3-2-2017

The Pitt News

WOMEN LOSE FIRST ROUND ACC TOURNAMENT PAGE 8

The independent student newspaper of the University of Pittsburgh | PIttnews.com | march 2, 2017 | Volume 107 | Issue 134

Pgh joins cats and coffee trend Noah Coco

Staff Writer When Amy Leone and her daughter, of South Fayette Township, sat down Saturday morning to sip coffee and eat a fresh chocolate chip cookie, they were waiting for something more than the typical Starbucks experience.

Leone and her daughter were eagerly anticipating their 11 a.m. reservation to lounge with cats in Colony Cafe in downtown Pittsburgh.

Colony Cafe is Pittsburgh’s first cat cafe, which adds Pittsburgh to a list of cities across the world that host cat cafes. Cat cafes serve food and beverages like typical diners and coffeehouses, but with a twist — customers sit at tables where cats roam free, weaving around chair legs and cups of steaming coffee.

Some, including Colony Cafe, relegate the felines to a separate room so that customers can separate their cat and coffee experiences. The Cat Loft is enclosed behind glass walls on the second floor allowing people to observe from the bottom floor as the cats roam the room.

Cat Flower Garden in Taipei, Taiwan, is often credited as the first cat cafe, which the owners started in 1998 as an attempt to make their eatery stand out from the crowd,

RJ MITTE speaks on diversity, disability in TV

RJ Mitte spoke to a crowd of more than 100 at the William Pitt Union Assembly Room on Wednesday night. Evan Meng STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Zoe Pawliczek

ing Adversity: Turning a Disadvantage to an Advantage, which took place in the WPU Assembly Room which started at 8:30 p.m.

Standing onstage and laughing with the An actor and advocate for people with discrowd Wednesday night, “Breaking Bad” abilities, Mitte regularly talks at high schools star RJ Mitte boldly contrasted the image and universities about his experiences with most associated with him — a coming-ofcerebral palsy and opportunities in the film age teen sporting crutches and a speech imand philanthropic industries. pediment.

While best known for playing Walter Jr. “I grew up not looking at disability as on AMC’s “Breaking Bad,” Mitte has starred a disability. I thought it was very normal,” in other TV shows, including “Switched at Mitte, now 24, said.

Birth” and “Vegas” as well as multiple movMitte spoke to a crowd of more than 100 See Cat Cafe on page 2 at the Pitt Program Council event Overcom- ies such as “Dixieland” and “House of Last Things.”

Staff Writer

Diagnosed with spastic cerebral palsy — a movement disorder characterized by impaired reflexes, floppy or rigid limbs and abnormal posture — at age three, Mitte underwent physical therapy and speech therapy to improve his motor and communication skills. He had to wear braces on both legs until he was 16, although he says he didn’t grow up thinking of himself as disabled.

“Through all my physical therapy, through all my casting and braces, I still saw See RJ Mitte on page 3

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Cat Cafe, pg. 1

according to a Munchies article. The trend later spread to Europe before the idea was adopted by entrepreneurs in American cities by in late 2014.

The first cat cafe in the United States, Cat Town Cafe, opened in Oakland, California, in October 2014, followed by cafes in cities like Denver, New York and Portland. Unlike many of the international cat cafes, most American locations tend to partner with shelters or other animal rescue organizations to populate their cafes with cats that customers can then adopt.

Just months after the first American cat cafe opened, Tony Wang opened San Diego’s The Cat Cafe in January 2015. Wang had to raise the funds through family and friends to open his entrepreneurial initiative.

“We heard about a cat cafe in Paris and heard there were waits of up to two months to get a reservation,” Wang said. “We thought that if it was successful in Paris, we could do something similar here.”

Since its founding, The Cat Cafe has facilitated

the adoption of 219 cats and continues to offer its customers a full supply of cats and coffee daily, according to its website.

Colony Cafe established a partnership with Animal Friends, a local animal resource center and rescue shelter, to supply cats to the cafe. Four of Colony Cafe’s cats have already been adopted since its opening, but Animal Friends ensures they have a constant supply of cats in need of adoption.

“It’s a different atmosphere if you are trying to adopt,” Sue Hendrickson, who opened the cafe with her husband Erik, said. “You do not have to go to a shelter and see them through a cage, but you can actually sit in the room with them and interact and see what they are like.”

The trend came to Pittsburgh on Feb. 16, when Colony Cafe opened its doors for the first time. A handful of patrons managed to secure reservations for the establishment’s first hours in the Cat Loft, an enclosed section on the second floor of the cafe that currently contains nine cats.

Though the Cat Loft has been open for more than two weeks now, reservations are still required.

See Cat Cafe on page 7

Dagmar Seppala STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Vegan collective brings new dishes to Market menu James Evan Bowen-Gaddy Assistant News Editor

A group of six students gathered in Market Central Wednesday night, not for a chicken patty or stir-fry bowl, but for a conversation with the chefs.

The students came for the second meeting of the Vegan and Vegetarian Collective, a group of Pitt students as well as Pitt Dining and Sodexo staff dedicated to furthering the available vegan and vegetarian options in University dining halls. At the meeting Wednesday, two chefs, six students and three Sodexo employees engaged in a conversation about what vegan options were working — as well as those that weren’t — in Market Central.

While the Pitt Dining staff set aside two long tables for the event, only half a table filled up, as fewer students showed up than they expected. According to Nick Goodfellow, Sodexo sustainability coordinator and a 2015 Pitt graduate, Pitt Dining hosted the first meeting for the collective this past January

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in the William Pitt Union, which drew in 60 students. So on Wednesday Goodfellow made sure to ask the students, “What happened?”

Multiple students replied saying it was most likely due to the midterm period keeping students busy. Despite the low turnout, the students there were determined to hold the meeting anyway.

They began by asking for more legumebased dishes, more meatless dishes outside of the Tutto Fresco station as well as readily available vegan dishes instead of made-to-order dishes.

Goodfellow jotted down each of the students’ suggestions and criticisms into his notebook, which had a sticker that read “I’m a food warrior” on the back cover.

Goodfellow said in the future, the dining staff plans on continuing “meatless Mondays,” adding unsweetened soy milk to Market and selling dairy-free yogurt at the Oakland Bakery.

Executive Chef Chris Cox, spoke at the

meeting, announcing some of the changes Market has attempted in the past semester like adding distinct cooking surfaces for vegan dishes. He said recently the cooking staff received complaints that only one cooking surface was available at the 360 Degrees grill.

“Somebody’s who’s vegan doesn’t want to eat food cooked off the same surface [as the meat],” Cox said.

In response, Cox said the staff purchased a cooking surface to prepare tofu scramble in the mornings, separate from where they prepare normal breakfast bowls, which include eggs and bacon.

The students in attendance shared that they were excited about efforts like this, but had other requests as well. Sage Lincoln — a senior majoring in ecology, urban studies and geology — said she wished Market offered more protein options for vegans.

“A slab of polenta is not very nutrient rich,” Lincoln said.

On the whole, however, Lincoln said Pitt’s

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dining has vastly improved since she was a first-year student. When she started at Pitt, she said the vegan choices were slim, so she often had to ask the staff to cook specially for her. Today, she said she “loves getting swiped in.”

“Now there’s better labeling, more options in general, higher awareness and sensitivity to [being vegan], but there’s always more that can be improved,” Lincoln said.

Change has come in chunks since Lincoln’s first year. According to Goodfellow, the collective existed two years ago as a studentrun group, but after those students graduated, nobody strived to keep it moving.

“It fell apart,” Goodfellow said.

Since then, students have banded together to reform the collective. Cecilia Oliveros, a senior studying economics and environmental studies and a vegan, began working as a sustainability intern for Sodexo this year and decided she wanted to see the collective workSee Vegan on page 3

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RJ Mitte, pg. 1 it as normal,” Mitte said. “It was still my everyday life. I thought everyone went to occupational therapy and physical therapy and did these exercises.”

When bullies at school started taking notice of his condition, even breaking his hands and one of his feet, Mitte initially retaliated by engaging in physical combat. But after telling his peers about cerebral palsy, he found they were able to accept it.

“I realized that people who are afraid of something, they attack because of a lack of knowledge. A lot of people are in a fear of asking,” Mitte said.

Although Mitte’s cerebral palsy is a milder form than what he portrayed on the show — requiring him to practice using crutches that he didn’t have as a child — he quickly adapted to the role, recognizing its importance to others with his condition.

“The side of television I see is very different from the side you see,” Mitte said.

“We need more diversity, not the same cookie-cutter movies and TV shows. Seeing someone in the background with crutches or a wheelchair, it affects people.”

Emma Wolinsky, a first-year English literature major, said she attended the event because it would expose her to a different background.

“Events like these bring disability to the forefront — it’s part of diversity, part of intersectionality,” Wolinsky said.

Although his days of wearing leg braces and donning crutches for “Breaking Bad” are over, Mitte continues to spread awareness about his condition as a celebrity ambassador for United Cerebral Palsy, speaking at conferences and meeting with people who have the condition.

His work in other areas of philanthropy includes being a spokesperson for I AM PWD — an initiative to give a voice to entertainers with disabilities — and co-hosting the Rio 2016 Paralympics as a reporter and correspondent.

“I started doing advocacy work because there really is a need for it, there’s a hole.

There’s this superficial generosity, a superficial kindness,” Mitte said. “I see a very vastly different world than what you see online, I see the politics behind it.”

During his lecture, Mitte also touched on anonymity of bullies on social media and how, as a public figure, he is a regular

target of cyber hate.

“There is no boundary on social media, so protect what you do and protect what you say, because that will impact you,” Mitte said.

First-year Kwame Morris, a bioengineering major, said he was surprised by Mitte’s choices of topics for the event. A fan of “Breaking Bad,” he expected Mitte to speak more about his time on the show.

“I was kind of surprised, the speech was incredibly inspiring,” Morris said. “He was focused and got a specific message across about disabilities and acceptance.”

Mitte did not leave the event without giving the audience — the majority of which were clear fans of the show — a chance to ask questions.

Many fans asked about his breakout role as Walt Jr., asking about co-stars and experiences on set, although other topics included eating habits, butt tattoos and Mitte’s future acting plans as well as his dream roles.

Mitte says he will eat just about anything, and that he has always wanted to act in a military movie.

“I just like to work,” Mitte said. “I like to do whatever I can. I like to create characters and really just see the world.”

Vegan, pg. 2 ing again, this time more closely run by dining services.

“What we wanted to do with this, when we started the collective, was make it a Sodexorun thing,” Oliveros said. “So that after a student leaves, it doesn’t fade away.”

Goodfellow said in the future, Sodexo and the collective want to include non-vegan students who are interested in healthier eating.

“Anybody is welcome to come — not just people who are eating a vegan or vegetarian diet, but people who are interested in maybe eating less meat, or just want to learn more about it,” Goodfellow said.

At the end of the meeting, a few students stuck around to grab some grilled vegetables and chat. Lincoln said before she left that the collective had empowered a lot of students with alternative diets on campus.

“I think a lot of vegans and vegetarians had experiences that weren’t being addressed because they weren’t coming together or realizing that they could advocate for change and that people would be receptive to their needs,” Lincoln said.

The Pitt News SuDoku 12/9/15 courtesy of dailysudoku.com

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March 2, 2017

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Opinions

column

from the editorial board

Renewed commitment necessary for Year of Diversity success With only a few months left in Pitt’s 2016-2017 Year of Diversity, it’s important to take a step back and reflect on how we’ve all contributed to making Pitt more diverse and inclusive this year.

We, as an Editorial Board, discussed an incident in our editorial meeting this week that reminded us of how important it is to be actively aware of how we cover diversity in our paper everyday.

An Arizona State University graduate student, Nshwah Ahmad, is accusing ASU of racial profiling after a picture of her and two friends — all Arab women, two of whom are wearing Muslim headscarves — accompanied an article about the importance of international students at the university.

The article was an op-ed piece submitted by the university’s president Michael Crow to the Christian Science Monitor, a news website and weekly magazine that covers global and national issues. In the article, Crow wrote about the importance of international students at his university and the many benefits they bring the community.

But what may have seemed like a triumphant statement by a university president has now become cloaked in controversy. The picture did not have a caption explaining who the women were or specifying them as international students or not. In reality, the women are all Americans but by including their photo in the article, it effectively implied that they are foreigners. The subtle message here says it was because these women are the “other” — because they aren’t white, but are clearly Arab and Muslim, then they must not be American.

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ASU apologized to the women and replaced the photo, claiming the incident a “mistake.” The paper also overlooked the implications, merely included the photo Crow sent without bothering to properly vet it.

Blame can certainly fall on the president, on the media team who reportedly sent the photo and on the editors at the Christian Science Monitor for not being more rigorous and strict with what they plan to publish. And while we should criticize their lack of foresight, we also should use this opportunity to learn from their mistake.

We, as a newspaper, understand more than most how easily these mistakes can happen. Deadlines are tight and multiple late nights in a row take a toll on everyone involved in the long editing process. We’d certainly be remiss to say we haven’t come close to or made similar mistakes throughout our history.

Earlier this semester, we ran a column about the effect of riots on minority communities with a specific focus on the Korean community in Berkeley, California. With it, we almost ran an illustration that clearly depicted Chinese shops, and the subtext here would have implied much ignorance on our part to recognize distinctions within Asian populations. Luckily, we caught our mistake before it made it into the morning paper. But it was a close call and a learning experience all the same.

The ASU example should be another reminder to us to be careful and diligent in our work and in our commitments to diversity. This is where Crow failed in his attempts — he wrote an entire ar-

ticle about the importance of appreciating diversity at ASU but then failed to do the leg work of actually appreciating his students and their diversity. And what may seem like a harmless mistake can be extremely offensive, as it was to Alabbadi and the other women of the picture.

Neither Pitt nor The Pitt News is immune to criticism on how we handle diversity and inclusion, despite our stated commitments. For as many things we do right, such as the Year of Diversity, we do just as many things wrong as well.

But it’s a willingness to learn from our mistakes, even when we make them, that is what will create change and progress.

The solution isn’t necessarily about being so aware that we catch every little possible mistake. It’s about knowing enough to stop and think about how what you say, write or publish might be interpreted by anyone implicated in it.

We’ve made mistakes at The Pitt News, but we’ve also made changes to try to be more inclusive of the events, people and community we cover. For example, after multiple mistakes with publishing the wrong pronouns for subjects, we instituted a new policy last year to ask anyone we interview for a story what pronouns they used to try to limit our mistakes to zero.

And in light of the ASU photo and our reactions to it, we’re grateful for the reminder again. We stand with a renewed fervor to uphold the ideal of diversity and inclusion not only this year, but for as long as we continue writing for our University.

March 2, 2017

Uninformed policymakers shoot blanks Jeremy Wang Columnist

In a commencement address to the Rutgers University graduating class of 2016, former-President Barack Obama proclaimed, “In politics and in life, ignorance is not a virtue. It’s not cool to not know what you’re talking about.”

We criticize political authorities for knowing little about the subjects to which they propose restrictions. We’ve seen it on topics such as education — like Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos — or legislators making policy on abortion — like former-Representative Todd Akin who claimed pregnancies from “legitimate rapes” aren’t physically possible for women. Like these examples, gun policy should be no different.

In similar fashion, a group of legislators with little knowledge about firearms took action to keep regulations in place last Tuesday. Judge Robert King and nine other judges on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals voted to uphold a Maryland assault weapons ban with the justification that assault weapons are not protected under the Second Amendment. But their decision highlights a common theme among America’s policymakers: their tendency to create legislation while lacking basic knowledge in the subject area.

In the 75-page majority opinion, technical aspects of firearms were consistently described using popular misconceptions. The court decision claims barrel shrouds — a feature commonly regulated in assault weapon bans — cool the barrel and provide the shooter a “convenient grip.”’ But barrel shrouds don’t cool barrels at all. They are simply a covering over the barrel of a firearm to prevent users from suffering serious first- or second-degree burns — essentially a safety feature.

Many assault weapon bans also regulate flash suppressors, which are defined as devices intended to redirect the firearm’s flash, reducing the See Wang on page 5

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Wang, pg. 4

likelihood of blinding the user. Instead, the court decision claimed flash suppressors “help conceal a shooter’s position.”

And the court decision constantly muddled the difference between semi-automatic firearms — firearms which can only fire one round with each pull of the trigger — and fully automatic firearms — firearms which fire multiple rounds with each pull of the trigger.

The decision claimed semi-automatic rifles are capable of being “fired at rates of 300 to 500 rounds per minute” without offering any examples of this being done. Jerry Miculek, a competitive shooter with 11 world records and over 100 national and world titles, struggles to achieve 300 rounds per minute using semi-automatic firearms.

The court decision describing the AK-47 rifle as capable of firing “40 rounds per minute on semi-automatic” cast serious doubt on the previous 300 to 500 rpm claim. This is just another example of the contradictions made within the court’s decision.

The court decision also describes the AR-15 as “simply the semi-automatic version of the M16 rifle used by our military.” But despite near-identical appearances, the civilian-legal AR-15 and the fully automatic M16 used by our military are vastly different rifles. That “simple” distinction in function — semi-automatic or fully automatic fire — is all the difference in the world. Outside of function, the only differences that remain are form. Some of the most popular sporting rifles in America are functionally identical to the AR15 but lack the cosmetic similarities to the M16, dodging the assault weapon classification.

Politics is a difficult field to get things done in. And I’m not saying I’m qualified to create legislation, either. I merely wish to point out the issue here and its common recurrence through-

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out American politics. A total disregard of basic knowledge on the subject in a U.S. Circuit Court’s decision is embarrassing and warrants uproar.

But the courts aren’t the only place we see this ignorance. It’s not rare for some of the most powerful gun control proponents to create and lobby for gun legislation without basic firearms knowledge.

Michael Bloomberg is a vocal supporter of sweeping gun control proposals and co-founded Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control lobbying organization that spent over $37 million in 2014 to lobby and fund efforts to create additional gun regulations. In an ABC “Nightline” interview, Bloomberg was pressed on his ability to define assault weapons to which he responded, “Pistols are different, you have to pull the trigger each time. An assault weapon you basically hold it and it goes ‘brrrt.’”

But assault weapons are semi-automatic only.

Fully automatic firearms have been banned since 1986 under the Hughes Amendment.

Former-Rep. Carolyn McCarthy attempted to reintroduce the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, which would regulate firearms with a barrel shroud. When asked three times in an MSNBC interview what a barrel shroud was, she responded, “I actually don’t know what a barrel shroud is.

I believe it’s the shoulder thing that goes up.”

It is perfectly reasonable to demand that lawmakers maintain a basic level of knowledge on the policy area being regulated, whether it be health care, reproductive health or firearms. It is an even lower and more achievable standard to expect them to understand their own legislation.

Like Obama said, ignorance is never acceptable — especially for our lawmakers. Let’s hold them to higher standards and make sure gun reform is backed up with the facts.

Jeremy primarily writes on gun policy and violent crime.

Write to Jeremy at jiw115@pitt.edu.

March 2, 2017

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Culture

Q&A: Tommy Emmanuel on music and memories Emily Brindley Culture Editor

Tommy Emmanuel picked up his first guitar at four years old — and has spent the rest of his life with a guitar in hand.

Emmanuel, a 61-year-old Australian guitarist, has played on stages around the world, from Poland to Italy to Russia. As part of his U.S. tour, Emmanuel played at the Byham Theater in downtown Pittsburgh Feb. 26.

Emmanuel is a member of the Australian Order, which was established in 1975 to honor Australian citizens. Emmanuel is also one of only five musicians that Chet Atkins — one of the late musicians credited with developing the country style known as the Nashville sound — named a “Certified Guitar Player.”

He’s released more than two dozen albums since 1979, and received a Grammy nomination for “Best Country Instrumental Performance” in 2007. Emmanuel exemplifies the fingerpicking technique — using his fingers instead of a plastic pick — but his technique transcends genre. He plays bluegrass, blues, country and even covers of famous bands such as The Beatles.

The Pitt News talked with Emmanuel about his childhood, his time on the road and the central role music plays in his life.

The Pitt News: Could you tell me a little bit about how you got into guitar playing and music in the first place?

Tommy Emmanuel: I started at four years old, and my mother was already playing a little bit — and I’m one of six kids and we all were crazy about music ... My dream when I was a kid was to do what I’m doing now — to be a concert player and travel around the world.

TPN: When you were four, did you have a full-size guitar?

TE: I had a three-quarter size guitar. It was hard to play. But if I showed you a photograph of me at three or four years old, the thing that would strike you immediately is that I had huge hands. I had, like, monkey hands for a little boy.

It’s hard to explain that, but my hands were already much bigger than the rest of my body.

TPN: Were you taking lessons at that point?

TE: No, I’ve never had lessons. I don’t read

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music. I’ve never had training. I play everything by ear. I’m the Indiana Jones of the guitar world.

I’m constantly learning from everybody. I watch people like a hawk, and try to be a sponge around great musicians. When I get that opportunity, I’m always trying to learn something new. Life is our great teacher, and presents us with situations where we can definitely expand our knowledge, and you gotta keep your antennas up.

TPN: How does that feel, to accomplish the goal that you’ve had since you were a little kid?

at everything. I’ve even done comedy, I’ve done game shows, I’ve done television shows… Eventually you have to find what it is you think you do the best, and you try to find a way of standing out, because the world is so full of incredible talent and entertainers and people who do things on a great level. And you have to find your own way of standing out from the pack. And that usually involves having your own style, your own sound, and writing your own music and playing in your own way. That’s the way you can stand out.

Tommy Emmanuel performs in Rome on Oct. 16, 2016.. Giuseppe Savo |Flickr TE: Well, it’s a wonderful life. It’s taught me so much. You need to figure out how to do things the best way, and how not to go crazy on the road, and all that sort of stuff. You need to learn a lot of lessons about that kind of stuff, and learn how to pace yourself and learn how to be in a position to give your best every night. And that’s really, that’s my goal.

TPN: Was there any other career path that you considered at any point?

TE: No. I’ve been a bass player and a drummer. In fact, there probably isn’t a musical situation that I haven’t played in. I’ve done bluegrass festivals, blues festivals, reggae festivals, country music festivals, rock ‘n roll, jazz — I’ve had a go

TPN: What is it like to be on stage?

TE: Oh. It’s the greatest drug I know. It’s so wonderful. People say, “Do you get nervous before you go on stage?” And I say, “Why would I be nervous? I’m going home.”

That’s how it feels to me. I was born to be on the stage, and I’ve always known it. I’m just doing what comes natural, and I’m trying to have the best time I possibly can with the audience every night. I’m flying my kite as high as I can.

TPN: Have there been any particular performances that stick in your memory — interactions with the audience, things like that?

TE: There’s a lot of those experiences that I could tell you about. Sometimes, people do stuff

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like, “Can you play a particular song, because I want to propose to this woman during that song.” So I’ll organize to play that song, and then at the end of the song, I’ll say to the audience, “Here’s Jeff and here’s Elaine — or whatever — Jeff, you got something to say to Elaine?” And he’ll turn and say, “Will you marry me?” And it’ll happen right there in the audience.

TPN: How do you foster a good rapport with the audience, and keep that going?

TE: You have to have a desire to have a relationship with your audience, and to present to the audience who you are. You have to be willing to be in a very vulnerable position. That’s the way love really works, is if it’s totally vulnerable.

When I go out on stage, I’m not doing anything except saying, “Hi, I’m here to do my best for you.” And when people respond to me, I respond back. We both bring the best out in each other, that’s the whole idea.

If I can make people feel relief from the stress of life — whether it’s stress or sadness or whatever — if they’re not thinking about their troubles for two hours, then I’ll take that anytime.

TPN: When you are on the road, how much time are you spending practicing per day?

TE: I practice what I think I need to practice.

This morning ... my bus driver — who’s a good singer — and I, we sang through some country songs.

When you sing, you tap into that creative part of you and you stir it up. That’s why singing is such a spiritual experience, because it taps into the soul somehow. So, [my bus driver and I] were singing songs this morning and getting [goosebumps], and that’s a good thing, that means I’m alive and I’m stirred up, you know?

TPN: What’s your favorite thing about playing?

TE: How it affects people. Seeing the effect that music has on people is the most incredible motivator that I know. If I play well and to my standard — I’m very fussy, I have a high standard to try to reach — if I have a great night and my ideas seem to just flow naturally, that’s the greatest high there is. The only problem with it, is that you’ve gotta do it again tomorrow.

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Cat Cafe, pg. 2 Most weekend and many weekday reservations are booked three weeks out through the third week of March.

Patrons who book their reservations in advance are allowed to take their food and drinks up to the Cat Lounge. Guests who are just there for the coffee or who are waiting for their hour session can relax in the cafe and browse the wall of photos of famous people with cats including Andy Warhol and Morgan Freeman.

Guests can reserve one-hour time slots for $8 in order to enter the Cat Loft, and most of the reservations since the opening have been booked in advance in anticipation of the newest experience Downtown.

Bridget Lazecko, a sophomore psychology and anthropology major, booked reservations for her and her friends two weeks in advance to spend an hour on Saturday in the Cat Loft.

“The whole cafe had a very warm and friendly vibe to it,” Lazecko said. “The loft was very cozy and had many spaces in which you could sit back and just enjoy being with the animals.”

The Hendricksons opened Colony Cafe after they moved to Pittsburgh in July 2016. They previously lived in Brooklyn and worked in corpo-

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Colony Cafe, which opened on Feb.16, is the first cat cafe in Pittsburgh.

Dagmar Seppala STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER rate communications — Erik for media relations at an international law firm and Sue for employee communications at an international bank. Now in their mid-40s, they have decided to embark on a new endeavor to open a cat cafe.

“We had been to the cat cafes in Brooklyn, and we thought this could be a good second act for us,” Sue said.

The Hendricksons have received largely positive responses from people, and they enjoy watching their customers leaving the Cat Loft

“pretty blissed out.”

Although Colony Cafe has made its mark in Pittsburgh as the first cat cafe, it also independently performs its role as a coffeehouse. Guests do not have to enter the second floor Cat Loft but can remain in the first floor cafe to be greeted with the aroma of Ruby Coffee Roasters brews as they peruse the selections of coffee on a chalkboard on the wall.

Glass display cases lining the counters feature pastries and other savory snacks, and guests can

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order a number of dishes for lunch or dinner, all of which are made in-house. By evening the coffeehouse also offers its owner-curated collection of wine.

“We offer wines that normally cannot be found in Pittsburgh,” Erik said as he explained how they taste-tested and deliberately chose a distinct selection of wines. “The Colony Cafe is a fun place to enjoy wine from a variety of places.”

The wine is one of the distinguishing features of the cafe, but they also pride themselves on their food and coffee, which was personally selected by the owners after trying many varieties.

“The coffee, food and wine isn’t an afterthought, we have a really strong program, handcrafted espresso drinks with quality beans,” Sue said. “We don’t want to be only the cat cafe, we want people to enjoy all of our offerings.”

Through their support for animal adoption and rescue services and their commitment to providing quality food and drink, the Hendricksons hope to make their mark on the Pittsburgh cultural scene with this new experience.

“People are coming to the destination for the cats, but we want them to enjoy everything too,” Sue said. “It is so satisfying when people come up to us and say, ‘Thank you for coming to Pittsburgh, this is my new favorite place.’”

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Sports Editor’s Note: The recap of the Pitt men’s basketball team’s loss vs. Georgia Tech in Wednesday’s edition of The Pitt News incorrectly stated the Panthers were in last place in the ACC. Pitt is currently tied for 13th place out of 15 teams.

Panthers’ season ends in 72-60 loss vs. UNC Steve Rotstein Sports Editor

In last year’s ACC Tournament, North Carolina’s Jamie Cherry tried her best to spoil the Pitt women’s basketball team’s season, but the Panthers prevailed.

This time around, the Tar Heels’ sharp-shooting guard single-handedly sent Pitt home.

Cherry scored a career-high 32 points in UNC’s 72-60 win over the Panthers in the opening round of the ACC Tournament Wednesday night in Conway, South Carolina. Her ability to knock down long-range shots from well beyond the arc made the difference in the game, as she finished 5-of-7 from 3-point range.

Pitt secured its first-ever ACC Tournament win last season in a thrilling opening-round win against the Tar Heels — but not before Cherry sunk a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to send the game to overtime.

Although four Panthers scored in double figures, no one could match Cherry’s individual output.

Pitt’s offense started out hot, scoring at will on its way to 41 first-half points. The team appeared headed for its fifth straight win over UNC, but Cherry’s long-range barrage put an end to the Panthers’ streak — and their season.

Tar Heels guard Paris Kea scored the game’s first four points on a jumper and a layup. Pitt sopho-

more forward Kauai Bradley got the Panthers on the board with a 3-pointer, the first of her 12 points in the first quarter. But she still wasn’t the leading scorer after an action-packed opening 10 minutes, as Cherry racked up 14 points in the first.

Cherry drained a three to give the Tar Heels a 9-3 lead, but her night was just getting started.

Bradley hit another three to make it 11-7, then Kea and Pitt sophomore forward Brenna Wise traded a pair of baskets. Cherry made a pair of free throws and a layup, then answered a Wise jumper with two more free throws and a jumper of her own.

UNC led 21-14 with two minutes left in the first quarter, then the Panthers cut into the deficit with layups from sophomore forward Kalista Walters and Bradley. Cherry hit another three to push the Tar Heels’ lead back to six, but layups from Walters and graduate transfer center Brandi Harvey-Carr made it a 24-22 UNC lead after the first quarter.

First-year guard Alayna Gribble drilled a 3-pointer 10 seconds into the second quarter to give Pitt its first lead, 25-24. A jumper from junior point guard Aysia Bugg and layups from Bradley and Harvey-Carr finished a 13-0 Panthers run and gave them a seven-point lead with 6:58 left in the first half.

The teams went back and forth for the remainder of the first half, and Pitt took a 41-37 lead into halftime. Cherry led all players with 16 points at the break while Bradley led the Panthers with 12.

UNC kept up the offensive explosion in the second half, starting the third quarter on a 10-0 run.

Pitt couldn’t keep up, going nearly four minutes without scoring until first-year point guard Jasmine Whitney converted a layup with 6:04 left in the quarter.

Another layup by Whitney cut UNC’s lead to two with 3:43 remaining in the third, but the Tar Heels scored the final eight points in the quarter to take a 59-49 lead into the fourth. Cherry contributed back-to-back 3-pointers in the run — including one from NBA range — and had already tallied 27 points by the end of the quarter.

Kea nailed a couple of free throws to start the final quarter, then followed a Wise jumper with two more to give UNC a 63-51 lead. A three from Wise trimmed the gap to single digits, but the Panthers continued to struggle on offense.

Bugg hit a jumper to cut Pitt’s deficit to eight with 2:15 remaining, and the Tar Heels missed several free throws, giving the Panthers a chance to come back. But they couldn’t make a shot until it was too late, missing five of their last six shots and falling by a 72-60 score.

Pitt showed signs of improvement early on this season, starting 3-3 in ACC play. But the Panthers ran into a tough stretch against a slew of ranked teams, losing nine of their last 10 games. The team Kauai Bradley (5) scored 12 points concludes its season with a 13-17 overall record, al- in Pitt’s season-ending loss vs. UNC. Thomas Yang STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER most identical to its 13-18 mark from last year.

Johnson and Luther make All-ACC Academic Team Steve Rotstein

Sports Editor The Pitt men’s basketball team’s disappointing 2016-2017 season is almost at a close, but two Panthers earned recognition Wednesday for what they’ve accomplished off the court.

Pitt redshirt sophomore guard Cameron Johnson and junior forward Ryan Luther made it onto the All-ACC Academic Team for the second year in a row, ACC commissioner John Swofford

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announced Wednesday morning.

Student-athletes must have earned at least a 3.00 GPA for the previous semester and maintained at least a 3.00 cumulative GPA during their academic career in order to be eligible for consideration. This year’s list is comprised of 27 studentathletes from 13 of the ACC’s 15 schools.

After averaging only 4.8 points per game in his first year at Pitt, Johnson has emerged as a reliable scoring option for the Panthers this season.

He’s averaged 11.9 points per game and ranks No. 12 in the conference with a 42.2 3-point field goal percentage. His 73 made 3-pointers are one behind Duke guard Luke Kennard for the ACC lead.

Meanwhile, Luther was enjoying a productive season as Pitt’s sixth man, but a foot injury sidelined him for 12 games soon after the Panthers began ACC play. Pitt struggled mightily in his absence, losing its first six games without Luther

March 2, 2017

and going 3-9 over the 12-game stretch.

Luther returned Tuesday night in the Panthers’ 61-52 loss against Wake Forest, but he wasn’t able to provide the necessary spark to get Pitt back in the win column. He is averaging 6.3 points and 4.2 rebounds per game this season, along with a team-best 55.6 field goal percentage.

Johnson and Luther join former Panthers guard Cameron Wright as the program’s only two-time All-ACC Academic honorees.

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