. However, many of us were also raised by families who may not share these same beliefs. All of us were raised in a society that teaches us certain things about certain groups of people, and as such, we may hold beliefs that we do not realize we have. We may react in adverse ways towards certain groups of people, such as a white person claiming that they are not racist but clutching their purse closer when a black man stands beside them in line. This can come in the form of underhanded racism, microaggressions and other small acts of prejudice that are often
Erin Streetman | Opinion Editor streetmane@mytjnow.com
overlooked. We may even react in certain ways towards ourselves. A mother teaching her child not to “throw like a girl” is in fact perpetrating negative beliefs about the group to which she belongs. This is called internalized prejudice, where a person begins to believe negative biases towards a group to which that person belongs. This might not seem realistic to you, I mean how can someone feel racist/sexist/ableist/ etc. towards themself? But when you are raised in a society that constantly tells you that you are “other,” that you do not belong, that you cannot do this or that because of things that you cannot change about yourself, you learn to feel that way too. So why does this matter? What does this have to do with you or me
or anyone else? Namely, this can greatly affect our mental health. You have been taught negative things about yourself, whether that is internalized racism, body shaming or harmful gender roles. This can decrease confidence and self-esteem and increase depression, anxiety and other mental health issues. So what can we do about this? It will be a long and difficult journey to unlearn what we have been taught about ourselves and about other people, and we can’t do it alone. We have to actively interact, get to know, and talk with the people around us in order to find common experiences and common ground.
theJohnsonian
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March 6, 2019
91st Academy Awards summary A look back at the winners, losers and surprises that happened during the 91st Academy Awards.
Joseph Calamia Staff Writer Another year, another time to reflect on the latest movies at the 91st Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars. It makes me reflect back on what films I saw in theatres, and what films I haven’t had the time to see in 2019. As college students, we can’t see every film that comes out in the theater, so we are often uninformed about many of the choices. There is also criticism of the over 8 thousand votes of screenwriters, directors, actors and other Hollywood moguls who vote on films that reflect their own beliefs and thoughts instead of looking at film as a whole. Whether you think the Oscars are incredible or just desperate to hold relevance in today’s world, it’s interesting to see what impact films have on us as a form of escape and reflection of society. I’ll admit that I was a little nervous about the Oscars this year with the amount of news it picked up before even airing. First, the Academy planned to create a Best Popular Film award, which was met was criticism on social media for not recognizing films by their merit instead of a general consensus. Comedian Kevin Hart was set to host, only to be fired a few days later when homophobic tweets from years ago back came to light. This would result in the Oscars having no host for the first time since 1989. Finally, the Academy was criticized heavily for planning to move technical awards like Best Editing to the commercials, gaining the ire of Hollywood Directors and filmgoers until the awards were televised again. Despite the prior controversies, the Oscars took a big step in a good direction for terms of diversity in Hollywood. Some of the Best Pictures include the Netflix foreign film “Roma” and the first comic book movie nominated, “Black Panther,” with winners such as Mahershala Ali for Best Supporting Actor and Alfonso Cuarón for Best Director for “Roma.” I think it’s really interesting for the Academy to recognize talented individuals in the film industry and show different perspectives to filmgoers. The big winner of the Oscars this year was “Bohemian Rhapsody,” a biographical film about the life of Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury that has polarized critics, yet loved by fans of Queen. The film won big at the Oscars with Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, Best Film Editing and Best Actor with Rami Malik as Freddie Mer-
Erin Streetman/The Johnsonian
Erin Streetman/The Johnsonian cury. Another memorable moment was renowned director Spike Lee winning the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for “BlacKkKlansman,” which marks his first Oscar. One of the polarizing moments of this year’s Academy Awards was the ceremony awarding the coveted Best Picture award, which was given to film “Green Book.” The film chronicled the life of African American jazz musician Don Shirley and his Italian American driver in the American Deep South in the 1960s. This decision gained criticism not only for controversial tweets from the director and historical inaccuracies, but also from news outlets, such as The New York Times, saying the film chose to reflect the civil rights movement from a white perspective. I haven’t seen “Green Book” but I would be curious to see what the fuss is about on the film. Personally, the only award I was interested in was Best Animated Feature, where Sony Animation’s “Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse” won,
defeating Disney and Pixar for the award. Most people in the Academy voting process don’t pay attention to animated films, preferring to either let their children vote, go with an obvious choice like Disney or vote without even seeing the films. Even though I was limited in terms of films I was interested in, I saw some independent animated films that were impressive in their own rights without being popular. The best way to improve the Oscars in the future is to create a compromise between the Academy and average moviegoers. For the Academy, they need to focus on giving every film a chance instead of picking a popular choice and focus on good stories and powerful performances by actors and actresses of all races. For filmgoers like us, it’s important to be informed in regards to all films coming out instead of prioritizing films we’ve seen. Hopefully, the Academy Awards can be a center for diversity and recognition of films for both critics and fans alike.
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2005
theJohnsonian
March 6, 2019