February 1, 2021
facebook.com/theutdmercury | @utdmercury
THE MERCURY
Testing Testing: for COVID-19 Breakdown of COVID testing results on campus
UTDMERCURY.COM
Springing into in-person events Plans for student clubs to host their own events this spring
Confederate Heroes’ Day UTD Vice President Rafael Martín clarifies controversy surrounding holiday
Beefing up a student business
Student finds meaningful connection through start-up jerky business
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THE MERCURY UTDMERCURY.COM Volume L No. 50 Editor-in-Chief Madison York
editor@utdmercury.com (972) 883-2294
Managing Editor Emaan Bangash managingeditor @utdmercury.com
Copy Editor Sophie Boutouis
copyeditor@utdmercury.com
Graphics Editor Louise Nillas
Feb. 1, 2021 | The Mercury
NEWS
UTD PD
Blotter
C
Dec. 1 A student claimed the Arkansas license plate on his vehicle parked in Lot H was stolen and replaced with a Texas license plate, reported at 5:33 pm.
A
Dec. 6 At 12:38 pm, an individual report-ed an incident involving a family violence assault near Phase 7.
B
Dec. 11 At 11:49 am, a student filed a complaint reporting that the catalytic converter from her vehicle was stolen while parked at the Callier Center.
C
Dec. 18 UTD PD discovered numerous incidents of vandalism on campus property around 3:43 am in the form of graffiti.
D
D
graphics@utdmercury.com
Photo Editor Anna Phengsakmueang photo@utdmercury.com
News Editor Anjali Venna
news@utdmercury.com
Life & Arts Editor
Ayesha Asad
life@utdmercury.com
Web Editor Shannen Barrameda web@utdmercury.com
Outreach Editor Alesandra Bell
media@utdmercury.com
Opinion Editor Ben Nguyen opinioneditor@ utdmercury.com
Video Editor Ali Khan
video@utdmercury. com
Contributors Fatimah Azeem Tyler Burkhardt Charlie Chang Jacky Chao Palak Dave Lauren Dougherty Astrid Hernandez Ellis Blake Hidalgo Christine Jacob Juhi Karnalkar Roshan Khichi Nandika Mansingka Elizabeth Nguyen Quinn Sherer Jimmy Teeling Smrithi Upadhyayula Matthew White Isabelle Villegas Mailing Address 800 West Campbell Road, SU 24 Richardson, TX 75080-0688
LEGEND VEHICULAR INCIDENT
THEFT DRUGS & ALCOHOL OTHER Newsroom Student Union, Student Media Suite SU 1.601
Media Adviser Chad Thomas
chadthomas@utdallas.edu (972) 883-2286
SCI
B
A
Feb. 1, 2021 | The Mercury
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
News .........................................04 - 07 EVENT POLICIES CHANGE, VACCINE COMPARISON............04 COVID TesT updates, Campus VaccinE Priority............05 Moot Court Makes NATIONALS ............06
Sports ..........................................11 - 12 New Gym Photo Spread ............................11 Basketball Recap, Rocket League Championship ......12
Confederate Heroes’ Day........07 Opinion ...............................................13 Capitol Riots, Game of Comics ................................................08
the Year
Section Jumps ......................14 - 15 Life & Arts ..............................09 - 10 Online On-Campus Socializing.........09 Beef Jerky Business, Ask Sophie: Productivity ............................10
Visit utdmercury.com for more stories in your orbit!
“One of the requirements for us is that we have outdoor events only.” - Gene Fitch, page 4
“And by all accounts, [fall COVID testing] was a pretty successful effort.” - Rafael Martín, page 5
“We do that with a variety of holidays.” - Colleen Dutton, page 7
“I want to eventually kind of give back to the communities I was raised in.” - Johnathon Jones, page 10
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NEWS
Feb. 1, 2021 | The Mercury
Springing into in-person events Plans for student clubs to host their own events this spring Smrithi Upadhyayula Mercury Staff
UTD’s decision to relax restrictions on in-person gatherings this spring may influence some students’ choice to stay on campus. Vice President of Student Affairs Gene Fitch said that UTD is expecting more students on campus in the spring than there were in the fall. “We’re expecting 3,200,” Fitch said. “We’ve had several hundred that told us they had deferred their housing to the spring, and we’ve had several of them who’ve said they’re planning to come back.” For most of the fall 2020 semester, in-person student gatherings of any kind were strictly prohibited. However, a recent announcement states that this spring, students will be allowed to “connect face to face in small groups” to revive part of the college social experience. Computer science junior Michaela Perez is skeptical about going back to normal too quickly and has chosen to stay home this spring for safety reasons. “Going back to campus would help me so much mentally and academically, but I think staying virtual is the best thing to do,” Perez said. “I know a lot of immunosuppressed people or
people with a chronic disease – myself included – that are at a high risk of complications if they get COVID. I just don’t think it’s morally right to willingly become a vector for this virus.” Toward the end of the fall semester, UTD held a few in-person events as a trial run for the spring. “There’s been a couple of events that have taken place this semester, and that was in an effort to try and test our event protocol,” Fitch said. “We in Student Affairs have a couple of events coming up out of our university recreation department. There’s a punt, pass and kick competition, there’s a sand volleyball tournament, there’s a tennis tournament. If things did well, then we hoped to be able to relax the restrictions in the spring and allow groups to have activities and/or meetings on some level.” Yet, Fitch said that these events are all still limited. “Part of this is driven by the governor’s orders, and right now, that’s set at no more than ten people. And obviously, if that continues, then it makes it more difficult for us,” Fitch said. “One of the requirements for us is that we have outdoor events only.” All events so far have been hosted by academic and administrative units only. “So you might see a department doing some
ROSHAN KHICHI | MERCURY STAFF
All events so far have been hosted by academic and administrative units only.
kind of a grab and go, or maybe they do a giveaway for students or a drive-through event,” Fitch said. However, there are still plans to create an avenue for student organizations to host their own events this spring. “We are finalizing the details of what that’s going to look like,” Fitch said. “You have to follow several protocols that we’ve put in place. One particular that could prevent some of this from happening is that you must have a staff member present at the event. We will not be approving any events that have food or drink as a part of the activity, because in order to do that, you obviously have to remove your mask to eat or drink.” The university is also making plans for an event in the spring to make up for the missed
homecoming last fall. “We are planning to try and do something this spring with homecoming,” Fitch said. “It would be centered around one of the spring sports – potentially baseball, softball, soccer.” Student Government Advisor Briana Lemos said that homecoming will take place from February 10-13, but there will be no tailgate or homefest. Fitch said that finding ways to host events and maintain student engagement during this time is a priority for Student Affairs. “We’ve been working very closely with Student Government, keeping them in the loop as far as where the conversations are going,” Fitch said. “I know they’re working hard on the students’ behalf to have events this spring, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we are able to do that.”
Comparing COVID vaccines What storage, distribution look like for Pfizer, Moderna vaccines PALAK DAVE Mercury Staff
As the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines increase in distribution, possible side effects and storage obstacles raise potential concerns. On Dec. 11, 2020, the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was approved and became the first vaccine administered to prevent COVID-19. Just seven days later, the U.S Food and Drug Administration approved the second vaccine, Moderna. According to the University of Oxford, approximately 3.8 million people in the United States have received a vaccine thus far. While both vaccines were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, both major and minor side effects have taken effect. The vaccines may pose a threat to elderly
patients and individuals who are allergic to ingredients found in the vaccine. Following the death of 23 vaccinated individuals in Norway, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health changed its COVID-19 vaccination policy to acknowledge the threat the Pfizer vaccine may pose to the elderly and immunocompromised. According to The New York Times, two healthcare workers in Alaska experienced an anaphylactic shock after receiving the Pfizer vaccine’s first dose. Similarly, the Bay Area News Group reported that a high number of people experienced an anaphylactic shock after receiving a dose of the Moderna vaccine in San Diego, California. Nikhil Bhayani, an infectious disease specialist in the North Texas area, shared what he knew about the potential side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine.
“Most likely, the 23 deaths in Norway happened because they were allergic to an ingredient in the vaccine called polyethylene glycol,” Bhayani said. Yet, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stated that minor side effects after receiving a dosage of the vaccine are normal and signals that your body is building immunity against the COVID-19 virus. “The most common symptoms for patients who have been vaccinated are fevers, headaches, fatigue, malaise,” Bhayani said. “Some people have had rashes or large lymph nodes, but all of that usually subsides within the first 24 hours.” UT Southwestern’s Infectious Disease Specialist, Julie Trivedi, said that if a patient has a history of allergies or reactions to previous
vaccines, it would be worth checking with their primary care doctor or an immunology specialist before getting vaccinated. Trivedi said that while research has been conducted, there is still much unknown about the vaccine’s side effects. “This is the first time mRNA vaccines have been rolled out, so the technology has been around for a while. I think this is where people have concerns thinking, ah, will this change my DNA or cause any other harm?” Trivedi said. “There’s so much we do not know about vaccines or drugs until several years after the product.” In terms of efficacy, the Pfizer vaccine has an efficacy rate of 95%, while the Moderna
SEE PANDEMIC, PAGE 14
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Feb. 1, 2021| The Mercury
NEWS
UTD works with UT Southwestern to vaccinate priority populations Vaccines will not be mandated unless specified by state legislature FATIMAH AZEEM Mercury Staff
Although UTD has not received COVID-19 vaccine doses from the state of Texas, the university and UT Southwestern Medical Clinic have been able to work together to vaccinate UTD employees that fall under Phase 1A and Phase 1B vaccine priority. According to the Texas Department of State Health, individuals prioritized by Phase 1A include healthcare and front-line workers, while those prioritized by Phase 1B include people aged 65 and older or 16 and older with chronic medical conditions. Along with those populations, Vice President and Chief of Staff Rafael Martín said that UT Southwestern has offered to extend their COVID-19 vaccination services to employees in the Student Health Center and police department. Clinicians and clinical students are currently being contacted for vaccinations, and campus SHC and police department workers can expect to be contacted soon. “That’s all that UT Southwestern is doing right now,” Martín said. “They are only vaccinating those priority populations. The lack of supply and the need to prioritize our healthcare workers and first responders, and then those who are most
vulnerable and at highest risk, is really driving the whole distribution system right now.” In a survey conducted by The Mercury, out of 260 respondents, 91.5% of students said they think UTD should offer COVID-19 vaccinations on campus. 86.9% of students said they would sign up to get vaccinated on campus if a vaccine was offered. Human resources management senior Haley Deininger said she wants to get vaccinated on campus to protect her immunocompromised family and community members. “I don’t want to be the reason that someone catches COVID-19 and has to end up on a ventilator,” Deininger said. “I really do believe there is a lot of power in vaccinating a younger population because we’re crowded together and we also see a lot of case spikes and a lot of kind of irresponsible behavior at times from kids who are in college.” When it comes to widespread vaccination on campus this semester, Martín said that it is unlikely that UTD will receive enough COVID-19 vaccine doses directly from the state because UTD does not have an affiliated medical school or hospital to provide them on a large scale. However, students, faculty and staff currently in Phase 1A or 1B may register to receive a vaccination elsewhere, through large vaccine hubs – which don’t require county residence in the county where the hub is located – or local vaccine providers.
JUHI KARNALKAR | MERCURY STAFF
“In terms of the larger university population, we’re kind of in the same boat as everybody else,” Martín said. “We’re kind of waiting for supply to catch up with demand at which point, maybe it’ll make sense for us as an institution to be offering vaccines to students and to employees. It may make more sense just to send everybody to the local CVS to get their vaccine. So, we’re just kind of waiting to see what will happen in terms of the distribution system.” To help UTD gauge who is still at risk of infec-
tion, Martín said in an email announcement that a voluntary vaccine reporting form has been made available for UTD members who have already received a COVID-19 vaccination. Of the UT system institutions, UT Austin and UT El Paso are the only other schools that have made forms for requesting COVID-19 vaccination available to their campus community. UT Austin Media Manager Veronica Trevino said that since
SEE VACCINE, PAGE 14
Testing Testing – for COVID-19 Breakdown of COVID testing results on campus at start of semseter TYLER BURKHARDT Mercury Staff
MATTHEW WHITE | MERCURY STAFF
UTD plans to prevent community spread by periodically selecting 7.5% of campus residents for random testing.
As COVID incidence spikes across North Texas to the tune of more than 2000 new cases per day in the DFW metroplex, the results of UTD’s proactive testing program prove encouraging. Vice President and Chief of Staff Rafael Martín, head of the COVID-19 Task Force at UTD, said that while testing capabilities were limited last semester, the process of scaling up last semester’s pilot program with UT Southwestern enabled UTD to instate a free and mandatory testing program for all students staying in University Housing this semester. “We started last semester with testing our athletes on a regular basis, as well as personnel that were working in our research labs,” Martín said.
“Scaling up and learning from that was really what allowed us to have confidence that we could test all of the on-campus residents within the first couple weeks of them returning to campus. And by all accounts, it was a pretty successful effort.” Martín credits the smoothness of this operation to the administration of the university’s housing staff and to the work of UTD’s UMER emergency medical technicians who were responsible for directly facilitating student administration of the COVID-tests. Associate Vice President of Student Affairs Matt Grief, who has overseen the actual testing process, reports further on the success of the proactive testing program.
SEE TEST, PAGE 14
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Feb. 1, 2021 | The Mercury
NEWS
UTD Moot Court teams make nationals Team member ranks twelfth orator out of 200 competitors EMAAN BANGASH Managing Editor
For the first time in the club’s history, five of UTD’s Moot Court teams advanced to the American Moot Court National Competition this month. The three-day competition consisted of students from universities across the nation receiving a hypothetical case and using current U.S. case law to argue for one side or another. While the teams didn’t advance within the national tournament, Barbara Kirby, Moot Court coach and director of the Pre-Law Advising Center, said the last time UTD Moot Court went to nationals was in each of the last two years, in which only one team advanced. In addition to the nine total people from UTD that went to nationals this year, out of the 200 competitors, economics sophomore Joy Peng was ranked twelfth orator. Kirby said that at first, she felt depressed about training virtually since it lacked the connection of in-person interactions. The initial transition to practicing on Zoom and the increased number of newcomers to Moot Court made it difficult overall, Kirby said, until they arranged for an intra-squad scrimmage and invited former Moot Court members to judge practices. “You know, we get these negatives from the pandemic. But there are also some positives, and one of the positives was that my former team members who are away at law school or doing their gap years could come back and judge online. And I didn’t have to make them get up at 9:00 in the morning and come in on a Saturday to do it.” Kirby said. “We did three rounds just like you would in a tournament. Ashley [Coen] put everyone into breakout rooms just like it would be at the tournament. It was like we knew what we were doing. We had the positive feedback and so we went into the first real tournament just in a really good place.” Political science senior Sherin George
BARBARA KIRBY | COURTESY
Nine UTD competitors made it to nationals, hosted virtually this year. participated in Moot Court before the pandemic and said that the virtual environment allowed her to meet more competitors who were arguing on similar issues as her. “Now with everything being online, it’s like ‘Hey, does anyone want to jump on a quick FaceTime and talk about this issue? Does anyone want to just like talk about the nerves we have for tomorrow?’” George said. “And those talks would inevitably turn into like ‘How are we doing? How are we feeling and what’s going on in our lives right now?’” The case for this year involved a First Amendment rights issue, specifically the right to be free from compelled speech, where the petitioner was penalized by the (hypothetical) city “for his refusal to provide a service for hire for a wedding between two people of the same sex.” Teams are made up of two people, both of which address different Constitutional
issues. George said this year the competition rules were different in that competitors could not communicate with their partner at all, whereas during the in-person tournaments partners could sit next to one another and discuss notes and rebuttal points. “So, two partners would compete on the same team technically, but there was no sort of communication or interaction allowed at all during the round,” George said. “That made it harder for you to feel as if you were on a team with someone. What it did mean, though, is that there was a lot more preparation and time spent with each other outside of tournaments because you had to know your partner’s issue.” For political science junior Anastasia Whittemore, the virtual competition meant less opportunity to network and make friends because competitors would often turn their cameras off after arguing their points.
“Everyone just had their cameras off, and I feel like in-person maybe we could have gotten to network and get to know each other a little more,” Whittemore said. “But here with this online environment we just wait for the judges to get there and afterwards we just sort of turn our cameras off again.” Kirby said that despite the loss this time, this is not the end game: another possible tournament this spring at SMU and an intra-squad tournament is rapidly approaching. In addition, with several club members returning, Kirby said the team next year is going to be strong. “Sometimes you have to take disadvantage and turn it into advantage, and so we are trying to forget about all the downside of not being in person and leverage everything we can about being virtual,” Kirby said. “And we did it with moot court; we’re doing it with pre-law.”
Feb. 1, 2021 | The Mercury
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NEWS
“We do not conduct campus celebrations of one of these state-mandated holidays: Confederate Heroes Day" UTD Vice President Rafael Martín clarifies controversy surrounding holiday
ALESANDRA BELL | MERCURY STAFF
SMRITHI UPADHYAYULA Mercury Staff
Confederate Heroes’ Day – a state-mandated holiday that is incorporated into UTD’s winter break – is not celebrated by the university in any way. Questions were raised after the Presidential Town Hall last June when University President Richard Benson was asked why UTD students and staff aren’t given a holiday on Juneteenth. Benson explained that Juneteenth, along with a few other holidays, is added to UTD’s winter break. Instead of making June 19 itself a holiday, an extra day is added to winter break to commemorate Juneteenth. Chief Human Resources Officer Colleen Dutton gave a list of holidays that are celebrated in this way. “We do that with a variety of the holidays,” Dutton said. “LBJ’s birthday, Confed-
erate Heroes’ Day, Juneteenth - I’m drawing a blank – San Jacinto Day. So, there’s several that we apply to winter break.” This comment sparked a conversation on the UTD subreddit in which students questioned the appropriateness of Confederate Heroes’ Day in general, and especially of mentioning it in a town hall largely devoted to the topic of racial justice. However, the decision to celebrate Confederate Heroes’ Day wasn’t made by UTD, but by the Texas State Legislature. For most of the 20th century, Robert E. Lee’s and Jefferson Davis’ birthdays were both state holidays. In 1973, the legislature voted to combine both into a single holiday – Confederate Heroes’ Day – which would fall on Jan.19. Rafael Martín, UTD’s vice president and chief of staff, said that since it is a public university, the number of holidays UTD celebrates is determined by the state legislature.
“The state-mandated holidays are Veterans’ Day, Juneteenth, Presidents’ Day, San Jacinto Day, Confederate Heroes’ Day, Texas Independence Day and LBJ’s birthday,” Martín said. However, the university is given some freedom when it comes to how it schedules these holidays and even whether or not it holds formal celebrations for them. “Universities are given the flexibility to set a holiday schedule that is compatible with their academic calendars,” Martín said. “It has been the practice at UT Dallas to provide a longer winter holiday for employees in lieu of smaller breaks throughout the year.” One of the subreddit comments expressed that UTD should celebrate Juneteenth on the day of the holiday instead of simply adding it to winter break. Martín said that although staff aren’t given June 19 off, that doesn’t preclude the university from celebrating.
“Our campus, whether in person or remotely, organizes and encourages additional ranges of celebrations that revolve around some of these holidays,” Martín said. “For instance, in November, we honor veterans, and in summer, we commemorate Juneteenth.” This summer, UTD held a virtual week of celebration for Juneteenth, and it has traditionally organized events for Veterans’ Day as well. Martín confirmed that this practice of honoring state holidays despite adding the actual off days to winter break does not apply to Confederate Heroes’ Day, laying some of the controversy from last summer to rest. Confederate Heroes’ Day extends UTD’s winter break by one day, but the university doesn’t celebrate it in any way. “We do not conduct campus celebrations of one of these state-mandated holidays: Confederate Heroes’ Day,” Martín said.
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COMICS
Feb. 1, 2021 | The Mercury
DROPPED THE BALL
NEW YEAR, NEW DIET
ISABELLE VILLEGAS | MERCURY STAFF
ANOTHER YEAR, ANOTHER ZOOM CALL
QUINN SHERER | MERCURY STAFF
ELIZABETH NGUYEN | MERCURY STAFF
NEW YEARS TRADITIONS
MINOR INCONVENIENCES
CHARLIE CHANG| MERCURY STAFF
JACKY CHAO | MERCURY STAFF
LIFE&ARTS
Minecraft, blind dates, a relationship app — oh my!
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Feb. 1, 2021 | The Mercury
Students get creative by socializing online
NANDIKA MANSINGKA, CHRISTINE JACOB Mercury Staff
This spring, a Minecraft server, a virtual blind date project and an app dedicated to friendship-forming are just three of the newest ways UTD students can stay connected amid the pandemic. Campus esports and the African Student Union are implementing new, experimental virtual projects intended to boost social interactivity this spring. Student Director of Esports and marketing junior Eric Aaberg and his team are bringing Minecraft to UTD this semester, with an esports built and curated server for students. “I created this project with our team to create a new way that really allows students to connect together unlike anywhere else,” Aaberg said. “This isn’t like a single event that you do one day over Teams, and then you never see those people again. This is something that you can really foster a community with, you can really have students connect and make this a daily or weekly basis.” The idea is to eventually use this server as a
virtual version of UTD, with a center hub similar to the Plinth where students can gather to socialize and game with each other, as well as a nexus for other hosts to distribute campus information. Aaberg said he envisions incorporating virtual digital signage for other clubs and departments with booths and graphics. ATEC junior Daniel Kerber, who signed up to test the prototype, said the server design is faithful to the actual Plinth. “The server is modded, so there’s a lot more it can do than normal Minecraft,” Kerber said. “We have a lot of screens on the game that could be used for displaying custom graphics. I can see us using that to have people engage with different club info. It seemed like they wanted to do a lot of events, so I’m sure there will be a community on there for a while.” Meanwhile, the African Student Union recently introduced UTD Match – the brainchild of biology sophomore Uzoulu Obijiofor – in hopes of increasing student engagement. The project pairs an applicant with another UTD student for a virtual blind date, and students can indicate whether they want to
ERIC AABERG | COURTESY
UTD Esports plans to open the Minecraft server up to events from student clubs and other organizations.
ERIC AABERG | COURTESY
A virtual recreation of UTD’s campus serves as an online gathering place for Comets.
find a possible romantic partner, mentor or mentee or new friend. To register, students had to fill out a Google form answering various questions about their preferences, and matches are expected to be distributed on a rolling basis until the end of January. “I saw on social media that there was this trend going around on UT Austin Twitter with people talking about who they might get matched with, so I looked into it and thought it was such a good idea,” Obijiofor said. “I basically discussed with my team and thought this was an especially good thing for freshmen because we talked to a lot of freshmen, and it was hard for them to reach out and make new friends.” Obijiofor researched and compiled around twenty compatibility questions to include in the form. Almost 500 people participated in the first run of the program. Minecraft and virtual matchmaking aren’t the only avenues for virtual socialization. Enter Pop, an app intended to help college students form friendships on campus. Created by UT Austin alum Yoon Lee, the app uses an algorithm to match students based on interests listed in their profile. After a successful launch at UT Austin, Pop became available to UTD students in October 2020. Pop aims to eliminate some of the biases that individuals experience when meeting in real life and instead allows users to create a profile based on personal interests and hobbies. The only personal details that an individual can share publicly are major, graduation year and general location. Identifiers l ike g ender, e thnicity and name are not viewable until a person gradually gets to know the other individual by
chatting with them through the app. Lee was inspired to create the app after noticing how student behavior has changed over time. “What I’ve realized about socialization in college is that it’s not all about your personality, it’s not all about your academics or your (personal) qualities,” Lee said. “It’s more about your timing. It’s about if you were there at the time when everyone else was looking for friends. People don’t really talk in class anymore unless you already know them. It has all become really disconnected. I wanted to make a space for that.” With the ongoing nature of the pandemic and the continuation of online classes, Lee said that the app has been met with enthusiasm from UTD students. “Within a month of its introduction, around 200 UTD students joined the platform and have made around 500 friends,” Lee said. “The average user has around 2.3 matches. UTD students are actually more active on the platform than students at UT Austin right now.” The developing team behind Pop is looking to expand its coverage to other universities across Texas over the next year, in addition to adding new features to make the app feel more interactive. POP copywriting intern and UTD marketing senior Madison Tran said she expects the app to continue to reach more users in the spring semester. “People are really bored right now,” Tran said. “Using an app to talk to people anonymously but also have all their interests and hobbies mapped out right in front of you makes it really easy to start interacting with people, and you don’t necessarily have to meet up with them to have a good conversation.”
Feb. 1, 2021 | The Mercury
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LIFE & ARTS
Ask Sophie: how to avoid burnout Maintaining balanced schedules means checking in with yourself, moving away from competitive mindsets SOPHIE BOUTOUIS Copy Editor
ROSHAN KHICHI | MERCURY STAFF
Jones first started making and selling beef jerky to family and friends when he was in high school.
Beefing up a student business Student finds meaningful connection through start-up jerky business LAUREN DOUGHERTY Mercury Staff
For business administration and market-ing junior Johnathon Jones, his beef jerky business – Jerky Jones – is more than just a side gig: it’s a connection to family and his place in the military community. Jones grew up with his father in the military, which meant frequent moves and substantial distance from extended family. When the family did get together, Jones’ uncle – also a member of the military – would make jerky as a parting gift to take on the road. The family significance of beef jerky inspired Jones to make and sell it himself. “One day I asked [my uncle] for the reci-pe, I added some stuff to it myself, tweaked it and that’s how I ended up with the recipe I have today,” Jones said. Jones first started making and selling beef jerky to family and friends when he was in high school but stopped as he got busy with other jobs and moved to college. After his freshman year, Jones moved out of the dorms and into an apartment with enough space to make jerky, so he decided to pick it up again. It was during the fall 2020 semester – after buying a higher-quality dehydrator – that Jones started developing Jerky Jones.
He did everything in the jerky-making process at home, from marinating, slicing and dehydrating roasts to printing labels and packaging the jerky. The meat, Jones said, has to marinate for up to 14 hours and dehydrate for another seven. “The best way to explain the process is a lot of low with high spikes in work,” Jones said. “It’s definitely a lot of peaks of work, followed by just this long stretch of time waiting.” Because the process can be lengthy, Jones makes batches every two weeks, with specific restock dates listed on the Jerky Jones website. He currently offers beef jerky in Original and Sizzling Spice, which is flavored with cayenne pepper, chili powder and paprika. In addition to the time spent making the jerky, Jones recently invested in a domain and created a website for Jerky Jones. He also spends time working on the business’s social media accounts, which Jones said have become increasingly important in light of the pandemic. “When I was in high school, it was very much word of mouth; I’d be able to walk around with a small bag and hand out samples, talk to people and have more of that person-to-person sales experience,” Jones
SEE JERKY, PAGE 14
As college students, we are fixated on individual productivity, and we often equate our self-worth with academic success. Yet, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is pushing us to let go of our unrealistic expectations on productivity. Let’s be honest: last semester was a nightmare. The endless stream of eLearning notifications, Teams calls and Blackboard meetings kept many of us shackled to our desks, unable to tear our weary eyes away from our laptop screens. We were tired, anxious or even depressed. Our academic proficiency was assessed solely by grades, and when graded on curves, our desire to do well made for stiff competition. If we performed poorly, we were not smart enough. If we could not readily adapt to the virtual format, we were not working hard enough. The university is alleviating stress on students by allowing for some credit/no credit grading this semester, but the rigor of
online school will not dissipate. So, it is up to us to know our limits and refrain from overworking. Here is what we can do to maintain healthy, balanced work schedules and avoid burnout this semester: 1. Move away from an overly competitive mindset Many students get bogged down in the competitive academic aspect of college. They fear that for every minute they sit idle, their peers are outperforming them. But we are human beings, not robots. We are not made to work or study constantly, and our peers are often not as effortlessly studious as we think, said Student Counseling Center psychologist Alanna Carrasco. “One thing that I tell students about is the duck metaphor: on the surface, you know, if you look at a pond, there’s ducks out there and they’re just gliding and sitting on the water pretty calmly. But underneath, to stay afloat their little legs are just paddling, paddling, paddling,” Carrasco said.
SEE PRODUCTIVITY, PAGE 15
QUINN SHERER | MERCURY STAFF
SPORTS
11 Feb. 1, 2021 | The Mercury
ROSHAN KHICHI| MERCURY STAFF
Feb. 1, 2021 | The Mercury
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SPORTS
Comet Basketball teams start strong
Women’s team holds record of 7-2, men’s team with record of 4-2 ELLIS BLAKE HIDALGO Mercury Staff
Early into their 2020-2021 seasons, the UTD men’s and women’s basketball teams are entering the spring semester with several wins under their belts. Despite dealing with the expected setbacks of the COVID-19 pandemic, both teams remain optimistic that their seasons will play out successfully. With a current record of 7-2, the women’s team has seen a string of victories over long-time competitors. This includes their Jan. 7 victory against the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Crusaders, who eliminated the Comets from the 2020 D-III National Tournament. The women’s team’s early success comes despite the loss of six upperclassmen following the 2019’20 season. However, the current roster hosts 11 freshman players, the largest freshman class since the 2008-09 season. In addition to a preseason loss against Stephen F. Austin University, the women’s team lost their matchups against East Texas Baptist University and Howard Payne University. Both games came within four points of a victory for the Comets. With two losses under their belts, the Comets ‘20-’21 season has begun on a more successful
note than their last season, which saw the women’s team take four losses by this time. However, they will be playing far fewer games, with six having already been canceled. As a result of existing cancellations, the women’s team’s ‘20-’21 season will not include games against regular division contenders the Sul Ross State Lobos and the UNT-Dallas Trailblazers. In addition, the Comets’ second season match against the HPU Yellowjackets has also been cancelled. Despite the cancellations faced by the women’s team, the men’s team has had a comparatively uneventful season, playing three games for a current record of 4-1. Beyond seeing numerous game cancellations themselves, the men’s team did not compete in the same preseason games and tournaments that the women’s team did. The men’s team’s two victories came against the SRS Lobos and HPU Yellowjackets, both ending within a margin of 10 points. The Comets’ 75-90 loss against the Louisiana College Tigers came nearly 20 days after their previous game. Men’s team head coach Terry Butterfield said their unpredictable game schedule prevented the team from building momentum, leaving them under-prepared upon returning. With two to three players having tested positive
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ROSHAN KHICHI | MERCURY STAFF
The current women’s roster hosts 11 freshman players, the largest freshman class since the 2008-09 season.
ANNA PHENGSAKMUEANG | PHOTO EDITOR
To prepare for the CRL championship, the team played scrimmages with national-level teams.
Rocket League team finishes in championship quarterfinals Comets qualified for championship through wildcard event BEN NGUYEN Opinion Editor
In UTD Esports’ second competitive “Rocket League” season, Comets finished in the quarterfinals of the Collegiate Rocket League championship on Jan. 7 after qualifying through a wildcard event. UTD’s “Rocket League” team made it to playoffs in the national qualifier then made a loser’s bracket run in the wildcard tournament to qualify for the CRL championships. Once there, they took a game off of the Eastern first seed Northwood Esports before being knocked out in the quarterfinals. After having a mediocre finish in the regular season standings, sophomore Benny “lubey” Lube said that even taking one game off of Northwood Esports was impressive. “Realistically, Northwood is a team of pros and none of them are signed professionally. All of them are right up there with the pros,” lubey said. “Honestly a lot of people weren’t expecting us to take a game and we took a game.” One of the team’s strengths comes from their ability to mentally reset after each game, which lubey said was a major part of playing nearly every series. This, combined with experience playing on stream in front of a large au-
dience, led to a much-improved performance compared with earlier in the season. Head student coach Brenden “LuckyMick” Strenger pointed to this as a takeaway from the team’s first nationals experience. “I would say our guys are on level with [the other teams],” said LuckyMick. “One thing I noticed is we definitely played a little worse when we were on stream versus when we were off stream, so I think getting them more experience will help them kind of settle in and not be as nervous.” To prepare for the CRL championship, the team played scrimmages with national-level teams, including some that were almost pro-level, about two to three weeks beforehand. Lubey himself played with a separate team in a pro qualifier, nearly qualifying for professional play. “A lot of people expected us to perform a lot worse than we did,” lubey said. “We caught a lot of people’s eyes going into that.” Currently, the team is finishing up play in the Collegiate StarLeague regular season and preparing for the spring season for CRL. “Our goal was to make playoffs,” lubey said. “We made nationals. Now our goal is to make nationals again, and we’re not going to settle for any lower than what we did.”
OPINION
Feb. 1, 2021 | The Mercury
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Bug Not a Feature: ‘Hades’ was robbed “The Last of Us Part II” does not deserve Game of the Year over “Hades”
ISABELLE VILLEGAS | MERCURY STAFF
Stability through civility Who bears responsibility for riot at Capitol Hill? JIMMY TEELING ASTRID HERNANDEZ | MERCURY STAFF
BEN NGUYEN Opinion Editor
“Hades” should have been 2020’s game of the year, not “The Last of Us Part II.” “Hades” is a unique take on the rogue-lite genre with a lot of heart and addicting gameplay, while “The Last of Us Part II” is yet another third-person action shooter that tries to question violence while keeping it as the main gameplay loop. At the Game Awards of 2020, “The Last of Us Part II” swept up awards including Best Voice Acting, Best Sound Design, Best Game Direction and Game of the Year. This was decided by a jury of 90% gaming journalism critics and 10% popular vote. The Game of the Year award is granted to the game that is the “absolute best experience across all creative and technical fields,” while the Best Game Direction award is given to the game with “outstanding creative vision and innovation in game direction and design”. “The Last of Us Part II” painfully lacks all of these characteristics. “The Last of Us Part II” is a Naughty Dog action-adventure, thus having the same gameplay as basically any other game Naughty Dog has ever developed: a third-person shooter collectathon. As a sequel, it plays the same as the previous installment in the series, doing little to differentiate the gameplay in any meaningful way. In comparison, “Hades” weaves in the quintes-
sential play-die-repeat gameplay loop inherent to rogue-lites directly into the story, making it necessary to progress the plot. “The Last of Us Part II” explores the idea that violence is immoral and tries to make players feel bad about all of the killing they do, but the idea rings hollow in the face of the main gameplay loop: killing zombies and people. “Spec Ops: The Line” also followed this thread, but it confronted players even more by tricking them into making horrible decisions before facing the consequences of their own actions. “Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater” has a segment that forces players to literally confront the ghosts of the enemies that were unnecessarily killed. So, this narrative concept has already been explored at length, and “The Last of Us Part II” doesn’t seem to provide any new take on it. Rather, players are forced to kill people and bosses before saying “oh wait, they’re humans just like you!” “Hades” puts the player in the shoes of the fictional son of Hades, Zagreus, who is attempting to escape the Underworld. Every death puts the player back at the House of Hades, where they can verbally spar with Hades, talk to a variety of other characters and progress relationships with the other gods ala dating sim style. Supergiant Games provides a touching, fully voiced story about family relationship issues that progresses
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Mercury Staff
The Democratic Party, not just former President Donald Trump, bears much of the responsibility for the Capitol riot. Many politicians and the mainstream media may tell you otherwise, but that is not the case. It would be foolish to walk away from one of the most impactful events in recent history without pausing to consider what lessons we should learn from it. What led to thousands of Trump supporters protesting in D.C. and a small fraction of those supporters breaching the Capitol building? Four years of what conservatives believe to be baseless and unprecedented attacks from members of the Democratic Party on Trump and his supporters, as well as distrust in our government’s integrity, set the stage for the Capitol protest and riot. The violence that occurred at our Capitol on Jan. 6 was a tragedy. Any form of violence and riots, especially when it leads to the deaths of other participants and law enforcement, is unacceptable. This is why many conservatives across the nation, including myself, condemn the violent Capitol rioters. However, it is important to differentiate between those who breached the Capitol building and those protesting peacefully. We must recognize that most Trump supporters in D.C. were not violent that day. Even before Trump’s inauguration, Democrat politicians and the mainstream media had al-
ready begun the process of overturning Trump’s presidency. This was done through manufactured conspiracies and drawn-out investigations such as the Mueller investigation and partisan impeachment hearings, which failed to find Trump guilty of wrongdoing. These attempts to pin crimes on the former president led to major mistrust in the government among conservatives. Additionally, the effort spent on these prolonged investigations far outweighs the effort put into any election fraud investigation, displaying many politicians’ apathy towards the concerns of well over a third of the country. Another issue that set the stage for the Capitol riot was the riots that occurred at the Black Lives Matter protests last summer. These set a recent precedent that political violence is acceptable in America, as some democratic politicians encouraged the violent actions BLM and Antifa rioters displayed in the streets. Even the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, an anarchist insurrection that ended up being deadly, was applauded by some democrat councilmembers in Seattle upon its creation. This new precedent is likely a major reason why a few Trump supporters resorted to breaching the Capitol. Concern over election fraud was the final straw that drew protesters and rioters to the Capitol. Democrats, establishment politicians and the Courts dismissed the claims from Trump and his supporters without any investigation equal to the numerous investigations democrats pressed
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vaccine has an efficacy rate of 94.1%. How-ever, they differ primarily in the time inter-val between both doses and the minimum age group the vaccine can be administered. Ac-cording to the UT Southwestern Science Re-view Committee, the Pfizer vaccine’s second dose is given 21 days after the first dose and is administered to ages sixteen and above. In comparison, the Moderna vaccine is given 28 days after the first dose and is administered to ages eighteen and above. When it comes to vaccine accessibility, storage and transportation play an integral role. The Pfizer vaccine needs to be stored at a temperature of -80 degrees Celsius and transported up to 15 days in a thermal ship-ping box. The vaccine can only be stored in a refrigerator for five days. In contrast, Mod-erna requires storage at a temperature of -20 degrees Celsius and can be stored in a regular
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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 “We tested 2892 individuals – 2559 of whom were students were living on campus – during the first two weeks of school,” Grief said. “43 positive results came out of those tests, and 42 of them were students…all of those results were from asymptomatic individuals.” That corresponds to a positivity rate slightly below 1.5%, which compares favorably with UTD’s peers. Baylor, UT Austin, and Texas A&M have reported 1.4%, 2.2% and 5.5% positivity rates respectively from their on-campus testing programs since the beginning of this semester. Students who have tested positive or been iden-
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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 the state transitioned into Phase 1B vaccinations on December 21, UT Austin – under their campus safety initiative, Protect Texas Together – has made a form available for faculty, staff and stu-
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said. “But with the pandemic . . . even with access to campus and being so close to all the students, I don’t get to have that same level of interaction with them. So, I have to do a lot more of my marketing on social media.” The b usiness’s c onnection t o t he m ilitary g oes beyond a childhood memory: Jones credits his fa-
Feb. 1, 2021 | The Mercury
NEWS
refrigerator for up to 30 days. While Pfizer is common in medical facilities, Moderna takes the lead in community centers and non-medical locations. “Many community centers or places that are not medical centers don’t have minus 80 freezers. Research facilities often have these ultra-freezers because they use them to store specimens,” Trivedi said. “The Moderna vaccine is more available and accessible for communities, clinics, other types of settings.” Trivedi said the vaccine industry could learn about storing the Pfizer vaccine through the Dippin Dots industry. The industry manufactures freezers that store ice cream at -122 degrees Celsius to keep the treats sphere-shaped. “They have these huge refrigerated freezer trucks essentially,” Trivedi said. “There was a lot of talk of how if Dippin Dots can get their products across the country, there is a lot the vaccine industry could learn about getting the vaccines across the country.”
ASTRID HERNANDEZ | MERCURY STAFF
tified as close contacts are being requested to enter mandatory isolation, either off campus or in the Canyon Creek Heights residences. Matt Grief outlined the process as follows. “When a student tests positive, come in close contact with an (infected) individual, or self-reports symptoms, the Dean of Students Office immediately contacts those students and begin contact tracing,” Grief said. “(Housing) then makes plans to transfer that student to isolation and identify any food allergies or dietary requirements… the Residence Hall Coordinators work with the student to make sure they get transferred, and will provide transportation assistance if needed. The facilities in Canyon Creek Heights are fully fur-
nished, so all students need to bring are (linens), clothes, and whatever else they need to function for the 10-14 day period.” The testing program, however, is not over simply because students have moved onto campus. Student-athletes continue to be tested regularly as they return to in-person competition. Additionally, UTD plans to continue attempting to head-off potential instances of community-spread throughout the semester by periodically selecting 7.5% of campus residents for random testing – an approach that Martín says is comparable to the successful proactive-testing strategies being applied at other universities around the nation. Those tests will be conducted in the Blackstone Launch Pad center,
rather than the Activity Center. In addition to the presumptive boost to general health on campus , Martín said that with student participation, the presence of a proactive testing program could expedite the process of returning campus to in-person – if still pandemic-constrained – operations. “( A testing regimen) was really the missing piece of the puzzle that made us reluctant to opening campus last semester,” Martín says. “If we are confident that we are able to monitor the cases of COVID-19 on campus proactively, we’d like to work towards opening campus back up to more events and activities for students and student organizations.”
dents who fit the 1B criteria. “The form allows the university to request sufficient supply from the state, but scheduling will be based upon vaccine availability,” Trevino said. “All current UT Austin students, faculty and staff will be able to receive a vaccine once there is sufficient supply to meet the demand.”
Once COVID-19 vaccines become more widely available, Martín said that getting vaccinated will not be a university mandate unless specified by the Texas State Legislature. However, he said that UTD’s view on COVID-19 vaccination will be one of encouragement. “There will be no doubt on what our stance on vac-
cines will be in the coming months,” Martín said. “We are going to do everything in our power to encourage as many people as possible to take the vaccine. We hope [for] a more normal way of operating in the fall of this year, but that’s only going to happen if a large proportion of our community has been vaccinated. That’s the way we’re going to finally beat this thing.”
ther’s GI Bill benefits with granting him the free time to develop Jerky Jones. As the business grows, he’d like to give back to the military community through hiring veterans and doing fundraisers for military families. “The biggest thing I want [Jerky Jones] to become is, I want to eventually kind of give back to the communities I was raised in,” Jones said. “I’m really hoping that this business can eventually evolve to the point that I can use it as a tool to do all of that.”
Feb. 1, 2021 | The Mercury
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“I think that’s kind of what we see when we look out – metaphorically speaking – at our campus community. It just seems like everyone has it together, when really underneath people are scrambling and not getting good sleep, delving into their relationships or taking care of their mental and physical health.” 2. Keep work and life separate I, like many other Comets, had trouble distinguishing between work and life last semester. My room was my office, yoga studio, and sleep space all at once, and I
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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12 for COVID-19 at a time, Butterfield said the team’s intermittent schedule was often paused for individual cases. Having set out to comply with existing university and NCAA safety precautions, he said he had become increasingly frustrated as the season progressed. “I just think about the big picture and that all our guys have been re-
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uniquely for every player in a genre that generally avoids fully fleshed out plots. There are also issues with Best Game Direction being awarded to “The Last of Us Part II”. There was a notable crunch time implemented
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against Trump. Some protestors and rioters during the “Stop the Steal” rally at the Capitol were drawn over election interference and felt that democrats had not provided adequate proof to dispel election fraud claims. Having Joe Biden certified as president while 73% of republicans distrusted the election’s integrity served as the catalyst for the protest and riot.
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often studied into the weekends and wee hours of the night. To cope with such a space constraint, Carrasco recommends physically orienting oneself in as many different environments – or parts of one’s environment – as possible. “That might mean just very basically changing out of your clothes, going to take a shower or going on a ten-minute walk just to kind of notify yourself, ‘Hey, that part of the [work] day or that part of what I was working on or doing is over for now’,” she said. 3. Check in on yourself Even after schoolwork and extracurriculars, many of us feel an
incessant need to be productive. But this life is like a giant hamster wheel: if we keep on running and running and running, when do we ever stop? There will always be things to do, so we must make time for what we love amidst all of it. “There’s so many components that make up our overall wellness, and that can be our relational wellness, that can be our physical wellness, that can be spiritual, that can be intellectual – all of these different things,” Carrasco said. “But when we notice some of those mental health or emotional symptoms – maybe it kind of looks like increased
anxiety, spiraling worries or trouble sleeping – it’s important to step back and say, ‘Okay, what is off balance in my wellness wheel? What area is maybe not being fulfilled? What do I feel I’m lacking in or maybe spending too much time doing?’” If school ever pushes you to obsess about intellectual wellness or neglect your mental wellness, check in with your social contacts to even out the parts of your wheel. This could be as simple as texting a friend or video calling a loved one, Carrasco said. Watching Netflix or doing yoga between classes may not feel like the most efficient way for me to spend
my time this semester. Refraining from evening work or ignoring the advancements of my peers might not either. But in letting go of society’s toxic, impractical expectation that young people live to work and compete with one another, I will be spending my time perfectly well. The Student Counseling Center (@utdcounseling on Facebook and Instagram) is committed to destigmatizing conversations about mental health and supporting students in times of distress. Do not hesitate to contact them at counselingcenter@utdallas. edu or 972-883-6413 to make a virtual appointment.
turned to health,” Butterfield said. “I think we all try to keep perspective. As important as this is to us, it’s still just basketball and a lot of people are going through a lot worse.” The current season’s sparse competition schedule came as a disappointment to guard and senior finance major Dimitrius Underwood, who is finishing out his fifth and final season with the Comets. Having only recently recovered from a wrist injury, he was unable to participate
in much of the 2019-20 season. “I’m just glad to be able to play any games,” Underwood said. “I love the guys that I’m playing with now… and so for me, just being able to be around them every day, even if we don’t get to play a lot of games is a blessing.” For senior players like himself, Underwood said the ongoing pandemic necessitated additional leadership off the court, especially in guiding players towards being re-
sponsible and not jeopardizing the team. Looking towards the remainder of the season, Underwood said he was particularly worried about the potential cancellation of the NCAA Division-III Tournament. However, he said that having seen most of the team already recover from COVID-19, he predicted the rest of the season would allow the team to play more games. Having been relatively inactive,
Butterfield said the team would be continuing their season in a more rested state than much of their competition. Despite the start of their season, he said he was optimistic about the team’s success in coming weeks. “I don’t think we can be anything but optimistic. We have a great group of guys… and I feel like we have a lot of potential to play at a high-level this year,” Butterfield said. “The bulk of our games are still in front of us. We’ve just started up.”
before the launch of the game, and a developer told Kotaku, a video game blog, that “This game is really good, but at a huge cost to the people.” “Hades”, on the other hand, never forced crunch time on its developers and instead actually implemented required vacations to ensure mental stability. Hades also greatly utilized
the open beta development cycle, which tends to leave games in permanent early access and result in unfinished games. Any modern game development studio shouldn’t have to rely on crunch to finish games, as the disastrous results of Bioware’s “Anthem” and CD Projekt Red’s “Cyberpunk 2077” can attest.
“Hades” outperformed “The Last of Us 2” in both its gameplay and how it was made, and should have been the Game of the Year. The trending disconnect between gaming journalists and players continues to show that personal preference or smaller reviewers are going to be more important to players than
journalists who can’t be bothered to learn how to play the games they’re reviewing. Rather than returning to a formulaic “Ubisoft Sandbox” or third-person action-adventure shooter, players should be looking for more games not developed by AAA studios for actual unique and entertaining experiences.
Many Americans believe that President Trump was responsible for inciting the riots at the Capitol. This belief has led democrats and Never-Trump Republicans to pass a second round of impeachment articles. These claims are simply not true. The longest quote from Trump’s Jan. 6 speech the democrats cited in their impeachment articles reads: “If you don’t fight like hell you’re not going to have a country anymore.” Telling supporters to fight for a cause is a common figure of speech and
was not spoken in the literal sense. Kamala Harris’ speech at the Democratic National Convention contains eight instances of telling her supporters to “fight.” The claim that Trump’s figure of speech incited violence is dismissable. Additionally, Donald Trump encouraged his supporters to “peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.” While Trump encouraged his supporters to protest peacefully, he never encouraged nor incited any acts of violence. The violence at the Capitol
should not have happened. However, given the many years of unprecedented attacks and vilification from democrats and establishment “Never-Trumpers” targeted at Trump supporters, it is what we should have expected. Trump supporters feel ignored and silenced by Democrats when they try to voice their opinions on nearly every issue. It is important not to forget this quote from Martin Luther King Jr.: “A riot is the language of the unheard.” Trump supporters have not been
listened to by the democrats for the past four years, and this is the unfortunate result. Much of the blame for this riot falls directly at the feet of the Democratic Party and the political establishment. Our political system will not remain stable if we refuse to engage in civil and peaceful discussions with whom we disagree. It is time to end political violence by both parties. It is time to act civilly, and both democrats and republicans must participate in that change.
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The Mercury
