THE TEMPLE NEWS
NATIONAL EATING DISORDER AWARENESS WEEK
Finding strength in recovery PAGES 15-20
VOL 97 // ISSUE 21 FEBRUARY 26, 2019 temple-news.com @thetemplenews
NEWS, PAGE 4 PASCEP, Temple’s community education program, is celebrating its 40th year at the university.
SPORTS, PAGE 22 Club baseball will soon begin its spring season after its best start in program history.
BAR GUIDE 2019 PAGES B1-B8
NEWS PAGE 2
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019
THE TEMPLE NEWS A watchdog for the Temple University community since 1921. Gillian McGoldrick Editor in Chief Kelly Brennan Managing Editor Julie Christie Digital Managing Editor Evan Easterling Chief Copy Editor Greta Anderson News Editor Grace Shallow Investigations Editor Alyssa Biederman Deputy Campus Editor Will Bleier Deputy City Editor Jayna Schaffer Opinion Editor Laura Smythe Features Editor Zari Tarazona Deputy Features Editor Michaela Althouse Deputy Features Editor Michael Zingrone Co-Sports Editor Sam Neumann Co-Sports Editor Claire Wolters Intersection Editor Maria Ribeiro Director of Engagement Siani Colon Asst. Director of Engagement Dylan Long Co-Photography Editor Luke Smith Co-Photography Editor Madison Seitchik Web Editor Co-Multimedia Editor Jared Giovan Co-Multimedia Editor Ian Walker Visuals Editor Claire Halloran Design Editor Phuong Tran Advertising Manager Kelsey McGill Advertising Manager Daniel Magras 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. Visit us online at temple-news.com. Send submissions to letters@temple-news.com. The Temple News is located at: Student Center, Room 243 1755 N. 13th St. Philadelphia, PA 19122
ON THE COVER DYLAN LONG & HANNAH PITTEL THE TEMPLE NEWS & REFINE MAGAZINE
CORRECTIONS In the Feb. 19 issue of The Temple News, the story published on Page 6, “Aramark, Temple refute claims of mouse in food,” incorrectly stated Kaylee Politz’s last name. 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 Gillian McGoldrick at editor@temple-news.com or 215-204-6736.
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COMMUNITY
SEPTA will install Cecil B. Moore tribute
The Cecil B. Moore Philadelphia fight to desegregate Girard College, Freedom Fighters gathered now a first through 12 boarding school information about Moore’s life. on South College Avenue near CorinBY SCOTT SAUER For The Temple News
B
y the end of the month, SEPTA will install two historical displays at Cecil B. Moore station that present facts about the activist’s life. The Cecil B. Moore Philadelphia Freedom Fighters, the local civil rights activist group that has fought for racial equality since the 1960s, gathered biographical information and images for a digital panel on the southbound side of the station and for historical plaques in the station’s northbound entrance. “Our goal is to keep [Moore’s] memory alive,” said Karen Asper Jordan, who leads the Freedom Fighters. Moore was a prominent civil rights figure and walked with the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the civil rights movement. The group has been advocating for the panels since August 2013, and it will be complete by the end of the month, said Francis Kelly, SEPTA’s assistant general manager for public and government affairs. SEPTA is organizing an event in the spring to commemorate the installation. Kelly said the panels would be complete by the end of 2018, The Temple News reported in October 2018. SEPTA will pay more than $1,000 for the project’s fabrication, Kelly said. “This is money well invested,” he added. Some members of the Freedom Fighters are the same people who stood alongside Moore, a 1953 law alumnus, in his campaign for equality during the civil rights movement. Moore is most recognized for his
thian, in the mid-1960s. For more than three years, Moore organized protests to advocate for African-American students to attend the school. In 1968, the school was desegregated. “We followed Cecil because we believed in him,” Asper Jordan said. Information and images that reflect Moore’s life, which will be displayed in the panels. SEPTA handled the construction of the panels. “The kids in the area can learn about a man who did great things for Philly and show them how he made a difference,” said Bernadette Raffner, who lives on 4th Street near Jefferson. “It is important to understand the civil rights movement, and he was such a big part of it,” she added. “He was not afraid to fight for equality and inclusion.” Cecil B. Moore Avenue and the Broad Street Line station were renamed in Moore’s honor in 1987 and 1995, respectively. The group plans to continue working with SEPTA to regularly update the information on the southbound station entrance’s digital panels, Kelly said, which will allow more people to learn about Moore. On the average weekday, about 7,000 people come through Cecil B. Moore station, a SEPTA spokesperson said. “Not a lot of people know who he is, so with the number of people who walk around this area, it should bring a lot of awareness to his life,” said Ethan Bailey, who lives on Oxford Street near 24th and uses the station to commute each day. scott.sauer@temple.edu @realScottSauer
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NEWS PAGE 3
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019
POLITICS
Philadelphia legislators support renewable energy State Rep. Christopher Rabb will introduce a state-level version of the Green New Deal. BY HAL CONTE Political Beat Reporter Philadelphia legislators will introduce a bill during the upcoming legislative session that would transition Pennsylvania to 100 percent renewable energy by 2050. State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta announced his support for state Rep. Christopher Rabb’s House Bill 2132, which he will reintroduce to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives this session, and the federal Green New Deal, a congressional resolution to transition the country to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and provide economic justice for working-class people and minorities. Rabb originally introduced HB 2132 during the 2017-18 legislative session. “Coal, nuclear and gas will need to be addressed in terms of their current use,” Rabb told The Temple News. “It would be a statute that would not just be the government making high-capital investments, but private industry.” The Green New Deal, H. Res. 109 and S. Res. 59, emerged in the national agenda after U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. and U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., introduced it to their respective Congressional houses on Feb. 7. The initiative has a potential cost of trillions of dollars, the Wall Street Journal reported. Some local Democratic leaders, like Kenyatta, the 181st District representative and a 2012 public communication alumnus, followed suit by promising to cosponsor Rabb’s bill for a local effort to move residences, industries and state and municipal buildings to pollution-free energy sources. The bill would also establish several agencies — the Clean Energy Transition Task Force, Clean Energy Center of Excellence, Council for Clean Energy
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Workforce Development and Clean Energy Workforce Development Fund — to assist with the state’s energy switch. A municipal Green New Deal could promote environmental solutions like fossil-fuel-free SEPTA transportation and utility companies’ transitioning to 100 percent renewable energy, said Mitch Chanin, a strategist for 350 Philadelphia, the city’s chapter of an international environmental group that opposes coal, oil and gas projects. “Any version of a Green New Deal would have to involve a massive retrofitting of buildings across the city to be energy-efficient and to use non-fossilfuel-based energy for heating and cooking,” Chanin said. The Green New Deal proposals, both nationally and on the state level, have garnered reactions from students, environmental organizations and activists on Main Campus and in the city. Ninety-two percent of Democrats support the policy goals of a Green New Deal, and 64 percent of Republicans do, according to a December 2018 survey by the Yale Program on Climate Communication and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication. “The Green New Deal is an ambitious and needed step in the fight against climate change,” Kenyatta said in a statement sent to The Temple News. “Climate change is real and we need to take action now.” Rabb’s legislation has the potential to increase the momentum of climate activism, said Colin Pepper, the Philadelphia metro director for Defend Our Future PA, an environmental activist group with a chapter on Main Campus. “My initial reaction was excitement and happiness,” Pepper said. Switching to renewable energy by 2050 is not ambitious enough and legislators should aim for a faster timeline on the state level, Chanin said. “A massive investment is not something to be scared of,” he added. “This
DYLAN LONG / THE TEMPLE NEWS State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, a 2012 public communication alumnus, stands outside his office at Sullivan Progress Plaza on Monday.
crisis is extremely urgent. The costs of not doing it are incalculable, given some of the worst scenarios that are possible.” Ocasio-Cortez and Markey’s Green New Deal has also drawn criticism from conservative leaders for its suggested intervention in private business and projected cost. Wind and solar energy are not a viable option for replacing all of the state’s energy sources, said state Rep. David Zimmerman, a Republican representative, because they produce such a small amount of the economy’s energy. Pennsylvania ranked third among coal-producing states in 2017, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. “Despite 40 years of lucrative taxpayer-funded subsidies, [wind and solar energy] are non-competitive and produce less than 10 percent of the market’s energy,” Zimmerman wrote in an email to The Temple News. “We can’t get there by 2050 without new technology.” “Based on what I’ve heard, it seems like a pretty radical policy that isn’t very
feasible,” said Drew Holt, a senior management information systems major. “It seems like the driving force of it would be increasingly high taxes, and it would require turning all cars and buildings to renewables,” he added. “I don’t see how it could be done affordably.” Chris Smith, the president of Temple College Republicans, is also skeptical about the national Green New Deal’s funding. “It’s not realistic in the fact that it proposes a complete overhaul of the energy system in 10 years,” Smith said. “Maybe in 50 years, but not in 10. “One of the main criticisms that my group expresses is that it would kill jobs, it promises security for those unable to work,” he added. “...All the regulations will drive companies away.” “We don’t need to organize against it because people see it for what it is,” he said. hal.conte@temple.edu
News Desk 215.204.7419 news@temple-news.com
NEWS PAGE 4
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019
COMMUNITY
Low-cost education program celebrates 40 years
MATT ALTEA / THE TEMPLE NEWS Ulicia Lawrence-Oladeinde directs the Pan-African Studies Community Education Program, which serves North Philadelphia residents with low-cost, non-credit classes in various academic fields.
“But to Mrs. Hyman, that was just
The Pan-African Studies Malcolm,” Swan added. Community Education Program Hyman, who died in 2010, created has offered classes for the the Pan-African Studies Community community since 1979. Education Program in 1975 to provide a BY GRACE SHALLOW Investigations Editor Any time civil rights activist Malcolm X came to Philadelphia, he’d visit community activist Annie Hyman and ask her to prepare fish just the way he liked it. To everyone else, the man was a “visionary,” said Andrea Swan, Temple University’s director of community and neighborhood affairs in the Office of Community Relations.
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low-cost education service to the North Philadelphia community. This year, the program is celebrating its 40th anniversary of when it merged with Temple University in 1979. PASCEP, which is within the Office of Community Relations, offers lowcost, non-credit classes taught by volunteer instructors in hundreds of different academic fields, including financial literacy, computer courses and sewing. In total, PASCEP has taught 780 educational programs to Philadelphia residents. Over the decades, PASCEP changed
headquarters, shuffled through directors and fought to stay open. But Ulicia Lawrence-Oladeinde, the program’s current director, said it has never strayed from Hyman’s original mission of “keeping the community informed.” “Temple is the anchor institution in this community,” Lawrence-Oladeinde said. “But if the community doesn’t feel as though they’re comfortable coming into the institution, how are they ever supposed to get here?” “We need to open up Temple so that the community as a whole would have access,” she added.
THE BEGINNING
Hyman — a 1976 School of Social Work alumna — wanted higher edu-
cation to be accessible to every North Philadelphia resident. Her educational programming was first offered in 1975 in churches and schools throughout the community. PASCEP officially merged with Temple in 1979, holding classes in Gladfelter and Anderson halls under the Pan-African Studies Department, which was later renamed the Department of Africology and African American Studies. Lawrence-Oladeinde remembers Black entrepreneurs selling their goods in the lecture halls during her first visit to PASCEP, when her daughter was enrolled in a class in the 1990s. The environment was “steeped in culture,” she said. “What impressed me the most, there were Temple University students sitting around and having discussions and conversations with community people around different subjects and different topics in the lecture halls,” she added. “There was actually active critical discussions. That was absolutely wonderful.” Coupled together, PASCEP and the Pan-African Studies Department symbolized a burgeoning trend of studying Black history and thought in higher education. Temple was one of the first universities in the United States to establish the department in 1971, following a national movement for historically white institutions to add African-American studies to curricula. This only makes PASCEP’s history more significant, said Jaki Mungai, a former PASCEP professor who worked with Hyman in the 1970s. “People were excited,” Mungai added. “They said, ‘It’s about time. …This is our university and our education.’”
PASCEP’S CAMPUS PRESENCE
In 2008, PASCEP lost its space in Gladfelter and Anderson halls, where CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 | PASCEP
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NEWS PAGE 6
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019
PASCEP TIMELINE
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 | PASCEP
they were able to hold programs for about 1,500 people, Lawrence-Oladeinde said. It moved to the second floor of the Entertainment and Community Education Center on Cecil B. Moore Avenue near 15th Street, where it holds the majority of its classes under the auspices of the Office of Community Relations. Moving PASCEP off campus was “a slap in the face” from Temple, said Carl Ivey, who has taught English courses for PASCEP since 1998. Yumy Odom agreed, citing the move as the reason he resigned from his position as PASCEP’s director in 2008. “It diminished Annie Hyman’s vision,” said Odom, who said he worked with Hyman for 20 years. Temple has not paid enough attention to the program over the years, said Maisha Sullivan-Ongoza, who was the director of PASCEP in the 1980s. It’s high on her “list of disappointment with the university,” added Sullivan-Ongonza, a 1979 elementary education alumna. However, PASCEP’s headquarters was a physical anchor during some of the program’s shaky developments in the past decade. It lost its matriarch in 2010 when Hyman died and did not have a director for two and a half years after former longtime director Willie Rogers retired in 2014. In wake of the changes, Lawrence-Oladeinde stepped in and became director in 2016 after 19 years at the Center for Social Policy and Community Development, which offers programs that counter issues negatively affecting residents’ health and wellbeing. Lawrence-Oladeinde incorporated workforce development and life skills into the center, so PASCEP was a natural transition, she said. “I’m not one of those people who takes their job lightly,” she added. “So mine was to look at what is the history, what are the most important things to continue to do and then go after that.” Though others involved with PASCEP criticized the university’s support of the program, Lawrence-Oladeinde News Desk 215.204.7419 news@temple-news.com
PASCEP celebrates its 40th anniversary at Temple.
PASCEP merges with Temple University. Classes are held on Main Campus in Anderson and Gladfelter halls. 1979
1975
Community activist Annie Hyman, a 1976 School of Social Work alumna, creates the Pan-African Studies Community Education Program, providing low-cost classes to residents in schools and churches.
said the Office of Community Relations insisted on continuing classes for community members, even when PASCEP didn’t have a director. The university moved PASCEP to the Entertainment and Community Education Center because of Temple’s growing number of incoming students, Swan said. From 2007-08, the university’s total undergraduate enrollment increased by more than 800 students, according to reports from the Office of the Provost. Conducting classes off campus is different from being in Main Campus’ academic buildings, Swan said, but it’s more inviting to residents because it’s in the community. No matter PASCEP’s location, she said, the university has remained committed to maintaining the program as a valuable resource to the North Philadelphia community. “PASCEP is not…a series of classes,” Swan said. “PASCEP is a community.”
‘THEY REFUSE TO LET IT DIE’ Two people — Lawrence-Oladeinde and her administrative assistant, Linda McCleary — coordinate all PASCEP classes for the 510 students who are currently enrolled. This semester, about 40
2019 2008
PASCEP programming is moved to the second floor of the Entertainment and Community Education Center on Cecil B. Moore Avenue near 15th Street.
volunteer instructors are teaching 80 classes, which mostly range from $20 to $40. In addition to classes, PASCEP has “Community Thursdays,” which are free weekly workshops focused on topics like mental health. It also opens up its computer lab for free internet access Mondays through Thursdays from 1-5 p.m. and hosts reentry workshops in partnership with local organizations from 9 a.m. to noon every Tuesday. Lawrence-Oladeinde and McCleary often spend 10- or 12-hour days in the office, Lawrence-Oladeinde said. The instructors, too, are staunchly committed to the program. “They refuse to let it die,” Lawrence-Oladeinde added. There are several volunteer instructors, like James Veal, who have consecutively taught PASCEP classes for decades, Lawrence-Oladeinde said. Veal has taught Sick of Being Broke, a financial literacy class, for 17 years. Veal is “mentally insane” to have stuck with the classes for so long, he joked, but the students and giving back to others make it worthwhile. “[PASCEP] changes people’s lives and...they will go out and share that in-
formation with others,” said Veal, who was born on Norris Street near 11th. “So that helps the community, helps the environment, right? Because they’re sharing positivity and tell others about the program.” On Saturday, Veal’s class of about 10 students agreed in unison that word of mouth is the main way people learn about PASCEP. Selma Williams, one of Veal’s students, said she heard about his class from her bus driver. Michele Kingston, another of Veal’s students, was excited to learn about PASCEP and plans on taking other classes. “There are phenomenal things that are being offered to the community through the program that I didn’t even know existed,” she said. PASCEP’s do-it-yourself attitude was ingrained since its beginning, starting with Hyman, and is continued by the program’s current volunteer corps. “God bless them, they were innovative,” Lawrence-Oladeinde said. “And it worked.” grace.shallow@temple.edu @Grace_Shallow Miles Wall contributed reporting.
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OPINION TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019
PAGE 7
EDITORIALS
Happy birthday, PASCEP The Pan-African Studies Community Education Program, which provides low-cost, non-credit, classes for Philadelphia residents, is celebrating its 40th anniversary as part of Temple University this year. But for some participants, it doesn’t feel like PASCEP is recognized as an important piece of the Temple experience after classes were moved from Main Campus to a university building on Cecil B. Moore Avenue near 15th Street in 2008. Longtime PASCEP instructor Carl Ivey said Temple’s decision to move the program off campus was like “a slap in the face.” This wouldn’t be the first time Temple delivered disappointment to North Philadelphia residents. The program is now kept alive through a handful of individual faculty members and volunteer instructors’ personal dedication to educating
the community. A cornerstone of this university’s mission is providing an education to working people in the community who can’t afford a fulltime, traditional learning experience. PASCEP embodies just that. The program is Temple’s hidden gem, and the university should promote, tout and fund this program more actively. With Black History Month coming to a close this week, it’s important the university reflects upon its own contributions to the North Philadelphia community, which is steeped in civil rights-era history and Black excellence. Temple should recognize its role in lifting the community up by increasing low-cost academic offerings and giving PASCEP the support it deserves to make a difference in residents’ lives.
This week, The Temple News’ Intersection and REFINE Magazine, a new women’s lifestyle magazine on campus, collaborated to share the stories of students in recovery from eating disorders for National Eating Disorders Awareness Week. Young people are especially susceptible to developing an eating disorder during their college years. Difficulty forming new friendships, intense pressures to be “perfect” and academic and financial stresses are some of the reasons students are more vulnerable to developing this life-controlling disorder. Eating disorders can affect anyone. They do not discriminate by race, gender or sexual orientation. Some of these disorders, like anorexia nervosa, have the highest mortality rates of any mental disorders.
Thank you to the brave men, women and non-binary people who shared their stories this week. Whether they spoke with a reporter or wrote their own personal essays, we recognize it’s extremely hard to come forward about something that so severely affects a person’s health on a daily basis. Thank you for giving us a snapshot of your ever-changing recovery. We hope students with eating disorders access university and city resources like Tuttleman Counseling Services or the Renfrew Center of Philadelphia. If you are not directly affected by an eating disorder, we encourage you to seek out information about the many different types of disordered eating so you can help your loved ones if the need arises.
Valuing your stories, strength
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DIVERSITY
Don’t obsess over DNA tests
Using your DNA to test your heritage being Irish, so I just kind of always assumed,” Haines said. “I was allowed to miss school evis unreliable and unnecessary.
D
uring my first year in the United States, I didn’t know anyone from my country of origin, the Czech
Republic. At a bar in West Chester, Pennsylvania, the bouncer said there was a Czech employee, so I went to find this person. I was surprised to meet a woman in her 30s, calling herself Czech without any knowledge of the language or even where the country was locatPAVLINA CERNA ed. The only thing she INT’L COLUMNIST knew was her grandparents came from there. I did not understand at first; I am Czech because I was born in the Czech Republic. While one set of my great-grandparents was from Germany and another set from Slovakia, I’m still Czech. It’s as simple as that. It’s where I grew up. This, and many other experiences, made me realize that Americans are proud of their heritage long after it has any relevance to their lives. Because the U.S. was formed by immigrants, it makes sense. But it confuses those of us who come from the corners of the world Americans claim to belong to. It also explains the popularity of DNA kits, which allow people to send their saliva away in return for a report on their heritage. I don’t understand the American fascination with using these kits to find out percentages of ethnicities. There’s no real substance in doing that. Some of the most popular kits are AncestryDNA, MyHeritage, Vitagene and FamilyTreeDNA. These companies have the same mission: uncover your ethnic origin and connect you to relatives you didn’t know you had. Irish Haines, a senior media studies and production major, always claimed to be Irish because of her first name. She was pleasantly surprised by her DNA kit results; she found she had relatives from Ireland. “We did grow up with a strong pride in
ery year and go [to the local pub] with my dad, and my grandpa would sing me ‘When Irish Eyes Are Smiling.’” “But I didn’t expect to actually originate from Ireland, so that’s even cooler now,” Haines added. But I don’t think this would help me get to know myself better. Don’t get me wrong, I love genealogy. I’m fascinated that at any point in history there was someone related to me. And if any part of it had been different, I wouldn’t be here today. Last summer, I spent $200 and most of my free time browsing old Czech online chronicles just to expand my family tree on MyHeritage. I was able to see my ancestry dating all the way back to the 17th century. The precision and reliability of DNA kits results are questionable, though. Rafi Letzter, a staff writer for Live Science, sent his DNA nine times under various names and received six different results. For the people out there who have no idea where their ancestors came from or cannot track their family history, the kits can be a life-changing. Tea Greene, a junior social work major, said she wanted to test her DNA because her father is Black, and she wanted to know where his family came from. “After the transatlantic slave trade, most Black people in America had their heritage taken from them, not knowing what countries they came from generations later,” Greene said. “I wanted to find out...because it has always been very important to me.” Greene found out her ancestors were from Cameroon. Unless you’re searching to find where you came from, DNA kits are a shortcut that put importance on something that doesn’t define people. Culture and environment define people so much more. At the end of the day, no matter how many Germans and Slovakians are in my family line, I am still Czech. And the bartender I met in West Chester, Pennsylvania, is still American. pavlina.cerna@temple.edu
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OPINION PAGE 8
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019
RACE
Don’t discredit future victims after Smollet hoax
COURTESY / YOKOTA AIR BASE
In light of Jussie Smollet’s alleged the country by storm as it unfolded. But Chicago Police later said the atcrime, we must remember that the majority of reported hate tack was arranged by Smollett himself. Law enforcement officials said he paid crimes are not hoaxes. On Feb. 21, “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett was charged by the Chicago Police Department with felony disorderly conduct for alDIANA CRISTANCHO legedly falsifying a POLITICS COLUMNIST police report. Smollett alleged that two men had beat him, poured bleach on him and tied a noose around his neck — all while shouting “This MAGA country” and many homophobic and racial slurs on Jan. 29. The case took
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two brothers $3,500 because he was unhappy with his salary and wished to promote his career. Although his case has been reported on by many news outlets and widely discussed on social media, hate crimes generally don’t get this much coverage. While Smollett’s attack is allegedly a hoax, hate crimes are still very much real and have been on the rise the past few years; the number of hate crimes increased 17 percent in 2017, Vox reported. We can’t let this be a boy-who-criedwolf situation, which could discredit future victims of hate crimes. Ernest Owens, a writer at large for
Philadelphia Magazine and Black member of the LGBTQ community, told The Temple News that regardless of Smollett’s celebrity status, the reported attack struck nerves in people, and that’s why it was all over the news. “Due to the current political climate that we’re in, we witness hate crimes throughout the country,” Owens said. “A lot of this is being correlated with the Trump administration.” “We’re also at a time where people are talking about a lot of racial injustice and also LGBTQ,” Owens added. “All of these elements that we’re facing nationally, I think collided with identity and with news, and social media played the role in this colliding.” Smollett still has not had his day in court, and we still don’t have all the de-
tails about the alleged crime. Evidence gathered by the Chicago Police Department was enough to charge Smollett, but he maintained his innocence during an apology to cast and crew members of “Empire,” CNN reported. But that didn’t stop conservative commentator, Anne Coulter, from tweeting, “Alright, this particular hate crime turned out to be a hoax, but let’s remember, ALL OF THEM are hoaxes.” People like Coulter likely had their opinions before the Smollett incident, Owens said. And Jenice Armstrong, the metro columnist for the Inquirer, told The Temple News that if Smollett is found guilty, people will try to point to him as an example of false reporting. But people who are not set in their ways shouldn’t be swayed by one possible false report. Although Smollett was charged with filing a false report, hate crime hoaxes are very rare compared to the reality that hate crimes are and have been fairly common throughout history. After all, less than one percent of hate crimes are false. “The glee that surrounded a lot of his arrest, a man who may or may not have told the truth, that kind of negativity existed before Smollett was born,” Armstrong said. “Those who believe victims will continue to believe victims,” Owens said. “Those who are trolls on the internet and skeptics, they will continue to use Jussie Smollett as a shining example of hoaxes.” Police agencies should continue to investigate each hate crime seriously, despite the very small number of false reports. This case involves just one individual, and it should not determine the outcome of future victims. diana.cristancho@temple.edu
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OPINION
PAGE 9
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019
RACE
Smollett’s ‘fake’ attack illustrates real threats Even if the attack was a hoax, we need to pay attention to hate crimes and the corruptness of Chicago Police Department.
Earlier this month, I wrote a column for The Temple News arguing the alleged hate crime against Jussie Smollett was emblematic of how queer people of color, specifically queer Black people, are statistically more likely to be attacked in hate crimes, despite the fact that most people separate the two halves of their identities. TYLER PEREZ Since then, the LGBTQ Chicago Police DeCOLUMNIST partment has claimed that Smollett faked his own hate crime as a “publicity stunt;” the “Empire” actor has been charged with felony disorderly conduct for allegedly filing a false police report. During the past few weeks, many have debated whether Smollett falsified his report, and this has in some ways, changed my perception of him as a person. In my first column, I interviewed Layah Taylor, a freshman English major and lesbian Black woman who is involved in social justice organizations on Main Campus. In light of recent developments, Taylor perception of Smollet has changed, too. “Because I’m a person of color, I’d like to believe that it’s not fake, but after all of this evidence and everything, I feel like the allegations do have some truth to them, which honestly saddens me because people, especially conservatives and those leaning to the right, are going to use this to delegitimize reports of hate crimes against queer people of color,” Taylor said. Personally, I find it difficult to discern the validity of Smollett’s report. But regardless of Smollett’s innocence or guilt, I stand by the arguments in my @TheTempleNews
initial column. Smollett’s hate crime — whether legitimate or fabricated — is demonstrative of actual, real threats that face queer people of color in our country. Sixty percent of homicide victims in 2017 were Black, according to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs. This figure is often overlooked during conversations about the legitimacy of Smollett’s alleged crime. This gives social media users the freedom to dismiss the validity of similar hate crimes when dismissing Smollett’s. Conservative commentator Tomi Lahren did exactly that on Feb. 24, when the host on Fox News’ streaming service tweeted “And Libs wonder why we don’t believe their BS stories… #JussieLied.” People shouldn’t suggest the possible falsification of one hate crime is a legitimate reason to discredit queer people of color who have experienced hate crimes. It’s disrespectful to the thousands of LGBTQ people of color injured by the compounded biases of homophobia and racism, causing them to be twice as likely to be victims of a hate crime than the general population, according to the Urban Institute, a nonprofit research organization. David Mindich, the chair of the journalism department, has extensively studied the role of race and racial representation in media throughout history. He said Lahren’s comments are unacceptable and disappointing. “The extent to which bigots, or apologists for bigots, use a case like this to discredit all victims of hate crimes is troubling because the political right in general, the far right in particular, routinely discounts the threats to marginalized, and using this case as a reason to doubt victims is troubling,” Mindich said. Smollett’s hate crime, real or not, shed light on a very substantial issue. So, regardless of the validity of Smollett’s story, we need to cast aside our judgments of him as we discuss hate crimes, especially those against LGBTQ
KAITLYN GROSS / THE TEMPLE NEWS
people of color. “Now [Black queer people] will have to face even more skepticism and doubt, even when it isn’t warranted,” Journalist Jeremy Helligar wrote in Variety. “In the most extreme sense, it seems like [Smollett’s] false report has given permission for copycat attacks against other gay, Black men.” NBC News’ Janell Ross similarly argued that the possibility of Smollett’s story being a hoax “could influence the way officials respond to reports and could fuel long-running white nationalist claims that all hate crimes are hoaxes designed to batter white America.” I agree. I want to believe Jussie Smollett. Part of me looks at Chicago Police as an organization with a racist history. Another part of me sees the 17 percent increase in hate crimes and 3 percent increase in anti-LGBTQ hate crimes in 2017, and another part of me is willing to believe victims immediately in a society that casts judgment on them. The Chicago Police Department has a history of systemic racism that makes me question its legitimacy in this whole controversy. A 2016 report by the Chicago Police Accountability Task Force found 72 percent of non-arrest traffic stops in summer 2014 were Black peo-
ple. From 2008-15, 74 percent of police shooting victims were Black, and 75 percent of people police tried to tase from 2012-15 were Black residents, despite their making up only about one-third of the population. This, on top of the fatal shooting of Black teenager Laquan McDonald by a Chicago Police officer, makes me question the claims. “The Chicago Police Department and other police departments that have proven to be perpetrators of systemic racial bias should be subjected to a level of skepticism and doubt by the public,” Mindich said. “It doesn’t mean that their evidence is wrong or that their conclusions are wrong, but it does cause the public and the press to be extra skeptical of their claims.” I stand by the fact that we need to support victims of hate crimes, especially queer people of color who will likely face doubt in the wake of this controversy. Skepticism about one man’s story is justified and understandable. Complete dismissal of thousands of stories, on the other hand, is dangerous, unacceptable and morally wrong. tyler.perez@temple.edu @perezodent
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OPINION PAGE 10
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019
IMMIGRATION
Stand with 21 Savage, other immigrants of color The Immigration and Customs hip-hop culture. We don’t need to embrace the Enforcement agency is making good-immigrant narrative that so frean example out of a poor quently accompanies the immigration innocent man. The Trump administration’s immigration policies have negatively affected thousands of families in the past few years, even leading to the deaths of innocent children. Earlier this month, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency showed us once again TYLER PEREZ how cruel it can be. LGBTQ On Feb. 3, ICE COLUMNIST arrested rapper, producer and activist She’yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, known by his stage name 21 Savage, during a routine traffic stop. Turns out, he’s a British immigrant who overstayed his visa, which expired in 2006. Although the aggravated felony charge that was initially supposed to be grounds for his deportation has since been dropped, 21 Savage is still scheduled for a deportation hearing in the near future. 21 Savage’s story is uniquely devastating; it features a popular public figure being torn down at the hands of a historically racist government agency. Regardless of his wealth, talent and notoriety, ICE still sees a Black immigrant as a threat. We need to stand in solidarity with 21 Savage and his family in the wake of this arrest and possible deportation. But don’t just do it because he’s a popular rapper. It does not matter that 21 Savage made some of my favorite songs like “Don’t Come Out the House,” a collaboration with Metro Boomin, and “Famous.” It does not matter that he has given school supplies to thousands of Atlanta-area students and advocates for gender equality despite the machismo of letters@temple-news.com
debate. Instead, stand with 21 Savage because his case shows ICE making an example out of an innocent person, someone whose visa expired when he was only a child and who since then has applied for a new one, USA Today reported. This is ICE suppressing one of its vocal critics. 21 Savage has not been shy about his disdain for ICE. On Jan. 28, he performed on the “Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,” including new, unrecorded lyrics critiquing the Trump administration’s treatment of Black and brown citizens. “Been through some things so I can’t imagine my kids stuck at the border / Flint still need water / People was innocent, couldn’t get lawyers,” he rapped. He was arrested by ICE less than one week later. And ICE called the arrest a “targeted operation with federal and local law enforcement,” the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. His lawyers believe ICE deliberately sought 21 Savage out to punish him for speaking out against its abuses of power. After all, ICE released 21 Savage, pending a deportation hearing, three days after the 2019 Grammy Awards, at which he was supposed to perform. Maha Ouni, a senior political science major at Temple University, is a first-generation immigrant from Tunisia who has closely followed the 21 Savage story. She said it’s emblematic of cruel and racist practices of ICE toward Black and brown immigrants in an era of anti-immigration rhetoric. “I don’t believe in coincidences when it comes to ICE, and I really do think that they feed off of the energy of people like Jay-Z who have been vocally against the deportation of 21 Savage,” Ouni said. “Once they had him, they did anything that they could to stop him from being any much more of an influencer and us-
ALI GRAULTY / THE TEMPLE NEWS
ing his platform to critique them.” 21 Savage’s possible deportation would coincide with an increasing trend of Black immigrants being deported from the United States under the Trump administration. Despite a decrease in overall deportations from 2016 to 2017, there was a sharp increase in the deportation of African immigrants, Quartz Africa reported. Timothy Welbeck, an Africology and African American Studies instructor and civil rights attorney, said the detainment of 21 Savage is another example of ICE abusing its power. “ICE started out as a social service organization, but it quickly grew into law enforcement and interacted with people like a law enforcement agency would,” Welbeck said. “21 Savage was unfortunately an example of this shift,
and it’s disappointing that it took his arrest to make people aware of ICE’s wrongdoing.” “Taking someone from a traffic stop and forcing them into 23-hour lockdown is extreme and inhumane on a lot of levels,” Welbeck added. “They used anything possible to get this man.” As he approaches the date of his deportation hearing, we need to stand with 21 Savage with media exposure, frequent conversation and public protest. Support him even if you’re not a fan of his music. We owe it to him and other Black immigrants. tyler.perez@temple.edu @perezodent Editor’s Note: Maha Ouni was a freelance reproter for The Temple News. She had no role in the reporting or editing of this story.
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OPINION PAGE 11
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019
SPRING BREAK CROSSWORD
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MAGNOLIA CHRYSANTHEMUM VIOLET RHODODENDRON SUNFLOWER CHERRY BLOSSOM
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DOWN: 1. Mexican peninsula home to Los Cabos 5. City known as the Cruise Capital of the World
3. Florida beach town where MTV launched its first spring break special 4. Popular drink with tequila and lime juice
6. Roman god of wine often celebrated in springtime
7. Fort Lauderdale mayor spoke on this television morning show in the 1980s to discourage spring break partiers
ACROSS:
8. Star of the 2012 film “Spring Breakers”
2. Home of the College Coaches’ Swim Forum, this Florida town became a spring break destination in the 1930s
9. Spring break destination located near Chichén Itzá 10. Desert city and America’s gambling capital
Answers from Tuesday, February 19: 1. Migos, 2. Death Row Records, 3. Jay Z, 4. Rapper’s Delight, 5. God’s Plan, 6. Trap, 7. Walk This Way, 8. Fight the Power, 9. Cardi B, 10. Kendrick Lamar, 11. Lauryn Hill, 12. Midnight Marauders.
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FEATURES
PAGE 12
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019
STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS
Poetry competition, auction aids Yemeni people Four college Muslim student associations organized Food for Thought to raise awareness of the Middle Eastern crisis. BY EMMA PADNER City Life Beat Reporter
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acked into a small auditorium at Drexel University, college students from across Philadelphia shared their Muslim-American experiences through poetry. One student spoke of the Islamophobia he experienced in New York City after soldiers killed Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in 2011. A white boy at his school asked him why he wasn’t at home crying “because the leader of your religion is dead.” Muslim student associations from Temple University, the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University and the University of the Sciences organized Food for Thought, a poetry slam competition and art auction to raise money to help people impacted by war in Yemen. The fundraiser on Friday, which about 125 people attended, raised more than $3,000 for Islamic Relief USA, an organization that provides relief to people in poverty around the world. In Yemen, more than 20 million people experience food insecurity, with “half of them suffering extreme levels of hunger,” according to a United Nations report released this month. Poet-performer and author Kashmir Maryam reached out to the Muslim student associations last December with the fundraiser idea. Born in England, Maryam moved to the United States in 2011. Maryam connected with the student organizations through her poetry performances at universities in the city, including Temple. A video she saw on social media about the crisis inspired her
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EMMA PADNER / THE TEMPLE NEWS Kashmir Maryam, a spoken-word poet and the organizer of Friday’s “Food for Thought” event, describes one of the art pieces auctioned off at Drexel University to provide aid to people impacted by war in Yemen.
to raise money for Yemen, she said. “The images were extremely disturbing and that was the first time that I heard about the starvation crisis they are going through,” she said. “My question was, ‘What can I do to help?’” Razin Karu, the president of Temple’s Muslim Students Association, was drawn to fundraiser idea because most people in the United States don’t know about the severity of the crisis, in which intense fighting started in 2015, he said. “You don’t hear about Yemen on CNN or any other news channel,” said Karu, a senior history and political science major. “It’s as if it’s not even happening, and so it’s so important now that people have a conversation about it.” The Yemen crisis stems from a civil war between the Houthi rebels loyal to late Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and a Saudi Arabian-led military
coalition supported by current Yemeni President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, according to Amnesty International, a London-based non-governmental organization. The conflict has caused 17,700 civilian deaths and injuries, according to the United Nations. Fahima Shobarna, a freshman public health major, attended the event to support the Muslim community. “No one should have to really worry about having food throughout the day or even just one simple meal or even water,” Shobarna said. At the event, Suleman Sheikh, an Islamic Relief USA representative, said the money raised would support the organization’s efforts to feed the people of Yemen through agricultural projects and provide orphans with food, education and basic care. Yemen used to rely on bordering
countries for aid, but when the war began, their allies, like England, were blockaded from Yemen by the Houthi rebels, he added. “[Islamic Relief USA] is one of the few organizations around the world that has access in the country to Yemen,” Sheikh said. “This is what you call an emergency within an emergency.” Maryan said people in the United States often feel insignificant because they live in country far removed from the Yemen crisis. “We sometimes don’t understand the full capacity of how people are suffering in countries such as Yemen,” Maryan said. “But I thought maybe there’s something that we can do.” emma.padner@temple.edu @emmapadner
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BAR GUIDE 2019
CRIME & PUNISHMENT BREWING COMPANY PAGE B3 SAINT BENJAMIN BREWING PAGE B6 DOCK STREET BREWERY PAGE B7 FERMENTERY FORM PAGE B8
BAR GUIDE PAGE B2
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019
Breweries make up Philly’s history, culture Our Features Editor explains her inspiration for this year’s brewery theme for our annual Bar Guide. BY LAURA SMYTHE Features Editor I started bartending when I was 18, so I’m no stranger to the world of pouring beer, shaking cocktails and polishing liquor bottles. Throughout college, I’ve spent most of my Friday and Saturday nights behind the bar whipping up drinks for my peers who couldn’t wait to toast to the weekend. I know first hand that Philly’s service industry is bursting with passionate creatives looking to concoct the latest-craze cocktail and mouth-watering beer. But the city’s breweries always stood out to me. These cozy watering holes are community hubs in Philadelphia’s neighborhoods. Often started and run by local residents, breweries offer a safe haven for newbies and long-time residents to come together, unwind and share a laugh — and a cold one. The entrepreneurial spirit fueling the city’s breweries results in imaginative brews that
will keep your taste buds intrigued until the last drop. But breweries aren’t just part of Philadelphia’s culture — they’re engrained in its history. Yuengling, the oldest brewery in the United States, opened a stone’s throw away in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, in 1829 at the hands of German immigrant David Yuengling. Almost two centuries later, you’d be hardpressed to find a Philly bar that doesn’t serve the iconic brew. Philly also founded another institutional American brewery in Northern Liberties in 1860: C. Schmidt & Sons Brewery. The family operation distributed nationally, ranking as the 12th-largest U.S. brewery by the 1950s before going out of business in 2009. The brewery site was then transformed into Schmidt’s Commons, Philadelphia’s sixth public square, on 2nd Street near Germantown Avenue. Philadelphia’s brewing legacy is one we want to uphold. So pull up a barstool, raise your glass and settle in. Welcome to the Brewery Tour edition of The Temple News’s annual Bar Guide.
Dock Street Brewery
1. Malting: Grain is made ready for brewing through a process of soaking, germinating and high-temperature exposure.
2. Mashing: The grain is mixed with hot water to produce enzymes that ultimately produce sugars.
3. Lautering: Wort, or the sugar-heavy liquid produced during mashing, gets separated from the grain.
4. Boiling: Beer wort and hops, the added flavors, are boiled together in large brew kettles.
laura.smythe@temple.edu @lcs_smythe
Brewery Tour Map Crime & Punishment Brewing Co.
FERMENTING PROCESS
5. Fermenting: Yeast is added, and the sugars become carbon dioxide and alcohol.
6. Maturation: The beer is aged for a period of weeks to years, allowing the desired flavors to develop.
Saint Benjamin Brewing Company Fermentery Form
7. Filtering: The beer is filtered and carbonated, solidifying a brew’s flavor, color and body.
8. Packaging: Beer is bottled, canned and shipped to reach thirsty customers (like you!) IAN WALKER / THE TEMPLE NEWS
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BAR GUIDE PAGE B3
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019
BREWERYTOWN
Crime & Punishment revives Brewerytown prime The brewpub, inspired by Russian literature, regularly donates to local nonprofits. BY ZARI TARAZONA Deputy Features Editor In a small brewpub on Girard Avenue, the worlds of Russian literature and craft beer collide. A chalkboard drawing of Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky hangs over the bar, and a copy of his 1866 novel “Crime and Punishment” sits on a community bookshelf. Patrons are encouraged to grab a book and return it, or keep it and replace it with another book. Crime & Punishment Brewing Company, a cozy spot on Girard Avenue near 27th Street, is filled with references to Russian literature from its name and decor to its draft list. Bartenders pour beer with names inspired by Russian novels, like Doctor Zhivago, a tart-flavored India pale ale, and Behemoth, an oatmeal stout. Crime & Punishment’s location nods to Brewerytown’s history. Michael Wambolt, 31, the bar’s co-owner and brewer, said it was only appropriate to open Crime & Punishment in the neighborhood that once housed several Philadelphia breweries. In the late 1800s, Brewerytown was a hot spot for the city’s brewing companies until most relocated to the Midwest after prohibition, according to the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia. To enter the employees-only brewery area, workers walk to the back of the pub and through an iron gate to where there are four silver-colored fermentation tanks. The brewpub is the size of a small cafe, but it manages to squeeze in a brewery, kitchen, tables and a bar. Bartenders pick the music that plays
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during their shifts, so the brewpub’s soundtrack can range from hip-hop to indie. The bar doesn’t have any TVs, and customers chat over their beverages. Crime & Punishment has diverse clientele, said Katherine Leuis, who has worked as bartender and server at the brewpub since summer 2018. Millennials and young families typically come in during the week, while out-of-towners visit over the weekend, Wambolt added. “We get huge beer enthusiasts, then we also get locals,” Leuis said. “We get people that have never really even been big fans of the craft industry and then they try our beers and they love it.” Ted Gardner, a 20-year Brewerytown resident, has regularly visited Crime & Punishment since it opened in July 2015. “They brew the best beer in the city of Philadelphia,” Gardner said. “The atmosphere is great, and it’s only a couple minutes walk from my house.” Gardner likes to sip on IPAs when he visits the brewpub, like Hawthorne Effect, a hoppy beer with hints of passion fruit and apricot. His favorite IPA, though, is Space Race, a brew made with oats and floral hops that is a favorite among customers. The bar has to brew Space Race almost every other week because it runs out so fast due to popularity, Wambolt said. About six to eight other ales, stouts and lagers are available on tap each week. The brewers and Russian literature supply the beers’ unique names. Michael Paul, co-owner and brewer, named Treasures of Mirkwood, a saison with burgundy truffles, after “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers,” Wambolt said. “It’s fun coming up with names, different recipes and not brewing the same thing over and over again,” Wambolt added. “Having that control is really
ZARI TARAZONA / THE TEMPLE NEWS Crime & Punishment in Brewerytown features beers with witty names like Indecent Exposure, The Guillotine and House Arrest.
cool.” In addition to the brewery, Kurt Miller, the executive chef, prepares dishes inspired by cuisines from the countries of Russia and Georgia, including mushroom stroganoff and a tomato-braised brisket. The owners plan to move their brewing operation to another building a few blocks north of their current location sometime this spring. All the equipment will be moved out of the pub, Wambolt said, but he’d like to put in a bigger kitchen and add more seating. To give back to the community, Crime & Punishment hosts monthly fundraisers for local nonprofits like Bike and Build, which raises money and awareness for affordable housing through cycling. “It was important to me to make it more than just a brewery, but for it to be
a gathering place for the neighborhood,” Wambolt added. For Brewerytown First Friday, which happens on the first Friday of every month, Crime & Punishment displays an artist’s work for an entire month. Eli Edison, a Brewerytown-based artist, isn’t a Crime & Punishment regular, but tries to stop by because “it’s one of the major hubs” in the neighborhood. “It’s one of the first breweries inside Brewerytown in several decades,” Edison said. “I feel like at the very least you should patronize the place inside the neighborhood that’s bringing back the old culture.” zari.tarazona@temple.edu @sorryzari
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BAR GUIDE PAGE B4
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019 sour
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THE TEMPLE NEWS’ GUIDE TO BEERS LAGER Color: Pale, amber, red or dark Examples: Yuengling, Miller Lite, Heineken Description: One of the most widely consumed types of beers, lagers offer a relatively neutral flavor where the notes of hops and barley shine through. The yeast used to brew lagers is slow-acting and thrives in cold environments.
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Color: Amber, gold Examples: Dogfish Head 60 Minute, Victory HopDevil, Firestone Walker Union Jack Description: Stands for India Pale Ale. These brews come in a wide range of styles based on region, but they are widely recognized for a bitter aftertaste (thanks to all the hops) and higher alcohol content.
STOUT Color: Dark brown, coffee Examples: Guinness, Founders Breakfast Stout, Kane Brewing A Night To End All Dawns Description: These heavy, dark beers include variations like porters, milk stouts and imperial stouts. Most stouts air on the sweeter side of the taste spectrum and offer notes of coffee, chocolate, fruit or currant. Typically, they have high alcohol contents starting around 8 percent alcohol by volume and rising to about 15 percent — rivaling a glass of wine. features@temple-news.com
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BAR GUIDE PAGE B5
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019 lager
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SOUR Color: Pale, amber Examples: Victory Sour Monkey, Anderson Valley Blood Orange Gose, Dogfish Head Seaquench Ale Description: A new trend in the beer world, sours are just that: a little sour. These brews get their pucker-worthy tastes from added acidic bacteria and wild yeast strains that brewers avoid in other beers. They take extra skill and high-profile equipment, so peep the price tag before ordering.
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WHEAT Color: Pale, amber Examples: Blue Moon, Shock Top Belgian White, 21st Amendment Hell or High Watermelon Description: These beers usually contain 30 to 70 percent wheat malt, and the resulting protein creates a hazy liquid. The cloudy, full-bodied brews offer a rich flavor without overwhelming and are complemented by citruses like grapefruit and orange.
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PILSNER Color: Straw, gold Examples: Pilsner Urquell, Victory Prima Pils, Trรถegs Sunshine Pils Description: A lager subset, pilsners are refreshing and easy to drink with a bit more of a kick than the standard lager. The most popular variations come from Germany, the Czech Republic and the United States.
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BAR GUIDE PAGE B6
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019
KENSINGTON
St. Benjamin Brewing mixes history, modern flair
Saint Benjamin Brewing Company was established with Benjamin Franklin in mind, who was an avid homebrewer.
DYLAN LONG / THE TEMPLE NEWS
The brewery lets customers taproom behind a large window with tions, including mac and cheese eggrolls watch the brewing process of its a historic Federal architecture style, so and vegan drumsticks. customers can watch the brewing proNamed after Benjamin Franklin, 12 beers. BY MICHAELA ALTHOUSE Deputy Features Editor Instead of a typical “closed” sign, the message on Saint Benjamin Brewing Company’s door reads, “Sorry, we’re dead.” But with a regular full house on early Saturday afternoons, it seems the only time the bar is “dead” is at closing. The micro-brewery on 5th Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue in Olde Kensington opened in 2014 in the old carriage house of the former Theodore Finkenauer’s Brewery, a pre-prohibition hotspot. The in-house brewery gives Philadelphia history a modern twist. It makes 12 types of beer and is next to the bar’s features@temple-news.com
cess while they drink. “When it comes to the beer, we are really committed to the process of making really well-crafted beer, and we try not to cut any corners,” said Tim Patton, the brewery’s owner and brewmaster. The brewery offers a rotating selection of house-made ales throughout the year, with some of the more colorful current offerings including an oatmeal stout, a sour Berliner Weisse and a barleywine aged in a bourbon barrel. In addition to its brews, Saint Benjamin serves unique cocktails, like a green-tea vodka lemonade and a selection of mead from the Montgomeryville, Pennsylvania, brewery Haymaker Meadery. Bartender Kate Hughes said many customers return to the brewery because of the vegan and vegetarian food op-
the brewery features a half-circle window above the front door and a parody photo of Franklin sitting atop a Mustang convertible with sunglasses in the bathroom. Busts of presidents’ heads also dot the bar. Hughes said working at Saint Benjamin is one of the best jobs she has ever had, crediting manager Beth Fox with creating a welcoming work environment. “It’s cool to work for someone who works so hard, and you can see it and feel it in the food,” Hughes said. The brewery also holds regular prix-fixe dinner events, like “Vegantine’s Day,” a five-course, plant-based Valentine’s Day meal complete with heartshaped beets. Saint Benjamin often donates beer
to community events, including block cleanups, Hughes said. Fox also tries to ensure all non-housemade drinks come from companies within 100 miles of Philadelphia. “We get to represent Philadelphia in that kind of a cool way,” Hughes said. Starting in March, the 32-ounce Art Bomb beer cans sold at the brewery will feature the winning designs from 12 local artists for their annual Art Bomb contest, in its second year. Those selected will have a single work of art displayed on the can for a month, and it will be sold at both the brewery and local farmers markets. “This would be a way to catch people’s eye on different beers whenever they saw it, instead of just having our normal bottle and can offering,” Patton said. “We just thought more variety would entice people to take another look at us.” Customers can tour the brewery, which is just a few steps away from the taproom, on Saturdays. Fishtown residents Mary and Jerome Baier recently visited the bar for the first time and said they liked the general “grungy” atmosphere. “That they make their own [beer] is a draw, as opposed to getting whatever other beer [elsewhere],” Jerome Baier said. Patton hopes that in addition to providing quality craft beer, Saint Benjamin can be a destination spot, similar to the Fishtown intersection of Frankford and Girard avenues — an area popular for bars like Garage Fishtown, Kosta’s, Frankford Hall and Johnny Brenda’s. “I rolled in here in 2012 with an idea of what I wanted the neighborhood to be like and then to see it really come to fruition,” Patton said. “[I’d like to] have this be what Frankford and Girard was 10 years ago, where it was the starting point and everything grew from that spot.” michaela.althouse@temple.edu @MichaelaAlthou1
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BAR GUIDE PAGE B7
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019
WEST PHILLY
Microbrewery doubles as a ‘neighborhood hub’ Dock Street Brewery was one bubbly. There’s just so much you can do, of the first post-prohibition craft and you can never get bored.” Adjacent to the brewpub is the Dock breweries in the United States. BY CARLEE CUNNINGHAM For The Temple News With more than 20,000 followers on Facebook and Instagram combined, Dock Street Brewery may have one of the largest followings of any brewery in Philadelphia. The brewery and accompanying brewpub, located in the Cedar Park neighborhood of West Philly, has a steady stream of regulars who come to relax in the refurbished firehouse. Dock Street was established in 1985 as one of Philadelphia’s first post-prohibition craft breweries and the city’s first microbrewery. It opened its first location on Cherry Street near 18th in 1989, then moved to its current spot in a century-old firehouse on 50th Street near Willows Avenue in 2007. Founders Rosemarie Certo and Jeffrey Ware wanted to shake things up in a world of watered-down lagers and beers made by large corporate companies like Bud Light and Miller Lite. “[Craft beer] was just really a totally uncharted territory,” said Renata Certo-Ware, the founders’ daughter who works as the brewery’s marketing and events coordinator. “One of our earlier slogans was that we were starting the craft beer revolution, and now there’s literally a brewpub on every corner.” Many of the brewery’s drafts are made on site and travel less than 65 feet from conditioning tanks to patrons’ glasses. Dock Street sells two staple beers, Royal Bohemian Pilsner and Amber Ale, that it has brewed since 2002. It also offers a newer staple: a rye IPA, an India pale ale characterized by its dry, spicy flavor. “There’s just a wide range and variety,” said Certo-Ware, who grew up in and around the brewery. “There’s beers that can feel chewy in your mouth, it’s very heavy, it’s syrupy, it’s sweet, it’s @TheTempleNews
Street Cannery and Tasting Loung, a garage-style space used for canning the beer that also features a lounge serving beer-inspired cocktails. The Cannery opened in 2017 and frequently hosts comedic and music events. Dock Street plans to open a second brewpub in June near the Point Breeze neighborhood. In 2018, Dock Street converted to using wind-powered energy via Philadelphia-based company Inspire. Larry Miller, the brewery’s general manager, said the spent grain, or the material leftover from the brewing process, gets donated to a local farm to be used as pig feed and has been made into pretzels by the South Philadelphia company Vegan Commissary. “It’s all about being creative with your waste,” Miller said. The brewpub’s dining room has boat sails draped across the ceiling, honoring the recent conversion to wind power, while also helping absorb sound. Dock Street offers $5 brewery tours on Saturdays, where guests can sample the latest brews. The bar offers a unique canned wheat beer named Bubbly Wit, made with yeast commonly used for champagne. There are always six rotating beers on tap and one in a cask. The brewpub is also known for its wood-fired pizza specialties, like Mellow Yellow, which has a mustard-based sauce. Sean Glass, who has bartended for five years at the brewpub, said he knows many of his customers by name. “I more often than not know most of the guests’ names that are sitting at my bar, and I’ve known them for years just from here,” Glass said. “You can tell what day of the week it is here by looking around the dining room and seeing the regulars.” Joe Hoban, a West Philadelphia resident, is one of Glass’s regulars. “I have liked almost every beer I’ve
CARLEE CUNNINGHAM / THE TEMPLE NEWS Patrons enjoy drinks on Thursday at Dock Street Brewery, which is one of the first microbreweries in Philadelphia.
ever drank here,” Hoban said. “Also, the pizza is phenomenal. Honestly, it’s one of the best pizzas in West Philly.” Past creative beers made at Dock Street include the Dock Street Walker, brewed with smoked goat brains, and Dock Street Beer Ain’t Nothin’ to Funk With, a golden saison made in celebration of 1990s hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan. Whether it’s unusual concoctions or standard brews, the beer is meant to
bring the neighborhood together, Certo-Ware said. “The greatest thing about beer is how democratic it is,” Certo-Ware said. “It’s brewed to be enjoyed by people, and it’s not an exclusive thing, like sometimes wine can be. It’s just about having a really loud and fun, good time together with people.” carlee.cunningham@temple.edu @carleeinthelab
features@temple-news.com
BAR GUIDE PAGE B8
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019
OLDE KENSINGTON
Fermentery Form brews fruity, tart conconctions
DYLAN LONG / THE TEMPLE NEWS Two patrons clink their drinks at Fermentery Form, a hidden brewery on Palethorp Street near Cecil B. Moore Avenue on Saturday.
Fermentery Form, a micro and Instagram. Ethan Tripp, the brewpub’s owner, brewpub in an alley, offers tart, fruity specialties and announces used to sit next to a pallet of beer cases with a cash box, giving out free sampop-up hours online. BY IAN WALKER Visuals Editor Tucked away in an alley in the heart of Olde Kensington, you wouldn’t notice the Fermentery Form brewery if you didn’t know where to look. On Palethorp Street, a pathway off Cecil B. Moore Avenue between 2nd and Hancock streets, the bar’s entrance is marked only by a single green light over the doorway. But that doesn’t keep away the crowds of people who gather at the bar, sit alongside a pyramid of wooden beer casks and socialize outside on the large, brick-walled patio. Dozens pack the brewery to sample “mixed fermentation” beers every Saturday from 2-8 p.m., as well as during rotating hours announced on Facebook features@temple-news.com
ples during special events at Fermentery Form. But visitors’ interest in the brewery quickly outpaced what he could handle. “At some point, you have to say, ‘People want to do this,’ meaning they want to hang out here and they want to drink here,” Tripp said. “So how can we make it happen?” To meet the demand, Tripp bought a small dual-tap kegerator — a refrigerator that holds a keg — and built a tasting room which he opened in Fall 2017. Fermentery Form is unlike most breweries, because Tripp brews every beer with a special house-mix culture of yeast and bacteria, he said. A traditional style of beer, like an ale or lager, is brewed with a single specific yeast. Mixing multiple yeasts and bac-
teria during the fermentation process, Tripp said, produces beers with a tarter, fruitier taste that Fermentery Form specializes in. “People aren’t typically used to hearing about bacteria in beer, but it’s a lot of the same microbes that would be used in making yogurt or fermented pickles,” Tripp said. The menu includes varieties like Soft, a white beer with orange juice, coriander and chamomile, and heavier beers like Merry Merry, a dark ale aged in bourbon and white wine barrels. Drinks are served by the glass or bottle, and Tripp encourages patrons to share with each other. “We’re not in it to get people smashed,” Tripp said. “We’re in it to get people flavor and also to have people share something.” Sam Cooper, a 2012 risk management and insurance alumnus who lives in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, has fre-
quented Fermentery Form since its inception. He invested in a now-discontinued membership program that allows him to call ahead any week and reserve bottles, he said. Cooper, 29, developed an interest in beer during his early 20s when his uncle introduced him to imported European beers. Fermentery Form’s focus on sour and wild ales helps distinguish it from other Philly breweries, Cooper said. Seeing the growth from two years ago to now has validated Tripp’s mission of showcasing mixed fermentation beers and introduced Cooper to a community of beer lovers, he said. “Everyone here is just awesome,” Cooper added. “Everyone’s trying to do the same thing: find good beer and drink good beer with good company.” Outside on the patio on Feb. 16, a group of five friends talked over a round of drinks during their first trip to Fermentery Form. They liked how the atmosphere felt like a cross between a wine bar and a traditional brewery. “Their beers are very unique,” said Kelly Benesh, 29. “Other breweries in Philly, you’re not going to get the sour, the tart, the bourbon-barrel fermented. You’re going to get your run-of-the-mill India pale ales and pilsners, so I think it has something different to offer.” “This is a place that I would take someone who was like, ‘I don’t like beer that much,’” said Benesh’s friend Frannie Bower, 28. Among new breweries, Tripp sees a trend toward establishing a niche market and focusing on the local community, not trying to become the next big “regional player,” he said. “I don’t know why people think if you make something good, everyone should have it in the next six states,” Tripp said. “Maybe it’s better if people have to go out of the way to get your special version.” ian.walker@temple.edu @ian_walker12
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FEATURES TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019
PAGE 13
LIVE IN PHILLY
Kids knead sugary treats with Federal Donuts chef The Free Library of Philadelphia’s Culinary Literacy Center partnered with Federal Donuts to host a donut-making class at its Parkway Central branch on Vine Street near 19th on Saturday. The class gave children ages 5-12 hands-on experience making donuts. Participants started by making dough from scratch, led by Matt Fein, a Federal Donuts chef. “It brings me a little joy to see others having fun and being able to pass on knowledge of something I work with every day,” said Fein, 32, a Cherry Hill, New Jersey resident. “It’s cool to see children loving donuts and loving the process.” After making the dough, children decorated and ate pre-made miniature donuts. They could take their extra dough home to bake later. “We love Federal Donuts, and we wanted to learn how they make the donuts,” said Michael Hammond, 45, a Fairmount resident who attended the class with his 6-year-old daughter Sofia. @TheTempleNews
LUKE SMITH / THE TEMPLE NEWS features@temple-news.com
FEATURES PAGE 14
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019
FACULTY
Capstone explores sexism in medieval literature An English professor is writing the obscenity in Middle English literher second book about gender ature taught readers both positive and harmful lessons about sexuality and conroles in alehouse literature. BY TYRA BROWN Entertainment Beat Reporter Carissa Harris’s inspiration for studying medieval literature comes from her great-grandmother. “She was the one who made me aware that it is important to know women’s history and to think about how the past ties into the present,” said Harris, a Temple University English professor. Harris specializes in medieval literature with a focus on gender, sexuality and sexual violence. She created the capstone course Wine, Women, and Wicked Words: Medieval Alehouse Literature, which explores English and Scottish alewife poems, jolly drinking songs and cautionary tales about drunkenness from 1350-1550. She teaches students about how alehouse women, or women who brewed beer in this time period, were ostracized because of their gender. Harris’s course inspired her books. Her first, “Obscene Pedagogies,” was released last December and explores how
VOICES Where do you like to go out in the city and why?
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sent. She’s now writing “The Poetics of Rage,” which will feature a section dedicated to how anger was misconstrued to depict women as irrational and unreliable, and how similar issues arise in modern day social movements like Black feminism, Harris said. “We are obviously not the same as Middle England because technology is different and we don’t use cabbage leaves for toilet paper anymore, but lots of our cultural ideas around drinking and sexuality are more similar than we realize,” Harris said. “It’s important to recognize that history.” Ashleigh Cunningham, an English graduate student, is mentored by Harris. Cunningham said Harris’s work stands out because of her love for the topic. “Her passionate work is gritty, and it brings attention to certain medieval topics that no one talks about,” Cunningham said. “She exposes the ignored violence and sexism in the medieval genre.” In the class, Harris uses poetry to combat the stereotypes surrounding alehouse women in literature. Books often describe these women as “causing may-
hem,” or engaging in other disorderly conduct, like getting drunk and flashing men, Harris said. “These stereotypes include the idea that women are sex workers if they are involved with the brewing industry, and that’s not necessarily true,” she added. Historical records show mayhem during this time period primarily involved men drinking too much, gambling and getting into knife fights, Harris said. Additionally, coroner’s records detailed the deaths of numerous men killed in drunken disputes. “The concepts that we discuss show us that gender victimization existed in the past and how it still does now,” Harris said. “It’s a useful course because it ultimately shows how history and the literature inform each other.” Students dive into the social aspects of alehouses and how they created a free space for women to talk about friendships and intimate relationships. “These alehouses enabled women to get together and talk about their husbands and intimate lives while being able to drink excessively,” Harris said. “These spaces got pretty serious at times.” The class also examines at medieval jolly drinking songs. The songs are “fun,
repetitive and easy to learn,” Harris said, comparing them to the 2009 hip-hop song “Shots” by LMFAO. Kyle Baskin, a junior English major and Diamond Peer teacher for Harris, said he admires Harris’s ability to link the past to the present in her work. “She is able to connect the then and now,” Baskin said. “Her studies open new doors for the medieval literature field.” For Harris, her great-grandmother’s inability to receive an education is a prime example of how misogyny and racism disempower people both historically and currently. Born in the 1910s, Harris’s great-grandmother only received an eighth-grade education until she could pursue high school and college education later in life. She always hoped Harris would achieve what she couldn’t, Harris added. “My grandmother always told me that I would write a book about the important untouched stories of the past,” Harris said. “My studies with my students allowed me to make this dream happen.” tyra.brown@temple.edu @tyrabrown_
DAVID LOVING Junior advertising major
NATALIE HORN Sophomore geography and urban studies major
Right in Center City I go to a lot of comedy clubs. Fergie’s, Good Good Comedy Club, those places are fun.
South Street. I just like the thrift shops, and I think they have really cool restaurants when it’s warm out. I remember it being super crowded the first time I went, and it was just really cool.
GAIL BASCIANO Sophomore biology major
NAT KITAW Graduate statistics student
I like Rittenhouse and Chestnut Street by Rittenhouse because it’s good shopping and good food, and the food isn’t that expensive.
Fishtown, Northern Liberties. Good food, good people, and I live there.
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INTERSECTION TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019
PAGE 15
Intersection Editor Claire Wolters (right) embraces her best friend Ally Mirin, a Cornell University junior, on Sunday on Liacouras Walk.
HANNAH PITTEL / REFINE MAGAZINE
THE ESSAYIST
Through thick and thin: an unexpected friendship The Intersection Editor writes versity, she was at Oberlin College — ice and threw handfuls against the out- ited Ally. It felt strange to wear snug, hip-hugging party clothes instead of the about forming a lasting but neither name is relevant now. We side wall. We saw beauty in each other that we loose pajamas and non-slip socks we friendship in a residential facility. stayed at the facility for approximately BY CLAIRE WOLTERS Intersection Editor
I met my best friend in the hospital. We bonded over black bean burgers and nutritional milkshakes that tasted like gasoline. We gossiped about cute boys, frustrating doctors and other patients we dubbed as “insane.” We shared secrets, like never-before-told stories of the times our bodies had physically collapsed in faints or seizures from our anorexia — and we shared fears about the future. We worried about what would happen to us if we never outgrew our diseases — and what would happen if we did and we could no longer recognize ourselves. Ally and I were both admitted to a residential facility for eating disorder recovery in Fall 2015, what could have been the first semester of our freshman years of college. I was at Emory Uni@TheTempleNews
five weeks before discharging, relapsing and being admitted into higher intensive care facilities in February. At the time, my therapists and nutritionists warned me not to make friends in the hospital. These types of relationships could be toxic, they said. People with eating disorders tend to be competitive and could compete to stay sick or lose weight. Regardless, we were so malnourished that our minds could not create lasting memories or make good decisions. To an extent, they were correct. I have blurry memories of my time in the center — even foggier from my days at Emory — but my friendship with Ally was always clear. She was vibrant — everything from her rose-colored hair to high-pitched laugh — and she was slow to judge. When my nutritionist added an extra snack to my meal plan, Ally hugged me throughout my hour-long cry. When it happened again, we grabbed a bucket of
couldn’t see in ourselves. And eventually, I’d like to think we helped each other look inward, too. When we gave college a second try in Fall 2016 — I at Temple University and she at Cornell University — we relied on each other for support. A simple text message went a long way, especially coming from someone in the same position as me. When other girls dieted to counteract the freshman 15, we texted each other reminders that the refeeding process was more painful than any accidental weight gain. The refeeding process is prescribed to patients who need to regain a large amount of weight and involves increasing calorie intake in safe intervals. I still shudder when I think of the constant knots in my throat and bloat in my stomach that occurred during those winter months, when the best part of my day was receiving my nightly acid-reducing pill. For spring break that year, I vis-
adorned so frequently in the hospital. It felt liberating as well. This was our first time spending more than a few hours together outside of a treatment center. Though we met barely more than a year before, we appeared as if we had known each other for life. In a way, we had — she was the only friend to see me at my lowest, and the first to see me apart from my disorder. I was the same for her. That night, we drank too much alcohol, took too many sloppy photos and savored late-night fries at the Cornell diner. “Look,” Ally whispered when I looked up, mid-munch. She pointed to the fries, to the alcohol — “us.” clairewolters@temple.edu @ClaireWolters
intersection@temple-news.com
INTERSECTION PAGE 16
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019
NEDA
Anorexia nervosa: A non-discriminatory disease Professionals and people in sistant clinical director at The Renfrew recovery discuss how eating Center of Philadelphia. “Women are at greater risk of developing an eating disdisorders affect all genders. BY CLAIRE WOLTERS Intersection Editor Until 2013, the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders defined anorexia nervosa as a women’s disease. Diagnostic criteria for anorexia, which is still characterized as a restriction of energy intake and refusal to gain weight despite being underweight, included “amenorrhea,” or the loss of three consecutive menstrual cycles, in the DSM-IV-TR. This was removed from the definition in the DSM-V. In actuality, anorexia, which has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness, according to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, affects people of all genders. Factors like the previous DSM criteria, long-standing gender stereotypes, and female-only treatment centers, serve to reinforce the idea that only women suffer from anorexia and deter people of other genders from seeking help. Jacob Kurtz, a senior community development major, struggled with anorexia in middle school when he discovered he identified as gay. The perceived normalcy of over-exercising in males, combined with the lack of visibility from male role models in the body positivity movement discouraged him and others from talking about his disorder, Kurtz said. “Even though I did have [an eating disorder] and it still impacts me today… I feel like it’s almost not my space to talk about it,” Kurtz said. Widely known treatment centers like The Renfrew Center, which has a residential facility in Philadelphia, admits women and transgendered people to their programs, but not men. “When we opened in 1985, we were quite connected to the feminist movement,” said Dr. Samantha DeCaro, an asintersection@temple-news.com
order [and] there was a need for women to have a safe place to recover from their eating disorders without just being refed.” In the last couple years, the program expanded its intake to include transgender women and nonbinary individuals, DeCaro said. “There is a need for the LGBTQ community to have treatment and have good treatment,” DeCaro said. “We realized that we needed to make it clear that we were able to, that we were welcoming to them as well.” Ilana Sawyer, 27, came out as transgender while in recovery at The Renfrew Center of Northern New Jersey in Summer 2017. Though recognizing their gender identity helped Sawyer move forward in their recovery from anorexia and bulimia, they did not feel comfortable discussing this in treatment. “Needless to say, I did not explain my gender awakening in therapy at Renfrew,” Sawyer said. State licensure and gendered stigma may also contribute to these regulations and the stereotype that eating disorders are for women. “When eating disorder treatment first started, it was definitely seen as more of a female issue than it was male,” said Tamie Gangloff, the regional outreach manager for the Monte Nido Eating Disorder Center of Philadelphia. “Sure, there’s definitely a higher incidence of eating disorders in females. However, we see it in all genders.” Monte Nido offers treatment centers nationwide and recently opened a gender-inclusive residential in Long Island, New York and will be opening one in Maryland later this year, Gangloff said. Their older residential facilities are not. “We had gone back to see if we could try to change some of that licensure, but that’s a challenge,” Gangloff said. “Moving forward with our newer facilities, we
DYLAN LONG / THE TEMPLE NEWS Jacob Kurtz, a senior community development major, struggled with anorexia in middle school.
are able to do that.” During their own recovery, Sawyer’s father died from anorexia in January 2019 while being treated in a Philadelphia hospital. His gender was a barrier that stopped him from getting sufficient help, they said. Their father who died was their biological father’s husband, who took on the role of Sawyer’s “second dad” when they were 7-years-old. “The gay community has a problem with body image, especially in men,” Sawyer said. “I don’t think he really knew how to ask for help or where to ask until it became too late.” “There’s definitely a higher percentage of gay males that have eating disorders,” Gangloff said. “There’s different societal pressures to be thinner, be a certain size and look a certain way.” Among males who have eating disorders, 42 percent are gay, according to the National Eating Disorders Association. Looking back, Kurtz saw this problem.
“If you’re a kid and you look up ‘gay,’ you see the stereotypical gay man that’s a white, toned guy,” he added. “So I’m looking at that… and I’m looking at myself in the mirror. I’m not that. So how do I get there?” Statistics about the number of men and transgender individuals struggling with eating disorders are likely under reported, Gangloff said. There is not one type of eating disorder patient and there is not one type of eating disorder. “One of the struggles is getting [a man’s or transgender’s] family to see that this is a serious eating disorder,” Gangloff said. “I think it doesn’t get notice until it’s very severe for that reason.” “Once more treatment centers are able to treat all genders, it will take some of that stigma away,” Gangloff added. clairewolters@temple.edu @ClaireWolters Editor’s note: Jacob Kurtz is a freelance reporter for The Temple News. He had no role in the editing or reporting of this story.
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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019
NEDA
An eating disorder’s place at the dinner table Students discuss how their said Tracey Borgstrom, Emma Borgeating disorder impacted their strom’s mother. “I felt like the bad guy.” Family members and supportive families. BY LAUREN REMY For The Temple News In 2017, nightly dinners in the Borgstrom household were laced with tension and conflict. The family would argue over whether or not their daughter, Emma, would finish her dinner. Or they would refuse to speak to each other altogether — letting their fears hang in the silence. “Eating disorders aren’t just about the person suffering,” said Emma Borgstrom, a freshman kinesiology major, who struggled with anorexia for six years of her life, beginning at age 12. “It affects so many people.” A person’s battle with their eating disorder can make them unreachable to family members and friends, registered dietitian nutritionist Crystal Karges wrote in an article for Eating Disorder Hope, an organization that raises awareness and education about eating disorders and recovery. “Eating disorders often exist as the antithesis to relationships...” Karges wrote in February 2017. “...Typically, as an eating disorder grows stronger within a person, relationships with family members and loved ones become strained and gradually diminish.” In the throes of her disorder, Borgstrom restricted herself to certain foods and ate different meals than the rest of her family. Borgstrom’s unhealthy relationship with food affected her relationships with loved ones and interfered with her family’s feeling of togetherness. Loved ones may also experience guilt when trying to help someone through an eating disorder, said Janie Egan, the mental well-being program coordinator at the Wellness Resource Center. “It’s very difficult when somebody doesn’t want [help] and you’re trying,”
@TheTempleNews
friends can help a loved one experiencing an eating disorder by educating themselves and preparing themselves for negative reactions, according to the National Eating Disorder Association, a nonprofit providing support for people affected by eating disorders. NEDA also recommends strategies like using “I” statements and avoiding the urge to offer oversimplified solutions, like “just eat,” to the person struggling. Lauren Platz, a junior global studies and economics major, struggled with anorexia from 5th to 8th grade. In the depths of her disorder, she behaved aggressively and selfishly, Platz said. “You’re constantly in survival mode. You have a shorter temper, you are withdrawn,” she added. “I said a lot of things that I think I didn’t mean.” Setting boundaries, making compromises and following through with self-care routines — like eating nourishing foods, getting enough sleep and self-reflecting — are ways someone can care for themselves and their loved one, Egan said. It can be helpful for people in supportive roles to see their own counselor, which some people don’t consider, Egan added. Emma Borgstrom’s journey through recovery ultimately shaped her as a person and brought her family closer together. She and her mom now co-run a recovery blog called Rooted that focuses on helping people with eating disorders and their loved ones. “Until someone goes through this with someone, they have no idea what or how difficult of a disease it is,” Tracey Borgstrom said. “If anyone is going through this, I would say don’t judge and just support, and listen.” laremy@temple.edu
HANNAH PITTEL / REFINE MAGAZINE Emma Borgstrom (right), a freshman kinesiology major, and Magdalena Becker, a junior journalism major, are both students in recovery from eating disorders. Borgstrom now co-runs a blog to help people with eating disordrs and their loved ones.
intersection@temple-news.com
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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019
NEDA
Athletes talk about perfectionism in competition Eating disorders are common in high school and college athletes. BY TARA DOLL For The Temple News College athletes are at risk of developing eating disorders due to the physical and psychological stress that can result from competition. More than one-third of female NCAA Division I athletes reported symptoms that placed them at risk for anorexia in a 1999 study. More than 90 percent of college athletic trainers working with female athletes reported working with someone with an eating disorder, according to the National Eating Disorders Association. “It is very common to see it, and I think it’s something that should be talked about more,” said Katie Leisher, a senior social work major and distance runner on Temple’s cross country and track and field teams who developed an eating disorder during high school. “It needs to be discussed more in order for it to be prevented and just to let other people know that there are treatment options out there.” Leisher’s disorder began when she was a cheerleader and varied in intensity throughout her high school years. Now, she is in recovery and sometimes struggles with disordered eating but has developed healthy coping mechanisms. In a 2011 Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy survey of female high school athletes in aesthetic sports like cheerleading, 41.5 percent of people reported disordered eating and were eight times more likely to incur an injury than those without. “I was severely underweight and very depressed with much anxiety to the point I thought of nothing but food and losing weight,” Leisher said. “I would only eat certain foods and barely ate anything all day before practice.” When she stopped cheerleading and began track as a high school sophomore, intersection@temple-news.com
DYLAN LONG / THE TEMPLE NEWS Katie Leisher, a senior social work major and runner on the track and cross country teams, is in recovery from an eating disorder.
Leisher gained weight and implemented healthier habits to improve her running performance. But, her old habits crept up during her junior and senior years and she fell back into her struggle with disordered eating. Perfectionist tendencies in athletes can contribute to eating disorders, according to a 2006 article by Stanford University Psychiatry professors. “For athletes specifically, there’s a lot of pressure,” said Lori Lorditch, Student Health Services’ campus nutritionist and a registered dietician. “They’re trying to perform the best that they can, but also perform academically and maintain a certain GPA [and] find time to study when they’re traveling across the country,” Lorditch added. Sports requiring athletes to maintain certain body types, wear uniforms revealing their body shapes or participate in “weigh-ins” can put athletes at an even higher risk for eating disorders, Lorditch said. These factors can also contribute to struggles with body image. In track, cross country, and other endurance sports, athletes can partake in
diets or weight loss activities to attempt to run faster. “Sometimes, individuals will think, ‘If I weigh less, then [I’ll] run faster or I’m going to perform better,’” Lorditch said. “That’s not always the case.” For Leisher, her eating disorder was detrimental to her sport. “Not eating enough has affected my running performances throughout college,” Leisher said. “There’s a fine line of working hard and working too hard for my body. I’ve learned more rest is important for me to perform my best.” Leisher advises others who are struggling to ask for help. “Talk to your coach about it,” she said. “Talk to a close teammate or friend, someone who understands, and then go from there. If you’re aware of it yourself, you need treatment or help so it doesn’t become worse.” Students can seek help at Tuttleman Counseling Services’ Eating and Body Image Concerns Unit. They can also access other treatment centers in Philadelphia like Seeds of Hope, a service center that offers day treatments like
group therapy and meal practice, or the Renfrew Center in Philadelphia, which offers residential treatments and monitored meals for people seeking a higher level of care. “[Student-athletes] need to know the dangers that they are doing to their body,” Lorditch said. “They need to really be educated on why they need to fuel their body properly and how they can do that in a healthful way.” Impaired immune functions, difficulties concentrating, dizziness, anemia and muscle loss are just some symptoms that can result from disordered eating. For athletes with already low body-fat percentages, these symptoms may manifest quickly. “I want my teammates and others to know that health and mental health comes first,” Leisher said. “I hope that any athlete going through this receives the support they deserve so they can do what they love without it holding them back.” tara.doll@temple.edu
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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019
NEDA
Exploring what it’s like to have an ED in college The Intersection Editor and REFINE Editor-in-Chief explain this week’s issue. BY CLAIRE WOLTERS & SARAH MADAUS For The Temple News and REFINE Magazine Dear Readers,
This year’s National Eating Disorders Awareness Week is titled “Come as You Are,” and The Temple News’ Intersection and REFINE created a collaborative issue to do just that. Together, we’re highlighting the real struggles with eating disorders, and the real joys of recovery. Throughout the week, we’ll share personal stories, report on eating disorders in Division I athletics and discuss how eating disorders can manifest in people of any gender. We’ll also report on success — how weight training can aid recovery and how a cycling instructor changed her teaching style based on her own recovery journey. You can find the full collaboration on temple-news.com and refinemagazine. com, along with videos and photos. We hope that this collaboration informs you about the reality of living with an eating disorder in college and fosters healthy conversations about how to recover from these diseases.
Eating Disorder Resources Tuttleman Counseling Services, Eating and Body Image Concerns
https://counseling.temple.edu/eating-and-body-image-concerns-unit (215) 204-7276 1700 N. Broad St.
Drexel University: The WELL Clinic
https://drexel.edu/coas/academics/departments-centers/ well-center/clinic/ (215) 553-7500 3201 Chestnut Street (Stratton Hall) 2nd Floor
Seeds of Hope
https://seedsofhope.pyramidhealthcarepa.com/locations/ philadelphia/ (610) 557-8250 1420 Walnut St., Suite 500
The Renfrew Center of Philadelphia
Sincerely, Claire Wolters, Intersection Editor of The Temple News Sarah Madaus, Founder & Editor-in-Chief of REFINE Magazine
http://renfrewcenter.com/locations/residential/renfrew-philadelphia-pa-eating-disorder-treatment-center 1-800-736-3739 475 Spring Lane
NEDA Helpline
Explore our NEDA Week coverage on temple-news.com and refinemagazine.com.
@TheTempleNews
https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/help-support/contact-helpline By phone (800-931-2237), online chat or text
Crisis Helpline (24/7)
https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org 1-800-273-8255
intersection@temple-news.com
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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019
NEDA
Social media’s effect on EDs: Does it spark joy?
A student argues that people should unfollow social media accounts that reinforce negative body images. BY MAGDALENA BECKER For REFINE Magazine If you’re reading this, you’re probably 18-20 years old and use social media every day. Bear with me, I’m going to make one more assumption about you. At some point, while using social media — be it Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr — you’ve compared yourself to another person. So what? Well, professionals say these sorts of comparisons can be detrimental to a person’s mental health — especially if that person is struggling with an eating disorder. To care for your own well-being, it can be a good idea to take a break from social media. My advice? Go through every account you follow, and unfollow any that make you feel negative about yourself. Let me hit you with some statistics real quick, and I promise they are not only relevant but also interesting. American adults spend more than 11 hours per day interacting with media, according to the first-quarter 2018 Nielsen Total Audience Report. More than 11 hours per day. Imagine if you watched the same news broadcast company for nine hours every day. Eventually, what you watch influences your point of view and opinions. The same goes for social media. Time spent scrolling through feeds and timelines can affect how we think and, eventually, how we see ourselves. When I was living with anorexia, I abused social media. I searched eating-disorder-related hashtags and, with a tap of my finger, accessed an extensive showcase of harmful images. I saw girls on scales with torn, bleeding skin and intersection@temple-news.com
“inspirational” quotes glamorizing starvation. Though some platforms provided options to avoid these kinds of content by clicking pop-ups like “Get Support,” they were a weak barrier against my eating disorder. Eating disorder patients frequently use social media, specifically hashtag searches on Instagram, to find ways to become sicker, said Samantha DeCaro, the assistant clinical director at the Renfrew Center of Philadelphia, a treatment facility. “When you have an eating disorder, you’re always searching for things that confirm those eating disorder beliefs,” DeCaro said. “That can be really dangerous.” “There’s a lot of misinformation out there about nutrition, what your measurements should be,” she added. “You develop this false sense of belonging, of connection, and that can further reinforce what you’re doing.” Swiping between these horrific images and the smiling feeds of my friends further messed with my mind. My friends’ “beautiful” photos made me feel ugly and unworthy, and my dark searches offered ways to punish myself for that. Lara Nalbandian, the coordinator of the Eating Disorders Unit at Tuttleman Counseling Services, has watched unhealthy relationships between body image and social media intertwine for years. “We hear constantly in the clinical room, and in doing therapy, the influence it has on people’s body image and the way that we process media,” Nalbandian said. The relationship between media and body image is not a new one. Women and men, particularly young women, have been comparing themselves to popular figures for decades, whether they be in magazines or television, Nalbandian said. And processing visual information from social media can alter the brain’s reward system, Nalbandian added. Likes on social media can trigger a dopamine
HANNAH PITTEL / REFINE MAGAZINE Magdalena Becker, a junior journalism major, sits in the Skywalk connecting Alter Hall and 1810 Liacouras Walk.
high, sometimes referred to as a dopamine seeking-reward loop, according to a 2018 article by psychologist Susan Weinschenk for Psychology Today. The absence of those likes can cause users to feel insecure. In my own experience, I compared myself to people I saw on social media. When I received physical and chemical reactions to being “liked,” I chased them. “With a simple hashtag, suddenly you are flooded with images that you can compare yourself to,” DeCaro said. “Because Instagram and other social media sites are primarily image-based
content…comparing is yet another thing that can fuel the fire.” Instead, smother the flames by practicing self-care. Regulate the images you expose yourself to and remind yourself those images are often not real. These images might be contrived, posed, Facetuned or edited images of someone, and they don’t represent the complete picture of a person’s life. Take control of your feed, and only choose to see what brings you joy. magdalena.becker@temple.edu
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SPORTS PAGE 22
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019
CLUB BASEBALL
Owls look to ride historic start into spring season
LUKE SMITH / THE TEMPLE NEWS Nick Delp, the club president and a senior catcher and first baseman, hits a pitch during practice at the Student Pavilion on Monday.
have any bench players,” he added. “EvTemple looks to continue its March 9. The Owls beat Chesapeake Region erybody’s playing, everybody’s involved.” winning record in the spring North Conference teams Rider UniverFourteen athletes have played in at season, which starts on March 9.
BY DONOVAN HUGEL For The Temple News Temple University’s club baseball team will start the spring season with its best record since the program began in Fall 2014. After posting a 15-9 record and going on a deep playoff run last season, the Owls went 10-0 in the fall and are ranked No. 6 in the National Club Baseball Association Division II rankings. The spring season will begin on
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sity and Villanova last season, resulting in a 6-0 conference play record. Before the fall season started, the Owls’ team leaders felt they could go on a run like this to start the season. The offense leads the charge, as the team is hitting .400 and averaging 11.9 runs per game. “We were really confident going into this year after we selected the team,” said Nick Delp, the club president and a senior catcher and first baseman. “This is the best group we could’ve picked.” “I can honestly say that we don’t
least half of the Owls’ games in the fall. Underclassmen like sophomore outfielder Joe Capri, sophomore infielder Bobby Steven and freshman infielder Drew Chiappa have contributed to the team’s offensive play. In their first seasons with the Owls, Capri is 8-for-13 with 12 RBIs and Chiappa is 7-for-21 and has scored 10 runs. Steven is 6-for-17, three hits shy of last season’s total, with five RBIs. “Everyone’s just doing their job really well,” Steven said. “No one’s trying to do too much. We all just try and rally
off each other. And we’ve done a great job of that.” Junior shortstop and pitcher Christian Dekker has had a strong start to the season, continuing his success from last year. In 2017-18, he and 2018 accounting alumnus first baseman Jordan Pocrass became the program’s first two All-Americans. In his only game at shortstop this year, Dekker went 2-for-4 and scored a run. Dekker’s strongest impact has come when he is pitching. In three starts, Dekker has two complete games and hasn’t allowed any runs so far to contribute to the team’s 3.77 ERA. Dekker has struck out 21 batters in 18 innings pitched. “Experience really, really helped me in building up my arm strength, and throwing in small increments and then building up to becoming a starter,” Dekker said. Dekker isn’t the only upperclassman off to a hot start. Delp and junior infielder Nick Zambella have led the way on offense. Delp is 16-for-25 with 14 RBI and one grand slam. Zambella, who has played all 10 games, has 12 hits and 10 RBI. The Owls have routinely pressured opposing pitchers with stolen 23 bases. Capri and junior outfielder Scott Cummings lead the team with three steals each. The Owls will play a double-header against conference foe Monmouth University. “We all had the confidence that whoever we did end up choosing was going to help us and do whatever they could to help us win,” Dekker added. donovan.hugel@temple.edu @donohugel
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SPORTS PAGE 23
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019
FENCING
Seniors ‘leave everything on the strip’ this season
The Owls’ five seniors competed wins. Last season, the Owls earned 26 they’ve just gotten better as time has tum going.” After the NIWFA Championships in their last dual meet on Sunday wins, including Franke’s 800th of her gone on.” career, and two current seniors helped All of the seniors’ parents attended and regionals, one of the Owls’ goals is at McGonigle Hall. BY ALEX McGINLEY Fencing Beat Reporter The Temple Invitational is the Owls’ favorite meet of the season. But it’s also a bittersweet one, junior sabre Kerry Plunkett said. During Sunday’s competition at McGonigle Hall, Temple University honored the seniors from all participating schools, including their own. Epees Fiona Fong and Ally Micek, foil Auset Muhammad and sabres Jessica Rockford and Blessing Olaode provided strong leadership during the past two seasons, coach Nikki Franke said. In 2017, the current seniors helped Temple set a program record with 34
the sabre squad rack up 30 wins, the second-highest total in program history. This year, the seniors’ leadership helped Temple (25-8) earn the No. 7 ranking in the CollegeFencing360.com poll. The Owls nearly matched last season’s win total, despite facing five fewer teams. In its final dual meet of the season, Temple finished 4-1 in the Temple Invitational with its only loss coming from No. 4 Penn State. Micek led her squad in wins in her last dual meet, including three combined victories against No. 9 Penn and No. 10 Princeton University. “We wouldn’t be the team we are right now without them,” Franke said. “Their leadership has been great these last two years. They came in strong and
Sunday’s meet and came to the court during the ceremony. “It’s really nice to celebrate with other teams and people you’ve grown up with,” Plunkett said. Now, the Owls enter postseason play. Temple will compete at the National Intercollegiate Women’s Fencing Association Championships on Saturday in Madison, New Jersey. Then the Owls will compete at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Regional on March 9 in Easton, Pennsylvania. The Owls will attempt to win their 23rd consecutive NIWFA title. “It’s a tournament we’ve done well at in the past,” Franke said. “It’s the beginning of our postseason. We have to do well there, so we can keep the momen-
to have one fencer from each weapon qualify for the NCAA championships in Cleveland on March 23 and 24, Olaode said. Last season, seniors made postseason milestones. Fong made her first appearance at the regional meet, while Olaode served as an alternate and nearly competed at the NCAA championships. She and the other seniors want to close their careers on a high note. “I want to give it my all and leave everything on the strip,” Olaode added. “I don’t want to have any regrets going into the end of the season, so I’m just ready to kill it.” alex.mcginley@temple.edu @mcginley_alex
GYMNASTICS
Sophomore develops important all-around role Monica Servidio has set careerThis season, Servidio has set perhighs and competed in the all- sonal bests in the vault, bars, beam, floor around seven times. and all-around events. On Feb. 5, ServiBY GRAHAM FOLEY For The Temple News As Temple University women’s gymnastics practice wound down last Tuesday, Monica Servidio jumped on the uneven bars. Suddenly everyone’s eyes were on her. Cheers of, “Let’s go Mon!” and, “You got this, Mon!” filled the room as coach Josh Nilson barked instructions with his head up and his hands on his knees, watching intently. The sophomore planted the landing, and the gym went wild. Servidio has established herself as one of Temple’s most valuable gymnasts. She has competed in all four events — vault, bars, beam and floor — in seven of eight meets to score in the all-around competition. @TTN_Sports @TheTempleNews
dio was named the Eastern College Athletic Conference Gymnast of the Week for the second time in her career. “Hearing everybody definitely helps a lot,” Servidio said after practice on Feb. 19. “You just know that your teammates are behind you, cheering for you, and that helps you to just do what you have to do and takes your mind off of things a little bit.” Servidio competed in 10 meets last season but served as the all-around just twice. Avoiding nagging injuries and making adjustments, like changing her release on the bars, have helped her handle her increased role and greater responsibility, she said. She has also made internal improvements since her freshman year. “I had to change my mentality and basically just take one event at a time and focus on them individually and not
overwhelm myself with all of them at the same time,” Servidio said. “I just started trusting myself more and gaining more confidence as the preseason went on, so that’s really how it set up the foundation for this year.” Nilson developed a plan for Servidio called the “Impact Schedule” through which she only trains twice a week. Tuesday is her “heavy” day, while the second day of the week is a lighter workout. “A lot of gymnasts think they need to train four, five days a week but then they run out of steam,” Nilson said. “But with her, every weekend she’s healthy, she’s fresh and she’s ready to go.” Servidio has two more seasons left to lead the Owls. She hasn’t let any success get to her head, and she prefers to focus on working hard and helping her teammates instead of achieving individual glory, Nilson said. While she doesn’t have long-term plans for her collegiate career, Nilson
does. Nilson believes Servidio could represent Temple at the NCAA championships in Fort Worth, Texas, on April 19 and 20, he said. “It would be absolutely massive,” Nilson added. “It would be huge for her, huge for Temple, but it’s totally doable. It’s absolutely realistic.” Nilson saw Servidio’s potential right away just from her stats in a limited freshman season. Servidio only competed in the vault following injuries sustained in mid-February 2018. But with the right plan in place, Nilson knew Servidio’s sophomore season, and the rest of her career, could be special. “If you look at stats, it’s hard to be an all-arounder,” Nilson said. “...It’s because every day in here she works her tail off. All preseason, she worked her tail off. She never complained. And that’s amazing for a coach.” graham.foley@temple.edu @graham_foley3
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SPORTS TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019
PAGE 24
MEN’S BASKETBALL
BYE, BYE,
BY E.
Temple can clinch its first first-round bye in the conference tournament since 2015-16 by beating Memphis on Tuesday.
BY MICHAEL ZINGRONE Co-Sports Editor
T
emple University has a chance to solidify its spot as one of the top teams in the American Athletic Conference on Tuesday. If the Owls (20-7, 10-4 The American) beat fifth-place Memphis on Tuesday, they’ll clinch a first-round bye in the conference tournament, which the Tigers (17-11, 9-6 The American) will host from March 14-17. The top four teams in the league earn first-round byes in the conference tournament, at which the Owls can improve their NCAA Tournament chances with a strong showing or clinch an automatic bid by winning. Houston has already clinched a spot in the top four while four teams — Cincinnati, Temple, Central Florida and Memphis — are fighting for the final three spots. Temple hasn’t had a bye in the conference tournament since it won The American’s regular-season championship in the 2015-16 season — the last time the Owls made an NCAA Tournament appearance. sports@temple-news.com
JUSTIN OAKES / THE TEMPLE NEWS Senior guard Shizz Alston Jr. (left) drives to the basket during the Owls’ 84-73 win against Tulsa on Saturday at the Liacouras Center.
Senior guard Shizz Alston Jr. understands the importance of Tuesday’s matchup and said the Owls need to start fast to beat Memphis. “You have to know what you’re playing for,” Alston said after Temple defeated Tulsa, 84-73, on Saturday at the Liacouras Center. “It’s a little extra motivation to know that every game’s a championship game. With that being said, we just got to focus on ourselves right now and try to get as many wins as possible.” A win against Memphis would give Temple a bye in the postseason tournament and, more importantly, a valuable opportunity to finish third in the conference. Temple is tied for third with UCF, with the Knights holding a head-to-head win against the Owls. Both teams have two more conference losses than second-place Cincinnati (23-4, 12-2 The American). By finishing third, Temple would avoid a potential conference tournament matchup with Houston (26-1, 13-1 The American), the first-place team in The
American, until the championship game on March 17. This season, Temple split its two matchups against the Cougars, the No. 8 team in the Associated Press Top 25. The final stretch of games features several top-four teams facing each other, which could alter the standings. Houston, Cincinnati and UCF (20-6, 10-4 The American) play each other one more time before the season ends. However, positioning in the top four might not be decided until each team’s season finale. Temple and UCF play at the Liacouras Center on March 9, while Cincinnati hosts Houston on March 10 to potentially decide the regular-season conference champion. Temple could finish anywhere from first to sixth place in the conference depending on win-loss results. Houston, Cincinnati, Temple and UCF are all projected to make the field of 68 NCAA Tournament teams, according to CBS Sports bracketologist Jerry Palm’s potential field from Monday morning. To prepare, Alston checks other
teams’ records, the conference standings and what experts say the Owls’ NCAA Tournament chances are as the season winds down, he said. “I [check projections] every day because it’s a tournament that I really want to get to play in,” Alston added. “So I’m constantly checking scores and how we compare to the rest of the teams. But I know that we have to do our part first and win every game to put us in a good position.” Temple had a week without games before Saturday’s home win against Tulsa. Coach Fran Dunphy gave the Owls three days to rest and get fresh to finish the season strong, he said. “We need to plan for a whole different type of game at Memphis,” Dunphy added. “We got a lot of studying to do, a lot of work to do before Memphis. But I do believe that we gave them the right amount of time off. “We’re going to have our work cut out for us,” Alston said. michael.zingrone@temple.edu @mjzingrone
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