2-24-21

The Pitt News

T h e i n d e p e n d e n t s t ude nt ne w spap e r of t he U niversity of Pittsburgh | PIttnews.com | February 24, 2021 ­| Volume 111 | Issue 68

Promiti Debi | Senior Staff Illustrator

News

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Developmental psych rated as ‘Best Class’ Allison Radziwon For The Pitt News

For sophomore Alyssa Kline, her baby cousin’s recent birth made her developmental psychology class last fall much more personal and worthwhile. As an anthropology and psychology double major, she found the course to be much more meaningful than just any major requirement.

“My baby cousin was born right before the class started, and it was really interesting to hear about the different stages of childhood and then see them in real life,” Kline said. “I took the class because it was required for my major, but it ended up being one of my favorite classes last semester. I love learning about children and how people grow into who they are today.”

Students voted for Developmental Psychology as “Best Class” in The Pitt News’ annual “Best Of ” survey this year.

The course is one of the psychology department’s lower level classes and major requirements. In classes of up to 250, students learn the psychology of children from conception to adolescence.

The class outlines the current theory and research on social, emotional, perceptual and language development.

Erin Burchell, a senior psychology major with a certificate in foundations of medicine, initially took developmental psychology as a major requirement.

She said she quickly grew to love it, and she recommends the class to any student on campus.

“I really liked learning about childhood development, because we were all kids once. It’s interesting to see how many ways a child can be shaped into who they are as an adult,” Burchell said.

Burchell also said she finds the class relatable on a personal front. She took the class while helping take care of her new baby nephew, and said she saw many of the class’s topics come to life.

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“My nephew was one and a half years old at the time I took the class,” Burchell said. “It was really interesting to see how he was developing and also learning he’d hardly know who I was later on … I learned that kids’ memories aren’t fantastic, so he didn’t recognize me for a while.”

Jennifer Ganger is one of multiple professors who teaches developmental psychology. She initially found her love for developmental psychology through language, as she found it fascinating

they’re a twin and I’d talk about that with them.”

Ganger also said the course discusses topics that are often left unmentioned in everyday life, such as pregnancy and prenatal development.

“We spend a day or two on prenatal development, which people just don’t know about or talk about,” Ganger said.

“Even though everything I teach has been around for decades, like how fetuses can taste things the mother eats, fetuses can hear the mother’s voice. It’s

Ganger said she honestly isn’t surprised that many students have a great love for developmental psychology. But she’s thrilled to know that the course won ‘Best Class’ on the annual survey this year.

“I think it’s great that students love the topic. I think it's a really important topic in each person’s life because we all end up dealing with children in one way or another, or at least most of us do,” Ganger said. “For a lot of my students, they have careers working with children in some aspect, so it's gratifying that they’re excited about it.”

Students voted for Developmental Psychology as “Best Class” in The Pitt News’ annual “Best Of” survey this year. Via Wikimedia Commons how children learned how to speak as they got older. Ganger, who’s taught developmental psychology almost every semester since 2001, said many of her students find the class relatable to their personal lives.

“I get people telling me examples from their own life, which is nice. I’ll be talking about premature birth and sometimes I’d have an older student go ‘Oh yeah! My daughter was born six weeks early, 20 years ago!’ and we have that conversation,” Ganger said. “Or I’ll be talking about twins and someone says

not common knowledge, so people are fascinated about that.”

Gwyn Lloyd, a sophomore communication science & disorders and psychology double major, said she found the prenatal development section of the course especially fascinating.

“My friend recently got pregnant at the time, so I was learning about that alongside helping her through her pregnancy,” Lloyd said. “I learned so much about what was actually happening as she’s pregnant, which I thought was really interesting.”

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2

New beauty supply delivery app expands to Pittsburgh Betul Tuncer Staff Writer

When Pitt alumnus Mike James’ girlfriend needed some last-minute beauty products, the idea for WaySlay — or as he calls it, “Uber Eats but for beauty supplies” — was born.

“One day she needed to go to an event.

She was running behind and needed a couple of additional beauty supply products,” James, the company’s chief technology officer, said. “I suggested that she just find an app that she can use to get those products delivered, since everything basically has delivery these days.”

James said when she told him this app didn’t exist, he used his background in software design to make his own. James co-founded WaySlay — a Black-owned company that offers accessibility and convenience for beauty supplies and natural hair products — with Ian Grant II last July.

The company initially launched in Miami and expanded to Pittsburgh in January.

Grant, the company’s CEO, said there were many reasons the company launched first in Miami. Grant said it was convenient to start in Miami because the two founders were based there at the time, and the city was popular in food delivery — making it a great place to test out the service.

James said WaySlay expanded to Pittsburgh because the city’s smaller size offers more opportunities.

“The overall area that you need to cover here is much less than in Miami,” James said.

“So that helps us get to market and offer complete coverage of the city as fast as possible. And then it becomes more about partnering with other stores so that we can offer customers a variety of products.”

Grant added that he and James had hoped the Pittsburgh community would have an interest in beauty supply delivery. He said they want to use Pittsburgh as a way to test out how their service operates in different seasons and weather conditions. ”Since launch, we’ve seen that our hypothesis was correct and that there is a lot of interest in Pittsburgh,” Grant said. “So it's good to see the reaction the City has given towards WaySlay.”

James said the app works by partnering with beauty supply stores and helps offer their products for delivery. The business has partnered with Sisters Beauty Supply in Downtown and Hair City in nearby Monroeville, located just east of Pittsburgh. The supply stores upload

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their inventory into the app and customers can then locate stores near them and the products available. Customers pick which beauty products they want to buy, check out on the app and have their order delivered to their doorstep.

The app helps small, local businesses by broadening their customer reach and offering convenient delivery services, James said. WaySlay collects fixed service fees on every order — allowing the service to maintain a profit margin.

“We’ve been able to help those businesses find a new avenue to offer a sales channel during the pandemic,” James said. “And we’re really giving these stores immediate internet presence whereas they wouldn’t really have in this industry since a lot of them are not opening up their own online stores.”

Kim Cardiel Earley, co-owner of Hair City, said the store officially launched its partnership with WaySlay last Friday. She said the process was “perfect.”

“The launch was perfect. Mike did all of the heavy lifting, he made it super easy for me,” Cardiel Earley said. “All I had to do was set up my account, punch in a couple of numbers and that was it.”

Cardiel Earley said the partnership, though fairly new, is great because it brings in extra revenue. She added that so far her business has gotten a lot of positive feedback from customers who have shopped there through WaySlay.

“We’ve been telling every single customer since we’ve gone live so I’d have to say the feedback has definitely been exciting,” Cardiel Earley said. “A lot of the time people don’t have cars, so the fact that they don’t need to Uber out here then Uber back and can just pay one fee and have it brought to them is good.”

While finding beauty supplies may be as simple as stopping in a Target or Walmart for some, an app like WaySlay is essential for others. Yasmine Crawley — the president of Crown Culture, a club that celebrates natural hair — said she believes there's still a lot of negative societal perceptions toward natural Black hair. She said this is a big reason why so many Black men and women, such as herself, have a complicated relationship with their hair.

“It's been kind of a self-love journey. It's made me realize that I am beautiful with my natural hair,” Crawley, a senior psychology major, said. “And that I don’t have to wear my hair straight to be considered beautiful or to be deserving of any praise about my hair.”

Crawley said she thinks WaySlay is a great service for those with natural hair, and she will definitely be using it.

“I think it's really awesome because it’s definitely needed,” Crawley said. “Any way we can use technology to help people with natural hair to figure out where they can get their hair done and what is available to them is great.”Crawley said learning how to take care of her hair with the products available as well as acknowledge the beauty of it has been a “self love journey.” She added that the app will also be convenient since before going to a new city, she always has to know what beauty supplies she has access to.

“Even something as simple as going into a hotel, I know better than to use the conditioner that they put in the bottle for free,” Crawley said.

“So I have to make sure I’m prepared to go to a new place and look up ahead of time what salons can I go to or what beauty supply stores I can go to that have products that I need.”

Grant said now that WaySlay is available in Pittsburgh, he hopes Pitt students use the app to get their beauty supplies.

“The biggest thing for us is to be able to provide them with convenience so that students

February 24, 2021

can focus on their school work or different job opportunities,” Grant said. “They shouldn’t have to go out of their way just to find beauty supplies that they need to prepare for an interview or to be able to give them the confidence or whatever it is they aspire to be.”

As a way to encourage Pitt students to benefit from their service, the WaySlay cofounders said students can use the code “WAYSLAYH2P” for free delivery on their first order.

James said the company ultimately hopes to be the largest supplier of beauty supply products in the country. WaySlay hopes to expand to new cities such as Atlanta, New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C., in the future.

Crawley said she also believes that beauty and hair care should be accessible to everyone.

She added that she hopes other people with natural hair embrace their beauty.

“For all the other natural curl friends out there, be proud of your hair, don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t wear it the way you want to wear it,” Crawley said. “It's beautiful and you deserve to be able to style your hair how you please and feel confident in it.”

3

Pharmacy students deliver COVID-19 vaccines to Homewood, Hill District residents Punya Bhasin Staff Writer

For Black pharmacy students like Nnenna Anyanwu, the chance to help underserved and predominantly Black communities in the Pittsburgh area by administering COVID-19 vaccines was something that hit close to home.

“Having lived in Pittsburgh for a while, I know that the Homewood and Hill District are predominantly underserved and Black population, so I was really happy to go out there and help out because there's not that many Black people in health care, and I know that a lot of Black people are concerned about the medical field and the COVID vaccine, because they don't know who to trust,” Anyanwu said. “I was really glad to be a part of the pharmacy school initiative and be a source of representation for the Black community.”

Pitt’s School of Pharmacy took second-year students to the Hill District and Homewood to administer over 1,000 COVID-19 vaccines to senior citizens on Feb. 5 and Feb. 6. The Allegh-

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eny County Health Department set up two vaccination sites with 60 pharmacy students each administering the Moderna vaccine to people ages 65 and older. This initiative was part of the School's goal to help underserved neighborhoods and better exemplify to their students what equitable health care should be, as outlined by the new Pledge of Professionalism oath written this year.

Travis Van Otterloo, a second-year pharmacy student, said he was excited when he heard that he would be able to help vaccination efforts and thought it was a great idea to help out the community.

“My emotions were all over the board. I was definitely excited,” Van Otterloo said. “I thought that it was going to be a fantastic experience for me, but also something great for the community that we were able to aid in, and there's no doubt in my mind that every single patient that walked out of each of those clinics that day were extremely happy.”

Van Otterloo said he was impressed with

the way that the pharmacy school has been handling this new way of education through the pandemic and is grateful for the hands-on learning.

“I think they're handling it incredibly well,” Van Otterloo said. “I mean of course there's gonna be some bumps in the road and everything, especially during a pandemic there's so many things that are out of your hands, but they laid out the complete list of things we needed to do to be certified to vaccinate patients and the planning for this has been impeccable.”

Van Otterloo, who was volunteering on Feb. 5 said the patients who received the vaccines heard about the event through word of mouth.

“When we first got there, we were told that in the Homewood district, this was not a thing that was advertised. When you go to nursing homes and things like that, these things are going to be advertised and certain dates and times will be set up,” Van Otterloo said. “That's not the same in underprivileged areas where this event was spread by word of mouth from person to person, so it truly was a community-led event, which is significantly different from any other mass vaccination upwards like that.”

Anyanwu said being one of the few Black health professionals that day, she realized how necessary it was to have proper representation and diversity within the healthcare industry when some patients of color asked for her opinion on what medical practices they should trust.

“I had this one, an older Black gentleman came up to me and expressed his grievances with the COVID vaccine because he didn’t know whether or not to get it, so he asked me personally because I was the only Black staff member in the pharmacy at the time,” Anyan-

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wu said. “He said that he would have felt more relief if he saw more Black pharmacy students, more Black pharmacists and more Black people in health care.”

Chandrima Saha — a second-year pharmacy student who vaccinated approximately 30 patients in Homewood on Feb. 5 — said this experience felt like she was making history.

“I think that the whole experience is unreal because first of all, like we have been doing school online so being able to be just as present in something like this feels like we're making history,” Saha said.

Having participated in this clinic, Anyanwu also said the initiative is the first step to providing better representation and equality within the health care field, and she hopes the University will continue with these efforts.

“I think we should continue helping underserved areas because everyone deserves equal opportunity to health care, especially with the COVID vaccine distributions,” Anyanwu said.

“It's important for people to get equal access to health care, and just making sure that it is available for them.”

Anyanwu said the experience made her feel part of a bigger movement, and like she was making a difference in the lives of patients.

“I felt like I was actually going out and personally making a difference in someone's life since this was definitely more personal because I could see the patient's reaction, I could see their gratitude, I could see how grateful they were,” Anyanwu said. “I felt like I was doing something big and if I look back I can say confidently in the future that I definitely helped them.”

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5

Opinions

The Berks County Detention Center must be shut down India Krug

Staff Columnist Pennsylvanians are living with a humanitarian crisis in their own backyard. Critics have labeled the Berks County Detention Center, located in Leesport, a “baby jail.”

None of the immigrant families detained there are facing criminal charges, but all are unable to leave during their hearing process, which can take years. The center held 23 children in 2019, enough to fill a daycare.

Despite the obvious trauma inflicted on families, the center remains open. It must be shut down.

The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services regulates the 96-bed secure facility, but U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement leases it. It is one of only three detention centers in the country to house families.

The facility opened in 2001, but has seen a large increase in use since then. Pennsylvania taxpayers shell out an estimated annual $12 million to keep these families detained. The federal government reimburses Berks County for operating the facility — an agreement that adds $1.3 million in revenue to the county’s budget every year and employs 59 people. This gives the county an incentive to keep the facility open.

The facility gained national attention in 2019, following the detainment of a British family vacationing in Canada who claimed they accidentally drove into the United States. They asked to turn around, but agents refused and instead the family was held at the Berks County Detention Center for two weeks. The family, who had a 3-month-old child, was given a “filthy” baby bathtub and sheets with a “disgusting” smell. When their son woke up with “blotchy” skin and a “swollen” eye, the parents were given the option to separate from their child, which they refused. After delays in being able to contact their embassy, they were able to return home.

Many descriptions of the living conditions in the detention center are similar, but

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unlike the British family, most detainees are held indefinitely after being stopped at the border. Some families were detained for more than two years.

The office of now former state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale published a report in December 2019 that highlighted the facility’s inability to provide a safe living environment, sufficient medical care and reasonable privacy to its occupants.

The report also addressed a 2014 lawsuit filed after a mother seeking asylum from Honduras was repeatedly sexually assaulted by a 40-year-old Berks employee. In her suit, she claimed that other employees were aware of the abuse and chose not to intervene.

Besides the unacceptable standard of living, detainees are exposed to verbal abuse and workers’ rights violations. Families are treated like convicted inmates, which includes a voluntary work program that assigns adults to maintain the cleanliness of the facility while being paid $1 a day.

Undocumented immigrants who come to America already face significant barriers in the court system and are forced to live in unfit facilities while undergoing the documentation process. Most families rely on pro bono efforts such as nonprofit attorneys or volunteers, and oftentimes have to represent themselves. Additionally, Berks rarely provides translators, despite there being times when no one detained speaks English.

Detention centers continue to operate due to doubts that released families will fail to attend their court hearings. But a study conducted by the American Immigration Council showed that released family members have a very high compliance rate — 96% of families seeking asylum attended all of their hearings.

Berks County Detention Center is not only responsible for human rights violations — its continued operation breaks laws.

The Flores Agreement establishes a national policy for detaining children, and states that minors cannot be detained for more than

20 days, a standard the facility has failed to comply with.

The state government revoked the facility’s license to house children in January 2016, and Berks County responded with a lawsuit. This has led to the issue being tied up in the courts, which allows the center to detain children to this day.

Conditions have worsened since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The inability to practice social distancing within the center and lack of health care have caused panic among detained families. After a federal judge ordered for detained children to be released last summer, families were given the choice to either sign custody of their children over to a sponsor or have their children remain in the center with them indefinitely. Additionally, there have been multiple confirmed COVID-19 cases among Berks employees and detainees.

Many activist organizations such as the Shut Down Berks Coalition, Pittsburgh’s own Casa San Jose, Aldea and GirlGov have been working for years to inform the public, provide legal assistance and advocate for action that will release families.

The state government has chosen not to issue an Emergency Removal Order or Cease and Desist Order to shut the center down. The governor and Berks County Commissioner Kevin Barnhardt have been discussing potential ways to close the facility since 2019, but have made little to no progress.

Detention and deportations are not only sustained by institutions like ICE, but also by stakeholders in communities like Berks County, which makes the fight all the more difficult. The truth is that the work to free families is arduous, and family detention continues to be a national crisis.

Immigration issues are often among the first to be put on the back burner. Gov. Tom Wolf made this evident when he restricted large public gatherings this summer, but failed to protect detained families who don't have the option to social distance. It is clear-

February 24, 2021

ly evident now, on a national level, because the Biden administration has done very little to halt deportations.

Self-sufficient, skilled and intelligent adults are living under conditions that strip them and their children of their humanity.

Young people are spending their formative years in confinement. Pennsylvanians have a choice — we can continue to overlook this crisis or join the fight to end it.

If you chose the latter, you can start by donating to organizations such as Free Migration Project, calling your state representatives, signing petitions like Shut Down Berks, learning more through activist campaigns or documentaries and bringing attention to this issue with your peers.

India writes primarily about politics and culture for The Pitt News. Write to her at ilk18@pitt.edu or follow her on Twitter @indialarson_.

The Berks County Detention Center, located in Leesport, Pennsylvania, held 23 children in 2019 and is leased by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Via MCT Direct

6

from the editorial board

United States should follow Britain’s model, prioritize schools Boris Johnson, prime minister of the United Kingdom, announced Monday that schools could reopen starting March 8. This is both a victory and a sign of hope for much of England, as cases have declined significantly in recent weeks. The nation has been on a full lockdown since Jan. 4, as a more contagious COVID-19 variant spread rapidly, causing case numbers to soar.

While school re-openings are a welcome step for many parents and students, others are irritated that schools are reopening while bars and restaurants remain shuttered. But prioritizing schools is exactly what England should be doing, and frankly, exactly what the United States should be — but hasn’t been — doing.

School re-openings are part of Johnson’s “step one” reopening plan, which also includes allowing people to socialize outdoors. On March 29, up to six people will be allowed to meet outside, so long as they

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aren’t from more than two different households. Step two includes re-opening bars, restaurants and non-essential retail — such as gyms, salons and museums. This will happen no earlier than April 12, and even then, it’s contingent on vaccine rollout and community transmission rates.

Students in Britain — both school-aged and college-aged — will be tested twice weekly, and required to wear face coverings at all times. The virus is highly transmissible in bars, restaurants and gyms, so keeping these establishments closed will likely curb the community spread of COVID-19 until more people are vaccinated.

This means that fewer people are at risk of infection, and therefore the virus is less likely spread in schools.

The United Nations International Child Emergency Fund issued a late January warning saying that if children are out of school for another year, “the effects will be

felt for generations to come.” Studies have found numerous negative side effects in online learning — including decreases in general school progression, mental health and social disruptions in children. And, assuming proper precautions are taken, scientists have deemed schools relatively safe — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has even gone as far as urging school districts to re-open for in-person learning.

Yet in the United States, bars and restaurants are open in most states, while many schools remain shuttered.

Teacher unions across the country have protested returning to in-person instruction due to inadequate protection — a very fair and reasonable concern. Several teacher unions in California are requesting that teachers be vaccinated before returning to the classroom. In 28 states, and the District of Columbia, teachers are eligible for vaccination. But being eligible for vaccination

February 24, 2021

is one thing. Getting it is another. Recently, California pledged to set aside 10% of vaccine doses for teachers. Other states should be following suit.

We need to keep community transmission down so that schools can be a safer place. This could include a lower indoor dining capacity and gym capacity, and at the very least, a state-wide mask mandate — something that Montana became the latest state to remove.

Britain, like most countries, hasn’t had a perfect, or even adequate COVID-19 approach. But when it comes to schools in this round of re-openings, the nation’s steps are exactly right. It’s a complicated task, getting students back into the classroom, but as a nation, we aren’t making it enough of a priority.

7

2020 BEST OF BEST OF

FOOD & DRINK

PIADA ______________ Italian

OISHII BENTO ______________ Japanese

asia tea house ______________ Chinese

NOODLEHEAD ______________ Thai

STACK’D ______________ Burger

Oishii bento ______________ korean

Mount everest sushi ______________ Sushi

All india restaurant ______________ Indian

B52 ______________ Middle Eastern

FUEL AND FUDDLE ______________ Half-Price

roots

______________ Vegetarian/Vegan

PRIMANTI’S

______________ Sandwich

antoon’s

______________ Pizza

MILLIE’S

dr. mark strauss

______________ pitt professor

allie staman

______________ pitt ra

PAMELA’S

HILLMAN library ______________

______________ Breakfast

arby’s

______________ Take-out

BEST OF

ON CAMPUS

delta zeta

______________ sorority

DELTA CHI

______________ fraternity

alpha kappa psi

______________ student group

football

______________ pitt ncaa team

Wings

women’s lax ______________ club sports team

Coffee

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ROC

______________ campus celebrity

______________ Ice Cream

wings over ______________ RED HAWK ______________

KENNY PICKETT

______________ pitt athlete

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place to study

NORDENBERG

______________ residence hall

BEST OF

COLLEGE

FUEL AND FUDDLE

______________ Late-night menu

developmental psychology

______________ Course at pitt

BIGELOW BASH

______________ ppc event

pitt 2020 commencement

______________ virtual event

gene’s place

______________ bar in oakland

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VOTER PICKS shake smart ______________

zone 28 ______________

new pitt eats dining location

escape room

pasta bar (market Central) ______________

GENE NEY ______________

food item at a pitt eats dining location

local bartender

stack’d

bridgerton ______________

MELLINGER’S

MATtRESS ______________FACTORY

mario’s

wtae ______________

______________ pitt eats local partner-accepts dining dollArs ______________ beer distributor

______________ college night

most binge-worthy show

museum local tv station

BEST OF

SERVICES

BEST OF

CULTURE

steelers

PUCCINI ______________ salon

10th ward ______________

______________ PITTSBURGH sports TEAM

barbershop

trader joe’s

______________ Thrift store

______________ grocery store

amc waterfront

______________ Movie theatre

frenchi’s ______________ black-owned business

reading ________ quarantine activity

GOODWILL

uhaul ______________ rental company

EMPIRE TATTOO ______________ piercing / tattoo

YOGA U

______________ Yoga Studio

The Oaklander ______________ hotel

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February 24, 2021

The

Pitt News

BEST OF

2020 9

Record labels need to help not hurt artists Rachel Soloff

Senior Staff Columnist Recently, Taylor Swift has made the news, and no, it’s not for her feud with Kanye West or for a third surprise album.

Swift’s record company, Big Machine Records, sold the masters for her first six albums to Scooter Braun, music executive and manager of Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande in late June of 2019. Braun then sold the masters for $300 million to Shamrock Capital, a private equity firm in June 2020. Swift has recently begun the process of rerecording her music so Braun and Shamrock don't profit off of the masters.

Swift isn’t the only artist who has been deceived into signing a bad contract by a record company. Countless others, including Prince and Megan Thee Stallion, have been trapped in horrible contracts with greedy record companies and have had to go through grueling legal battles to get ownership of their music. This isn’t how it should be. Record companies should try to help artists, not trap them. The record industry needs to change its system so artists can thrive instead of getting stuck into bad contracts and tense legal battles, or artists will find ways to work without them.

Many artists are very young when signing contracts and are dazzled by the prospect of fame that record companies provide. Because of this, they are more likely to sign anything put in front of them without consulting a lawyer. Taylor Swift signed her contract with Big Machine Records in 2005 when she was just 16 years old. Megan Thee Stallion was just 20 when she signed hers. Record companies see the talent and naivete of these young artists and prey on it, making them sign contracts in which the artist essentially gives up everything to the record company.

The way that contracts work with most big record companies right now is that when an artist is signed, they become a worker for hire for the label. The recording company commissions an artist to create an album that it will own

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for a select amount of years. This forces the artist to earn the money back for the record company, and therefore their album has to succeed. This is even harder than it used to be because instead of selling albums, artists have to earn streams, which take longer to make revenue from.

This puts an immense amount of pressure on a young artist and makes them willing to sign bad contracts, because according to the record label, that’s the way it works.

Most of the contracts also own the masters — or the vocal recordings — of the artist’s songs for a select amount of time, usually between 20-35 years, which is what happened to Taylor Swift.

make.

Because these artists work “for hire,” they need to make money for their label, even if they feel restricted within their contract. Following the successful release of his album “Channel Orange,” Frank Ocean had artistic differences with his label, but because of his contract, Ocean had to make one more album so his label could earn back its money. He put out “Endless,” an Apple Music exclusive, to fulfill his contract and then independently released his critically acclaimed album “Blonde” the same night. Ocean had to put out music in order to fulfill a contract that restricted him. An artist as talented as Ocean

and they avoid the manipulation of a contract. Over the past 10 years, the internet has been a great way for artists to figure out how to make their own music, release this music for free on platforms like SoundCloud and Bandcamp and promote their music via social media.

Record companies should feel threatened by this. They need to change the way they make contracts and how they hold new artists hostage both financially and creatively. Taylor Swift making her legal battle public shows people how predatory record labels can be and will hopefully influence more musicians to independently release their music or negotiate their contracts with record labels better.

Rachel Soloff writes primarily about the entertainment industry and social justice. Write to her at RJS191@pitt.edu

Shruti Talekar Contributing Editor

This allows the record companies to make money off of the streams, while artists only get an advance on royalties. Owning the masters also means that record companies can license the artist’s songs to be on TV or in movies, even if the artist doesn’t necessarily want to do this, and the record companies would be the ones to profit from it. Artists who create, write, sing and produce their own music should be the ones who are making the money. The record labels work in a way in which they are the ones profiting without doing any of the work besides funding the projects these artists

should be able to work at his own pace because, as was seen before, he can be successful. By releasing “Blonde,” the album he felt proud of, independently, Ocean was able to profit off of his own art without the pressure from the label.

Ocean isn’t the only artist who has begun independently releasing their music. Most notably, Chance the Rapper self-released all of his music and had it available for free online. He was the first artist to receive a “Best New Artist” Grammy for a streaming-only release. Clearly, artists can be successful when they release music independently,

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10

Culture

Keke Palmer discusses stardom, sexism and Black Lives Matter at virtual event

Sona Sharma Staff Writer

For many college students, Keke Palmer is a familiar face as the star of the hit TV show “True Jackson, VP.” Her continued work in the entertainment industry, as well as her activism regarding issues of social justice, has only caused her popularity and influence to grow.

Palmer brought her talents to Pitt on Monday to discuss her identity as an artist, activist and Black woman in the entertainment industry in a Zoom event for Black History Month, sponsored

by Pitt Program Council and Black Action Society.

Since her time on Nickelodeon, Palmer has collected many different credits to her name. She worked on the horror comedy series “Scream Queens,” starred in the 2019 hit film “Hustlers” and released an EP titled “Virgo Tendencies, Pt. 1” in 2020. She is also known for her comedic presence, which perhaps is best highlighted by the “sorry to this man” meme, which went viral while she had taken a lie detector test on Vanity Fair. Most notably, Palmer hosted the 2020 VMAs last August“True Jackson, VP,” a show where a teenage girl is elected vice president of a fashion company, and the instances of sexism she faced while growing up on set.

“We were in the second season of ‘True Jackson’ when they started taping my boobs down,” Palmer said. “And I remember just being like, we really gotta go here with it? You do know young women are all over the world like growing up and it's a very normal thing for them to have.”

In addition to describing her experiences with sexism, Palmer also discussed the influences of Black artistry on her career, and the pressures she felt to progress and honor that legacy throughout her own work.

“There are so many amazing Black people doing amazing things,” Palmer said. “But when you think about the grand scheme of things, sometimes it doesn't seem like there's a lot. And I think that feeling puts a lot of pressure on a lot of Black artists, whether it be music or acting or anything else, because they feel like they've got to

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carry the whole culture on their backs.”

Palmer made headlines for a speech she gave during a Black Lives Matter protest in Los Angeles last summer, where she pleaded with members of the National Guard to march with protestors as a sign of solidarity. While the National Guard members got on one knee, they did not join the march with the protestors. Palmer recounted her conversation with a National Guard member.

“He was scared and that’s just unfortunate, because now you have a situation where government officials that are meant to protect us and care for us are afraid to stand with us,” Palmer said. “That lets you know that there is an issue when it comes to the government and its people, because now you have people afraid to do the

right thing because it might cost them their job.

Those two things should be in alignment! So the fact that they’re not means we got work to do.”

Even before this moment went viral, Palmer has been known for her vocal support of social justice issues. She uses her social media platforms to advocate for various social justice issues, and posts videos on Instagram and Facebook addressing these concerns while tying in anecdotes from her own life. Palmer’s opening monologue as host of the VMAs combined her traditional humor with honoring frontline workers and addressing the need for Americans to continue working together to address issues of systemic racism.

Morgan Ottley, president of BAS and one of the co-hosts of the Palmer event, stressed the

February 24, 2021

importance of hosting activists like Palmer to discuss their own experiences as Black people working and living in America. She said hearing activists bring awareness to Black issues ensures that the legacy of Black achievements is honored, even apart from traditional Black History Month events.

“It’s not really a movement, it’s more so like, ‘My Black life actually matters,’” Ottley said. “By asking her things like, ‘What is it like to be a Black woman in the entertainment industry?’ that’s immediately highlighting BLM because it addresses the issue of there not being many Black people in the entertainment industry.”

Find the full story online at

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11

‘Romeo N Juliet’ mixes Shakespeare with Black culture

Hayley Lesh Staff Writer

The iconic lines “O Romeo, O Romeo!

Wherefore art thou, Romeo?” echo through the computer speakers as the actors of “Romeo N Juliet” take their place in a reimagined — and virtual — Verona.

Pittsburgh Public Theater is virtually hosting “Romeo N Juliet” — an adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” — on their website for a small donation fee now until Sunday. Director Justin Emeka creates his own version of the Shakespearen classic, recorded through Zoom and featuring an all-Black cast, which centers on the feud between an immigrant family from the West Indies and a family from a Black community in the United States.

Pitt Arts will offer a free viewing of “Romeo N Juliet” for Pitt students on Saturday. Following the play, a public town hall will take place on Feb. 25 as well as a creative workshop with Emeka on Feb. 27.

Emeka has a history of working with adapted plays. His previous projects include an all-Black adaptation of “King Lear,” “Macbeth” set after the Civil War, “Death of a Salesman” featuring a Black family and his adaptation “Boougie Gentlemen” from “Bourgeois Gentlemen.”

“I'm very interested in just seeing how Black culture integrates into the world of Shakespeare's plays, and I have a long history of doing that,” Emeka said. “I looked at it and said, ‘Well, what if Juliet's family is Black immigrants from the West Indies, and the Montagues are Black American,’ and I just kind of explore a little bit of the tension that can sometimes exist within the Black community.”

“Romeo N Juliet”’s reimagined storyline provides a modern twist to its classic counterpart, but actor Brenden Peifer, who plays Mercutio and Brother John, said the play remains true to the original version.

“The language of course is very specific to the time and the culture. But what we played with in this adaptation was what it is to be young and in love and have that be scoffed at,” Peifer, a 2019 Pitt

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February 24, 2021

alumnus, said. “I think we really maintain that tradition, but we bring our own originality. We bring in those universal emotions of love of grief.”

Considering “Romeo N Juliet” takes place in an all-online format, Emeka said the play relied on various elements — including the actors — to produce a realistic environment.

“A lot of it is because I use the staging of pictures and the music,” Emeka said. “And then also having the actors go into their closets to create their characters really helps tell the story as well.”

The actors also faced challenges adapting to the online format. Zora Howard, who plays Juliet, said the cast dealt with complications that do not normally exist during live performances.

“There's lag time. There's ‘this person's lighting doesn't match this person's lighting,’ so it doesn't look like they're at the same time of day.

There are people in different time zones,” Howard said. “It's very different, but we are creative people, and we adapt.”

The play’s virtual format allows for creative flexibility. Emeka said he enjoys working with a worldwide cast.

“One thing that I like about Zoom — and taking advantage of in this production — is that you're able to gather people from all over the world [to create] a cast. And that's been really kind of awesome in rehearsals,” Emeka said.

Emeka remains true to Shakespeare’s characters but with his own twist. Howard said her role differed from her initial predictions as to how Juliet would be portrayed.

“I had all these preconceptions about what it would mean to play Juliet that have been ingrained in me throughout years of training and going to the theater and reading Shakespeare's work, but the Juliet that I got to play was very different from what I imagined it might be,” Howard said.

Some actors needed to take on more than one role during the play’s filming — Peifer, for example, plays both Mercutio and Brother John.

Find the full story online at

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12

Sports

Contentious offseason fades in memory as Sibande settles in at Pitt

Stephen Thompson Assistant Sports Editor

During last Saturday’s game against No. 16 Florida State, everything about Pitt senior guard Nike Sibande was different.

His hair was different — Sibande debuted braids after sporting a fade for much of the season. His role was different — Sibande started the game for just the fourth time as a Panther.

But most importantly, his play was different — Sibande, a heralded transfer from Miami (Ohio), finally looked like the steady scorer that he’s proven himself to be in the game against FSU. After the COVID-19 pandemic and a contentious transfer process kept him out of action for 262 days, Sibande spent his first nine games at Pitt shaking off the rust. But he showed flashes of dynamism in his breakout game on Saturday that indicate his game is growing along with the comfort of a still-new home in Pittsburgh.

Sibande entered last weekend’s contest against the Seminoles averaging 2.4 points and just over 11 minutes per game for Pitt this year — a far cry from the 15.1 and 30.6 minutes per game logged over three years with the Redhawks.

But against the Seminoles, he recorded season-highs in points (12), rebounds (7), shot attempts (13) and, most importantly, minutes (36). After navigating a season of pandemic procedures off the court and inconsistent minutes on it, Sibande struggled through his first nine games.

After the FSU game, he was grateful to finally see the floor for extended minutes.

“It was definitely interesting — just getting out there, getting more minutes, seeing things and just getting a better rhythm,” Sibande said. “I feel like once I just get into a rhythm, I’ll be shooting a higher clip. It was still good getting out there and get some good burn.”

Sibande can and has been forgiven for his relatively slow start because nothing about this year has been “normal” for him, even within the context of a season underscored by a global

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pandemic.

After transferring to Pitt, his request for an immediate eligibility waiver was denied by the NCAA. Sibande was one of the just seven basketball players who were denied that privilege. Of the more than 100 men’s college basketball players who applied for a waiver, why was Sibande one of the select few to get denied?

His story gained traction in national media and eventually caught the attention of ESPN analyst Jay Bilas. Bilas wanted to understand more

encouraged him to seek other options. Fink’s letter adds that Oaklynn and her mother — with whom Sibande shares child-caring duties — had recently moved to Pittsburgh, making Pitt a more obvious choice for him.

“We ask that you consider this case with empathy and compassion,” Fink said. “Pitt asks the staff to look at the entire scope of this request and to consider the unique decisions that Nike has encountered as he continues his educational and athletic pursuits, and navigates the path of

Nike Sibande (22) recorded season-highs in points (12), rebounds (7), shot attempts (13) and minutes (36) against the Florida State Seminoles last weekend. Pamela Smith Staff Photographer about why the request was denied and reached out to people within the Miami program for information.

Bilas found inconsistencies between the stories Sibande and the Miami Athletic Department gave for the transfer. In documents obtained by ESPN, Laura Fink, assistant athletic director for compliance at Pitt, detailed Sibande’s reasoning for wanting to move on from Miami.

A letter dated Aug. 13, 2020, from Fink to NCAA compliance officials says Sibande had concerns about COVID-19 on Miami’s campus and the recent birth of his daughter Oaklynn

fatherhood.”

Miami Athletic Director David Sayler then sent a letter to Fink on Aug. 28, in which he responded to Pitt’s request that he and the Miami athletic department support Sibande’s waiver.

Sayler refused to support the request, claiming that Sibande had indicated to program staff and athletic administrators that his intent to transfer was grounded in the desire for “a bigger stage in order to prepare for the NBA.” The conflict was never wholly resolved, but simply passed with little commotion.

Sibande’s 262-day absence from basketball

February 24, 2021

came to a sudden end shortly after 5 p.m. on Dec. 16 — one hour before Pitt was set to tip-off their ACC opener vs. Miami — when the NCAA’s Division I Council announced the approval of a blanket eligibility waiver for all transfers across all sports. Now the athletes who would have been forced to sit for a year after changing schools in the middle of a pandemic would get to return to competition immediately.

By the first media timeout against the Hurricanes, Sibande was at the scorers table, ready to put the public conflict over his playing status behind him. Whatever bitterness or resentment that riding the bench may or may not have sparked in Sibande by the challenges of the past year are not apparent in his demeanor.

Pitt head coach Jeff Capel said in early December — just a few weeks into the season, but months into Sibande’s battle for eligibility — that the waiver denial angered him and joked that Sibande had shown greater maturity than himself.

"He's been incredibly mature about all of this,” Capel said during a Dec. 7 media availability. “Maybe more mature than his coach ... He's been outstanding in practice helping to make guys better."

Sophomore teammate Justin Champagnie picked up on the wisdom and serenity Sibande has gained from three years at a Division I school during games.

“I think, personally, by being around him and speaking to him a lot during the games he is a leader,” Champagnie said. “He's a born leader by the way he moves, by the way he carries himself.

He’s older, he’s more experienced.”

Sibande nailed his first shot in Panther blue, but from then on his play leading up to the FSU game had been somewhat underwhelming.

Of the 97 games he played for the Redhawks, Sibande started 95, played at least 20 minutes in 90 and scored at least 10 points in 76. He hasn’t

Find the full story online at

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13

COLUMN

Bobby Grier belongs in the Pitt Athletics Hall of Fame immediately

Kyle Saxon Staff Writer

Perhaps the most beautiful aspect of sports is the ability to transcend the confines within which they are played. You would be hard-pressed to find a more transcendent athlete in Pitt’s history than Bobby Grier.

Grier, who integrated the Sugar Bowl in 1956, made a profound impact on the field, but especially off of the field. His story has carried through the years, although it hasn’t received the attention it deserves. It’s hard to find a single Pitt athlete in the school’s history who deserves recognition in the Pitt Athletics Hall of Fame, yet Pitt has inducted three classes without calling Grier’s name.

The Hall of Fame currently has 19 Black inductees, and Grier is not yet one of them. Somehow, Pitt has recognized a total of 42 other sports figures as more

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deserving of the Hall of Fame’s prestige.

With the 2021 class introduction soon approaching, Pitt has no excuse to delay Grier’s induction any longer.

Grier starred at fullback and linebacker for Pitt football from 1952-55. At the culmination of his senior season, the No. 11 Panthers headed to New Orleans to take on No. 7 Georgia Tech in the Sugar Bowl. But Grier’s status for the game sat very much in question –– not because of injury, but because of the color of his skin.

The American South remained segregated at this point in history, and Grier’s potential participation in the Sugar Bowl sparked colossal reactions. The governor of Georgia, Marvin Griffin, along with the Board of Trustees at Georgia Tech, called for a forfeit if the Panthers did not bench their lone Black player.

But Grier had plenty of support to

drown out this hatred. His teammates and the University vowed not to participate in the game without Grier, and many Georgia Tech students and football players also came out and protested in support of Grier. Ultimately, the Georgia Board of Regents allowed the game to go on, but established that Georgia teams could not play against integrated teams in the future. However, Georgia never ended up enforcing this rule.

In the face of adversity, with thousands of people in Georgia, Louisiana and all around the country rooting for Grier’s failure, he became the first Black man to participate in the Sugar Bowl. The Panthers lost the game 7-0 due to a costly pass interference call on Grier, which has since been acknowledged by referees as a blatantly incorrect call.

Grier is now 88 years old, living with the distinction as the man who integrated the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 2, 1956. Almost exactly 21 years later, on Jan. 1, 1977, Pitt won the College Football National Championship over the Georgia Bulldogs 27-3.

The location of that game? New Orleans.

Its title? The Sugar Bowl. Black players, including Heisman Trophy-winner Tony Dorsett, could participate in that game because of the courage of Grier, and Pitt’s “No Grier, No Game” mentality.

The integration of the Sugar Bowl remains one of the greatest and most unrecognized achievements in Pitt’s storied athletic history. Grier paved the way for Black college athletes to live out their dreams and play on the biggest stage.

Ohio State and Clemson made the trek to New Orleans to compete in the Sugar Bowl this season as part of the College Football Playoff. The game remains one of the most prestigious and prominent bowl games in the sport, and Grier will always be the man who made it what it is today.

Adding Grier to the 2021 class seems like a no-brainer. He paved the way for the 1976 Pitt team to have the capability to go to New Orleans and win a national championship. He blazed the trail for

February 24, 2021

countless Black athletes who play college football in the South, and yet very few people have even heard his name.

Pitt inducted its inaugural Hall of Fame class in 2018, and two more full classes have followed since, none of which include Grier. While he may not flaunt the statistical accomplishments of the 42 athletes and coaches currently in the Pitt Athletics Hall of Fame, it is hard to argue that even a handful of these people have made a bigger impact on sport than Grier, or been more instrumental to the success and image of Pitt Athletics.

Grier should finally receive the recognition and distinction he deserves for his landmark contributions to Pitt Athletics, Black athletes and sport in general. When it comes time to introduce Pitt’s 2021 Hall of Fame class, Grier’s name should be at the top of the list.

Bobby Grier was a fullback and linebacker, and only Black player on the team in 1956, for Pitt football from 1952-55. Now, he is 88 years old, and known as the man who integrated the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 2, 1956.

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