Ukrainian history expert visits OSU

Stephanie Landaverde Staff Reporter

Johannes Remy, an expert on Ukrainian and Russian history, visited OSU on Tuesday.

Jason Lavery, an occupation regents professor in the history department, organized the visit.

Lavery said he organized Remy’s visit because Ukraine is an important topic in world affairs and its history is not well known.

“A lot of the current conflict has long historical roots,” Lavery said. “So I thought it would be good to bring an expert like Dr. Remy.”

Remy has published three books centered on Eastern Europe. His first was a doctoral dissertation focused on nationalism in Eastern Europe and how this relates to Russia. His third, titled “Brothers or Enemies: The Ukrainian National Movement in Russia from the 1840s to the 1870s” has won two awards.

“History of Ukraine,” his second book, was the focus of Tuesday’s talk.

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“I think that student government has done a great job trying to address student concerns over the last couple of years, especially since I’ve been here,” Dedmon said. “But we can always do more, we can always strive to improve that process and make it more accessible for students to voice their concerns and to feel like they have an open space to kind of talk to us.”

Dedmon, a sophomore, and Kopang, a sophomore, have always been leaders.

Dedmon was student body president during his senior year of high school and was actively involved in the leadership organization FCCLA. Kopang worked her way through the ranks of her high school student council until she was the president of it. Both Dedmon and Kopang have previous involvement with SGA.

Unlike their opponents, presidential candidate Ashley Peterson and vice-presidential candidate Hilary Albrecht are new to SGA. The two view this as an opportunity to shed light on issues SGA overlooked in the past.

“I’m coming in as an outsider, but I think it’s honestly my greatest strength because I come in with fresh ideas and true student background and connections,” Peterson said.

If elected, Peterson and Albrecht want to bridge the communication and awareness gap between SGA and students. They plan on reaching out to students and other campus organizations to address the concerns and hopes they have for life on campus.

Peterson and Albrecht have spe -

The book covers the entirety of Ukrainian history. It was originally written in Finnish and because of its popularity in Finland, now has a second edition. This edition was published months after Russia attacked Ukraine and includes comments about these events, making it an extremely up to date account of Ukranian history.

Remy began his lecture of Ukrainian history in the 14th century. At this time, what is now more than half of Northern Ukraine was part of Lithuania and later Poland. Crimea is now Southern Ukraine.

The Ukrainian language formed in the 16th century. Royal power was substantial, but a king could not enact new laws or introduce taxes without the consent of parliament. Members of parliament were elected and after 1569, even the king had to be elected.

“The decision was made by shouting,” Remy said. “So the arrangement hardly matches our standards of democracy.”

Remy said women at this time theoretically had equal rights politically. This political and social system cific intentions for OSU outside of building a connection between students and SGA. The two want to target the everyday hassle of campus parking and plan on advocating for more student parking spots and providing students with the option to pay off parking tickets through food or hygiene product donations.

Other goals include gameday benefits for students and requesting OSU cover the cost of online homework and exam platforms.

Peterson and Albrecht are not new to leadership.

Both were involved in leadership organizations in high school and continued to lead once in college.

Peterson found herself protesting at the Oklahoma State Capitol in high school and part of Spear’s leadership fellowship in college. The two juniors met at a TLX leadership conference and have remained connected.

“I have always had a passion for leadership, and not even just leadership, but just connecting with people and solving problems and working with people who care about an issue to solve that problem and utilizing everyone’s strengths to solve the problem,” Peterson said.

Peterson is a marketing major, and Albrecht is an agribusiness major, but they view their differing majors as an opportunity to represent a variety of students on a personal level.

Peterson said that between the two of them, they have connections across campus.

Watching the two teams debate will allow students to familiarize themselves with the different candidates and their plans for the student body. Voting begins March 7 at 8 a.m. and ends March 8 at 5 p.m.

Season one of Amazon Prime’s “The Legend of Vox Machina,” an animated show centered around the popular roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons, was a hit receiving 100% on Rotten Tomatoes after its debut in January 2022.

The 115-episode campaign of Critical Role’s, a webseries in which a group of professional voice actors play Dungeons & Dragons, inspired the show’s premise. It follows the adventures of the Vox Machina party, which includes Percy De Rolo (Taliesin Jaffe), Keyleth the Ashari (Marisha Ray), Grog Strongjaw (Travis Willingham), Scanlan Shorthall (Sam Riegel), Pike Trickfoot (Ashley Johnson), and the twins Vex’aliah (Laura Bailey) and Vax’ildan (Liam O’Brien).

What sets the Amazon Prime show apart is the party members from the Critical Role campaign channel voice every character in the show. Matt Mercer, the Dungeon Master, and the main cast voice several characters throughout the show.

Including their voices adds a fun and unique element to the story as new fans enjoy fantastic voice acting. Old fans experience watching reiterates the freeness of the country and makes it distinct from most other European countries, which had strong royal power.

“The local democracy was especially perceived as antithetical to Russia,” Remy said.

Remy went through the rest of Ukrainian history leading up to current times and its relationship with surrounding European countries. He discussed different elements of Ukraine’s history that impact its present state, such as the factors that influenced its estrangement with Poland, the abolition of Cossack autonomy and the suppression of Ukrainian literature in the Russian empire.

Abigail Lavery, a freshman zoology student, attended the lecture after the opportunity was presented in her class. Lavery said she learned about how current events relate to numerous factors, such as religion, and how Ukraine’s historical culture is still present.

“He was talking about the OUN (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists) and how people still think that they weren’t really part of the Holocaust,” Lavery said. “But those kinds of people are the ones that continue antisemitic views. I thought that was interesting.” the characters they pictured during the YouTube live streams come to life visually with the voices they know and love.

The solid animation is another strong point of the show. It isn’t unique, but good animation can make a show. Dungeons and Dragons is being brought to life with a media format allowing more flexibility in exploring storylines. Several sequences of epic battles will leave you out of your seat. A new sub-genre of adult cartoons has become more mainstream in the past few years, and Vox Machina has taken advantage of the rising popularity. Campaign players can do anything they want with their character, and the show mirrors this experience with having a TV-MA rating.

This rating makes the show more authentic to the actual gameplay and makes the characters far more relatable. They aren’t perfect heroes and their imperfections are more realistic to the real world. The characters are well written and well done. A player built the characters’ traits and arc over multiple episodes. The pairing of the Critical Role team, showrunners, and writers generated a storyline that could fit into two 12-episode seasons. The first season started strong with a quick establishing arc involving dragons and a plot to take control of the Kingdom of Emon before moving on to the primary season storyline, calk full of vampires, villainous magic and one party member’s quest for revenge. Each character was given their moment to shine, and overall, the season provided a fun and entertaining first outing for the group. In the first season, they encapsulated the feeling of playing DND while perfectly balancing a TV series storyline.

Season two of “The Legend of Vox Machina” delivered a strong sequel, complementing season one well. The story picks up with the aftermath of the events of the first season arc, with the dragons retaliating against Emon. The Vox Machina party faces the impossible task of defeating the infamous Chroma Conclave. Through a series of 12 episodes, each part member seeks weapons known as the Vestiges of Divergence to aid in their battle with varying success. The season ends with only one member of the Conclave meeting its end.

The pacing feels a little off throughout the season. The multiple missions for the other Vestiges feel off at points, with some characters given more screen time than others.

The season also rushes some of their major plot points. In episode three, Vex’aliah dies but is resurrected in regular DND fashion. The death felt too sudden but also too obvious. At the start of the episode, there was a flood of back flashes telegraphing the end, but it didn’t feel earned. It was more of a sped-up plot point to get Vax’ildan mixed up with the Raven Queen in his efforts to resurrect it, his twin.

Many shows need more storylines, but Vox Machina is different. The Critical Role team has more than 300 hours of content. Taking their time with the storyline allows the team to roll a 20 on every turn. The decision to end the show with the main villains still at large was brilliant.

Netflix’s “Stranger Things” brought DND into the spotlight, but Vox Machina gave new and old players a glimpse into the worlds they have built through many long and complex campaigns. The Critical Role teams continue to publish content and have already confirmed a season three of “The Legend of Vox Machina”. The Dungeon Master tells you to roll the initiative and watch Vox Machina on Amazon Prime.