10.28.16

Trinitonian Michael Sam lecture

Prowlers funding needed Student dance group has new financial needs as membership grows.

Openly gay athlete comes to campus to discuss LGBTQ issues in sports.

PAGE 4 NEWS

Volume 114 Issue 10

Bob Dylan wins Nobel Prize

PAGE 8 PULSE

Serving Trinity University Since 1902

First American to win for literature in 25 years met with postive and negative reactions.

PAGE 16 A&E

October 28, 2016

TUPS get creative with 24-Hour Play Festival

Students write and produce shows in one-day period

BY MIRIAM CONE

PULSE INTERN

On Oct. 22, the Trinity University Players (TUPS) presented the 24-Hour Play Festival.

The name of the festival comes from the fact that the short plays performed were all written, produced and performed over the course of 24 hours and focused on the theme of distance.

Holly Gabelmann, a sophomore theater major, was the producer of the festival and was drawn to its uniqueness.

“What I really like about it artistically is that it is a very raw artform and it’s very challenging.

Sometimes, in doing something this quickly, you find things you normally wouldn’t find because you are looking for quick solutions, and are forced to be more creative than you are usually,” Gabelmann said.

While almost all of the work occurs within the 24-hour time period, there was some preparation before the show. Students applied and were chosen by Gabelmann to be a part of the production. She also organized the system for the randomization of the plays. Gabelmann put slips of paper with the different factors of the plays such as the overall theme, number of actors, director and a mystery prop in hats that the cast drew from. She also created the hats from which many of the parts of the play originated from.

Luke Jandrain, a sophomore English and history major, was one of the performers chosen for the festival.

“I’m feeling more excited than nervous. As an actor, I’m not the type to chew on a role for a long time. I like to find what I feel this character’s about immediately, and practice and perfect it until it’s go time. The short timeframe is a great distillation of that,”

Trinity rank moves up

BY AUBREY PARKE

NEWS INTERN

College rankings are trending. Recently, the Wall Street Journal jumped on the bandwagon with an ordered list of 500 U.S. institutions for higher education.

While these rankings can be flawed, they still impact Trinity University’s funding and applicant pool, and therefore the opportunities available to current students.

Jandrain said before the 24 hours began.

Before Jandrain and the other actors could memorize their lines, the writers had to write the scripts. The cast met as a group at 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 21 to draw the different elements. Mary Jo Grey, a senior theater major, was one of the writers. Grey drew four actors and the mystery prop of skulls. With them, and the theme of distance, she wrote her play, “The Madness of One Manlet.” Her play was a snapshot of the difficulties of a crew trying to produce Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” with only one actor for the entire play.

“It’s fun and very empowering to see something in production that you helped make that wasn’t even a thought 24 hours before, like there was no trace of it on this planet until we began. It’s very ELIZABETH METZGER and KERRY MADDEN perform in “Moments” by NICO CHAMPION during the 24-Hour Play Festival. refreshing. Maybe the photos by CLAUDIA GARCIA lines weren’t completely memorized, but the “We just kept running the plays over and “I think the 24-Hour Play Festival is a gist is there,” Grey said. over. The plays are all pretty short, so it’s not a really cool concept. I am impressed with The writers had until 6:30 a.m. to write massive challenge,” Jandrain said. how everyone was able to come together in their scripts, and from there it was the The hard work of all of the staff was evident such a short amount of time to put on this directors’ job to read and cast their shows. when the festival began at the end of the 24 production. Taking into consideration the The actors then arrived at 8 a.m. and began hours. The Attic Theater was completely filled. time constraint, many things could have gone rehearsals, which did not end until the dress One attendee was Mykaela Cali, a sophomore awry, but the performances were seemingly rehearsal at 6 p.m. psychology major. effortless,” Cali said.

For the past 25 years, Trinity has been named “Best in the West” among universities of its size by U.S. News and World Report.

This year, the same report also ranked Trinity No.1 in the category of “Undergraduate Teaching Programs.” Recently, Trinity students received an email from President Danny Anderson titled: “Trinity Faculty Place No. 6 in WSJ Ranking.” The Wall Street Journal ranked Trinity as No. 73.

“When you look at rankings done by different groups, each has a different set of criteria,” Anderson said. “It’s really important to think about the categories used in the rankings — what are the characteristics?”

For example, the Wall Street Journal emphasizes student evaluations in their

college rankings, while Forbes weighs rankings based on salary outcomes. While U.S. News and World Report evaluates schools by size and region, the Wall Street Journal groups all universities together in a mass 500-item list, lumping smaller schools like Trinity with large public universities that are often not comparable.

“Realize the data can be wrong and can distort things in certain ways,” Anderson said. “The way you need to read it is comparatively: are we ahead or behind of the universities that are like us?”

Williams College, Amherst College and Pomona College are schools comparable to Trinity that ranked significantly higher in the Wall Street Journal.

“They have 10 to 15 times more funding than we have,” Anderson said. “It takes additional funds to create opportunities that change the experience for students.”

Rankings can attract additional donations from alumni.

“We have a low giving rate of our alumni who support us,” Anderson said. “Right now it’s about 15 percent. If you look at many of the schools we want to be like, they have twice that percentage of alumni who give every year. That’s support for scholarships, for faculty research.”

Continued on page 3

2

WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • OCTOBER 28, 2016

Campus perspective on Trump’s locker-room talk While colleges are starting productive conversations about sexual, presidential candidate takes major steps backwards

BY AUBREY PARKE

NEWS INTERN

Tapes of a U.S. presidential candidate boasting of his lewd behavior towards women were released on Friday, October 7. The tapes’ release coincided with the second-to-last run of “Good Kids”, a play that speaks out against sexual assault.

Austin Davidson, first year, played one of the assault perpetrators in “Good Kids”.

“It was sexual assault,” Davidson said of Donald Trump’s comments. “Being part of the show where I played one of the guys who did this, and then watching a man who maybe is going to lead our country saying this blows my mind.”

During the last presidential debate, the moderator also accused Trump of sexual assault. Trump protested, labeling his comments as “locker-room talk.”

“Anything that can be portrayed as harmful to women is not just ‘locker-room talk’. It’s violent rhetoric,” said first-year Chiara Pride after watching the debate.

Katie Farrell, senior who played a disabled sexual assault victim in “Good Kids”, said that it is wrong to label what Trump said as “locker-room talk”.

“Locker room talk in this situation is not a geographical place,” Farrel said. “What it stands for is conversation, actual conversation. How can you deny rape culture when you’ve seen that? It’s right there, a nominee for the president of the United States, engaging in rape culture and years later excusing it because of rape culture.”

Tim O’Sullivan, Title IX coordinator and vice president of Academic Affairs, has noticed a strong student reaction to the tapes.

“We did have a conversation about the recording before my Latin class yesterday,” Sullivan said. “It was fresh in everyone’s minds.”

Students are wrestling with how an issue like sexual assault should affect their choice in the 2016 election.

Some feel forced into an unappealing decision.

“I’m very against Donald Trump and his rhetoric,” Pride said. “I was not originally fully supportive of Hillary Clinton, but I’ve definitely come around to her since our alternative is not the best.”

Others see sexual assault as a personal issue without little political relevance.

“For now I prefer Trump,” said first-year Shiyu Liu, “I think he’s right that Americans are losing jobs, and the reduction of taxes can attract many investments and create job opportunities. I think his meaning is that people shouldn’t talk about some statements he made 10 years ago and forget about policies that are important to the society and the economy.”

Senior Conor Young disagrees.

“The president is a person and so must have some kind of character,” Young said. “So while I’m not saying that the president has to be some kind of moral

paragon, I do think character is a real issue as much as anything else.”

As a member of the Iota Chi Rho fraternity, Young is very involved with Greek life. Farrell, a theater major, not only played a leading role in “Good Kids” but co-founded a theater company called 180 Shift last spring. Young and Farrell are collaborating to use an approach called “forum theater” to address the issue of sexual assault across campus, including athletics and Greek life. Farrell and Young both believe the campus sexual-assault dialogue is relevant to the 2016 presidential election.

“People love to talk about a sex scandal or whatever is breaking in national news,” Young said. “The problem is they are not trying to advocate for change or say sexual assault is bad. They’re saying ‘that political party is bad’ based on the sexual assault committed by one of its top members. We use survivors as props.”

“One of the future presidents of the United States is probably in college right now, and of course the people who will elect that person,” Farrell said. “So it is important to educate ourselves on issues like sexual assault, like rape culture. It’s vital to how we address the world for the rest of our lives, especially in terms of politics and elections.”

The forum-theater project fits into Trinity’s ongoing conversation about sexual assault.

“The conversation was started by students,” said Sheryl Tynes, professor of sociology and vice president for Student Life. “There were some Trinity-related cases, some high-profile cases that got a lot of attention, stuff that came out in social media.”

The Coalition for Respect was formed in 2014 in part because of Trinity students’ concerned reactions to these cases. O’Sullivan hopes students will take this initiative to the national level, especially in the wake of Trump’s statements.

“There’s this sense that colleges are dealing with different kinds of problems than the rest of the country, but these are national problems, international problems,” O’Sullivan said. “I think that video is a disturbing reminder of what we already knew - that this is an important issue and we need to keep working on it.”

Tynes shares O’Sullivan’s vision.

“As a sociologist, I am always trying to get a handle on what can be done to make things better, because otherwise it’s just depressing,” Tynes said. “If you think about the women’s movement or LGBT movement or civil rights movement, those movements made a difference. That’s the way change happens, people saying it’s unacceptable the way things are. My hope is that a Trinity student who has gone through the things we’re talking about, like New Student Orientation and the Coalition for Respect, will know this is not OK.”

Is there a conversation you’ve been wanting to have but you’re not sure how to start it? Is there something you think the Trinity community needs to think about and discuss? We want to help make those conversations happen through our Let’s Make It Awkward series. Send your topics to trinitonian@trinity.edu

INDEX News................................................... 2-4 Opinion..............................................5-7 Pulse....................................................8-10 The Halloween Issue.......................11-15 A&E.....................................................16-17 Sports..................................................18-20

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• NEWS

BRIEFS TUPD

10.19.2016 11:33 p.m.

Location: Camille Lightner Residence Hall Possession of Alcohol by a Minor 10.22.2016 1:19 a.m.

Location: Witt/Winn Residence Halls Consumption of Alcohol by a Minor 10.22.2016 5:27 p.m.

Location: Bruce Thomas Residence Hall Possession of Alcohol by a Minor Chapter 481 Texas Controlled Substance Act 10.22.2016 8:39 p.m.

Location: South Residence Hall Chapter 481 Controlled Substance Act 10.24.2016 5:29 p.m.

Location: C. W. Miller Residence Hall Offenses Against the Person: Sexual Assault

SGA This week’s SGA meeting started with the unf inished business of study-abroad policy changes. There was also a motion to change the constitution. The meeting then moved on to discuss the “Check I’m Here” Demo. It is a program to manage, track, assess and engage students on campus. The timeline for implementing the program will take place in the spring.

Compiled by Alex Uri

WE HAVE A WINNER! Congratulations to Leah Rubio for winning the Mala Luna tickets from our October 21 issue.

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Corrections Continued success for distance squad was written by Elise Hester. A lexander Motter is a Pulse Reporter not a Sports Editor.

Opinions expressed in the Trinitonian are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Trinity University, its students, faculty, staff or the Trinitonian. Editorials represent the opinions of the Trinitonian Editorial Board. The first copy of the Trinitonian is free; additional copies are 50 cents each. ©2016. All rights reserved.

NEWS • OCTOBER 28, 2016 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

Rankings Chemistry department looks to fill two faculty vacancies

3

continued from Front

Rankings also impact the applicant pool.

“Being No. 1 for 25 years impacts students in the sense that prospective students decide to explore Trinity based on that high of a record being held for so long,” Anderson said. “So it helps to strengthen the quality of the applicant pool looking at Trinity.”

Current students’ opinions vary widely in the importance they assign to college rankings.

“I didn’t even know that existed,” said Janett Muñoz, senior. “I never looked at U.S. News and World Report for school.”

Other students, like Sean Watson, senior, utilized the rankings in making their decision.

“Our school is well-ranked in its division and that was a big part of my decision because I wanted the best academic experience I could get,”Watson said.

Regardless of whether or not they considered rankings in selecting Trinity, students like Hannah Braley, sophomore, said that they chose Trinity because it was a good fit for their needs.

“Academic rankings were important in getting me to look into Trinity, but it wasn’t really what made me decide to go to Trinity,” Braley said.

“Once I came and saw the campus and the professors and the small size, that’s what really made my decision.”

Interactions between students and faculty stand out in both the opinions of Trinity students and in Trinity’s official rankings.

“The category we ranked so highly in is the top faculties,” Anderson said. “This is really meaningful to us because one of the areas we put a lot of emphasis on is that our faculty are excellent in terms of their scholarship and their research, and because they work so closely with individual students.”

Rankings are conducted independently by third-party organizations, and are based on publically available information. Even if it were possible to apply for rankings, Anderson said that is not Trinity’s top priority.

“You hope the rankings recognize the things that are meaningful to you, but you have to be true to yourself and do the things that you know matter to your students,” Anderson said.

Offer given to assistant professor, distinguished professor still needed The chemistry department is seeking new faculty members to fill two vacant positions: an assistant professor to teach Analytical Chemistry, and a distinguished professor.

An offer has been extended for the assistant professor position, and the search for the distinguished professor has not yet formally begun.

Michelle Bushey, who previously taught Analytical Chemistry as an assistant professor, retired in the spring to take on a full-time position as a program director at the National Science Foundation. Steven Bachrach, the previous distinguished professor, resigned to take a position as dean of sciences at Monmouth University in New Jersey.

Christopher Pursell, professor and chair of the chemistry department, chaired the search committee for the new assistant professor to teach Analytical Chemistry. He was responsible for details such as getting paperwork approved through Academic Affairs, deciding how to advertise the position and setting up interviews.

The committee was made up of tenured chemistry faculty, as well as one non-chemistry faculty member, Matthew Hibbs, assistant professor of computer science.

“Every search committee generally has one external member; often from a related department, but not always,” Hibbs said.

Hibbs said that the external-faculty member helps give candidates a sense of the university outside of the department they seek to join, as well as helps the search committee assess the candidates in terms of the broader Trinity community.

His perspective as a computer science professor

is also specifically relevant to analytical chemistry.

“They were looking for an analytical chemist who might be doing some amount of computational work. And so I’d be able to help answer questions about computational resources here, and IT structures, and that kind of stuff,” Hibbs said.

Students selected by chemistry faculty also participated in the search process.

“We value student input. So we actually form a student search committee, and all those students then go out to lunch with all the faculty candidates, attend their seminars, and then meet with us and give us student input in terms of the different candidates,” Pursell said.

Pursell stressed the importance of faculty being able to connect with students. “We have such a strong emphasis on mentoring students in our research laboratories that we really need to find an individual who is passionate, enthusiastic, excited and also appears to be competent in terms of doing research in our environment and research with our students,” he said.

Mark Brodl, assistant vice president for Budget and Research in Academic Affairs, said that his role in the hiring process was to assess the research needs of candidates.

“When faculty are hired, we really want to be sure that they can go ahead and start up a research program that is going to be as … vigorous a research program as they can mount in this environment. So we want to be sure that they have the space, that they have the kinds of equipment that they need, to have a trajectory that is as far on the up as we can make it,” Brodl said.

However, research needs are not usually a determining factor in selecting a candidate.

Brodl explained that Academic Affairs knows the usual range of required startup funds for a given faculty position.

“As long as everybody is within that target range, I have really no comment on whether there’s going to be somebody that’s fit to make an offer to. My part comes in after they’ve

decided that they want to hire this person and make the offer, and then it’s just sort of closing the deal and making sure that that person is going to say yes at Trinity,” Brodl said.

The ultimate decision was made by the search committee in conjunction with University administration.

“We are to the point where we have evaluated all of our candidates, we have made a recommendation to Academic Affairs and we’re just in the beginning process of offering the position to our top candidate,” Pursell said.

“I think the dominant factors in the decisionmaking process were teaching ability and research quality for chemistry,” Hibbs said.

Pursell explained that “fit” was also a consideration in the hiring process. “Trinity’s a special place as a liberal arts school with a strong science program. And so it’s really helpful for us to find people who understand that. So for example, a candidate who maybe went to a school like Trinity,” he said.

The search for a distinguished professor to replace Steven Bachrach has not yet begun.

“The thought was not to try and do two searches at one time, that would make us crazy,” Pursell said. He explained that the hiring season for assistant professors is during the fall, but the distinguished professor process works differently.

“And also there is a hiring season for new faculty, which is right now. Hiring a distinguished professor would be hiring a professor who’s at another university, who’s doing really well, and is maybe interested in a change or could maybe simply be attracted to sunny San Antonio or the opportunities that we would have here for that individual. And so that person is not necessarily going to be looking for a new job per-se. And there’s no time table necessarily for when we would look and find that person,” Pursell said.

“In order for your tribe to survive in the biological sense, it must be able to reproduce itself. The tribes that survived were the tribes that figured out to not let the women die,” Alexander said.

Alexander explained further that the women were protected in order to continue to produce offspring. Because of this, men did the dangerous tasks and women stayed at home.

“The men went off and did all the activities that cause instant death. They hunted for meat and they protected the cave. The women did everything else,” Alexander said.

Eventually, these opposing activities led to differences in thought process. Because the men had to hunt, they needed to be able to think more quickly. Because the women did everything for the home, they needed to be able to multitask.

“Over the course of two million years, our brains evolved with different sets of instincts.

This is a highly controversial topic, and the reason it is a highly controversial topic is because this fact was used against women for so long by the preeminent researchers of evolutionary biology,” Alexander said.

After solidifying the differences between male and female instincts, Alexander discussed the birth of commerce from combat and why it is such an aggressive business.

“Since men were the only ones leaving the caves, men were only encountering other men. So all systems of commerce were built around those male instincts of aggression and competition and risk and quick decisionmaking. Those same traits remained what was most highly rewarded,” Alexander said.

Alexander went on to answer the question of whether or not the system would be the same if women had designed it.

“We actually have a system that was designed by women: early-childhood education. Because the United States was the first country to provide free education to the entire population regardless of income, it was considered very low-level work,” Alexander said.

However, she noted how early-childhood education does not display the traits of men, but rather the traits of women. The grades K-8 reward cooperation over aggression and analysis over rash decision-making.

“All those instinctively female traits are what’s rewarded in the system that was designed by women. I believe that is the reason little boys struggle so much more in grades K-8 than little girls. And yet, sometime between high school and the workplace, it makes a giant flip, and women struggle so much more to succeed,” Alexander said.

Alexander blames this leap on the tendency of the system to reward the traits possessed by males. Despite the evidence, people do not believe there is a difference in the brains.

“Luckily, there has been a giant change in this area of research, and that is the invention of fMRI, functional MRI. This technology is just now being used to examine these questions.

It’s been around for the last 20 years, but we’ve only been able to look at gender differences in the past 10,” Alexander said.

Alexander went on to explain how a woman must mimic the traits of men while also maintaining her own traits in order to be successful in the workplace. A woman must not be too aggressive and must not be too forward.

“It’s a delicate balance, and it’s one many, many women experience in the workplace. It’s changing, but it is not changing that rapidly,” Alexander said.

Alexander explained how, just 20 years ago, there were no female Fortune 500 CEOs, and how now, the group is five percent female.

This is why Alexander believes women need to be more aware of the traits that are being rewarded in the workplace so they can become successful.

“I am not saying ‘behave like men.’ Do not give up the value you bring to the workplace by being a woman. Figure out what traits get rewarded and how you can display those traits,” Alexander said.

Alexander closed her lecture with five pieces of advice for the women in the audience.

“Don’t be afraid to be wrong; risk is a highly rewarded trait. Network, mentor, sponsor and help each other out. Don’t denigrate other women. Don’t ‘F’ your boss. Remind yourself every day how valuable you are,” Alexander said.

For some students, the lecture resonated deeply because they understood how different the treatment of women can be compared to that of men in the workforce.

“I’m a chem major, so I know women in sciences have a hard time, but the number of women in science has been increasing.

Hopefully those struggles are gone by the time I get a job,” said Meagan Pollock, senior.

All in attendance left with the same message of how to be successful in the workforce.

Alexander stated her views on the treatment of women and provided the advice to achieve success despite it.

BY CHRISTIANA ZGOURIDES

NEWS REPORTER

Trinity alumna returns to share career advice Valerie Alexander gives talk on being female in the modern workplace

BY KATHLEEN CREEDON

NEWS REPORTER

On Oct. 17, Valerie Alexander gave a lecture called “How Women Can Succeed in the Workplace (Despite Having ‘Female Brains’)” in the Chapman Auditorium. Alexander graduated from Trinity in 1990 and came back to share her advice with women at Trinity.

Alexander’s lecture revolved around the differences between men and women in the workforce and how women can use their understandings of those differences to be successful. The title, however, was off-putting for some students.

“I saw the lecture in the LeeRoy newsletter.

Initially, it rubbed me the wrong way. It seemed to be an opposing idea of how feminism is usually talked about,” said Alexandria Byrd, junior.

Alexander recognized this reaction in the beginning of her presentation. However, she defended it with the explanation of how the idea of a gendered brain was formed.

“I know that title offends some people. I know it makes some people downright angry,” Alexander said.

Alexander explained how understanding the differences between the male and female brain will allow women to be more successful because they will be able to use that knowledge to their advantages. She began her explanation by explaining the differences between men and women in the Prehistoric Era.

4

WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • OCTOBER 28, 2016 •

NEWS

Dance group looks Tuttle matches for increase in funds donations with As membership grows, push ups in Coates Prowlers search for new ways to raise money

BY KATHLEEN CREEDON

NEWS REPORTER

DAVID TUTTLE said that he would do a push-up for every student that donated through the 24HR Challenge. photo by JULIA ELMORE

On Wednesday during Nacho Hour, David Tuttle agreed to do one push up for every gift made by Trinity students as part of the 24 Hour Challenge. He had to do 174. Trinity students, alumni and other friends of the University worked together and made 1304 gifts in 24 hours, the most given in a single day in the history of Trinity. The total amount raised was $130,000.

In 1968, young voters sat out the presidential election.

Richard Nixon was elected.

This year, you can’t afford not to vote. paid advertisement

In 2011, Trinity’s dance team, the Prowlers, lost funding from the school. At the time the change did not affect much of what the team did, but as the number of members grows, the Prowlers are finding it harder to manage without funding.

The team lost funding because Trinity considered them to be doing the same thing as the cheer team. However, the cheer team continues to be funded by the school.

“They decided that they just wanted to fund one group. Both the Prowlers and cheer were low on people, so they wanted to combine the two. Since dance is separate from cheer, we decided to become a student organization,” said Lindsey Burton, one of the co-captains of the Prowlers.

The Prowlers turned to the Student Government Association (SGA) for help with funding things like costumes and shirts.

Burton said that the uniforms they have are old and in need of repair.

“The Prowlers receive support based on the funding requests that they fill out. If we see the funding request as fair and beneficial to the Prowlers and/or the community, we would fund it,” said Samy Abdallah, SGA senator.

SGA gives aid to all registered student organizations, and the Prowlers receive support if they fill out request forms, but the team does

not want to take advantage of the support by purchasing expensive costumes.

“Our costumes are still probably from when the school bought them, based off pictures I’ve seen; but costumes are expensive. Some are $100 each,” Burton said.

Although the team is in need of new costumes, they are reluctant to ask SGA to fund the entire purchase. The team discussed fundraising but decided it would take too long to reach their goal.

“Right now we have to submit individual requests each time we need money. We don’t want to ask for too much,” said Haylee Rodriguez, the other co-captain of the team.

However, SGA is willing to give the team the money. As long as the request is reasonable and the finance committee or senate agrees on it, an organization is granted the funds they request.

“We give them funds, if the request is approved, directly … They allocate it themselves as they see fit without having to deal with recreational sports,” Abdallah said.

While trying to work out their finances, the team maintains their presence on campus by performing at halftime shows and other events. Still, they are trying to do more.

“We’re trying to increase our presence on campus, so preforming at more events and making ourselves known. In the past few years, there has been a decrease. We haven’t performed at as many games, so we’re trying to change that,” Rodriguez said.

The team is interested in performing in competitions, but they are too expensive. Until they gain more financial support, the team will continue to perform on campus.

Trinity organizes Dia de los Muertos event Celebration to include ceremony and lectures

BY PHILIP McKEON

NEWS REPORTER

On Friday, Trinity will celebrate the Day of the Dead with an altar ceremony honoring the dead and a series of short lectures about the history of the celebration.

“The TU Latino Association is having an altar celebration this friday at 4 p.m., and [Rosana] Blanco-Cano and [Norma Elia] Cantu are going to give a speech about the altar and what the Dia de los Muertos really is and what it means in the Mexican culture. We really want to show everyone Latino culture and tradition. We hope that people will see it, be interested, and want to know more both about individual cultures and about Latino cultures in general,” said Diana Chavarria, president of TU Latino Association.

The celebration originally comes from Spain, and a discussion of its origins will begin a series of lectures on the holiday.

“The first speaker will be Juan Carlos Moreno from Casa de España. He will be talking about the celebration of the Day of the Dead in Spain. It was originally an official celebration that marks a day in which people from the other world are supposed to visit. It’s also a very religious celebration. There is a religious component to it as well: Dia de todos los santos, The Day of All the Saints, as if all the people who are dead already are considered saints or sacred people,” said Rosana Blanco-Cano, professor of modern languages and chair of the MAS program.

The second and third lectures will discuss the evolution of the celebration and the meaning of the celebration in Mexico today.

“The second speaker will be talking about the precolonial traditions that Spaniards

encountered when coming to the Americas. It’s fascinating because instead of being erased by colonial ideologies, there is a syncretism, and we now have both in present Mexico. That will be what I talk about in my role as the third speaker.

I’m going to be talking about what is the meaning of the celebration in today’s Mexico and in the US,” Blanco-Cano said.

Celebration of Dia de los Muertos gives people the opportunity to relate to and gain understanding of Latino culture.

“I grew up in El Paso, and it’s celebrated pretty widely there. I may not be Hispanic or Latino, but I always really enjoyed the holiday and thought it was a really interesting event.

The altars are always colorful, people decorate these candy skulls, and it just seems like a good way to honor your loved ones in a positive way without being sad,” said Kara McLean, sophomore accounting major.

While the altar of Dia de los Muertos is a place to be respectful, it is also a part of a larger celebration. All are welcome at the event.

“It’s a moment to enjoy, to be witness, to be respectful. It’s a very important aspect of our culture, but we want everyone to feel welcome.

It’s an inclusive celebration. On Friday, when the altar is officially open, people are welcome to walk by it and see it. It’s a contemplative moment. It’s a moment to reflect, but also to enjoy, without being too serious,” Blanco-Cano said.

This celebration brings people together, provides a way for Latinos at Trinity to express their culture and recognize our role in the city.

“It is to acknowledge, in some ways, our connection to the city. If you walk around San Antonio, you will see several altars. First, I think we need to acknowledge that we are a part of San Antonio. In addition, it’s important to give our Latino students a place to express their culture. Every community should be able to express their own ways of celebrating, etc.,” Blanco-Cano said.

Opinion

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COMMENTARY Have an opinion? Want others to hear it? For a chance to be featured as a guest columnist, please submit your article to trinitonian@trinity.edu by Monday night to be in Thursday’s issue of the paper.

EDITORIAL

Here’s to Halloween!

Let’s be honest; none of our proudest moments are going to occur during the four Halloweens we celebrate while in college.

Although we think of Trinity as being pretty tame, home to studious overachievers who uphold Trinity’s prestigious reputation, we release our inhibitions when October 31 rolls around.

We hide it pretty well at first. During the week leading up to Halloween we attend events where we carve pumpkins or watch scary movies. The Haunted Hall is an enduring tradition where students enjoy transforming their dorms into scary scenes.

But right around the time that the Trinity Club Rio Halloween Party (no one ever really knows its official name) comes around, our judgement starts to fade like the flame of a flickering candle in a dark, haunted house.

Buying a costume is usually accompanied by a twinge of guilt; we know we shouldn’t spend so much on something we’ll only wear once, but we quickly block out our conscience and make sure we have the most creative or scary ensemble of all our friends.

Those who opt for the “cute” or “sexy” costumes rarely make it through the night without regretting it. You can take off the uncomfortable shoes, but walking around barefoot usually isn’t much of a relief.

Funny costumes of characters that require full body outfits might not be sexy, but they are hot. Those usually don’t make it through the whole night either.

There’s something about being someone or something else for the night that boosts our confidence when it comes to parties and social settings. Taking on a new identity — in addition to all the other confidence boosters we ingest — helps us talk, dance and act differently than usual. Whether that is a good or a bad thing, we usually decide the next day.

But before we even leave to go out, we have to experience the Trinity phenomenon that is the Calvert ghosts. After seeing classmates run around in nothing but whatever white substance they use to paint themselves, you will never be able to look at them the same way again. After witnessing our naked peers run around (just imagine it

… running with no clothes …), we have to cope somehow. So we rush to pre-game for whatever is taking place that night.

The Trinity Halloween experience mostly takes place just before the actual holiday.

The costumes, parties and other events are always memorable — even when there are things we want to forget. This year, Halloween falls on a Monday, so the day itself will likely be bogged down and much less eventful than in years past. Even if we don’t go out and celebrate that night, there are plenty of ways to create a night of memorable bad decisions.

Our Halloween issue is here to help with a few ideas of our own. We’ve ranked the best scary movies so you can know what to binge watch. Our article on candy corn might inspire you to inhale sweets by the handful. But that’s the magic of Halloween for college students: we know we are making bad decisions, but we turn off our adult intuitions and make them anyway. It can’t be too bad though, because we keep doing it every year. So here’s to one more, Trinity. Happy Halloween!

Dummies and liberal institutions

NYU canceled speech by Milo Yiannopoulos; the WSJ used photo of me. Here’s what happened Saturday morning I woke up to a Facebook notification from Trinitonian opinion editor Daniel Conrad.

“Sarah Haley ur famous,” he commented on a post in Overheard at Trinity, SARAH HALEY OPINION COLUMNIST the Facebook page that functions as a messaging board of sorts for Trinity students. Expecting the typical Overhead shenanigans, like Dean Tuttle’s face photoshopped onto various public figures and pop-culture characters, I instead was greeted by a high-definition photograph of me with a pacifier in my mouth, standing next to Breitbart tech editor Milo Yiannopoulos, featured in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

This story truly starts back in April of this year, when Tigers for Liberty, a student organization that brings libertarian and conservative perspectives to Trinity, brought Milo to lecture on microaggressions as part of his ongoing college campus speaking tour, the “Dangerous Faggot Tour.” It was a controversial lecture by an iconically controversial man. I don’t need to rehash all of the discourse that ensued. But I do feel that, given the prominence of the WSJ and the lack of context they’ve provided for the photo I’m in, I should respond to this recent development.

Milo is a prominent figure in alternative-right political movements online; he works to fight against political correctness, which he says infringes on freedom of speech. He positions himself as antithetical to the social justice warrior (SJW), a typically pejorative term used to describe someone who advocates for socially progressive concepts such as feminism and multiculturalism. In his opening remarks, Milo shared his views on SJWs. “Social justice in general, I’ve come to the conclusion, is for mediocre, ugly people,” Milo said during his lecture. He went on to ramble about how the wage gap isn’t real and made jokes about Catholic priests and sexually abusing children for a little under 30 minutes.

Like most lectures at Trinity, once he concluded his speech, there was a Q&A portion where

anyone in attendance at the lecture could approach one of two microphones and pose a question. It’s not every day one has the chance to directly interact with an icon of the contemporary far right, especially at a relatively liberal university like Trinity.

I stepped up to the microphone to pose my question, the first of the night.

“At the beginning of your talk, you said that social justice is for mediocre, ugly people,” I said. Milo confirmed. I continued: “My question for you is, doesn’t that make you a social justice warrior?”

This sick burn disguised as a question in which I turn Milo’s own logic — or lack thereof — against him, evoked chants of “TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP!” from Milo’s supportive audience. Milo asked for the next question. As I returned to my seat, Milo had a brief moment of mental clarity in which he remembered he had brought along a pacifier to give away, a signature move of his. Milo has made a habit of presenting pacifiers to feminists and following the gesture with a planned joke about it. He called me back onto the stage to accept the gift. I obliged.

“We call pacifiers dummies in the U.K., which is exactly what you are, madame,” Milo said to me over the loud speakers as I returned to my seat a second time, pacifier in mouth. I chose to go along with the bit rather than be ashamed, silenced or slink off into obscurity.

The power of his statement lies only in my willingness to be hurt by it, and I was more disappointed in his inability to verbally spar with me or come up with a witty comeback than anything. This man who is so well-known for being caustic in his language, so much so that he is permanently banned from Twitter, evidently didn’t know how to handle my question. Even a dummy can enjoy some lowbrow humor once in awhile.

Milo’s visit to Trinity also brings up a more important question related to the topic of the WSJ piece, which reports New York University canceling Milo’s stop at their campus. NYU reportedly canceled the event where Milo was scheduled to speak due to “safety concerns,” sparking discussions about whether the institution’s role in fostering exchanges of ideas

is at odds with its duty to keep students safe.

When Milo came to Trinity, Tigers for Liberty raised money to pay for TUPD to be at the event. Yes, Milo’s presence brought a potentially dangerous and violent fanbase to Trinity’s campus, as the event was free and open to the public. But that vague potential can be addressed through the presence of university police rather than allowing fear of that potential to prevent different perspectives from being heard on college campuses. I don’t have to agree with a single thing Milo says or does to defend the importance of universities remaining places of intellectual curiosity, not of censorship and coddling.

It is possible to prioritize security and still allow for controversial discussions to take place.

Trinity has distinguished itself from NYU by allowing Milo to speak, even though his views do not align with those of the institution itself.

An ambiguous and seemingly ever-expanding definition of student safety has the potential to stint intellectual growth. It is encouraging to see Trinity not succumbing to that.

NYU canceling his appearance only bolsters alt-right claims that liberal universities’ political correctness stifles freedom of speech.

Canceling controversial non-progressive events serves to perpetuate the notion of the standard liberal bastion and lends undue legitimacy to alt-right claims of censorship. Educational institutions should not be echo chambers, which organizations like Tigers for Liberty prevent. It doesn’t serve the community to pretend like Milo and his followers don’t exist.

I much prefer the method of allowing them to have a voice, and thus allowing there to be a public conversation.

I’m proud to go to a school where this abrasive icon was permitted to visit, and thus where I was permitted to challenge him. Pride aside, I am glad my full name isn’t attached to the picture of Milo and me in the WSJ; something tells me the lack of context could be problematic in the eyes of future employers.

Sarah Haley is a senior theoretical economics and environmental policy double major with a minor in mathematics. She’s also a tour guide for the Office of Admissions.

Fox News and ‘Wattersgate’ Offensive humor and moral responsibility CARL TEEGERSTROM

GUEST COLUMNIST

On Oct. 3, the “O’Reilly Factor” aired a segment where Jesse Watters “interviewed” several people in Chinatown, New York to inquire about their opinions concerning the election. Aside from many journalistic malpractices such as conflating Chinese, Japanese and Koreans with “Chinatown,” as well as taking advantage of non-English speakers, the segment garnered controversy for being offensive. I want to take the opportunity to discuss the nature of offensive jokes, and explain why the segment is offensive.

Humor is usually deemed offensive when it transgresses a certain boundary that is agreed upon by the viewers. However, not everything that is offensive is morally wrong, and the boundary in question is usually some assumption, moral or otherwise, that is often unjustified. Offensive humor can be helpful for developing the moral integrity of a society when it takes no assumption as sacred. There are many assumptions people hold as true without justification, and offensive humor should tear these down to show the underlying strangeness of all one previously held as absolute. Upon this realization, the morality of an assumption can be thoroughly examined and discarded if it is shown to be immoral.

Offensive humor is soured when comedians pick assumptions that favor them and people similar to them, which implies that the joker and those like him are necessarily superior because their assumptions, which favor them, are superior. The Watters segment might look like the former type of offensive humor, in that it attempts to tear down those “evil, left, Marxist” liberal assumptions that Chinese people do not like Trump.

However, the segment holds many assumptions as sacred, refusing to engage in actual offensive humor. The segment still holds, rather stupidly, that Chinatown is an actual representation of China. Watters still assumes that intelligent, reasonable Americans speak English, so when Watters confronts people in Chinatown who can’t speak English, they are presented as mentally challenged and stupid, as evidenced by Watters intercutting a scene from “Young Frankenstein” where a woman shouts at Frankenstein’s monster, commanding him to speak, but the monster can’t because his brain is established as “abnormal.” The Watters segment keeps Watters and, by extension, white, male, educated and affluent America on its pedestal while attempting to dismantle assumptions that Asian-Americans are intelligent, have valid opinions or deserve respect as American citizens. Thereby, the joke is morally wrong.

The first and typical straw man response is that, because I claim a bit of humor is morally wrong, I am advocating censorship of everything American. I am obviously a Marxist who wants to turn all of America into a Stalinist, Orwellian dictatorship.

Nowhere in this article have I advocated for censorship. Nevertheless, holding creators morally responsible is important. If anyone wants to create offensive humor, then no assumption should be held sacred, particularly in race, religion and gender relations. As soon as one group’s assumption of superiority is maintained at the expense of others, then the comedy is morally objectionable humor.

6

WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • OCTOBER 28, 2016 •

OPINION

Tribalism and connections in modern America It’s too easy to let the needy fall behind while the rest of us embrace progress, but we can’t allow it.

Don McLean, the artist behind the muchbeloved “American Pie” (the song, not the movie) was not a onehit wonder. Among his other great works is the song “Homeless Written GABRIEL LEVINE Brother.”

OPINION COLUMNIST in 1974, the chorus consists of the heartfelt line, “That homeless brother is my friend.” As with much of McLean’s work, there is a deeper message in his lyrics. One verse in particular from “Homeless Brother” stands out and I’ll quote it in full: “Down the bowels of a broken land, where numbers live like men / Where those who keep their senses have them taken back again / Where the night stick cracks with crazy rage, where madmen don’t pretend / Where wealth has no beginning and poverty no end.”

Though written 40 years ago, one could easily apply each line of this verse to the present day. Police violence, wealth inequality, the reemergence of discrimination and demagoguery into the public eye are all real, pressing issues.

I think that the most interesting line of the verse is the first, where McLean describes a land

“where numbers live like men.” At the time it was written, this line may well have been a complaint about the excesses of corporate greed and a focus on profits above all else. Such concerns still ring true today, but I think that a more positive interpretation is possible.

The elevation of numbers, of statistics, of quantization and of data generally seems a good thing to me. Often numbers are more reliable than the intuitions of people. When crafting public policy, it is often necessary to consider net benefits and to ignore the damage that certain policies may inflict upon particular communities in favor of the larger benefits for the country.

When purely rational and logical thinking creates human distance, problems arise, resulting in a lack of empathy and sympathy for those people who are left behind by policies and progress. This is why so many decry the Washington D.C. “beltway,” where policymakers become isolated from their constituents.

In electoral politics, it makes no sense for Hillary Clinton to campaign in Idaho or for Donald Trump to campaign in California.

Neither is of any real numerical value to those candidates in terms of reaching the number of electoral votes necessary to win the presidency.

Each candidate knows just how far outside of

their own echo chamber, their own base they need to go to convince the necessary number of swing voters in swing states to vote in support of them.

It seems to me that this, along with the broader segregation of the nation along lines of wealth, race and urban-versus-rural, is what’s responsible for the anger and resentment that has boiled over during the course of this election. Humans are tribal, and tribes of any kind become echo chambers.

The website Politico recently published a story titled “Debate Night With the Unswayables.”

The author had gone to a small town in North Carolina to watch the third presidential debate and in the story she recounted what the town’s citizens had said and what they believed.

Frankly, these people believed nonsense like the idea that CIA director, John Brennan, had secretly converted to Islam. One woman, whose parents had rescued Jews in Nazi Germany, genuinely believed that Hillary Clinton’s election would result in the murder of the Jews.

What are we informed, thinking students, privileged by our circumstances to not live in rural North Carolina, to think of the many millions of Americans who believe such verifiable nonsense? My first instinct is to dispassionately assess them as remnants of an

America that no longer exists and that won’t exist in the future, to ignore them like all the homeless — brothers and sisters alike — that come up to a car begging for change, and to trust in the numbers that suggest these people and their communities will in fact die out as global innovation and progress continues.

But such an attitude is lazy and insensitive to real human suffering. It is a manifestation of the sneering intolerance that has become a hallmark of liberals and American progressivism. This arrogance is itself a product of the liberal echo chamber.

This is not to say that the people described in that article are right or that the lunacy they believe should be anything but challenged.

However, the key to changing their minds and to including them in the expanding global tent, along with refugees and immigrants, is not to call them lunatics, but rather to approach them on their own terms with empathy and sympathy at hand.

The problems Don McLean described 40 years ago still exist today, in many cases because we have taken comfort in the numbers of people in our own echo chambers instead of reaching out to those modern homeless brothers who have been left behind by progress.

Gabriel Levine is a junior chemistry major.

Americans in Europe: A college student’s relationship with Ernest Hemingway Studying in Spain helped me connect with an author I used to hate in several surprising ways.

Ernest Hemingway could be one of the many authors you studied in high school English class who was brooding and “important” for one reason or another.

When I was in high MIA GARZA school, that’s exactly OPINION COLUMNIST what I thought of Hemingway. I particularly hated “The Old Man and the Sea,” which I was required to read. It was metaphorical, sure, but I thought Hemingway had beat the point to death and then some, and that most of his words were pointless. I remember thinking that he could have made the same point in less than a page.

It was an incredibly boring read. So that’s what I thought of Ernest Hemingway.

But when I got to college, I slowly started to notice myself transforming into the sulky author of my high school homework days.

I guess I didn’t pay enough attention in literature class, but in college I began to learn that there’s more to Hemingway than meets the eye.

This all began when I was studying abroad in Madrid, Spain the fall semester of my junior year. Funny enough, I enrolled in a course specifically dedicated to Hemingway’s work in Spain and around Europe. I discovered that when Hemingway wrote “The Old Man and Sea,” he was just that, an old man. When Hemingway pranced around Europe, mainly Spain and France, he was only a little bit older than I am now.

Three weeks into the course, I unintentionally adopted the phrase WWHD: What would Hemingway do? The phrase caught on among my friends. On weekends, when we were looking for something to do on the European cobblestone streets that were ours to play on, we found ourselves asking “What would Hemingway do?”

Well, I’ll tell you what Hemingway would do. See, I know because after reading

Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises” in class, I did an embarrassingly extensive amount of outside research on Hemingway. I even went as far, both physically and metaphorically, as Paris, France to see Hemingway’s apartment in person and as well as Sylvia Plath’s bookstore nearby.

Hemingway and his friends, who included Gertrude Stein, F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and James Joyce, were expatriates. That is, they were all former Americans who moved away to Europe and adopted a European lifestyle. At the time in which I felt I most related to Hemingway, he lived in Paris and wrote for a living. He spent most of his time writing and he took his writing very seriously.

When he wasn’t writing he was being young in Paris — exploring, attending parties and going out with friends. Both as Americans in Europe, there was a lot we related on and as both frequent writers of metaphors, there was a lot we had in common.

As I learn about the revelations Hemingway has as he travels, I begin to have some of those revelations. Hemingway focuses on the individual instead of using generalizations about an entire experience. He didn’t write about the future or the past, he wrote about the present. And he always tried to be honest. I’m starting to think that reading Hemingway will make me realize my own honesty. I gobble up all the short stories that he writes and the words he uses and the purpose that he uses them make more sense to me than my own thoughts.

Hemingway is just one of the authors, thinkers, and figures in history that isn’t all that different than us Trinity students. Even if you’re not going abroad, there are a lot of ways you can relate to the people you learn about in class. You might even learn about one that’s just like you.

Mia Garza is a senior communication and business double major with a minor in creative writing. Find her on Twitter @lbutter95

graphic by TYLER HERRON

OPINION • OCTOBER 28, 2016 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

How to be healthy The NBA basketball Sport management prof. advises students: be basic DOMINIC MORAIS

GUEST COLUMNIST

Each time I walk into a classroom I always perform a quick scan of my students in order to get a feel for the room. Are they animated?

Will I have to wrangle them in? Are they dragging? Will I have to pull an Emeril Lagasse and “BAM! Kick it up a notch?”

Almost every time I perform this scan, I see at least one student who looks like he or she is about to audition for the new season of “The Walking Dead.” These students look tired, listless, drained of energy and sometimes they seem close to nonresponsive.

Here’s the thing, though. I get it. Being a Trinity student comes with various responsibilities and deadlines, and weighing all sorts of priorities. You’re finishing assignments, you’re involved in extracurricular clubs, sports and/or groups and you’re adding bullets to your resumes through volunteering, internships and jobs. A lot is asked of you, and you make a habit of rising to the challenge.

However, in the midst of such busy lives, we often don’t think about the basics such as nutrition and sleeping. So, considering my background in the fitness and sport industries, I’d like to offer a few tips to help maintain such highly productive lifestyles.

Let’s first talk about what we put in our bodies. There’s a high correlation between food and water consumption and both physical and mental performance. As much as I love donuts, especially the chocolate cake donuts.

And then they’re even better after letting them sit in the milk so they’re just soggy enough to not resist your teeth as you bite down … Oh my goodness. See, I told you I love them.

But as much as I love donuts, chips and cheese products, these processed foods can affect our bodies in a number of negative ways. In some cases they’ve even been linked to an increased risk of cancer. Some argue that processed foods cause inflammation in the body, which stimulates the sympathetic nervous system, and can lead to deleterious effects.

So choose an apple over a candy bar. Cook your own food with fresh ingredients, if you can. There are even those who advocate eating rice and potatoes over bread and pasta. Drink water instead of a soft drink. Keep in mind, I’m not writing this through the lens of weight loss. I’m not trying to help you lose weight.

I’m writing this through the lens of wellness. I want you to have better quality of life!

The last argument that I will make about food consumption is that we should be somewhat aware of our caloric intake and our macronutrient (referred to informally as macros) intake. Macros are composed of carbohydrates, fats and protein. Although everyone’s needs are different, many of us don’t provide our bodies with enough fuel or the right kinds of fuel to work most effectively.

For instance, I asked one student in my class last spring about what she ate in a typical day.

We calculated based on her responses that she was eating less than 1,500 calories per day. This may seem like a lot, but the USDA recommends moderately active women aged 18-30 consume 1,800-2,000 calories per day, and moderately active men aged 18-30 consume 2,400-2,600 calories per day. This student was not fueling her body for the rigors she put it through daily, and to make matters worse, she was a student athlete!

What’s more, protein was a very small portion of her diet, while carbohydrates and fats made up the majority of it. These types of ratios can affect energy levels, and it’s important, especially for physically active individuals, to maintain adequate protein intake. Many official nutrition guidelines suggest .8 grams of protein per kg of bodyweight, or .36 grams per pound. However, this means that for a

150-pound individual, the recommended protein intake is 54 grams, which is the equivalent to a large chicken breast. More recent research suggests upping protein intake to 25 to 30 percent of one’s caloric intake.

I know that much of this can be overwhelming and, at times, intimidating. I also understand that food is often a non-priority in our lives, and it’s usually taken for granted. However, I would argue that these little things add up to big results. In this case, that result is how we feel day to day. With these concerns in mind, one tool that I use to keep tabs on my diet is MyFitnessPal. It is an app that can be downloaded onto your phone, and it can help give a better idea of how much, or how little, you are eating. As a disclaimer, I have no financial interest in the app or in Under Armour, which bought MyFitnessPal last year.

Now, food isn’t the only thing you put into your body. Up to 60 percent of our body is water, which I would say makes it pretty important. I’ve told my classes this semester to drink one-half gallon of water before noon, and to drink at least another half gallon before bed. Not only does water help flush our bodies of waste and toxins, it helps our body function efficiently. I like to carry around a container that holds one half gallon of liquid so that I can easily assess where I am regarding my water intake.

I understand that something as basic as drinking water is not always easy. Granted, maybe I take it to the extreme because I want to increase my weight-room performance, but sometimes I will take a couple of minutes to make sure that I drink half of my container because I know I’ll be busy for a while and I won’t think about it. The point here is that we should be proactive about our health and not wait until we feel sluggish or sapped before taking action. To be more blunt, we shouldn’t wait until we are diagnosed with a scary condition before altering our lifestyles.

Finally, I’ve felt like Ludacris lately because I keep telling students to go to sleep! Yes, I know the song I’m alluding to was released in 2001, and I don’t mind the judgment. More seriously, if you aren’t getting at least six hours a night, I implore you to make changes. Life is a balance, and sleep is a crucial part of that. We cannot continuously push ourselves to achieve more without taking proper steps for recovery.

Inadequate sleep is linked to chronic health problems and decreases in our cognitive capacities. It also affects our metabolism. In other words, it decays our minds and our bodies. So if you can’t get eight hours at night, make sure you take a nap. Or if you’re in a sleep debt, skip Bay’s one week and get a full night’s sleep. Make up for inadequate sleep on the weekend by getting in 10 hours if you need it. Think of it as “treating yoself.”

I wrote this piece for the same reason that I started teaching: I want to help young people succeed. I don’t want you to sleep instead of doing homework. I want you to sleep so that you can understand the homework better and then crush the test. I want you to eat the proper nutrients and drink enough water so that you can you be a successful student and be social, but without feeling like you’re always dragging.

I understand that I probably haven’t told you much that you didn’t already know.

But if you’re still reading, here’s a challenge.

Choose at least two out of these three basic components that I’ve discussed and follow these recommendations for two weeks. After the two weeks, compare how you feel to how you felt before you started. I would bet that you no long feel like your day is always uphill.

And if you see me on campus, feel free to talk to me about your results. I’m the guy who walks around with a half-gallon container of water and keeps food in his office mini-fridge.

7

season returns with fall of the Warriors Spurs fans have plenty to be excited for this year I couldn’t wait for Tuesday. What a day Tuesday was going to be. Sure, most people are probably glad Friday is here now but, trust me, Tuesday CALLUM SQUIRES was where it was at.

OPINION COLUMNIST The weekend prior had a lot of ups and downs. When the Miami Dolphins are the only one of your sports teams to win on Sunday, you know it’s a weird weekend, but I took solace in the fact that on Tuesday I would be happy.

I was absolutely buzzing for last Tuesday night. And I shouldn’t have been. This is still relatively new to me. Six or so years ago, Tuesday night would have done nothing for me. But now, I’d been genuinely excited about it for the past few weeks, counting down the days to … Opening night.

The NBA was back. Basketball. Finally.

I remember the Finals game 7 clearly in my head. I cheered on the Cavaliers to complete the comeback and knock off the favourites, Golden State. There’s nothing quite like an upset. LeBron’s virtuoso performance, backed up with Kyrie’s wizardry, left me astounded.

I never truly expected Steph Curry and the Warriors to end up as anything other than champions following their record-breaking regular season run.

The Finals are always so fun and exciting, but in the immediate aftermath you end up with a basketball hangover, as the sad realisation sets in that you have to wait another three to four months to see the next outrageous Blake Griffin alley-oop dunk. I’m dying to see a “Splash Bros 3pt Shooting” clinic. There’s something innately beautiful about a “nothing but net” three-point shot and the way the ball flies downwards through the hoop.

But basketball is typically not something I ever loved growing up. Those of you who know me will recognise how generally uncoordinated, clumsy and unathletic I can be. I’m not a student athlete; I’m a sports person. I happen to be decent at kicking a ball into a net, but athleticism and handeye coordination have never been part of my skillset. Basketball was therefore an absolute horror for me to attempt to play. Being young and immature, I of course decided I did not

like the sports because I happened to be useless at playing it. In hindsight, I could not have been more wrong. The sport of basketball is a truly magical game. I really got into it during my gap year before coming to Trinity. I was working as a bartender, and upon finishing my shifts at midnight, the only thing worth watching on TV in England was the NBA. And I fell in love with it! I’ve been an avid fan ever since.

But this season has a special feeling about it.

There’s buzz of the unknown throughout the league. This year’s NBA season is so exciting because we really have no idea what to expect.

Can the Warriors really incorporate Durant into their team successfully? How will the Spurs react to losing Tim Duncan? What are the Lakers like post-Kobe? How will LeBron, Kyrie and the Cavs go about defending their title? Will there be any surprise packages awaiting us in the playoffs?* *(Spoilers: The Warriors fit Durant seamlessly into their team, kill most of their opposition and face the Spurs, who led by Kawhi show no ill effects of losing Tim Duncan, in the Western Conference Finals, with the Lakers failing to win 30 games. LeBron and the defending champion Cavaliers will be waiting in the Finals for the winners of Golden State Warriors vs. San Antonio Spurs. Put your money on it now.)

So Tuesday night, I sat down to watch our hometown San Antonio Spurs take on the Golden State Warriors. And what a game it was. The Spurs were simply incredible. Tim who? The usual suspects (Kawhi Leonard, LaMarcus Aldridge and Tony Parker) were backed up by superb bench support that even former MVPs Curry and Durant could not match. After a white-hot start, the Spurs bench took over the game, culminating in Jonathan Simmons first half-buzzer beater to close the second quarter. The Spurs went on to win by 29 points. I know Zac Treu and the rest of the Trinity Spurs fan club were going nuts. And I loved it too. I think a 29-point win at Golden State is an upset for any team. What a start to the season.

Basketball, it’s great to have you back.

Callum Squires is a German studies major with a minor in sport management. He plays for the Trinity men’s soccer team. Find him on Twitter @callumjdsquires

Pulse

FACULTY SPOTLIGHT “For me, being at Trinity gives me such a great opportunity to implement experiential learning in a way that my students can be copilots in their own educational journey. I love having our experiments right here on campus, because it makes our experimental learning more visible to others”

Rebecca Hazen, professor of biology

Michael Sam presents lecture on his experiences competing in NFL

The first openly gay professional football player opens up about his challenges

BY ALEXANDER MOTTER

PULSE REPORTER

The experience of coming out as LGBTQ can be an overwhelming one. Fears of rejection by loved ones, physical or mental abuse, of bullying in general are a common concerns, regardless of whether or not a person is out of the closet. Likewise, coming out may prompt fears of isolation, ones that result from being ostracized and treated differently by others for an inherently natural characteristic.

These powerful emotions were addressed by Michael Sam, the first openly gay player in the NFL. He spoke Monday in a collaboration between Trinity Diversity Connection (TDC), SGA, Pride and Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). He bared his soul onstage, recounting the harrowing life experiences that shaped him into the man he is today.

Shivani Parmar, vice president of Student government and the head of the Finance Committee, helped organize this event. Parmar helps decide the allocation of the student activity fee, $150 of

students’ Trinity tuition dedicated towards on-campus activities such as lectures and club events. Parmar was approached with the idea by Huda Syed, the president of TDC. “I talked to the senators, Brenna the president of SGA, and the cabinet members. We determined that this was something that SGA would like to distribute part of their personal budget towards cosponsoring the event,” Parmar said.

Opportunities to see such a highprofile speaker such as Sam are not commonplace; Parmar found this experience to be essential “I think the purpose of college is to broaden your perspective, learn about new ideas, and I think this is a really good way to do that because it’s in a lecture format in a large group setting,” Parmar said.

Sophomore Leah Rubio attended the lecture as a member of SAAC on campus; she related Sam’s lecture to the mission of the organization.

“We’re here to talk about things on campus we can help out with and things we can communicate better through our respective teams and through upper campus,” Rubio said.

Rubio found the experience of learning about someone with a different background than her very eye opening and an important dialogue to be had on campus.

“It’s definitely important to all the athletes that we are supportive of the LGBTQ community. We also

MICHAEL SAM discusses the various challenges and rewards of his status as an openly gay man in the professional sports world. photo by NOAH DAVIDSON

do have some teammates on our teams that are LGBTQ, so being supportive of them is important to SAAC and the community in general,” Rubio said.

First-year David Clark shared a personal connection with Sam. “You could quote aspects of his story and it’s essentially mine. Going into seventh grade, I was taller than just about everyone else, so the

coaches during P.E. asked me to join football,” Clark said.

One of the main ideas Clark garnered from the lecture was the bridging of two dissonant worlds. Sam’s lecture opened up the conversation of LGBT discrimination to a wider group.

“His life story in little pieces connects to my own, but also to a lot of other stories in the LGBT

community.” Clark said.

Just because this lecture has concluded and Michael Sam has left campus does not mean the conversation has ended. For further opportunities to become further educated on the subject of queer culture in a safe environment, check LeeRoy for future PRIDE meetings and discussions.

Melissa Flowers denies attendance rumors The director of Residential Life rebuffs the long-standing belief that she’s been present at all football games

BY KERRY MADDEN

PULSE INTERN

Melissa Flowers, director of residential life, is a well-known Trinity football supporter. Not only does she support the Trinity football family, she married into it: her husband, James Flowers, is a Trinity football and Bengal Lancer fraternity alum. Linked by occupation and by marriage, it was local legend that Melissa Flowers had never missed a Trinity football game since 2001.

“The truth is that I have gone to a lot of football games, but not every single one since I’ve been here,” Flowers said. “But my husband has gone to every single one since he was a student here. So starting in the year 2000, he’s been to every home game here at Trinity’s field.”

Flowers has missed a few games for significant personal reasons.

“I have missed games here and there. We have two small children and we also got married on the day of a home game; my husband did go to the game that day with all his groomsmen, a lot of whom were Trinity O-line from back in the day, but I missed the day of my wedding.

I also missed a couple days after my son was born, but my husband went,” Flowers said.

Flowers’ husband was undefeated when he played. He played on the same team as Jerheme Urban, the head football coach, Jeremy Boyce, coordinator for Athletic Recruitment and Success and Matt Uzzell, the assistant football coach, who all went to the national football championship in 2002.

“He has a couple of the shiny rings, which I always like to brag about,” Flowers said.

Urban kept up with him and heard about his relationship with Melissa, including the story of how they scheduled their wedding around a Trinity game.

“You know, it kind of became Trinity football folklore, so to speak,” Urban said.

On her wedding day, Flowers woke up at 5 a.m. to prepare.

“My husband actually went to the game with all his O-line friends.

He was handing out some wedding invitations because we had some last- minute declines, and we’d paid for 150 meals. I’m sure it was a bit of a spectacle having the groomsmen there,” Flowers said.

Flowers has had different feelings on her husband’s steady attendance of Trinity football games.

“I have to tell you that the day of our wedding, when he went to that game and we had to schedule our wedding a little bit later than is standard because we had to wait for the game to wrap up and all that, I could not have been as proud of him in that moment,” Flowers said.

“But looking back, I’m glad that all happened the way it did.”

Urban noted Flower’s support for the team, which he maintains great appreciation for.

“I think it’s huge for the guys. I think that for our guys to know the role that Melissa has on campus and the fact that it’s not just football, it’s a lot of things she’s really invested in.

She tries to get to tons of things to support all of our students,” Urban said. “And I think it’s very cool for our guys to see her at the football

games, week in, week out, year in, year out, and just know that she cares about them and what they’re doing on campus.”

Dayton Ames, sophomore linebacker, finance major and member of the Bengal Lancers fraternity, is one of the students who appreciates the continued support of the Flowers family.

“We take our spectators, our fans, very seriously, because unlike big schools, where you have thousands of people going to games, every fan matters a lot more to us,” Ames said.

“It’s good to have faculty support.

Obviously her relationship to the Bengal Lancer fraternity is also great, and it’s cool to have faculty support like that. It’s helped get other faculty members really invested in our sports too. It’s cool to see other professors come see the games.”

Flowers was personally involved in athletics throughout her life, so continuing to support the football team is only natural to her.

“Athletics was a huge part of my development and my growth and a huge part of developing me into the leader I am today,” Flowers said.

Flowers and her husband are not the only members of their family

immersed in the athletic world at Trinity; their children are too.

“I will add that my children have been to probably every home game in their lives,” Flowers said. “They don’t know that they aren’t watching the Dallas Cowboys or the Houston Texans out there, they see these men as NFL stars. The same thing for the basketball team, the soccer team, the volleyball team. Growing up in this environment for them has been so wonderful. I love that they get to see these leaders; I love that they get to see these people working so hard to achieve their dreams. Sports has definitely intertwined with my family. It’s a big piece of our identity and who we are.”

Although a piece of Trinity folklore has been debunked, Flowers will continue to support teams as frequently as she can.

“You know, I feel bad to dash the dreams of those who are carrying on this folklore that I didn’t know existed, but I’m glad to set the record straight.” Flowers said.

Fan interested in continuing to support teams alongside Flowers and her family can find a list of upcoming games on Trinity’s athletic department webpage.

PULSE • OCTOBER 28, 2016 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

9

Men’s volleyball team hosts benefit tournament Captain Benjamin D’Aurizio helped organize event to buy new athletic equipment

BY COURTNEY JUSTUS

PULSE REPORTER

The Trinity men’s club volleyball team soought to raise awareness in pursuit of new members and help raise money so that they could purchase new equipment, especially undamaged volleyballs they could label as their own, by hosting a sand-volleyball tournament last Friday. Sign-ups were open to players of all skill levels.

“It’s been a whole lot of fun,” said Aidan Burke, a junior biology major. “It doesn’t matter if you don’t have previous experience.

Everybody can come out and learn about the game and compete.”

Prior to the fundraiser, the team had been practicing with balls that were meant to be used by women’s teams. The men decided that they wanted to raise money in order to get different balls that they could practice with as their own. To achieve this goal, the players in their tournament were required to pay $5 each to compete.

“Ben [D’Aurizio] and I decided that we wanted to buy new balls for the team. We decided that we needed some way to raise more money than we have saved from collecting dues, so we tossed around some ideas and came up with a sand-volleyball tournament for the students and faculty here,” Burke said.

Once the men’s club volleyball team reached their cap of $350, they decided the rest of the proceeds would be donated to Shared Beat, an organization in San Antonio that helps impoverished Guatemalan children improve their health and earn more educational opportunities in their hometown.

“We decided to donate to Shared Beat because we don’t want to take more than we need,” Burke said. “We just need these new balls and thought it would be nice to be philanthropic towards San Antonio.”

Shared Beat also provides outreach and health care for Guatemalan children whose basic needs might not otherwise be met.

“A lot of the guys on the team think that everyone around the world deserves access to some sort of basic healthcare and we wanted to donate local,” Burke said.

Ben D’Aurizio, the team captain, reached out to some of the other volleyball players on campus in order to start gethering players for the tournament.

“Ben reached out to me and told me that I should make a team because I love playing sand volleyball,” said Angela Wilson, a junior studio art major and member of the Trinity women’s club volleyball team. “It ended up being a network between the club volleyball men and women’s teams and friends that enjoy playing volleyball.

The teams that played on Friday consisted of both experienced volleyball players, and others with ranging skill levels who simply wanted to have fun and help out with raising money for the team’s fundraiser. The tournament was set up in a bracket form, and approximately 40 people competed in the tournament.

“It’s a good mixture of people who played a lot before and people who just want to get outside and be active. And it’s just a really fun environment,” Wilson said.

Playing volleyball has given Wilson and other players opportunities to meet new people and build strong relationships both on and off the court.

“The men and women’s teams will help

each other out in different ways, which I think is really cool,” Wilson said. “They’ll be scorekeepers for our games and we’ll do the same for them. It’s a good network of people who are interested in volleyball so they can create events that we can all participate in.”

The Trinity women’s club volleyball team will compete in various tournaments in the spring; they’ll be traveling to Baylor University, among other places, for these games.

“Trinity offers a really great outlet in club sports as well. If you don’t want to commit to varsity, you can still play as much volleyball as you want,” Wilson said.

D’Aurizio, a junior English major, used Facebook in order to create an event and see how many attendees would be there. This tool proved to be of good use.

“Ben did a good job making a Facebook page and inviting people. Facebook is such a good tool because you can create your own team and see who else is going,” Wilson said.

Both viewers and participants enjoyed the tournament and thought it was very successful.

“At the end of the tournament, I was exhausted. But what I kept hearing from my position slumped over on one of the benches was that people really enjoyed this tournament. I played in it myself and had a blast and I think that the other teams had a lot of fun too,” D’Aurizio said.

Organizing and participating in these tournaments has not only helped the team raise the funds; members have also strengthened relationships with friends and teammates by playing volleyball.

“When I came to Texas from New York freshman year, I was nervous and scared because I didn’t know anyone and I was 1,700 miles from home. Angela was one of my first friends here. She lived next to me and we spent a lot of time together freshman year. She’s an amazing person and a fantastic volleyball player,” D’Aurizio said.

As team captain, part of D’Aurizio’s job is to teach volleyball to some of the newer athletes, who actually make up the majority of the men’s team following the departure of several previous members.

“I’m a new captain and this is still a very new team. We lost a lot of experience to graduations and transfers last year, so part of my job has just been teaching the sport of volleyball. I think we’ll be good, we’ve got a couple amazing athletes and some players that have developed really quickly. We just have to

Teammates prepare to spike their ball over the net to their opponents in the tournament; players of various skills were eligible to compete against each other in the fundraiser. photo by CLAUDIA GARCIA

put the work in right now, and that includes me as a captain.” D’Aurizio said.

One of D’Aurizio’s goals is to get the men’s team up to a level at which they can compete in more advanced tournaments in more diverse locations.

“I’d like to get to a point where we can compete at tournaments next semester. I think we can get there; it’ll be a fun process to watch,” D’Aurizio said.

By training to qualify for more tournaments, D’Aurizio also hopes to strengthen the bonds members have for those on both the men and women’s club volleyball teams.

“In terms of other volleyball players, we all get to know each other pretty well throughout the year. We try to scrimmage the girls club team every now and then. They’re a really

cool group of girls and have some great captains. We don’t really get to interact that much with the varsity team. We used to do a weekly scrimmage against them last year in the off season but we haven’t been doing that anymore,” D’Aurizio said.

The men’s club volleyball team is thankful for all those who participated in the tournament and helped to raise money for the team and for charity. They appreciated the turnout and look forward to future events to fundraise for their team and various charities established in San Antonio.

To learn about other opportunities to join various intramural or club sports, those interested are encouraged to direct their inquiries to the athletic department.

10

WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • OCTOBER 28, 2016 •

PULSE

Cat Alliance promotes voting in the presidential election by selling t-shirts Members of the organization designed the items for buyers to use to indicate party affiliations

BY ALEXANDER MOTTER

PULSE REPORTER

Trinity is not just a place for students to call home when they’re attending college; the campus is also the source of shelter for several cats on campus. Fondly known as ‘Trinicats,’ these felines are adored by many students and staff members who approach them.

Members of the Cat Alliance are responsible for caring for these animals on a regular basis by providing food, water and shelter. They also use the cats as opportunities to publicize information pertinent to issues on campus.

The Cat Alliance and their feline friends are making an important statement this political

season with the release of their fall fundraising T-shirts. The shirts, which ask voters to “let their voice be purred” by voting DemoCAT or RepubliCAT, offers a non-human alternative for voters dissatisfied with the current nominees: the CAT party.

First-year business major and cat-enthusiast Austin Bratton joined the Cat Alliance this year. He has found that the organization has helped him get involved on campus in his first semester at Trinity.

“I wanted to find a club to be a part of and the Cat Alliance was one of the most attractive options to me. I love animals, and I miss my pets at home too,” Bratton said.

Bratton feels personally responsible to take care of the cats since he shares campus with them, and he was thrilled by the introduction of the black-and-white Felix as the new CAT Party candidate. Felix is well-known on campus, which is why Cat Alliance chose him to be featured on the CAT shirt.

“I think it’s awesome because [Felix] lays out in front of Murchison all the time so everyone

sees him and pets him when they’re walking by,” Bratton said.

The importance of politics becomes evident during these election years; this is particuarly true for Bratton, as it will be his first opportunity to legally vote for one of the presidential candidates.

“I will probably be voting DemoCAT, but I feel like I’m still pretty ignorant of the subject of politics as of now. I think I need to really brush up more on my politics before I commit,” Bratton said.

Mindy Morales helped lead and charter the Cat Alliance, which is not actually a universityrun organization.

“The Cat Alliance is a separate 501c3 that we established a nonprofit organization for. We don’t receive any money from the university at all — everything that we do is done through fundraising,” Morales said.

Morales helped pioneer a safer and more ethical option to euthanizing cats called the trap-neuter-return program (TNR), which uses a scientific methodology to control feral

The Stieren Arts Enrichment Series presents Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, University of Houston

Cynthia Freeland

The Changing Role of Color in Art Follow the discussion on social media using

Wednesday, Nov. 2 7:30 p.m. | Chapman Center, Great Hall FREE and open to the public

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The Stieren Art Enrichment Series is made possible by an endowment gift from Jane and the late Arthur Stieren of San Antonio.

www.trinity.edu

cat populations in domestic areas.

“The cats are trapped, spayed or neutered, and then returned and made sure they are fed and healthy. It’s a thing, it’s not a bunch of crazy ladies feeding cats,” Morales said.

As both of the major party candidates have record-low approval ratings, Morales felt that the introduction of a feline nominee would help add a humorous element to the unexpected events of the election so far.

“Felix would probably be an independent cat because he’s always been so independent,” Morales said, speaking on Felix’s particular political leanings.

The main focus of the advertising campaign is ultimately to encourage students to vote in this election, regardless of their affiliation.

“Nothing will ever change if people don’t participate in the process. One of the reasons our political process is in such turmoil is because so many people don’t vote or are what I call ‘lazy voters:’ they go out and choose one person because they’re one party or another without knowing what they really stand for or base decisions off of an ad on television or something on the internet. If we don’t become more involved, then the system is going to fall apart,” Morales said.

Shirts like those of the Cat Alliance both illicit humor and allow for a unique way to make a political statement; this allows those who are voting for the first time to proceed with the election process in a low-pressure, more approachable way.

“By choosing either a DemoCAT or a RepubliCAT shirt, they can hint at their true political ‘a-feline-ation’ in a non-threatening way. Or — with either version of the shirt — they can simply make the statement that they think a cat, rather than a human, would be the best choice for leader of our country. The choice is theirs to make,” said Vee DuBose, designer and current president of Cat Alliance.

DuBose designs the CAT fundraiser shirts each year. In an attempt to stop the increasing number of feral cats on campus, DuBose actually helped found the organization in 2004 with Morales. Felix, while a very qualified nominee, is not the CAT Party’s first to be featured as the face of the CAT Party.

“In 2008, another controversial election year, campus cat Cheeky topped the CAT ticket. After a tight race, at least here on campus, Cheeky was ultimately defeated by current president, Barack Obama. This is an important election, but we in the Cat Alliance aren’t trying to make a serious statement by endorsing any of the human candidates,” DuBose said.

Like Morales, DuBose also places a high priority on voting in these elections.

“Do your best to get yourself informed, and even if you don’t find any one candidate to be perfect, make a choice and vote for someone.

Take advantage of your voting privilege and let your voice be heard in this election,” DuBose said.

The Cat Alliance has helped shed light on the important process of voting, and part of that process is making informed decisions.

Voting guides like the nonpartisan one released by the League of Women Voters help provide a better understanding of the platforms of dozens of state, local and national politicians. This November, make sure to take part in this election cycle and buy a T-shirt from the Cat Alliance. Shirts were available in Coates last week after reserving sizes online; inquiries about extras may be directed to the Cat Alliance.

More information on the safest approaches to handling cats on campus can be found on Trinity’s website. Those interested in learning more about the Cat Alliance are encouraged to reach out to Mindy Morales for more information.

12

THE HALLOWEEN ISSUE

THE CANDY CORNER Treats or tricks?

BY JOY LAZARUS

Candy is dangerous. It’s a bottomless pit of sugar and artificial flavoring. The danger lies in the sheer abundance of confectionary options.

Specifically, Halloween candy. Orange, yellow, white. This is the color gradient of a much beloved Halloween sweet treat.

Candy corn is made of sugar, corn syrup and confectioners wax. Artificial color gives it the striped appeal. For a size comparison, candy corn is three times that of a real corn kernel.

If you’ve tasted a piece in your life, you’re not alone. An estimated 20 million pounds of candy corn are sold annually. That’s pure, sugary lunacy.

With all of these variations it’s hard to decipher

what the best and most spectacular “Corn” should be. What corn stands out among the rest, the corn that really truly dazzles. And of course, it’s obviously candy corn, the original, but there are many contenders.

Chocolate, Mars Bars, Almond Joys, those Tiny Twix and Snickers you can stuff your backpack with and eat during intervals, would fill up my little pumpkin bucket when I went around the block. And then there was the healthy house that gave caramel squares or organic lollipops. Actually, in our neighborhood we all had preconceived notions of what kind of candy would be received depending on the type of house. If it was a big house, entire candy bars. Smaller, less decorated houses would give little toys and malt balls. The elderly couple down the block?

Cough drops.

That one night of free-candy collecting provided a personal stash for months after Halloween, just waiting to be eaten. Typically, after we cased the neighborhood for candy, my friends and I would dump our findings

on the floor and trade gummies for chocolate, or chocolate for gummies. What lasted would be an endless pit of cavity frenzy and a bucket of old, leftover candy happily distributed to anyone who came over. We were known as the candy house. Neighbors would ring the doorbell, grab a Butterfinger and bolt.

Maybe Halloween is just a front for candy producers to gain cash money in late October.

Or perhaps it’s a conspiracy between candy makers and the dental industry to entice consumers with sugar and then deplete insurance funds through multiple cavity fillings. If this is indeed the case, I encourage an excess of candy consumption to students now, while metabolisms are still relatively high and insurance plans have not yet wreaked havoc on annual salaries, as we have yet to partake in the joys of the “real world.”

Here’s a list of superior candies, just for kicks: Nerds, Sweetarts, Sprees, Bottlecaps (sometimes), any form of gummy, Snickers, Zotz, Kit-Kat Bars, Twix, Reeses, etc. Enjoy at a brisk pace.

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CANDY CORN: A LOVE STORY

BY ELISE HESTER For years people have asked, what is the best Halloween candy? Is candy corn wonderful or terrible? What is the difference between Halloween candy and regular candy? I seek to answer these questions.

What is Halloween candy? One could assume that any candy can be Halloween candy if it is served on Halloween, but Halloween candy in its true nature is not merely a random collection of various treats that Johnny Smith picked off the ground at the Homecoming parade and is now in his mother’s pantry waiting to be handed out to all his friends. Rather, Halloween candy is purchased from Walmart in bags with assorted candies in a temporary aisle set aside primarily for Halloween candy. Some may argue that Reese’s shaped like a pumpkin are the best Halloween candy, for the Reese’s peanut butter cup disguises itself as a pumpkin much as we disguise ourselves for Halloween. However, many discredit the polarizing power of candy corn.

When considering marriage, as I often do, there are three questions that are important. Have you ever peed in front of a public library at 11 a.m. completely sober? Have you seen the show “Galavant?” Do you love candy corn? My answer to all three questions is yes, but in order to marry me, someone must answer no to all three questions, for three very simple reasons.

First, yes I have peed on the front lawn of the Huntsville Public Library, last week in fact. I needed to pee, I was wearing a skirt, and no one was there cause the library didn’t open until noon.

I did what I had to do, but peeing in front of library is a definite dealbreaker.

Double standard, maybe. Second, I want to watch the show “Galavant” again, but with someone to see if it is actually good or if I just have terrible taste. Third, I love candy corn, and the person I marry is not going to eat my candy corn. Those are the only three things that matter in marriage.

Perhaps I inherited my love for candy corn from my grandmother. The sober Scott who birthed my mother eats candy corn to take the edge off. She loves fall, not only for the joy of decorating her entire house with Hobby Lobby plastic leaves, scarecrows and crochet table runners with pictures of pumpkins, but for the return of candy corn. The weird thing about candy corn, however is the way it has absolutely no taste until you bite into it. It’s the mystery of candy corn. Why do we love it? Why does it draw us in? The world may never know, but candy corn is not an occasional treat.

It’s best eaten by the bulk load. You know you are doing it right when your poop turns orange.

Candy corn is a beautiful, beautiful enigma … available now at the P.O.D.!

THE HALLOWEEN ISSUE

13

HAUNTING REVIEWS

BY ALEXANDER MOTTER Horror movies are a scary genre to get into. Few movies escape the rehashed tropes of frankly terrible directing that have defined scary movies. Through the consistent creation of bad cinema, the scariest part of these movies is the concept of them ever receiving funding. Instead of IMDbing the highestrated horror movies, the best way to seek out a good one is to explore subgenres and find unique films that defy industry stereotypes.

Some of the best horror movies are ones that barely resemble the genre at all. “It Follows” of 2014 received rave reviews because the film compared STDs to a fatal curse and used this metaphor as a tool for social commentary. Others like my all-time favorite horror movie, “The Babadook,” completely ignore jump scares and cheap gimmicks, weaving a complex narrative of PTSD and depression far scarier than an actor hiding underneath a white sheet and jumping out at people.

Horror movies more often than not become humorous, and it takes a certain kind of director to make a film humorous without being tacky. “Teeth” uses the ridiculous concept of a woman whose vagina has teeth to explore commentary on femininity in society, while “You’re Next” takes the interesting concept of a family fighting back against their attackers and makes it so unbelievably ridiculous it’s worth watching for the laughs.

Great horror movies can be created when the lines between genres are blurred even further.

“Misery,” while sometimes classified as a

psychological thriller, contains some of the most horrific scenes of all time. Even thinking of the “hobbling” scene puts knots in my stomach, and Stephen King’s story of a crazed fan who takes matters into her own hands will leave you bothered for days. Similarly haunting is Lars Von Trier’s fright fest “Antichrist,” the perverted psychosexual trip of a couple whose infant son has died to a cabin the woods aptly named Eden. This movie walks the fine line of being excessively gruesome, but the integration of witchcraft and woodland-magic lore makes the indie flick worth watching.

Objectively, subjectively and otherwise, the scariest titles are those from Asia. “Shutter” is the 2004 Thai horror film which takes the dated concept of film photography and makes the reality of your past catching up to the present as relevant today as it was 12 years ago. One of the most terrifying movies of all time, “Audition” is director Takashi Miike at his most sadistic. Miike’s works make Quentin Tarantino look PG, and this horrific tale of a widower who uses her friend’s film skills to look for a new companion grows darker and more perverted with each passing second.

Despite all these suggestions, sometimes the simplest solution can be the best one. Classic movies like “The Exorcist,” “The Shining,” “It” and “The Blair Witch Project” have passed the test of time with flying colors, managing to incite screams from audiences after several decades.

For every well-executed horror movie, there are

Who you gonna call?

BY ALEXANDRA URI & EMILY ELLIOTT This week, the two bravest section editors faced their fears and went on a ghost hunt around campus. Armed with two ghost detector apps, a pen, paper and a camera, they went in search of Trinity’s most haunted spots.

Alex: So this week we’re going to hit up three supposedly haunted locations on campus: the women’s bathroom on the first floor of the library, the Holt Center and Chapman.

Emily: We decided to do this because we both find the idea of ghosts to be pretty scary, so we wanted to make sure we could travel anywhere on campus without the threat of ghosts haunting us.

A: Do you believe in ghosts? I certainly do and I’m horrified to go on this adventure.

E: I don’t know if I do or not, but I do have really severe fears of fish and butterflies, so I think I’ll be scared no matter what.

A: OK, so what should the criteria be for rating these spooky places?

E: I think the results from the two apps we downloaded should have the most significance; if the apps say there’s a ghost, then they’re probably right! We should take our general fear of the location into account too.

A: The spot should get bonus points if we see anything extra spooky like flickering lights or hear a door slamming.

Chapman: E: Chapman is definitely the least spooky of the buildings we visited; if anything, this one is just really, really old, and that’s kind of creepy.

A: This building definitely had the least amount of activity on the apps. We even went down to the basement which should be the creepiest place of any building!

E: Even though it felt like we were exploring an abandoned high school from the 1980s, the detectors failed to pick up on the presences of any ominous spirits. This experience made me think I wouldn’t afraid to go back to Chapman at night because it’s probably not haunted.

Library Bathroom: A: This place had a lot more haunt-hype than Chapman. So many people said this bathroom was for sure haunted.

E: This was the first place we visited, and I feel like that made it spookier than it really was. We were kind of nervous in advance. It wasn’t too scary; our detector told us a spirit named Daisy was haunting the bathroom.

A: I fully expected there to be some flickering lights here. As much as that would have scared me I’m kind of disappointed there wasn’t more of a scare factor here.

E: I’d say eight out of ten girls wouldn’t be afraid to use this bathroom during a late-night study session.

A: I’d be a little scared if we’re being honest, but mostly because the ceiling had a bunch of holes in it.

E: Yeah, I’m more scared about the quality of the bathroom than its rumors of hauntings.

A: Too much hype, not enough spook.

thousands of others screaming for attention through shortcut methods. The worst are the excessively gruesome, movies like “Saw,” “A Serbian Film” and “The Human Centipede” that are so lacking in nuance that the extreme violence is no longer palatable. It’s likewise sickening when movies go overboard with jump scares. The “Paranormal Activity” series notoriously reliant on this trick to get out of making a good movie.

Above all, the moral sin of horror movies is remaking classics for no reason other than to make a quick million. Masterful classics from around the world have been mutated into bland stereotypical films like “Ring,” “Oldboy,” “One Missed Call” and “The Grudge” to name a few. Hollywood’s favorite pastime is cultural appropriation without representation, and it’s in horror movies producers are at their spookiest. Even domestic horror movies are constantly remade, oftentimes not even the good ones. From “Friday the 13th VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan” (there’s actually 12), the 2013 remake of “Carrie” and “I Still Know What You Did Last Summer,” horror movies don’t even have to be good to earn a remake.

Picking the perfect movie this Halloween can be like tiptoeing through a field of landmines; the chances of being blown up with a shower of gore and cheap jump scares are higher than most. However, looking through the indie and less-explored areas of horror movies can help assure you’ll be scared in all the best ways this October 31.

Holt Center: A: This building genuinely terrified me. Even before we started talking to the staff there I was dead convinced that it was haunted. It really didn’t help that both the workers there told us they thought there were definitely ghosts there.

E: I will avoid stepping into this building at all costs. I don’t think I’d be able to go here by myself; I was almost shaking the entire time I was here because the stories from the employees were genuinely terrifying.

A: The building itself is just creepy and old looking. Especially the creepy trapdoor we found! I didn’t realize how big of a baby I truly am until we spent time in that place.

E: The Holt Center has a lot of nooks and crannies that looked like they lead to nowhere, and they were pretty spooky. Our ghost detector app said there were multiple demons and vengeful spirits who were following us; we were too scared to interview any of them, unfortunately.

A: Zero out of ten stars. I honestly jumped a few times and I swear I felt something touch my arm and you were nowhere near me.

E: Ultimately, if you’re afraid of ghosts like we are, most locations on campus aren’t too daunting, so you’ll be safe from spirits. When you start venturing off campus and onto Oakmont, though, you might be risking a chance of running into an angry spirit.

A: I think the real lesson of this adventure is, if you have to go ghost hunting for work, go with someone as cool as Emily.

E: Yeah, the biggest takeaway I have from this adventure is that you can conquer anything as long as you have your favorite coworker at your side.

14

THE HALLOWEEN ISSUE

halloween happenings at trinity

New to Halloween

International students discuss American holiday

BY NHI NGUYEN Even though Halloween does not officially start until the 31st, the festive atmosphere has already been around since early October. Stores have been selling autumnal ornaments. Teenagers and young adults have been searching Pinterest and Tumblr for Halloween costumes. People have been decorating places and stocking up candies to treat little kids on Halloween night. Popular and carefully prepared as the festival is in the U.S., I wondered what the 7.6 percent of Trinity’s population — our international students — thought about Halloween in America. In order to find out, I conducted a small survey and had personal interviews with international students across campus.

The majority of interviewees in my survey responded that they did not celebrate Halloween in their hometowns. Nevertheless, with the rise of globalization, certain schools or parts of neighborhoods in their countries adopt this Western custom and celebrate it for fun.

“Not everyone celebrates Halloween. However, some schools hold costume parties, and some people decorate their homes,” said Nipuni Gomes, a senior English

and communication double major from Honduras.

“Children dress up and ask for candy in their neighborhoods. This is not done in every neighborhood, only in the ones where all the parents agree to do it and plan the event. A lot of people around the city don’t celebrate it,” said Josefina Lillo, a sophomore business major from Chile.

Thanks to the media for having introduced Halloween to other parts of the world, the customs are not new to international students.

The only thing that surprises them is the extent of preparation and celebration of Halloween in the U.S., which commercialization successfully amplifies.

“Some people go over the top for Halloween. It’s an interesting time of the year. Markets in the U.S. have successfully made people feel the necessity to buy everything Halloween related when October comes,” said Patricia Liao, senior psychology and Spanish double major from Taipei, Taiwan.

“I think it’s so cool that people actually participate and enjoy this holiday. No matter how old you are, the spirit of Halloween is among all,” Lehan Meng, a first year from Hebei, China.

“It’s amazing and quite commercialized, but it’s fun to watch,” Gomes said.

“People take it more seriously here compared to Tanzania such as costumes, decorations. Apart from my school, my community does not celebrate Halloween by dressing up, makeup or decorations. It is just like any other day,” Veronica Lukanga, a first-year engineering major from Tanzania.

In preparation for this year’s Halloween, half of our respondents shared that they had already planned the costumes, including one of the Three Blind Mice, a vampire, a ghost and a nerd. The other half, even though they would not dress up, are still going to enjoy the celebratory ambience and engaging in Halloween-related events.

“I enjoy watching people celebrate Halloween here. But sadly, because it is not a part of my culture, and also because of my personal interests I guess, I’m not that excited about dressing up and participating. I like the haunted house. Pumpkin carving and pumpkin lights festivals are also really fun,” said Haley Yi, a sophomore philosophy major from Shandong, China.

As Halloween is upon us, several fun events put on by different campus organizations have helped students get into the spooky spirit of the season.

For the first time, the Rocky Horror Picture Show was put on by Iota Chi Rho; it was held in Mabee Dining Hall on Wednesday and Thursday nights and benefitted the San Antonio AIDS Foundation.

In the past, the show has been hosted by Trinity University Players (TUPS).

“It hadn’t been like a philanthropy event before … So I think it was also a good opportunity to associate a philanthropy event with this. It matched really well I think,” said Cole Murray, president of Iota Chi Rho. The show is a well-known cult classic in which a cast acts along with the action on screen, and audience members are encouraged to participate. Trinity’s showing of Rocky Horror was co-directed by Cheyne Minto and Syne Barr.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Minto said.

“And that’s why it’s so fun to direct, too, is because there’s not really that pressure to be like, you don’t have to be really strict with your actors. It’s just, you basically do what the actors are doing or what the characters are doing on screen.”

“It allows students to kind of do something completely off the wall, in kind of a space where it’s safe,” Murray said.

Also for the first time, Alpha Phi Omega (APO) is selling “BooGrams,” Halloween-themed cards or candy cups that students can have sent to their friends.

Matthew Reynolds, president of APO, explained that the funds from the BooGrams will go towards sending club members to the national conference in Pittsburgh.

The fundraiser also helps APO increase its presence on campus.

“I think a lot of people associate us kind of exclusively with community service, so a group on Trinity’s campus that does stuff in the San Antonio community.

And we’re really trying to remind people and make ourselves a bigger presence on campus,” Reynolds said.

BooGrams will be delivered this coming Monday, on Halloween.

Earlier this week, the Filipino Student Association (FSA) held an event called “Halo-Halloween,” where they served the Filipino shaved-ice dessert halo-halo to students in Coates.

Erika Salarda, president of FSA, explained that halo-halo in English means “mix-mix.” The dessert consists of a mix of many different ingredients in a cup with shaved ice.

“We included things like coconut jelly, tapioca, coconut shavings, sugar palm and, of course, shaved ice,” Salarda said. “We also topped it off with Filipino ice cream. So people got to try unique flavors like purple yam (ube), coconut and cheese.”

FSA members made the HaloHalo themselves using ingredients from a local Filipino store called Sari-Sari.

Salarda explained that the event tied in with the ongoing Filipino-

American History Month in exposing the Trinity community to one aspect of Filipino culture.

“I’d say 90 percent of the people who stopped by never tried purple yam or cheese flavored ice creams,” Salarda said. “But hey, it was an experience and a lot of them actually liked it. It made me so happy to see other people enjoy what I grew up with, or try something new and end up really liking it.”

On Thursday, the Trinity Review hosted its Scary Stories contest.

In addition to the Scary Stories contest itself, the event included a costume contest and an open mic.

“It’s always great to see the scary stories people write,” said Courtney Justus, co-editor of the Trinity Review.

“Essentially it should be related to Halloween and scary things. And people interpret that in different ways,” Justus said. “But it’s great to see those interpretations, because you go from having something that’s really haunting and mesmerizing to something that’s super funny and makes you forget that you’re talking about zombies or werewolves or something.”

“It should be somewhat Halloween themed, because it is a scary story contest, but we’re very lax about that,” Justus said.

Scary story entries were judged

by Andrew Kania, professor of philosophy, and Andrew Kraebel, professor of English.

Justus explained that the openmic part of the evening was an opportunity for students who did not want to compete to perform their own work or recite works by their favorite authors.

Finally, Student Programming Board (SPB) offered free tickets to the 13th Floor Haunted House on Saturday. Tickets were handed out in Coates this week.

“We only have about 300 tickets, which we thought was about how many people would want to go,” said Carolyn Young, director of Student Programming Board.

After some negotiation with 13the Floor Haunted House, SPB was able to secure a substantial discount on the tickets. Young explained that, if SPB were not providing free tickets, they would be about $30 apiece.

“And you would also have to stand in line at the venue to get the ticket, and we’ll be handing them the ticket when they get on the bus, so they just have to get in line and wait to go into the Haunted House and not the ticket line,” Young said.

SPB decided to provide tickets to the attraction as an alternative to the Monster Mash event they have held the past few years. “It’s very Halloween-esque to be able to go to a Haunted House, and more exciting that something we could put on,” Young said.

Other Halloween events included a Pumpkin Party hosted by Student Ambassadors on Wednesday, the Swashbucklers’ annual Haunted Hall, a lecture on Dia de los Muertos by San Antonio’s Casa de España and a Halloween Picnic hosted by Facilities Services on Friday.

THE HALLOWEEN ISSUE

15

Not in the spirit How to handle the holiday if you’re a Halloween hater

BY MAX FREEMAN There are tons of holidays throughout the year that celebrate joyous events and make people feel overwhelmed in a bubbly spirit of good times, possibly even granting time off work.

Fear, death and terror are what accompany Halloween, and while some people enjoy the entire spectacle, there are those who loathe it.

So, for all the Halloween haters out there, there are several activities that you can do on Oct. 31 that completely undermine Halloween.

The most iconic part of this holiday, or rather unholyday, is dressing up and demanding food from strangers. In order to not fall into peer pressure and stick to the anti-Halloween spirit, make sure you eat nothing and wear no clothes Monday night. Otherwise, you could fall victim to Halloween’s societal takeover.

If people try and knock on your door and ask for candy, you need to be extra

careful, because that’s where it can get you.

Practically anything, even a rock, can count as an appropriate Halloween treat to give out, but you came prepared ever since your last visit to the dentist and brought back a ton of toothbrushes. This may be considered a “trick” as part of the trick-or-treat theme, but make sure you exhibit actual concern for the strangers’ dental hygiene so that they don’t get cavities after eating all that candy. After this, you’re guaranteed to appear as a Good Samaritan.

Oh, and don’t even think about decorating your room and door with pumpkins, cobwebs and scarecrows. Instead, go ahead and whip out those cornucopias and fall wreaths to show how prepared you are for Thanksgiving. Then, go to Starbucks and buy a pumpkin spice latte, take a selfie with it and post “can’t wait to

make an actual pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving dinner,” on Instagram. This will help you gain several hundred followers. Employers will notice that you don’t follow trends, you set them. And for those who want to take their hatred for Halloween to an extreme level, open your doors and windows, pop out that speaker and blast those Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra Christmas tunes to get everyone in the spirit of the holidays.

Luckily, for the anti-Halloween cult, Halloween falls on a Monday this year — which is a pretty horrible day in general — but especially since the holiday revolves around nightly activity. Since it’s close to the weekend, I’d expect to hear and see many people talking about the best horror movies to watch to go with some of the other festivities.

In order to combat the high level of fear going

What not to wear

BY NABEEHA VIRANI

Many people find inspiration for their Halloween costumes based on events that occurred during the year. Over the past few years, the types of costumes most people wear have shifted from more traditional, scary characters, to plays on stereotypes of certain minority groups. This has caused problems within society and communities.

One community chose to take action to discourage this trend. Earlier this week, the University of Florida issued a statement urging students to make appropriate choices when choosing their Halloween costumes.

The memo states that “some Halloween costumes reinforce stereotypes of particular races, genders, cultures or religions.

Regardless of intent, these costumes can can perpetuate negative stereotypes, causing harm and offense to groups of people.”

Keeping this in mind, here are some top contenders for 2016’s most offensive costumes.

Earlier this month, Kim Kardashian got robbed in a Paris hotel. Costumeish.com used this as a marketing strategy and put up a “Parisian Robbery Victim” costume for $69.99. It included a bathrobe, a wig, a plastic replica of Kardashian’s wedding ring and a rope that functions as a fake gag. Since then, Costumeish has faced major backlash and pulled the costume from its site, but that doesn’t justify the insensitivity towards the trauma Kardashian faced after getting robbed at gunpoint.

Costumes of Caitlyn Jenner are a no. Jenner,

previously Bruce Jenner, came out as a trans woman last year. Currently, there are multiple “Call me Caitlyn” and “Decathlon Cait” costumes. “Call me Caitlyn” refers to Jenner’s first public appearance on Vogue and “Decathlon Cait” refers to Jenner’s past Olympic career as a track and field star.

Although Jenner has said she doesn’t find these costumes offensive, it’s important to remember that she’s not speaking for the entire transgender community on this issue.

Any costume of a transgender man or woman disregards the struggles trans people face in society and is simply disrespectful.

Another popular trend is intimations of sexual predators. Last year, many people dressed up as Bill Cosby. I don’t expect anything less this year, considering the numerous sexual assault accusations against the Republican presidential nominee. Yes, sexual assault and rape are scary, but that doesn’t give anyone a pass to make light of a serious topic that deserves to be talked about outside of the context of victim blaming and Halloween.

Furthermore, any costume that targets groups of people and plays on stereotypes are offensive, even if you think they’re not.

Examples include blackface, Native-American culture, terrorist and suicide bomber outfits and “Mexican” costumes with sombreros and mustaches. I could go on, but you get the point.

The overwhelmingly sexist costumes that spring up every year are also make the l i s t .

More often than not, female costumes tend to have the word “slutty” attached to it as stores and websites continue to oversexualize the female body to gain profit. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t dress up as a kitten or bunny or whatever. What’s problematic is the way these costumes are sold to young girls, promoting that they can’t be anything other than sexual objects.

On a lighter note, there are some costumes and characters that invoke strong feelings within some people. A prime example is minions. Ever since “Despicable Me” came out, groups of people have expressed their hatred for the tiny, yellow organisms.

Buzzfeed even came out with articles that described the struggles minion haters face and minions have long been the subject of harsh memes.

Other honorable mentions that fall in the category of “I don’t know if this is meant to be funny or offensive” are “Bootylicious Big Bird,” Harambe and of course, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

Obviously there are many routes you can take with your Halloween costume. The struggle between choosing a funny, scary, cute or weird and out-there ideas is real, but there are tons of great costumes that aren’t offensive. Let’s keep the spirit of Halloween by committing to a costume that doesn’t discriminate against any groups or individuals.

on during the weekend, Halloween haters can rebelliously enjoy themselves by watching some of the latest additions to Netflix since the beginning of October, including “Pooh’s Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin” and my personal favorite for this time of year, “My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Legend of Everfree.” Damn! That movie is revolutionary.

Finally, Halloween haters should refrain from leaving their rooms late at night this Halloween, especially if they are looking to avoid any of the holiday’s activities and icons, especially pumpkins. However, do not smash the pumpkins and/or other decorations simply because you detest them; unless, of course, you have permission and are responsible enough to clean up after yourself. In that case, swing away Merrill.

What was your best homemade costume ever?

I did a cool Day of the Dead costume a few years ago.

Arianna Payson, ‘18

My best was a ladybug costume.

Janet Munoz, ‘18

When I was six my mom made me a good Batman costume.

Heather Rizzo, ‘19

I had a soldier costume that was pretty cool.

Tristan Cartwright, ‘20 Photos by CLAUDIA GARCIA

AE &

IBM’s Watson computer brings robotic focus to fighting cancer

Walking Dead Season 7 Premiere Shocks Audiences

Doctors often can’t correctly treat cancers because they can’t read every cancer research report (out of hundreds of thousands), but IBM’s AI Watson can help by auto-diagnosing patients from the onco-database.

While we won’t spoil it for you here, the first episode of the new season of “The Walking Dead” made everyone sink collectively into their couches. “We wanted to break the audience,” says showrunner Scott Gimple.

Bob Dylan becomes first American to win Literature Nobel Prize in 25 years Well, the times they are a-changin'.

This month, the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Bob Dylan, musician and prolific folk singer EMILY PETER and songwriter of A&E WRITER the last 50 years. This monumental event marked the first time a singer-songwriter won the prize, and the first time for an American to win in more than 20 years. The prize was awarded to him "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American-song tradition," as released by the nominating committee. Americans far and wide stood in awe of the song standing next to the sonnet.

The decision was quite the surprise to many in the music arena, as well as those interested in literature. While Dylan has been considered

for this prize many times, the expectation was that an author of the modern novel would win, similar to the past exemplars of this category.

Instead, the award found itself transcending preceding definitions, and was awarded to one of the most influential American musicians of all time.

Bob Dylan was a man who used his music as a device, writing countless ballads of American culture, anti-war sentiment and civil rights.

Almost everyone can identify one of his iconic lines, whether they know its origin or not. For the first musician to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, Bob Dylan is an great selection for more than just his profession.

More importantly, is that through the selection of Bob Dylan, the definition of literature has evolved. Merriam-Webster contains many definitions of literature, the most robust of them being: writings in prose or verse; especially: writings having excellence of form or expression and expressing ideas

of permanent or universal interest. In other words, literature is great writing, writing that has become well-recognized and remembered for its uniqueness and ability to express complexity. In my opinion, great music can often be placed alongside great literature for its mastery of language. Of course, not all of the finest musical pieces can be literature; many pieces lack any words at all. But in the case of Bob Dylan, the melodies and sounds of his music only complemented what was often poetic articulation: “Yes to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free/ silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands/ with all memory and fate, driven deep beneath the waves/ let me forget about today until tomorrow” It is inspiring to think of Bob Dylan winning the Nobel Prize and taking a seat next to those whom preceded him. Dylan now finds himself among the ranks of literary greats, such as the novelists Ernest Hemingway and John

Steinbeck, the playwrights Samuel Beckett and Eugene O’Neill and the poets W.B. Yeats and T.S. Eliot. Although many literary geniuses were snubbed by the Nobel Prize such as Virginia Woolf and F. Scott Fitzgerald, their loss does not diminish Dylan’s achievement.

However, if the Nobel Committee is truly willing to accept that music has a strong foundation in literature, we must ask: how far will it extend?

Regardless of who wins the Nobel Prize in Literature in the upcoming years, authors or musicians, the committee has opened up an important progressive discussion on literature.

It will be defined and redefined endlessly, and the upcoming winners will impact the dynamic or stagnant ideologies of literature.

Will we see more modern musicians win the Nobel Prize in Literature? Or will this prove to be a singular event that results in furthering boundaries between music and literature? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind.

YouTube cracks down on copyright infringements, Fair Use content ALEJANDRO CARDONA

A&E WRITER

On the morning of June 3, Lewis Bond uploaded a video with the title “I’m Being Sued.” In one long, emotional take, the YouTube creator explained to his audience that he was the target of a lawsuit for one of his videos on Stanley Kubrick’s cinematography.

Bond is a film student who publishes in-depth video essays under the name “Channel Criswell.” The essays are odes to his moviemaking idols. They are well-researched pieces, constructed with patience and care that rival that of the filmmakers themselves.

Despite the fact that Criswell is partially crowdfunded via Patreon, the educational and critical nature of the videos should shield him under Fair Use - a copyright provision that allows for the use of copyrighted media without permission for purposes of education or criticism. In spite of that, he was being sued for maximum damages up to $150,000.

“I’m Being Sued” was a cry for help, and it worked. Bond received help from the lawyers of Fair Used Protection Account (FUPA), a legal team set up to prevent this kind of suit from being carried out. Channel Criswell might have had a happy ending, but the issue is much bigger. This kind of lawsuit has become a recurring nightmare haunting online content creators — and that’s just scratching the surface.

In the early days of the internet, individuals organized and regulated the web, resulting in an organic, all-but-unregulated environment.

A single man, Jon Postel, used to administrate the worldwide IP address system. They called him the god of the internet. Today, increased corporate regulations and individual content creators face greater challenges to stay competitive in the online arena. A few years ago, the internet might have been a wild west where the boldest creatives rose to the top, but that gold rush is over.

Algorithms function as enforcers over the

graphic by TYLER HERRON

internet, the problem being that as robots, they are fundamentally black-and-white, which doesn’t help people using copyrighted materials under the protection of Fair Use. Lewis Bond’s lawsuit was the result of an automated comparison implemented by YouTube, one which that found similarities between his videos and Stanley Kubrick’s films. Score one for the robots.

In similarly disparaging news, YouTube recently restructured their Ad Policy to allow them to bar certain videos from being monetized. This means that creators will receive no money from videos determined not to be “advertiser friendly.”

If the term sounds nebulous, that’s because it is. Since 2012, YouTube has been arbitrarily demonetizing videos for their use of language

and graphic content, without a set standard for what is and isn’t “advertiser friendly.”

For those who rely on YouTube for a large portion of their income, demonetization was like seeing the stock market crash. The fact that YouTube’s demonetization system is largely overseen by algorithms only added frustration to an already infuriating ordeal.

This is all part of an even larger trend of corporations taking control and monetizing the web. Channels like CollegeHumor, which at first glance seem to be an agglomeration of content creators, are often owned by larger parent companies. In CollegeHumor’s case, the owner is publicly traded InterActiveCorp, whose name even sounds like a villain from a “Tron” movie.

Maybe your favorite YouTuber is PewDiePie

— the channel with the most subscribers since December of 2013. Or maybe it’s Philip DeFranco, another household name since the early days of YouTube. They’re independent, right? Nope. PewDiePie is part of Maker Studios, which is owned by Disney Interactive, and Phil DeFranco belongs to Discovery Digital Networks, Discovery Communication’s digital branch.

This is not all to spread some anti-corporate message, or to bemoan the death of YouTube, as many already have. The influx of funding has increased the quality of the content we see in our newsfeeds, albeit bringing about the decline of the homemade, grungy style that characterized beloved early-internet sites like Albono wBlackSheep, Newgrounds or eBaum’s World.

These are problems that should concern you as an internet consumer. Copyright claims are out of control, demonetization threatens to homogenize YouTube into a blob of “advertiser-friendly” content and the rising standard of production value can be discouraging to someone wanting to enter the world of digital production.

The struggle to maintain the freedom of the internet is constant, so get used to it. A few years ago, the Senate entertained SOPA and PIPA, bills that tried to give government the ability to effectively pull the plug on copyright-infringing websites. More recently, net neutrality came to the foreground, with Internet providers arguing that high-speed internet is a luxury and not a utility. The Supreme Court did not agree, thankfully, but we have to keep our guards up.

Independent creators are the crown jewel of the meritocratic internet. As such, the ability to review viral cat videos should be cherished as the pinnacle of a digital democracy. If you agree, go find out how your favorite video creators are putting bread on the table. And if you can, maybe throw a few pennies their way. They might need them for the next time they get sued.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT • OCTOBER 28, 2016 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

#RepealThe19th sad but Learning to defeat the not really out of left field “Sophomore Slump” Just when we thought Donald Trump’s supporters couldn’t get any more ridiculous, #RepealThe19th started trending on Twitter.

Referring to the 19th amendment that gave NABEEHA VIRANI women the right to vote, A&E WRITER this hashtag trended after @538politics tweeted election results that showed who would win if only men voted and if only women voted. According to this poll, Trump would win the presidency if only men voted, with 358 electoral votes to 188, and Hillary Clinton would win if only women voted, with 458 electoral votes to 80.

The results of this poll caused some Trump supporters to take Twitter by storm and start this misogynistic hashtag, calling for the 19th Amendment to be repealed so Trump could take the presidency.

To say this is surprising or out of the ordinary would be a stretch. However, what’s more surprising is that some female Trump supporters were agreeing with this statement. @Hollyanswers tweeted her support, saying that “men should have never given women the right to vote” and @prayhealourland tweeted that she would “be willing to give up her right to vote” to make a Trump presidency happen.

Male Trump supporters also chimed in.

Michael Maier tweeted, “Give out nice enough handbags and most broads would gladly trade their voting rights for one.”

These opinions are similar to Trump’s view of women. A few days before this hashtag started trending, a video from 2005 was released in which Trump and Billy Bush were recorded having a crude and offensive conversation about women, in which Trump was bragging about sexually assaulting women he knew.

The response to the video was similar for many prominent Democrats and Republicans, as they condemned Trump’s words. Prominent Republican leaders such as Paul Ryan, speaker of the House, and Mitch McConnell, Senate majority leader, spoke out against this sexist and disturbing revelation. However, it appears, on Twitter at least, that many of Trump’s diehard fans and soon-to-be voters didn’t see anything wrong with the way he talked about his actions towards women.

So it’s no surprise that some of Trump’s supporters reacted to this poll by creating #RepealThe19th. The ideologies and beliefs individuals have are reflected in the candidate they support, and vice-versa.

It’s unfair of me to say that all of Trump’s supporters are misogynistic. I’m sure that many might feel that they’re being oppressed and would rather have a president who represents some of their views as rather than one who doesn’t represent any. But it seems that people are so caught up in voting for their party, they don’t want to face the reality of the person they’re electing. (Or maybe I’m just being optimistic and don’t want to conceptualize the fact that there are so many racists and sexists in this country).

When it comes down to it, #RepealThe19th is much more than a hashtag. It’s the basis for the “Make America Great Again” platform Trump is pursuing. Making America Great Again refers to a time where the 19th Amendment was a dream in women’s minds, where racism was much more external than it is today and where minorities were struggling to survive.

Come Nov. 8, we’ll be electing a president who not only represents our country but represents us. This is why you should throw your vote behind Hillary Clinton. It’s up to you to decide how our lives will be changed: for the better, or for Trump.

HBO’s “Westworld” gains early sci-fi cred

New mixed-genre show shakes norms, feels like revitalized “Firefly” or “Battlestar Galactica”

HBO’s latest original production, “Westworld,” has entered the mass pool of active television shows.

However, after only three episodes — four by MAX FREEMAN the time this article A&E WRITER is published — it has already made a splash bigger than most shows we’ve seen so far.

But what is it about? Well, if the name sounds familiar, it’s because Michael Crichton’s 1973 film with the same title inspired the new series. Although it’s still early in the show, it generally recreates a similar sci-fi, Western and thriller hybrid from the original production.

I haven’t seen the movie, so I can’t say how closely the show follows the same plot, but the series looks promising on its own. It features artificial intelligence and reality, almost. Think of the matrix in “The Matrix” as similar to Westworld in “Westworld.”

Part of the conversation surrounding the release of “Westworld,” compares it to HBO’s other original show and mega hit, “Game of Thrones,” because both premiered in genres that didn’t promise an easy route to success.

If you look at when HBO aired the first episode of “Game of Thrones,” there wasn’t much enthusiasm, or a huge following, for

the medieval-fiction story. And yet, after six seasons of epic moments and infamous deaths, “Game of Thrones” has undoubtedly beaten the odds, maintaining yearly critical award nominations and worldwide popularity.

But “Game of Thrones” is aging out and “Westworld” comes at a time that could be beneficial to people worried about falling into a “show-hole,” as Amazon Fire TV coined. As a viewer, I definitely have more questions than answers. Granted, there’s only been three episodes, the potential directions the show could take makes me excited for the next episode (something not every show does). Hopefully this isn’t a sign that it will be cancelled.

I think people are comparing “Westworld” to “Game of Thrones” because of how both introduce multiple stories involving multiple characters that have complicated relationships with each other, but are nevertheless connected by an overarching plot. While “Game of Thrones” spans across continents and cultures, there is always the question of who will end up on the Iron Throne. In “Westworld,” everything is separated into two worlds, namely, Westworld and the actual world, human and nonhuman life, real and fake.

HBO isn’t venturing into the risky world of science fiction with “Westworld” unequipped.

Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, Thandie Newton, Jeffrey Wright, James Marsden are just a few of the actors under the show’s belt. And, as if these names weren’t enough, the Nolan brothers and J. J. Abrams are helping produce the series. The list of big names goes on, simply go to IMDb to find out more about the stellar cast and crew.

NHI NGUYEN A&E INTERN While the first year is marked by fresh excitement, sophomores across the campus acknowledge the eventual loss of enthusiasm for school and the experience of fatigue in their second year. They always feel hurried and pressured by the unceasing cycle of deadlines and of events such as preliminary career preparations, study abroad plans, research and scholar grant info sessions, internship searching, major declaration and involvement in simultaneous activities. The heavy loads of work push students to a state of dizziness and exhaustion. The trap in this threshold between the brand-new first year and more experienced upperclassmen confuses sophomores about their own goals, abilities and purposes.

“Sophomore slump,” or the feeling of not living up to the standards of freshman performance, has been a prevalent experience that insidiously affects second-year students.

As half of the semester has passed, I feel the urgent need to have an article that suggests improvements for this insidious and debilitating condition.

When hitting the sophomore pitfall, the best way to release the anxiety and fix it is to talk to an expert. At Trinity, we have a strong counseling department whose staff are always ready to meet and help you fortify your mental health. Besides, professors, academic advisors and Stacy Davidson, director of academic support, are also good resources to refer to.

Ask them to revise your schedule and give professional advice in order to facilitate your learning and social experience.

In order to keep you stable on this strenuously long run, it is important to have strong, hardcore body. Three key elements that will ensure this: a healthy, nutritious diet,

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regular exercise and lots of water. A balanced diet with whole grain, healthy fat, protein and vitamin-packed fruits and veggies will fuel you well. Exercise is an efficient way to release stress and create natural endorphins that keeps your mood up and hydration will keep your momentum going.

The next essential is sufficient sleep. The reason why I separate “sleep” from the other three key elements is because of its supreme importance. I know in the midst of work and deadlines, sleep sounds like something very luxurious, but the truth is that having enough sleep will boost your performance significantly.

Adding one or two more hours of sleep will help you complete your work efficiently in a shorter period of time. Remember to turn off all electronic devices before bedtime. In addition, having a hot shower or drinking warm water before bedtime can soothe your transition to sleep and decrease your sleep debt for the week.

Last, but not least, let yourself experience this puzzling sophomore slump and personalize your solutions because everyone deals with this problem in different ways. Trinity is an active campus with more than 100 organizations.

The wide array of options always offer new activities that can rekindle your interests and motivations. Especially groups such as OREC (Outdoor group) or TUVAC will give you trips off campus and on campus that can help you cleanse the accumulated stress from the whole week. In addition, individually creative works or entertainments such as making arts, creating music or writing can be good catharsis and fill up your blank spaces.

Sophomore slump is irritating, but it is curable. Knowing how to utilize resources and intervening it in time will better your sophomore experience and lay stronger foundation for the next steps of your life.

Sports

OCTOBER

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Taking a Chance

Seventy-four years ago, Branch Rickey became the general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers. He’d soon offer Jackie Robinson a contract, and the rest is history. Jackie Robinson remains an iconic name in sports— he was the first African-American to participate in America’s most popular sport.

It’s hard to imagine what route black athletes would have taken to break into baseball if Rickey hadn’t gotten the job. How much longer would the cultural stigma of signing black athletes have persisted? How would this have affected America’s perspective on racial relations? We owe much to Rickey’s foreward thinking, in addition to Robinson’s incredible courage.

Intramurals and SGA work as a team

BY HALEY McFADDEN

SPORTS REPORTER

For many students, intramural sports, or IMs, serve as a way to play a sport for fun, stay in shape or get a good game in with friends.

However, for years these students found themselves being disappointed the Trinity IM system, leading to the recent student government case.

“For me, IMs just seemed poorly run, like no one actually cared about them. Some of it was definitely things that the athletic department couldn’t control, but also sometimes it seemed like the referees weren’t ready to ref the sport, or the game itself was just hectic. Intramurals are really fun, but I definitely feel like there is room for improvement in how they are run,” said senior Natalie Belew.

Belew was not alone in her feelings, the SGA set up a board to investigate the situation after multiple students and SGA senators brought forward similar complaints,. While there were multiple complaints, such as problematic spending on backpacks or doo rags, the primary discussion revolved around how the sports are run.

“Essentially, the discussion revolved around current complaints from students about Intramural sports, and how to address them.

Funding or spending money was not really discussed. We came in there hoping to establish an open dialogue between SGA and the athletic administration, and I think that was definitely accomplished. Now we can relay student opinions and complaints directly to the athletic director and whatever the issue is will be resolved swiftly,” said Christopher Garcia, SGA board member.

During the meeting, the SGA board and the athletic department sat down and went through the list of complaints that had been brought forward concerning how intramurals were run. The athletic department was receptive to student concerns and seems willing make changes.

“The meeting that was held went really smooth, and we’re looking forward to further developments,” Garcia said. “I think that the athletic administration is wholly aware of the student interest at hand, and will strive to make sure those interests are being met.”

One proposition brought forward was the idea to get more people working with

Seniors NATALIE PEREZ and ABBY SEAMSTER enjoy a game of intramural sand volleyball this past week. SGA and the intramural department have been working to improve student accessibility, quality of refereeing and other department functions. photo by CLAUDIA GARCIA

intramurals so there would be less oversight due to overextension. The previous IM coordinator, Caroline Keener, was involved with not only intramurals, but also OREC, physical education, Title Nine, club sports and Campus Wellness, leading to a need to hire someone else to help.

Recently the Trinity athletic department hired Joseph Shotland. Shotland has been working for the Trinity Intramural department since 2010, where he began as a student worker. In 2016 he accepted a job as the women’s assistant basketball coach, and now the position of IM coordinator. Shotland hopes to fix some student concerns through ensuring referees are well trained.

“We understand that at times Intramurals can look and feel hectic. We’re always trying to improve and I think that’s why I was hired.

Not because I have any revolutionary ideas,

but because most of the time with something like IM’s you just need an extra set of eyes or hands to help out,” Shotland said. “Besides the forfeits that we’ve had this year, we have training for all of our employees, so while there are always going to be more experienced and less experienced refs, we’ve tried our best to get them the training they need. And one of the things we go over at captain’s meetings, which are held (and supposed to be mandatory), before each new sport is that our employees are trying their best, but that judgment calls are always going to be tricky.

You see it in pro sports all the time in fact. It’s one of the best lessons that IMs taught me was to be more understanding of the demands of an official and how hard it is to make a call in the moment.”

This case has further opened up discussion between IMs and students. Students are now

encouraged to be more active with what they want to see in IMs, and should not be scared to approach new ideas during meetings.

“We always appreciate constructive criticism, because we want to make the Intramural department a great experience for students.

It’s here for the campus to enjoy,” Shotland said. “We want to make sure that we’re giving the TU student body what they want. If they want different sports — tennis, water polo, spikeball — these are all things we’ve thrown out in meetings, we want to know. The biggest thing for me is that we want all of our students to participate.”

How the student body responds to the changes SGA and the athletic department have sought to make remains to be seen.

Intramurals have never been overly popular at Trinity, and maybe that will begin to change.

tournament, so we went in with a high level of confidence. The competition was tough. You are always going to be up against good players and this year was no different. Matt and Wilson winning the doubles was great, and I think we can build off their success going forward into the spring season,” Niess said.

The Tiger men’s doubles team of Tyer and Lambeth began with a quick disposal of Spencer Watanabe and Alex Namba of George Fox University 6-3, 6-3, in the Division III doubles play-in match to begin the tournament, building momentum for their next bout in the quarterfinals. From there they made light work of the University of Chicago’s Tyler Raclin and Max Hawkins 6-4, 1-6, 104. The Tiger duo then advanced to the final after defeating Yangeng Jiang and Kyle Wolfe of Bowdoin College 6-3, 5-7, 10-6.

The Trinity duo of Tyer and Lambeth were a menace for opposing teams, making their presence felt at the ITA Southwest Region Championship the week prior to the Oracle

Cup. Tyer is no stranger to the big stage, as he was able to take home the top spot in doubles with his last teammate at the ITA men’s doubles championship last year. Already having a national title under his belt, Tyer is well aware of what it takes to step up when it matters most.

“Our expectations for the national tournament was to make a good run and compete at the best of our ability. Everything else after was just a bonus. The competition we faced had a wide variety of styles. In the finals match the guys came out with more energy than we did and kind of took our advantage of being powerful players away from us. I am excited about this upcoming spring season because me and will showed that we will hold a strong spot against all the top teams and will hopefully make a run into the ncaas for both team and individuals,” Tyer said.

Lambeth, a sophomore, was happy to have competed at such a high level in such a important tournament. His chemistry with

Tyer is improving and he is optimistic about Trinity tennis this upcoming spring.

“We expected to have great results because we knew we were one of the best teams at the tournament. Every team we played was incredibly talented, we had to play our best to make it to the finals. We were disappointed that we lost in the finals but realize that we did extremely well. We played well throughout the tournament and learned a lot about each other’s playing styles. We just need to stick to our game plan instead of playing like our opponents. We’re excited for the upcoming season because we know we’re one of the best teams in the country,” Lambeth said.

Trinity’s success in the past few years at the ITA championships have been unprecedented, as this is the third year in a row that a Trinity men’s doubles duo has played in the championship round of the prestigious national tournament. Hopefully the Tiger men can continue their success in the spring, as they begin match play in early February.

Men’s tennis successful at ITAs

BY CHRIS GARCIA

SPORTS REPORTER

In their last fall tournament, the Trinity men’s tennis team ended on a positive note with a second-place finish at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s (ITA) Oracle Cup in Surprise, Arizona. The doubles tournament consisted of top Division III talent from all across the country, but the Tigers team of Matt Tyer and Wilson Lambeth performed admirably. They were able to make it to the championship match, only to fall short in a close loss to Emory University.

The Tiger men’s tennis team came into the ITA Oracle as the no. 2 seed, creating some high expectations for the week. Rightfully so, Trinity was confident when asked about their outlook on the tournament. Senior Clayton Niess was not at all surprised by the stand-out play from Tyer and Lambeth.

“We were all expecting to do well. Our practices were good leading up to the

SPORTS • OCTOBER 28, 2016 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

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International athletes find home away from home

BY ELISE HESTER SPORTS REPORTER

Sophomore women’s tennis player Andrea De Leon was born in Mission, Texas to Mexican parents. Moving from Mission, which has a population of just over 80,000, De Leon grew up an American citizen in Reynosa, Mexico traveling across the border to McAllen, Texas to train in tennis. De Leon moved to the United States for high school, where she attended a boarding school in Austin. De Leon offers a unique perspective on what it means to be American and Mexican, and MexicanAmerican. De Leon was hesitant about playing Division III tennis, but after visiting campus the team won her over.

“I just felt really at home,” De Leon said, “they were all extremely nice and people that I would want to spend the next four years of my life with.”

What was the most surprising thing about America, Texas and Trinity?

Going from Mission, Texas and living in Mexico and transitioning to Austin life [for boarding school] was kind of weird. Where I’m from, everything’s on the rural side. There’s not many highways or anything like that so the

industrial side of [Austin/San Antonio] was very impressive.

What do you wish people knew about Mexico, your home?

Mexico itself has a really bad reputation with it’s government, it’s law enforcement and being poor, especially right now with the whole political issue, but it’s a really cultural place. It’s got great food, great places to visit and really nice features. People are really nice.

What do you miss most about Mexico?

I miss how it easy it was to go outside of your house and play outside and just be with people.

Now you can’t because of security [concerns], and you can’t do it here cause it’s not normal here to just know everyone.

Do you have a Mexican spirit animal?

Does taco count as a spirit animal?

Who is your tennis hero?

Probably [Roger] Federer. He’s really good.

What is your major?

Right now I’m doing international business.

What do you plan to do after graduation?

Probably law school. That’s a long shot, but probably that or go to grad school after college.

Do you consider America your home?

I do. It’s always been there. I’ve grown up here a lot. I’ve been here a lot. It’s very different and

I really do like seeing both sides at the same time, American culture and Mexican culture and I like to teach people about [my] culture.

Vetle Masvaer Halle is a first-year defender on the men’s soccer team from Stavanger, Norway. While Masvaer Halle is an ocean away from most of his family, he is closer now to his father, who a year ago moved to Houston. Though not a part of his decision to become a Tiger, his father and stepmother have been an added bonus to his Texas experience, coming to games and becoming a bigger part of his life in the states. It was on a trip to see his father that Masvaer Halle first visited Trinity’s campus last December, after being put in contact with Coach Paul McGinlay through a Norwegian player’s agency.

“They have a good soccer program as well as a good academic program,” Masvaer Halle said.

What is the most surprising thing about America, Texas and Trinity?

I felt very welcomed coming here. People are very easy to talk to. Playing soccer here.... the heat was very overwhelming. Didn’t think it was going to be this bad, but I’m getting used to it. I love the food, especially Mexican food.

What do you wish people knew about

Norway, your home?

It’s a beautiful place. We have beautiful nature. The air is very clean.

What do you miss most about Norway?

My family. My mom and sisters and aunts and grandma and dog. I have a twin sister and I have an older sister.

Do you have Norwegian spirit animal?

Probably a polar bear cause I have a tattoo of a polar bear.

What do you think about the movie Frozen?

I haven’t seen it.

Who is your soccer hero?

Since I’m from Norway, Øyvind Leonhardsen.

Do you know what your major is yet?

I’ve been thinking about philosophy.

What do you plan to do after graduation?

That’s a good question. I’ve been thinking about maybe law school, but also there’s so many different directions you could go with philosophy, so we’ll see.

Do you plan to stay in America after graduation?

That’s also a good question. We’ll see how it goes. It’s four years from now so it’s a possibility.

Tigers victorious in SCAC tournament

BY ELISE HESTER

SPORTS REPORTER At the start of the season, head volleyball coach Julie Jenkins spoke about her hopes for the team to break through into the top 25 ranked NCAA Division III volleyball teams.

Tiger volleyball is now ranked at no. 18 in the nation, and recently returned from the regular season Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference as champions.

“We’ve played all of these teams before and we’ve beaten them,” said Kirby Smith, junior outside hitter. “Going in we just need to have the mindset that we can do that again.”

On Saturday, the Trinity Tigers faced their first competitors of the weekend, the Centenary College of Louisiana Ladies. In the first set, the Tigers served up a great number of spectacular offensive plays, beating the Ladies 25-14. The Ladies regrouped weakly, scoring only 9 points to Trinity’s 25 in the second set.

In the third and final set, Centenary managed a little momentum, but could not shake Trinity. The Tigers won 25-18, making the

first match of the regular season championship a Tiger victory.

Later that day, the Tiger’s faced their strongest competition of the tournament, Colorado College. Their only set losses of the weekend were to the no. 8 ranked Colorado.

Colorado began strong, but Trinity stayed with them throughout the first set, until the set was stalled at a score of 25-25. Colorado finally won 30-28. The second set also was also deadlocked throughout, and with a score tied 18-18, Trinity took a slight lead due to two kills. Unfortunately, after three TU attacking errors, the Colorado College Tigers won a close one, 25-22.

The third set saw a turnaround as Trinity took a small lead, winning the set 25-20. With a match score of 2-1 in Colorado’s favor, the fourth match started with seven straight points for the Tigers before Colorado got on the scoreboard. However, despite some pressure throughout the set, Colorado could not catch up to Trinity. Trinity won the fourth set 2516. The final set saw strong performances from both side’s of the net in a contentious battle over SCAC domination. The Trinity Tigers

took home the win, completing the match against No. 8 ranked Colorado College with a score of 3-2.

“It really took a lot of focus and fight from our team in order to come back and win,” said Sarah Mullens, sophomore defensive specialist.

“I’m really proud of us.”

On Sunday, the Tigers faced two new opponents. Against the University of Dallas, Trinity secured the first set 25-18. The second set began with an excellent performance from Madeline McKay and the Tiger women, finishing with a score of 25-16. The third set saw Trinity emerge as the match’s victor, with a set score of 25-13.

In the first set in the championship match against Austin College, the Kangaroos held a brief lead, with a score of 5-4, before the Tigers took the lead. Eventually they succeeded in beating the Kangaroos with a score of 2516. The second set saw Austin dig deeper.

The set was neck and neck throughout until, with a score of 21-21, Trinity returned from a timeout to score the final four points and win the set 25-21. The final set was much like the first, close after the first few plays, with Trinity

steadily building a comfortable lead, ultimately triumphing 25-16. SCAC champions at last, the team credited their hungry mindset.

“We have been talking in our team meetings about how we can improve our mental approach to the game,” said Jenkins earlier in the season.

Indeed, throughout each set, the Tigers kept their focus on a consistent basis. The mental side of volleyball was key in the Tiger’s victory.

“In the beginning of the season, we struggled with finishing and getting behind in games because we were so focused on the end result, so now we think of the game to 25 as five ‘mini games’ to five,” Mullens said. “Our mindset was to take the games one point at a time instead of looking ahead to the end result.”

Smith agreed concisely with Mullens.

“We always try to think about playing green,” Smith said. “being aggressive, not playing tentatively.”

This strategy played out for Trinity and hopefully their success will continue as they go into the Trinity National Invitational this weekend, confident and prepared.

Distinguished Professor of Philosophy University of Houston

Tuesday November 1 4:30 p.m.

Chapman 040

This talk is part of the Stieren Arts Enrichment Series, made possible by an endowment gift from Jane and the late Arthur Stieren of San Antonio.

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WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • OCTOBER 07, 2016 •

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Hey Tigers! It is time to GET OUT THE VOTE. I am endorsing Norma Gonzales who is not only my step mother and a huge role model in my life but is also by far the most experienced candidate.

Experience Matters!

Leigh Anna Logsdon – Class of 2013

FREE TICKETS TO 13th FLOOR

Saturday October 29th, 2016 8:00pm- 11:30pm

First come first serve tickets Monday 24th- Wednesday 26th from 11 am till 2 pm.

One ticket per tiger card.

Buses will pick up at Bell Center starting at 8 pm.

Tiger card required to board bus.

LAST BUS TO LEAVE 13th FLOOR AT 11:30 PM! All tickets are for general admission. Any other expenses are on the individual themselves. Buses may be used for transportation even without a ticket.