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 | September 27, 2018 | Volume 109 | Issue 29
B ully P ulpitt hosts gun violence discussion
Sam Weber Staff Writer
Gun violence is one of the most divisive issues in American culture today, but the UPTV-based nonpartisan political television show “The Bully PulPitt” set out to investigate that issue through discussion on Wednesday night. The Bully PulPitt’s “Let’s Talk — Gun Violence” discussion in the William Pitt Union Lower Lounge, focused on educating students on the reasons behind violence in different settings, organized as domestic, police, suicide, mass shooting and homicide. According to Annabele Hanflig, executive Pulitzer Prize-winner Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah speaks Wednesday evening at Heinz Chapel about the omission of producer of The Bully PulPitt and a senior com- black writers’ creative works throughout history. David Donlick | staff photographer munication and political science double major, the event was designed to engage students in thinking about possible solutions to gun violence and discuss the issue as a community. “We don’t expect to find the solution to gun Ghansah, whose work has appeared in Baldwin’s home in France. violence in one night,” Hanflig said. “What we do Kieran McLean And on Wednesday, she read a piece titled GQ, The Paris Review, The Believer and The hope is to be able to begin discussing what people Staff Writer “From the Cradle to the Grave: A Woman’s New York Times Magazine, was this year’s have been telling us to talk about for so long.” Pulitzer Prize-winner Rachel Kaadzi Work” on her journey to the unmarked grave first speaker in Pitt’s Contemporary Writers Hanflig and the staff of The Bully PulPitt di- Ghansah may have already achieved fame, of Matilde Basquiat, the mother of the late Series. vided the group of nearly 30 students into five but she’s still writing against erasure. neo-expressionist artist Jean-Michel BasShe won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Feagroups, each with their own starting point for the “We, black writers, writers from marginalquiat. ture Writing for her GQ profile, “A Most discussion. The groups, once seated together, lis- ized identities … are not just doing creative “Matilde, did you learn, like we all do, that tened to some words of advice for the night from work, but trying to correct for the omission American Terrorist: The Making of Dylann no one builds monuments to black women Roof, ” and received awards for a profile of coHanflig. of our creative work for centuries,” she said median Dave Chappelle and a piece on James See Ghansah on page 2 See Discussion on page 2 to a crowded Heinz Chapel Wednesday night.
RACHEL KAADZI GHANSAH SPEAKS AT HEINZ CHAPEL
News Discussion, pg. 1
“This discussion isn’t about being afraid of this topic,” Hanflig said. “We’re here to be able to be wrong while learning truth.” One group consisted of senior neuroscience major Zoe Klingenberg, senior economics and math major Nick Pagano, junior finance major Greg Carlson and senior industrial engineering major Jahari Mercer. That group of students were from drastically different backgrounds, but all having prior exposure to firearms. Through the event, the group was able to engage in a conversation about what can help in reaching solutions to gun violence. The discussion began with a statement from moderator Vikaas Arunkumar meant to prompt conversation. “Studies have shown that when people address the community instead of the government, better results come through,” Arunkumar said. “Some areas, like Chicago, have brought in exgang leaders to try and rehabilitate the community.” In the conversation on gun homicide, the first
Ghansah, pg. 1 unless we do it ourselves?” Ghansah said from the Heinz Chapel pulpit. According to Ghansah, Matilde took Jean-Michel to art museums, taught him Spanish, enrolled him in art classes and gave him a copy of Gray’s Anatomy after a car hit him when he was 7 years old. “She gave him, then, an understanding of his bones,” Ghansah said. In the piece, she also criticized society’s tendency to memorialize black women through their relationships to men that they “nursed, birthed or loved.” “All black women are engaged in a mothering that extends beyond the biological act,” Ghansah said. She described a time her mother saw a friend in distress in the supermarket and walked with that friend until she was ready to leave. “Did I not recognize that this was mothering? That this was a woman’s work?” Ghansah said.
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to offer an idea about this situation was senior political science major Katie Vossler with a statement about the lack of understanding that people have about gun control. “There’s huge pressure for a top-down reform by the government, taking away guns as a go-to idea while talking and understanding is more helpful,” Vossler said. “People think it would be easier to have a national movement against guns when community outreach is so much more usable and practical.” As the session on homicide came to a close, the group moved to the topic of mass shootings and their impact in American society. After initially looking over a fact sheet distributed by the presenters, SGB executive vice president Jahari Mercer said he was shocked at how minor the impact of recent mass shootings had been in reference to total annual death by gun violence. “I don’t understand the need to be able to buy what many times began its use as a military weapon,” Mercer said. “The fact that the use of these types of weapons is possible, but barely makes a dent in annual deaths is horrifying.” The next discussion focused on gun violence
and domestic abuse, the discussion centering on the social, sexual and racial issues in which problems arise and result in violence. Klingenberg said it’s often a problem in these situations that the victims aren’t taken seriously. “Many times, minorities in particular aren’t taken seriously when they claim that they are abused,” Klingenberg said. “I’ve seen in the health care system that, even when someone comes in and is asked if they are abused, they aren’t recognized for it, and that the medical field needs to take this more seriously.” The next discussion centered on police-based violence. The moderator for this discussion, political science major and columnist for The Pitt News Jeremy Wang, cited from personal experience interning with the police that police departments are often spread thin, and the regulations behind use of deadly force will vary in different locations. Senior economics and math major Nick Pagano said he has seen how proper integration with officers can limit the fear of them and therefore better understand the regulation behind use of force.
“The job of the police is to make people feel safer than normal,” Pagano said. “Solely seeing them as an antagonist in situations, even when we are at fault only promotes the fear-mongering in reactionary actions to the police.” The final discussion before wrapping up the night was that of suicide and gun use. The most prevalent suicide rates by gun use were in white males over the age of 45, a statistic that caused a decrease in the average life expectancy of the average american male for the first time in 70 years. Junior Finance major Greg Carlson referenced how he had heard before that individuals who need help do not always seek it out. “In places like here, for instance, people have all the possibilities to get help when they need it,” Carlson said. “It’s a matter of people don’t always know where to go, or they don’t want to feel like they are different than everyone else.” After having heard the discussions from throughout the room, Hanflig returned to the front of the room for a final statement. “With gun violence, just as with many other issues,” Hanflig said, “people don’t ask the important questions.”
Ghansah’s work, in comparison, is to translate those experiences into the written word — to connect with readers across different, and sometimes factious, histories and cultures. In her own words, Ghansah writes to tell the stories of the women whose work didn’t allow them to write their own. “My grandmother was the whole world in elastic-waisted pants,” Ghansah said. “What puts me at my desk is that I don’t know if someone would write her story if I didn’t.” She approaches her writing with tactics similar to the visual artists she’s profiled. She lays the whole draft of piece she’s working on on the floor of her home and moves it around as she finishes it. “I’m actually working the text,” she said, motioning with her arms. She compared the process to becoming a figurative god and turning chaos into order. She undertakes the effort because she was disappointed by black-figure profiles she read prior to writing her own. “I would pick up profiles and they were so two-dimensional,” Ghansah said. “I hoped I would never read another awful profile of a
black person again.” So she set out to establish a higher standard of research, writing and storytelling for her subjects. She cited a interview with Lil Wayne, in which she asked him about what his life was like after he began working at 8 years old. “He never got to have a childhood,” Ghansah said. She said that while others may look down on Lil Wayne’s syrup-drinking, she saw a child laborer. She endeavored to apply that same depth of research and insight to all her profile subjects. “I could become the benchmark,” Ghansah said. According to attendees, she has. “She’s just a black queen,” Tamara Solange Das, a senior English major, said. Das asked Ghansah how to navigate what James Baldwin referred to as “a constant state of rage” during the Q&A portion of the event. A class earlier in the week prompted Das’ question, when she began crying while discussing Ghansah’s Pulitzer-winning piece on the trial of white supremacist Dylann Roof.
After class, Das said a white classmate approached her. “I’ve been crying a lot too. My boyfriend broke up with me,” the classmate said to her, according to Das. “He tried to equate his own personal experience with black pain,” Das said. Ghansah responded to Das’ question on by telling Das to take care of herself emotionally. “Your duty is to be your own shepherd,” Ghansah told her. Dawn Lundy Martin, the director of Pitt’s Center for African American Poetry and Poetics, praised Ghansah’s broad range of style. “When she writes about Kendrick Lamar, it’s very different than when she writes about Toni Morrison,” Martin said. “There’s a sheer range of imagination and intellect.” But amidst her fame, Ghansah remains dedicated to honoring her matriarchal influences. “I come from women … who had art in them,” Ghansah said. “[I write] with the ancestral memory of all the women who weren’t able to do that art.”
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EAST END CO-OP: A FRESH FOOD FOUNTAIN IN THE DESERT
The East End Food Co-op serves as one of two full-service grocers in the Wilkinsburg borough. TPN File Photo
Erica Guthrie
For The Pitt News In the midst of Wilkinsburg, fresh produce and nutritious groceries are far and few. The predominantly African-American borough has nearly 16,000 residents with a median income of $29,620 and only two grocery stores to serve them. Kate Safin is the marketing and member services manager at one of these grocery stores, the East End Food Co-op. “We are one of the only grocery stores in this specific area of the East End, and we do offer a wide variety of the fresh fruits and vegetables and things that are often harder to access in what some would define as a food desert,” Safin said. Alongside the discount food chain Save-A-Lot, the co-op, located on Meade Street between Wilkinsburg and Point Breeze, has operated as a full-service grocery store since 1978. The operation is run by only 70 employees and works with more than 150 local suppliers to bring food items that not only support shoppers’ health, but also the local economy. The co-op can trace its roots back to 1972, when Point Breeze locals David and Rodah Zarembka opened a food-buying club in the basement of their home. For the price of $1, community members could join the buying club and purchase fresh produce direct from suppliers at wholesale prices. Today, the East End Food Co-op has more than 12,000 members, according to its website. Shoppers aren’t required to be members like they were at the store’s conception, but those who are have exclusive-access discounts — such as 2 percent off every purchase, a 10 percent discount on one transaction per yearly quarter, access to the co-op’s credit union and certain discounts on special orders. Providing community access to affordable, natural food items has been part of the co-op’s core mission since it began as a foodbuying club, Safin said. For decades, it was difficult for the neigh-
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boring community to access certain types of food at decent prices — but the co-op changed that. “People who were looking for really healthy items or specialty products couldn’t get them, so the concept of the buying club, which is what we are rooted in, was that, ‘I’ll buy a whole case and then we’ll split up that case and then it makes it affordable and accessible for everybody,’” Safin said. Inside the co-op, a robust bulk section offers an array of packageless products from peanut butter to pasta to kombucha on tap. In the back of the store, a vegetarian cafe, hot food bar and salad bar serve ready-to-eat meals. Aside from food, the store also sells wellness supplements, cosmetics and gift items. The co-op specializes in organic products, bulk foods and locally sourced produce, meats and cheeses, all at affordable prices. It also has a bi-weekly flyer called Co+Op Deals, which advertises current sale prices on selected items featured throughout the store. Further increasing affordability, it partners with the National Co+Op Grocers — an organization that works with nearly 150 similarly structured grocers across the United States — to provide its in-house affordability program, Co+Op Basics. This program works to offer low prices every day on more than 400 different food products throughout the store, ranging from canned items to fresh meat. “We do regular price comparisons just to make sure that we’re maintaining pretty good prices for our consumers. We do the absolute best we can,” Safin said. “We may be higher with some things, we may beat the price on others. It just depends on what’s in your basket.” Penn Hills resident Jeff Prince believes some of the co-op’s items are pricier than other retailers, but for some things it’s his go-to shop. “Sometimes I think certain things is overpriced, but it just
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seems like the co-op is the best place to get certain things,” Prince said. “I guess organic stuff, I just go for honey.” While most shoppers appreciate the low prices, some also come for food they can’t get anywhere else. “It’s hard to get alfalfa seeds, so that’s where I go, and I like their extra-extra-firm tofu,” Wilkinsburg local Joyce Hylazewski said. “What I can’t get at another store, I get there.” The co-op has discount programs set in place for shoppers that may struggle with access to affordable healthy foods. SNAP beneficiaries and seniors are given special discounts as a courtesy. Any purchase made with an ACCESS card is given a 10 percent discount, even if any of the items purchased aren’t covered by the SNAP program. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, seniors are given 5 percent off their total purchase. “We hope that offering this discount will make healthy foods more affordable and accessible to everyone in our community,” the co-op wrote on its website. Along with affordability, Safin said sustainability is another important value of the co-op. The store donates 8,000 pounds of food each year to 412 Food Rescue, a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit that works with food retailers to connect surplus food with food-insecure communities. The organization takes rescued food and delivers it to partner organizations that provide support to individuals in the Pittsburgh area. The co-op works to make an impact in its surrounding communities through giving programs and donations, Safin said, while also bringing the best natural foods and most affordable prices to its shoppers. “We’re offering the best- and highest-quality food, as locally sourced as possible, to consumers. I think that’s something that not every grocery store is doing. Some grocery stores definitely try to do that, but they’re not doing that on the scale of a co-op,” Safin said.
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Opinions from the editorial board
Mattress Factory mishandles accusations The Mattress Factory museum has dazzled millions of visitors with iconic contemporary art since it opened in 1977 — but since Tuesday, it’s been attracting attention for a recent sexual assault scandal. Beginning in February, six women came forward to museum officials alleging multiple incidents of sexual harassment, assault and rape at the hands of a single assailant — an employee at the museum. He was fired four months after the assaults were reported, despite having a reputation of acting predatory toward female employees for three years. In the age of the #MeToo movement, the Mattress Factory should know to take these allegations seriously, especially since there were so many of them. But instead of comforting victims and launching an immediate investigation, the Mattress Factory waved off the accusations and lashed out against critics. “It was kind of frustrating going through that whole meeting and I have to sort of explain to [the supervisor] why I would feel uncomfortable working with a rapist,” Daphne Lyda, one of the survivors who works in the exhibitions department, said in an interview with WESA. “I explained to him that [the multiple accusations] were not an organized mob — people were individually coming forward to speak to their supervisors.” This isn’t the first time a museum has come under fire for allegations of sexual assault — and it’s not the first time the allegations weren’t taken seriously, either. Paleoanthropologist Brian Richmond allegedly sexually assaulted a research assistant and several students at the American Museum of Natural History in New York
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City — but even though the alleged sex offenses took place for two years, Richmond wasn’t fired and instead resigned due to public pressure. Museums can’t foresee their employees becoming serial sex offenders — that’s simply not something they can glean from a job interview — but they can take steps to remedy the damage after it’s been done. That includes taking reports of sexual assault seriously and swiftly launching an investigation into the actions of the alleged perpetrator — then promptly firing the perpetrator and turning them over to authorities if the accusations are proven true. But the Mattress Factory didn’t even have a human resources department at the time the accusations were levied, so it didn’t have the resources to aid victims, much less mount an investigation. For a company that preaches progressive values, this reeks of hypocrisy. Academic institutions that host exhibits and run programs centered around human rights and social reform should stand for workers’ rights and above all, treat survivors who come forward with horrific stories of sexual abuse with dignity and approach the matter seriously. But the fact that this employee was allowed to work there for several months after the allegations were brought to light shows that the Mattress Factory isn’t doing nearly enough to protect victims and bring sex offenders to justice. Until the Mattress Factory begins to stand up for victims, it can’t claim to be a progressive institution — it’ll just sit shamefully on the ever-growing list of companies that refuse to support women.
Prisoners deserve to be evacuated too Delilah Bourque Staff Columnist
As Hurricane Florence battered the East Coast and citizens evacuated in droves, more than 600 men in a minimum-security prison at MacDougall Correctional Institution in South Carolina remained at the location, despite mandatory evacuation orders from the state’s governor Henry McMaster. “Right now, we’re not in the process of moving inmates. In the past, it’s been safer to leave them there,” Dexter Lee,
ing Florence two people in custody died while being supervised by two police officers. The issue isn’t one of safety — it’s one of morality. Incarcerated persons’ lives should not be left in the hands of Mother Nature during natural disasters, especially when there are mandatory evacuation orders, which apply to all citizens. Shaundra Y. Scott, executive director of the American Civil Liberties UnionSouth Carolina, agreed. “This storm is slated to be one of the worst we have ever seen, and if Gov.
Several South Carolina correctional facilities remained occupied during Hurricane Florence despite mandatory evacuation orders from Gov. Henry McMaster. Image via Wikimedia Commons spokesperson for the South Carolina Department of Corrections, said in a statement Sept. 10. But this simply isn’t true. In past storms, prisoners have suffered when they haven’t been evacuated, and dur-
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McMaster truly does not want to ‘gamble with the lives of the people of South Carolina,’ he needs to make sure that the prison system is up to par, or evacuSee Prisoners on page 5
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Prisoners, pg. 4 ate the inmates just as he has ordered the rest of us to do,” the statement read. When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005, 7,000 prisoners from the Orleans Parish Prison were left behind, while thousands of others followed mandatory evacuation orders — including the sheriff and correctional officers responsible for the prison. Sheriff Marlin Gusman announced that the prisoners would have to “stay where they belong” and ride out the storm from inside OPP, where they had generators to keep essential functions going. By the time Katrina hit the next day, the generators had failed. At the same time, at least 50 levees designed to keep the cost from swallowing New Orleans broke, and OPP began to flood. According to inmates kept at OPP in 2005, water on the ground floor was chest deep just two days after officers left. Though Sheriff Gusman claims no prisoner deaths occurred during Katrina, witnesses inside the prison claim they saw dead bodies floating in the floodwaters. They had not had access to clean water or food for days and had no help from prison staff. “They left us to die there,” Dan Bright, an inmate at OPP during Katrina, said. It took four days for buses to finally arrive at the prison, during which time thousands of records had been destroyed, including physical evidence that could have exonerated those waiting for an appeal. Some of the inmates at OPP weren’t even convicted criminals — they were waiting trial and couldn’t afford bail. Hurricane Katrina set records for the levels of destruction, causing more than $100 million in damage. Few had time to prepare, as the storm changed course to hit New Orleans — and the OPP — three days before landfall. But Hurricane Florence was different. Officials knew how destructive Florence had the potential to be, and although floodwaters have yet to receed, it appears as though no one has learned their lesson from OPP. Thirteen years after 7,000 men were left to die in Louisiana, similar calls were made in South Carolina, repeating the mistakes
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of 2005. While Gov. McMaster urged residents to evacuate, incarcerated persons died. Two women who were involuntarily committed mental health patients died in South Carolina when the sheriff ’s vehicle they were shackled to was overrun by floodwaters on Sept. 18. This occured after the deputies escorting the women chose to drive around a barricade and onto a flooded road. The two deputies were able to free themselves and attempted to rescue the women, but could not open the doors to the van because of how quickly the waters rose. The women were unable to free themselves because they were shackled to the floor. The deaths of the two South Carolina women indicate that officials have little regard for the lives of the incarcerated. Prisoners are left with limited protection against the elements throughout South Carolina. A short statement released from representatives of SCDC said inmates were given food, water and other essentials to ride out the storm, although it took multiple calls and emails from both The New Yorker and families of inmates to get a response from SCDC. Whether awaiting trial in Orleans Parish Prison during Hurricane Katrina or being transported in a sheriff ’s van as a mental health patient in South Carolina or even serving time as a convicted felon, the state and federal governments alike have a responsibility to evacuate inmates in the event of natural disasters. Subjecting inmates to possible days spent in floodwater without food, without drinking water and without help will lead to death. It is not just irresponsible and unethical to not evacuate prisoners — it’s immoral.
The Pitt News SuDoku 9/27/18 courtesy of dailysudoku.com
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Culture
SILK S CREEN FILM FESTIVAL CELEBRATES JAPANESE MOVIES AND MUSIC
Maya Best
For The Pitt News The typically empty hallway leading to Alumni Hall’s seventh-floor auditorium was filled on Sunday with small children, students, middleaged parents and elderly women in wheelchairs. Dozens of Pitt students and Japanese families lined up for a special presentation honoring Japanese culture. The crowd was gathered in anticipation of a Silk Screen Festival film screening, held as part of the University’s Japanese Music and Movie cultural event and sponsored by Pitt’s Japanese Nationality Room. The Silk Screen Asian American Film Festival kicked off its 13th year on Sunday with a Japanese music performance and film screening of Shuichi Okita’s 2018 film, “Mori, The Artist’s Habitat.” The 10-day film festival will screen films from a variety of Asian countries — including Japan, India, Korea, China, Israel, Palestine, Iran, Taiwan and Indonesia — until Sunday. The films work to create awareness for people from Asian-American backgrounds, highlighting cultural, social, gender, and economic issues prevalent in these societies. Silk Screen Film Programming Committee volunteer Bhawna Sachdeva, who has come to see Silk Screen films for the past four years, decided to become directly involved in the festival this time around to help promote Asian-American cultural awareness. “People look different on the outside, but in the end you’re worried about the same issues and things. What better way [to show this] than through film?” Sachdeva said. The event began with a Japanese music performance by Devon Osamu Tipp and Tamiko Iida. Tipp — a Pitt doctorate student and winner of the 2018 Japanese Nationality Room scholarship — performed on a Shakuhachi, a Japanese end-blown bamboo flute. The Japanese Nationality Room was founded in 1999 as the 24th Nationality Room and gives
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Devon Osamu Tipp, a Pitt Ph.D. student and winner of the 2018 Japanese Nationality Room scholarship, plays the shakuhachi, a Japanese endblown bamboo flute. Image via University of Pittsburgh out one scholarship each year to send student researchers to Japan. Tipp, who is pursuing his doctorate in traditional Japanese music and contemporary Western music composition, used the scholarship to travel to Tokyo and interview and perform with various musicians. He did this to further study Shakuhachi performance and gain a better understanding of traditional Japanese repertoire. That was his fifth trip to Japan, having previously performed his original compositions for Japanese instruments there. “Studying Japanese traditional music was a way of having a physical and tactile means of interacting with my heritage,” Tipp said. Tipp was accompanied by Tamiko Iida, originally from Japan, who played a Koto, a Japanese 13-string zither made of pilonidal wood and plucked with a pick or fingers. Iida started learning Koto at 7 years old and now performs at local schools, libraries and community halls in Pittsburgh. Tipp and Iida performed classical Japanese pieces from the original 36 solo pieces written for
Shakuhachi. Unlike other Japanese chamber music, these pieces were lively. But Tipp explained that Japanese chamber music compositions usually have less to do with melody and rhythm, and focus more on the shapes and gestures formed from the sounds produced. In addition to his musical interests, Tipp also had passions in jewelry and painting in high school, something he has recently picked up again. Through these interests, Tipp became fascinated with the physical gestures that come from painting. He tries to capture this gesture and motion in his music compositions. “Moving paint in and of itself has become an idea that I work with in a lot of music,” Tipp said. “The [violin] bows are representations of actual brushes or palate knives.” The screening of “Mori, The Artist’s Habitat” followed the music performance. This film tells the true story of the late Japanese artist Morikazu Kumagai — known as Mori — who spent 30 years of his life staying in the garden around his house and examining the smallest details of
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nature. Mori was a highly respected artist in Japan who received a medal from the Japanese emperor. He was uninterested in fame and money and preferred to observe the hidden creatures in his garden. In the film, Mori is portrayed as an artist with the time and patience to lie in the dirt and observe ants for hours, discovering that these insects begin walking with their middle left foot. When developers want to build a condominium next door, which would threaten the garden, Mori and his wife Hideko try their best to protect it. Director Okita managed to capture Mori’s passion through extreme close-ups of small insects and plants that would otherwise go unnoticed. Sono Takano Hayes — chair of the Japanese Nationality Room committee and former Pitt professor — introduced the event, hoping this film would bring both Pitt students and the Japanese community together. “What the director is trying to do is, he wants everybody to appreciate nature and peace,” she said. “And that’s kind of understandable when you think about what’s going on in Japan. We had lots of disasters.” Hayes, who is native to Japan, spoke about the past disasters in her home country, such as Fukushima and the Hokkaido earthquake, and how they have changed the outlook on daily life for the young people in Japan. She believed the film could help these young people through the protagonist’s story. “This feeling of threatening your daily life for young people, this is a way to live peacefully and mindfully. I think this was his [film director Okita’s] message,” she said. Silk Screen will be showing its second Japanese film “Sennan Asbestos Disaster” Thursday at 6 p.m. in the Frick Fine Arts auditorium to celebrate Japanese filmmaker Kazuo Hara, Pitt’s first Japan Documentary Film Award winner. Pitt students can enjoy Silk Screen films for free with their Pitt ID at various venues on campus until Sunday.
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BROCKHAMPTON REGROUPS WITH NEW ALBUM ‘IRIDESCENCE’ Maggie Medoff Staff Writer
The 14-member hip-hop group Brockhampton has faced a lot of backlash within the past year after ex-member Ameer Vann was accused of emotional and sexual abuse by several women. His absence from the stage during Brockhampton’s recent live performances is noticeable, as he was kicked out in May following the accusations. But Vann’s absence from the group’s latest effort, “iridescence,” can easily be forgotten. In the band’s fourth effort, released Friday, the group matures — and instead of hiding from issues with mental health, fame and the music industry, Brockhampton openly addresses them. Brockhampton’s most recent performances were more somber, as the band went silent during Vann’s verses in songs and chose not to acknowledge his absence onstage during shows. Instead of making up for the awkwardness by adding new vocals or ad libs, they let entire verses of instrumentals play while they stood together, waiting for
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Vann’s old verses to end. Vann was the face of three previous Brockhampton albums — “Saturation,” “Saturation II” and “Saturation III” — and many fans wondered how his absence would alter the group’s sound, content and album art. According to an article from Pitchfork, Brockhampton cancelled their upcoming tour dates after removing Vann in May. The remaining members of the band shared a statement on the controversy. “Ameer is no longer in Brockhampton,” the band said. “We want to sincerely apologize to the victims affected by Ameer’s actions. We were lied to, and we’re sorry for not speaking up sooner.” After months of reflection, regrouping and hard work, Brockhampton released “iridescence.” This is the first album of their second trilogy, “The Best Years of Our Lives.” With new sounds and dramatically different album art, the group confidently and successfully faced its fans’ ambivalence head on. They created a whole new body of work and they didn’t need Ameer Vann in order See Brockhampton on page 8
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Brockhampton’s fourth album, “iridescence,” was released Sept. 21. Image via Wikimedia Commons
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Brockhampton, pg. 7 to do it. Brockhampton has never been afraid to share more vulnerable lyrics or themes — namely Kevin Abstract, the band’s leader who openly discusses his sexuality and trauma caused by gang violence and drug addiction. But “iridescence” takes that vulnerability to an entirely new level. Their past albums were known for their catchy beats and clever lyricism, but this new project allows listeners to get to know the group’s identity in a much more honest way. Much like their other albums, “iridescence” offers a lot of versatility when it comes to sound and mixing genres, including Caribbean-influenced samples and slower melodies of R&B. This may be one of the benefits of having such a large group –– collaboration comes naturally, as everyone is familiar with a range of different styles and cultural influences. The 10th track, “J’ouvert,” is named after an annual Caribbean street carnival. Jabari Manwa, a producer and member of the band, used this track as an opportunity to incorporate his own cultural background in the album. The song samples a Grenadian soca song, something that is not usually embedded in rap music — a decision that brought diversity and excellent rhythms to the album. The art for “iridescence” is covered in psychedelic colors and thermal-filtered images of skin and bodies.
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These images present a stark contrast to the art of their past albums, as Ameer Vann was the face of all three albums in their “Saturation” series. The singer’s face was masked in blue paint for “Saturation” and “Saturation III” and was photographed behind the wheel of a white car in “Saturation II,” dressed in a blue hoodie and bucket hat. As a lead singer and rapper, as well as one of the most famous members of the group, using Vann as an artistic symbol for their body of work seemed fitting. But because of recent events, that line of thinking has obviously changed. Thematically, the songs discuss stories of vulnerability, mental health and the messiness of fame and identity scrutinized by the public eye. The abstract qualities of the album art symbolize this unpredictability and confusion concerning mental health and identity. The vulnerability of this subject matter is shown most heavily in songs like “HONEY” and “WEIGHT,” which grapple with the decline of mental health and the emotional turmoil that fame can produce. In verse two of “WEIGHT,” Joba raps, “Life is a dish served cold most times / And all my life I’ve taken handfuls, force-fed by the hand that feeds us / But not all hands created equal / I stand by waiting for something good to come / In due time, the skies will split for the sun to smile.” The imagery in these lines has the potential to feel intangible at times, but Brockhampton does a masterful job
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of painting scenes with their lyrics that produce visceral, relatable, emotional responses, even if the listeners don’t quite know why they’re able to relate them right away. “LOOPHOLE,” the only skit in “iridescence,” adds a layer to the discussion of fame and identity within the world of hip-hop. The interlude is an interview with artists DJ Whoo Kid, host of the radio station “The Whoolywood Shuffle,” and Cam’ron, member of the East Coast hip-hop group The Diplomats, in which they go back and forth about their naivete and desperation when they first got a taste of success –– they were willing to do anything to get their songs on the radio. In the skit, Cam’ron says, “Yeah, you know that’s what I was explaining to somebody, I said I didn’t mind getting jerked, because I was like, I just want my record on the radio, I just wanna shoot videos.” Even though most listeners might not have experienced fame or the politics of fame before, Cam’ron’s words still point to something that is entirely human and relatable for almost everyone –– the desire to succeed and to be noticed, heard and appreciated. While the news about Vann was devastating and left many fans questioning their commitment to the group, the controversy isn’t enough to tear down Brockhampton’s art or their ability to appeal to a large and diverse group of fans. Although Brockhampton isn’t coming to Pittsburgh anytime soon, they are on tour right now and will be performing in Philadelphia on Oct. 17 and 18.
8
Sports
take 5:
New Pitt show has yet to go
‘beyond the script’ Dominic Campbell Staff Writer
While there tends to be a large focus on collegiate football and basketball, Pitt Athletics says it is looking to expose fans to every single Division I sport included at the University with its new television show “Pitt: Beyond the Script.” So far, this claim doesn’t seem accurate. The show is being broadcasted on AT&T SportsNet — which typically features action from the Pittsburgh Pirates and Penguins — and is hosted by the network’s main anchor, Rob King. It began broadcasting Aug. 30 and will air on most Thursdays for 25 episodes through March 2019. “Beyond the Script” is also the first sports television show that Pitt has put out in nearly a decade. In the first episode, Athletic Director Heather Lyke introduced the show by emphasizing how important it is to showcase the caliber of athletes on each of the 19 sports teams Pitt has to offer and how each team is dedicated to winning ACC and National championships. “I think it’s great because the show — to me, as a fan, and as someone who watches sports a lot — I get excited when I know the people behind the people,” Lyke said. “It gives you a chance to really understand the quality of students and athletes in our program and the quality of coaches we have teaching them everyday.” “Beyond the Script” has an introduction at the beginning of each episode that shows the viewer how athletes and
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coaches at the University of Pittsburgh are part of a select few that have the privilege of being a Panther. Then King introduces the episode’s upcoming subject material. The first four shows had a huge focus on football, Pitt’s most popular sport. The football segments feature the host, usually King, interviewing football head coach Pat Narduzzi. For the first episode, when a game had yet to be played, and the third episode, which followed Pitt’s embarrassing loss to Penn State, there were little to no highlights during the show and more time was spent on the interview. But when the Panthers won the game, as they did against Albany and Georgia Tech, the show naturally featured more highlights. Football commands a huge portion of each show, which isn’t surprising since the season is now in full swing. Still, when each episode focuses anywhere from seven to 16 minutes of the allotted 29 on football-related coverage, it ends up becoming too focused on one sport for all the others to get proper coverage. Lyke promised that the focus of the show was to broadcast all 19 teams and show Pitt fans the “people behind the people,” but so far that hasn’t been the case. The first episode showed promise, with Lyke talking about the progress both soccer programs have made under men’s head coach Jay Vidovich and women’s first-year head coach Randy Waldrum. There was also a segment at the end See Pitt on page 10
BILLS, BAKER, BELL The Pitt News Staff The NFL gave us a surplus of story lines in a wacky Week 3 with the Patriots struggling, Browns finally winning and Le’Veon Bell continuing his holdout. Combined with the early beginnings of the NBA season, the past week provided plenty of talking points for The Pitt News staff. The Matrix 4: NFL edition Week 3 of the NFL season can only be described with one word — weird. It wasn’t just one random incidence, but rather what seemed like a league-wide effort among the NFL’s elite teams to inexplicably tank. It started with the winless Buffalo Bills embarrassing the undefeated Minnesota Vikings on the road 27-6. The Bills, universally considered the worst team in the NFL, were 17-point underdogs, making their win the biggest NFL upset since 1995. On top of that, the winless Detroit Lions smacked the defending Super Bowl runnerup Patriots 26-10, while the Tennessee Titans knocked off the high-flying Jacksonville Jaguars in an ugly 9-6 affair. The Redskins beat Aaron Rodgers and the Packers, and the Bears and the Eagles added to the drama by nearly losing to inferior opponents. All in all, it was a week that probably caused many NFL fans to have an existential crisis and question if we’re living in a simulated reality. If nothing else, you can always count on NFC South teams to never play defense, as the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons engaged in a predictably high-scoring game, with the Saints winning 43-37 in overtime. —Trent Leonard, Sports Editor Patty cake, patty cake — Baker’s the man The Cleveland Browns won their first game in 635 days on Thursday against the New York Jets, all thanks to the performance of rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield. Mayfield is not just any rookie — he was the first overall selection in the 2018 NFL Draft and came into the league
September 27, 2018
facing high expectations after winning the Heisman Trophy in college. One of those expectations is for Mayfield to lead the Browns to an AFC North division title and he will accomplish that goal this season. He entered the game near the end of the second quarter after Tyrod Taylor suffered a concussion and put up an impressive stat line for playing about one half, completing 17 of 23 passes and 201 yards. He led the Browns to a 2117 comeback win after trailing 14-3 at halftime. The keys to the offense now belong to Mayfield as he was named the new starting quarterback for Cleveland Monday. The AFC North division is up in the air this season. The Steelers are going through a plethora of problems, ranging from a leaky defense to the potential trade rumors of Le’Veon Bell. The Bengals have benefited from an easy early schedule and will not keep up their proficient play for the entire season. The Ravens are the biggest threat to the Browns, but Mayfield will display the leadership and ability to overcome adversity as he did as a walk-on at Oklahoma, leading Cleveland to its first AFC North division title in 29 years. —Tyler Moran, Staff Writer Patriots in peril The New England Patriots is one of the best teams in the NFL almost every single season. Coach Bill Belichick and star QB Tom Brady have led the Pats to three of the last four Super Bowls, piling up two wins in those three appearances. However, the first three weeks of this season have gotten off to a rough start as the Patriots sit at 1-2. Belichick always seems to be able to get his team rolling when it really counts, but this season feels a little different. New England gave up almost 400 passing yards to Blake Bortles in a 31-20 loss to Jacksonville in Week 2, then lost to the previously winless Lions, 26-10, in a Week 3 game where the Pats’ offense looked listless. See Take 5 on page 10
9
Pitt, pg. 9 of the first episode where King interviewed volleyball head coach Dan Fisher and two players, senior setter Kamalani Akeo and sophomore outside hitter Kayla Lund. The three talked about the great success the program has seen lately, especially winning the ACC championship last year. But in further episodes, we don’t see much detailed coverage of Pitt’s non-football sports. We do see some volleyball coverage, but besides some highlights of the Panther Invitational and a few quibs from Fisher and a couple of his players in the third and fourth episodes, there hasn’t been much else. The first episode covered both soccer programs, but it was the only one with any real coverage of those teams. The only other soccer coverage included some highlights of the women’s 2-0 win over Duquesne Sept. 6 and the introduction of the new crest on the jerseys in the third episode. But the introduction of the crest wasn’t even new content, as it’s been around since the end of July, so it was more of a filler than anything.
Take 5, pg. 9 The Patriots will have newly acquired star Josh Gordon on the field against the 3-0 division rival the Dolphins this week and will get Brady’s favorite target, Julian Edelman, back from suspension in Week 5. These past two weeks could be a fluke. But if injuries continue to pile up and the offense doesn’t get its gears turning, the Pats could come up short of the Super Bowl. With rookie quarterback Patrick Mahomes on fire for the Chiefs, Jacksonville’s lockdown defense and Pittsburgh’s prolific offense all on the table in the AFC, this year just seems off for the Brady and Belichick tandem. —Nick Carlisano, Staff Writer What the Bell is going on It’s now three weeks into the NFL season and the Steelers’ superstar running back has shown no signs of returning to the team due to contract disagreements. Le’Veon Bell is enjoying his time away from the team and field, shown by his partying and jet skiing in Miami. Steadfast in his ways, Bell will not play another snap for the Pittsburgh Steelers. By holding out three games, he
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The worst part of the first four episodes is that there’s been no mention of either the men’s or the women’s cross-country teams anywhere at all. For someone who might be a big fan of cross-country, or even someone who is a big Pitt fan and wants to see all of the teams on the show, it shows a disregard toward two teams that are a part of the 19 Lyke was talking about. A lack of cross-country coverage when the team competes away is understandable, as getting quality highlights and interviews is more difficult. But the Duquesne Duals happened the first week of school in Schenley Park and there was no coverage whatsoever. And for some sports, there hasn’t been any coverage at all. Besides football, only four other sports have been mentioned with any detail so far. Even men’s basketball only had a brief moment in the spotlight — new head coach Jeff Capel did a five-minute interview in the second episode about why he came to Pitt. While only four episodes have aired and more sports will likely be covered soon, Lyke hasn’t yet made it apparent that all 19 sports teams really matter as much as she said in the first episode.
Regardless of some of the failings of these first four episodes, there have been some bright spots. The second episode introduced the Gold Standard, which is a commitment by the players to be the best student, person and athlete they can be. The segment shows how Panther athletes from all 19 sports teams come together to help each other succeed in all parts of life. Coverage of the University’s 98th Lantern Night was another quality part of the second episode. We see Lyke, softball head coach Jodi Hermanek and gymnastics head coach Samantha Snider talk about how important and empowering the night is for the females of the University, including the student athletes. Since the program is only four episodes in, there’s certainly room for “Beyond the Script” to improve and become a better show. In the following months, it will need to cover more sports, get more in-depth interviews and try to steer away from mere current events coverage. To make a truly interesting show that encompasses the entire athletic community, it will need to find more stories about players, coaches and the University away from the field for fans who want to see more than game highlights.
has already forfeited roughly $2.5 million. Recent rumors have developed, stating that there are a few teams interested in a trade for Bell. The issue with trading for Bell is that he must agree to sign the franchise tender in order to be dealt. Essentially, Bell has an unofficial no-trade clause, allowing him to guide the path that the Steelers proceed in. The most likely scenario is pairing Bell with a team that has a large amount of cap space to handle Bell’s expensive demands. James Conner has already filled Bell’s shoes, playing well in the first three games. Averaging more than 100 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown each game, there is little reason for the Steelers to stop feeding the hot hand. Bell has decided that he has already played his last snap as a Steeler, hoping to find a new home with a bigger bank. — Sami Abu-Obaid, Staff Writer The NBA doesn’t suck after all Tuesday marked the unofficial beginning of the 2018-19 NBA season as all 30 teams took the floor for the first time in training camp. The NBA presents a lot to look forward to every season, but for many fans it’s hard to get excited about a season in which
they can easily predict the ending — especially after four-time All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins joined the Golden State Warriors, who’ve already won two consecutive NBA Finals. Kevin Durant made waves of his own in the summer of 2016 when he decided to sign with the Warriors. Immediately following the announcement, Durant’s Twitter account filled with people calling him “weak” or “a snake.” My initial reaction was not forgiving, either. I thought that NBA season was a wrap — hand Golden State the trophy now and save everyone some time. In the years since, my attitude toward Durant’s decision has softened. It turns out Kevin Durant and the Warriors dynasty did not make the NBA less entertaining or watchable. In fact, NBA viewership and revenue both went up and the 2018 NBA Finals had its highest viewership since 1998. National stations like ESPN and TNT both saw increasing viewership and every individual franchise surpassed $1 billion in value for the first time ever. So no, Kevin Durant did not ruin the NBA — he made it stronger. The era of super teams will not stop me from enjoying basketball at its highest level this season. — Stephen Thompson, Staff Writer
September 27, 2018
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