Tuesday, May 2, 2023

Tuesday, May 2, 2023

OSU outlasts Michigan, picks up second consecutive series win

series sweep for the Cowboys.

OSU’s offense emulated the performance coach Josh Holliday preached about since the start of his team’s five-game skid three weeks ago. More fluency and all-around contributions paid dividends toward OSU’s seventh consecutive win and second straight weekend series sweep.

Through 13 innings, OSU hadn’t recorded a multi-run inning in the series against the Michigan.

Despite Michigan’s 5.96 ERA, the Cowboys’ inning-by-inning damage had been minimal up to that point. Timely pitching and small ball was the story in Saturday’s series opener.

That changed midway through OSU’s 8-5 win against Michigan in Ann Arbor on Sunday morning, clinching a

It started with a leadoff solo home run by center fielder Zach Ehrhard in the top of the fifth inning.

Ehrhard jumped on an off-speed pitch from Michigan pitcher Chase Allen, sending it over the towering brick monster adorning the left field wall of Ray Fisher Stadium.

A two-run lead transitioned to a three-run advantage, and Ehrhard’s solo shot foreshadowed the rest of the inning.

See Outlasts on page 2

SGA inaugurates 2023-2024 officers

campaign violations, Peterson is glad to be officially sworn in.

The Student Government Association held inauguration for its 2023-2024 officers on Friday.

Ashley Peterson and Hilary Albrecht were sworn in as president and vice president, respectively. The Senate speaker, Sydney Adkins, along with cabinet executives, committee speakers and a Supreme Court justice, were also sworn in.

Peterson and Albrecht said they are excited to begin their term.

“It’s been a very long journey getting here and a very exciting journey and everything that we’ve done along the way, everything we’ve worked towards and every goal we’ve set to accomplish can really start next semester,” Peterson said. “And so this just symbolizes us really filling the role and stepping into the role to accomplish our goals next semester.”

While the new officers were sworn in last week, their duties will not officially begin until next semester. However, the transition process has already begun. Albrecht said she is looking forward to beginning preparations for Lights on Stillwater this summer.

Despite facing delays in election results due to an investigation regarding alleged

“I mean, we’ve been forged by fire and it makes us very strong and very confident in everything we set to accomplish what we want to accomplish,” Peterson said. “And so, being here right now is just a big celebration and an exciting point for us to really take the role and run with it and be able to be here and have ‘officially made it,’ I guess you could say.”

The pair celebrated their accomplishment alongside family and friends. Peterson’s family, along with the professor she works for and her friends, attended the event. Albrecht’s mother, sister and niece traveled from South Dakota to be a part of the festivities.

Outgoing SGA president, Riley Pritzlaff, offered advice to Peterson and Albrecht, as well as the other officers, during his remarks.

“To our incoming officers, this will probably be one of the oddest, busiest, but also one of the most rewarding years you will experience,” Pritzlaff said.

He encouraged the officers to embrace the experience and rely on each other.

The ceremony concluded with a new president, vice president, Senate speaker, 24 new cabinet executives, 6 new Senate committee speakers and one new Supreme Court Justice. news.ed@ocolly.com

OSU student creates poetry website

Taylor Carroll Staff Reporter

From journalist to poetry enthusiast.

Sheyenne Mitchell-Brown wanted to be a journalist since she was 16 years old. She was the news and lifestyle editor for The O’Colly from 2019 to 2021 and wanted to be a political correspondent for the Washington Post, New York Times or NPR. She worked constantly at the newspaper, writing and editing stories. Struggling with the “24/7 news cycle,” Mitchel-Brown said she questioned if she wanted to do this for her career.

“Journalism was my identity, who I wanted to be,” MitchellBrown said. “And then COVID hit, and I thought it was kind of taken away from me. It was like standing

on a rug and the rug was taken out from under me.”

Mitchell-Brown said this process made her find her sense of identity again and she realized that she was getting burnt out as a journalist. She had a love-hate relationship with it and noticed that she wanted to help mentor people with their lives instead of writing about them. She discovered through her time as an editor that she had a passion for wanting to make others’ lives better than hers.

Mitchell-Brown decided that she wanted to be a high school English teacher to help students achieve their dreams. Two weeks before her junior year started, she called her student adviser crying, wanting to change her major to English. She said it was a vulnerable experience in changing majors and starting all alone.

She saw Lux Kickapoo-Johnson the second or third week of her first semester as an English major and wanted to be her best friend instantly.

Mitchell-Brown walked up to her between their classes and asked if she wanted to get food the Student Union. Kickapoo-Johnson said no at first but then said yes. It started their friendship, and they have been close ever since then.

Kickapoo-Johnson is also an English major and is graduating at the end of fall 2023 semester. She plans to go into the PhD program and wants to be a professor or do research.

Mitchell-Brown and Kickapoo-Johnson took Lisa Hollenbach’s class, Poetry Is Not a Luxury. Their final project in the class prompted Mitchell-Brown to create a website of poems.

Chase Davis

The Cowboy offense scored five runs in the fifth inning of OSU’s 8-5 win against Michigan on Sunday.

Courtesy of Sheyenne Mitchell-Brown

Sheyenne Mitchell-Brown is the creator of poetsforprogress.com, a poetry website.

Daniel Allen Staff Reporter

Kennedy Thomason Assistant News & Lifestyle Editor

Courtesy of SGA Communications

Outlasts...

Continued from page 1

Two walks and a single later, OSU had the bases loaded for Tyler Wulfert -- who has raised his batting average from .242 to .350 in a three-week span. He followed with a two-RBI double.

The Cowboys (30-13, 11-7 Big 12) plated five runs in the fifth inning, and only one came as a result of a home run.

“We did a good job there of playing good team offense,” Holliday said on the postgame radio show.

“We didn’t rely on one person or a home run.”

Ehrhard was one of the catalysts in his team’s offensive surge at the midpoint of Sunday’s series finale.

After missing 25 games due to a shoulder injury, Ehrhard’s offensive production was minimal. Since OSU’s series opener against Kansas (April 21), he is batting .300.

Over the weekend, Ehrhard hit .333 and was responsible for five of his team’s 13 runs plated against Michigan.

“Zach is starting to look more like himself,” Holliday said. “Getting on base, taking walks, he hit a home run. He’s looking really good right now.”

Ben Abram tossed six innings, striking out nine and surrendering four earned runs off seven hits and four walks. That was enough to keep the Michi-

gan offense stifled through five innings.

The Wolverines (21-20, 9-6 Big 10) garnered a two-run rally in the sixth inning but fell short. With 10 regular season games remaining, consistency is paramount for postseason success. While Holliday said he would have preferred a full threegame series, as initially planned prior to a rainout on Friday, he believes this weekend’s sample size is enough to ease his mind heading into the new week.

“I’m thankful we at least got two of the three (games) in,” Holliday said. “Would have liked a full series, but I’m happy with our guys’ performances this weekend.”

sports.ed@ocolly.com

Andy Crown

Ben Abram started at the mound Sunday morning and allowed the Wolverines four earned runs in six innings.

Cowboys rely on opportunistic play, fend off Wolverines

Two pitches later, right fielder Carson Benge grounded out to second base and drove in Ehrhard and gave OSU a one-run lead.

Braden Bush Assistant Sport Editor

The Cowboys didn’t have a hit in the third inning, but Zach Ehrhard crossed home plate.

Michigan left-handed pitcher

Connor O’Halloran gave OSU fits on a windy day, so the Cowboys had to adapt. Zach Ehrhard picked up a walk on the opening at-bat of the third inning – one of just two walks Saturday – then he stole second base. Shortstop Marcus Brown grounded out next but advanced Ehrhard to third.

“That’s the kind of good team baseball that’s required when the wind is blowing in and you’re playing a good lefty,” OSU coach Josh Holliday said on the postgame radio show.

It wasn’t an offensive showing like the Cowboys are capable of producing, but they held on for a 5-3 win at Michigan on a windy Saturday afternoon. And it took a group effort to capitalize on the few scoring opportunities OSU was presented.

Through six innings, O’Halloran gave up just three hits, but OSU (29-13, 11-7 Big 12) turned those into three runs. In the second inning, Tyler Wulfert doubled to right-center field and David Mendham followed suit with a double of his own, scoring Wulfert.

Ehrhard was 2-for-2 on stolen

bases, with his other coming in the fifth after being walked. A Marcus Brown singled advanced Ehrhard to second, then he stole third. Carson Benge recorded his second sac-RBI of the game, again sending Ehrhard home.

But four of the first six innings were hitless for the Cowboys. O’Halloran pitched six strikeouts for Michigan (21-19, 9-6 Big Ten) during those innings, and he finished with eight.

“That was a tough lefty,” Holliday said. “I knew in preparing for him that he’d be a tough matchup.”

Juaron Watts-Brown started for OSU and went five innings, giving up seven hits and leaving the game with the score tied at 3. Holliday said they’re still looking for more from Watts-Brown but that it was a better outing than his last few.

Bayden Root took over for Watts-Brown in the sixth and went 2

2/3 innings with one hit and no runs allowed. He struck out four Wolverines without giving up a walk. Root picked up his second consecutive win and fifth overall.

“Bayden was sensational,” Holliday said. “He’s turning the corner and giving us another weapon.”

While Root held Michigan at bay, OSU finally broke through in the seventh and picked up a hit by pitch and a pair of hits with two outs, resulting in two runs. Isaac Stebens closed the game and earned his fourth save.

Holliday said it was nice to get back on the field after rainouts at home Tuesday and Michigan on Friday.

“It’s been a weird week,” Holliday said. “Honestly, this week’s stunk.” There’s a chance of rain again Sunday, but the Cowboys are slated to play Michigan at 11 a.m. sports.ed@ocolly.com

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Chase Davis

The Cowboys had to rely on opportunistic play from players such as Zach Ehrhard, who had two walks and two stolen bases, to pick up a 5-3 win against Michigan on Saturday.

They say OSU fans are “Loyal and true.”

After the team went 4-0 with a series sweep against KU and Bedlam win, we thought there might be a change in the kinds of mailbag questions submitted. Would we get to answer optimistic questions for a change? Maybe respond to people singing the praises of coaches and players?

Instead, Y’all didn’t seem to put too much stock into OSU sweeping the now below .500 Kansas Jayhawks and pounding the wounded Sooners into submission. Some questions seemed optimistic, but mostly the tone remain unchanged from previous weeks.

“Still not enough pitching,” Scott Patterson said. “Beat somebody good,” Dixie voiced. The only thing missing was a question that didn’t mention pitching coach Rob Walton by name, something we’ve seen each of the last few weeks.

It seems OSU fans are loyal to their feelings about a team and truly one of a kind. They don’t mention that on the campus tour.

From Hateful 8’er: “Not want-

ing to put the wagon in front of the donkey but what are the chances of a Big12 title/ hosting if the boys win each series at the minimum from here on out?”

As we’ve discussed on numerous occasions on our podcast and prior mailbags, the remaining schedule for OSU is very favorable.

If the Cowboys can sweep a struggling Michigan squad, that would give OSU a seven-game winning streak. A bad East Tennessee State team is on the menu next weekend, which should be another sweep for the Cowboys. OSU has its best remaining opponent -- Kansas State – at home, and then has a struggling OU team on the road to end the regular season.

If the Cowboys can finish 5-1 over the final six Big 12 games, we don’t see any reason why a Big 12 regular season title is far-fetched. As for hosting a regional, winning a conference title or being runner-up will lock that up.

Last year, it felt like OSU was on the bubble to host and the members of the NCAA selection committee decided to come to $70 Million O’Brate Stadium. Who can blame them? That may be something to watch for this season.

From OKMatt83: “Our pitching is unreliable; don’t know how

much you can trust them. Having to score 10/game (giving up 9.1/game in our last 10) is a hard formula for long term success.”

You’re absolutely right – winning shootouts isn’t always a guarantee, even for the best offensive programs, nor is it a formula for success come postseason play.

If we’ve learned anything in recent College World Series’, it’s that pitching pays dividends in the long run. The Cowboys don’t have a single weekend starting pitcher below a 3.90 ERA. That’s going to have to change if OSU wants be as good as coach Josh Holliday thinks they can be.

From Steven Jenderseck: “It was Kansas and a struggling OU team. I don’t put too much on it. OSU’s hitting was good, but that was it. Don’t think much of beating OU as it was a midweek game, and apparently, we do not care about those games.”

Look at it from this perspective: in a sport like baseball, wins are wins.

How was Texas able to string together the nation’s – at the time – longest winning streak? By beating up on lesser teams and carrying that momentum into a series sweep over a talented Texas Tech team. The Longhorns were also two outs away from clinching a series win over OSU in Stillwater if it

wasn’t for a massive pitching implosion.

Point being, any winning streak in the latter half of the regular season builds confidence, an imperative facet to any sort of postseason success in college baseball. Also, that struggling OU team just swept Texas in Austin a week ago. We get your point, but it should be classified as a quality midweek win for a struggling OSU team.

From OddBall: “Do the coaches feel that Bayden Root turned any type of corner on Sunday? Because if he did, that gives our pitching staff a completely different feel to it. Also, any chance we get McLean back soon? And if so, will he be able to pitch?”

The Root question is hard to answer since we have had minimal availability with coaches and players over the past two weeks as we are unable to travel to Lawrence and now Ann Arbor this weekend.

As for McLean, still no further update. All we have is Holliday telling us he’s available “to some capacity” on April 14, the series opener against West Virginia. If he is back before postseason play, we’ve heard a leg injury is what has kept him out. It’s possible he could pitch if and when he does return, but we do not know for certain. sports.ed@ocolly.com

Jaiden Daughty

Poetry...

Continued from page 1

Kickapoo-Johnson describes Mitchel-Brown as a fun, comforting, no judgment, welcoming and driven person. She said she likes the website Mitchel-Brown has created and thinks it is a great place to learn about poetry that people may not have known.

“It’s a really wonderful space for people to publish their poetry to get their word out there,” KickapooJohnson said. “It starts giving people a voice if they feel like their voice is small because enough, if there’s enough whispers, there’s it’s shouting. So even if you start somewhere small, it’s a place where you can create a space that pushes for change.”

Lisa Hollenbach is in her sixth year as a professor at OSU and has a doctorate in English and a master’s in creative writing. Her Poetry Is Not a Luxury class discusses American poetry in the 20th century as well as the relationship to protest and political movements.

Hollenbach said she met Mitchell-Brown through the class and likes the progress Mitchell-Brown made on the website for her class’ final. She offers her students an option for their final, a traditional essay or to create a project of any design to connect their class’ focus on poetry and politics in the 20th century.

“The website highlights some of her own writing and potentially other people’s writings, and she also has made a lot of progress on it,” Hollenbach said. “It connects this interest in poetry, politics, or poetry and social change, but also highlighting some poets from the past. So, historical poets who have done important work, so she’s been writing her own blog posts for it and posting poems and trying to solicit interest in it.”

Another person who supported Mitchell-Brown was Ryan Slesinger, who is a teaching assistant professor at the university. He met her in the spring of 2022 when Mitchell-Brown took his American Literature Survey class, which goes through literature from the

of Poets for Progress RSVP for poetry night on https://www.poetsforprogress.com/.

civil war to the present.

Slesinger said he is happy that Mitchell-Brown is inspired enough to go headfirst toward her project and make this website happen.

“Sheyenne is full of life and given to inspiration and she is a deep thinker, who approaches literature and life looking for the meaning in it,” Slesinger said. “She is very communal and wants everybody around her to be thriving and she puts a lot of effort into that, which is part of what’s going on with this poetry website by encouraging them to find their voices and express their voice in this format.

“You know, as the adviser, I

spend a lot of time with these students and, and I see that this encouragement is working that these people you know, it’s a very personal thing to share your poetry to share those inner thoughts with the world around you,” he said. “And Sheyenne has a way of encouraging her peers to do that, and to take ownership of their voices and say what they want to say to the world around them, and it’s very empowering.”

Mitchell-Brown used what she learned in Max Andrew’s Electronic Communication class, a journalism course, such as creating her website and adding all the functions into it. Mitchell-Brown said her website al-

lows students to request to publish a poem or any other work they want to. All work placed on the website it protected by copyright and fair use of the law. She also said the website is for everyone in the community and encourages others to write for it. With Mitchell-Brown’s website out, she has events on it she urges people to take part in.

More information is on https:// www.poetsforprogress.com/.

news.ed@ocolly.com

Courtesy

Photos by Carson Toulouse

University Dining Services at OSU adjusts to inflation rise

An Oklahoma State University sophomore studying psychology said she had to tough it out after she ran out of money on her meal plan last semester.

“It was the worst thing ever,” India Morgan said, an OSU track and field athlete.

Fortunately, as a studentathlete, Morgan gets a “training table” dinner provided four times a week and breakfast twice a week.

“I had to eat less and rely on (the) training table after I ran out of money on my meal plan,” Morgan said.

Morgan thinks her meal plan ran out because of increased prices on campus.

“I spent so much on home supplies like napkins and toilet paper and all that,” Morgan said. “That stuff is so much more expensive on campus.”

Inflation has increased food prices nationwide, which leads to students not being able to afford as much food with

their meal plan as they used to. Americans paid 11.3% more for groceries in January than a year ago, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. The price of ground coffee, for example, increased by 23.8%. A driving force behind the current inflation was COVID-19, according to a recent study about inflation rates in the United States and the United Kingdom.

“Each of the currency areas were hit by a series of common shocks during that period – namely, a succession of waves of the Covid pandemic,” the study stated. Other causing factors were “spikes in oil prices, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine (in February 2022).”

University Dining Services at OSU has felt the economic effects of inflation because of its business form. Its operations include franchised restaurants such as Caribou Coffee, dining halls such as North Dining and marketplaces such as Twenty Something. Although part of OSU, it is a function of OSU that doesn’t receive any tuition

dollars or state allocations, said Tracie Brown, assistant vice president of student union business affairs.

COVID-19 forced restrictions on businesses’ operations, which marked the beginning of University Dining Services’ struggle, said Amanda Hamlett, marketing coordinator for University Dining Services. Social distancing and safety protocols forbid dining inside restaurants statewide.

“We were losing money every day our locations weren’t open,” Hamlett said.

Most of OSU’s dining locations on campus remained closed long after COVID-19, said Vedda Hsu, director of University Dining Services. Closures took away the main source of revenue, meal plan dollars, from the University Dining Services. With no funding from the university, its revenue relies on students’ meal plan money.

Meal plan revenue was $15.4 million in 2019. When the pandemic sabotaged business in 2020, it decreased by 15%. In 2022, the revenue

rebounded closer to pre-pandemic, totaling $14 million, Brown said.

Although University Dining Services had to survive without help from the university, it never laid off employees because of the pandemic, Hamlett said. It struggled to hire enough workers, because many potential employees left at the start of the pandemic, March 2020.

“Fewer locations were open because we had nobody to work them,” Hamlett said. “So, the more students we got, the more we could open things.”

Despite a staff shortage and lack of customers, University Dining Services had to serve food to the students who remained on campus. University Dining Services navigated the situation, keeping safety measures in mind, Hsu said. A chef would make microwaveable meals that students could buy with their meal plans.

“We had to open. We had to serve students,” Hsu said. “That’s our main purpose.”

Oklahoma isdoing better than the national average in

its GDP percentage, according to federal statistics. However, not every business is back to normal. Expenses for the food distribution process have increased. Gas prices, for example, have risen 97% since January 2018, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, reaching an all-time high in June.

“Delivery truck drivers are now charging extra for gas because gas prices skyrocketed,” Hamlett said. “So now we’re paying delivery fees for gas, which we used to not have to worry about. So inflation problems go way more back than the surface level.”

The amount and reason for extra charges differ per delivery, Hamlett said.

“Some companies would do a flat company fee, some would do a gas charge. It all depends,” Hamlett said. “Some we order from more, some we don’t order from as much, so it’s really hard to give a flat ‘it went up this amount.’”

See Dining on page 8

Garrett Kirksey

COVID-19 forced restrictions on businesses’ operations, which marked the beginning of University Dining Services’ struggle.

Dining...

Continued from page 7

Although core prices and inflation remain high, the prices of certain items are beginning to decrease. The latest Consumer Price Index news release by the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows a 4.6% decrease in gas prices from February to March. Despite the decrease in gas prices, other factors keep affecting businesses that keep prices high.

Meal prices are affected by underlying factors of inflation. An OSU assistant professor in economics, Laura Ahlstrom, said restaurants are hit hard by inflation. She said rising production is one of the main causes of higher food prices.

“If you’re a restaurant owner, food prices, in particular, have skyrocketed,” Ahlstrom said. “Basic things like eggs and flour and stuff that would be in your meals.”

Like gas prices, the Consumer Price Index in March indicates a relief in food prices has begun. Although the prices of some food items such as cereals and bakery products kept increasing, the overall food index did not increase. The

food-at-home index decreased by 0.3% since September 2020. Cheaper meats, poultry, fish and eggs provide help to households and businesses struggling with all the factors of inflation.

Ahlstrom said another characteristic of inflation is the loss of purchasing power. Being able to buy less with the same amount of money, combined with increased food prices, leads to a decrease in the amount of food people can buy.

“So they (employees) want increases in their wages to offset the decline in the purchasing power of their dollars,” Ahlstrom said.

University Dining Services has had to adjust to the demand for higher salaries, Hsu said.

Before the pandemic, employees were paid $7.50 per hour. The wage has slowly increased, reaching $10 per hour in spring 2022, in hopes to bring in more employees. Additionally, employees get an $8 meal voucher daily if they work for more than three hours.

“Before the pandemic, employees would be close to 500 student employees per semester,” Hsu said. “During pandemic times, we would barely make 100. Right now, we are coming back. This se -

mester, we are at roughly 400.”

To make the job more appealing, University Dining Service awards a raise to its employees every year they work for the company, Hsu said. Every employee goes through an evaluation after each year with the company. Typically, it is 25 cents an-hour raise.

“We need to be able to compete with outside employers’ wages,” Hsu said. With higher food prices and less purchasing power, people have to consider their day-to-day spending. After having a meal plan for the first three semesters of college, Morgan decided to give it up.

“I didn’t really look at the prices until I got off my meal plan,” Morgan said. “That’s when I realized many things were more expensive than they used to be.”

Although students have the option to have a meal plan, University Dining Services must serve students and staff. It’s adjusting to the economic situation and to meet the student’s needs, Hsu said. University Dining Services had to increase the price of coffee, for example, because of inflation.

“We’ve had to increase the price of certain items because vendors are charging us more,” Hsu said. “I think we will see an increase in meal

plan prices in the future. We want to make sure it’s still affordable for students and parents.”

Although a more expensive meal plan might look worse on students’ or their parent’s bank accounts, it ensures that students won’t run out of meal plan credit in the middle of a semester. University Dining Services wants to provide flexible and affordable options for all students, Hsu said.

It offers six plans with the Platinum Plan being the most expensive at $2,275 per semester. The lowest plan freshmen living on campus can get is the Bronze Plan at $1,550 per semester. Plan G is the only available option without a contract. It starts at $100 in Dining Dollar increments.

“We don’t want students to have to worry if they can eat or not,” Hamlett said. “That’s our No. 1 concern. We don’t want freshmen to be like ‘I can’t afford dinner.’”

University Dining Services has removed ‘all-youcan-eat’ swipes, to make meal plans more affordable, Hamlett said. “We have one of the lowest meal plan prices in the Big 12,” Hamlett said. “That’s why we moved away from the swipes ‘all-you-can-eat,’ because those meal plans are so much higher. You’re wasting

so much food and money with those.”

The Stillwater community and its businesses found ways to support each other during inflation.University Dining Services has taken the initiative, too, Hsu said. For example, grocery stores on campus sell locally made-sodas.

“We try to support local entrepreneurs,” Hsu said.

Dealing with inflation without funding from the university has required University Dining Services to adjust in different ways. It has not yet increased meal plan prices even though it has to charge more for certain items, Hsu said. This ultimately means students have to pay more attention to budgeting to make ends meet.

“I used to buy a coffee every morning in the Student Union on my way to class,” said Savannah Skiles, anOSU senior majoring in nutritional science via allied health. “It has gotten so expensive I have to bring it from home. Life is more expensive right now, and I have to budget better.”

OSU students Zoe KentFerraro, Saara Hakanen, Garrett Kirksey, Caelyn Cox and Emily Stuart contributed to this report.

news.ed@ocolly.com

Garrett Kirksey

University Dining Services at OSU has felt the economic effects of inflation because of its business form. Its operations include franchised restaurants such as Caribou Coffee, dining halls such as North Dining and marketplaces such as Twenty Something.

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Daily Horoscope

Nancy Black Tribune Content Agency

Linda Black Horoscopes

Today’s Birthday (05/02/23). Plot your long-term course this year. You can win valuable prizes, together with friends. Inspiring possibilities blossom this spring. Adapting your partnership around summer changes leads to growing autumn health and fitness. Upgrade your look, brand or style next winter. Let your higher spirit lead.

To get the advantage, check the day’s rating: 10 is the easiest day, 0 the most challenging.

Aries (March 21-April 19) — Today is an 8 — Collaborate and coordinate for practical solutions. Keep your promises. Creativity, partnership and romance can spark. Communication flowers. Coordinate and build for the future together.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) — Today is a 9 — Connect with nature. Follow your heartbeat. Prioritize work, health and physical performance. Practice your moves and technique for greater efficiency. Envision beautiful results.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) — Today is an 8 — Creativity and artistry spark. Relax and enjoy familiar company. Invent enticing possibilities together. Share your heart and luck plays along. Heed wisdom from children.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — Today is a 7 — Nurture yourself and family with home comforts and diversions. Clean and clear clutter. Get creative for beautiful results. Add sugar, spice, and everything nice.

Leo (July 23-Aug. 22) — Today is an 8 — Communication comes easily. Discuss news and possibilities. Strengthen foundational structures. Creative work blossoms. Write, paint or film your story. Edit, polish and refine.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) — Today is a 9 — Have faith in your own capabilities and imagination. Connect and network. Find a lucrative market niche and fill it. Balance expenses with income.

Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) — Today is a 9 — Talk about the results you’d love. You can accomplish more than you think possible. It doesn’t need to get expensive. Use your power responsibly.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) — Today is a 7 — Nurture sensitivities with peaceful privacy. Emotion could beat reason. Complete one phase and begin another. Honor transitions with rituals. Invent a possibility from nothing.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) — Today is an 8 — What you need can be found. Share information and resources. Teamwork can move mountains. Reach out to include neighbors and friends. Stay positive.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) — Today is a 9 — Advance your professional objectives. The good work you’re doing reflects you well. Polish marketing materials, websites and presentations. Build to realize long-term goals.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) — Today is an 8 — Study options and clues. Your investigation is getting interesting. Build strong foundations to make your case. Discover a perfect solution. Unravel a mystery.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — Today is a 9 — Collaborate on shared finances. Contribute time, energy and money to grow accounts and resources. You’re building for the future. Nurture the garden together.

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

Edited by Patti Varol and Joyce Lewis

Solution

Steve Faiella

puzzle