M THE MANEATER The student voice of MU since 1955
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Vol. 85, Issue 24
Mar. 20, 2019
RHA
STUDENT LIFE
Donovan, Johnson share goals for potential RHA presidential term
MU students, community members gather to participate in Youth Climate Strike
Voting for the RHA election ended March 15. The results have not been announced yet. JASMINE LOPEZ
Reporter
Alexia Donovan and Cory Johnson were the only people running for Residence Halls Association president and vice president. But they said they weren’t taking that for granted. Voting for the RHA election ended March 15, but results will not be announced until the organization’s annual formal event, RHA Chief Justice Garren Wegener said. Donovan and Johnson said they would focus efforts to build a thriving community within the residence halls on campus. They said their slogan, “Community Thrives Here,” captures the shared vision Donovan and Johnson hold about sustainability, connection, approachability and collaboration with other MU organizations. “We’re trying to make sure RHA is creating community in residential halls, creating a home away from home
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MU students and Columbia residents gather in Speakers Circle to protest as part of the Youth Climate Strike on Friday, March 15, 2019. | PHOTO BY UNEWS ASSISTANT EDITOR LAURA EVANS
A member of Mizzou College Republicans arrived at the event to voice concerns after being excluded from the planning process. LAURA EVANS ADELE DU WICKER PERLIS
University News Assistant Editor Staff Writers Students and community members joined protesters around the world in the Youth Climate Strike on Monday at noon in Speakers Circle. The Mizzou Energy Action Coalition and the Columbia chapter of the Youth Climate Strike organized the protest at MU in order to raise awareness of climate change on campus and to put pressure on world leaders to address climate issues.
“We want to be in solidarity with the youth,” Haley Gronniger, president of MEAC and junior public health and environmental studies major, said. “And, while we are young people still, we are living in an adult world, and it’s really important for people like us to support younger students and kids in their fight to be heard.” The day began with four marches led by MEAC preceding the strike at 8:50 a.m., 9:50 a.m.,10:50 a.m. and 11:50 a.m., with the last march leading into the strike itself. These marches were planned in order to raise more awareness of the strike’s purpose, Gronniger said. The marches started at Speakers Circle, then went through the MU Student Center, up Hitt Street, through Lowry Mall and ended back in Speakers Circle. Gronniger led chants with a megaphone and participants carried signs through the march route.
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HEALTH
MU receives $10 million grant to fund center for rural school mental health The center is a step toward Chancellor Alexander Cartwright’s goal of making MU a top research university. CAMERON BARNARD
Reporter
The MU College of Education received a $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education on Feb. 27 in order to fund the creation
of a National Center for Rural School Mental Health. According to the MU News Bureau, the center is part of Chancellor Alexander Cartwright’s goal to increase research funding and establish three to five national research centers externally funded in the next five years. This goal seeks to make the university a leading research university. The center will gather and collect data from various rural schools across Missouri, Virginia and Montana
in order to increase support and treatment of mental disorders in K-12 children. “Those schools just look different,” lead investigator professor Wendy Reinke said. “They don’t have school counselors. They might not have nurses, so it is really teachers and administrators. In some of our rural schools the superintendent is the bus driver for these districts, so they just have less resources and they have all these people who are putting on all kinds of different hats.”
A study by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that 65 percent of rural U.S. counties lack a psychiatrist and 47 percent of rural U.S. counties lack a psychologist. The same study identified the importance of closing the gap between resource differences between urban and rural communities. The center will identify kids’ mental health issues early, perform preventative interventions, find
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T H E M A N E AT E R | N E W S | MARCH 20, 2019
INSIDE THIS THE MANEATER The Student Voice of MU since 1955
Vol. 85, Issue 24 G210 Student Center • Columbia, MO 65211 573.882.5500 (phone) • 573.882.5550 (fax) editors@themaneater.com www.themaneater.com
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Hypnotist Chris Jones’ show combined Childish Gambino, superheroes and zombies.
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MSA
Incumbent Jacob Addington re-elected in his role of senate speaker Following an unopposed run in the MSA senate, Jacob Addington will be serving a second term as MSA senate speaker. ZAINIE QURESHI
Reporter
Jacob Addington was re-elected to his position of Missouri Students Association senate speaker March 12. This will be Addington’s second term as Senate Speaker, his first term starting in April 2018. “The re-election process followed the same election procedure,” Addington said. “We had the nominating procedure, where anyone can be nominated to run. I was nominated and ran unopposed the following full senate because no one else was nominated. It was shorter than the typical election process because of how no one else was running against me.” Addington said he plans to continue his role in building connections with the MU community, focusing specifically on senate connections with other student communities throughout his term next year. “Last year, we really focused on building relationships with people outside of MSA, a lot of those relationships we built were with administrators, so I think this year we want to
Jacob Addington was re-elected as senate speaker for the 59th session of MSA senate. | COURTESY OF TWITTER VIA @ MSA_SENATE
focus more on student organizations,” Addington said. Citing his knowledge and experience of the position already, Addington said the continuation of his role poses fewer obstacles than that of a new individual taking it on. “There’s a bit of a learning curve whenever you move into a new position, so I’ll already have a lot of those barriers lessened in a sense and because I’ve already been doing it for a year I already know what sort of works and what doesn’t,” Addington said. “Having connections is really important and I won’t have to build new relations with any administrators so that’s really helpful.” Addington said the re-election process was relatively easy and shorter than usual, as he was the only candidate up for election. Addington believes the senate will have a strong start next year due to the entire legislative cabinet returning to their positions next year. “We’re excited to see where it will go since we have a lot of people rejoining leadership roles in senate,” Addington said. “It should be a really good year for us.” Edited by Ethan Brown ebrown@themaneater.com
MARCHING
Marching Mizzou announces Ireland trip for March 2020 The band participated in similar trips in 2012 and 2016, where they played at the Dublin St. Patrick’s Festival Parade and the Limerick International Band Championship. LAURA EVANS
University News Assistant Editor The MU School of Music announced that Marching Mizzou will be traveling to Ireland in March 2020 to play in the Dublin St. Patrick’s Festival Parade and to participate in the Limerick International Band Championship. Amy Knopps, director of Marching Mizzou and the School of Music associate director of bands and director of athletic bands, revealed the news Monday at 3 p.m. in the Whitmore Recital Hall of the Fine Arts Building. Marching Mizzou members were invited to the announcement on Thursday, March 14 through email, at which point speculation about the nature of the announcement began, Scotty O’Dell, sophomore statistics major and clarinet player, said.
Marching Mizzou announced that they will be going to Ireland to perform in March of 2020. | COURTESY OF FACEBOOK VIA @MARCHINGMIZZOU
“We were thinking earlier that there’s only three possibilities — a facility, scholarship money or a trip,”
O’Dell said. “Me personally, I was hoping for a trip, especially with the postseason ban rolling around.”
After receiving the invitation to play in the parade from Lord Mayor of Dublin Nial Ring, the announcement was slated for Monday since it was close to St. Patrick’s Day itself and gave students a chance to discuss the trip with their families over spring break, Knopps said. “If they do transition home, they have the opportunity to talk about this financial commitment from their families, because this is something that is paid for directly by the student,” Knopps said. “It’s not subsidized by the school.” Marching Mizzou has made trips to perform at the parade and competition twice before in 2012 and 2016, winning the title of “International Band Champions” in 2012 and “Overall Parade Champion” in 2016 at the International Band Championship. “To be invited back is an honor and it’s also on the heels of what [Marching Mizzou has] done in the past,” Knopps said. “We were looked favorably upon by the selection committee if you’re someone who had a great experience in the past. They did well, and we were
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These signs carried various slogans including “Save the planet,” “Climate action now!” and “Environmental degradation: brought to you by Capitalism, patriarchy, and White Supremacy.” Gronniger also aimed to hold MU accountable for its environmental impact. “We do have a few of our chants that are directed at the university,” Gronniger said. “The university claims to be extremely sustainable, and indeed they are more sustainable than a lot of colleges, but they are not true leaders because they’re still investing in climate change by investing in fossil fuels directly and indirectly as well.” When the final march arrived at Speakers Circle at noon, they did so led by Rory Butler, MEAC member and junior physics major, chanting “Pollution and exploitation will not be solved by corporations.” The rally in Speakers Circle had a wide-ranging group of speakers, including MU students and local Columbia residents. The first to speak was freshman Barb Kuensting. She listed 11 reasons why climate change is a crisis, representing the UN’s assessment that there are 11 years left to change course on climate change.
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those who need mental health support and supply professional development for teachers and school staff, Reinke said. Using procedures and tools already being provided by the Boone County Schools Mental Health Coalition, the center hopes to expand a similar type of system across the nation. “What we are really hoping to do with this rural center grant is to take that unique cool thing that we are doing here and push it out to other rural schools and, hopefully, to be able to disseminate it nationally at the end of our five years,” Reinke said. The center plans to use technology to expand the reach of mental health education and up-todate training across places that don’t have easy contact to trained professionals with podcasts and different types of electronic communications. “Teachers have these kiddos in their classroom,” Reinke said. “They’re on the frontlines, so they need lots of tools and strategies to use in their classroom too.” Kody Simmons, a freshman at MU and someone
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for students and making sure that they’re all comfortable and safe,” Donovan said. “Our whole platform is students first. We want to make sure that students are getting everything they can from what is usually their first year at Mizzou. It makes a big impact on them.” Johnson said a part of this effort to create community within residence halls is “listening to the hall governments and hall coordinators who know best, and we’re trying to meet their needs and fulfill their ideas of what it takes to create a community in the dorms.” The candidates said a large part of their mission in creating a community-centric environment would involved strengthening the working relationships between RHA and other on-campus groups. Though RHA maintains relationships with Missouri Students Association, the social justice resource centers and the Sustainability Office, Donovan admits “they could be better” and is striving to bolster collaboration between RHA and other MU organizations.
“We must create a future for our children,” Kuensting said. “Not a better future, a future. We can start by divesting from fossil fuels, which [MU] currently has $4 million invested in.” Other speakers, such as representatives from Mizzou College Democrats and Rock Bridge High School Young Democrats urged attendees to tell their representatives to support the Green New Deal proposed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democratic congresswoman from New York and Sen. Ed Markey, Democrat from Massachusetts. At this, junior Dalton Archer arrived. He said that he was representing Mizzou College Republicans and yelled out to those who were speaking. “Do you have a plan?” Archer said. “The Green New Deal will not work.” Both publicly and privately, Archer, who advises the Mizzou College Republicans as a member of the American Conservation Coalition, said that the college Republicans had not been offered an opportunity to speak at this event. Organizers told Archer that he could speak publically if he liked to, but he did not take them up on the offer. He did, however, have a long conversation with event organizer and MU senior Haley Gronniger. During this conversation he said that many conservatives are also environmentalists and that he would have appreciated an invitation having been extended to the college Republicans. One of the final speakers was Mark Haim, a local activist who protested the Vietnam War
in the 1960s with the group Students for a Democratic Society. He compared the ultimately successful efforts to shift public opinion of the Vietnam War with the effort that will be needed to combat climate change. Butler said that the marches and the strike were a good way of bringing people’s attention to climate change. “Over winter break, I started learning more about how serious this problem is,” Butler said. “I was like, ‘I can’t do nothing anymore. I have to start doing anything.’ So that’s when I got involved with MEAC, and I’m just really hoping that in coming out here, I show people that this is an issue that’s important enough for people to do this stuff.” Mitchell Feyerherm, a senior studying soil, environment and atmospheric sciences, is also a member of MEAC. Feyerherm said the Youth Climate Strike is an event that they started this year and it was inspired by Greta Thunberg, a swedish youth activist who started the first school strike for climate change “I don’t think it is going to change things immediately, but I hope more and more people are interested and involved in events like the coalitions,” Feyerherm said. “The more people we can get to get involved in these types of events, the university is more likely to take concrete action in addressing climate change issues [on campus].” Edited by Emily Wolf ewolf@themaneater.com
who attended K-12 schooling in rural Missouri at School of the Osage, explained how the center could have changed his school, which didn’t have a psychologist until his senior year. “It would make the students feel more comfortable,” Simmons said. “They feel like the psychologist is more qualified than just the school counselor in their area of need.” Year one of the center will be a time of open trial by the selected school districts where teachers and administrators can collaborate with the The MU College of Education received a $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education on Feb. 27, 2019. | PHOTO BY PHOTOGRAPHER TORI MARTIN center’s staff to improve the systems provided. They will be able to figure out what things has access to. they like, what things they wish it had and what “Ideally what we want is that any school in our things they think are unnecessary, Reinke said. country who wanted to have access to this model “We are really working in partnership with our or identification, prevention and intervention for schools, so they can actually adapt everything to mental health would have access to it,” Reinke said. “Right now, that is not the case.” fit into their actual context,” Reinke said. Edited by Emily Wolf Once fully running, Reinke plans to make the ewolf@themaneater.com center something that any school in the country The candidates also made sustainability within the residence halls a large focal point of its campaign. “We see [sustainability] being a priority,” Johnson said. While some residence halls such as Bluford Hall and Brooks Hall were designed to operate as environmentally friendly dorms, Donovan and Johnson are focusing their efforts on sustainability in all residential halls. Johnson and Donovan said they would push for the implementation of low-flow shower heads and conserving energy through LED lighting systems. “We’re focusing a lot on implementing of these initiatives, but also education,” Johnson said. “[We plan on] tailoring a lot of our educational resources to the residents so they understand that just by changing a simple habit of theirs, this is what you contribute; you’re part of something bigger than yourself.” In serving students, Johnson and Donovan said they hope to promote RHA and being more accessible to students. “We want to make it more well-known that anyone can come to committee meetings and share their ideas and responses as well as make sure they’re able to know who we are within their halls,” Donovan said. “We’re hoping RHA is not so much a secret space in the bottom of Pershing and that anyone knows exactly where to go if they
have any concerns.” If elected, Donovan and Johnson said they want to take measurable steps to make their s l o g a n “Community T h r i v e s Here” true. “ T h e bottom line Alexia Donovan and Cory Johnson are for both of running for Residence Halls Association us is that we president and vice president for 2019-2020. have some | COURTESY OF FACEBOOK VIA @DONOu n f i n i s h e d VANJOHNSON2019 business and we have some big ideas that we want to implement next year and draw the organization back to being really community centered and one that serves the residents in everything that we do,” Johnson said. Edited by Ethan Brown ebrown@themaneater.com
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great ambassadors of the United States and the university.” While many of the details of the trip have already been organized, such as hotel reservations and much of the itinerary, in the coming year Marching Mizzou will need to finalize certain logistical details, most notably in purchasing air travel. Also, Marching Mizzou will practice for the competition over the year. “We have to prepare when we get back all together in August officially and start off the 134th season,” Knopps said. “We’ve got to have that continually in our minds, and that is our end goal for March.” During the announcement, Knopps went through the itinerary for the trip, which includes a mix of performances and sightseeing activities. “They get to go play over there,” Julia Gaines,
director of the School of Music, said. “They get to learn about the culture, and learning about the tradition and the history behind the parade is fantastic. A study abroad experience is very important for students, and we just do it differently in the School of Music.” Gaines, who also spoke in the announcement, said that this difference lies partially in the number of those participating in the trip. “For us, we want to go play, and the traditional study abroad that has 10 to 15 people does not afford you the opportunity to play,” Gaines said. “So, in the School of Music, we organize trips, national trips and international trips, for students to go have that experience, but it’s not necessarily through study abroad.” Overall, studying abroad is a valuable experience for students, Gaines said. “It just gets us out of our own comfort zone,” Gaines said. “You get a chance to realize it’s a really big world out there, and it’s really cool being around these different traditions.” O’Dell thinks that the Ireland trip may also boost Marching Mizzou’s numbers.
“If you ever look at the demographics in Marching Mizzou, you’ll see it’s very bottom heavy, like freshmen and sophomores, not very top heavy with juniors and seniors,” O’Dell said. “I think this should be a little bit more interesting. We’ll probably have a lot more people coming back because they heard the news.” In seeing the student reaction to the 2016 trip, Knopps is hopeful for the success of the upcoming trip. “We have some students who are seniors now who went on that 2016 trip,” Knopps said. “So, they have fond memories, and I love when they say to the students that are younger that we had an amazing time, that we were really well taken care of and it was a life-defining trip for us.” Edited by Emily Wolf ewolf@themaneater.com
POETRY
MU Women’s Center 23rd annual Women’s Poetry Night creates space for openness, vulnerability MU Women’s Center 23rd annual Poetry Night offers a safe space for poets of all skill level. ELYSE LUECKE
Reporter
The 23rd annual Women’s Poetry Night welcomed amateur and experienced poets from MU and the Columbia area in honor of Women’s History Month. The event aimed to provide women an outlet to express their work and a space to be vulnerable about personal experiences. This was the case for graduate student Bini Sebastian. “I never saw myself as a poet until about a year ago,” Sebastian said. “All of this is still very new to me. I am a visual artist, a lot of painting and drawing ever since I was younger. I think honestly it is pain and suffering that inspires me to write.” Writing is a method of healing for Sebastian and helps her connect with an audience through feedback. After listening to poets of various ages and backgrounds, Sebastian said she noticed a theme of “surviving and thriving” throughout the night. “We all have a little bit of a light within ourselves. When other people, our families, society, media, whatever, when people start speaking into that, it really screws things up. I hope they acknowledge that light within themselves. I hope they know they have the power to continue igniting that light,” Sebastian said. Emily Tarby, assistant coordinator of this year’s Women’s Poetry Night, said
that advertising through OrgSync and MU’s weekly newsletter contributed to the increase of attendance and participation of poets compared to past shows. Tarby also reached out to poetry organizations on campus in an effort to recruit them for the event. “This is a space for women to share their experiences and their literary works,” Tarby said. “I think the most common theme was experiences with being a woman in today’s society.” Poems centered around abuse, harassment, relationships, self-fulfillment and confidence. The goal of the women’s center was to create a space where performers felt safe, yet vulnerable. “People have this respect for poets who are able to be so open with strangers,” Tarby said. Lena Ajans, former executive assistant of the MU Confucius Institute, performed her original poem “If I Were A Tree.” Ajans said the poem elicits feelings of pain and suffering and encourages the listener to consider their connections. “Everyone knows loss, everyone knows pain,” Ajans said. “I think the honesty behind the author’s words exemplify truth. And will hopefully instill in the audience that their feelings are valid. And that healing takes time.” Edited by Ethan Brown ebrown@themaneater.com
The MU Women’s Center hosted the 23rd annual Women’s Poetry Night on March 14, 2019. | COURTESY OF TWITTER VIA @MUWOMENSCENTER
6 ART SHOW
Missouri River Relief’s second “Big Muddy Art Auction” fundraiser on March 14, 2019. | PHOTO BY SENIOR STAFF WRITER MARIANNA LABBATE
Missouri River Relief raises funds with art auction The second “Big Muddy Art Auction” gathered local businesses, artists and community members who share a love for art and the environment. MARIANA LABBATE
Senior Staff Writer
Missouri River Relief put together its second Big Muddy Art Auction on the evening of March 14. The event was a fundraiser to help the nonprofit’s clean-up programs and to showcase local artists. Orr Street Studios was filled with community members ready to buy local art for a cause. Melanie Cheney, office manager of Missouri River Relief, recalled that the first edition of the auction had a lot of people interested and wanting more. “We have such a great community here, in our organization and around the Missouri River,” Cheney said. “We’ve had an overwhelming amount of support and so many submissions of art.” The live auction consisted of 24 pieces, mainly
from local artists. There are also 17 works to be auctioned exclusively online between March 14 and March 21. Many of the pieces had a local theme and mostly depicted the Missouri River area. During the live auction, 22 of the 24 pieces were sold, all for a higher price than their initial bid. Some of the artists were present during the auction, bidding for their colleagues’ artwork. One of them was Carl Orazio, an environmental chemist and an artist who brought his passions together in his piece “Boathenge Revisited.” The painting was sold during the auction and depicts an art installation that Orazio co-authored, located by the margins of the Missouri River: the Boathenge. The installation consists of five colorful boats standing upright by the river, mimicking the stone pillars of Stonehenge. “Carl set up an easel in a field on his family’s farm down by the Missouri River,” Orazio said in a brief written description he kept by the artwork. “[The painting is] taking a fresh look at a local
monument that pays tribute to adventure and discovery along the Big Muddy.” Missouri River Relief intended to split the proceeds of each painting with its creator, but many of the artists donated 100 percent of the final price to the nonprofit, including The Daves, the band that played during the event. “I tried to pay the band earlier and they just signed the check back over to us,” Cheney said. “We just have great musicians like this in Columbia.” The event also had food and beverage donations from local businesses such as Logboat Brewing and Les Bourgeois Vineyards. Orr Street Studios also donated the space for the second time, after the first successful version of the Big Muddy Art Auction three years ago. “We certainly have a full house tonight,” Cheney said. “Everybody here loves the art community, our organization and a good party.” Edited by Janae McKenzie jmckenzie@themaneater.com
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SPORTS TELEVISION
‘WrestleMania 35’ shouldn’t just appeal to wrestling fans With WWE’s showcase of the immortals on the horizon, there’s no better time to give pro wrestling a look. BON ADAMSON
Columnist
World Wrestling Entertainment will be staging the granddaddy of them all, “WrestleMania,” for the 35th time on April 7. Right now, it’s looking to be the best “WrestleMania” in a very long time. The matches all have some very entertaining stories and characters going into them. I think this show will have a match or two for everybody, so here’s a few matches and the stories behind them going into “WrestleMania.” If you’re interested in watching two 50-year-old men beat the snot out of each other, then I’ve got some great news for you. Batista and Triple H will be squaring off in a no holds barred match that looks to be Batista’s last. Big Dave and the man of three H’s have a storied history, and the latest chapter is based around Batista’s hatred of Triple H. A hatred so deep that Batista beat up Ric Flair on his 70th birthday just to get Triple H’s attention. One of the interesting things going into this match is that for all of the incredible career accolades Triple H has, he’s never been able to beat Batista oneon-one. Watching these two brawl for the final time will surely be amazing.
If you’re interested in the main event, then you’ll probably want to watch the Raw Women’s Championship match. The Women’s Royal Rumble this year was won by Becky Lynch. Becky Lynch is the man. She’s a no-nonsense Irish woman who’s been the hottest act in the company for about half a year. When it came time to decide whether or not to challenge for SmackDown or Raw’s Women’s Championship, Lynch chose Raw. More specifically, she chose to face Ronda Rousey. Lynch was supposed to face Rousey back in November at Survivor Series, but was removed from the match due to a concussion and a broken nose. Now, Lynch v. Rousey is finally going to happen, and at “WrestleMania” no less. But, the plot has thickened, and there’s a third woman in the match — Lynch’s former best friend and current rival, Charlotte Flair. Flair has always found her way into championship matches, which caused a falling out between her and Lynch. This match will definitely main event the show. And if it does, it will be the first women’s match to main event “WrestleMania.” If you’re interested in a David v. Goliath story, then the Intercontinental Championship will probably be for you. The current champion is Bobby Lashley, a big guy who likes to show off his butt and has a hype man, Lio Rush, who’s a quarter of his size. His opponent will most likely be Finn Bálor. Bálor is an extraordinary man with an extraordinary six-pack
who turns into a demon sometimes. B e t w e e n Lashley and his hype man, Bálor falls dangerously close to L a s h l e y ’ s hype man size wise. Then again, there’s that lingering s u s p e n s e on whether Lashley will be fighting a man or a demon. If you’re interested in environmental activism, then World Wrestling Entertainment’s “WrestleMania” will air for the 35th time the W W E on April 7, 2019. | COURTESY OF WIKIPEDIA Championship match will be match for the WWE Championship. right up your alley. The current Lately, people have caught on to champion is Daniel Bryan, who’s the the fact that Kingston’s high-flying self-proclaimed “planet’s champion,” style and general underdog charisma and who will not hesitate to stomp is fantastic. Now, he’s almost your face in. Last month he threw out guaranteed to be challenging for the WWE Championship belt because Bryan’s WWE Championship. it was made of leather and replaced it This is barely a quarter of the with a more eco-friendly hemp-bound matches that will probably be championship belt. His opponent is happening at “WrestleMania 35.” If probably going to be Kofi Kingston. you’ve never watched professional Kingston is part of the group The New wrestling before, then “WrestleMania Day — they’re super positive and 35” will certainly be a good place to obsessed with breakfast foods. He’s see if it’s something you could enjoy. Edited by Joe Cross been with the company for 11 years jcross@themaneater.com and has never received a one-on-one
NEW MUSIC
Stella Donnelly’s new record ‘Beware of the Dogs’ pulls no punches The Australian singersongwriter’s debut is vibrant, brash and emotionally powerful. JACOB LUEBBERT
Columnist
Indie-pop isn’t supposed to be vulgar. Fortunately for us, Australian indie-pop artist Stella Donnelly doesn’t care much for the status quo. Her new debut LP, “Beware of the Dogs,” was released earlier this month, and it’s a gritty, profanity-filled manifesto against sexual assault, misogyny, Australian nationalism and society. The Perth-native’s 2018 EP “Thrush Metal” carried many of the same themes, but it lacked the instrumental diversity to push her music to the next level. On “Beware of the Dogs,” though, her music is far more sonically intricate than the lonely guitars on her previous work. The addition of bouncy synths and punchy drums, like those on the album’s ninth track, “Die,” create an upbeat and — despite the subject matter — cheery sound throughout most of the record’s 43-minute runtime. Donnelly juxtaposes her
lighthearted sonics with serious and emotionally resonant themes. Each song on “Beware of the Dogs” is a new topic to be explored — “Tricks” mocks the “Australian identity,” “Watching Telly” addresses the abortion debate and the album’s
title track, “Beware of the Dogs,” calls out issues within the Australian government. Donnelly certainly isn’t the only indie singer-songwriter singing songs about social and political issues, but she might be the most unabashed and
Australian singer Stella Donnelly released her debut album “Beware of the Dogs” on March 8, 2019. | COURTESY OF AMAZON
upfront. Her frankness is the driving force of the album. On the opening track, “Old Man,” Donnelly sings “Your personality traits don’t count if you put your d--- in someone’s face.” On “Tricks,” she mocks her hecklers with the line “You wear me out like you wear that southern cross tattoo.” On “Mosquito,” Donnelly admits to her significant other that she used her vibrator, wishing it was them. Donnelly’s songs drip with sincerity, and no song on the record is more sincere than “Boys Will Be Boys,” a track as sad as it is defiant. First released just months before the #MeToo movement exploded, “Boys Will Be Boys” is a blistering attack of victim blamers and rapists. Donnelly strips back the instrumentation and lets her writing shine here, and for good reason. “Boys Will Be Boys” is the most moving song on the album — and its best. This album is vital listening for many reasons, but first and foremost because it is unafraid to dismantle some of society’s worst institutions. Let the addictive guitar melodies and vibrato vocals of “Beware of the Dogs” drag you in, and its profound writing will keep you coming back again and again. Edited by Joe Cross jcross@themaneater.com
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THEATER
MU Theatre Department performs ‘Waiting for Godot,’ raises questions on meaning of life The MU Theatre Department put on “Waiting for Godot” this past week, selling out all five nights in a row and letting audience members’ perspectives take over with philosophical script. AUDREY ROLOFF
Staff Writer
After two months of rehearsals, the MU Theatre Department put on the play “Waiting for Godot.” Suzanne Burgoyne, the curators’ distinguished teaching professor of theater at MU, chose this play with every intention of facing the challenges that the play exhibits. The play was first produced in Paris in 1953 by Samuel Beckett. After the play was written, it was included in Martin Esslin’s book “Theatre of the Absurd.” Esslin picked a number of playwrights in that period that wrote about dealing with existentialism and the lack of meaning in life during the 20th century. Auditions for “Waiting for Godot” started toward the end of fall and were open to all students. After the cast list was posted, rehearsals started the week after winter break and led up until the performances, March 13 to 17. Each of the five actors had to put time and effort towards molding into each character. Theater performance senior Samuel DeMuria played Vladimir, one of the protagonists in the show. Vladimir and Estragon, his good friend, wait for Godot near a tree and stone. Even though DeMuria is experienced in theatre, “Waiting for Godot” has been the hardest part he has taken on thus far, he said. “I sort of never leave stage; it’s me and Estragon for two hours,” DeMuria said. “It’s just us making the time pass. Trying to find meaning in life. It takes an immense amount of energy to keep an audience engaged… For me, getting into the philosophical side of Vladimir was hard, but eventually, I got there. It took some time trying to relate certain things to parts of my life.” Burgoyne picked this play with a lot of consideration and knew that it was the right choice for the potential actors, audience involvement, familiarity and financial conservation. “I did think we had actors who could do the play here,” Burgoyne said. “We were looking for a
Actor Ian Downes playing the character Estragon in the MU Theatre Department’s production of “Waiting for Godot.” | PHOTO BY STAFF WRITER AUDREY ROLOFF
play that did not require a lot of sets or costumes. The set for this play is a tree and a stone. It was a play that could be done without a lot of expenses of costumes and set.” DeMuria has been able to ask indurate questions to himself about life in general from taking on the role of Vladimir. The impact of “Waiting for Godot” has changed certain perspectives for him about why people do certain things in life. “We play games to make the time pass, and we have conversations, we talk about things and we argue,” DeMuria said. “In the moments of the play when these things end, we kind of get lost in the void for a bit, and then we have to snap back into doing something else. The void is like the nothingness that is after you die. It’s really just about ‘what is the meaning of life?’ Do we find meaning in life through the games we play with one another or the people that we meet or the things that we do.” Jack Fulkerson, a freshman theater performance major at MU, played Boy in “Waiting for Godot.” Fulkerson had never participated in theatre until college and has not regretted one second of it, due to the heartening theater department on campus. “I’ve met some amazing people in the theatre department,” Fulkerson said. “Some really good friends I’ve made through the shows and classes. The professors are very hands-on with you. I’ve definitely been embraced into a really loving
community. I’ve felt at home.” Fulkerson has the smallest role in the play but invokes the presence of Godot when he is on stage and gives the most context on what is going on in a scene. “People don’t really know who he is, he kinda just shows up and then leaves,” Fulkerson said. “When I talked to my director, we think he’s an angel. Godot is God, that’s what Godot represents, and the boy is the angel… He knows everything, he knows that Godot is not really going to come and that they’re fools for waiting.” Burgoyne first saw “Waiting for Godot” during the first year of her marriage, and recalled how it made her realize that the symbolism in the play reflects marriage. Therefore, the play is deeply meaningful to her, but also painful at the same time. “This play really raises a lot of questions about the meaning of human existence,” Burgoyne said. “It raises awareness, makes you think. It also makes you laugh about all the problems we humans have, and the ones we cause for ourselves and each other. So I hope it will make people think about how human beings treat each other.” Burgoyne has left lasting impressions on the actors she has worked with because of the way that she directs. If an actor wants to work with Burgoyne, they must have an answer for “why” they act a certain way. “Suzanne is very very meticulous, and I really appreciate that,” Fulkerson said. “She will ask you what you’re thinking in the scene, why you’re saying what you’re saying, why you’re moving while you’re moving. Everything you’re doing in the scene she’ll ask you why, and I think that really helps flesh out the core ideas of the play, and it reads better to the audience. It feels like what you’re doing is more real.” Overall, Waiting for Godot has helped shape Fulkerson and DeMuria’s acting style, and will be a play that will make them think for years to come. “It pushes you to find levels of energy or emotion that you wouldn’t find if you didn’t act or perform,” Fulkerson said. “I’ve really learned how to connect with people more as well, by doing theater because we really focus on small intimate moments, how you’re thinking in the scene. It’s definitely transformed my real life as well.” Edited by Janae McKenzie jmckenzie@themaneater.com
HYPNOTIST
Hypnotist brings mix of humor, music, mind control to MU Chris Jones took his stage act from “America’s Got Talent” to Jesse Auditorium. BEN WICHE
Staff Writer
Hypnotist and comedian Chris Jones performed for MU students in Jesse Auditorium on March 14. The Chicago native is best known for competing in “America’s Got Talent” and for hosting the hypnosis comedy show “Double Take” on Facebook Watch. To start the evening off, Jones told a few jokes to ease the audience into the idea of being hypnotized. “Have you seen ‘Get Out?’” Jones said. “This is not like that. But even if you don’t volunteer, you might get hypnotized.” As Jones kept talking, his voice became softer and the lights dimmed. He started playing a Childish Gambino song and said how if anyone in the audience should fall asleep, they should fall asleep with their head on their chest and not their head rolling back. As he talked he occasionally
punctuated words like “sleep” and “tired” with a sort of click sound. After about 10 minutes of talking, Jones walked out into the crowd and approached some of the people who had stood up to be volunteers. He sat them down, gave them a tap on their shoulders and their heads rolled forward. From there, Jones had the volunteers stand up, sit down, move their fingers in tune to Post Malone’s “Rockstar” and even turn into “zombies” with their hands held out. Jones sent the “zombies” out to choose one audience member to “eat.” Before anyone got bitten, Jones made the “zombies” believe they were high schoolers at prom with their best friend. They danced to Aerosmith’s “Cryin’,” taught each other dance moves and hid each other from the “police.” For the final act, Jones made four audience members think they were superheroes with any superpower they could imagine, any power except flight. “I did this trick at a show a few years ago,” Jones said. “One of the guys goes ‘I can fly’ and he jumps and lands three rows deep. He was okay. His friend, he goes, ‘No. Damn it David’ and flew after him.”
So that night saw the onstage debut of Animal Girl, Octopus Woman, Super Dancer and Anonymous. Though they did not stop any crimes, they took their newfound status very seriously. “You can tell they’re hypnotized because they’re not laughing,” Jones said. After letting the volunteers show off their powers, Jones snapped them out of their hypnosis, telling them that they wouldn’t remember being hypnotized until they left Jesse Auditorium. MU freshman Kip Soucie said she didn’t remember her brief stint as “Animal Girl.” “I was in the crowd the whole show,” Soucie said just minutes after coming off of the stage. MU sophomore Lara Cumming, otherwise known as “Super Dancer,” said she doesn’t remember her short time in the spotlight. Cumming came to the event with the intent of getting hypnotized, despite her skepticism. “I didn’t realize I’d been hypnotized until I left the bathroom [after the show],” Cumming said. “I didn’t believe it, but I wanted it to be real.” Edited by Janae McKenzie jmckenzie@themaneater.com
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9
FORUMS
Virgie Tovar discusses body discrimination at ‘Lose Hate Not Weight’ event Virgie Tovar, an author and activist on body image, brought an intersectional feminist approach to diet culture. ALLISON SAWYER
Staff Writer
Virgie Tovar held a speaking engagement event called “Lose Hate Not Weight: An Intersectional Feminist Approach to Diet Culture,” where she discussed the fact that American ideas about weight are a social construct. She urged audience members to look at how other cultures view weight in order to understand their biases. Tovar was invited by the Center for Body Image Research and Policy through MU and spoke in the Leadership Auditorium in the MU Student Center. Tovar spoke about educating and discussing fat discrimination and body image. She is an author, activist and one of the nation’s leading experts on the topic of body discrimination in American culture. She currently contributes to Forbes Magazine and writes a weekly column on Ravishly called “Take the Cake.” She also has a 2017 TED Talk on the topic. During the event at MU, Tovar presented an explanation of the term “fatphobia” and centered her engagement around the ramifications surrounding the word. She said that “fatphobia” is prevalent in American society as people are taught from a young age that being fat is bad. “Our implicit bias shapes the way we see the world around us,” Tovar said.
Amber Karnes, founder of Body Positive Yoga, a yoga studio that promotes self-love, interviewed Tovar on her area of expertise. Karnes said she appreciates Tovar’s notion that there are different forms of selfdiscrimination, and that American societal standards are embedded in a discreet manner. “I loved what you said about how there is this spectrum of self-hate,” Karnes said to Tovar. “And I think with diet culture, there is this really insidious way of telling us that we aren’t good enough. It’s almost an innate world view that you have to buy into diet culture.” During Tovar’s discussion, she referenced anthropologists who did ethnographies in various regions in Africa. In these regions, women go to extreme measures to gain fat as it is considered the ideal form of feminine beauty. She notes that it is essentially opposite from American ideals, proving that beliefs surrounding body image are a social construct. She also delved into her own past experiences regarding her personal body image. She noted that it was difficult to see that losing weight was not the solution to her happiness. She mentioned periods of starvation she believed would bring her success, love and visibility. She eventually grew to understand the depth of the topic and came to love her body. After the event, Tovar discussed what prompted her to be outspoken regarding body discrimination. “Discrimination against fat people is a really big form of injustice, and since I have the academic background, I was like, ‘Wow, I can help people understand this issue
Author Virgie Tovar spoke about body discrimination at the “Lose Hate not Weight” event at MU on March 18, 2019. | COURTESY OF MIZZOU CALENDAR
with my background,’” Tovar said. Tovar also said discussing the issue of fat discrimination as a social construct rather than an innate fact is helping shed light on the construct as the root of the issue. “I think a lot of people see it just as an ‘on the ground’ issue, but it’s actually, as you can see, a big issue that’s spanned a lot of years,” Tovar said. “I feel like we need to get people to be able to talk about what’s happening on the ground level to be able to talk about this as a cultural story.” Chris Sandel, host of Real Health Radio, a prominent radio station in the UK, interviewed Tovar and discussed her openness to the word “fat.” He said it’s difficult for himself to use the word as comfortably as Tovar uses it. “It is something I’m coming around to but I have some uneasiness using the word because it isn’t something I identify with,” Sandel said. “But the
more people talk about it, the more it makes sense and I see the problem with using words like overweight, because as you say, ‘Who gets to judge over what?’” Tovar also said it isn’t difficult to share her personal stories and discuss the topic of body image publicly. “Doing this doesn’t exactly feel vulnerable,” Tovar said. “I mean it’s weird. It only feels vulnerable if I feel like I’m being attacked. But I kind of presume that people are on my side and that people who hate my guts are the minority.” Tovar said the audience responded positively to her speaking engagement at MU and she has a good relationship with her general audience as well, which consists of predominantly women who want to listen and engage in conversations about body discrimination in American culture. Edited by Janae McKenzie jmckenzie@themaneater.com
FILM
What is going on with ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’? The poster — choices were made! ABBY MONTEIL
Columnist
Since Quentin Tarantino’s new film “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” was announced early last year, the director’s ninth feature has been a point of contentious, fizzy speculation. First came the basic premise — Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt star as a ‘60s actor-stunt double duo struggling to adjust to a changing Hollywood against the backdrop of the Manson murders. The project became entangled in a public relations nightmare right out of the gate. Tarantino came under fire for on-set harassment allegations and his ties to abusers like Harvey Weinstein and Roman Polanski. When it was revealed that real-life Manson victim Sharon Tate (portrayed by Margot Robbie) would carry a major “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” side plot, Debra Tate slammed the director for his “exploitative” use of
Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” starring Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio, hits theaters July 26, 2019. | COURTESY OF IMDB
her late sister. Despite these concerns, development of what Simon Pegg
called Tarantino’s “California movie” continued as planned. Everything remained tightly shrouded in secrecy until first-look photos revealed Leo doing a Corny Collins impression. Margot as Sharon looking like a Glossier rep who’s never dealt with skincare problems. Brad and Leo sporting looks older than the parents of Leo’s last five girlfriends. With the film riding off glitzy waves of controversy and anticipation ahead of its July release, it would seem that one of the next logical steps would be to roll out a promising poster. The teaser images for the director’s last two movies — “The Hateful Eight” and “Django Unchained” — are designed in a striking minimalist fashion, with splashes of bloody red hinting at what was to come. None of these elements are traceable in the “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” poster, which resembles a cardboard movie theater standee or fanmade bootleg poster more than anything else. It features Pitt and DiCaprio brooding in a hastily Photoshopped fashion, in front of the Hollywood sign. Sure, the hippie
scene and glossy Hollywood intrigue detailed in the film’s premise isn’t present, nor are any plot teases to draw in skeptical moviegoers. But, hey, you’re not bound to forget about where exactly all of this yellow color coordination took place once upon a time. Viewing this poster in all its hasty New York Instagram filter likeness was an experience. For the first time, I truly understand the “Saturday Night Live” sketch where Ryan Gosling has a breakdown over “Avatar” using the Papyrus typeface. The person behind the “graphic design is my passion” frog meme was hired by Sony and followed a five-minute Adobe Creative Cloud tutorial to make this poster! “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” might become the think piece nexus of the summer, but I plan to think of it as the Tarantino movie that ripped off the aesthetics of the “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” poster. Actually, I’ll always remember it this way. Edited by Joe Cross jcross@themaneater.com
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BIRDS
Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever kicks off meetings with Birds, Beef & Brews Bash The local birds conservation group began its year with an event featuring bird-friendly beef and local environmentalists. SKYLAR LAIRD Staff Writer “Want more birds?” A sign in the corner of the room asked in huge letters. “Let’s talk habitat,” it read underneath. The rustic upper level of Logboat Brewing Company on Friday, March 15, was filled with people doing just that: talking habitat. Crowded around tables covered with orange table cloths, members of Audubon, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever and the Missouri Department of Conservation drank beers, ate beef and discussed birds, checking off every part of the evening’s Birds, Beef & Brews Bash. The Birds, Beef & Brews Bash took place as a kickoff to Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever’s first meeting of its sixth year. The goal of Pheasant Forever and Quail Forever is four-fold: They focus on “habitat improvements, public awareness, education and land management policies and programs,” according to the Pheasants Forever website. Casey Bergthold, the Missouri state coordinator for Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever, said this event was an example of spreading public awareness and helping educate people about habitat conservation and bird-friendly beef. “We’re a conservation organization, we’re the habitat organization, so anywhere we can do habitat work and put habitat on the ground, that’s where we want to do good work,” Bergthold said. “The whole idea [of this program] is that we can graze cattle in a manner that is good for wildlife and we can build in some economic incentives there to help make that something that is more profitable and to get folks interested in doing that.” Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever works with other organizations, such as bird conservation group Audubon, the Missouri Department of Conservation and local businesses like the Root Cellar, to promote habitat protection. Bergthold credits Max Alleger, grassland program coordinator for the Department of Conservation, with the inclusion of Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever in this partnership. Alleger, Bergthold said, brought this program to the attention of the organization, allowing them to advocate for pheasants and quail through it. “It sounded like a program that made a lot of sense for us,” Bergthold said. “Any time we can work with agriculture farmers and ranchers to help make them more money, increase their profits and do great things for wildlife, it’s just a win-win.” The event itself featured a course of birdfriendly, Audubon-certified beef. This beef is certified as bird-friendly because of grazing rotations, which allow for habitat conservation for birds on the land where cattle is kept. By buying this kind of meat, Alleger said, consumers can promote all the partnered organizations and also help wildlife. “It’s really about bringing people who are
Top: Many bird conservation enthusiasts fill Logboat Brewing Company prior to the sixth annual Missouri Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever State Habitat meeting on March 15, 2019. | PHOTO BY PHOTOGRAPHER TANNER BUBECK Bottom: Conservationists talk over fresh brews before the sixth annual Missouri Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever State Habitat meeting on March 15, 2019. | PHOTO BY PHOTOGRAPHER TANNER BUBECK
interested in quails and quail habitat together with an opportunity for them to use their food dollars to help support better habitat on real Missouri farms,” Alleger said. “So it’s a really powerful idea that you use your food dollar not only to feed yourself but to vote for what kind of world you want to live in.” Chris Wilson, director of the Audubon ranching program, said this kind of habitat conservation is important because Audubon has observed a steep decrease in the amount of grassland birds in recent years. Through the preservation of cattle farmers’ grasslands, these numbers can be affected and bird populations may be helped. “We recognized that if we were going to do something about grassland bird population decline, we needed to think about a whole new strategy besides what’s been done in the past,” Wilson said.
As for the Birds, Beef & Brews Bash, Wilson said he was excited to introduce more people to this program and the idea of buying conservationfriendly beef, while Bergthold was anticipating a chance to eat the beef the organizations were working to create. “If you’ve never had the Audubon-certified rancher beef, it’s really good quality,” Bergthold said. “The ranches that are raising it are the best that are out there and that’s kind of brought through the supply chain, the Root Cellar, and so you don’t get any better beef anywhere.” Although MU currently does not have a student chapter of Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever, there are several student chapters throughout the state for students looking to be involved in the conservation of birds. Edited by Janae Mckenzie jmckenzie@themaneater.com
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ROGER THAT
The bronze-medal mindset helps personal growth Winning means more than a gold medal. Sometimes it means looking at all you’ve accomplished. ABIGAIL RUHMAN Abigail Ruhman is a freshman journalism and political science major at MU. She is an opinion columnist who writes about student life, politics and social issues for The Maneater. In 2016, Ibtihaj Muhammad made history. As the first American athlete to compete at the Olympics wearing a hijab, Muhammad opened up a door to change the way that Muslim athletes were viewed. After she won a bronze medal, she told Time Magazine, “This is such a moment of pride and progress, and there is no going back.” While society tends to view gold medals as a win and everything else a loss, Muhammad saw that she not only made it to the Olympics, but she made her way to the podium. While others may feel that the lack of a gold medal points to a loss, Muhammad’s bronze medal was not only a win — it was a historic win. Muhammad and other bronze medalists showcase an important message to others: It is not what you win, but how you win — or more accurately, how you lose. This is the value in viewing your life from a bronze medalist mindset. Society seems to crave gold medals. Angela Grippo, associate professor of psychology at Northern Illinois University, said in her article for Psychology Today the reason is because of hormones. When people win, their body experiences a spike of testosterone. This effect has been seen in everything from wrestlers to tennis players, and even chess players. People crave gold simply for the thrill, no matter the cost. In sports, this can be referred to as the Goldman Dilemma. Robert Goldman, the author of “Death in the Locker Room: Drugs and Sports,” started his research with a single question: Would you take
a drug that guaranteed you a gold medal, but would also kill you within five years? Approximately half of the athletes he questioned answered with an honest yes. People want to win, even when it kills them. When people are just shy of winning, they can feel like they lost the glory of being first. William James,
to a positive outcome. This mindset ultimately forces their focus onto the negative side rather than the positive. For example, a silver medalist will convince themselves that it was their lack of effort that caused them to “lose.” A driver may think about what would have happened if they
Ibtihaj Muhammad made history by being the first American athlete to compete in an Olympic event wearing a hijab. She won the bronze medal in fencing. | COURTESY OF WIKIPEDIA
a famous psychologist, explained the logic of a silver medalist: “We have the paradox of a man shamed to death because he is only the second... in the world. That he is able to beat the whole population of the globe minus one is nothing; he has 'pitted' himself to beat that one; and as long as he doesn't do that nothing else counts.” Peter McGraw, a behavioral scientist from the University of Colorado-Boulder, in an interview with CNN referred to this thought process as counterfactual thinking, or a negative way of thinking yourself
simply did one thing different before a crash. This mindset ultimately forces their focus onto the negative side rather than the positive, such as winning second place, or surviving a car crash. After a race in the 2012 London Olympics, Olympic swimmer and silver medalist Ryan Lochte explained his disappointment that he was just short of gold. Brendan Hansen, the bronze medalist of the same race was quoted saying, “[I] swam my own race. And knew I had a lane, and had an opportunity, and I went for it. It worked out... it's
just awesome that I get to go on the podium tonight." Hansen’s ability to look at his performance alone is a skill society should take into consideration everyday. In addition, you can develop a growth mindset. People with growth mindsets find themselves accepting challenges because they believe that with each loss there is a lesson to be learned. They try to find motivation in something other than being at the top. People with a fixed mindset will see each loss as a roadblock and will become discouraged, causing them to give up. Carol Dweck, a Stanford psychologist, explained in her book “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success,” “I’ve seen so many people with this one consuming goal of proving themselves... Every situation calls for a confirmation of their intelligence, personality, or character...Will I succeed or fail?... Will I feel like a winner or a loser?” The growth mindset encourages challenges and uses failure as a stepping stone to success. When it comes to students, allowing yourself to see what you’ve accomplished is vital to academic growth. As I was studying for my exam, I found myself feeling discouraged everytime I missed something on my notecards. My friend pointed out that when I miss something I would immediately criticize myself. It built negativity into my preparation for my exam. I was failing to pay attention to the amount of information I had already memorized. The progress that I made was impressive, but I refused to see it. Applying the bronze-medal mindset to everyday thinking provides a more productive and optimistic outlook. Stop forcing yourself to focus on where you fell short on your version of a gold medal. Try to focus on the things that you’ve accomplished so far. Being able to focus on what you’ve accomplished is vital to your ability to find personal growth. Cultivating a bronze medal mindset can be the first step you take to focus on improving yourself, rather than feeling the need to be better than others.
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Column: Allowing concealed carry of firearms on campus puts lives in danger As Missouri’s legislature debates a bill that would require MU to allow concealed carry, safety must be the top priority. BRYCE KOLK Bryce Kolk is a freshman journalism major at MU. He is an opinion columnist who writes about politics for The Maneater. Guns don’t belong in school. Can we all just agree on this? As it stands, possession of firearms on university property is a violation of MU regulations. Missouri lawmakers, however, are looking into loosening this regulation. A Missouri House committee has been debating House Bill 258, which would require universities to allow anyone with a concealed carry permit to possess firearms on campus.
MU should have the right to regulate MU property. It’s not a Second Amendment issue, it’s an issue of government overreach. Universities know their own needs better than politicians in Jefferson City. Maintaining a safe, secure campus is a top priority. The Associated Students of the University of Missouri, an advocacy group for students in the UM System, takes the same stance on campus carry laws. They cite concerns from campus law enforcement “on the grounds they encourage individuals with inadequate training to take matters into their own hands.” Advocates for campus carry often cite worst-case scenarios. In the event of a mass shooting, they argue, a “good guy” gun owner could subdue the threat. This, however, is a fantasy. Campus carry would allow individuals to possess guns on university property, regardless of competency. New York Police Department
officers, who are professionally trained to handle firearms for a living, had a hit rate of just 18 percent in gunfights, between 1998 and 2006, according to a study by Rand Corporation. For every five shots, less than one hits the intended target. Assuming the “good guy” is no better trained than the average NYPD officer, that’s a lot of stray bullets. Mitigating casualties should be the sole focus in a crisis situation. Adding more guns to the mix would only add to the casualty count. As of August 2018, Missouri is one of 16 states that ban concealed weapon carry on college campuses, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Another 23 states allow each institution to regulate themselves. Should the bill pass, Missouri would be the 11th state to require universities to allow concealed carry on campuses. Tennessee is an outlier that allows faculty to carry, but not students or the general public. Among the 10 states where campus
carry is a reality is Kansas.
In 2017, the Kansas government
required KU to allow concealed carry
on campus. In an effort to keep campus safe, KU hired six additional officers to beef up security. Not only does concealed carry make
campuses more dangerous, it also costs universities more money.
We should take a lesson from
our rival and steer clear of any
changes to the current concealed carry standards.
Despite the majority of the nation
favoring
increased
gun
control
regulation, according to Gallup, state legislatures keep forcing the issue of campus carry.
In the wake of numerous school
shootings, we need to keep our priorities clear. We need to listen
to the advice of university law enforcement and keep safety at the
forefront. Allowing concealed carry at MU would put student lives in danger.
SCHNELLE’S SITUATION
Column: Students should take advantage of study rooms With midterms, study rooms can be your best friend.
second floor of Ellis Library.
RACHEL SCHNELLE
any noise around me when I’m doing
Rachel Schnelle is freshman journalism major at MU. She is an opinion columnist who writes about student life for The Maneater.
From the eight different libraries, to the coffee shops downtown, to the
Personally, I prefer writing in busy coffee shops, but I like doing other homework in quiet areas. If there is homework I cannot focus. I’ve also found that if I study with someone in a quiet place I feel less lonely and therefore work more. With the recent, bitterly cold weather I haven’t wanted to get out of bed — much less leave my residence hall. The inability to go my favorite study places has caused
MU Student Center and Memorial
a dent in my productivity. I’ve had
Union, MU students are fortunate to
to make do with the resources that I
have a variety of places to study on
have at my residence hall.
campus.
Like every other dorm, my dorm
If there’s one thing I’ve learned
has study lounges on every floor.
from my first year of college it’s that
These lounges are great for writing,
everyone studies and learns a different
meeting and talking with people.
way. For some, it’s memorization
However, sometimes it can become
and repetitiveness. For others, it’s
hard to focus on your homework
group studying and flash cards. I’ve
when people are talking loudly in the
also learned that everyone works in
common area.
A study room in Schurz Hall. | PHOTO BY PHOTOGRAPHER MADELINE CARTER
key, which allows a wall of protection
was nice to rent a study room in the
and privacy. They also have white
comfort of my own dorm.
boards that are useful for group study projects. Study rooms are also not limited to just the residential halls and are
While study rooms are great, sometimes it can be difficult to be productive when you’re with other people in the room.
accessible through reservations in
In a way, study rooms are like the
Ellis Library and the Student Center.
hidden gem of MU’s campus. They’re
Compared to other dorms, my
something that has always been there
dorm is located in one of the more
but are often forgotten. Whenever
students
have
the
different environments. Some like
This is why renting study rooms
distant spots on campus. Sometimes
studying in busy coffee shops, while
are important for students’ success.
Ellis Library and Memorial Union can
chance, they should rent a study
others like quiet study room on the
These rooms come with a lock and
seem like quite the hike. At times, it
room.
Online this week: Baseball against Ole Miss, tennis against Bradley and more at themaneater.com. WRESTLING
Jaydin Eierman to leave MU, train for Olympics MU’s starter at the 141 class plans to return for his senior season in 202021. WILSON MOORE
Staff Writer
Missouri’s starter at the 141 weight class, Jaydin Eierman, will spend the 2019-20 season training for the 2020 Olympics and won’t compete for MU, the wrestler confirmed during a press conference Monday afternoon. “It’s always been our thought, like I wanted to make the Olympic Team,” Eierman said. “So with that coming next year, it’s gonna be a good year for me to focus on my ultimate goal of winning the Olympics and growing as a wrestler, getting to travel all around the world to compete for Team USA.” Eierman is the three-time defending MidAmerican Conference champion in his weight class, having won most recently on March 9 in Norfolk, Virginia. Before Mizzou, he was a four-time state champion at Father Tolton Catholic High School. He trains with his father, Mike Eierman, at the Eierman Elite Wrestling club in Fulton, Missouri. “We’ll get back on track to evolve and develop into an Olympian and not just an NCAA champion, because they’re two totally different development processes,” Mike said. “Being an olympian is just a little different from being a college national champion.” Eierman will have three shots to qualify for
No. 3 Jaydin Eierman celebrates a win by fall against No. 13 Kaid Brock after the 141 dual of the Missouri vs. Oklahoma State wrestling meet on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019, at Hearnes Center in Columbia, Missouri. | PHOTO BY SPORTS EDITOR ADAM COLE
the games, which will take place in Tokyo, Japan. The first of those shots will be the 2019 World Championships in September in Astana, Kazakhstan. If he fails to qualify then, his next chance will be at the Pan American Qualification Tournament on April 3 to 5 of 2020, the location of which has not yet been named. His last chance will be less than a month later beginning on April 30 at the World Qualification Tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria. Eierman isn’t the first of coach Brian Smith’s
wrestlers to try his hand in the Olympics. In 2016, J’den Cox of the 197 weight class took home the bronze medal at the Rio Olympics. Unlike Eierman, Cox used all four of his years of collegiate eligibility consecutively, competing in Brazil between his junior and senior seasons. Despite missing next season, Eierman intends to rejoin Missouri for his final year of eligibility in 2020-21. Edited by Emily Leiker eleiker@themaneater.com
BASKETBALL
Missouri selected to face Drake at Iowa in opening round of women’s NCAA Tournament After playing postseason ball in Florida and California the last two years, the Tigers will have a chance closer to home. OWEN KRUCOFF
Senior Staff Writer
The Tigers had been waiting for more than a week since the end of their SEC Tournament run,
but the announcement of their spot in the NCAA women’s basketball Tournament still came earlier than expected. The selection show for the tournament aired Monday, but a mid-afternoon mishap on ESPNU resulted in the entire bracket leaking hours beforehand. The Tigers were revealed as the No. 7 seed in the Greensboro Region and will travel to Iowa City, Iowa to face No. 10 seed Drake in Friday's opening round. Missouri will have a chance to take on No. 2 seed Iowa or No. 15 seed
Mercer in Sunday's second round if it advances. “Our coaches came in the locker room and told us [about the leak] before practice and we thought they were kidding,” Missouri senior Cierra Porter said. “That was bizarre, but I like the bracket we’re in.” ESPN acknowledged shortly before 4 p.m. CDT on Monday that the leaked bracket was accurate and moved up the scheduled selection show from
NCAA |Page 15
SOFTBALL
Missouri defeats Georgia with walk-off to win series Trailing one in the final inning, Raabe put the Tigers up over the Bulldogs. CAROLINE STIEFBOLD
Staff Writer
Missouri softball won its first series of the season with a walk-off win over No. 8 Georgia on Sunday. The Tigers headed into the bottom of the
seventh down 6-7. Missouri loaded the bases with only one out. Redshirt freshman Kendyll Bailey, 0-2 so far in the game, came up to the plate, with freshman Emma Raabe waiting behind her on deck. Bailey drew a walk to tie the game. “Coach has trust in me and I have trust in her,” Bailey said. “She just came up to me and said ‘right person, right time.’ It made me feel comforted that she has trust in me, and my teammates had trust in me. I knew we were gonna come away with it if it was me or Emma behind me.” With the winning run just 60 feet away, Raabe
had a 3-1 count and was anticipating a strike on the inside part of the plate. “When Kendyll got walked, coach and I just made eye contact,” Raabe said. “We were smiling from ear to ear because we knew this is exactly what scenario I wanted to be in, so that was awesome.” Raabe got the inside pitch she was expecting and then hit a hard grounder to shortstop, driving
WALK |Page 15
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TENNIS
Mizzou continues five-game SEC losing streak at Arkansas After dropping two SEC matches last weekend, the Tigers were unable to recover in a 4-3 loss to Arkansas. KAYLEE SCHREINER
Reporter
After spending last weekend at home and losing two SEC matches to Florida and South Carolina, the Missouri Tigers (11-6, 0-5) were hoping to redeem themselves with an SEC win against Arkansas (8-8, 1-4) on Friday. Unfortunately the Tigers were defeated 4-3 by the Razorbacks, marking their fifth SEC loss of the season. Mizzou got off to a bad start when junior Serena Nash and sophomore Taylor Gruber fell in No. 2 doubles to Arkansas’ sophomore Martina Zerulo and freshman Thea Rice, 6-2. They were followed by sophomore Marta Oliveira and freshman Lisa Fukutoku, dropping at No. 3 doubles to freshman Laura Rijkers and junior Jackie Carr, 6-1. With two consecutive match losses, the doubles point went to Arkansas before the No. 1 doubles match between MU junior Mackenzy Middlebrooks and
Junior Mackenzy Middlebrooks celebrates after a great rally. Mizzou Tennis Complex, Sunday, March 10, 2019, in Columbia, Missouri. | PHOTO BY PHOTOGRAPHER MARCO STOREL
sophomore Ellie Wright and Arkansas junior Lauren Alter and sophomore Tatum Rice was completed. The Razorbacks gained a two-point lead when Rice beat Nash at No. 2 singles 6-1, 6-1. However, Wright – fresh off a singles win against Florida last weekend – put the Tigers back in it with a victory at No. 4 singles 6-2, 7-6 against Alter. The Tigers were back-and-forth with the Razorbacks throughout the remainder of the afternoon with Arkansas freshman Miruna Tudor defeating MU freshman Vivien Ábrahám at No. 6 singles 6-2, 7-5, countered shortly after by Gruber beating Carr in three sets at No. 5 singles 6-4, 1-6, 6-2. Despite Fukutoku later beating Rijkers at No. 3 singles 4-6, 6-4, 7-6, the match ended when Middlebrooks fell to Zerulo at No. 1 singles 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, making the final score 4-3 in favor of the Razorbacks. Mizzou will be looking to make its way back in SEC play after five consecutive conference losses, starting with two home matches next weekend against Texas A&M on Friday, March 22 and LSU Sunday, March 24. Edited by Adam Cole acole@themaneater.com
BASEBALL
McDaniel provides steady backstop presence The sophomore has contributed with the bat while handling the myriad of responsibilities that comes with being a starting catcher. WILSON MOORE
Staff Writer
When Missouri baseball took the field against the University of North Florida on Feb. 15, eight of the nine players between the lines were juniors or older. The only exception was sophomore catcher Chad McDaniel. McDaniel, who played mostly designated hitter his freshman year, was getting his opportunity to play regularly behind the
plate, handle the pitching staff and control the opponents’ running game all while still having to produce with the bat. The plan was for McDaniel to start every game and he was up for the challenge. “I like the adjustment because now I’m in every play, every pitch,” he said. “Last year, it was kind of a struggle for me just because of the fact that I’d get an at-bat, then have to wait two or three innings for me to go back in the game, so I like the role I’m in now and wouldn’t change it for the world.” Exactly one month later — with SEC play set to begin this weekend — the switchhitter has established himself as a mainstay in the middle of coach Steve Bieser’s lineup,
hitting .345 in nonconference play. That figure becomes more impressive when taking into account that McDaniel started the season with one hit in his first 15 at-bats. Since then, he’s hit at a blistering .395 (19-for-43) mark. “I feel confident for sure when I’m at the plate right now,” he said. “It just feels like everything’s going the way I want it to and just feels that whoever’s out there, I’ll be able to hit him no matter what he throws me.” McDaniel’s also made his presence known on the basepaths, stealing six bases in seven attempts, the second-highest mark on the team and uncommon for a catcher. Only one backstop in the nation, Blake Dunn of Western Michigan and A.J.
Lewis of Eastern Kentucky has swiped more bags than McDaniel. “He may not look like it, but he’s one of the faster guys on our team,” Bieser said. “And being a catcher, I think he understands that it’s not really easy to throw guys out, and he takes his chances out there. He’s a guy that has the green light, and he’ll take advantage of it.” Defensively, it was a rocky start for the Florida native. McDaniel had five passed balls during Missouri’s opening road trip in his home state, a performance Bieser called “unacceptable.” Since returning to Columbia, however, he’s been much more reliable behind the dish. He’s had just two passed balls in that time and continued to hold opposing baserunners
in check, throwing out 50 percent of would-be base stealers for the season. “He’s been doing a solid job,” Bieser said. “He got most of those passed balls — he had three in one game — and got those early. He’s been doing a lot better… he did a really good job of blocking balls back there.” Despite McDaniel’s relative lack of experience, it hasn’t taken him long to gain the trust and respect of a pitching staff that’s posted a collective 3.66 ERA. “I love it,” sophomore reliever Konnor Ash said of pitching to McDaniel. “He’s a great catcher, so that just helps out a lot.” Edited by Adam Cole acole@themaneater.com
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NCAA
Continued from page 13
accurate and moved up the scheduled selection show from 6 p.m. to 4 p.m. Drake was one of the top midmajor teams in the country this season. The Bulldogs ran a twohorse race with Missouri State in the Missouri Valley Conference, going 17-1 in conference during the regular season. After splitting two regular season games against Missouri State, Drake fell to the Lady Bears in the MVC Tournament championship game on Sunday. The Bulldogs are led offensively by junior Becca Hittner, who averages 19.8 points per game. Hittner won her second straight MVC Player of the Year award this season. On the defensive end, Drake boasts the backto-back MVC Defensive Player of the Year in senior Sammie Bachrodt. Freshman Grace Berg, who averaged 3.8 points in 19 games for Missouri this season, transferred to Drake in January. Due to NCAA transfer rules, she will not be eligible for the Bulldogs until the middle of next season. Missouri originally planned to hold a selection show watch party for fans and media at Memorial Stadium’s Walsworth Family Columns Club on Monday night. Following the leak and early reveal, the event turned into a live radio show featuring coach Robin Pingeton and the players. “Obviously we had a watch party planned and to be with [the fans] at that time is something that we really value,” Pingeton said. “It’s unfortunate, but that’s what transpired and so you have to move along quickly.” Should the Tigers advance past Drake on Friday, they would almost
Junior guard Jordan Roundtree, left, high fives senior Sophie Cunningham during the second half of the Missouri vs. Alabama women's basketball game on Saturday, March 3 at Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Missouri. | PHOTO BY SPORTS EDITOR ADAM COLE
certainly meet Iowa in Sunday’s second round. The Hawkeyes are enjoying one of their best-ever seasons behind ESPNW National Player of the Year Megan Gustafson. The 6-foot-3-inch senior has averaged 28 points per game and most recently dropped 45 points on Maryland to lead her team to victory in the Big Ten championship game. Iowa is coached by Lisa Bluder, who coached Pingeton when Pingeton was a player at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa. After graduating, Pingeton became an assistant coach under Bluder at
Drake. Drake’s current coach, Jennie Baranczyk, also played under Bluder as a Hawkeye. The Tigers will have hopes of a deep tournament run on their minds this weekend, especially after a promising season gave way to a first round upset loss to No. 12 seed Florida Gulf Coast a year ago. “Our girls remember that [game],” Pingeton said. “It’s a new team, new season. We understand, respect everybody, fear nobody.” The Tigers may have hoped for better than a No. 7 seed, but Pingeton and the players were pleased with
the opportunity to travel such a short distance to play in the tournament. “I’m really pleased with where we’re at,” senior Lauren Aldridge said. “Being in Iowa City, it’s going to make a fast track for fans to just shoot up the road and be able to support us.” Friday’s tipoff between Missouri and Drake will be at approximately 3:30 p.m. Iowa and Mercer will meet at 1 p.m. Edited by Emily Leiker eleiker@themaneater.com
WALK
Continued from page 13
in the winning run on an error. “At that point there’s no pressure to tie the game,” Raabe said. “I had a three-one count with only one out so at that point you know she’s gonna give me a strike because she doesn’t wanna walk two so she’s gonna shoot me inside with a strike and that’s kind of where I was looking.” Five of Missouri’s eight runs came from homers earlier in the game. Raabe, freshman Jazmyn Rollin and sophomore Hatti Moore all hit solo shots, while sophomore Kimberly Wert had a two-run home run. Senior Regan Nash had an RBI for the Tigers as well. Georgia also had a few long balls, with senior Alyssa DiCarlo hitting both a solo and two-run shot. “It was great to see power throughout the entire lineup,” coach Larissa Anderson said. “What that does is take the pressure off of one player when you have one player that’s on fire that person feels like they need to hit all the time and when you have people hitting home runs throughout the entire lineup it just allows everybody to relax and just play.” Junior Eli Daniel got the win for the Tigers, pitching three plus innings in relief of redshirt senior Madi Norman. Daniel held Georgia hitless and struck out six. “It comes down to our pitchers,”
The Mizzou women’s softball team celebrating after a win against Georgia on Sunday, March 17, 2019. | COURTESY OF MIZZOU ATHLETICS
Anderson said. “Eli Daniel just did an unbelievable job throwing those three innings. Having those pitchers keep us in the ballgame gives us an opportunity for our offense to do what they need to do.” The come-from-behind win over a top-10 team sparks confidence for Anderson’s young team.
“They’re learning the game and they’re learning how to compete,” Anderson said. “ It’s just that belief system and understanding that the game’s not over. There’s no clock in our game and as long as we have one more out we have an opportunity to win. We did that throughout the entire course of the game and to
have a freshman up to bat in that situation just shows her composure and her maturity.” Missouri will host Bradley on Wednesday at 3 p.m., before the Tigers head to Kentucky for another SEC series this weekend. Edited by Emily Leiker eleiker@themaneater.com
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