The Pitt News
The independent student newspaper of the University of Pittsburgh | PIttnews.com | NOVEMBER 3, 2017 | Volume 108 | Issue 61
Professor unveils underwear’s history
ANGELA DAVIS VISITS PITT SEE ONLINE
Zoe Pawliczek Staff Writer
Activist and author Angela Davis answers students’ questions after speaking Hall Thursday night. John Hamilton MANAGING EDITOR
Jessie B. Ramey showed more than 170 strangers a picture of herself in her underwear Thursday at the Frick, a Pittsburgh art museum in Point Breeze. “Don’t get too excited, this is me at the age of nine in my Underoos,” Ramey told the crowd — plus a Facebook live audience of more than 1,300 people — during her noon lecture “Underwear, Gender & the Body.” Director of the Chatham University Women’ s Institute and gender and women’s studies to several hundred people in Alumni associate professor at Chatham, Ramey gave the hour-long lecture in conjunction with the museum’s new exhibit, “Undressed: A History of Fashion in Underwear.” The Frick is the only North American venue to host the exhibit, orgabefore. Bannow said he came to solely observe nized by London’s Victoria and Albert museum. the meeting, explaining that after OGV did a The exhibit reflects the evolution of men’s and formal presentation for the City in June and women’s underwear from the 18th century to had a follow-up meeting three months later present with a gallery of more than 200 objects. in October, the City said they did not like the During Thursday’s lecture — part of the plan. Frick’s “Art at Noon” series — Ramey shared “We’re in the process of rethinking the photographs of pieces on display at the Frick project,” Bannow said. State Sen. Jay Costa said “truthful dialogue” and other museums and galleries. An image of was important in these conversations and one a particular tightened corset — one of the most thing that stood out to him during the town controversial undergarments throughout history, according to Ramey — elicited a collective hall was “a lack of trust.”
COMMUNITY CONCERNED ABOUT BATES DEVELOPMENT Madeline Gavatorta and Caroline Bourque The Pitt News Staff
City Council President Bruce Kraus asked if, by chance, anyone from the development group Oakland Gateway Venture was in attendance at a town hall Thursday evening. William Bannow, whose presence was unknown for the first hour of the meeting, stood up to defend his company against Oakland residents’ criticisms. OGV bought a strip of properties on the 3400 block of Bates Street in 2014, which the
company has said it plans to turn into an apartment complex. But the company’s ambitions grew, and it now wants to build a 3,000-car garage and an office space, widen Bates Street and rework the Interstate 376 ramps in the process. About 70 community members packed into a small room at the Oakland Career Center on Semple Street to express concern about the development to a panel of officials. At the start of the meeting, Wanda Wilson, the executive director of the Oakland Planning and Development Corporation, announced that a formal representative from the development group opted out of the meeting days
See Community on page 2
See Underwear on page 2
News Community, pg. 1
“I’m disappointed that the project folks have not been here. I have questions about whether or not this is a real viable project,” Costa said in an interview after the meeting. “It just seems to be a massive project that [I’m] not so sure is being thought out properly and I want to see more conversations along those lines.” In a discussion led by Wilson, the group spoke about the logistical faults they say surround OGV’s $650 million development, beginning with the proposed alterations to the Bates Street corridor. OGV suggested widening and straightening the street — an idea Wilson deemed “completely unfeasible” because of zoning violations and the negative environmental impact it would have on the hillside area. As principal transportation planner for the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure, panelist Justin Miller said widening roads would increase traffic speed, create longer intersections and have a negative effect on pedestrians. “All of these contribute to highway-centric, automobile-centric design,” Miller said. “It’s inherently hostile to people who don’t have a two-ton metal cage around them.” Community members expressed concern
Underwear, pg. 1 gasp from audience members. But Ramey explained that the extremely tight-laced corsets worn in the 19th century were not actually very common. “It’s also not true that all women were trying to get those mythical 18-inch waists or that all women were somehow wearing these waspwaist corsets,” Ramey said. Ramey shared other trivia about opencrotched drawers — from how they were considered modest in the mid-1800s because they added a layer beneath women’s petticoats, to women’s methods of managing their periods while wearing the garment. Audience member Jessica Marcrum, a Pitt second-year master’s student in social work, was suprised by some of these facts. “I was surprised to learn that crotchless undergarments were originally thought to be the
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toward the poor upkeep of OGV’s 12 Bates Street houses — a vacant row of properties that sit near the Boulevard of the Allies. Wilson said the homes have had 29 separate cases against them in Housing Court in the past 18 months for violations related to accumulation of trash, unsafe vacant properties and excessive weeds and overgrowth. For Oakland resident Zoe Lardas, 52, the development group’s insistence on pursuing the project in spite of widespread community opposition is troubling. “If you want to be on the up-and-up, then you show up and answer questions and see what’s going on,” she said. “Don’t just not show up. That’s what leads to mistrust.” One item OGV would need to get approved to start anything is a public-private partnership, a contract between the government and a private company. According to Mavis Rainey, executive director of the Oakland Transportation Management Association, OGV’s “P3” is currently pending the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s approval. Kraus, who represents the area of the proposal, made clear that officials engaged in obligatory courtesy meetings with OGV, but conveyed no support for the project. “This project, in its entirety, as presented to our planning department, has been flatly rejected by the city,” Kraus said. modest option, and how that changed through generations,” Marcrum said. Women’s undergarments undergo makeovers nearly every decade as popular styles evolve — from the chest-flattening bras of the early 20th century to Madonna’s iconic cone bra to the Wonderbra of the 90s. But men’s garments are relatively unchanging, Ramey said. Women can now buy sports bras with the ability to monitor their heart rates and send them texts, but Ramey said a man’s range of expression through his undergarments is still mostly limited to various styles of boxers and comedic innovations like flatulence-filtering underwear. Kevin Sampson, of Lawrenceville, found a way to express himself at the lecture, however, by donning a Utilikilt — an American-made kilt with pockets and removable compartments for functionality. During an audience Q&A, the ScottishIrish American spoke about kilt-wearing men
Wanda Wilson, executive director of OPDC, speaks against a proposed development along the Bates Street corridor during a town hall at the Oakland Career Center Thursday evening. Hari Iyer STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER During the town hall, one resident recalled a community meeting in 2014 in which an OGV presentation included names of City and state officials, making some residents think those people supported the project. Kraus interjected.
“They’re going through all these back channels, making false claims. That traffic said this or planning said that or this elected said this,” Kraus said. “Nothing, nothing will happen without a fully vetted community process.”
facing unwanted physical contact from women. He said it is important to bring attention to male-oriented issues of gender and the body. “Women have been abused for a very long time, but men in kilts? There’s so many pictures of the [Queen of England] sitting there and a man beside her in regimental uniform being exposed, front or back,” Sampson said. “It’s very normal for them, but in America it’s not.” Other undergarments, such as bloomers, have garnered political and racial reputations. During the cycling craze of the early 20th century, women required more mobility from their underwear but were expected to wear bodyshaping articles that emphasized their wealth and power. But new trends in dressing down often take inspiration from existing styles, Ramey said, citing the women’s bustle — which poofs out the back of a woman’s skirt — as a recurring silhouette in contemporary styles, such as Kim Kardashian’s bottom-lifting underwear. The most
timeless thing about the underwear industry might be the way it shapes — and regulates — our bodies, according to Ramey. “We’re living in this culture where now it’s perfectly acceptable, even desirable, to reveal those undergarments that you’ve got on, yet when underwear is being worn as an undergarment you’re not supposed to see it,” Ramey said. She touched on how this issue affects school-aged girls — who are often sent home from school with strict dress codes banning their visible bra straps — and shared several gender-inclusive brands, including Tom-Boi and Play Out, that support the body-positive movement. Ramey then prompted the audience to think about underwear as a basic human need. “[Underwear] is one of the least-donated items after catastrophes and yet clean, fresh underwear every day really is crucial to people’s dignity, sense of self-worth and our health and recovery,” Ramey said.
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Opinions
column
Horror movie classics should be standard for scares
Maggie Durwald For The Pitt News
Johnny and Barbara arrive at their father’s grave in rural Pennsylvania, a storm brewing in the distance. A gaunt, staggering man approaches silently across the landscape of headstones. He murders Johnny. Barbara flees. The man — a zombie — gives chase. Her brother’s last, teasing words of warning turn into the plot of the movie — “They’re coming to get you, Barbara!” “Night of the Living Dead” was written by George Romero in 1968, who filmed it 30 miles north of Pittsburgh in Butler County with a cast of Pittsburgh natives. The movie came out at the tail end of a decades-long golden age for horror films and remains a cult classic. But they just don’t make them like they used to. There’s a risk in mentioning the recent decline of the horror genre. It comes across as can-
tankerous and pettish. Nevertheless, as this is the end of the season for frights, it’s a retrospective plunge worth making. The horror genre is boundless. It allows for freedom of ideas that are less welcome within more formulaic genres like rom-coms and disaster movies, not to mention within the scope of the average person’s moral compass. It’s also a heavily disputed genre. Two competing conceptions of horror see the genre primarily as a source of adrenaline rushes and momentary thrills or, alternately, as a realization of deep fears that stick with you long after leaving the theater. Horror is at its best when it leaves you deeply unsettled or when it calls something about humanity into question. An important feature of classic horror movies was that they reflected the anxiety of the times they were made in. Buried within “Night of the Living Dead,” for example, is a commentary on racial issues in the United
States. An African-American man placed in a role of authority resulted in deep conflicts with the other white characters. Similarly, “Dawn of the Dead” made remarks on American consumerism. 1968’s “Rosemary’s Baby” acted as a comment on rape culture and the omnipresent threat of sexual assault. Social commentary is conspicuously absent in the most profitable movies of the genre today. There’s little for an audience to glean, for example, about social unrest from a movie like “Paranormal Activity.” Movies that focus on the “found footage” approach attempt a higher level of realism in how they present an individual’s experience at the expense of a wider social applicability. Anyone can cut off an arm to make you queasy, but it takes a bit more artistry to leave you unsettled days later. Unfortunately, slasher films filled with excessive violence and gore
have carried the genre since the 1970s and 80s. Look at “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” “Friday the 13th,” “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” and “Halloween.” Each is a story of a group of poor unfortunate souls who stumble upon the wrong house, summer camp or moment in time and are met with utter massacre. Movies like these are fine for those who want 90 minutes of missing appendages, blood, guts and mindless murder. However, once the movie is over and the adrenaline flushes out of your system, you’re not left with much. Perhaps the sound of a chain saw might cause a visceral reaction, but the movie has given you very little to chew on or mull over in the dark hours of the night. If you look at Barbara from “Night of the Living Dead,” the audience is presented with a far more speculative and compelling question See Durwald on page 6
Garrett Aguilar STAFF ILLUSTRATOR
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SPONSORED CONTENT
THE INNOVATION INSTITUTE
Startup Energy Lasts All Week Long Andrew Tindall Are you ready for a week packed with innovation and entrepreneurship? Pitt’s Innovation Institute and CMU’s Schwartz Center for Entrepreneurship are teaming up to bring their yearly week-long celebration of big ideas and student startups to both campuses. Between Nov. 13 and Nov. 17, Pitt and Carnegie Mellon together will host nine total entrepreneurship events, from competitions to discussion panels and more. It’s going to be great, so consider this is your formal invitation to attend any of the many open events at Pitt and CMU’s Global Entrepreneurship Week. See schedule of events and how to register in the column to the right. One of the most innovative events going on this year is the “Money Table” on Nov. 10 and 11. You might be familiar with other innovation events, where graduate students from both schools test their mettle in the startup creation process. This turns that idea on its head: instead, student teams will fill the shoes of venture capitalists and angel investors looking to put money into a startup. Representatives from real startups will be in the hot seat, and it’s up to the students to ask them the important questions. This is a great way for student entrepreneurs to get “into investors’ heads” and start thinking about what they’ll be asked by real investors in the future. It will also be a lot of fun. The application deadline for graduate students from both Pitt and CMU to enter the competition at http://go.innovation.
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pitt.edu/the-money-table-2017 is Nov. 3. The teams will train on Nov. 10 in Alumni Hall, and the Money Table competition itself will take place the next day in CMU’s Gates Center. Another competition that’ll be a lot of fun and a great way to learn entrepreneurship skills is the Student Pitch Competition on Nov. 17, sponsored by the Pittsburgh chapter of the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA). This competition will test student entrepreneurs’ “elevator pitch” abilities: competitors will have just 90 seconds onstage to pitch an idea to an expert panel of judges. This event doesn’t just have cash prizes for the winners - they’ll also be given access to a variety of resources donated by sponsoring companies. The competitors have been preselected, but the event is open for everyone to attend. If you’re sure you’ll be there, you can register to attend at http://go.innovation.pitt.edu/ pdmacompetition any day before Nov. 17. The competition will take place in the William Pitt Union Lower Lounge. The competitive spirit is great, but Global Entrepreneurship week isn’t just about competing. There will be a variety of panel discussions, TedX style presentations, and even a startup job fair that all students are welcome to attend. One of the coolest presentations will definitely be the Social Innovation Panel on Nov. 15, where founders of some of the most socially conscious startups in the Pittsburgh area will talk about how to build a successful startup that cares just as much about the community as the bottom line.
This panel will take place in the William Pitt Union Ballroom from 7 to 8 p.m. A couple of the startups from the heart that you’ll hear from are are 412 Food Rescue, a great success story in crowdsourced food charity, and Rorus, a local company that makes affordable and effective water filters. This will be a “fireside”-style discussion, almost more of a conversation than a presentation. If you’re interested in entrepreneurship, social responsibility, or even just the
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success stories of a few local startups, you’ll definitely want to attend. These are just a handful of the activities that are planned for the week. The full list is available at http://go.innovation.pitt. edu/piw2017, where you can see descriptions for all of the events listed on this page. There’s such a variety that you’re sure to find something that interests you at Pitt or CMU. We look forward to seeing you there.
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Sports
DIVING INTO
A NEW SEASON Abbot Zuk
M
Staff Writer
any of the Pitt aquatic athletes have left opponents in the dust — or more appropriately, in chlorine-laced dihydrogen monoxide — during their first meets. It’s early in the season, but Pitt is already showing promise for future performances. In their first dual meet this year, the Panthers split the outing against Louisiana State University and the University of Virginia. They picked up a win against the Tigers with a men’s victory margin of 53.0 and a women’s victory margin of 71.0. The Panthers’ first loss came at the hands of the Cavaliers – who beat the men by 41.0 and the women by 88.0. Senior Amanda Richey was the standout Panther in those first two meets. She notched one of four first-place finishes with her lightning 9.57.0 performance in the 1,000-meter free. The Panthers defeated all of their opponents in the Pink the Pool Meet held in Trees Hall. The men grabbed 12 first place finishes over the Michigan State Spartans. Senior Boris Kulizhnikov and first year Armin Remenyi snagged two individual wins to propel the Panthers to victory. Kulizhnikov collected his wins in the 200-meter breast and 200 IM, while Remenyi won in both the 200-meter and 500-meter fly. The women’s team dominated at that same meet. The Panthers recorded a cumulative 621.0 to 288.0 win over their opponents — the Miami Hurricanes, Michigan State Spartans and the James Madison Dukes. John Hargis, head coach of the swimming and diving programs, knows it’s still early in the season, but he’s confident with the way the team has performed so far. “To this point, it’s been great,” Hargis said. “We’re light years ahead of where we were this time last year in all facets.” This season marks Hargis’ second with the swimming and diving program. In his first year, he led the Panthers to their highest point tally in ACC competition and finished 10th out of 14 in the ACC Tournament. Even though he’s only spent
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one year with the Panthers, he already sees a difference in the The Panthers swim team recorded a cumulative 621.0 to 288.0 win over their three opponents — Miami, Michigan team. State and James Madison — at a meet last Friday. “The culture has gotten a lot better from a work ethic Thomas Yang SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER standpoint,” Hargis said. “Kids are understanding the expectations from a coaching staff in year two.” The Pitt diving team also welcomed new personnel this season. Katie Hazelton is the new head diving coach, taking over the role Julian Krug filled for 38 years. This could be a daunting task, but Hazelton says the team can handle the change. “So far we’re transitioning really well,” Hazelton said. “At the moment, it’s really kind of the grind right now with the focus to peak at ACCs.” In the beginning of the Panthers’ 2016-17 season, with Krug still as the coach, Dominic Giordano won three straight ACC Diver of the Week awards. Senior Meme Sharp also landed five top spot finishes in the 1-meter and 3-meter dive in the first three meets. Now that the team is mostly made up of underclassmen, upperclassmen, such as junior swimmer Brian Lovasik, will have to step up their leadership and influence. “We have a lot of freshmen on the team, so I think the leadership from the upperclassmen has been really good at showing the freshmen what to expect,” Lovasik said. “They have been absorbing that information and swimming really well.” The teams have set long-term team goals as well as more personal goals – and if they reach them, fans could be watching the Panthers swim into the late months of spring. “Obviously I want to do well,” Sharp said. “I want to place well, ACCs and NCAAs, but I think I want to be able to look back on my senior year and smile and know that I put in all my energy and effort and also had fun.” The Panthers will pack up and head northeast to New Jersey to take on Rutgers, Seton Hall and Villanova in an old-school Big East swim meet Friday, Nov. 3, and Saturday, Nov. 4.
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Durwald, pg. 3
Garrett Aguilar STAFF ILLUSTRATOR
pittnews.com
than “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” could ever produce. Both ask “what would you do?” but the unrelenting slashing of “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” doesn’t allow the audience much time for situational speculation. Between action scenes in “Night of the Living Dead,” Romero allows audiences to ask themselves, “who are you in a crisis?” and “when would you break?” At the center of another criticism of the modern genre is the jump scare. “Sinister” screenwriter C. Robert Cargill once described the jump scare as “a magic trick.” When pulled off properly, a loud noise or sudden appearance of a frightening image is meant to elicit a jump from the audience. But jump scares are no longer as impactful as they once were — mainly because of their overuse. According to Where’s the Jump, a website that catalogues all the timing and circumstances of jump scares in horror movies, modern horror films follow a highly predictable formula for timing these moments. A dozen randomly chosen films produced after 2000 all had jump scares within mere minutes of the 30 minute mark, the one hour mark and the hour and 20 minute mark.
November 3. 2017
This algorithmic configuring of scares is indicative of a serious degradation of the genre. Movies that follow this formulaic trend aren’t effective anymore — not in the same way films such as “Psycho” and “The Haunting” were. Both of those movies spent a great deal of time building up tension throughout movie to employ highly effective jump scares toward the finale. The horror genre will change to fit the demands of consumers. If that includes plotless products heavy in cheap scare tactics and gallons of fake blood, then there’s no stopping the machine. There are eight “Saw” films that fit this description, the first seven of which have grossed a combined total of more than $415 million and the latest of which — “Jigsaw” — has grossed $16 million since its Oct. 27 release. Perhaps horror won’t go back to the way it was — with financial successes like “Jigsaw,” there’s no real reason to do so. And not every new movie is inherently bad. But it’s worth recognizing that horror has lost some of its artistic importance in favor of shock value and cheap scares. And if we want to make horror movies worth watching again, we’ll have to regain it. Write to Maggie at mad338@pitt.edu.
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For Rent North Oakland 3,4,6 houses available January and August 2018. Lawn St. Ward St. Call 412-287-5712.
South Oakland ** 3 and 4 Bedroom Houses/Apartments in South Oakland. Available for rent August 2018. Very clean with different amenities (dishwasher, laundry, A/C, washer and dryer, 1-3 baths, off-street parking, newer appliances & sofas). Check out my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/KenEckenrodeRealEstate/. Call Ken at 412-287-4438 for more information and showings. **AUGUST 2018: Furnished studios, 1,2,3,4 bedroom apartments. No pets. Non-smokers preferred. 412-621-0457. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 Bedrooom Houses. August 2018. Bouquet St, Meyran, Semple, Neville, Chesterfield. 412-287-5712.
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South Oakland 2-3-4-5-6-7 bedroom apartments and houses available in May and August 2018. Nice, clean, free laundry, includes exterior maintenance, new appliances, spacious, located on Meyran, Bates, Oakland, Semple, Wellsford, Dawson, Juliet. 412-414-9629.
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