The Mercury 04 17 23

Why are housing prices increasing?

Bruce August Jr: beloved director of MC in memoriam

ANDRÉ AVERION Mercury Staff

A leader, a mentor and a friend, Bruce August Jr. was a pillar in the UTD community for cultural representation and school spirit.

The director for the Multicultural Center, founding president of the Black Faculty and Staff Alliance, a former director for the Texas Association of Black Personnel in Higher Education Board, a District 4 Representative for the UTD Staff, a fraternity alumnus from the Alpha Phi Alpha chapter Tau Xi Alphas, a 2007 UTD computer science alumnus, the sponsor of the African Student Union and a strong supporter of

the All of Us Research Program, August’s work touched the lives of thousands at UTD.

Yvette Pearson, vice president for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, made a statement to The Mercury on behalf of ODEI. Pearson’s solemn testimony on August’s character and legacy echoed the unprecedented separate addresses UTD President Richard Benson and the Student Organization Center made in the days following his passing on April 9.

“I had the honor of working with Bruce for just over a year and a half,” Pearson said.

SEE AUGUST, PAGE 2

JACK

Price increases are linked to renovations, utility inflation, existing debt and general trends in the real estate market.

Going into 2023-24, University Housing prices increased at a cumulative average of 6.9%, compared to 3.2% in the prior year. 1x1 floor plans are still the most expensive, but also saw a much larger jump in price compared to last year. In an interview with The Mercury, Matthew Grief, associate vice president of Student Affairs, explained the reasons behind these price increases. A majority of the increase will cover the rising price of utilities, unknown salary and benefit increases for employees and emergency repairs on older housing. Historically, other increases have been used for funding planned renovations and improvements, paying off existing debt and filling Housing’s money reserves.

“Our budgets are built off financial proformas that we utilize to track revenue, expenses, debt service and plans for future housing and projects,” Grief said in an email statement. “Typically, we have stayed in the range of 3 to 4% to plan for projects, for a facility’s unknown needs, along with similar planned expenses outlined above.”

Orkun Toros, the assistant vice president for the Office of Budget and Finance, said in an email statement that departments like Housing are required to hold “set asides” — or money reserves — to ensure their sustainability. These reserves were especially impacted in 2020 by the pandemic.

“Our financial reviews have shown that COVID hit the self-supporting units, such as Housing, very hard with lost revenues and refunds … Most units have depleted or have been trying to recover to their historical set aside amounts,” Toros said.

Grief said that during COVID, UTD refunded several million dollars of housing expenses to students, and in 2021, there was no rent increase. During the rent freeze, Housing still had to cover its operating costs.

“We increased 3% last year, and even that 3% last year is probably not going to cover our increases that we're seeing this year right now, just because of unknowns,” Grief said.

SEE HOUSING, PAGE 2

Student Government calls on UTD to ‘DIVEST FROM DEATH’

Resolution passed the Student Senate in closed session with sponsorship from 19 student organizations

Student Government passed a resolution calling on UTD to divest funds from five weaponmanufacturing companies on April 4 as a push against militarism and for corporate responsibility.

S.R. 2022-40, or “Divestment for Militarism,” recommend that UTD divest its shares in the University of Texas Investment Management Company, or UTIMCO, which manages UTD’s investments and endowment funds. The five companies of interest are Raytheon Technologies, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics, which provide arms for various countries, including the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Israel.

According to reports from UTIMCO’s Permanent University Fund Schedule of Investment, UTIMCO invests over $10.5 million in companies whose contributions have been used to fund violence against civilians in countries such as the U.S., Mexico, Palestine and Yemen. The resolution calls on UTD to guarantee transparency in future investments and develop a Socially Responsible Investment framework to set a plan for ethical investing. Copies of S.R. 2022-40 are en route to the Texas Board of Regents and the president of UTD. The resolution was authored by Nidaa Lafi, a global business and IMP senator, and neuroscience senator Khaled Shihabi, who are also a part of the advocacy group Students for Justice in Palestine.

"We view this resolution as step one in a much longer fight to have our university fully divest from the milita -

rism industry more largely,” Lafi said. “The goal is to get it to the UTIMCO level.”

Lafi said the resolution started as an initiative from SJP and has since received co-sponsorship from 19 student organizations, including Deeds Not Words — the largest political organization on campus — the League of Latin American Students, Pride @ UTD, several Greek life groups and the Muslim Student Association, to name a few. A student petition in support of the resolution has gathered over 800 signatures.

“Historically, divestment has been a very powerful tool for political change,” Lafi said. “We think of apartheid in South Africa, and how student organizers across the country in the ’80s called on their campus to divest from corporations complicit in or directly facilitating apartheid or engaging in business with them … The reason we targeted these corporations are because of their direct relationship with facilitating war, death, apartheid and genocide around the world.”

Committee, a union of students and organizations committed to strengthening divestment initiatives.

“This campaign was much better than last year’s,” Isabella Spartz, SG senator, resolution co-sponsor and finance and economics junior, said. “We had a couple of people from [the Divestment Committee] help, but not write the resolution itself. It was much more clear and in detail compared to last year’s, and we had a lot more people have eyes over it.”

We cannot let our institutions continue to profit off of these companies. Not unless the companies under the contracts that enable militarism and endless war and death and the oppressive entities that these companies contract with halt their human rights violations.

—Khaled Shihabi, resolution co-author

Similar initiatives have been pursued and passed through student governments across the U.S., including at the University of Ohio, Columbia University and the University of Houston. Alex Kerry, the UH student who organized his campuses’ Divest from Death campaign, was one of nearly a hundred students that showed up to the April 4 senate meeting.

“I want to point out two things,” Kerry said. “UH Divest built a tangible front for collective liberation.

and affirms that our freedoms are intertwined. Second, Divest created a safe space for marginalized communities on campus … UT Dallas and its organizations have put a strong and powerful campaign, which has brought together organizations representing thousands of students.”

Comets had an opportunity to speak either in favor of or against the resolution before SG voted on it. The majority of students in attendance echoed statements of support with Kerry or told stories of escaping military violence.

Near the end of the speaking segment, a few community members brought up concerns about how the divestment initiative could affect students that support Israel or identify as Jewish.

“It’s important that every single student is protected from Palestinian students to Jewish students,” a Richardson resident said. “I encourage you to take a moment to think about how Jewish students will be impacted, and how they’ll be ostracized.”

In response, SG made one amendment to the resolution in closed session to further solidify the aim of the resolution, which is “not a statement against any particular group of people, but a statement against militarism in all its forms.” The amendment further explained that SG condemns any action taken against any group of people in the name of this resolution.

SJP presented a similar but less structured proposal at an SG senate meeting last spring, but it did not make the agenda. In response, Lafi and Shihabi created the Divestment

UTD Esports to split from Athletics

The move is expected to begin in summer 2023 to set the stage for new SU

The Department of Student Affairs and Student Union Administration have recently made the decision to separate the UTD esports program from the athletics department, allowing it to have its own higher management instead of falling under the SU. While discussed by both Student Affairs and the SU Administration, the final decision was made by Gene Fitch, the vice president of Student Affairs. According to Dan Goodwin, director of Student Union and Student Life Programs, an upcoming

15,000 sq. ft. esports and gaming center was the catalyst for the separation.

“It made a lot of sense just in an ease of operation to have the gaming and esports center management, which falls to the Student Union … also have responsibility over the competitive side of the esports program, which … resided with athletics,” Goodwin said. “And what that really does, it just allows a lot of symmetry … it just makes a lot of sense to put all of it under one umbrella.”

The upcoming gaming center, which is expected to be constructed

As Palestinian, Black, Latinx, Jewish, Asian and more students committed to building a better world, UH brought us together in a solidarity that transcends race, class and place

“I would encourage students to read the resolution in full if they haven’t already, as it seems like any misconceptions can be cleared up by that alone,” Lafi said. “I want to make it clear that we are opposed to militarism. This is a resolution against war. And I think that’s something we can all get behind.”

Texans battle fentanyl crisis

NITHYA ELURI Mercury Staff

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 times more potent than heroin and in recent years has been implicated in overdoses linked to laced drugs.

Sheila Elliott, the supervisor for the UTD EMT Department, said that while Richardson has not been affected by the

crisis by direct cases, it has spilled over into Carrollton.

“There have been a couple presentations on campus about narcotic training educating students, staff and faculty about the seriousness of the rise of fentanyl and how it could be easily infiltrate into the schools,” Jeremy Hall, administration project coordinator of the Center for Students in Recovery, said.

Elliott said that prevention is key. The rise in fentanyl cases in Carrolton is likely a result of several factors, including increased drug availability on the black mar-

Students attended the April 4 meeting in the Galaxy Rooms to speak both in support of and against S.R. 2022-40.

SIERPUTOWSKI Mercury Staff

KATHERYN HO MERCURY STAFF

Students and coworkers left notes on August’s office door to celebrate his legacy. JACK SIERPUTOWSKI | MERCURY STAFF

TEJAL DHAN Mercury Staff

VIET KHUE VU | MERCURY STAFF

FATIMAH AZEEM Mercury Staff

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Contributors Oluwaseun Adeyemi

Devinee Amin Ally Duong Nithya Eluri

Martin Friedenthal Parth Ghumare

Vaishnavi Josyula

Juhi Karnalkar

Unaiza Khakoo Varshitha Korrapolu

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Rainier Pederson

Casey Rubio Rylee Russell Vedant Sapra

UTDPD Blotter

April 5 • At 2:06 p.m., UTD library staff reported seven books were damaged on the fourth floor of the library

April 6 • At 8:22 a.m., UTD student reported the theft of his motorcycle.

April 6 • At 3:09 p.m., a UTD student reported their bike stolen.

April 7 • At 12:26 p.m., UTD library staff reported unknown person(s) damaged the spine of 15 books by using a sharp object.

with direct management by sustainability coordinator Avery McKitrick and two student employees, Anna Reid and Mohini Shanker.

In the April 3 issue of The Mercury, a photo of a basketball game on Page 4 was attributed as a courtesy photo from UTD Athletics. It should have been attributed to staff photographer Vedant Sapra.

Media Adviser Jonathan Stewart jonathan.stewart@utdallas.edu

VEHICULAR INCIDENT

THEFT

DRUGS & ALCOHOL

OTHER MAP: UTD | COURTESY

AUGUST CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

“In that short time, I not only witnessed, but also experienced, the profound impact he had throughout UTD and our broader community. Bruce’s compassion, wisdom, integrity and faith were always evident; he lived his values every day. Bruce had just the right words for every situation. He constantly expressed love and appreciation to all of us. He was a servant leader who was a bright light in this world; there will never be another like him.”

In an email to Comets, Alexis Yi, coordinator of Student Organizations, said that post-it notes and markers are available in the Multicultural Center for students who would like to leave a note commemorating August and thoughts on his legacy.

HOUSING CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Julie Lynch, director of the Herbert D. Weitzman Institute for Real Estate and associate professor of practice, said that the pandemic motivated individuals to seek out new housing, in part from a need for home office space. In July 2020, the U.S. saw the highest mortgage lending rates ever recorded, due to people both refinancing their homes and buying new homes. However, supply chain issues slowed housing build time, and the corresponding demand increased prices.

“Now [the shortage] has pretty much corrected itself. But at the end of the day, home prices or values of properties in [2021] and [2022] increased as much as 20% a year … And your real estate taxes are tied to the assessed values of the properties. So as the property prices go up, so do the real estate taxes. And so although you are paying rent, part of what you’re compensating back the landlord for is to cover their cost of the real estate taxes.”

Grief said that housing examines both local rents and other UT schools’ prices when deciding on increases. Assuming 9 months of occupancy in an academic year, 1x1 residents can expect to pay about $1069 per month in 2023-24, which includes utilities. This is approximately 27% below the average rent for a 1x1 apartment in Richardson, which, according to a zumper.com average calculated from local internet listings, sits at $1460 per month as of April 2023.

“Our rates have consistently been lower than comparable facilities in the areas around UTD,

“He has been a pillar of Comet pride and mentorship on this campus for more than a decade, and his legacy will live on in all those whose lives he touched,” Yi said. August’s life will be celebrated by loved ones on April 19 at the One Community Church in Plano, Texas. A viewing will be held at 10 a.m. and his funeral will begin after 11 a.m. A full service will be held on April 21 at the Avenue L Baptist Church in Galveston, Texas, where he will be buried at Lakeview Cemetery.

“The Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion extends our deepest condolences to Bruce’s family, friends and other loved ones, and we join them in grieving the loss of the wonderful man who exemplified what it means to be a Christian, a Comet, a leader and a friend,” Pearson said. “His legacy and his light will forever be with us.”

and in some cases 50-70% below their costs,” Grief said in an email statement.

Between 2022-23 and 2023-24, the average 1x1 floor plan increased 8.8% in price, compared to a 3% increase from 2021-22 to 2022-23. This is in contrast to 4x2 floor plans, which saw an increase of only 3.2% moving into next year, compared to a similar 3% in the year prior. Grief said that in recent years, one-bedroom units — which require more full-unit repairs when a student moves out — have seen higher turn-over rates.

“Whether that means replacing the carpet, repainting the entire apartment, those costs kind of add up,” Grief said. “So we’re seeing an increase there, and we kind of have to offset that. And we also know that we want to provide an affordable product for our students, but we know that we are well behind with the market shares. And I know that sounds harsh, but we have to kind of catch up.”

Moving into 2023-24, floor plan prices increased at a cumulative average of 6.9%, compared to the respective jump last year, which was only 3%. Zumper.com estimated that Richardson rents had decreased 3% between 2022 and 2023.

Part of next year’s rent increase plans to accommodate inflation in utility prices, including electricity and the gas that powers Housing’s hot water boilers. Last year, University Housing spent about $3.9 million on utilities and expects to spend about $4.3 million on utilities this year.

“This year alone we anticipate a $500,000 budgetary impact (increase) for UTD housing utilities,” Grief said. Lynch said that local rent inflation in the past

ESPORTS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

by August 2024, will replace The Pub in the SU. While the state-of-the-art facility will provide opportunities for competitive esports teams, it is also intended to be used by UTD students who game casually.

“We want to bring esports for all Comets,” Goodwin said. “No matter what the skill level is of our students here at UTD, they’re going to have a place in this new facility that we’re building.”

Goodwin anticipates the department changes to begin sometime in the summer. Going forward, changes will be made to the official esports website, communication strategies, policy and procedures. The new management changes will not greatly

few years can be attributed both to utility inflation as well as a general trend toward limited housing supply, higher home values and higher real estate taxes. “Now, we have record inflation in 40 years, and utility prices, and particularly electric, increased double digits also during that time frame,” Lynch said. “So, depending on the rent structure, if your electric is included in your rent, your rent is gonna go up.”

Grief said that price increases also take into account future renovations and improvements to housing. A package locker system has recently been installed and should be operational next fall, following a testing period in the summer. Other renovations will be done during the summer, including new plank-style flooring and carpet tiles, which are easier to replace.

Renovations and improvements for this academic year were conducted during summer 2022, including fully replacing 188 units of carpet as well as over 1,000 bedroom unit carpets. Housing also repainted about 500 units partially and 37 units in full. Grief said that the largest project of the summer was the replacement of air conditioning units, which has been in progress for three years.

Grief said that Housing holds reserves of money in order to demonstrate UTD’s financial health and allow for future planning. Those reserves are meant to meet a debt-service ratio of about 1.30, which represents Housing’s ability to generate enough money to cover its debt obligations. According to Grief, Housing typically holds about $17 million dollars in debt in a year.

affect the competitive esports program.

“I would say even from when we [reach] August of 2024, not only will we see a significant difference in the overall size and scope of the esports program just by virtue of a new facility, I think that’s going to accelerate the greatness of an already great competitive team as well.” Goodwin said. “It’s an ascending program and we have all of the resources, qualities, support in place not only now, but in the future, for that to remain a top program in the country.”

“Because when we build a new housing project … Even with the revenue from the students, [it’s] not gonna pay for itself,” Grief said. “So we as a university have to show that we can afford that.”

Lynch said that North Texas finds itself in a unique economic environment due to the intersection of several “opposing forces.” These include record low unemployment and record high income in Dallas but also inflated interest rates and an increase in expenses.

“So in real time, everybody’s asking the same question you are, and they’re looking at on-demand economic indicators to navigate and read the economic environment,” Lynch said. “So everybody wants to know the answer to that question, but based on my predictions, I think rents will start to flatten if we can get inflation under control.”

Grief said that maintaining reserves is important for UTD to show its financial strength for future development. However, Housing has not announced any concrete plans for new development since April. According to Facilities and Economic Development’s website, between 2011 and 2014, UTD completed a new residence hall every year. Since 2018, the only housing UTD has built are new phases of Northside apartments, which are the most expensive option for students. Next year, 1x1 units at Northside run at $1500 or more.

“We’re gonna build in the near future, and when we build, we’re gonna have to show that we can support it. And that’s what that reserve does,” Grief said.

UTD MUN celebrates succcess in the Big Apple

NITHYA ELURI Mercury Staff

Model UN wrapped up their last conference of the year in New York from April 2 to April 6, representing 15 countries and receiving 24 awards.

The New York conference spanned five days, with the UTD team representing Bosnia and Herzegovina–Serbia. This year, members have received seven position paper awards, 11 committee awards, two Outstanding Delegation awards, two Distinguished Delegation, and two Honorable Mentions Delegation awards.

“We’re always super, super proud of them, but especially when we come back from New York, we’re incredibly proud of them all the time because that’s our longest and hardest conference,” Rana Youssef, a literature junior and the vice president of UTD Model UN, said. “The freshmen who had nev-

UTD student wins Tiktok scholarship

VAISHNAVI JOSYULA Mercury Staff

Cindy Aguirre, a junior international political economy major, was awarded the $500 normandiealise National Scholarship Month TikTok Scholarship as the only one of 10 finalists in the nation to win.

Organized by Bold.org and awarded by Normandie Alise Cormier, a scholarship strategist who founded the educational enterprise XollegePass, the scholarship aims to raise awareness and alleviate the financial burden on high school and college students in the U.S. Aguirre said that applicants were required to follow Cormier on Instagram and TikTok along with filling out the application.

“The funder does have an Instagram and TikTok [account] that has to do with helping college students and high school students obtain scholarships and financial aid,” Aguirre said. “I really do recommend the site. It has really good options and [a variety] of scholarships that you can apply to.”

Aguirre was introduced to the website by a high school teacher and obtained two scholarships thus far, including a Healthy Living scholarship, which was funded by a company called wiseGEEK

SEE TIKTOK, PAGE 5

er done it before to pros who have gone multiple times.”

To practice, conference attendees both research and build their writing and speaking skills. Kaley Niette, the president of UTD Model UN, expressed that other than the objective skills needed for a successful conference, the officers make it a priority to build relationships, network and simply be kind to one another. Students find a sense of belonging and community in the weekly practices and weekend conferences.

“We don’t just want to take people who are just amazing from the get-go,” Youssef said. “We want to give people a chance to grow, not just in the skills that it takes to succeed in conference and at the competition itself, but also to grow as a member on the team. The members have really grown as both team members and individuals. And we

see that in the fact that even though we only take about 20 people to a conference, so many more people show up to practice … because they like being there and they like learning.”

Niette said that many Gen Z students are pressured to chase the “cool stereotype” and the newest trends. The college experience can undoubtedly be an exciting time, but it can also be overwhelming and stressful, especially when students feel disconnected or isolated from their peers. Model UN offers a community of individuals who are all passionate about similar issues and goals, which is empowering and supportive to its members. By working together towards a common goal or a “resolution,” students can form meaningful friendships.

“This is a space where it’s okay if you sound a little silly for a minute as long as you get the practice,” Niette said. “They just come out of their shells so

quickly. It’s so refreshing to see people actually practicing at something and getting better at it. If they make a mistake or if they get nervous, they’re talking to their friends, and they’re working with people that genuinely care about [them.]”

The officers told various stories where students came in as timid freshmen and transformed into strong and outspoken students educated on global issues.

“I want our team to stay strong,” Niette said. “I want our people to remember the importance of kindness. I tell them all the time, I would so much rather you do the right thing and you prioritize helping somebody else than you bring me an award. I can frame a certificate fine, but the person that you help, the person that you do something kind for, they can’t get that moment back.”

Richardson City Council Agenda Q&A

Council members discussed plans for transportation, infrastructure, public service and other initiatives

Student Government and student advocacy group Comets for Better Transit hosted a town hall meeting for Comets to ask Richardson city council members questions about their priorities for the next term. Mayor Paul Voelker and council members Bob Dubey, Jennifer Justice, Janet DePuy, Joe Corcoran, Ken Hutchenrider and Arefin Shamsul all attended the April 6 Q&A.

What policies or initiatives are you most proud of working on and what are you excited to take on in the near future?

Justice: Something that I think is relevant to this group, particularly one of the groups hosting, is the Active Transportation Plan, and it’s the first time we’ve done it in Richardson. So, we got a lot of really great feedback from Comets for Better Transit. And it's something I'm really excited about and will really help connect our city in a better way. And something I’m excited to work on is the

Comprehensive Plan that's coming up this next council. It’s important because that plan sets the direction for our city for the next decade or so.

Corcoran: So, the stuff that really gets me excited is urban design, right? Urban planning, transportation and how we stitch the city together. Those are like the most fun topics to talk about in council. I also love housing, because there’s so many different ways to accomplish the same goal, right? If you want an affordable housing development, or something that is market rate, you can accomplish that through so many different avenues, whether it’s corporations or subsidies. So I love that. And of course, nothing really beats the quick hit of doing constituent service, right, solving someone’s immediate issues.

Shamsul: Something that matters to you that's probably the most important that I'm excited about is our student housing here. So that being overdue, but finally this is happening. And God willing … at least you will be able to see

Students protest anti-LGBT bills

sive student organization that strives to

some of the freshmen that really happens. But this will happen, the future generation coming in. I have two children that graduated from here, and I have my daughter, she is coming this fall … and so I’m really excited.

What is the council’s vision and plans for expanding public services?

Justice: I’m a big animal person, and I’ve actually been named liaison to the Animal Services Advisory Commission. And as far as the 2021 Bond Program, voters in Richardson thankfully passed funds for us to expand and update our animal shelter … We should be getting underway soon on updating the entire front portion of the animal shelter, which will make it a friendlier place for people to visit in general. But it will also make it a much better place for our staff that work at the animal shelter to work.

So that is happening now, plans are being drawn, and we should be seeing that in the next year or two.

DePuy: So I want to talk about the library … as many of you know, we had

a fire at City Hall, so on election day May 6, we’re asking voters to approve that bond program to build a new city hall. But in conjunction with that, in our 2021 Bond Program, we set aside money for the library, renovations to the library … I think it will make that space more flexible, more usable for people. That is one of our busiest city facilities, the library is. It’s a really important aspect to our city … so I think the renovation of the library … will be very beneficial for us. It’s gonna take a while, you know, we’ll be out of the space for probably two to three years, but I think it’ll be worth it in the end.

Dubey: One thing I’d like to add is the mobility and the connectivity that we’re talking about. And I think that for UTD, the Silver Line is so, so important, and it’s the future that we’re talking about. Stop and think about all the cultural parts of the city of Richardson … Once the Silver Line’s here, we could bring people in internationally … We’re

Loved law advisor retires

A group of UTD students made their voices heard at the state capitol, where lawmakers voted on several controversial bills targeting the LGBTQ+ community.

The UTD chapter of advocacy group Texas Rising bused a handful of students on March 28 to the capitol for support of H.B. 970, a bill that would repeal laws that largely prevent educators from discussing LGBTQ+ people and issues in the classroom.

“[The current laws] would basically require them to proclaim that homosexuality is undesirable,” Natasha Kokkodil, a political science sophomore and Texas Rising co-president, said.

Texas Rising is a statewide progres-

increase voter registration and influence a myriad of issues that affect college-age students. The next day, several members of Deeds Not Words at UTD along with 400 young people from all over Texas flooded the streets of Austin. They spoke vehemently against two bills passed by the Texas Senate that restrict drag performances for children. Senate Bill 1601 would punish public libraries that host drag queen reading events, and Senate Bill 12 would restrict children from attending “sexually oriented” performances. The bill's author,

Republican Bryan Hughes, recently expanded the legislation to penalize not just men presenting as women but anyone engaged in “sexual conduct,” according to The Dallas Morning News.

As the senators were voting inside the chambers, most of the demonstrations were held in the Capitol Rotunda, where drag queens sang and danced and college students spoke at the podium. The Mercury reached out to Deeds Not Words, who attended the student takeover on March 29, but received no comment.

Besides supporting H.B. 970, Kokkodil wanted to meet with legislators in person.

“The point of advocacy day is, of course, to be able to physically go to the capitol and engage in discussion with legislators and the legislation they put out there,” Kokkodil said.

The experience gave Kokkodil and other students the confidence to talk to the people representing them.

“The capitol is somewhat of an intimidating atmosphere; it’s the place where laws are made,” Kokkodil said. “[However], I was reassured that these legislaSEE PROTESTS, PAGE 5

After five years at the helm of UTD’s Pre-Law Advising Center, Director Barbara Kirby will retire at the end of the semester.

Although she made a name for herself in corporate law, Kirby found her true calling in teaching and mentoring students.

“I have come to believe that we need good lawyers now more than we ever have,” Kirby said.

Before coming to UTD, Kirby was a political science student at EPPS and eventually received her J.D. from SMU. She then practiced for 20 years, spending most of that time as in-house counsel for Xerox.

Throughout her career, Kirby always felt the pull of higher education. In 2015

she received her Ph.D. in Political Science from UTD and found herself teaching and advising students at various law schools and pre-law departments, eventually returning to UTD in 2018.

In addition to her role as pre-law advisor, she took on the responsibilities of coaching Moot Court, where students act as lawyers arguing before an appellate judge. She also started the school’s first Mock Trial team.

The advocacy teams are what make UTD’s pre-law center so valuable, Kirby said. Over the years, Kirby enjoyed watching students change from their freshman year to graduation.

“That’s the thing I love the most,” Kirby said. “To see people go from pretty uninformed about their ideas to learning, thinking and developing a purpose.”

In her first year heading the department, there were about 36 UTD graduates going to law schools. Now there are over 100.

Kirby also started UTD’s Law Conference, connecting current students with distinguished alumni and industry professionals.

MUN students of all majors celebrate their glorious successes in New York.

MARTIN FRIEDENTHAL Mercury Staff

BARBARA KIRBY

MARTIN

FRIEDENTHAL Mercury Staff

That sort of gap that exists between us and legislators is going to grow exponentially.

NATASHA KOKKODIL

From left to right: Jennifer Justice, Janet DePuy, Paul Voelker, Joe Corcoan, Ken Hutcherider and Arefin Shamsul answer Comets’ questions about the future of Richardson.

DEVINEE AMIN | MERCURY STAFF

DEVINEE AMIN MERCURY STAFF

JACK SIERPUTOWSKI Mercury Staff

SEE COUNCIL, PAGE 5

Northside vandals strike

Recent reports of graffiti raise concerns about safety at Northside Apartments

VARSHITHA KORRAPOLU Mercury Staff JACK SIERPUTOWSKI Mercury Staff

Northside residents reported a string of vandalism in late March in and around Building 13.

Several residents of Northside Building 13 reported graffiti both in stairwells and on unit front doors, in a string of vandalism that was featured on March 27 in an Instagram post from utdbruhmoments. Richardson PD officer Teddy Yoshida said that police have no specific statement at this time, but a follow-up investigation is underway.

Northside resident Om Patel’s front door was one of the units tagged in March. Patel said that he did not know many other residents and did not believe the vandalism was targeted.

“It was like male genitalia, basically,”

Patel said.

Patel said that graffiti tags were left on several floors of the 13C stairwell. He caught the attention of a maintenance worker painting over the stairwell tags, who quickly fixed his door as well. Stairwell 13C, the epicenter of the graffiti tags, has a broken exterior door and opens when forced despite being locked.

“That’s a big problem,” Patel said. “Most of the doors here, like you have the little fob that you scan, but they don’t, they’re not locked properly. So, you can just yank the bottom staircase door. You just yank it open, and it opens right up. It’s not secure.”

Mechanical engineering junior Mitchell Mello was one of the first people to report the graffiti and mentioned it in the Northside GroupMe to let other residents know. Mello did not believe

Revolutionizing research

Student engineers a painless way to inject vaccines

A UTD chemistry Ph.D student is engineering a simpler and safer way to inject powder vaccines painlessly, potentially revolutionizing the healthcare industry.

Ph.D. student Yalini Wijesundara created the Metal-Organic Framework Jet, which can administer therapeutic agents through the skin with just a puff of compressed air. The technology could be applied in veterinary medicine, agriculture, vaccinations and cancer treatment.

Debuting among 10,000 presentations at the spring summit of the American Chemical Society in late March, Wijesundara presented the MOF Jet injector as a relatively painless to administer vaccines, which could simplify the vaccination process and remove the pain and hygiene concerns of the traditional needle injection.

“It’s just like a feeling of being hit with the NERF gun, like a puff of air,” Wijesundara said. “[A] considerable amount of people don’t like to get vaccinated because they have this needle phobia and they stress about it.”

An effective alternative to liquid vaccines, powder vaccines don’t require refrigeration at below 46 degrees Fahrenheit, making them cheaper and easier to transport. Not only could it save companies money, but it makes vaccines more accessible and affordable by addressing the thermal challenges of vaccine delivery to remote areas. Pharmaceutical companies have considered inhalers or pills, but UTD is one of the first research institutes to recently show evidence that jet injectors are the future of vaccines.

The original investigator, Jeremiah Gas-

sensmith, who is a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at UTD, constructed a homemade gene gun otherwise known as a biological ballistic particle delivery system. Gassensmith built the gene gun during pandemic boredom for about $150 as opposed to the most popular commercial gene gun system at about $30,000; this would become the foundation for the MOF-Jet. Gassensmith suggests that not only will the MOF Jet be safer, but in time, it will be simpler to use for both medical professionals and patients. Currently, needlestick biohazards are responsible for the transmission of nearly 60 infectious diseases, including hepatitis and HIV, and an estimated 11 million unsafe injections occur internationally every year.

“[Needles are] an effective way, but an unfortunate way, to spread communicable diseases in clinics,” Gassensmith said. “And wherever you have any need for needle sticks, you have some need for somebody to be trained with it. The idea behind [MOF-Jets] is to get rid of that.”

While the MOF-Jet is a promising innovation, it’s not the first time jet injector technology has been used. During the 1960s, they were used for mass vaccination efforts to prevent smallpox and were especially popular with armed forces due to the fast and tireless procedure. However, the World Health Organization has since rejected the use of jet injectors internationally due to a list of concerns including cross-contamination, splashback, retrograde flow and the spread of hepatitis

B. The MOF-Jet eliminates that problem almost entirely by replacing pressurized liquid with compressed air.

Gassensmith and Wijesundara said

SEE MOF, PAGE 5

the graffiti was targeted toward anyone.

“There is nothing mean about any of it,” Mello said. “It was just normal graffiti with people drawing stuff that they found funny or something that they thought was cool.”

Residents of Northside have raised security concerns in the past, with Mello citing package theft as a frequent problem. Outside of the first floor, Northside Building 13 does not have any security cameras in its hallways.

“I’m not worried about my safety because I don’t think there’s anyone trying to harm anyone here,” Mello said. “But it’s not a secure place where I feel like ‘oh, no one will ever break in.’ If someone really wanted to get in, they could.”

The Mercury contacted Northside management with a request for comment but received no response.

JSOM pays respects to professor

JSOM students and faculty recollect fond memories about professor Molina

Professor Robert Stephen Molina passed away in his sleep on April 3, 2023, leading JSOM students and faculty to remember his legacy.

The sudden death of Molina has left JSOM in shock, as they have lost a critical member of the community. Students describe him as a very direct and straightforward person from his history practicing law. Associate Professor of Instruction Daniel Sibley met Molina when they were practicing law, and they had worked together at UTD for the past five years. He explains how Molina’s experience in being a lawyer carried over to his teaching methods.

“I think the best phrase to describe him is that ... he got things done,” Sibley said. “He wasn’t one for extending review periods and stuff. He wanted to make a decision and get on the next problem, which makes sense because his career was a litigator, and that attitude was very helpful as a litigator ... a very bold person he was.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many international students were required to come to school in-person to keep their visas; however, with online classes, that was not possible. So, Molina had the idea of continuing in-person classes along with an online option for all his courses so that international students could attend in-person and fulfill their visa requirements.

“Steve and I talked about it, it was a pretty easy decision. We both agreed ... ‘we’re just going to make all of our classes online and in the classroom,’” Sibley said. “If a student chooses to tune in online streaming, that’s okay, but we offered it so they could be present in the classroom. And some did [show up,] some didn’t.”

Even through retirement, Molina was heavily involved in exposing students to opportunities outside the classroom.

“He didn’t have to be doing this. He retired and enjoyed doing this when he could have easily just been retired and lived really, really well for the rest

of his life,” Sibley said. “But he chose to be really involved here ... He was a very hands-on person, teaching lots of classes ... he had been the one to bring in speakers, arrange field trips, all kinds of things … kind of a high-energy guy and I like working with people like that… We’re gonna miss him a lot. He really was responsible for building this program up, from what I can tell.” UTD has had faculty members, including Sibley, temporarily fill in for JSOM courses for the rest of the semester. With this loss, it is time to reflect on the contributions Molina made to the academic community in JSOM and honor his memory.

New SG elects speak for UTD

The 2023-2024 Student Government elections have concluded, and the students have selected the term’s executive officers. The Mercury interviewed junior computer science major Srivani Edupuganti and freshman data science major Leah Sullivan, who ran under the ticket Inspire to explore SG’s future at UTD.

President-Elect Srivani Edupuganti

What are your plans for the upcoming academic year?

This year, we got a lot more business done than we have in previous years. We’ve heard [around] 40 resolutions so far this year, not all of which have passed, but you know, that’s just how business goes. The shift that we’ve had in terms of having better onboarding or better knowledge management, telling people, “here’s where you can go to find resources,” a lot of that has been really good for senators being able to create projects and pursue those projects. So, things like that, being able to tell senators, “here’s what you can and can’t do,” we definitely want to continue that. We are planning to do a lot of work over the summer so that when everyone comes back in the fall, we’re ready to hit the ground running.

As for my personal goals for the platform, I want to pursue international student equity, which involves talking to the administration and seeing what can and

What are your plans for the upcoming academic year?

There’s a lot of things I think are really important for us to be focusing on.

I think improving constituency, external communications, making sure that student voices are being represented and that we hear them, projects … and getting more petition-type stuff out there where students can like submit issues.

I think we were on a good trajectory from last year. A lot of good work is being done regarding trying to push for more public facing interaction. I think we need to continue on that front. So those kinds of things, engaging with students, and just being more involved in the community … Some big goals are also making sure we’re increasing academic equity, obviously supporting Srivani and her international policies, providing mental health resources and making sure that people feel comfortable using those partnerships with student government and other orga-

Alumni mends gaps in education

UTD neuroscience alumnus Sofia Babool founded a startup company known as BrightOwl in August 2021. The company aims to close educational gaps for students through an online tutoring service. BrightOwl also employs college students looking for a part-time job amidst the pandemic. In the short time since she graduated, Babool’s company has come to employ 80 tutors and serve 70 students across the United States.

BrightOwl offers K-12 students oneon-one virtual tutoring services catered to their needs and availability. Prior to receiving the services, students take a free

diagnostic assessment and participate in a Zoom call with the company’s leaders. Various pricing plans are offered based on the planned frequency of sessions per month.

When starting this company, Babool was able to integrate her passions for both education and entrepreneurship. She has deferred her medical school decision by one year so that she can focus on the growth of her company. When applying to medical school, it is common to have a backup plan, as the odds are not always in the applicant’s favor. However, Babool has a different mindset.

“I met a couple of people in my senior year, and a lot of people were like, ‘oh, so

have you decided on how you’re going to apply the second or third time?’” Babool said. “I was like, ‘I have no idea what you're talking about,’ because I’m confident in who I am, and I know that I’ve done everything possible to get in, and so I’m going to get in. That happened very gratefully.”

Despite not having an extensive background in business, Babool has a supportive system of friends and family that have assisted her through her journey. She was inspired by witnessing the educational divide firsthand in Karachi, Pakistan for a service-learning project and realized that this issue exists in the United States as

,

Building 13 experienced different instances of graffiti on doors and stairwells.

UTDBRUHMOMENTS | COURTESY

Instance of graffiti in building 13.

UTDBRUHMOMENTS | COURTESY Graffiti from left photo is painted over. JACK SIERPUTOWSKI MERCURY STAFF

YALINI WIJESUNDARA | COURTESY

ANDRÉ AVERION Mercury Staff

MOF Jet Injector simplifies the process of storing and administrating vaccines.

Molina's

SHRIYA VYASAM Mercury Staff

HARIKA PATCHIPALA Mercury Staff

From top to bottom: Srivani Edupuganti, Leah Sullivan.

Vice President-Elect Leah Sullivan

and the TikTok scholarship funded by Alise.

“Like most college students, you do want to alleviate your financial burdens and your financial stress,” Aguirre said. “This

can greatly help you, not only mentally, but physically. I did do it for those reasons. And since I will be pursuing a further education after my baccalaureate, I did apply for this.”

Aguirre said she plans to spend the money on her tuition and apply to more scholarships

to fund her education. She also mentioned her gratitude toward Alise and the website.

“It's very gratifying and you feel grateful for the donor that gives you a scholarship,” Aguierre said. “It’s a pleasant experience to say the least.”

tors are there to work for me.”

Kokkodil said she discovered that students and lawmakers weren’t aware of certain bills coming down the pipeline because of the tracking system, which can be difficult to understand.

“That sort of gap that exists between us and legislators is going to grow exponentially,” Kokkodil said. “That gap is there on purpose. When you are unaware of what’s happening in the capitol, you’re feeding into that trap of allowing legislators to make bills that do not truly reflect us in any capacity.”

When Texas Rising spoke to Democratic Rep. Terry Meza about H.B. 970, she was shocked the bill hadn’t been brought to her attention and was immediately interested in learning more about it, Kokkodil said.

Beyond meeting with representatives, Anne Fischer, an assistant professor of gender and history, believes students can take inspiration from history to affect issues they care about.

“I’m of the realization [the LGBTQ+ community] are not alone,

that this is not unprecedented, and that this is not the first time we’ve seen these politics,” Fischer said. “We have inherited generations of creative strategies.”

In speaking with The Mercury, Fischer highlighted two examples where activist efforts were successful at moving the public policy needle.

In California, there was the 1978 Briggs Initiative that sought to prevent lesbian and gay people from teaching in K-12 public schools. The ballot measure would have passed, Fischer hinted, had it not been for the “particular kinds of opposition that mobilized around Briggs as a toolkit of strategies.”

Like any grassroots movement, the LGBTQ+ community in California utilized posters, buttons, flyers and demonstrations, but it was the way they tapped into the fear of surveillance that got the attention of all Americans and was critical to their success.

“The intrusion of people’s private lives that would be necessary to enforce the law that seeks to purge gay people from employment and from doing work in education … [was] very offensive to the large majority of voters,” Fischer said.

In addition, there was MiamiDade County which, in 1977, passed a non-discrimination ordinance based on sexual orientation.

“It would be illegal to refuse employment, to refuse housing and to refuse access to basic social goods,” Fischer said.

Instead of protesting against the government, the LGBTQ+ community directed their efforts at opposing Florida Orange Juice spokesperson Anita Bryant, who Fischer said, “organized the campaign around a call to quote, ‘save our children.’”

“It was organized around a clear belief that homosexuality was a sin … and that gay folks were a threat to normative American life,” Fischer said.

Bryant’s repeal of the ordinance was successful, but Fischer pointed to a creative strategy where the LGBTQ+ community flipped their attackers’ arguments on its head by arguing that LGBTQ+ children in particular are the vulnerable youth, as they need protection from discrimination.

“Even the setbacks can teach us about how to keep building a vision of equity,” Fischer said.

bringing in the technology, we’re bringing in the art piece, and that is the way that we think in Richardson.

How do we change low-level mechanisms to make sure more mixed-use developments actually get built and end up being successful?

Voelker: To be blunt, voting for a high-density mixed-use environment can get you kicked off council … I applaud the city councils that I’ve served on over these 10

almost entirely by replacing pressurized liquid with compressed air.

Gassensmith and Wijesundara said these powder vaccines will be restrained in a MOF matrix that prevents them from interacting or breaking down up to 572 degrees Fahrenheit. Once ready for injection, the vaccine will be delivered with a puff of compressed air at a certain velocity to be microscopically delivered into the skin to begin an immunology process without allowing blood to escape. Not only does the MOF-Jet distribute therapeutic agents more evenly, but it also uses Wijesundara’s discovery on how different carrier gasses in the injector can affect the timeframe of these releases.

Wijesundara discovered the type of air used, whether standard gas or carbon dioxide, affects the

BABOOL

CONTINUED FROM PAGE

well.

“What intrigued me the most about Sofia’s company was the fact that it was led by someone that is not in the business space,” BrightOwl technical consultant Rahul Madhugiri said. “When she told me that she was starting an education company, but she was a neuroscience major, I was taken aback and impressed by it. I guess that’s kind of interesting, because it’s also pushing the ball forward and the removal of the stigma [that] you have to be a business major to create a company.”

UTD has given Babool exposure to various pivotal resources such as mentors like Paul Nichols, Bryan Chambers and Sarah Crowe who assisted with logo design and finding pitch competitions to showcase her idea. Babool and her team participated in 25 pitch competitions last year.

“The greatest thing about UTD, especially medicine in general, is that yes, it’s absolutely one of those paths that needs a lot of focus and a lot of attention, but it also is very interdisciplinary,” Babool said. “I would see doctors own clinics as entrepreneurs, and I really don’t think that there’s a separation or that there needs to be. I think that doctors can be entrepreneurs, and if you’re an engineering person, you can be an entrepreneur. I realized that if I wanted to go down a unique path, and nobody else had

years for the fortitude to take the position that a denser mixed-use development is the best approach to allow for a livable, walkable play environment that will attract those graduates that Janet was talking about from this institution … The Comprehensive Plan will probably identify two to three more areas that will be up for redevelopment and more density and more mixed use. I applaud the councils in the future for taking that serious and figuring out how to approach that.

Hutchenrider: One thing you

pH levels that allows cells in the MOF matrix to dissolve and release the vaccine. The pH levels only begin to impact the MOF matrix when introduced to the water inside the skin, which with carbon dioxide, increases acidity for swifter administration. This means not only can the MOFJet administer therapeutic agency over time, but also immediately during emergencies.

Testing is currently being done on agriculture, proving that the MOF-Jet allows for gene exposure in vegetation. It’s in the phases of preliminary studies, but Wijesundara expressed how this could affect insulin and cancer treatment.

Insulin cannot survive at room temperature, but by putting it in a solid formulation like powder and using a MOF-Jet, it can have an extended shelf life that’s more accessible. For cancer treatment, the MOF-Jet can bombard skin

also have to recognize is that when we see these projects, we have the developers come to us … One of the worst things we can ever do as a city council is approve something and then not see it all the way to fruition … So you’ll oftentimes hear us work very, very diligently … trying to figure out, we use the term ‘hooks in the project.’ So we don’t end up with just one component of it, and then you come back, or the citizens come back, and go ‘we only got half of what we got promised.’”

tumors in a more widespread and effective method, treating the entire tumor rather than injecting parts of the tumor, which can lead to bleeding afterward.

“There is a long way to go to clinical level,” Wijesundara said. “This is a system we can deliver [and] we can recreate in a patient convenient way, but this is the basic idea. We can put this into society so they can develop, spend some more money on it, and make it more convenient, more mobile.”

“This is it, this is your network,” Kirby said. “You can meet these lawyers, you have something in common with them, and they want to help you.”

Kirby said that advising, more than teaching, was the most fulfilling part of her job.

“When it comes time for the application cycle, I’m talking to them about which law schools to apply to, personal statements and resumes,” Kirby said. “You do really make one-on-one contact with students.”

One of those students was

international political economy senior Kara Curtis, who first met Kirby as a freshman, then joined Moot Court soon after.

“Dr. Kirby was fundamental in shaping my desire to go into the legal field,” Curtis said. “[She] completely changed my trajectory as a young professional and probably my entire career.”

Curtis said Kirby was always involved with the advocacy teams, fighting for them at the administrative level and making sure they were recognized and appreciated. Before going into a courtroom at moot competitions, Curtis said Kirby would

have all her students huddle around her and she’d say, “a positive winning force surrounds you.”

Curtis intends to take the LSAT in June and go to law school next fall.

“When I think of some of my greatest accomplishments,” Kirby said, “when I think of students I’ve advised, they’re not the ones who went to law school, but the ones I helped find a different path ... what’s important is did we provide the information that helped people figure out their career path, whether it’s law school or not.”

really done it before, I’d have to go alone, but I’m going to do it.”

Babool is half-Pakistani and half-Portuguese, making her a firstgeneration woman of color. She said she has faced various challenges and uncomfortable situations at pitch competitions because of this.

“I went to a pitch competition where all the judges were men,” Babool said. “I had my team slide open, which was all female at the time. This judge comes to me and says, ‘I’d love to invest when you have men on your team.’ I’ve had comments like that said to me, but the thing is that if people don’t believe in me or my idea, I see it as a them problem. Give me feedback that is critical and that will help my business move forward. But if you’re not in the game of helping me, then I’m going to see a leader.”

Singapore started their journey with BrightOwl in April 2023. Until this point, BrightOwl’s primary audience has been K-12 students in the United States. Furthermore, the company is trying to utilize tech-savvy methods to provide an effective education to students. Babool and her team at BrightOwl are currently in the process of developing an application to enhance her clients’ experience by giving students access to tutors at any time of the day.

“Sofia is very compassionate,” BrightOwl tutor Rehana Pira said. “She is such a humble and downto-earth person. She is the type of person that you just want to be always surrounded by because there is so much to learn from her. You grow as an individual. You are surrounded by someone that pushes you to reach new heights and do new things. She’s empathetic and she loves to serve.”

Pira said working with Babool has been a formative experience for her, as Babool’s energy is contagious.

can’t be done about international student summer internship classes or health insurance policy requirements. I don’t have the information, so I’m probably going to be spending a lot of the summer trying to get a lot of this preliminary information, but those are my big goals. What challenges do you anticipate as student body president, and how do you plan to overcome them?

A classic challenge that we always have is student engagement. It can be really hard to get students involved when student government is not already a particularly established presence on

SULLIVAN CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4

nizations.

What are your priorities moving forward, and how do you plan to execute all of your promises to your voters and the student body?

I think being really realistic about what we’re able to do. Obviously, I have a lot of goals I want to achieve and things I want to see happen. I’m going to be championing those the whole way through. But ultimately, as someone in this role, a big part of my job is also just making sure all of our senators feel supported in their job. So I think my priority is definitely going to be that I have

campus. I know there are some campuses where people look to the student government a lot for various things, and I think we’re slowly building that back up. But I think that is definitely one of our biggest hurdles because we can put on certain programs or start initiatives, but if we don't have the outreach or the engagement from students, then they won’t be successful regardless of how much work we put into it.

One of the things that we plan to do to try and mitigate that is direct outreach to student organizations. There are student groups — I mean, we have over 300 student organizations. We like to say that a lot, but then we need to use those student organizations to actually reach the students.

60 or 70 amazing people that have amazing ideas — [so] how can they get all these resources they need to succeed? And then bringing that to administration and meetings and making sure that there's transparency.

There’s a lot of continual progress that happens from year to year. I’m not going to be able to get every single thing done that I want to get done, because it’s just not possible. But I can set those things in motion, I can make it easier. I can inspire other people to keep working on those things and to bring more excitement into student government and to UTD.

What message do you have

What message do you have for the student body as their new leader?

I’m really excited to be the Student Government President. I hope people come to us with their concerns. I feel like a lot of the time, we say, “please reach out if you have any concerns." And then no one reaches out. And we don’t know if that’s because students don’t have concerns or because they just haven’t reached out to us, and it’s probably the latter. But when we say that, we do genuinely mean it, because students reaching out to us is how we get our work done. We can’t be a representative body if we don’t have people to represent.

for the student body as their new leader?

I’ll say what I say to my friends, you know, everyone has bad days, and things aren’t perfect, but there are so many things to be excited about, and I am so excited to be the vice president and to be able to be engaged with the school the way that I am. Our doors are always open. We want to hear from you. Anything you have to say, whether it’s just, “Hey, you want to chat?” I want to know what students are thinking besides myself. Because I’m a student, but I can’t speak for everyone.

COUNCIL CONTINUED

KIRBY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

ANDRÉ AVERION | MERCURY STAFF

Councilman Ken Hutchenrider speaks on how council ensures that developments get finished.

KARA CURTIS | COURTESY

Kirby with Moot Court champion and political science senior Olivia Cooper en route to competition.

Lots of Bots rebus crossword

Note:

In this example puzzle, [AIR] is the rebus and the clues read as PR[AIR]IEDOG and CH[AIR].

4.3 Sudoku key

4.3 X-word key

AKHIL SHASHI | MERCURY STAFF

LEGEND OF ZELDA: TEARS OF THE KINGDOM

STAFF

DEREK PLAYS VOLLEYBALL

the need for speed

What’s the fastest way to get around campus? The Mercury tested Comets’ different modes of transportation to figure out

Racers line up at the Administration Building for round four of the marathon.

Spring is here, and students are back to using all their creative forms of transportation!

With everyone out of hibernation, curiosity got the best of The Mercury, and we decided to pit Comet against Comet in a bid to figure out the fastest way to get to class.

And they’re off! Types of transport measured included electric, bicycling, skateboarding, roller blading and

Let’s set the framework for this marathon. Five categories. Four rounds. One winner. Racers repped electric transportation, skate boarding, bicycling, roller blading, or walking, and they were tasked to cruise down the clear, unobstructed street by ESCW — just kidding, what’s the fun in that? The Comets raced down

— ELECTRIC —

It’s no surprise that the electric longboard came in first place and with an average time of 58 seconds. The Mercury staff may have joked about the walker winning, but once the motor of computer science junior Hruday Rudraraju’s longboard came to life, we knew it was over for the other participants.

“I knew it would be my device,” Rudraraju said. “I use this thing to get to class 90% of the time, and it can get me anywhere on campus in two to five minutes.”

Rudraraju decided to try out electric transportation last year after getting tired of cycling.

“It’s given me the freedom to go anywhere I want,” Rudraraju said. “It’s eco-friendly. It’s given me pleasure. There’s been countless hours where I’m just [going] along skating around listening to music. It’s saved me a lot of money on a car.”

Just like you’d learn how to ride a bike before

driving a motorcycle, Rudraraju rec ommends users know how to long board or skateboard before trying an electric longboard. Users need to understand the fundamentals of boarding — braking with your foot, using your body weight to turn and keeping your balance. Users then accelerate or de celerate the motor under the board using a remote control.

Rudraraju’s board is capable of speeds up to 29 mph, although he does not ride at that speed on campus. He emphasizes personal respon sibility for electric transporters — so being cognizant of sur roundings and of pedestrians.

— BICYCLE — 3

Bicycling came in third place averaging a time of 1 minute and 39 seconds – a shock to most of The Mercury staff who predicted it finishing in second place.

Biomedical Engineering sophomore Sneha Mandal picked up cycling last year purely

Mandal encourages other Comets to learn how to bike because of how convenient and safe a method of transportation it is. It’s eas ier to control the speed and momentum of a bike than it is a skateboard or elec tric longboard, so walkers have plenty of UTD has bike racks around all ma jor campus buildings like the SU and the Administration Building, so stu dents have plenty of spots to store

the mall, which is notoriously packed with pedestrians and winding pathways, to simulate what it’s actually like to get across campus. They started at the round circle by the Student

Union and made their way down to the Administration Building and back two times in the race for their life — or, rather, legacy.

This story has been excerpted to fit the spacing constraintsofpublication.Forthefullexperience,includingpricerangesfortransportation,andtheperspectiveofthewalker,visitutdmercury.com

RoLLER BL adE—

Roller-blading came in at second place, consistently five to 10 seconds behind electric transportation in each round except for round 3, where it finished neckto-neck with longboard. AHT

freshman Steven Duong represented the category and had an average time of 65 seconds.

Duong has been roller blading since he was in fifth grade. He got into it after a school field

— 4

Skateboarding came in at a modest fourth place in each round, averaging a time of 1 minute and 53 seconds. Marketing graduate Carlos Jong represented the skateboarding category, technically riding a cruiser, which is a hybrid between a skateboard and a longboard. The cruiser is almost indistinguishable from a traditional skateboard except for the fact that its head is narrower than that of a normal skateboard, meaning there is a proper way to orient the board.

Jong started skateboarding when he was 10, but he really picked up the craft during the pandemic. Skateboarding is the most versatile method of transportation among all the categories – in addition to riding, skateboarders can use boards to perform stunts, which is known as trick skating.

“We definitely have the largest community on campus,” Jong said. “There are hundreds of people and everybody knows everybody. And they’re far from the stereotype. We’re friendly and we’ll let you use our board, just talk to anyone you

see skating, honestly. It depends how use ful the instructions will be depending on who it is, but you’ll leave knowing how to skateboard.”

The UTD campus is a popular spot for skateboarding for students and other boarders in the Dallas community be cause of its smooth concrete, long wind ing hills and endless benches and boxes that are perfect for landing tricks such as ollies and trey flips. Popular skaters such as Keegan Mc Cutchen have come to campus to film themselves skating. Jong said some of the best places to skate are by the ESCW building, behind the Science Pavilion and by the Administration Building.

“People will come with big cameras and line up to skate, it’s really fun,” Jong said.

on campus, which has somewhere over 100 members.

“Not to ring my own bell, but if you’ve ever seen the guy in a bucket hat riding around campus, that’s me,” Duong said.

Roller-blading is different from rollerskating — the wheels on roller blades are made for longer distances and the boots are more supportive, whereas roller skates have thicker wheels with aligned in pairs and stops at the tip of the shoe for braking. Duong is a roller-blader, but more specifically, he’s a “fitness skater” — his skates have three larger wheels on them instead of the traditional four, and his wheels are wider in diameter, allowing for even more Blading is possibly the most physically taxing form of transportation out of the tested, as is requires considerably more force from the leg muscles and core muscles for momentum and control. But that doesn’t stop Duong from skating everywhere he goes.

“If you want to roller-blade, just go for it,” Duong said. “Really the biggest piece of advice I can give is that anyone can roller-blade. You can do this! The balance stuff will come, you don’t need to have a good center of gravity going in necessarily. Try it out, practice with some roller-blading

FATIMAH AZEEM Mercury Staff

PARTH GHUMARE | MERCURY STAFF

ZAHRA ISMAIL

walking.

EMPATHIZE, EXPLORE, EMPOWER: COMET GALA

Library archive linked to famed pilot and women in aviation

MARTIN FRIEDENTHAL Mercury Staff

The UTD chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts, or AIGA, hosted their annual Comet Gala on April 7. The gala featureda formal dance and student market highlighting the artistic talents of UTD students in the ATEC building.

Along with AIGA UTD, this year’s gala was hosted by MUSE Editorial, UTD Fashion Club, Comet Symphonique and the Asian Artists Association.

Students attending the event were invited to walk through a market of vendors for complimentary food, drinks and art sold by the Asian Artists Association. The gala also hosted a boba vendor and a mocktail bar as well as several beautifully-decorated photo opportunities.

Over 200 students were in attendance for the event’s music performances and fashion show. The event closed with a dance to music from RadioUTD DJs.

Staycation Cafe Delights

If you’re looking for a morning coffee or sweet treat, stop by Staycation Coffee for beverages and bites in a small, cozy neighborhood cafe.

Staycation Coffee – just a 13-minute drive from campus – is owned by Nichola McClendon, who was inspired after a vacation to Puerto Rico to create a coffeehouse that encapsulates a paradise-like atmosphere and a get-away experience in the heart of Richardson. The coffee shop is located on the corner of Park and Texas Street and is situated in a small renovated house that provides students with a home away from home. Staycation Coffee is typically open from Tuesday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., and on Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

As you enter the coffee shop, you are greeted with a small, sage green, rustic-looking house, and when you walk further inside, it feels like you’re entering a living room back in your own home. The only difference between your house and this cafe is the friendly staff behind the kitchen bar.

When you visit, consider grabbing a coffee, whether that be regular hot drip coffee, a decadent mocha latte or perhaps some calming tea instead. Staycation won’t break your bank account like an actual vacation, as the price range of drinks is on the lower side, ranging from $2.75 to $6.25 for drinks and not more than $10 for a quick bite.

NCT Dream discusses dreams at Roundtable

MANYA BONDADA Mercury Staff

Energetic, passionate and inspirational, NCT DREAM, a Korean pop group, shared advice in a virtual interview with The Mercury for college students pursuing their dreams.

From rocket scientists to NASA pilots, UTD has a history of shooting for the stars. But at only half a century old, many Comets aren’t aware of the school’s extensive roots in aviation and connections to famous female pilots.

Deep in the bowels of the Testing Center on Synergy Park resides “The History of Aviation Archives,” the largest section of McDermott Library’s Special Collections and Archives Division. It consists of world-class aeronautical material and one of the most extensive World War I aviation archives outside of Europe, according to curator and certified archivist Patrizia Nava.

“The Dallas region is really very aeronautic heavy,” Nava said.

On the surface, the site is just a large room of display cases filled with model airplanes and helicopters. Look closer, and there lies a living archive and repository.

With proper gloves and sanitation, most of the papers and photographs can even be held by hand. But you don’t have to be a graduate student or historian to pay a visit.

“Everybody can come to our archives,” Nava said.

Beyond the lobby and conference room, a cold storage repository with rows of moveable archive shelves the size of bank vaults sits in the back.

“[This] temperature-controlled environment … is important for the many kinds of archival material we have,” Nava said.

The breakfast menu consists of quiches and croissants, but expect a changing menu based on the featured pop-up breakfast chefs that provide pastries and kolaches. Your classics will be well executed in the restaurant, as their toasty croissants will melt in the mouth like butter.

A major feature of the establishment is its open backyard, due to the shop being based in a renovated home. But beyond the outdoor seating, expect a good amount of indoor setup, fitting in with the comfortable vibe of the establishment.

Staycation Coffee has plenty of couches and plush chairs where you can sit down and have a chat with friends or get started on some early morning homework.

Staycation Coffee is a hidden gem in the town of Richardson and the perfect spot for students to feel like they’re visiting home again. Students should definitely take the time out of their morning to go experience the homely ambience and bring friends with them for a fun time.

The Mercury received an opportunity to attend a virtual roundtable with the members of world-renowned K-pop boy band NCT DREAM, along with journalists from other universities across America. In honor of NCT DREAM’s first world tour, the group shared their thoughts on the joys and struggles of growing up.

NCT DREAM originally debuted in 2016, and the group members’ average age is 22, falling in the same age range as most college students. Since their debut, the band has gained international fame for their feel-good and upbeat music that encourages listeners to follow their dreams. In the roundtable, the members opened up about their experiences traveling the world, debuting at such a young age and lessons they have learned through their journey as artists.

“I’d like to tell myself to not be scared or shy,” JISUNG, the main dancer of NCT DREAM, said through a translator. “Back then, I was kind of concerned with what people would think, and I was very shy, but

A day in Ramadan: from sunrise to sunset

As the sun sets on UTD, healthcare freshman Rafah Shaik passes out steaming kabobs and paratas to masses of hungry students eager — but more importantly, grateful — to eat after 16 hours of fasting.

Shaik is one of hundreds of Muslim students on campus that are fasting this Ramadan, and one of many spending it for the first time away from family.

Ramadan is the ninth month in the Islamic calendar and the month Muslims believe the Quran was revealed to Prophet Muhammed. To observe this holy time of year, Muslims abstain from food and drink from sunrise to sunset and focus on strengthen-

ing their “deen” — religious participation, spirituality and service to others — through praying, reading scripture, donating and community building. The 30 days of fasting conclude with a three-day celebration known as Eid al-Fitr, the longest and most important holiday for Muslims.

Islamic months follow the lunar calendar, and as such, Ramadan moves up by about one to two weeks every year. This year, Ramadan fell smack dab in the middle of the spring semester.

“My schedule is definitely different from when Ramadan was in the summer,” Shaik said. “There’s school and homework and all of that. But that’s the beauty of it – no matter what we’re doing, we take the time to reflect

I don’t think there’s a need for that. That is what I would tell my past self.”

The Korean music industry is known for its physically and emotionally taxing trainee system that prepares aspiring idols for debut. The NCT DREAM members, having entered the music industry at such a young age, live vastly different lives than most college students. However, while their childhood and day-to-day experiences might differ, their hopes, like their music, are universal.

“I would have to say that your college years are when you have the most passion and the most strength to pursue your dreams. And I would want to say to do everything that you wanna do, so that you

SEE NCT, PAGE 10

and come together. It’s been unique and very rewarding.” * Suhoor *

A day in Ramadan starts before the sun rises, usually around 4 or 5 a.m. To prepare for the long day of fasting, Muslims consume a breakfast meal known as suhoor in Arabic or sahari in other languages. Muslim students can eat anything as long as it is “halal,” or permissible. Foods that aren’t halal include pork, alcohol and animal products where the animal was slaughtered inhumanely.

“Some people will eat a small portion of fruits or dates and some will eat an entire meal,” Shaik said. “I usually go for something

SEE RAMADAN PAGE 10

The Fix: A Day Cafe

RAYA JISHI Mercury Staff

As a busy student, finding a cafe that's friendly for both unwinding and socializing can be a challenge, but A Day Cafe could be the place you're looking for. A Day Cafe is a trendy coffee spot with an inviting environment and a colorful menu that caters to the taste buds of all guests. This cafe is located off of Greenville Avenue and is a convenient eight-minute drive from

campus. It is a prime spot to socialize with friends due to its relaxed atmosphere that can make the perfect study break or lunchtime hangout. Whether students are looking to catch up with friends over coffee and toast or grab a smoothie after a workout, A Day Cafe caters to all needs. Prices range from $4 for drinks to just under $13 for sweet toast plates, and the cafe is open Tuesday through Sunday from noon to 9:30 p.m.

Tucked away into the lower floor of a large building and tempting with colorful, aesthetically pleasing drinks, the cafe feels like a hidden gem. With a chill vibe and a minimalist

The History of Aviation Collection, or HAC, was established in 1963 at UT Austin by Flight magazine publisher George Haddaway. In the late ’70s, Haddway moved the collection to the second floor of McDermott Library, where it was under the curation of G. Edward Rice, an honored member of the aviation community who happened to have a small linkage with one of the 20th century’s greatest disappearances and aeronautical mysteries.

From acquiring many of the artifacts to his connections across the aviation community, Nava said Rice had a huge influence on the collection.

Rice crisscrossed California as a final assembler and assembly supervisor for Douglas Aircraft Co, Lockheed and Hughes Aircraft. While at Lockheed in Burbank, Rice worked on Amelia Earhart’s Model 10 Electra before her final journey and second world flight attempt in 1937, where government officials maintained that she and flight navigator Fred Noonan crashed into the Pacific Ocean after running out of gas en route to Howland Island.

The list of conspiracy theories surrounding her disappearance has grown to almost Kennedy and Watergate levels. But Rice's connection to the “Queen of the Air” is just the beginning.

The aviation archives also contain the papers of Joseph Gervais, a former Air Force colonel who became obsessed with Earhart’s disappearance while stationed in Okinawa.

Gervais believed that Earhart survived the crash and was captured by the Japanese. He also suggested that Earhart was spying for the Federal government and that after the war, she returned to the U.S. under the alias of Irene Bolam.

Joe Klass and Rollin Reineck based their controversial books - Amelia Earhart Lives and Amelia Earhart Survived - on Gervais’s work.

The collection is more than just a history of planes and pilots.

“You can use aviation in so many things,

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yet appealing interior, and walls scattered with colorful images and decor, A Day Cafe is perfect for hangouts or social media posts. It has a decent number of tables, chairs and soft benches, making it a comfortable place to sit and socialize. The natural lighting adds to the relaxed ambience, creating a calm, low-key environment that makes you want to linger and enjoy your time.

But A Day Cafe is not just about physical appearance — it also boasts a mouth-watering menu that is sure to please any palate.

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RILEY RUSSELL| MERCURY STAFF

RILEY RUSSELL| MERCURY STAFF

FATIMAH AZEEM Mercury Staff

HARIKA PATCHIPALA Mercury Staff

KATHERYN HO MERCURY STAFF

RILEY RUSSELL | MERCURY STAFF

KATHERYN HO | MERCURY STAFF KATHERYN HO| MERCURY STAFF

Omar Suleiman, a beloved Islamic leader, discusesses Quranic verses at EPIC Masjid's 'Suhoor Fest' in Plano.

RAFAH SHAIKH| COURTESY

NCT CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9 live without regrets,” RENJUN, the main vocalist of NCT DREAM, said.

Although NCT DREAM produces music primarily in Korean, their international fanbase stands strong, with Billboard naming them as one of the 21 under 21 in music’s next generation for three years in a row, and their first LP, “Hot Sauce,” selling one million copies within the first week of release.

“[Their music] is very energetic, very good-feeling music,” Nancy Tapia, an ATEC senior and Hallyu Wave community chair, said. “I feel like you can just listen to it and it just instantly brightens up your mood. And I just need that because I am a college student and I am very stressed. So, listening to their music makes me so relaxed and at peace.”

UTD, with its diverse range

AVIATION CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9

whether it’s the arts, advertisement, [or] business,” Nava said. “We would like students to discover us because it’s a very rich source.”

Earhart is just the tip of the iceberg for women in aviation showcased at HAC.

Tony Page, whose papers have also been cataloged, was a pioneer in journalism and aviation. Page won a flight lesson after writing an essay about why she wanted to enter the aviation industry. Not long after, she was hired by Flight magazine in 1940, but the publisher never knew she was a woman until six months later. By the ’50s, she’d

RAMADAN CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9

This year, Dining Hall West is offering suhoor power packs with the swipe of a meal card. Each pack contains a balance of fruit, bread, dates, a small entrée and a drink, and students can pick up their packs the night before suhoor.

“I’m just glad they have them,” Shaikh said. “It’s nice that they have a different type of food. They didn’t used to have this.”

Fasting/Faith

Classes start at 10 a.m. for Shaik, and from there it’s a long day of academics and extracurriculars, all while religion is at the forefront of her mind.

“Fasting is not a burden,” Shaik said. “I’m blessed to fast, alhamdulillah. It’s like, thank God I get to fast and have this experience while doing school. And it might be more worthwhile because of the challenge during the school semester. I was sad at first to be away from my parents, who are in Minnesota, but I’m grateful to have a community to share this experience with.”

Fasting during this time of year is one of five pillars in Islam, with the other four being profession of faith (shahada), prayer (salat), donating (zakat) and making a holy pilgrimage (Hajj) to Mecca. Fasting — also known as sawm — may be the most defining practice in Ramadan, and what non-Muslims think of first when imagining the month, but Shaik said it’s equally important to focus on prayer, donating and helping the community.

“It’s definitely a time to build character and remember the people around you,” Shaik said. “It’s so easy to get absorbed in what you do every day, but you must remember those that are less fortunate than you and seek to help them, regardless of if you’re busy with classes or working.

Ramadan is a reminder that I need to hold myself to a higher standard, and that holds true even when the month is over.”

Along with five daily prayers from

THE FIX CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9

crepes to milk tea and smoothies to coffee, A Day Cafe has a wide variety of options for hungry and thirsty students. One popular item is the homemade custard mini toast, a sweet and creamy treat for just under $6. And for those looking for something more filling to share with friends, the $12.85 honey butter toast or mango sticky rice are hearty and delicious choices. Students can also indulge in a variety of sweet crepes under $9,

of clubs, also hosts several NCT DREAM fans who, like Tapia, are active in different Korean mediarelated clubs on campus. Fans use NCT DREAM’s music to motivate themselves to continue their studies.

“My personal dream is to be a motion designer, and [NCT DREAM] utilizes that a lot when teasing comebacks, like they change their designs and layouts and put animated logos and stuff like that and I really like that,” Tapia said.

“And seeing that, I just think, ‘oh, I could possibly do that’ or even work with them and make something for them, and that would be a huge dream, so I hope I achieve that one day.”

As college students, doubt can easily creep into our minds at any point, making the process of studying and pursuing our degrees seem unnecessarily difficult. However, finding fulfillment in the outcome of our work, little hobbies we en-

already proven herself in a maledominated field by logging over 550 flight hours and receiving an active pilot and helicopter license.

Writing became a critical part of her life when her husband Holland Page Jr. purchased the Fort Worth-based Cross Country News in 1952. She continued doing just that until her death in 1988.

Nava said she found Page fascinating. “There’s a woman in the aviation world. She has her own publication. How often does that happen in the ’50s and ’60s,” she said.

“You have to go look over the rim of your teacup in order to find materials [and] maybe there are some things that you didn’t think would

before sunrise late into the evening, Muslims are encouraged to pray a special prayer called tarawih every night and participate in “Laylat-alQadr,” which translates to the “the Most Powerful Night,” the night they believe the Quran was revealed. Participation includes reading scripture and praying as many “rakats” or sessions of prayer as possible, whether that goes on for a few rounds or for the entire night.

UTD has several accommodations that Muslim students can use to practice their faith, including the Reflection Rooms in the SU, a designated prayer space with male and female congregation areas. SU bathrooms have foot wash stations for students to perform “wudu,” a cleaning and hygiene ritual that involves washing feet before praying. And as for all religions, Muslim students can request accommodations from their professors for Iftar or Eid following instructions from their school.

“No matter how rich you are, whether you’re the Saudi prince, you’re still fasting. The poor of America are still fasting,” neuroscience and philosophy sophomore Wali Mohan said. “I think really Ramadan's biggest essence, the biggest thing you could draw from Ramadan, is the fact that you are human and your fellow humans matter. It elevates you spiritually, but it brings you to your senses and I think that really helps build empathy for your brothers and sisters and just fellow people.”

Iftar

As soon as the operatic call to prayer sounds during sunset, Shaik knows it’s time for Iftar – the meal Muslims eat to break their fast.

It’s sunnah – or blessed – to break fast with a date, so Shaik usually starts with that before heading to Muslim Student Association’s Iftar service on campus. MSA, the largest Islamic student organization on campus, offers free iftar in the Student Union every Monday to Thursday, bringing in food from restaurants such as Noodle Wave or

including the Go Strawberry Crepe with Nutella and fresh strawberries or the Berry Berry Crepe with blueberry sauce and vanilla ice cream.

For those looking for a caffeine fix, the café’s selection of coffee and tea drinks includes classics like the $5.25 Chai Tea Latte. Milk tea and fruit tea lovers will also find much to enjoy at the cafe, such as the $4.95 taro milk tea or $5.35 four season tea. My personal favorite was their classic Thai milk tea, which is flavorful without being too sweet and, like their other drinks, bright and served in a cup with a smiling lid.

joy with our friends and personal growth make these the most worthwhile years of our lives. Just as NCT DREAM’s music highlights, the joy and nostalgia of being young come only once and should be experienced with open arms.

“We started our careers when we were all below the age of 18,” MARK, the leader of NCT DREAM, said. “And even then, we had this goal … We wanted to be a symbol of healing to our listeners and to be a beacon of hope to everyone that sees us and that supports us, and especially for people that were young like us, young dreamers … To see that there are people like us who are just striving so hard for their dreams at a young age, we're here to support them too.”

NCT DREAM is currently on the U.S. leg of their world tour and performed in the Texas Trust CU Theatre stadium in Dallas on April 14.

be there.”

Other small exhibits occupying Synergy Park show artifacts connected to the figures from the Golden Age of aviation history like Charles Lindbergh and Jimmy Doolittle, whose desks and Medal of Honor are on display, as well as a memorial devoted to the pilots and ground support of Civil Air Transport Air America, which helped run covert operations for the CIA after World War II.

Though HAC moved into Synergy Park in 2017 to accommodate for the diverse number of materials, some of the bigger items had to be moved and are on permanent loan with the Frontiers of Flight Museum at Love Field in Dallas.

Angel’s Chicken Kitchen.

MSA hosted a special iftar event for students on campus this past April 4 known as the Intercultural Iftar, a potluck-style dinner showcasing South Asian, Arab, and American cuisines such as steaming lamb and chicken curries, falafel and hummuses, and various pakoras – or crispy vegetable and onion fritters. Hundreds of students gathered to enjoy the late evening meal together, including Shaik who helped serve dinner to hungry fasters.

“As I mentioned before, it’s great being able to give back,” Shaik said. “The day can get tiring without food, but it’s more important to serve others first. That is the essence of fasting.”

Aside from MSA’s services, Shaik said it’s hard to find good iftar dining options at UTD and more difficult for those that don’t have a car. Halal Shack, the only Student Union dining place that offers zabiha meat, or meat slaughtered in a halal way,extended their hours to 8 p.m. on weekdays. But most students break their fast right around then, meaning there isn’t always enough time to accommodate everyone seeking iftar in the Student Union.

In addition to Iftar dining services, MSA offers numerous programs to help Muslims feel connected to their faith. Programs include workshops and panels, donation and community service events and scripture circles that both Muslims and non-Muslims alike are welcome to attend. This year, MSA is also hosting an Eid carnival with several other Islamic organizations for Comets to celebrate with other students.

“Eid is a time for togetherness, and we didn’t want anyone to have to spend it alone,” Mohan said. “That breaks my heart that some people might not have any family or might not be able to go back, so that’s why we put this together. We encourage any students that don’t have plans for Eid to come out. We’d love to see you there and cherish the month we spent fasting together.”

Their taro milk tea with honey boba is also a great option, maintaining its distinct taro flavor without any unpleasant aftertaste.

A Day Cafe is an ideal spot for students to hang out and grab a bite to eat. With its lively menu and inviting feel, the cafe provides a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere that can help any student unwind and recharge. Whether Comets are looking for a caffeine fix, a sweet treat, or a cozy spot to socialize, A Day Cafe has something for everyone.

Comet shines as esports program leader

As head coach of UTD’s official Rocket League team, accounting sophomore Daniyal Ghayasuddin has accomplished outstanding feats in the world of esports, including coaching a collegiate team and hosting several events, and continues to share his passion for the field with the community.

Ghayasuddin has been the coach for the Rocket League team for about a year now, despite never having professional experience with the game. A fan of the game since 2015, Ghayasuddin noticed UTD’s talent in Rocket League at a national level – the team made it to the national stage once in 2020 – and he was inspired to become a coach because of his love for the game.

“It just felt really awesome to just get into that space and coach the team, and figure out how we improve or how we can just kind of bounce back to where we were getting to nationals,” Ghayasuddin said.

As the head coach, Ghayasuddin said that members of the team have improved greatly in the past year, with one student, Danny “Ghost” Vu, earning an award for Most Improved Player of the Season. Ghayasuddin said that the players he coaches are at a higher playing level than he is, but his insight and teaching has still been of great value to the team, proven by his “Coach of the Season” award for the spring 2023 season. Though not at the same in-game rank as his team members, Ghayasuddin stands out in his role as a coach because of his ability to facilitate communication and look back at players’ gameplay to offer advice.

“The greatest thing is that in the collegiate esports scene, keeping that team chemistry is one of the biggest focuses for us,” Ghayasuddin said, “and I’ve noticed that if I stick to that chemistry, if I stick to kind of talking through a lot of replays, going through the gameplay in general and just allowing the players to talk rather than me kind of controlling the moment, it allows us for … a better way of guidance for the players. And I think the players respect me for that.”

Ghayasuddin said he’s pushed himself to achieve outstanding things outside of just UTD’s Rocket League team, such as creating events and providing commentary at tournaments. More recently, Ghayasuddin has joined as a player for UTD’s Omega Strikers team, which formed in October 2022. Noah Brown, a member on the team and a computer engineering junior, noted how Ghayasuddin stood out among his other peers through his enthusiasm in everything he does.

“He is one of the most charismatic peo-

SEE DANIYAL PAGE 13

UTD SPIRIT TEAM WINS NATIONALS

Celebration broke out in Daytona Beach, Florida after the UTD Spirit Team took home national awards in every category they competed in from April 6 to April 8 at the NDA/NCA College Competition.

Bringing home three trophies, a plaque and two new banners, the Spirit Team also won four national titles. Two of the national titles were won for the first time in UTD history, landing first place in both the Team Performance Open National Champions and Spirit Rally Open National Champions; they also earned the Innovative Choreography Award. Meanwhile, the cheerleaders celebrated ranking top three in the Intermediate Small Co-ed DIII. Temoc placed fourth in the national Mascot College Classic at the DTU National Championship, making history as the first time UTD’s mascot placed in the top five.

Spirit coordinator Miguel Hernandez, who is also the head dance coach and mascot coach, said this was his first time earning a first-place title with the Comet Spirit Team. He attributes the team’s success to

intense practices, upperclassmen leadership and choreographer Mary Stevenson.

“It was fantastic, and it still feels fake. I’m waiting for someone to come in and take these trophies away from us,” Hernandez said. “I don’t know if we call it a curse, but we were just second for maybe about the past three years. We’ve been getting second place in the same category [against the] same team, and we’re like, we have to beat them.”

For all performances, including Temoc’s solar system adventure, the message of the choreography defined by both teams was the drive to go above and beyond. Hernandez began conceptualizing the idea with his team before he even left the airport at the 2022 competition, later adding some unique Texas representation in the spirit rally, which Stevenson brought to life for the team before the nationals season.

While the Spirit Team didn’t receive their choreography until the middle of the fall semester, they’ve been preparing and training by sticking to a training regimen since summer on top of practices.

“This year was definitely a clean slate. And we’re like, this is what we’re doing. This

is how hard we have to work, and every practice we have to remind ourselves this is what we want,” Hernandez. “We just started doing harder routines throughout volleyball season and basketball season just to train our bodies to be in a more competitive state earlier on rather than waiting till we got our dances. So, I think that definitely helped amplify and get the athletes ready for what was to come in January.”

Megan Stewart, an ATEC senior and co-captain of the power dancers, said that competition felt like the epitome of the dancers’ hard work and passion for the sport, and that’s what pushed them to victory. This competition marked Stewart’s second year of being co-captain and her first winning a title.

“We wanted to push each other, and we wanted to do it for the seniors who this was their last year, we wanted to do it for the people who this was their first time stepping on the mat,” Stewart said. “There [were] more people who have previously held National Championship titles competing against us and vying for the same spot. Coming back with both National Champi-

onship titles feels incredible. We were just so excited to even be able to go this year.”

Tess Christopher, a neuroscience sophomore and captain of the cheerleaders, competed for the first time as a soaring grace on the cheerleading pyramid. She said she admired the adrenaline rush, saying it was unlike anything she’d ever experienced. Christopher confirmed that the training leading up to the competition was intense, and despite several teammate injuries throughout the season, she said it was rewarding for how much time and effort they put into the season.

“We were laughing the whole time [during some practices] and just enjoying one another and enjoying the sport we all love,” Christopher said. “There's a lot of teaching going on, [but] then on top of that, we had a lot of injuries, unfortunately. Having to deal [with] and overcome those injuries and learn how to work around them was definitely challenging.”

The Spirit Team is currently resigned for the rest of the year outside some guest appearances across campus and an upcoming clinic for tryouts on April 28.

UTD wins first place in sword fighting tournament

the tournament by winning all his games. Casto said he joined the club in 2021 and has been coaching ever since.

UTD swordsmen clashed blades and brought home first and third-place accolades on April 2 in the second-ever Texas College HEMA Alliance Tournament.

UTD’s Historical Swordfighting Guild — the team that brought home awards — has taught Historical European Martial Arts or HEMA since 2021. The guild has 24 registered members and is still growing, making it one of the biggest collegiate sword fighting groups in Texas. This organization allows students to learn about Middle Age history and master sword combat for competitive tournaments such as the HEMA Alliance Tournament, which UTD hosted this year.

Kenton Casto, a cybersecurity senior at Collin College and assistant coach for UTD’s sword fighting club, placed first in

Softball nationals upcoming

Here’s everything you need to know about the team

The Comet softball team is currently tied for third place with 11 wins and four losses in the Division III American Southwestern Conference. Here is everything you need to know before the May 11 ASC tournament, including the recent games you might have missed.

The softball team began the season in Memphis, TN with two victories against Rhodes College. They continued to dominate in Memphis with two more wins before coming home for a split game against Ottawa University, snowballing into a five-game losing streak. However, the Comets brought back their spirit with a nearly undefeatable strategy, with only one loss against Sul Ross State University.

Head coach Keller Archer, who has been teaching at UTD for nearly 20 years, said he could not be prouder of his team, which ranks No. 2 in fielding for the ASC.

“[UTD Athletics is the] best place I’ve ever worked. It’s my favorite place,” Ar-

cher said. “We’re in a very tough conference softball-wise. There are three teams in our conference in the top 25 in the nation. And we’re currently tied for third in our conference. So it’s a good and a bad. We’d like to be a little better than a third, but knowing we’re competing against teams that are nationally ranked, we feel pretty good.”

Highlight players this season include senior pitcher Emilie Hoelscher, senior catcher Megan Todd and freshman batter Claire Pollack.

Hoelscher is one of the Comets’ three pitchers and is a celebrated athlete as the 23rd-best DIII pitcher in the nation for strikeouts. Hoelscher is nearly number one in every pitching category, the most notable stat being her 69.23% win rate in addition to 89 strikeouts which caused opposing teams to hit the ball only 23.1% of the time. Hoelscher is the No. 1 pitcher for both strikeout categories for the ASC.

“She’s had multiple games where she’s

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“It was really fun. I’m here for friends, not here for any emotionally deep meaning in relation to swords,” Casto said. “So that was pretty interesting. I’ve made a lot of pretty cool friends here. I hope I can have many more close friendships from the people that I teach.”

The growing intercollegiate sport invited A&M Galveston, the University of Dallas and LeTourneau University to engage in one-on-one combat. While HEMA includes Victorian bare-knuckle boxing, Nordic folk wrestling, Spanish rapier fencing and French poleaxe fighting, this tournament almost exclusively focused on longsword combat, which utilizes a straight-bladed two-handed sword as taught by the UTD Historical Swordfighting Guild.

“So we meet at practice and when a new person shows up, I’ll take them aside and

I’ll teach them the fundamentals and the basics,” Casto said. “As a coach, I teach new people. I take them aside and I help out around. I critique people and I spar people as well.”

The UTD Historical Swordfighting

SEE SWORD PAGE 13

Comet baseball post-midseason

The Comets baseball team is nearly at the end of its season. With 11 wins and seven losses in the Division III American Southwestern Conference, the team stands at second place in the conference. Here’s everything you need to catch up on before the ASC tournament on May 4, including recent games you might have missed.

The baseball season opened up with a split in Seguin, Texas against Texas Lutheran University. Since then, the team has won six home games, six away games and three neutral games. It’s been an intense season so far, and this was highlighted at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational, where the baseball team scored two victories and two defeats over spring break. Since returning to Texas, the Comets have only faced two losses in comparison to six wins with their most recent games.

The team has seen several standout players, including junior first base Robert Hines, senior second base An -

drew Skivington and graduate pitcher Ryan Vera. Hines is a newcomer to the Comets, but that hasn’t stopped him from making it to bat 111 times this season, the highest number in the ASC for the year. He has a 40.4% batting average, translating into 45 hits so far, and his most impressive stat is his 226 putout record, which signifies how many batters he’s ruled out in the field. In the ASC, Hines is No. 4 for the highest

The UTD Spirit Team took home four national titles, three trophies, a plaque and two banners from the NCA/NDA competition in Daytona Beach in early April.

ANDRÉ AVERION Mercury Staff

DANIYAL GHAYASUDDIN

Guild was founded by mechanical engineering senior Nicholas Alexander in the fall semester of 2021, who has since been teaching his guild members sword martial

ANDRÉ AVERION Mercury Staff

You (probably) can’t be an anonymous source

JACK SIERPUTOWSKI Mercury Staff

There’s an inquiry you receive a lot as an editor at The Mercury — “Can I be anonymous?” And the answer, for the most part, is no.

From news stories to opinion pieces, The Mercury receives a surprising number of students requesting to both share their voice in our publication and yet also remain unnamed. But there are very strict rules for using anonymity in the newspaper, and that is for good reason. Named sources are the foundation of credible journalism. Putting a face to the name or a name to words is the only way we can stand behind our claims and prove to the public that our information is well-founded.

Let’s be clear—there are situations in journalism where the use of an anonymous source is appropriate; the main application for our organization would be in cases of a direct threat to your physical safety or financial livelihood. For example, you may be the whistleblower on an abusive employer, like

the anonymous source that was used in a 2019 investigation by The Mercury into allegations of sexual harassment among UTD dining supervisors. In this case, if the student worker was named, she could have lost her job or have been antagonized even more by her manager. You could be at the center of an incident where speaking out could attract further victimization, like a situation of alleged sexual harassment and cyberstalking that The Mercury reported on in 2014.

But with the vast majority of the requests for anonymity that we receive, there is no dire threat. People just don’t want to be posted on utdbruhmoments. The issue is, feeling uncomfortable or embarrassed is not putting you or your family in danger. Your feelings are not a valid reason to request anonymity.

We have received several pitches for opinion pieces that were immediately prefaced by a request for anonymity. Some of these were more innocuous, like a person opposed to the 2022 athletics fee, or more controversial, like someone who was opposed to the 2023 SJP resolution. In either case, the reason given was that they didn’t want people to publicly

TA compensation needs to change at UTD

Undergraduate teaching assistants for certain courses need to get paid

UTD teaching assistants, or TAs, do not get compensated like every other school in the UT system does, and that needs to change.

Students who successfully complete a course at UTD can become a TA because they have proven that they have enough knowledge to help other students succeed. Other schools in the UT system, such as UT Austin, UT Arlington and UT San Antonio pay all their teaching assistants regardless of what class they are assisting or what degree they are pur suing through either an hourly wage or monthly stipend. However, at UTD, the compensation changes depending on what degree a TA is seeking and the class they are assisting.

At UTD, masters and graduate students get paid regardless of the class they are assisting; however, they each get paid differently depending on the funding of the school they are employed under. Undergraduates only get paid for certain classes like physics labs, but for a neuroscience lecture or biology lab, they get compen sated through three higher level credits.

Varun Thavanampalli, a junior neuro science and biology major, said that as a TA for Integrative Neuroscience, he is only compensated with three higher level credits but didn’t mind since he enjoyed the class.

“TAing consists of two main responsibilities,” Thavanampalli said. “It’s keeping up with the content and then teaching ... I know for other professors that I’ve heard of, there’s a lot more stuff and more responsibilities. I don’t get compensated, I just kind of do it for fun. My main compensation is ... upper-level credit hours ... if I wanted to get paid, I would go to the SSS.” Students are required to work around

6 to 20 hours a week as a TA, and for undergrads with rigorous course work, credits are not much of a compensation at all. This is because students typically have to pay tuition — depending on the credits they’re taking — and ultimately, it’s like they are paying to become a TA. In sharp contrast, at UT Austin, students get at least a minimum of $9.00 per hour for being a TA. Junior neuroscience ma-

other schools. At UT Austin, Graduate students get paid around $23k to $57k annually for being a graduate assistant. At UTD, for a graduate physics lab TA, there are two forms of compensation: tuition reimbursement, which is about $8,000 per semester, or a salary of around $22k per year. Angel Romero, a third-year Ph.D. physics major and current Mechanics lab TA, feels that UTD’s compensation is insufficient compared to other schools.

“Right now, for me specifically, my TA job doesn’t even cover my rent.” Romero said. “When you’re talking in the retrospect of ‘we’re here doing research and trying to finish our degree’ it’s kind of like a double-edged sword. Because we are trying to get done in a timely manner, but we also want to get paid enough to be able to make ends meet.”

Ph.D. students play a critical role at UTD, as they help students while also participate in research, all of which benefits the our school’s ranking in the long run. However, our school can’t seem to make ends meet even for those who put so much effort in.

associate their name with their expressed views. But then what exactly is the point of an opinion?

If you want to use our platform to publicly express your views, then you better have the nerve to put your name behind it. If not, then you ought not reach out to a journalist at all. You can’t have it both ways. If you want a megaphone to blare your thoughts to the whole world, then you need to be prepared for people to answer back.

This is the tenuous but important relationship that media holds with the world. As journalists, we are just as much members of the civil service as a city council member or a police officer. We literally establish to the public what the facts are, and though all humans are biased, we are sworn by profession to communicate the truth. The only way we can ensure that journalists maintain their objectivity is if they are held accountable, and that can only be done with a paper trail.

What would it look like if we published an investigative piece where every single source is unnamed? There is literally no way to guarantee that any of it is true, because the staff

writer could have just invented the entire story as a creative writing prompt. It is by our sources just as much as our bylines that we prove our credibility.

And then we come to the opinion pieces. This is probably the one area of journalism where we will not allow anonymity at all. Because there is no reason for it. We are not a gossip column. This is not Yik Yak. The Mercury is a news publication, and we only publish opinions from those mature enough to own up to them.

People are allowed to disagree with you, in fact, they are expected to. This is why rebuttals were once commonplace in newspaper opinion sections and why we still actively solicit letters to the editor. Maybe this has been forgotten in the social media age, but we used to have a culture that encouraged open discussion and welcomed debate. This is not possible when you don’t exist as a person. We are not here to publish a ghost.

So please, before you ask to be anonymous, consider the following: could this article kill me? If the answer is no, then you have our answer too.

Dutch Bros vs. Starbucks

Cheaper, faster and tastier, Dutch Bros has become my new go-to coffee spot near campus.

Dutch Bros is a drive-thru coffee chain that has a practically endless number of flavor syrups and drink combinations. It is a cornerstone of my college experience thus far because of the phenomenal customer service and customizability of the drinks. The coffee shop is a must-visit with multiple locations throughout the DFW area. Although Starbucks might be more popular in name, Dutch Bros takes the cake in almost every other way.

or customizations. In other words, I can order my medium marmalade lemonade, half-sweet, cut with green tea, with light ice without any judgmental glares. The baristas, called “broistas,” will make sure that your ordering experience is smooth and that you receive exactly what you have ordered. At Starbucks, on the other hand, I am forced to order on the app or cower as I simply ask the barista for an alternate milk.

problem that I feel that this compensation for credits brings about is the fact that people who need the money essentially and need access to these professors and close relationships can’t really afford to TA,” Paidesetty said. “Because essentially, they are spending time being a TA when they could be making money. So it’s not really possible for lower-income students, so being a TA is not really a practical option for gaining professional experience.”

Ph.D. students do get paid, but the stipend is not nearly as much as at

It isn’t fair that only some UTD students receive payment as TAs while not all undergraduates do. Compensation for TAs should not depend on the degree they are seeking -- it should depend on the rigor of the class they’re teaching. The course that someone may be working as a TA for only involves the scope of that course — you don’t need a Ph.D. to help freshmen in their Physics I: Mechanics lab. It makes sense for students who TA for different courses to get compensated different amounts depending on hours worked, but everyone who works deserves pay.

The true appeal of Dutch Bros comes from their plethora of drinks that are entirely adjustable in terms of sweetness. There are so many options, whether it is a lemonade, tea or coffee. Although they have pre-set options for customers to choose from, you are free to make whatever adjustments you want. Since there is no secret menu, you can combine anything that suits your liking. The pre-set options are available on the app, where you can also earn five points for every dollar spent. Since their brand is built on amazing customer service, you will never get judged for adding flavors

Originally, my venture to Dutch Bros was the result of an extremely long line at the Starbucks on campus. Though the Starbucks is within walking distance, the amount of people results in long wait times. Often, I can drive to Dutch Bros and get my drink long before I would have received my coffee on campus. Additionally, the drive-thru option for Dutch Bros makes it easy and efficient to get in and out of the shop between classes. Grabbing your car or tagging along with a friend to take a break from studying for a treat from Dutch Bros is a definite must during busy school weeks. My personal favorite drinks at Dutch Bros are their lemonades. They are comparable to Starbucks refresher lemonades

A-lister celebrities sound tone-deaf in award speeches

KATHERYN HO Mercury Staff

The 2023 SAG Awards highlighted celebrities’ false relatability through speeches aiming to inspire struggling workers to just work hard to get what they want. But these celebrities failed to acknowledge their immense privilege.

Each year, America anticipates in award shows that celebrate outstanding movies and television shows. One award show in particular stands out as having people in the film industry, especially actors, vote for the winners — not some shady voting committee like in the Oscars. The Screen Actors Guild Awards, or SAG Awards, are a series of awards where members of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists union, known as SAG-AFTRA, vote for the individual, movie cast and television ensemble performances.

This year, the winners were predictable because they also won other significant awards. Let’s not discredit anyone’s win, since they all worked hard for their glorious moment of recognition. However, the internet has a

different opinion. As with any award show with famous people, the speeches can get slightly out of touch.

Jamie Lee Curtis, the winner of the Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture, started her speech with a homage to her actor parents. She said her father was from Hungary, and her mother was from Denmark. They had nothing before becoming “monstrous” Hollywood stars. It was misleading since both her parents were born in

America to immigrant parents.

It is irrefutable that Curtis’ parents grew up poor. But they were still attractive white Americans with better chances of making it in Hollywood than any other group. This was even more ironic to hear, considering Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and James Hong spoke about discrimination against Asian actors in their acceptance speeches.

Curtis ended the speech by saying that although she was a nepotism baby,

she still faced Hollywood’s bias against aging women. Therefore, her win was an astonishing feat that could inspire struggling actors. None of what Curtis said was false. However, it is fair to say that her privilege was worth more than she thought. It is off-putting to hear aspirational words from Curtis when she attempted to make her parents’ stories humbler and expressed disdain for the term “nepo baby” whenever she could. Jamie failed at fabricating relatability and failed to inspire.

This is not a problem only with Jamie Lee Curtis. Many of the SAG Awards winners, like Jessica Chastain, Yeoh and Quan gave encouragement to struggling actors watching the show, but along the lines of “look at me, I made it, so you can too.” This sentiment is tone deaf because so much goes into making any career, not just acting. Luck is a significant component. You must know the right people, attend the right school or enter the industry at the right time. Wealth is another component, because sometimes money is how you get the part. Even more compli -

If it’s not for life threatening reasons, then it’s not going to happen — and feeling awkward doesn’t count

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ple I’ve ever met,” Brown said. “He somehow gets everybody laughing and talking. So he is just a vibe, I guess.”

Brown also noted that as a member of Omega Strikers, Ghayasuddin has helped bring the team success. His experience as a coach for Rocket League brings a unique viewpoint and understanding to the players.

“Him being the Rocket League coach, he was able to bring a mind of a coach into our VOD review sessions to help figure out, ‘oh, what are we doing wrong? What strategies can we implement?’” Brown said.

But Ghayasuddin does more

arts from the “Flos Duellatorum,” one of the oldest surviving Italian fencing manuals in human history. Its two-handed techniques were widely used throughout the tournament and secured their victory, and the Guild teaches this technique every Wednesday and Friday from 4 to 6 p.m. at Point North Park.

“This is what differentiates HEMA from fencing or Olympic fencing,” Alexander said. “You’re actually looking for quality of actions, because what this is supposed to represent is historical unarmored combat.”

These 15th-century fighting styles were some of the finer martial arts in the late European Middle Ages, and they were largely thought to be lost until 1990. Since then, they’ve become historical manuscripts which guild members now study to both to improve their

than just coach — he has played an active role in hosting and organizing events surrounding Omega Strikers, specifically a local area network, or LAN, event this coming May.

“The event is going to be held at the esports stadium [in] Arlington, which is the largest stadium

martial art proficiency and understand the historical context of the Middle Ages and historical European culture.

“The medieval texts were written by sword masters that were usually somewhat like national treasures of the country they were associated with back in the day,” Casto said. “As such, most of the manuals are written in a kind of code. With today’s increase in education level and the ability for worldwide communication, it’s very easy to understand what’s going on in the manual if you study it enough.”

Brandon Vaughn, one of the judges for this tournament and a 3-year instructor at the Dallas School of Historical Fencing, said he was impressed by the sportsmanship and turnout of the event.

“As far as it being the first collegiate event [for UTD], I mean, the space was awesome,” Vaughn said. “The fighters are really well mannered.”

SOFTBALL CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11

had 10-plus strikeouts, and that’s a big number for pitchers, so it's been really fun watching her,” Archer said.

Todd is one of the best batters of this season, as she made top three in seven different ASC categories and was also declared a player to watch this season by the ASC league’s head coaches and sports information directors. Todd is No. 1 in seven batting categories among the Comets and number one in four fielding categories, consistently leading games.

“She is loving every minute even though she knows the end is near,” Archer said. “But I tell you what, I’ve seen a kid who just loves every minute that she’s here. And every time she’s up to bat, it’s a threat for the ball to go into the trees. It’s a lot of fun.”

Pollack is one of the newest players on the team and consistently one of the most efficient batters. She holds the team best

in North America for esports,” Ghayasuddin said. “And it’s going to be a $5,000 prize pool with some of the best players in North America coming out. And there's of course invitations to other players outside … Japan, Mexico … Korea was invited as well … One of the greatest things about this event is this is officially sponsored, and this is the first official LAN event by Omega Strikers, the company Odyssey Interactive. And so they kind of put their trust in me as one of the community members to hold this event.”

UTD’s Omega Strikers team will also be participating in the LAN, which has players physically seated in the same room and connected to the same network as they compete. Ghayasuddin said that

he volunteered for the role as a host due to his passion for creating events. In the past, he has hosted the “Bozo Bakery” Rocket League tournament through Twitch, as well as several 1v1 tournaments. Ghayasuddin saw Omega Strikers, a newer video game, as a great opportunity to expand its competitive scene.

In June, Ghayasuddin will host another larger event, “Battle for Texas.” 10 collegiate Texas teams, including teams from major universities like UTD, UT Austin, Texas A&M and University of Houston, will be competing in the Omega Strikers LAN at Dream Hack Dallas. Ghayasuddin said Dream Hack is a large esports event, meaning that participants will be playing on stage in front of

a crowd.

Ghayasuddin also enjoys his role as one of the social media leads for UTD Esports. His responsibilities include facilitating the organization’s social media presence by creating graphics and making posts on various platforms. Ghayasuddin has ventured into esports outside of UTD as well, most notably when he worked with Disney to cast live for the Rocket League high school nationals.

“I will say one of the greatest things about esports is that it’s not only a hobby that you can pursue, but it’s also a job,” Ghayasuddin said. “And so one of the things is just, I love having fun with it. You know, just working on events, working on coaching, seeing the people around me improve and

succeed. That's one thing I just really, really love.”

With so many achievements in the esports field as only a sophomore, Ghayasuddin had a few words of advice for students looking to step into the realm of professional gaming.

“The greatest advice that I can give is to just start working,” Ghayasuddin said. “Oone of the things that I’ve known is that if you start putting in the work and you start researching just a little bit about, ‘Hey, what do you do for an event?’… Then slowly but surely, you’ll start collecting some documents or start collecting that organization. And you just have fun with it. Before you know it, oh my goodness, this is all working out. This is all working out.”

great experience for business ju-

nior Savannah Skinner, who competed for the first time. Skinner said she hopes that the tournament continues to grow in size.

“Personally the biggest challenge was because of the lack of structure or divisions, you could go against anybody,” Skinner said.

“So the biggest challenge would be just the extreme variety and probably experience differing levels. Size for me does not affect [the tournament] at all. It just gives me a different set of moves I can do. So definitely just experience is probably the biggest challenge.”

Skinner added that she plans to train over the summer and participate in next year’s tournament as well.

DEVINEE AMIN

BASEBALL CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11 batting average and number one for hits scored.

Skivington joined the Comets just one season ago, earning his place on the Tournament Team for both the ASC Blue Bracket and ASC Gold Bracket. With nine season records in the Comet batting category secured, he is number six in the ASC for a 60.9% slugging percentage and

made honors for weekly awards in early March.

When batters see No. 12 walk onto the field, it’s as good as over for them. An Academic AllStar for the last three seasons, Vera holds first place for almost every single pitching category, shining with a 66.7% win rate, 49 batters struck out and an opposing 28% average for batters able to hit his pitches.

As of August 13, the Comets won two out of three games in

The guild is currently welcomed to compete at higher levels beyond college. Alexander promises that this is only the beginning for UTD’s Historical Swordfighting

for 21 runs, 28 hits, 6 stolen bases, 68 turns at batting and is only one out of two Comets to score a single triple. Additionally, Pollack holds the second best in batting average with 41.2%, slugging with 61.8%, 6 doubles, 2 homeruns, 42 total bases run and played the start of the game 21 times. She tied with Todd for most games played at 22 games this season.

As of April 13, the Comets faced their most recent loss against the Dallas Christian Crusaders, breaking the eight-win streak the Comets have fought for every step of the way with a score of 4-5.

The Comets will be facing off against the Austin College ’Roos on April 19, against the East Texas Baptist Tigers on April 21 and 22, and then bringing the LeTourneau Hornets to a home game on April 28 and 29. Before the ASC tournament, Hardin Simmons will be the softball team’s final opponent, who are currently tied for first place against Mary Hardin Baylor.

their most recent match against the Howard Payne Jackets. The baseball team has four more teams to face before the ASC tournament, including a home game against the Trinity Bobcats on April 18, three home games against the East Texas Baptist Tigers on April 21 and 22, a home game against the Southwestern Pirates on April 25 and finally an away game against the LeTourneau Yellowjackets on April 28 and 29.

Guild.

“What you see [at the tournament] is actually the beginning of what we’re calling the Texas College HEMA Alliance,” Alexander

said. “We are going to be banding together as college schools across Texas, to promote HEMA at other universities and alternatives.”

This year’s tournament was a

“It’s super fun,” Skinner said. “You should just come to a [practice session], you get three free ones. That’s another thing. Three free then $35 and you’re good for the semester. I recommend.”

in the sense that they are sweet and fruity alternative to coffee. Though the drinks are similar, their price difference is astounding. A medium lemonade of any flavor at Dutch Bros is only $3.73 with tax, whereas a venti strawberry acai lemonade at Starbucks is $6.12. At almost double the price and half the quality, there is a clear winner when it comes to refreshing drinks and it is Dutch Bros. Considering both drinks are around 24 fluid ounces, the difference is really just in the price. I am one for a good deal, which is why I originally started going to Dutch Bros. If I am going to have a sugary drink addiction, I might as well do it on a budget. As a result, the $3 difference was all that was needed to convince me and my fellow broke college kids to make the switch

CELEBRITIES CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12

cated than that, your identity can be the factor that opens or closes doors. Many celebrities seem to downplay the luck and privilege that propel their wealth and fame. Despite that, they love to give a pep talk to the audience as if hard work alone will lead you anywhere you want. The self-made myth portrays a false standard of excellence.

Jessica Chastain graduated from Julliard and networked with industry people. Yeoh is an A-list actor in Asia. Quan thanked the Daniels for choosing him to be in “Everything, Everywhere, All at Once.” Yeoh and Quan’s success is undeni -

from boring old Starbucks to the new, less expensive Dutch Bros.

When I am in the mood for a coffee drink, I usually go for a mocha for a chocolatey, satisfying energy boost. At Dutch Bros, you can get your mocha in a multitude of ways. My favorite is a white chocolate mocha with raspberry, but the German chocolate mocha with hints of coconut and caramel is also delicious. The best part is that the sweetness level is adjustable. At Starbucks, you can ask for half sweet, but the baristas often get confused; however, at Dutch Bros they have specific pre-set buttons for different sweetness levels ranging from 25% to 100%. If I am paying for a drink, I want it to be exactly how I like it which is a need that cannot be fully met at Starbucks, even with the customizability of the app. Furthermore, part of the reason many people go out to get coffee is for the convivence and

ably profound because it helps pave the path for diversity in the film industry. However, it is not enough to tell aspiring young professionals to have a growth mindset and keep grinding until they make it, because not everyone will.

More importantly, it is uncomfortable to hear the “work hard” pep talk from people who come from fame and wealth. It’s even more uncomfortable when they minimize their privilege and upbringings to thousands of graduates trying to secure entry jobs with ridiculous qualification standards and struggling to network for coveted positions, and all without rich parents to open doors for them.

Successful people should be realistic with their advice. Stop

to be able to try new things. With the limited flavor combinations at Starbucks, there is only so much that can be switched around. Eventually, the same old drinks get boring, and I feel the urge to try something new. At Dutch Bros, I feel like I have found the drinks that I like the most, however, I still feel like there is room to experiment and try new options through their seasonal drinks and my personal imagination. Either way, because of the many options to switch around the drink, I will always be able to create and order something that is exactly aligned to my taste.

Overall, Dutch Bros is the definite champion in the battle of the coffee shops. As a previous Starbucks stan, the quality and vibe of Dutch Bros has fully won me over. Whether I am waiting in the line to order or sitting in a class, I am always thinking about my next Dutch Bros treat.

telling us a fragmented version of how you achieved success, because we know hard work is not everything. Tell us how you navigated the system, applied your skills, and what you mean by “hard work.” More importantly, be honest about how you grew up.

Celebrities should reconsider attempting to look relatable because more often than not, they are not. Frankly, it is tiring listening to lucky people tell society to work hard and believe in themselves. They do not have to flaunt their wealth and fame, but at least they should acknowledge they owe much of their success to luck, privilege and — usually — money.

DUTCH BROS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12

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ANNA PHENGSAKMUEANG MERCURY STAFF

Embracing UTD’s research spirit, and for the sake of quenching curiosity, The Mercury asked ChatGPT over 100 questions on different topics to test the limits of its creativity, logic and problem-solving skills.

ChatGPT, the AI response generation tool that has consistently taken the internet by storm, was released on Nov. 30, 2022 by OpenAI as a language model that can interpret a user’s question and generate a response. The power of the program has unlocked a pandora’s box of misuse, misinformation and blind faith. To better gauge how to maximize the tool’s efficiency while also minimizing the negative effects of its responses, The Mercury put the program to the test by asking a series of general knowledge, conspiracy, logic, creative content generation and humor-related questions.

Before beginning the experiment, a few key points; ChatGPT does not work how Google search works. When a user inputs a question, the model breaks down the text into individual words or parts and then analyzes it to identify the context of the conversation. Then, it creates a response based on patterns that it has learned by “studying” a vast amount of text on different subjects. Also, ChatGPT has a knowledge cutoff date of Sept. 2021; this greatly affects its ability to produce accurate responses.

The model exceeded expectations when its creative skills. While nothing beats the ingenuity of the human mind, ChatGPT built the basis of a text-based adventure game in the span of less than 10 seconds.

However, the model does come with restrictions of the kinds of creative content it can produce. Let’s say you wanted to play a game of Mafia with your friends but were struggling to come up with entertaining deaths.

“I'm sorry, but as an AI language model, it would not be appropriate or ethical for me to generate creative deaths or violent content,” ChatGPT said. “My programming is focused on providing informative and helpful responses to your queries while upholding ethical and moral standards. Is there anything else I can assist you with?”

The first set of questions tested ChatGPT on UTD trivia, answering only eight out of 15 questions correctly. For example, when asked ‘what kind of trees are planted by UTD’s reflection pool?’ it answered with Aristocrat pear trees, when in reality, they are Magnolia. When tested against logic puzzles, ChatGPT answer three out of six complex problems correctly.

From the logic and creativity questions, it is worth noting that ChatGPT was not specifically programmed to pick up any of these skills. Its ability to simulate human deduction and creativity comes from analyzing books, social media posts, news articles and more, and then forming relationships between different concepts. However, following the emergence theory of consciousness, like humans, ChatGPT’s creative and logical skills may have emerged as a result of its growing complexity.

Of the 14 Jeopardy! questions asked, ChatGPT got 100% of them correct, and even went above and beyond to provide a more rounded perspective on topics. For example, when asked which vegetable is an Edzell Blue, ChatGPT showed an impressive knowledge of culinary history.

“It is a heritage variety of potato that is named after the town of Edzell in Scotland, where it was first developed in the early 20th cen -

tury,” ChatGPT said. “The Edzell Blue potato is a popular choice among chefs for its distinctive appearance and taste.”

To enhance this feature, adding nuances to questions such as ‘explain this concept like you would to a kindergartner’ can help people better understand information, making it a powerful tool for education. However, as seen before, the model is prone to inaccuracies. Additionally, since its responses are based heavily on the wording of a question, it has a tendency to leave out nuances, which can lead to par tial or complete misunderstandings. ChatGPT can also recommend dif ferent resources on the internet that can be a good starting place for re search.

ChatGPT’s grasp on conspiracy theory related questions was par ticularly interesting. For more his torically-based conspiracy theories such as the underground activity of the Freemasons or the controversy surrounding the death of Emperor

Nero, ChatGPT did not acknowledge that they were conspiracies unless directly asked, but ultimately sided with facts that have been proven through historical record. In response to questions about global warming, vaccines and the shape of the Earth, ChatGPT favored science.

“As an AI language model, I don’t make value judgments, but I can help provide information on different topics,” ChatGPT said. “In general, scientific evidence is considered more reliable than historical records when it comes to determining facts about the natural world. This is because scientific studies are designed to test hypotheses using rigorous methods and can be replicated and verified by others. Historical records, on the other hand, can be subject to biases, errors, and incomplete information.”

ChatGPT answered many of the humor questions using logic and known facts, as it struggles to understand Internet culture. Its response to the question ‘Is Barbie cheating on Ken?’ was matter of fact.

“As Barbie and Ken are

Art exhibit celebrates Taiwanese artists on the autism spectrum

Artists and teachers from Taiwan visited UTD to share art and speak on the creative process of people with autism.

UTD welcomed artists and art teachers all the way from Taiwan to display their works of art on April 1 to share insight on living life as an autistic individual. The works of art, which are displayed in the JSOM atrium, were all created by autistic individuals under the Taiwan Xingqier Creative Arts Association.

In addition to meaningful words shared by the head of the association Shiny Wu, notable individuals including Paul Voelker, the mayor of Richardson, Dennis Kratz, dean of the Center for Asian Studies, and Hasan Pirkul, dean of the School of Management, all stepped onto the stage to share their own insight into the exhibit and the positivity of

the Taiwanese community. A student from Taiwan’s Donghua University also shared his own experiences with the audience.

Wu began the program over 10 years ago but started expanding it in 2020. Through her many years of working with autistic artists of all ages, Wu has witnessed them grow into talented and proud individuals.

“Those artists, they need people [to] encourage you,” Wu said. “They [don’t] reject people, but they don’t watch people. They are in their own world. So, we try to let them walk into the community. This is once in their life. They come from very far.

They [don’t] always have the chance for [an] art show. But this is really encouraging … Somebody is waiting for their art. I want to do that.”

While on the stage in JSOM’s Davidson Auditorium, Wu shared aspects of her program as well as Taiwanese culture surrounding the autistic community. She spoke about the use of body and face massages to allow all individuals, not just those with autism, to wake up and be more aware of the world around them.

“We have an eye, we have an ear, we easily see,” Wu said. “But we never really open our eye, never really listen when we create our art … You can do more. When you travel, open your five senses. And then after the travel, you can create art. That’s the whole program I want to share. When people [get] older, don’t stay at home [and] do nothing. Walk into the community, go volunteer and then do your art. We need more artist[s].”

Another guest at the exhibition was Grace Chen, an art teacher for the association who traveled from Taiwan to come share her students’ art. Cindy Hsieh, a translator for Chen, communicated the teacher’s feelings about the program and art show.

“She loves doing her work,” Hsieh said on behalf of Chen. “She loves helping autistic [students] making their artwork, and it just makes her so happy and satisfied … The most important thing is to help the kids relax their body and get their mindset ready so they can do their best.”

Hsieh said Chen became a teacher with the program because her own son was diagnosed with severe autism and was told that he could not survive in the world. Later, Chen met a five-year-old student with au-

tism and began to work with him, which further inspired her to become an art teacher for disabled students. At the exhibit, works from students under Chen’s tutelage display bright colors and detailed lines, with both abstract and explicit subjects.

“She wants students [and] the world to know that it’s not very easy to take [care of] all the kids, especially with special needs kids, but they’re willing to experience… by touching, seeing, and also from inspiration from nature, so they can work with their art under a very happy and calm environment,” Hsieh said on behalf of Chen. “She wants to let everyone know that in their world, you need a key to open their eyes. But it’s not that easy. You just need to do it step by step.”

MANYA BONDADA Mercury Staff

OLUWASEUN ADEYEMI | MERCURY STAFF

April 17, 2023 | The Mercury LIFE&ARTS 15

In and around campus, the sight of colorful blooms can be a source of joy and positivity for students and faculty alike. The vibrant colors of these flowers can uplift moods and bring a sense of renewal and optimism. The fresh scent of flowers can also have a calming effect on the mind and reduce stress levels. The photo collage has daisies (white), Indian Paintbrush (red), Blue Bonnets, Dianthus (pink and white), China Pink (pink), Burnet Rose (white), Bearded Iris, and Bermudiana flowers. These can be spotted at different locations on the campus.

Traveling through eras in song

Celebrated musician Taylor Swift on her first tour since pandemic

The Eras Tour has been the talk of the internet ever since its announcement, and Taylor Swift’s pitstop in Arlington, Texas for the March 31 to April 2 weekend proved the hype.

The long-awaited film adaptation of the classic video game features a new plot and fan-favorite characters.

Mamma mia, the Mario movie is fun!

Nintendo and Illumination’s latest film release “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” is the most fun in theaters I’ve had all year and an encapsulation of the charm of the Mario universe. But while this movie was a colorful and accurate adaptation of the game, it fails to appeal to film critics, lacking basic storytelling and watering down important plot points.

The 90-minute animated film is one of Illumination’s best movies to date both in visuals and action, and the box office seems to agree. The film is now the highest-grossing animated film worldwide and the number one video game adaptation in box offices. It has become such a successful film that the theme is the first video game song to be inducted into the Library of Congress National Recording Registry, and for good reason. It is a love letter to fans. “The Super Mario Bros.” is a commendable slapstick adaptation accompanied by gorgeous high-definition visuals and easter eggs in nearly every scene, portraying a charming story about never giving up in the most entertaining way possible. It’s perfect and funny for all ages, providing plenty of nods for veteran fans and plenty of buildup for newcomers to connect the plot points.

It is the film adaptation we never thought we’d need, and I loved every minute of it. It repurposes the older Mario lore into a much cleaner Brooklyn, filling in the gaps for how and why Mario Jumpman Mario is in the Mushroom Kingdom. This backstory brings together elements across all games, most notably “Mario: Odyssey,” “Super Mario 3D World” and of course “Mario Kart.” Not to mention there are other easter eggs referencing other Nintendo properties, most notably “Punch-Out!” and “Kid Icarus.”

Taylor Swift has released 10 original albums in total since her debut, but the last album she was able to tour was “Reputation” three years ago due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, Swift has released four new albums and two re-recordings of her previous albums. The Eras Tour represents the journey of her career through all her released music. From a fan perspective, it was like experiencing the soundtrack of your childhood turn into the playlist of your current life. As a dedicated Swiftie, the tour was an amalgamation of the love of every song, video and album in a beautiful performance dedicated to

fans. Gorgeous, unique and enchanting, the concert was everything I could have ever imagined and more. Swift’s performances in Arlington marked her first three-show weekend of the tour and therefore offered a unique experience that differed from opening weekend in Glendale, Arizona.

The show began with a rendition of “Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince,” a total surprise to die-hard fans who were expecting a song from her latest album, “Midnights,” as the opener. However, the choice to begin the concert with a song from her album “Lover” makes sense, considering it was the album she would have toured if not for the pandemic. Furthermore, the lyrics “it’s been a long time coming” ring true for many audience members who have likely been waiting months, if not years, to see Swift perform live. Though surprising, the song was the perfect start

to a long-awaited performance.

Many fans had avoided looking at the setlist from prior nights of the show to be surprised at the concert. As one of those fans, I was thrilled to see some of my favorite songs show up. However, those who did would have missed the switch up during Swift’s “Folklore” era between the songs “Invisible String”

and “The One.” “Invisible String” is a gorgeous song about fate and the inevitability of love. “The One,” on the other hand, is about what could have been in a failed relationship. Swift is often criticized for supposedly only writing breakup songs about past relationships.

Directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein’s spin on the beloved fantasy game received a commendable 91% on Rotten Tomatoes. The cast lineup for the film is stacked with veterans like Chris Pine and Hugh Grant, as well as new faces like Justice Smith. The film is a continuation of “The Forgotten Realms,” a fantasy world created by Ed Greenwood in the 60s. Lovers of the fantasy role-playing game can thank Greenwood for providing the world where “Dungeons & Dragons” was created and where the film “Honor Among Thieves” takes place.

The strength of “Honor Among Thieves”

College romance takes the spotlight in “Dear.M”

lies in the film’s emotional center. Navigating a fantasy world as rich as The Forgotten Realms is just not possible, especially in a film that’s as long as this one. Because of

PARAMOUNT PICTURES | COURTESY

this, parts of this movie felt incomplete as the directors have the combined challenge of providing Tolkien-esque context for every aspect of the film as well as maintain-

ing a reasonable pace. This means that the weapons, locations, and characters all have complex backstories, highlighting the reality that a live-action movie format cannot fully encapsulate the complexity of Dungeons & Dragons. Amid the haphazard storytelling, what kept me engaged during this film was the relationship between the characters throughout their quest.

As a longtime fan of the pseudo-board game, I loved this film. However, there are undeniable issues in translating fantasy worlds into live action films, one of the issues being how gimmicky the CGI looked in this movie. Additionally, because the

Buzzing for the “Swarm”

Amazon Prime's latest brings attention to stan culture's harm

MIA

NGUYEN Mercury Staff

While many details about Amazon Prime’s new show “Swarm” are murky in the trailers, fans are abuzz because of the big names associated with the series. Musician and actor Donald Glover is a co-creator and the show features musician Chole Bailey and Billie Eilish in her acting debut.

The drama is a spin-off of one of the best Korean web dramas, “Love Playlist,” and it follows the lives of students at the fictional Seoyeon University. Since this is a spin-off, most of the main cast is all new except for two characters. There is one character who returns in a minor role, so fans should keep their eyes peeled. It centers on romance, but the

“Dear.M” takes place in an alternate universe of the year 2020 where the pandemic never happened and tells the story of six college students who meet after being assigned as roommates. The drama was set to premiere in 2021 but was postponed until mid-2022. Despite the later premiere, the drama’s story is unharmed by the delay and is still relatable to young people now a great feat because of constantly changing tastes and trends. There aren’t enough stories about college students, which is why “Dear.M” is a must-watch that acknowledges all the highs and lows of campus life.

The series follows Dre (Dominique Fishback), a retail employee lacking social skills and interests beyond her sister (Chole Bailey) and famous popstar, Ni’Jah (Nirine S. Brown). Dre’s childhood love for the musician began as a girlish love for music shared with her sister and has since festered into obsession in her adulthood. This extreme case of celebrity worship disrupts Dre’s life, as she can’t go two seconds without mentioning the artist. All her money goes toward Ni’Jah merchandise and concert tickets, to the dismay

of those close to her. Her passion soon turns to bloodlust as she loses her grip on reality to defend her favorite musician.

SEE SWARM, PAGE 16 SEE DEAR.M, PAGE 16 SEE MARIO, PAGE 16

UNAIZA KHAKOO Mercury Staff

"Honor Among Thieves" brings a beloved fantasy world to life

RYLEE RUSSELL Mercury Staff

ANDRÉ AVERION Mercury Staff

SEE THIEVES, PAGE 16

MARIO CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15

This movie has a special place in my heart, as it got me my job at The Mercury nearly a year and a half ago. However, as a film in its own regard, it might not be as memorable.

Outside an origin story that entirely discredits “Yoshi’s Island,” an important video game in the Mario universe’s lore, and substituting Luigi as the damsel in distress, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” doesn’t add anything to the franchise. The only thing it has going for it is the fact that it’s fun and loyal to both its general source material and fans.

Outside the animation quality, there’s nothing that separates this film from being a series of cutscenes that could be watched over TikTok. It is an unnecessarily fast-paced plot that values fan service over world-building or character relationships, which could have been saved if they gave the characters just a little more dialogue. The buildup of character depth is sacrificed for jokes in an attempt to keep viewers’ attention and any dialogue outside Bowser, Kamek, Donkey Kong and Cranky Kong feels like it was written by an AI. Oddly enough, it felt like these four had more depth than the core cast. You could call the movie “Paper Mario” for how thin the plot is. There’s no risk outside the bold choice for the final action set,

ERAS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15

However, these two songs alone show the versatility in her writing capabilities. Swift analyzes her feelings of both the current and past relationship with complexity and honesty that attracts the listener to her music.

One of the most entrancing parts about this tour is the fact that Swift performs two surprise songs every night — one on the guitar and one on the piano, both acoustic. With 189 songs on her studio albums, there is plenty of content for her to pull from. Having two songs each night that no other date included puts the fans at the center of the entertainment by giving them a special, unique experience. On her first night in Arlington, Swift sang “Sad, Beautiful, Tragic” from “Red” and “Ours” from “Speak Now.” The second night, she sang “Clean” from “1989” and “Death by a Thousand Cuts” from “Lover.” On her last night in town, Swift sang “Jump Then Fall” from “Fearless” and “The Lucky One” from “Red.”

DEAR.M CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15

friendships the characters make and trials they go through on their path to graduation are the real stars of the show.

In “Dear.M”, the main characters are all in the same free elective, Photography and Appreciation, and after the first day, a classmate anonymously confesses their feelings to another classmate who they call “M” on their school’s message board app. As the group of friends explore their own new relationships, they also eagerly try to uncover who the mysterious poster is — and if the person is someone in their group. Though the premise might sound hopelessly romantic, the antics of the characters as they navigate this mystery and general school ground the narrative in reality. It also helps that UTD has its own forum app similar to the one in the drama.

The main characters of “Dear.M” are a group of business and computer science majors. The plight of computer science majors was portrayed so accurately that every UTD student watching will grit their teeth at every error the characters encounter in their code. But it’s not only computer science majors; the struggles of all college students are meticulously depicted and are a great reminder that despite living in different countries and experiencing different cultures, some things are universal, like the panic of for -

despite the film’s clear passion for the craft of animation.

“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” barely meets the requirements needed for storytelling, which is entirely overshadowed by action to keep audiences distracted. After the Mario brothers leave Brooklyn, the story is all about getting from point A to point B with little in between.

The movie’s greatest sin, however, is how little they used Koji Kondo and Brian Tyler’s iconic reconstruction of over 130 Mario musical themes across the decades, opting instead for AHa’s “Take On Me” and Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out For A Hero.” Even worse, they didn’t give credit to Grant Kirkhope for orchestrating the most infamous rap in gaming history, “DK Rap”, which is inexcusable,

as Nintendo has pulled this stunt for the second time this year with another beloved property.

“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” had so much more potential than what was explored in the film, but every setup outside the post-credit scene and the several nods to “Super Mario Galaxy” feel paid off. It was by no means a bad film, and I feel the internet owes Chris Pratt an apology for his voice acting critics. You don’t need to listen to the overly aggressive criticism of Chris Pratt’s voice acting, and don’t let the unbelievably ridiculous audience vs. critic culture war persuade or dissuade you from watching the film. You will leave the theater smiling, as it’s a fun visual treat worth watching, but unfortunately, don’t go in expecting much more.

SWARM CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15

tertainment industry sinks into the minds of impressionable viewers, and how “stan culture” has desensitized the effects of obsession and parasocial relationships. Dre serves as a self-insert character both for viewers to identify with and to be horrified by. It is clear that Ni’Jah mirrors the real icon Beyoncé, as the fictional star’s bee-themed fanbase “The Swarm” references Beyoncé’s “Beehive.” In a Dre-type fashion, many viewers disregarded the lack of advertisement for the series, loyally following Donald Glover or Billie Eilish’s careers.

The show’s concept doesn’t quite hit the mark in early episodes, and the concept of a “fandom” is seemingly two dimensional, focusing on the disgust derived from fanbase behavior instead of the emotional comfort that shields Dre from external threats. The show criticizes stan culture but also portrays the stans as inane and animalistic, initially making it difficult to sympathize with Dre. Fishback does provide a terrifying performance, shaping a complex role in an industry that doesn’t always allow POC women to be morally gray characters. Her character may be insane, but Fishback’s comedic delivery is

THIEVES CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15

world of animation is quickly making strides to match the quality of live action movies, I think “Honor Among Thieves” would have been much better if it was animated.

As a lover of all things fantasy, one of the biggest challenges is finding the balance between keeping the attention of new fans in the genre and long-time appreciators. This is one of the film’s strong suits, and I appreciated the way the directors mixed

hilariously down-to-earth.

The series’ best episode centers around the female empowerment cult led by a disarmingly charming Eva (Billie Eilish). In these episodes, the cult leader is able to dig into Dre’s psyche, allowing the audience to understand why being a part of The Swarm is so important to her. Both cults and fandoms provide a familial blond, and when Dre realizes the artificial nature of these connections, more bloodshed ensues. Eilish’s acting is also surprisingly good. Her piercing blue eyes and soothing voice make it very easy to view her as a manipulative cult leader.

Horror isn’t the priority of this series. The gore and violence

classic fantasy tropes with creative interpretations.

Overall, both people who are new to the fantasy genre and long-time lovers of Dungeons & Dragons will appreciate this movie. In the future, I think creators in this genre should consider moving into other film mediums as the genre itself is rich with possibility for different adaptations. That being said, I thought “Honor Among Thieves” was a solid take on the genre and the greater world of the “Forgotten Realms.”

present themselves in a way that shocks viewers into seeing how extreme fan culture is, proving that a “casual enjoyer” does not exist in modern times. Even though the ending is not satisfying — and unfortunately the dullest part of the show — the writing is haunting, and it forces watchers to evaluate how they consume media. The endless fanfiction tabs open on your device, the movie posters hanging on your wall, the $1,000 Harry Styles tickets sitting in your cart and every other piece of media that has shaped your personality may make you wonder: “How stuck in The Swarm am I?”

Going to the Eras Tour is about more than just screaming to Taylor Swift’s music with people who love her just as much as you do. It is a way to participate in a history-making event with a community of pas-

sionate fans. Marking one of the largest stadium tours to date, going to this tour is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for everyone that attends and is definitely worth the pain and struggle of getting tickets.

getting midterms and the initial anxiety of first love.

Though audiences may find themselves having to pause and take breaks due to frustrating situations, that’s a sign that the drama and its actors are playing with our emotions in just the right way, as it mirrors real life. Who hasn’t wanted to take a break from real-life drama? However, the pause time for this drama won’t be long, since the plot begs the audience to wonder what will happen to the endearing ensemble cast.

“Dear.M” marked the debut of K-pop group NCT’s Jaehyun as an actor, and his performance is so natural that even fans will forget he’s an idol and see him only as Cha Min-ho, one of the drama’s lead characters. Some of the actors from the original web drama came back for this continuation. Bae Hyun-sung, whose first role was in the last two seasons of “Love Playlist,” reprises the clueless and soft Park Han-eul. Since the web

drama, his career has continued to show promise with roles in popular dramas like “Hospital Playlist” and “Our Blues.”

College stories hit the right spot to tackle the naivety of youth and the complexities of growing up. Unlike high school dramas, where viewers have to suspend their disbelief at these grand gestures happening behind the backs of parents, college students have the freedom to explore what life has in store — for better or for worse.

The main couple of “Dear.M” are childhood friends with a relationship dynamic similar to the one in “Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo,” so if you liked that drama, you’ll like this one! The friendships are structured like the C-drama “Put Your Head On My Shoulder,” so it will likely appeal to fans of that show. For all college students who want to see themselves and their daily lives represented, “Dear.M” is a show you can’t miss.

UNAIZA KHAKOO MERCURY STAFF

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