A watchdog for the Temple University community since 1921.
Lawrence Ukenye Editor-in-Chief
Julia Merola Print Managing Editor
Fallon Roth Digital Managing Editor
Megan Phillips Chief Print Copy Editor
Kayla Maguire Chief Digital Copy Editor
Devon Russell Assistant News Editor
Justin Roig Assistant News Editor
Shriya Gohel Assistant News Editor
Sarah Frasca Opinion Editor
Molly Fiske Assistant Opinion Editor
Duay Augustine Assistant Features Editor
Nick Gangewere Sports Editor
Javon Edmonds Assistant Sports Editor
Samuel O’Neal Assistant Sports Editor
Maggie Fitzgerald Director of Audience Engagement
Emily Lewis Public Engagement Coordinator
Taylor Hargraves Audience Engagement Editor
Sara Wexler Audience Engagement Editor
Chris Duong Sports Social Media Manager
Earl Kufen Photo Editor
Erika Monn Photo Editor
Nicole Aquino Multimedia Editor
Nate Pullano Multimedia Editor
Joelle Pacheco Print Design Editor
Allyson Tharp Graphic Design Editor
Isabella Medina Web Editor
Rachel Townsend Data Editor
Olivia Hall Podcast Editor
Rose Mastrangelo Advertising Manager
Matthew Eaton Advertising Manager
Kurt Nolasco Business Manager
The Temple News is an editorially independent weekly publication serving the Temple University community.
Unsigned editorial content represents the opinion of The Temple News.
Adjacent commentary is reflective of their authors, not The Temple News.
The Editorial Board is made up of The Temple News’ Editor-inChief, Managing Editor, Digital Managing Editor, Chief Copy Editors, and Opinion Editors.
The views expressed in editorials only reflect those of the Board, and not of the entire Temple News staff.
ON THE COVER City Hall on Oct. 24.
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Accuracy is our business, so when a mistake is made, we’ll correct it as soon as possible. Anyone with inquiries about content in this newspaper can contact Editor-in-Chief Lawrence Ukenye at editor@temple-news.com.
On Oct. 11, 2022, an article on page 16 titled “Revived club takes stand against sexual assault” inaccurately quotes Ray Epstein’s comments on her experience with sexual assault.
Additionally, the article incorrectly quoted Ben Wilcox’s comments on the importance of individuals knowing their Title IX rights.
Here are the steps to vote by mail or to go to the polls in this year’s upcoming election.
BY DEVON RUSSELL, SHRIYA GOHEL, JUSTIN ROIG For The Temple NewsIn Philadelphia, polls will be open on Nov. 8 from 7 a.m. and any voter standing in line by 8 p.m. will be able to cast a ballot. Pennsylvania voters can use a search engine from Pennsylvania Department of State to find their nearest polling location. Pennsylvania does not require voters to pres ent identification to vote. Here are the closest polling locations to Main Campus:
North Central Choice (PHA) - 809 West Berks Street
Yorktown Arms - 1300 West Jefferson Street Bright
Hope Baptist Church - 1601 North 12th Street
Amos Recreation Center - 1817 North 16th Street
Beckett Gardens Community Center - 1410 North 16th Street
General George C. Meade Elementary School - 1600 North 18th Street Dr. Tanner G. Duckrey Public School - 1501 West Diamond Street Midtown Parish United Methodist Church 718 West Norris Street Penrose Recreation Center - 1101 W Susquehanna Avenue
Voters must submit their ballot applications to their county election board by Nov. 1 at 5 p.m. and return their ballots to the county election board, or another designated location, by Nov. 8 at 8 p.m.
The Philadelphia County Board of Elections is located in City Hall at 1400 John F. Kennedy Boulevard. Philadelphians can also return their ballot by mail or by visiting a drop-box location.
The closest drop-box locations to Main Campus are the Eastern State Penitentiary at 2027 Fairmount Avenue, Independence Branch Library at 18 South 7th Street, Shissler Rec Center at 1800 Blair Street and the Riverview Place Voter Registration Office at 520 North Columbus Boulevard. Any voter can request a mail-in ballot, while voters with a disability or those who won’t be in their municipality on election day can request an absentee ballot, according to the Pennsylvania State Department’s Voting and Election Information page.
more jobs and rebuilding a better supply chain.
BY DEVON RUSSELL, SHRIYA GOHEL, JUSTIN ROIG For The Temple News
Pennsylvania
Lt. Gov. John Fet terman (D) has served as the 34th lieutenant gover nor since 2019 and was the mayor of Braddock, locat ed in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, from 2009 to 2015. As Mayor of Brad dock, Fetterman pushed to lower the town’s crime and poverty rates.
Some of Fetterman’s top issues in clude creating more goods in the U.S., cutting taxes for working people, ban ning members of Congress from trading stocks, reducing out-of-pocket health care costs and ending price gouging, ac cording to his campaign website. Fetter man is also running on criminal justice reform and cannabis legalization. Fet terman supports abortion rights, stating that if elected he will be the tie-breaking vote to pass the Women’s Health Protec tion Act, a bill in Congress that would protect abortion rights on the federal level.
Mehmet Oz (R) is known as the host of “The Dr. Oz Show,” and is an author and re tired cardiothorac ic surgeon. He also taught at Columbia University until 2015.
Some of Oz’s top issues include growing the economy by combating in flation, overturning regulations on coal and natural gas production and distanc ing U.S. relations with China by creating
Oz is pro-life, but he opposes penal izing patients or doctors for receiving or providing abortion care, POLITICO reported.
Erik Gerhardt (L) intends to pur sue a freedom-for ward foundation for a better tomorrow, according to his campaign website.
When he was 16, he began working in construction and is an owner of ECG Carpentry, a carpentry business offering services to Pennsylva nians. Gerhardt will embrace the NAP, or Non-Aggression Principle, a common libertarian value which means that no body has the right to initiate aggression against another.
His platform advocates for cutting taxes as much as possible, decriminaliz ing marijuana and other non-addictive drugs, legalizing abortion and present ing solutions to police reform like train ing recruits in jujitsu and community service.
Daniel Wassmer (Keystone) is an attorney and college professor at Bucks County Communi ty College. In 1989, he obtained his Juris Doctor from New York Law School.
Wassmer is in fa vor of pro-choice policies, environmen tal sustainability, anti-corruption and revision of the tax and revenue systems and pro-second amendment legislation.
Richard Weiss (G) is a lawyer from Allegheny County and ran for attorney general in 2020.
Weiss supports abortion rights, reg
ulations on gun ownership and restor ative criminal justice reforms to tackle crime, according to Greenslate2022. Weiss opposes fracking and supports a rapid transition to renewable energy. He also supports negotiations with Russia to end the war in Ukraine.
Brendan Boyle (D-Incumbent) lives in Northeast Philadelphia and has served the 2nd Congressional Dis trict of Philadelphia since 2019, which encompasses part of Center City, all of Northeast Philadelphia and all of North Philadelphia east of Broad Street, in cluding most of Main Campus. Boyle signed a letter in 2020 to then–Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, urging the Department of Education to reassess the financial burdens of COVID-19 faced by college students and protect their right to affordable education.
Boyle is also a supporter of green initiatives, like the Build Back Better Act and the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal, which provided funding for clean er transportation methods. He also sup ports reproductive rights and is in favor of expanding access and funding to lung cancer screenings.
Aaron Bashir (R), is a resident of Philadelphia’s Cas tor Gardens and is a 2006 alumnus with a bachelor of busi ness administration alumnus. Bashir is running on school choice, which allows students to access public education funds no matter what school they chose. He also wants to low er taxes and government spending and opposes abortion rights.
Bashir believes that taxpayers should not fund abortion. He also thinks taxes should support the natural gas sector to
create jobs and support small businesses to provide products to constituent mem bers.
Dwight Evans (D-Incumbent) has represented Penn sylvania’s 3rd Con gressional District since 2019. Evans is a resident of the West Oak Lane and represents West Philadel phia and Parts of North, Center City and South Philadelphia.
Evans is in favor of additional hous ing in Philadelphia and hopes to replicate Boston’s Back Streets, a program that encouraged light industrial and com mercial growth, to support the small, industrial businesses that surround cit ies and bolster communities. He plans to promote green initiatives in Philadel phia by expanding park accessibility and promoting the city’s parklet program, which encourages additional green spac es to be placed throughout the city.
Christopher Hoeppner (Socialist Workers Party) is running against Ev ans. Hoeppner is a freight rail conduc tor and a member of the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Work ers Union. SWP campaigners collected more than 2,400 signatures to secure him a spot in the general election.
Hoeppner hopes to build a labor party and opposes racial and religious discrimination.
Here’s what you need to know about the candidates in the Nov. 8 general election.
VOTER GUIDE GOVERNOR
Pennsyl vania Attorney General Josh Shapiro (D) is running for governor. Sha piro is from Abington, Pennsylvania, and served as a state representative from 2005 to 2011 in the state’s 153rd legislative district and as Montgomery County Commissioner from 2011 to 2017. Shapiro supports the right to an abortion, stating that he will veto any law restricting abortion rights.
Shapiro wants to protect clean drinking water and air. He supports ex panding clean energy like nuclear and hydrogen power. He also plans to hold polluters accountable and wants to move forward Pennsylvania’s Alternative En ergy Portfolio Standards Act’s goal to get the Commonwealth to Net-Zero emis sions by 2050.
Doug Mastriano (R) Pennsyl vania State Senator Doug Mas triano (R) is a U.S. Army Veteran and served from 1986 to 2017 before be
coming state senator for the state’s 33rd senatorial district in 2019. Mastriano op
poses the right to an abortion and would sign a Heart Beat Bill, state legislation that would ban all abortions after six weeks, WHYY reported. Mastriano be lieves abortions should legally be treated as murder, The New York Times report ed.
Mastriano supports bans on Criti cal Race Theory and Gender Studies in Pennsylvania schools. Mastriano sup ports a parental rights statute which would provide parents more legal pro tections regarding opting children out of school curriculum they object to.
Mastriano is also in favor of large-scale deregulation of the energy, mining and drilling industries and would end Gov. Wolf’s Regional Greenhouse Gas Initia tive, which commits states to reducing carbon emissions.
Matt Hackenburg (L) describes himself as a veteran against war and oppos es govern ment over reach and medical tyranny. Hackenberg is against COVID-19 masking requirements and lockdown measures because he believes they prevent individuals from making their own medical decisions.
Hackenburg served in the Nation al Guard from 2012 to 2017 and said the guard is being abused by being sent overseas to fight in foreign wars. One of his biggest priorities is to implement a
Defend the Guard policy, which would stop National Guard troops from being deployed without a formal declaration of war, according to his website. Hacken berg also opposes taxation and believes it is theft by the government.
Christi na Digiulio (Green) is a former ana lytical chemist for the U.S. Department of Defense and a Chester County resi dent.
She decided to run out of dissatis faction with the Democratic and Re publican Party’s campaign response to protecting Paragraph 27 of the State Constitution on Natural Resources and Public Estate, which establishes the right to clean air and water. Digiulio supports equal access to clean air and water and opposes nuclear energy, according to a statement she made in an interview to Chris Robinson, leader of the Green Par ty of Pennsylvania’s communications, on the party’s website.
Joe Solos ki (Keystone) has worked as a public accoun tant since 1979.
Soloski, who is from Centre County, served
as a comptroller and a financial analyst in the construction, scientific instrument and public transport sectors. Soloski is running on reducing state spending by at least 5 percent each year he is in office because he believes the state is currently spending too much public money.
Soloski wants to decriminalize can nabis and would pardon state prisoners convicted of nonviolent drug offenses if he were elected. Soloski supports re ducing property taxes, believing that the idea of property taxes is equivalent to renting from the government. Solo ski will defend the rights of LGBTQ+ community members, according to his website.
Soloski ran for state treasurer in 2020.
devon.russell@temple.edu @devonkr_ shriya.gohel@temple.edu justin.roig@temple.edu
Each question that will be on the ballot in November is explained in detail below.
BY RACHEL TOWNSEND Data EditorThe Philadelphia ballot for the 2022 general election will give voters the chance to vote on two policies sur rounding the creation of an aviation de partment and technical school graduate opportunities. They are “yes” or “no” questions that will become amendments to the city charter.
The city charter is Philadelphia’s equivalent to a constitution. It defines the structure and powers of the city while also allowing citizens to vote on various possible amendments to it.
Because these laws would change the charter, the City has to put these ques tions on the ballot, said Michael Sances, a political science professor.
“And typically, to amend those types of governing documents you need some type of voter approval,” Sances said. When participating in a democracy, it’s a chance to have a real impact on how the city is run, Sances said. Here are the questions that will be on the ballot.
Shall The Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to provide for a preference in civil service ex aminations for qualified graduates of Career Technical Education pro grams in the School District of Phil adelphia?
This question asks voters to decide whether or not graduates of techni cal schools should be given preference during their application process. Most people aiming to work in civil service are required to take an examination during their application process. Test takers get automatic points if they are veterans or children and grandchildren of Philadel phia emergency responders who died during service. There’s a shortage of workers because of the “Great Resigna tion,” so people are needed to fill these positions, Sances said.
The Great Resignation is the re cent trend of people quitting their jobs,
CNBC reported. This movement began at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic but remains ongoing.
Votes have a direct impact on how the city will operate, which is going to have a real effect on people’s lives in terms of whether they can get employ ment, Sances added.
Voting “yes” would mean giving tech school graduates a better chance at gaining employment in the civil service sector.
Should The Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to create the Department of Aviation and to transfer certain functions related to operations of City airports from the other City agencies to the Depart ment of Aviation?
This question asks voters to deter mine whether there should be a new Department of Aviation that will handle airport-operated functions, including decision-making, project efficiency and giving the department a notable seat during budget hearings. This is different to the current system where the airport reports to the Division of Aviation with in the city’s Department of Commerce.
Voting “yes” to this question would mean creating a new Department of Aviation, and allow it to have more con trol over its operations.
Newly-appointed Philadelphia Air port CEO Atif Saeed will be one of the airport officials who are affected by this amendment because they will be given more discretion when managing airport functions.
The ballot proposal aims to make the management of local airports more efficient, Sances said.
Ultimately the City is giving vot ers the opportunity to participate in the amendment process. Voters will get to decide whether or not they want to adopt these new amendments rather than leaving it up to the city.
“We have this form of direct democ racy here in the city where we are al lowed to vote on certain policies that the city council thinks we should,” Sances said. “So these are things that came out of the city council, and they’ve decided to let us have a say about whether we want them to happen.”
rachel.townsend0001@temple.edu @racheltownsenddThroughout its 101-year his tory, The Temple News has prided itself on being an outlet that pro vides accurate, fair and informa tive content to the Temple and North Central communities.
Recent articles have not met those standards. Two Features stories, shown online and in the Oct. 11 print issue of The Temple News, featured misattributions, inaccuracies and out-of-context information — a disappointment to the core beliefs of our publica tion. Corrections for these stories will be listed online as changes are made to the stories.
The Temple News’ Edi tor-in-Chief spoke with the in volved parties, including the reporters and affected sources, and took the appropriate course of action, which resulted in staff changes and adjustments within future editorial processes.
Previously, The Temple News did not require section editors and reporters to submit their inter view transcripts for fact-checking, although some editors did any ways. For the foreseeable future, editors and reporters will be re
quired to submit all their record ings and transcripts to the Digital and Print Chief Copy Editors for review before publication to help ensure that all content is presented accurately and fairly.
Additionally, The Temple News is committed to educating our staff on trauma-informed re porting moving forward. We plan to do this by holding informative presentations and conversations with all staff members, including those who are tasked with cover ing topics like gun violence, sexual harassment or assault and other traumatic events.
The Editor-in-Chief, Digital and Print Managing Editors and Chief Copy Editors would like to apologize to our readers for the lapses in our publication’s judg ment and promise to continue to hold all of our staff members to the highest possible journalistic standards.
For any additional comments or questions about our editorial processes please contact editor@ temple-news.com.
A student urges Temple to support teaching and research assistants by addressing their contract demands.
said Ford, a sociology TA and Ph.D. student.
Temple is willing to compromise on pay, but reaching an agreement on other demands seems unlikely, said Sharon Boyle, Temple’s vice president of human resources.
“We’re anxious to reach a fair agreement with TUGSA and we’re looking forward to be ing able to do so as quickly as possible,” Boyle said.
MOLLY FISKE Assistant Opinion EditorOn Oct. 11, the Temple Univer sity Graduate Students’ Association rallied at Charles Library regarding ongoing contract negotia tions with Temple. Roughly 75 percent of teaching and research assistants were asked to perform unpaid labor, and low compensation has forced more than 90 percent to supplement their income through credit cards and loans, according to TUGSA.
Bargaining sessions with Temple admin istration can take months or even more than a year, depending on how quickly they’re able to agree. TUGSA begins its thirteenth session of negotiations on Oct. 27, which can last any where from half an hour to most of the day. TUGSA outlined three essential needs: raises, respect and health care.
TUGSA debuted its petition at the Oct. 11 rally, highlighting issues like eliminating international student fees, adequate parental and bereavement leave and manageable work load. The petition has gained approximately 800 signatures, said Matt Ford, TUGSA’s staff organizer.
Although negotiations began in January, Temple still isn’t providing TUGSA’s essential needs. Temple must support TUGSA by rais ing pay to $32,000 because graduate employ ees deserve livable wages for their dedication to the university.
Additional components of the agreement are being reviewed, like healthcare for depen dents, Ford said.
TAs and RAs earn anywhere from rough ly $17,700 to $20,800 annually depending on their department. The average graduate work er makes more than $19,000 per academic year, according to the 2021-22 Collective Bar gaining Agreement.
TUGSA is negotiating an increase of an nual pay to $32,000 after using the Massachu setts Institute of Technology’s Living Wage Calculator to determine Philadelphia’s livable wage, and roughly matched its demand to it,
Professors rely on TAs and RAs to serve as liaisons by taking on tutoring and office hours, and assisting with leading recitations or labs.
As outlined in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, graduate workers are allotted a maximum of 20 hours of service per week. TUGSA is negotiating for graduate workers to have more control of their hours because many TAs and RAs feel they’ve been asked to perform unpaid labor.
Most RA and TAs have strong connec tions with their students because they’re work ing with them in labs, office hours and recita tion. Temple must recognize the impact grad workers have on undergraduates and properly compensate them for their efforts.
Eleanor Labriola, a junior neuroscience major, had a TA for her Introduction to Cel lular and Molecular Biology recitation and lab.
“As a TA, he’s excellent, he’s really good at breaking things down and using really fun metaphors and examples to explain difficult topics,” Labriola said. “So I think that makes him stand out to a lot of his students.”
However, unfair compensation and inter national student fees leave many grad workers struggling to get by, like Shourjendra Mukher jee, a TA and Ph.D. international student.
“The situation for me right now is kind of paycheck to paycheck,” Mukherjee said. “It’s become difficult, because after sending my money home and paying rent, and my bills and the essentials like groceries and stuff, I’m not left with anything to an extent.”
Temple’s mission, vision and values rec ognize respect as a key value, the university appreciates the dignity and effort of every indi vidual and acknowledges their contributions.
By increasing pay and meeting TUGSA on its essential contract needs, Temple would be recognizing the effort of their grad workers.
molly.fiske@temple.eduThe City of Philadelphia is in the middle of a major migration route for birds and the region is home to more than 350 different species. From Aug. 15 through Nov. 15, millions of birds mi grate over North America, and roughly 50,000 birds can fly over Philadelphia in one given night.
In 2019, between 100 and 200 birds died every year from flying into Main Campus buildings, said Glenn Eck, the associate director of grounds operations and facilities management. Since then, his team hasn’t been able to perform an in-depth count due to an increase in the Bird-Flu and the West Nile virus which can cause infection, wrote Eck in an email to The Temple News. They still believe numbers are roughly the same.
In October 2020, Bird Safe Philly, a joint program led and endorsed by the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drex el University, the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Sustainability and PECO, an nounced “Lights Out Philly,” an initia tive encouraging businesses in Philadel phia to turn off their lights during peak migration season. Restricting light in buildings can save birds’ lives, as they won’t be as attracted to fly into them.
Temple University must take a different approach. For safety reasons, Temple is required to have emergency lighting, which are controlled by mo tion sensors. Many birds’ lives can be spared if staff and students are proactive in shutting blinds in classrooms, office buildings and residence halls before dark.
During the day, most birds attempt to fly into windows that reflect open sky, but most migrate at night and are at tracted to buildings with lights on inside, making night-time bird strikes more fre quent than day strikes, said Rebecca Col lins, Temple’s director of sustainability.
Birds are more likely to strike win dows in major cities, like Philadelphia,
because of the lights from inside and lights reflecting from other buildings, causing them to become disoriented by city light pollution. By closing the blinds in buildings that have windows, light is restricted to the inside.
At the Paley Building, Eck noticed a series of bird strikes all from the low-fly ing Yellow Warbler species. Eck has paid attention to the strikes since he started in his position and believes they’ve oc curred since Paley was built in 1966.
Although Yellow Warblers weren’t consistently hitting other buildings, the birds routinely struck Paley, Eck said.
Birds can hit windows at any height, but most contractors don’t know if they’ll have a window-striking problem on a building until it’s already built, ac cording to the Massachusetts Audubon.
“The best solutions that we should be looking for are things we can retro fit under the existing structure after it’s built,” Eck said.
Hailey Hoisington, a junior at the
Fox School of Business, has noticed dead birds along Broad Street and Susquehan na Avenue, by Johnson and Hardwick Hall.
“The deaths are heartbreaking be cause the birds don’t have anywhere else to go,” Hoisington. said. “They don’t know what time it is because of all of the lights, I always hear them at night.”
Housekeeping isn’t required to close blinds in buildings because only the pro gram that occupies the building is al lowed to implement the rule, wrote John Johnson, the assistant vice president of service operations and facilities manage ment, in an email to The Temple News.
Shutting blinds could be a part of the community’s effort to help but adding it as a requirement in every building for the housekeeping staff would not be a viable solution. Housekeeping has thou sands of square feet to clean every night, so requiring them to close blinds every where could present some challenges with time management, Johnson wrote.
“Buildings like Anderson and Glad felter are offices, so you can ask your professors to close their blinds during migration season and students who are living in residence halls during migra tion season can lower their blinds too,” Collins said.
In academic buildings, if students are leaving a night class and see blinds open at night, they can take a few minutes to roll down blinds closest to them, as well as in student’s apartments and dorms.
During migration season, students should be proactive in shutting their blinds at night as well as encourage staff to roll down their blinds before leaving the classroom and office. These actions can help limit the number of window strikes during migration season.
This is not just Temple’s campus, but the home to hundreds of different bird species as well, and they deserve to fly about freely.
molly.fiske@temple.eduA student argues that Temple must improve on its bird safety protocols around campus.ALLYSON THARP / THE TEMPLE NEWS
I followed a structured routine during high school: wake up at 5 a.m., go to school, start homework, go to the gym at 6 p.m. and then go back home to do more work. When I graduated in 2021, I suddenly had endless free time through out the summer to sit on the couch and browse through Netflix.
I became anxious that I wasn’t being productive enough without a schedule to follow, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t move from the couch.
I didn’t understand that I was com pletely burned out after my senior year, and my mind needed to rest. I had obses sive thoughts about how my productiv ity determined my self-worth. I couldn’t think about anything else, relaxation was out of the question.
By the end of May, I was exhaust ed. My anxiety, confusion and sadness about my lack of productivity made me feel worthless. My feelings were going to break me; my only goal was to survive. I opened Netflix to distract myself, and found that the fourth season of “Stranger Things” was coming out soon. I decided to binge-watch the whole series in ad vance because I thought it would help me unwind.
It only took me four days to fin ish the entire series, including the new season. My mind was completely silent while watching, my obsessive thoughts and worries disappeared. I didn’t re member a single detail about the plot while watching, I just remembered the silence.
I started to watch it repeatedly; ev ery time I finished it, I restarted. Binging was a cycle I couldn’t escape.
I stopped taking care of myself, I couldn’t gather the energy to brush my hair and I’d forget to eat because my at tention was focused on the show. I re placed my real feelings with the emo tions the show evoked in me.
When the show itself wasn’t enough
of a distraction anymore, I researched the production and watched interviews with the cast to find comfort. Even if I was with friends or doing other activ ities, I’d eventually go back home and recharge by watching “Stranger Things,” as it overshadowed any other interest I used to have.
After almost two months, I realized I was letting time slip through my fingers. My friends started voicing their con cerns, but I wasn’t prepared for the ob sessive thoughts and guilt to come back if I stopped watching.
I knew the situation wasn’t nor mal when a relative asked what I’d been doing with my free time and I couldn’t come up with an answer. Two days later, I completely stopped watching the show and impulsively deleted Netflix from all my devices.
I became terrified of wasting my time, I was about to leave my home
country, Colombia, to attend Temple University and there wasn’t much time left to spend with my friends and family.
I needed help, I called the therapist I’d been seeing inconsistently for years.
“I have so many thoughts flooding my mind all day and it’s just exhausting,” I told her. “I tried to be productive, but I can’t. I either focus so much on some thing that I obsess over it or simply can’t focus at all.”
During that session, my therapist told me that I had attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder, which gave me a sense of relief. An ADHD diagno sis didn’t solve all my problems, but it helped me understand that I wasn’t just unproductive without reason.
With her help, I made weekly plans with my friends and returned to some hobbies I had set aside, like writing, which was a healthier way to manage my mental health. I bought a weekly plan
ner and wrote down some activities that I knew I’d enjoy and wouldn’t stress me out.
These activities helped me recon nect with my feelings. By taking these steps and spending more time with my friends instead of alone with the TV, I found that their support motivated me to work on my mental health.
I tried to learn how to be less hard on myself and find a balance between enjoying things in moderation instead of using them to escape reality. “Stranger Things” is still one of my favorite shows, I just had to learn how to find balance.
I’m still coming to terms with the fact that every day is not going to be productive. I’m trying to under stand that no matter how many things I achieve, I still deserve to rest and enjoy myself without feeling guilty.
valeria.uribe@temple.eduA student explains how she hyper-fixated on “Stranger Things” to distract from anxiety.ALLYSON THARP/ THE TEMPLE NEWS
A student describes how she escaped a harmful cycle of sleep paralysis and nightmares.
BY ADENIKE ONANUGA For The Temple News
For as long as I can remember, I’ve had gruesome night terrors that created a lifelong habit of avoiding sleep. One night in August, I had my most frequent recurring nightmare.
As a toddler, I sat in the back of my mom’s car where I could see her hands on the steering wheel. When I blinked she was gone and I’d be stuck in a mov ing car with no driver. I woke up in a cold sweat, trying to catch my breath. I remembered how my best friend, Olivia, told me to look at my surroundings and name things I can touch whenever I’m anxious.
I looked at my pile of books, journals and screenplays below my windowsill. I took Olivia’s advice, picked up a book and started to think about the story. I in stantly felt calm.
Focusing on a book’s characters and plotlines allowed me to place myself in fictional situations and scenarios I’m not usually in or will never be in, distracting me from my nightmares.
I realized my passions for reading and writing helped me understand the nightmares I’ve endured throughout my life. By expressing my dreams and feel ings in my writing, I was able to over come the harmful cycle of night terrors because I didn’t have to fear sleeping anymore.
When I was 12, my teachers taught me that avid reading would improve my writing skills. I wanted to get better at writing because I enjoyed it, but I didn’t realize it would help me understand my nightmares.
I’ve kept a dream journal since May 2020; once I started writing down my dreams, the connections between my sleeping habits and the eccentricity of my dreams gradually became clear. I learned that when I’m severely fatigued I experience sleep paralysis, and if I don’t meditate, then whatever I experi enced throughout the day appears in my
dreams.
When I read my dream journal entries where people would vanish or change their identities, I realized how ridiculous my nightmares were. Reading my journal showed me that I don’t need to fear my nightmares because they are clearly not real. I couldn’t pinpoint any of these patterns between my waking habits and my sleeping patterns until I wrote them out and read them back to myself every day.
After I started writing down my dreams, I developed the habit of daily journaling. When I woke up from night mares, I felt compelled to write down what I was feeling.
When I realized how that calmed me down, I wrote down nearly every thing that got an emotional reaction out of me.
I begin each day writing down the dream I had that night. I update my en
tries throughout the day with things people say to me, events that I want to remember and phrases that I want to use in my writing later. At the end of each month, I reread everything to further my self-understanding.
The sense of fulfillment I’ve found in getting to know myself reflects the relief that comes with discovering the source of my nightmares. Articulating my thoughts and fears in clear ways can help get rid of their ambiguity in my nightmares.
During the summer of 2021, I took my writing one step further and draft ed my first screenplay, “Aluminum,” based on a recurring dream, detailing a couple trying to find work while being high-functioning drug addicts.
Bringing my dream to life stopped it from being so present in my head be cause I could see it play out in writing instead of through a subjective narrative
JULIANA D i CESARE / THE TEMPLE NEWSstuck in my mind.
Through “Aluminum,” I learned I could express my lived experiences in what I write to see them critically in stead of compartmentalizing them. The writing and editing process taught me to have the patience to sit down with my thoughts and give them time to be deci phered and listened to.
My nightmares have become less scary because I can now understand them as thoughts rather than reality. Lit erature helps me control my disordered sleeping because reading and writing give my thoughts structure. Maybe, an adult life dedicated to storytelling can make up for a childhood lost to its night mares.
adenike.onanuga@temple.eduThe
Mural Arts Philadelphia brought people together on Oct. 22 to appreciate art and life.
BY ERIKA MONN Photo EditorPhiladelphia’s LOVE Park seemed to glow with sunshine as people gathered around to dance, hula hoop and admire the art around them.
On Oct. 22, Mural Arts Philadelphia hosted a Mural Arts Fest in LOVE Park to bring people together to commemo
rate life and all it offers. Throughout the event, attendees colored in a mural that people could freely add to as a way to come together while creating art.
The organization hosted the festi val as a way to give back to residents by creating innovative solutions for restor ative and environmental injustice and beautifying the city through murals.
Participants got their faces painted, hula hooped, explored the art around them and danced with others.
Kelsey Lee came to the event because the company she founded, the Philadel phia Spin Coalition, provided materials like hula hoops and tennis balls for jug
gling so that people could participate in non-traditional forms of movement arts that wouldn’t normally have a platform, she said.
The Philadelphia Spin Coalition is a nonprofit organization that provides accessible and affordable movement arts education and social gatherings.
“Getting people to smile with a hula hoop is pretty easy and it’s really reward ing, it’s one of the reasons I have stayed involved for so long and it is the reason I am out here today,” said Lee.
Everyone’s creativity combined as they joined together in making art and exploring movement art.
Camille O’Connor is the manager of tour and group sales for Mural Arts so they take guests to see the murals and help spread the word.
“It’s a great organization,” said O’Connor. “I like working with them and doing more in person events and stuff is really fun,” said O’Connor.
Mural Arts continues to give back to Philadelphia by creating empowering art, beautifying the city and giving mon etary donations to residents.
erika.monn@temple.edu @monnerika ERIKA MONN / THE TEMPLE NEWS A mural at Mural Arts Fest in LOVE Park.
Participants began to breakdance at the Mural Arts Fest.
A couple dancing together.
Participants danced freely to the music at LOVE Park Philadelphia.
Families hula hooped together in LOVE Park Philadelphia. Kids added to the mural that was provided by Mural Arts Philadelphia.
Temple students are excited to watch the Phillies make their return to the World Series.
BY SAMUEL O’NEAL Assistant Sports EditorFor as long as Zoe Tucker can remember, she has always watched Phillies games at home with her family. But she had a su perstition that if she stayed at her apart ment to watch Game 5 of the National League Championship Series with her roommates, the Phillies would win, she said.
“Our eyes were glued to the televi sion for the entire game and no one was moving,” Tucker, a junior public rela tions major, said. “As soon as we won, the immediate reaction was to go to City Hall and we ran straight out of our door and went to the subway stop.”
On Oct. 23, the Phillies defeated the San Diego Padres 4-3 to advance to the World Series. Students across Tem ple’s Main Campus are extremely excit ed about November baseball returning to Citizens Bank Park for the first time since 2009.
The Phillies entered the season en during Major League Baseball’s second longest postseason drought, not qualify ing since 2011. For each of the last four years, the team fell out of the postseason race during the last month of the season.
As students walked to class on Mon day morning following the victory, Phil lies jerseys, hats and T-shirts were in abundance around campus.
“They have been so bad for the past 10 years but I’ve still watched the whole time,” said Koy Zdimal, a sophomore communications major. “All those years of being terrible, it makes this whole run that much sweeter and right now all those years of watching us fall apart in September and now finally getting there makes all those years worth it.”
Prior to the game, Philadelphia city workers greased poles and blocked off portions of city hall in an attempt to sub due potential celebrations. Philadelphia Police also blocked off the streets sur
rounding city hall due to the crowds of fans. Despite their effort, many Temple students joined Philadelphia residents in celebrating on South Penn Square.
“The celebrations were really awe some because everyone was just really united,” said Kristina Vo, a freshman political science major. “Everyone em braced each other and I think it really sends a positive message.”
For the next few days, Phillies fans on campus aren’t thinking about what will happen during upcoming games of the World Series. Instead, fans are tak ing time to let the unlikely postseason run sink in after more than a decade of missed playoff appearances.
Fans all across the Philadelphia Sports Complex erupted following the final out of the game, said Isiah Phuong,
a sophomore sport and recreation man agement major. Phuong works across the street from Citizens Bank Park at the Wells Fargo Center, where the Flyers play their home games.
“It was about 30 minutes before puck drop when we were setting up for the Flyers game and that’s when the Phillies clinched it,” Phuong said. “The feeling of it was unreal and I just couldn’t believe it and being in the sports complex the moment it happened, that is something I can tell my kids and grandkids about in the future.”
Despite a strong desire for the team to bring home the franchise’s third World Series championship, Phillies fans will still be proud of the season the club put together no matter what hap pens, said Ashton Decerio, a freshman
WIKIMEDIA COMMONSactuarial science major.
“At the end of the season we were on a bad stretch,” Decerio said. “We came into the playoffs and everyone was down and we just caught fire and you can’t complain about winning the NLCS.”
The Phillies will travel to Houston to take on the Astros on Oct. 28 and Oct. 29 before returning to Philadelphia on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. The Phillies will play a third game at home on Nov. 2 if the series reaches a fifth game.
Temple students are frustrated at the university’s decision to hold classes on Nov. 8.
BY DUAY AUGUSTINE Assistant Features EditorWhen Temple announced they would not cancel classes on Election Day, students like Mars Mahmood were frustrated they would have to work vot ing into their schedules with classes and school work.
“I am not very happy about that,” said Mahmood, a freshman psychology major. “I have four classes on that Tues day and one of my professors canceled the class, but I think my others will prob ably still have it, so I’m gonna like, have to like, fit time in.”
The decision from the universi ty came after more than 4,000 people signed a petition urging the university to give students, faculty and staff a day off.
On Nov. 8, Pennsylvania will be holding its general election. With both the gubernatorial seat and one of Penn sylvania’s U.S. Senate positions up for grabs, this year’s election is instrumen tal as these races hold much of the deci sion-making power for the future of the state and country.
Graduate student Mary Kate Prisco will be voting in person this year be cause her flexible schedule permits her to be away from campus during the day, but is sympathetic to those who would have to miss class sessions for voting.
“When I was an undergrad I had classes like all day long, so like I wasn’t able to vote in person, even if I wanted to,” Prisco said. “So, I can imagine that it’s like really frustrating.”
The university should have can celed classes for the election, said Jessica Minick, a freshman neuroscience and psychology major, who will be voting by mail this year.
“I think it is important to vote in this election because us as college students
are the face of the future, so we should have the ability to go out and vote and not be held back by our school,” Minick said.
Historically, Temple has a high voter turnout, with 73 percent of eligible vot ers enrolled at the university casting a ballot in 2020, while only 66.8 percent of voters casted a ballot nationwide.
Julian Carmichael, a business man agement major, plans to vote in person this election and will miss class if he has to, he said.
“I mean, honestly, like just as a cit izen of the United States you should vote,” Carmichael said. “Republican or Democrat, you should vote it’s just what you should do.”
Abortion rights have been a ma jor source of debate this election cycle, specifically after Roe v. Wade was over
turned this summer, allowing states to limit access to abortions or completely ban them.
Ninety percent of Temple students are supportive of abortion in all cases, according to a September 2022 poll from The Temple News.
The two candidates for governor, Attorney General Josh Shapiro (D) and State Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-33), have differing opinions on topics like abor tion. Shapiro has pledged to veto bills that aim to limit abortion access, while Mastriano wants to ban the procedure entirely.
Graduate student Natalie Paicopolis will be casting her ballot in person this year.
Although Paicopolis will not be missing classes on Election Day, she feels that Temple’s decision to continue
holding classes was wrong. It’s uncom mon for universities to give off for elec tions, but Temple’s move insinuates the university doesn’t care if students vote, Paicopolis said.
The University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University and La Salle Univer sity will all hold classes on Election Day.
Paicopolis is voting to protect abor tion rights in Pennsylvania, she said.
“Well for me, so my home state is Massachusetts, so I know that abor tion will be protected there, but I know Pennsylvania is one of those states that it could go away if the wrong person gets into power, so like that’s like why I am voting,” Paicopolis said.
duay.augustine@temple.edu EARK KUFEN / THE TEMPLE NEWS Mars Mahmood plans to vote in person this Election Day on Nov. 8.
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The production, directed by Amina Robinson, ran from Oct. 13 to 22 in the Randall Theater.
BY DUAY AUGUSTINE Assistant Features EditorTwo years ago, COVID-19 com pletely changed the landscape of the theater industry and people like Amina Robinson, assistant professor and direc tor of Temple’s “Once on This Island,” thought the drastic changes were nerve wracking.
“You know, it’s so interesting be cause COVID completely came through and shut down our theatrical industry for a while,” Robinson said. “It was kind of scary.”
Temple Theaters made their return to the stage for in-person shows last October. The production was highly restrictive, with masked performers, 25 percent capacity and a wary cast and crew. Today, Temple Theaters is back in full swing with in-person shows, full capacity theaters and no mask require ments.
From Oct. 13 to Oct. 22, Temple Theaters ran “Once on This Island” in the Randall Theater, located within An nenberg Hall. The production sought to uplift the audience and foster a sense of community for the third show of the season.
The cast and crew wanted some thing that felt celebratory and hopeful and ultimately chose “Once on This Is land,” Robinson said.
A retelling of “The Little Mermaid’’ and set in the Caribbean Islands during the aftermath of a storm, “Once on This Island” tells the story of a community coming together during a crisis to over come social and racial boundaries.
“It truly is such a community show,” said sophomore musical theater major Jasmine Villaroel. “Like you know we started as a community after this devas tation of a storm, and we tell the story to uplift ourselves and remind us of, you know, we’re resilient and we’re much stronger than the natural disasters that unfortunately are very common in the
Caribbean Islands.”
Unlike most of Temple Theaters’ major productions, which are hosted in the larger Tomlinson Theater, Randall Theater allowed for seating to be ar ranged on all sides of the stage as a way of connecting the audience directly to the story.
“I wanted the audience to feel very much so a part of our community that we were building, so I wanted actors just all around them,” Robinson said.
Actors weaving in and out of the crowd just inches away from the au dience would be unfathomable a year ago, but now, Temple Theaters is better equipped to manage the constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The production was able to avoid any potential delays from COVID-19 or other illnesses by having an onstage cast and a standby cast.
The presence of a standby cast
helped Villaroel, who played Ti Moune in the onstage cast, because she was able to rely on the standby cast after catching COVID-19 in the early stages of rehears als.
“Thankfully my standby, Alexis Goode, was fantastic and got all of the notes that I needed and everything and made sure I was caught up as soon as I got back,” Villaroel said.
This support among the cast and crew amplified the message of commu nity onstage. One display of unity on stage, in which the entire cast gathered in a circle, was inspired by the cast’s rit ual of sharing reminders of why they act and why they want to share the story.
It was added to the show because the actors got so used to this ritual at the end of their rehearsals, Villaroel said.
All members of the “Once on This Island” cast were people of color,
COURTESY / MARK GARVINstrengthening the sense of community among the cast.
Having an all people of color cast also instills a sense of trust because there’s a sense of kinship the cast has from shar ing similar experiences, said sophomore musical theater major Jamie Powell, who played Agwe in the standby cast of “Once on This Island.”
“I feel like it gives you a greater sense of the work and, you know, what you want to take from your personal life into the work,” Powell said.
Students like Villaroel hope that Temple continues to allow for there to be spaces for students of color who are creators and actors in shows that aren’t necessarily “Black” shows, Villaroel said.
duay.augustine@temple.edu
all the words hidden in the across, down, diagonally, and backwards to get in the mood for spooky season.
Pennsylvania’s Republican candidate for governor.
Shapiro and Mastriano are running to succeed ___ as governor of Pennsylvania.
John Fetterman was the former mayor of this borough in Pennsylvania.
Was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2014.
A key issue in the Pennsylvania gubernatorial race in which both candidates have opposing views.
Attended Temple University for his bachelor’s degree.
The current attorney general of Pennsylvania.
The Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate
The City of Philadelphia would create a Department of ____ if residents vote “yes” on Election Day.
Former daytime television host.
KatieColbridge Ganzelli has al ways bled cherry and white. The 2016 sport and recreation man agement and media studies and produc tion alumna is a third-generation Owl who attended Temple football and bas ketball games while growing up.
“As a little kid, that was the team that I followed,” Ganzelli said. “I would come to the football and basketball games, es pecially when I started playing sports. I really started following the Owls at a young age and really being a part of it.”
Ganzelli was promoted to market ing coordinator for on-campus initia tives in May, turning her passion for the sporting atmosphere into a career; the new role includes promoting Tem ple Athletics’ events to improve student turnout. Ganzelli utilizes her experience as a student in the Cherry Crusade, an organization that works alongside the department to promote sporting events, to create marketing tactics that appeal to students.
“I have always loved seeing how cre ative the Cherry Crusade got with their signs, whatever was happening with the game, or who we were playing,” Ganzelli said. “The creativity definitely is some thing fun to watch.”
Student attendance at sporting events has declined since Temple Foot ball won the American Athletic Con ference championship in 2016. Temple only filled 20 percent of Lincoln Finan cial Field against the University of Mas
sachusetts on Sept. 24, with more than 14,000 people in attendance, a far cry from the roughly 27,000 average atten dance for Temple games in 2016.
“I saw the crazy fans all painted up and I wanted to be a part of that atmo sphere,” Ganzelli said. “During my fresh man year, I looked into the Cherry Cru sade and I was fortunate that the advisor was very involved with the students in the Cherry Crusade, which is a part of the marketing department.”
Ganzelli assisted with creating themes and giveaways with the market ing department as a freshman. One year of experience turned into an internship opportunity with the recruiting depart ment for Temple football during her
sophomore year.
Ganzelli earned a master’s degree from Temple in sport business with a concentration in athletic administration in 2019 while interning in the market ing department and the media and com munications department. She served as administrative assistant to the chief of staff at Temple Athletics before being promoted in April 2022.
“She has an incredible work ethic,” said Arthur Johnson, Temple’s vice pres ident and director of athletics. “She is a people person with a great attitude who shows up and does the work and is loy al to selling the program and hanging in there, even when you are not having the success that you want.”
Ganzelli was promoted because of her social marketing efforts, which in cluded establishing and maintaining the Temple Athletics’ TikTok account. She also marketed the Under Armor flash sale on Sept. 23, 2021, that led to hun dreds of students flooding the Liacouras Center’s lobby for discounted Temple merchandise.
When Temple Athletics hosted a bingo night watch party on Sept. 2, many students had never watched a football game or knew who the starting quarter back was, but Ganzelli enjoyed making connections with the students, she said.
Ganzelli also strives to spread the word about upcoming games by posting on social media, handing out flyers on campus and implementing special give aways at select games.
“She has the willingness to get out there to promote our games on campus,” said Scott Walcoff, Temple Athletics’ senior associate athletic director and ex ternal operations. “Whether it is taking a couple hundred flyers to hand out to kids on campus and really engage with them, working with the digital teams to have digital advertisements online and in residence halls, working with student organizations.”
Ganzelli is looking forward to the new era of Temple Athletics, which in cludes recently-hired head coaches, a new athletic director and a new presi dent of the university.
“I like building those kinds of re lationships and if students are coming now, once they graduate, they’re more likely to come back as alumni,” Ganzelli said. “I think it is going to be better than it has ever been.”
christopher.duong0001@temple.edu @DuongestTemple Athletics’ Katie Colbridge Ganzelli is using her experiences to improve student engagement.
Sophomore linebacker Jordan Magee leads the team in tackles and was named a team captain.
BY SAMUEL O’NEAL Assistant Sports EditorDuring the summer prior to Jor dan Magee’s junior year at Dover High School in Dover, Delaware, the red shirt-sophomore linebacker tore his meniscus in offseason workouts and was unsure of what his playing status would be going forward.
“That injury put a lot of stress on me,” Magee said. “Thinking back on it now, I feel like it taught me a lot about resilience and how everytime that I get knocked down, to just get back up and just fight with my brothers.”
Magee established himself as a lead er on the Owls’ defense, tied for the team lead in tackles with 45, and tied for third on the team in sacks with three. Magee has demonstrated exemplary leadership both on and off the field and was named a single digit recipient by head coach Stan Drayton prior to the season.
The resilience he learned while re habbing his torn meniscus helped him climb the depth chart under Drayton and first year defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot.
Magee began last season as a mem ber of the second team defense under former head coach Rod Carey. He did not start a game until week four against Wagner College on Sept. 25, 2021.
Entering this season, Magee knew he had to prove to Drayton and Eliot that he was a player who could make a difference on a defense that was search ing for an identity, Magee said.
“I think I have adjusted pretty well to coach Drayton and his new staff,” Magee said. “I just knew that I had to do my job and my teammates have to do their jobs as well.”
While at Dover, Magee competed on both sides of the ball, playing both
linebacker and safety on defense as well as quarterback on offense. During his senior year, he was named to the first team All-Conference and second team All-State as a quarterback. Magee also received interest from Indiana Universi ty as a quarterback.
“He is the ultimate team player,” said former Dover High School head coach Rudy Simonetti. “He was the face of our program and he does a lot of things well including off the field by doing well in class and he was just everything that we wanted our football program to be.”
Despite his success at quarterback, Magee knew that defense gave him the best opportunity going forward and told the Hoosiers’ head recruiter that he had
no interest in playing offense at the col lege level, he said.
Magee has also brought a calming presence to an Owls defense that ranks second in the country in sacks this sea son through leading by example. Eliot credits Magee with helping provide the defense with a new identity focused on attacking the quarterback.
“Our players like the attacking style scheme that we are,” Eliot said. “There are so many opportunities for people to get to the quarterback and [Magee] is one of those guys that is able to do that for us.”
Going forward, Magee hopes to continue to develop as a player and has his sights set on leading the team back to
the national spotlight and being a part of an American Athletic Conference cham pionship team at Temple.
Despite his goals and accomplish ments on the football field, Magee knows he would not be in the position he is today without the time his parents made for him while growing up, he said.
“My mom and dad made a lot of sac rifices for me,” Magee said. “They would always take me places, cancel from work to take me to camps and my dad was al ways around and wanted me to be the best football player that I can be so glory to them.”
samuel.oneal@temple.edu @samueloneal43
An injured offense couldn’t stay on the field long enough to give Temple a shot at victory Friday.
BY JAVON EDMONDS Assistant Sports EditorTemple Football extended its losing streak to three games after Friday night’s 27-16 loss against the University of Tulsa (3-4, 1-2 The American).
The two teams entered the prime time matchup tied with each other for ninth place in the conference standings. With a chance to move up in the rank ings, the Owls’ offense disappointed once again. Now averaging less than 15 points per game, Temple tallied only 280 yards of offense against Tulsa.
“We’re just trying to stretch the field with movement on offense right now,” said head coach Stan Drayton. “[We’re] not doing an adequate job. Not good enough, obviously.”
Friday was perhaps the most ineffi cient Temple’s offense has ever been.
Third down running back Jakari Norwood was away this week as Dray ton said in the press conference the red shirt junior had “some personal things he’s dealing with.” The last time Dray ton said that was in reference to former four-star recruit Iverson Clement, who is no longer on the roster.
Redshirt senior Adonicas Sanders played in the first half, but returned to the sidelines in sweatpants when the team left the locker room for the second half. Sanders was initially a gametime decision for the Owls with a knee sprain.
Redshirt junior Amad Anderson Jr. joined redshirt freshman Zae Baines and graduate Jose Barbon as the only wide outs to log second-half snaps. Barbon’s inconsistent hands appeared again on Friday as he dropped multiple passes in a game where his team needed him to be the top pass-catching option.
Baines filled in for redshirt freshman receiver Ian Stewart, who was ruled out for Friday’s game with a foot injury. Un
fortunately, Baines’ limited knowledge of the playbook was on display.
“Anytime there’s new guys, you have to get used to it,” said freshman quarter back E.J. Warner. “But we’ve been put ting in work in practice. We put in work all camp, all summer. So it’s not an ex cuse with no chemistry or anything like that.”
To make matters worse, offensive linemen James Faminu— who made his return on Friday night— and Adam Klein left the game with injuries in the second half and never returned to the field. Temple started its seventh different offensive line in seven games on Friday.
“Looking at [Klein’s] demeanor and watching him push those young linemen to give it everything they’ve got toward
the end of the ballgame shows me that he’s going to be just fine,” Drayton said. “He’s actually agitated that he wasn’t al lowed to finish the game today.”
Defensively, Temple came out firing on all cylinders. Outside linebacker Lay ton Jordan caught his second pick-six of the season early on Tulsa’s first drive of the game. On the second play of the Golden Hurricane’s second drive, fresh man cornerback Jalen McMurray caught the first interception of his career.
Jordan also had two sacks, including a forced fumble, and another tackle for loss. However, he wasn’t the only edge rusher that stood out on Friday.
After Jordan and McMurray had their fun on Tulsa’s first two drives, sophomore defensive end Darian Var
ner joined the party on the third drive. With outside linebacker Tra Thomas out again this week, Varner split snaps with fellow sophomore Muheem McCa rgo at the position. Varner had 1.5 sacks on the drive and added two more before the end of the night.
However, Tulsa exposed Temple’s Achilles’ heel in the contest, increasing the tempo of their offense to stall the de fense. Once the Golden Hurricane began going no-huddle, the Owls did not have a response and allowed 14 unanswered points to end the first half. Running backs Deneric Prince and Steven Ander son took advantage of Temple’s worndown front seven, leading Tulsa to 299 rushing yards.
Prince had a career-high of 231 yards and a touchdown on just 20 car ries. His 84-yard touchdown run was the fourth-longest run in Tulsa history.
“No huddle is something we should expect,” Varner said. “College foot ball has changed. That’s something we should expect out of everybody.”
Even if fast tempos aren’t the theme of modern football, Temple should ex pect that style of play from opponents for the rest of the season. When a weak ness is so glaring on film and on the box score, it’s something a coaching staff must work rapidly to address. However, it’s out of the defense’s hands.
Until Danny Langsdorf’s offense can stay on the field and put together time-consuming drives, Temple’s de fense will continue to be overworked and fall victim to opposing running backs.
Things won’t be any easier for the Owls on Saturday when they travel to the Naval Academy (2-5, 2-3 The Amer ican) and face Ken Niumatalolo’s tri ple-option offense.
javon.edmonds@temple.edu javonedmonds45ROBERT CRUZ / THE TEMPLE NEWS Temple allowed 14 unanswered points against Tulsa in the first half.
FIELD HOCKEY Agustina Tucceri, an Argentinian native, is adjusting to an American style of play.
BY SAMUEL O’NEAL Assistant Sports EditorWhen freshman midfielder Agusti na Tucceri left her hometown of Buenos Aires, Argentina, to join Temple Field Hockey in Philadelphia, she was present ed with the biggest challenge of her life.
“I am still getting used to every thing,” Tucceri said. “I am still learning the language here and I miss my family a lot and still getting used to not having them on the side of the field, but the girls are helping me get through it.”
The transition from Argentina to the United States has not been easy for Tucceri. She needed to adjust to the dif ferent style of hockey while learning how to navigate her life without having her mother close by when she first ar rived in Philadelphia.
“My mom played field hockey and I watched every game she played when I was growing up,” Tucceri said. “I have been playing since I was three and we would always talk after games.”
Tucceri has proven to be a key piece for the Owls this season, starting in all 15 games while scoring two goals, as well as a game-winning shootout goal against Providence College (5-10, 2-3 Big East Conference) on Oct. 7. Tucceri is also eighth on the team with 759 minutes played, despite being a freshman.
Adapting to the American style of play has been a challenge for Tucceri. In Argentina, there was a greater emphasis on transferring the ball and playing on both ends of the field, but in the U.S., the priority is to strictly move the ball for ward, Tucceri said.
Tucceri’s necessary adjustments on and off the field were intimidating at first, but she eventually found comfort in her friends. While she was missing her mom and family as her support sys tem and key motivators, new teammates gave her a sense of home in Philadelphia.
“[My mom] would always push me to be a better player while also being my
emotional support,’’ Tucceri said. “Not having her has been hard for me.”
During offseason workouts, Tuc ceri developed a strong friendship with fellow international player sophomore back Alizè Maes, a native of Antwerp, Belgium. The two players have helped one another with easing the transition of leaving their home countries to come to the U.S. by sharing their experiences of leaving their home countries.
“We have really built up a connec tion because we have both gone through the same things,” Maes said. “If you talk to an American, they won’t understand what you are going through and even if they want to understand, it is just a very different experience so I think we have built a connection that other people
don’t really have.”
In a 6-3 win against Quinnipiac University on Sept. 16, Maes earned an assist on a Tucceri goal after sending a ball inside the penalty box for Tucceri, who converted on the second goal of her collegiate career.
The Owls believe that Tucceri will continue to develop as a dynamic goal scorer and view her as a cornerstone player for the program moving forward, said Owls’ head coach Michelle Vittese.
“We think that her ceiling is very high,” Vittese said. “Recently she has been playing a lot as an outside mid fielder but as she continues to develop and grow and get more in tune with our playing principles, I think she can defi nitely play a more central midfield role
because of her skill set and I think that is something that will come with time but she is doing a phenomenal job.”
With just two regular-season games remaining, the Owls will continue to rely on Tucceri to provide the team with meaningful minutes as Temple attempts to earn a spot in the Big East Conference tournament.
“Being able to play as a freshman is a privilege,” Tucceri said. “Being a part of this team is amazing because every single practice we are improving on something and it is like we are all a family and I am very excited because I think we have a great opportunity.”
samuel.oneal@temple.edu @samueloneal43Problems voting? Call or text 866-687-8683 to speak with a trained Election Protection volunteer.
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