Trinitonian
City Vista Update
The latest development on Trinity’s newly acquired off campus residency. PAGE 2 NEWS
Volume 114 Issue 18
Wait, they’re married?
Athlete Spotlight
In our Valentine’s Day Issue, Julia Weis talks to teachers who are married.
Elise Hester sits down with track star Brittney Sullivan and emerging baseball standout Mark Tindall.
PAGE 13 VALENTINE’S
Serving Trinity University Since 1902
PAGE 21 SPORTS
February 10, 2017
Lean in
Norris challenges students to listen, confront critical issues BY DANIEL CONRAD
NEWS REPORTER Michele Norris, former co-host of National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered,” spoke to an audience of approximately 300 in Laurie Auditorium on Tuesday about the importance of engaging in candid conversations about race in America. Norris’ visit is one of several events in the “Dare to Listen” campaign co-sponsored by Texas Public Radio and the San Antonio Area Foundation. Danny Anderson, president of Trinity University, emphasized the importance of these conversations. “We must lean into the issues rather than pull back from them,” Anderson said. “Critical listening is a central ingredient for success.” In 2010, Norris developed The Race Card Project, a Peabody Award-winning program that encourages people to submit six-word sentences about their experiences with race. But during her speech, Norris explained why she originally shied from covering race early in her journalistic career. “For a long time, as a journalist, I did not want to be the reporter on
the race beat,” Norris said. “I was afraid that if I started to cover issues of race assiduously, that was all I would do.” Norris notes that in the wake of Obama’s election, a certain word entered public discourse: ‘postracial.’ Norris asked for audience reactions to the term: “BS,” “Progress,” and “We’re not there” were among the crowd’s responses. “Post-racial suggested that we were moving into a space where we would perhaps not need to talk about race,” Norris said. She attributes this shift in the national conversation as her inspiration for beginning The Race Card Project. “Maybe I could tell a story and get people to share a story,” Norris says. Norris references Zora Neale Hurston, anthropologist and novelist, as inspiration for this model of conversation. “I decided to play the race card,” Norris said. “I hate the term, ‘the race card,’ I’ve never liked that term. It usually is uttered by someone who is uncomfortable by something someone is saying. … It’s an elegant way of saying, ‘Please shut up.’ [So] I wanted to create something that would actually stoke conversation.”
“Each of you has the power to make a difference in your own sphere,” Norris said, “[by] making a space for other people to share their story, making someone uncomfortable, and figuring out how to listen to someone.” Following her lecture, Norris answered questions from the audience shortly after her lecture. Audience members shared their six-word statements and inquired about reparations, the 2016 documentary “I Am Not Your Negro,” white nationalism, the effect of Obama’s legacy on race relations in the U.S. and the proper responses to hate speech. Norris also read excerpts from her 2010 autobiographical book, “The Grace of Silence: A Family Memoir.” She explained that her father taught her the importance of loving one’s country, even when doing so is difficult. “He was extremely patriotic,” Norris said. “Hold onto your idea of the America you want to see, and fight for it.” Before the lecture, Norris met with the Black Student Union to discuss The Race Project; using the search function of the project’s website — theraceproject.com — members scanned the database of submissions based on particular terms, for instance “bigot” and “hair.” Additionally, the Black Student Union led a discussion
with Stacy Davidson, director of academic support, on Wednesday following the lecture. Students discussed ways to begin conversations about race and racism, the values that silence in the face of such discussions can express and the reasons people might be hesitant to discuss race and ethnic identity. Alex Holler, senior environmental policy major, had a positive experience at the discussion. “We talked about what we might do to help people prepare … for these
conversations,” Holler said. “It’s really hard to do that when the people who attend the lectures are the same people .” “This is a problem I care about a lot,” Holler said. “How do we reach out to people who haven’t had these experiences or heard these experiences before? How do we get them into it without making them feel intimidated by the whole prospect of talking about race? … The idea is to be able to introduce that slight discomfort without driving them away or scaring them away first.” The next “Dare to Listen” event will be held Feb. 20, from 8 to 8:50 a.m., at UTSA’s main campus. Texas Public Radio’s president and CEO, Joyce Slocum, will present the initiative to the audience; the event’s location is to be announced. Those interested can visit idaretolisten.org for more information.
2
WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • JANUARY 27, 2017
BRIEFS SGA To see updates on SGA turn to page 4.
TUPD 02/03/2017 3:16 a.m. Location: Academic Building: Laurie Auditorium Penal Code: Driving While Intoxicated 02/06/2017 6:32 p.m. Location: Sector 2 Fire Alarm: Fire Alarm Drill 02/07/2017 6:51 p.m. Location: Sector 2 Fire Alarm: Fire Alarm Drill Compiled by Jeffery Sullivan
CLASSIFIEDS The last day to pre-order a 2017 Mirage yearbook is Wednesday, Feb. 22. Not sure if you’ve already ordered? trinity.edu/yearbook Want to order online? cpstore.trinity.edu Questions: mirage@trinity.edu
Want to take out an ad? Classified Ads are free for Trinity students. For nonstudents each ad is $25. Send your ads to:
• NEWS
City Vista planning continues After announcing purchase of apartment complex, Trinity administration moves forward with housing developments BY PHILIP McKEON NEWS REPORTER
Trinity’s recent purchase of the City Vista apartments three weeks ago left students with questions for future housing options. Sheryl Tynes, vice president for student life, says that the students’ worries are unwarranted. “It’s amazing how much I’m hearing from the seniors who decided to live off campus how much they glorified it in their minds, and they have some real regrets. Those regrets are around the commutes, the distance to come to study, the hassles with landlords, the hassles with roommates and from my vantage point you guys have the rest of your life to live somewhere else in the city. When else will you have four years to be with your friends? To me, that’s the intangible [cost] of living at City Vista,” Tynes said. One of the biggest concerns for students is pricing. David Tuttle, dean of students, said that rates had not yet been set, but explained some of the factors being considered. “The kind of factors that are going to go into that decision is we’re going to look at what you’re paying for on campus housing now. We’re going to look at what the rates are there. If you look at City Vista now compared to some of the other apartments in the area, it’s pretty high end. So we’re going to look at other apartments in the area because you guys are consumers and you’re going to want to shop around and see what value you can get. What we want to do is be in the ballpark so that it’s
affordable to you, so that it’s a good value to you. The added value to you, we think, is the proximity to campus, the quality of the facilities, and the quality of the people you’d be living with: other students. We’ve got to hit that sweet spot of what’s going to work for you and what’s going to work for us,” Tuttle said. Because City Vista will be considered on campus housing, financial aid will apply to it during the school year. Melissa Flowers, director of residential life, elaborated on what that could mean. “Since it is going to be considered on campus residential housing, it will be folded into your typical financial aid process. The one piece that I want you guys to be aware of is that the lease term is going to make a difference. If we’re talking about a ten month lease, that’s going to be completely covered by financial aid. If you get a twelve month lease, you can’t apply financial aid during those two months in which you aren’t enrolled in any courses. So if you apply for summer courses, you’re good to go,” Flowers said. Tuttle also explained that there is not currently a system in place for applying, but that they aim to have one in March. “We don’t know exactly when we’ll do the room reservation for this. Based on what we’ve done in the past, it will likely be seniority based, and based on credits,” Tuttle said. Students will have the flexibility to decide their number of roommates. “In terms of the configurations, I think what we want to do is have the flexibility for you to decide, once you see the units.
Given the size of the common area and of the rooms, you may decide that you want two people in the room, and there would be some kind of discount for that. We know that privacy is a huge deal to you guys, so you may want your own bedrooms, but it may be more affordable for you to split it up. There’s one bedroom, two bedroom, and three bedroom units, so you’d have some flexibility here. At this point, we don’t plan on there being any gender restrictions. For the first year, the plan is that we wouldn’t make you guys have meal plans because there are kitchens there,” Tuttle said. Students facing disciplinary probation will not be allowed to live at City Vista. “We’re pulling out a list of students on disciplinary probation right now, and those students aren’t going to be allowed to reserve units there, at least at first. If you’re on probation, and you want to appeal to the Dean of Students Office and we can make recommendations to Reslife, we can,” Tuttle said. One positive of the City Vista purchase is that it may lead to more options on campus for singles in the current dorms. “I’m hoping that it will create breathing room for other students on lower campus. You guys told us two things, you wanted apartment style living, and you wanted more options for single living sooner. We hope this is going to get us there, but we won’t know because it’s a big puzzle. We’ve got a campus master plan, a decades long vision of what we want to happen, and I think this aligns perfectly with that,” Tynes said.
Staff
trinitonian-adv@trinity.edu
INDEX News.......................................................... 2-4 Opinion.................................................... 5-7 Valentine’s Day....................................... 8-13 Pulse..................................................... 14-16 A&E...................................................... 17-19 Sports.................................................... 20-23 Advertisement....................................... 24
editor-in-chief: Julia Elmore managing editor: Alexandra Uri business manager: Shivali Kansagra ad director: Lauren Harris & Christina Moore news editor: Jeffery Sullivan campus pulse editor: Emily Elliott arts & entertainment editor: Dylan Wagner sports editor: Markham Sigler opinion editor: Julia Poage photo editor: Miguel Webber graphic editor: Tyler Herron layout editor: Katie Groke web editor: Alexander Motter circulation director: Maddie Kennedy reporters: Kathleen Creedon, Daniel
Identification The Trinitonian [ USPS 640460] [issn 1067-7291] is published weekly during the academic year, except holidays and final exams, by Trinity University, One Trinity Place, San Antonio, TX 78212-7200. Subscription price is $35 per year. Periodicals Postage Paid at San Antonio, TX. POSTM ASTER: Send address changes to the Trinitonian, One Trinity Place, #62, San Antonio, TX 78212-7200.
Corrections Spot a mistake? Email us at trinitonian@trinity.edu, and we will happily run a correction in the following issue.
Conrad, Elise Hester, Haley McFadden, Philip McKeon, Clarisse Nakayama, Julia Weis columnists: Alejandro Cardona, Mia Garza, Sarah Haley, Joy Lazarus, Gabriel Levine, Alexander Perkowski, Jacob Rossitter, Callum Squires, Nabeeha Virani copy editors: Soleil Gaffner, Nicholas Smetzer, Emlynn Smith cartoonist: Michael Miller photographers: Noah Davidson, Claudia Garcia, Henry Pratt, Osvaldo Veloz business staff: Sarah McIntyre & Krushi Patel advertising staff: Aroosi Ajani, Melissa Chura, Rebecca Derby, Isla Stewart adviser: Katharine Martin
Contact Us Editorial
Email. . ........ trinitonian@trinity.edu Newsroom.. 210-999-8558 Editors....... 210-999-8557 Fax . . ............ 210-999-7034
Advertising
Email. . ........ trinitonian-adv@trinity.edu Ad Off ice... 210-999-8555 Editors....... 210-999-8557 Fax . . ............ 210-999-7034
Online........ trinitonian.com Facebook.... The Trinitonian Twitter. . ...... @trinitonian Instagram...@trinitonian 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 • FEBRUARY 10, 2017 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM
Trinity celebrates Mocha Month
Black Student Union organizes campus-wide lectures and service events to engage students in Black History Month BY KATHLEEN CREEDON
NEWS REPORTER
In celebration of Black History Month and black culture, the Black Student Union (BSU) has organized a month of events for the Trinity community to participate in. Each of the events encapsulates a core part of the culture, and BSU hopes the month will widen the perspective of students on campus. BSU dubbed the February festivities Mocha Month and kicked it off with their Rent Party, which is a celebration of soul food and the significance of socializing within the AfricanAmerican community. “Our job is to educate people. We receive a lot of questions as to what our culture is all about, but we feel it’s better to invite those things on campus and have people experience them firsthand,” said Tahlar Rowe, president of BSU. On Tuesday, BSU invited the Trinity community to listen to former NPR correspondent, Michele Norris, speak about “The Race Card Project,” and on Wednesday a discussion of the lecture was held in the Waxahachie Room. BSU is also hosting a blood drive project in support of people with sickle cell anemia, a disease that is more common in the black community than any other. Members of the union will be outside of Coates University Center every Monday this month from 11:00 to 2:00 to help all those who would like to register. “We like to go out within the San Antonio community and seek who needs our assistance. We partner with them and bring others to serve,” Rowe said.
Along with the bone marrow drive, BSU has arranged a service project at the San Antonio State Hospital. “Many times in the black community, we view mental illness as a negative thing, so we want students to know that BSU supports mentally disabled patients,” said Maia Ogembo, public realtor and Black History Month coordinator for BSU. BSU wants to engage the Trinity community with these events and hopes to bring a new perspective to students on campus. Because the majority of students on campus aren’t black, BSU’s main goal is to educate others about their culture. “I think, because our school is not as diverse as other schools, there’s a one-sided view to what certain cultures can be, and I think it’s really important for people who are minorities to effectively express and demonstrate to others the correct insight to their culture and why their culture is unique,” Rowe said. In addition to celebrating the culture of the past, BSU intends to celebrate black culture today by educating people on campus and by expressing the true goal of BSU. “Our whole mission is to have an impact, not in numbers, but in our contribution to this school. I think it’s important to add to the Trinity culture,” said Simone Washington, member of BSU. Mocha Month will also include a night of poetry with poet Tro’Juan Henderson, a trip to church to explore the true manner of black services and Mocha Life, a celebration of black art. “Mocha Life is essentially the climax of Mocha Month; it’s the Black History Show. There you have all talents around school. There’s dancing, singing, poetry, spoken word, all types of things that encapsulate black culture,” Rowe said. In past years, Black History Month at Trinity was celebrated only with Mocha Life; however, BSU expanded the celebration last year. BSU hopes to continue to expand the events and festivities of black culture, as well as all other cultural celebrations on campus.
3
“This is not for us. This is for them. We know our culture; we know why we’re unique. We need to make it a necessity for people to know,” Rowe said. More than ever, BSU has felt the need to spread awareness of their culture and to spread their representation on campus. “I think in light of what’s going on outside of campus, outside of our liberal bubble, we just need to bring a new perspective to campus, so people can branch out. A lot of people want to understand what it’s like in somebody else’s shoes, so we’re bringing a lot of different events to campus that I think will enhance people’s understanding of the culture,” Washington said. Because Trinity is a predominantly white institution, BSU feels the need to become more involved. They invite everyone to their events to avoid maintaining bubbles of culture. “I think it’s important for people to get to know all cultures. Knowledge is important, especially understanding people’s culture and where they’re coming from,” Ogembo said. Although there are students who are interested in learning about black culture, BSU recognizes that there will be many that will not attend these events or that will not understand the relevance of understanding their culture. “There might be people who are not open to learning, but there are more people who are very inquisitive. It’s a necessity because we are a minority and because a lot of people have different perceptions of our culture from what they’re heard or what they’ve read. It’s my job to help people and answer questions, so there are no more fragmented ideas around what different cultures are,” Rowe said. BSU invites all students to join in celebrating Mocha Month and in discussing black culture. A calendar of events can be found on their Facebook page. For more information, you can email trinitybsu1@gmail.com.
Students + Startups applications submitted The internship programs seeks to expand opportunities for students to gain real world work experience with upcoming companies and ventures BY DANIEL CONRAD
NEWS REPORTER
The second annual “Students + Startups” program has just finished taking applications and, in the wake of a successful inaugural program, is expanding to connect more Trinity students with local startup businesses. The program is part of Trinity’s plan to develop more internship experiences for students. The program, a collaboration between Trinity University, the 80/20 Foundation and Geekdom, matches upstart San Antonio companies with students from a range of majors in order to ensure a lucrative and beneficial experience for both the student interns and the companies they’re working with. Jacob Tingle ‘95, director of Experiential Learning, spoke to the unique experiences that working for a startup can provide students. “The Students + Startups program is an outstanding initiative that affords Trinity students of any major the opportunity to get real-world experience working with start-up companies — organizations that are in true growth mode — which is very different from working for a well-established, traditional company,” Tingle said. Last summer was the program’s first year of implementation. Participating students receive one course credit, have the opportunity to live on campus at no cost and are given a $4,000 stipend. Tingle elaborated on how the program helps both students and local small businesses. “The program has an academic component to it; that requires
both the start-up and the student to slow down a little bit in advance of the internship and set some learning goals, [and] create a learning agreement together,” Tingle said. “[Students] get the best of both worlds. They get the experience of working with people who are amazingly creative, passionate, energetic people who might not otherwise slow down and say, ‘Oh wait, this is how you do this.’” Luis Martinez, director of the entrepreneurship department, highlights the important roles that university students play in their internships. “They’re typically very small organizations; might be a founder or founding team; the ability for a student to see how applicable their degree is in a small environment like that is incredibly powerful,” Martinez said. “You might be solely responsible for their social media, or to drive something forward that’s important for their business.” Benjamin Gomez, senior double major in business and entertainment business, participated last summer as an intern for Event Escrow, a company that helps bands and agents decide efficient and lucrative tour routes. He found the responsibilities exciting. “In working with a startup … you’re given a lot more responsibility, a lot more hands-on time,” Gomez said. “That’s really neat because you get to impact the direction of the company and have a lot of input on something that is growing from the ground-up and is really fresh and new.” Gomez praised the program for offering students a safe and easy way to get job experience. “A lot of time when working internships … you really want to do something cool and have a lot of say, but you end up just running coffee and doing it for no pay and losing money on housing,” Gomez said. “This program does exactly the opposite; you’re working in such an important capacity for your company while also getting a stipend and free housing.” Another unique aspect of the program is that it offers opportunities for international students to work in the United States. International students often face legal constraints when
looking for internships and other kinds of work, but Martinez assures that because Students + Startups is a Trinity program, students who are not U.S. citizens are afforded greater latitude. Martinez mentions that companies in technology, medical devices, cuisine and other industries that are growing in the city. He further explained that the program will help Trinity provide more post-graduation connections for students. “On the company side, the reason why we built [Students + Startups] is that we’ve historically had a really good relationship with large employers who look for Trinity grads,” Martinez said. “Expanding that pool of potential employers to include small organizations was an important objective.” Martinez also noted that the program is greatly expanding this year. “We started last year with about 14 students with a number of startup partners; every single one of our startup partners said that it was a great experience for them, it was something they want to go back and do,” Martinez said. “We’re excited to go back this year with approximately 40 students participating in the program.” Tingle attributes much of the success of Students + Startups to Martinez’s work. “The program wouldn’t exist without the passionate creativity and energy of Dr. Martinez,” Tingle said. “I consider myself lucky to have him as a colleague because he pushes the university to think in ways that universities might not typically think.” For those interested in what’s to come for this year’s applicants, Martinez explains what students should expect. “The next three weeks, the entire month of March and the last part of February, is really matchmaking,” Martinez said. “We’re not the ones who make that determination, about whether or not the student will work for a particular startup; that’s really between the student and the start-up together.” Those interested in learning more about the program should visit studentsstartups.com, which features a timeline and detailed contact information.
4
WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • FEBRUARY 10, 2017 •
NEWS
Trinity expects increase in the number of applications received
The University acceptance rate is predicted to drop into the high thirties following years of increased marketing endeavors BY KATHLEEN CREEDON
NEWS REPORTER
Recently, the number of students applying to Trinity has increased. As Trinity becomes more well-known the acceptance rate will drop from what was once 50 percent to a projected 37 percent. Eric Maloof, associate vice president for enrollment and student retention, suggests this development is directly related to developments in University Marketing and Communications that happened three years ago. “A few years back, the university created an office of marketing, and the partnership between the marketing office and the admissions office is the main reason we’ve seen such a significant increase in applications in the past two years,” Maloof said. More research is being done to perfect the Trinity brand. The department of marketing and communications has done a lot to create an understanding of the authentic Trinity experience, including hiring more student interns to get truer feedback and honest perspectives. “Our goal as a department is to ensure that there is adhesive branding for the university. One of our goals with admissions is to elevate the prestige of the university,” said Michelle Bartonico, director of the marketing and communications department at Trinity. Some believe that the increase in applications is due to the recent renovations on campus and good resources for academics, such as the university’s creation of the Center for Sciences and Innovation.
“We certainly noticed an uptick in applications after CSI was completed, and you would expect that for a number of reasons. For one, the campus was a bit chaotic during the construction, and conversely, now that it’s open it’s really a spectacular building,” said Tim O’Sullivan, interim associate vice president for academic affairs. Although more students are applying to Trinity, this is not the effect of speaking with a larger audience of students. The admissions office understands that high school students have essentially secured their college list in the summer before their senior year, so the department has started speaking with students earlier. “One of the strategies we’re trying is talking to more juniors. We’re not talking to more students, but talking to students earlier in the process,” Maloof said. After the partnership with the office of marketing and communications, Trinity saw a 30 percent increase in applications; this year’s percentage has already surpassed last year’s expectations. “We’ve been very bold and aggressive in getting Trinity’s name out to more students. We broadened the funnel and expanded the pathway for different students in the country to apply to the university,” Maloof said. To do this, the admissions office relies on the work of the office of marketing and communications. With their help, an authentic, positive brand can be better displayed for Trinity. “There is a lot of collaboration; before, there wasn’t an avenue for that. There is not a story and partnership,” Bartonico said. As more students apply to Trinity, the more selective the application process gets and the harder it is to get accepted to the university. However, this change may attract students who have Trinity as their top school from the start. “I already think that the students that come here are excited to come here, especially once they visit campus, but the greater the selectivity, you would expect there to be more enthusiasm on the part of the class,” O’Sullivan said.
This new selectivity will allow the university to find students that will benefit most from the Trinity experience. The admissions office will look for students that best fit Trinity: those who challenge themselves, are intellectually curious, are involved and are active in their community. “We’re not just looking for more applications; we’re looking for more applications from students who are highly qualified, may appreciate the type of education we’re offering and are most apt to enroll, retain and graduate,” Maloof said. Although the number of applicants is increasing, Trinity does not intend to grow university enrollment. The university maintains a goal for of 640 students for first-year classes, despite some variances. To accommodate larger class sizes, the Residential Life staff will do something similar to what was done this year. “If we have another large incoming class, we will likely triple students again. I do not anticipate needing to do much beyond that,” said Melissa Flowers, director of Residential Life. This dilemma is also minimized with Trinity’s purchase of the CityVista apartment complex. This, along with the maximum capacity the university intends to maintain, there are no expectations for room shortages. “We do not anticipate room shortages again. We are committed to our three-year residency requirement and do not foresee the need to release juniors any time soon,” Flowers said. Overall, the increasing number of applicants affects only the integrity of the Trinity community by making it stronger and more authentic every year. With the help of all departments on campus, the Trinity story can be better shared. “I think we’re doing a better job of telling our story, telling about who we are and what types of students may be a good fit here. In the future, we’re going to have more students enrolling that are going to have a stronger affinity upfront for the Trinity education and the Trinity brand,” Maloof said.
SGA hears bi-weekly funding requests The student organization outlines the necessities, logistics, successes and failures of the financial proposals they heard during their Monday meetings BY MONTY McKEON
NEWS REPORTER
Student organizations are welcome to apply for funds for projects benefitting the Trinity community. Samy Abdallah, junior senator and member of the SGA Finance Committee, discusses what sort of events funding goes toward. “We are open to hearing fund [requests] from any registered student organization. Any student organization can put in a request that will be heard either by the entire senate or just the finance committee. That can range from, on the bigger side, events like Diwali. On the smaller side, that can be things like cultural appreciation events, events that are for bridging the community with Trinity, etc. We like to fund events that basically benefit the larger Trinity community. Whether that’s a cultural event, volunteering excursions, co-sponsoring events with other organizations. It can range from the really big to the super small, and it’s really just up to the discretion of the senators to determine if it’s something positive that can benefit the community or not,” Abdallah said. The SGA vice president sends out a bi-weekly email through which organizations may request funding. “I send out all-campus emails every two weeks letting them know the deadline to submit their application and letting
them know the earliest date their case can be heard. Requests under $1,500 go to the finance committee, and requests over $1,500 have to be heard by the whole senate. In that email, I link to an online form for the student to fill out, including details about the event, contact information, how it benefits the community, the supplies that they need, etc. After they submit that form, I review it, the treasurer reviews it, the director of student involvement can see it, just to make sure that everything is in order. The reason we look over these so much is to make sure that they’re perfect by the time that they’re actually heard by the committee or the senate,” said Joseph Khalaf, vice president of SGA. “It’s just a waste of time if the form isn’t completed properly because it’ll just be rejected immediately. It’s better to make sure they do it right beforehand and give them the best chance to receive their funding,” said Khalaf. It is important to note that money from the Student Activity Fund must benefit the larger community, not just an individual club. Lavanya Hospeti, junior senator and member of the Finance Committee, describes how requests are considered. “To elaborate on the benefits we consider, we think about how many students would be able to be involved with the event, how they would participate, and whether or not it would uphold Trinity’s values. Basically we think about how it would contribute to either the Trinity, or the larger San Antonio, community,” Hospeti said. SGA officials ask that the sent funding requests be as specific as possible. “The number one mistake is that people, when they’re filling out the budget, will just put down arbitrary numbers. They’ll
say, ‘Oh, we’re making s’mores, we need about $25.’ But we need to see how much you’re spending on the marshmallows, how much for the chocolate and so on. Another common mistake that I see is that there’s a lot of problems with people rounding off the numbers. You need to be as specific and as accurate as possible. If something is $24.96, don’t round up to 25,” Khalaf said. Most events on campus require the use of Aramark for food. Abdallah says that many groups base prices on off-campus food choices and do not receive funding as a result. “Another big problem that I see is a lot of groups on campus will ask for money for food, and expect to get the food from off campus, but because of the obligations of the university, student organizations are required to go through Aramark. Usually they’ll put funding request orders in using prices for things they find at H-E-B, for instance, but realistically they need to be looking at the catering website from Aramark, because that’s where it’s going to come from and it will probably be more expensive anyways,” Abdallah said. Abdallah describes some of the questions organizations applying for funding should be prepared to answer. “They should be able to outline their funding request itself. The very first question they should be prepared to answer is how this benefits the greater Trinity community. That’s very big for us, and it’s not about just benefiting your organization, it’s about making Trinity a better place. Other questions they should be prepared for are where they’re getting their numbers from, how accurate their numbers are, questions about advertising and generally how many people are going to attend the event you’re requesting funds for,” Abdallah said.
...
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.
Opinion
Sugar-coated thoughts Forward together EDITORIAL
Love ballads, a hint of cynicism and candy cravings are in the air this week as we prepare our Valentine’s Day issue. In the spirit of the holiday of love — and candy — we decided to stick to that theme in the editorial. The opinion section, like life, is like a box of chocolates — you never know what you’re going to get. Sometimes we get columns like the classic, reliable caramel-filled chocolates that everyone enjoys. These are relatable, humorous or topical to the current events of the week. Sometimes we get the cherry cordial flavor of columns. Most think it tastes like chocolate-covered cough medicine, but it appeals to a niche group of the community. Even though nine out of 10 chocolate consumers would spit these candies out as soon as they bite into the syrupy center and realize what a horrible mistake they’ve made, we keep them in our assorted box because we want to be a box that includes the contributions and voices of all chocolates columnists. Every now and then, we get the chocolate truffle columns. These are the most rare. You’ll start reading each and every column in the section — like biting into all of the candies in the box — with hopes that there is some chance that you will come across another truffle. Last week’s piece by David Rando was one of these gems that we savored. It left us craving more. The beauty of never knowing what you’re going to get is that you might unexpectedly bite into a new flavor, or learn about a new perspective that you had never considered, which might lead you to come to discover that you love it.
Not-so-Super Bowl What a let down. It all started so nicely. 210, 28-3. I was happy! Like, really really really happy! Brady choking, throwing a pick six … my house was rocking CALLUM SQUIRES with celebrations. And OPINION COLUMNIST then it all went wrong. America wanted the Falcons to win. Cheering for Tom Brady should be some sort of criminal offence in my book. Yeah, I’m taking the side of the underdogs. Yes, I’m refusing to acknowledge the greatness of Belichick, Brady and the Patriots team in general. But I don’t care. The true tragedy of the piece was Matt Ryan. What a season. He deserved a championship to sit on his mantelpiece alongside his League MVP trophy. I’m so heartbroken that I have to listen to Patriots fans proclaim themselves “champions” for the next whole year. Ugh. So, I can’t be doing with writing about this. It’s too negative in my head. Let’s focus on everything other than the game. I know it was because the game was the worst Super Bowl of all time. But even outside the game, the event was a tad disappointing. It got off to a bad start when Wingstop forgot the boneless wings I’d ordered and I had to go back a second time to pick them up. The commercials were even a bit hit-and-miss this year. There was a lot of nothing. How many car commercials did we really need? I liked that Honda yearbook one (though what on earth did it have to do with a car?) and the post-game Hyundai military one was nice, but I saw enough vehicles to last me a lifetime. Coca Cola’s multicultural America advertisement was actually a repeat of last year’s commercial and was even more poignant this year than last, especially with all the upheaval of the last few weeks. Executive orders may seek to divide us, and Coca Cola is not exactly the main campaigner for social justice, but it was a powerful image to see so many people singing “America the Beautiful” in so many languages. Coupled with Budweiser’s immigrants tale, there were some powerfully political images. There were however some brighter, lighter spots, and the best few were, as usual,
comedic. The NFL, for all its flaws, had a brilliant “Super Bowl baby” ad that included an incredible baby Von Miller and a fantastic baby Marshawn Lynch. Bai, who I’d never heard of before, made me an instant fan of their company with their NSYNCinspired spot. Simple but effective and now I’m interested in trying their product. T-Mobile hit and missed with some of their commercials — I thought the “Fifty Shades of Grey” inspired ones were a bit weird — but their Martha Stewart & Snoop Dogg collaboration was immaculate. Dancing around the idea of Snoop being in possession of Marijuana was done with both genuine wit and a clever knowledge of their audience. But the finest of all were from Buick and Skittles. The “Romance the Rainbow” advert poked fun at the traditional romantic gestures of throwing pebbles at the window of your beloved. Nice, family friendly and fun. But nothing was better than Cam Newton’s cameo for Buick. I know I slated car commercials earlier on, but the image of Cam Newton swatting small children away from his legs was truly beautiful. Great work from them and well worth watching back. Speaking of worth watching back … At the halftime show, Lady Gaga rocked in a way I really wasn’t expecting. Intel’s lightup, flying drones were insanely cool and would’ve stolen the show, but Gaga was having none of it. To perform at the Super Bowl in general takes guts, but to do all that attached to a harness and flying around after having jumped off the roof of NRG Stadium is absolutely insane. So at least Gaga has proven herself to be as insane as people have accused her of being. But despite all that, I can’t shake the feeling of disgust that the Patriots won. Ugh. And now we have to wait another year for the ultimate circus show to return to our screens. Whilst it wasn’t the outcome I wanted, I can’t begrudge the fact that it provided me with a whole Sunday worth of entertainment. The Super Bowl proved once again why it’s the King of sports in America. It will not be moved from that pedestal for a long time.
Callum Squires is a senior German studies major and sports management minor.
JACOB SPITZ
GUEST COLUMNIST In his recent speech at Trinity, David Cameron made the point that as our society has continued moving forward, we have left some people behind. Those on the left, who have been left financially, and those on the right, who feel their values have been marginalized. Looking back, there should be no surprise why this election gave rise to two very extreme candidates. Society is evolving rapidly, and unfortunately, there are a lot of people who have not been able to keep up. If this nation is going to keep moving forward, we have to help them catch up. The discourse I observed in the comments of Dr. Singh’s Overheard at Trinity post was extremely far from helpful. There is a massive communication problem happening between liberals and conservatives (not confined to this campus), and the messages are not getting relayed. When making their arguments, liberals are relying very heavily on facts, despite conservatives relying heavily on emotion. Now don’t get me wrong, I love facts and science, but for those of you who have ever tried having a rational argument with someone who is highly emotional, whether that emotion is anger, sadness, happiness or fear, you know how difficult that is. For example, as a vegan, I can give you a ten-minute presentation on how eating meat is accelerating climate change, but I can’t really compete with someone whose response is, “Yeah, but bacon.” Bacon is to vegans in the exact same way as religion is to pro-choice people and those who support equality for the LGBTQ community, as climate deniers are to environmentalists or as institutionalized racism is to supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement. I cannot talk to a meat eater about the implications of his or her choices when he or she refuses to
see it as a bad thing, in the same way BLM activists cannot talk to All Lives Matter proponents. It is stopping us from engaging in real conversations. It’s stopping us from entertaining new ideas that may challenge what we’re comfortable with. We live in a world where you can easily find anything online that will support any opinion that you have. Social media alters the content you see and interact with based on a calculation of what you’re most likely to enjoy. Conservatives are surrounding themselves with a lot of bacon because they are literally terrified. Terrified of extremist Islam. Terrified of people who are different from themselves. Terrified that we are going to spend ourselves into a new Recession. So they are stocking up on soundbites, memes, Tomi Lahren videos and alternative facts. And yet, none of you seem to get that. I see very few liberals who are actively trying to see the world through the eyes of their conservative peers. If we want to see America continue progressing, we have to reframe our arguments. We have to make the economic argument for investing in renewable energy. We have to explain how loving our Muslim neighbors, not banning them and dropping bombs, will lead to less radicalization and a safer America. We have to explain how equality and personal freedom will benefit them. All this at the same time as they have to figure out a way to explain why a 35 percent corporate income tax is driving American jobs overseas and creating off-shore tax havens without sounding like someone in their family works on Wall Street. What we need most right now is to look at the world through someone else’s eyes. What America needs most right now is less sympathy and more empathy. Jacob Spitz is a senior business administration major.
comic by MICHAEL MILLER
6
WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • FEBRUARY 10, 2017 •
OPINION
Wisteria and hysteria Spring Break BY ROBERT BLYSTONE
FACULTY CONTRIBUTOR
Six degrees of separation provides the impetus for this writing. Karinthy is credited for the idea that any two people in the world can be connected by a maximum of six steps (1929). Let’s begin this journey with Caspar Wistar, a physician born in Philadelphia in 1761, 15 years before the beginning of the American Revolution. Caspar Wistar the Younger was the grandson of Caspar Wistar the Elder, a German immigrant. Caspar the Elder arrived in America in 1717 at the age of 21 with nine pennies in his pocket. He established a glass factory and became an exceptionally successful land trader in Pennsylvania. Wistar the Younger received his M.D. from the University of Edinburgh in 1786, five years after the ratification of the Articles of Confederation. In addition to his duties as a physician and teacher, Wistar developed anatomical models by injecting human remains with wax. With Thomas Jefferson (yes, that Jefferson), he examined the fossil remains of the giant ground sloth known as Megalonyx. Wistar’s human models were housed at the University of Pennsylvania for years. Ultimately a grandnephew, Isaac Wistar, created the Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology (in honor of Caspar) in 1892. The Wistar Institute was the United States’ first independent medical research organization and where the first standardized laboratory rat was
developed. It is estimated that about half of all the laboratory rat breeds can be traced back to the Wistar Rat of 1906. (Parenthetically, Wistar rats are mean; they bite. I prefer to work with Fisher or Sprague-Dawleys.) Now it is time to land in the lap of Thomas Nuttall. As a balding English botanist, Nuttall worked in the United States on and off for more than 30 years. In 1818 he published “The Genera of North American Plants.” This book leads us back to Thomas Jefferson, who sent the Lewis and Clark expedition on their way in May of 1804. This expedition took place three years after the first Barbary War when Jefferson refused to pay tribute to the Muslim Barbary pirates and within months of Stephen Decatur’s raid into the Tripoli harbor. Nuttall for a time traveled with the Astor Northwest Expedition in 1811. John Jacob Astor (yes, that Astor) had established the Pacific Fur Trading Company and he needed to better understand the Northwest Territories (better than Lewis and Clark). Astor wanted to put together a great trading company based at Fort Astor (a walled fort), near the mouth of the Columbia River. The Astor Expedition essentially followed in the path of the earlier Lewis and Clark expedition. In South Dakota the tag-along Nuttall left the Astor expedition to follow Ramsay Clark (also involved in fur trading) up the Missouri River further north. After spending months collecting and describing plants, he joined up with
the Spaniard Manuel Lisa (another fur trader) who was heading back to St. Louis. Both Ramsay Clark and Manuel Lisa were married to Indian women (a parenthetical comment). The War of 1812 scuttled Astor’s worldwide trading network. Back to Thomas Nuttall … In his 1818 book, Nuttall has an entry number 517. This entry is a description of Wisteria. This popular ornamental legume with eight chromosomes was named for the grandson of a German immigrant by the visiting English botanist. A footnote for the entry states: “In memory of Caspar Wistar, M.D. late professor of Anatomy in the University of Pennsylvania, and for many years president of the American Philosophical Society: a philanthropist of simple manners, and modest pretensions, but an active promoter of science.” Caspar Wistar, the younger, died in 1818. Harking back to Karinthy, there are numerous pathways to connect numerous events and people to a lab rat. Hysteria is a Latin-originated noun meaning “exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion or excitement, especially among a group of people.” I call the word to your attention because hysteria rhymes with wisteria. On Jan. 27, 2017, President Trump signed an executive order titled “Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States.”
continued on page 7
Making my voice heard Amid talk of powerful lobby groups, wealthy donors and illegal zoning, it’s often easy to forget that America is a GABRIEL LEVINE representative OPINION COLUMNIST democracy. Despite these real flaws though, your representatives are still yours and they have to listen to you. I discovered this after the election when I began calling the offices of my Republican congressmen (mine are all men) to voice my displeasure with their policies. A staffer at John Cornyn’s San Antonio office began to recognize my voice and invited me to come downtown for a discussion. (As a side note, Senator Cornyn is an alumnus of Trinity University and once wrote in the pages of the Trinitonian about the scourge of VD on campus. The ‘70s were wild.) Housed within a generic office building, the Senator’s office is compact and pedestrian. There is a front desk, a conference room, a senior staffer’s office and a water cooler. Framed pictures of a smiling Cornyn with various constituents line the walls and a TV set to CSPAN-2 plays quietly in the corner. Upon entering, I was greeted amiably by the staffer who had recognized me on the phone. We moved to the conference room and, like a therapist paid for by my tax dollars, the staffer took out a pen and notepad and asked me what my concerns were. I spoke for almost 45 minutes about issues like factbased policy, climate change and the tiring and disgusting political
hypocrisy coming from both parties. In an almost gratuitously indulgent yet thoroughly welcome display of receptivity, the staffer wrote down everything I said. After I had exhausted my reservoir of concern, the staffer and I walked out of the conference room to the reception area. As I was about to leave, a senior staffer, who had been with Cornyn for 11 years, emerged from his own meeting with constituents and agreed to sit down with me in his office. This talk was much different. I was overmatched. The senior staffer knew more about the issues and was more familiar with Cornyn’s record and past statements than I was. For every policy or concern that I brought up, the staffer instantly parried with his own statistics and defenses of the Senator’s record. This wasn’t surprising; the job of a senior staffer is to defend his boss and presumably this staffer wouldn’t have spent 11 years with Cornyn if he wasn’t a true believer. I was feeling defeated until I brought up the hypocrisy of the Republican refusal to hold hearings on Obama’s late-term nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court, a move that Cornyn had supported. The staffer immediately pointed out the Democrats’ own obvious hypocrisy and gave a defense of Cornyn’s position that was on surface reasonable and rational. Then I asked, “Would Senator Cornyn have made the same argument if a Republican had made the nomination late in an election year, instead of Obama?” The staffer stopped short. The smooth flow of rationalizations abruptly ceased. After a long moment he said, “I don’t know.”
My point was made and I pressed it, thinking that I had finally gotten through to this staffer who, though he was sincere, had been in the game so long that he had confused rationalizations for truth and developed a tolerance for cognitive dissonance. I urged that Cornyn be a voice of honesty, calling out both his own party and the Democrats. The de-escalation of partisan politics has to start somewhere. Perhaps I was overly optimistic. As I was leaving, the senior staffer reminded me that there are 534 other members of Congress. This struck me as defeatist, an abdication of moral courage in the face of a daunting challenge and an abdication of responsibility for the role Cornyn’s own party played in the degradation of democratic norms. That’s a bit harsh, though. I’m very grateful to those two staffers for hearing me out and humoring me. People don’t change their minds instantly, and learning to be intellectually honest and call out hypocrisy on either side with equal vociferousness takes time. Regardless, I think that the staffers and I came out of our interaction having reached some common ground and with new ideas. I’d encourage every person who reads this to call their senators and representatives. Politicians are influenced by their staff and by the messages of their constituents. Like all people, they feel more comfortable standing up for something when they know they have support behind them.
Gabriel Levine is a junior chemistry major.
BY ALEXANDER JACOBS
GUEST COLUMNIST
College is a time of self-exploration, self-improvement, hard work and perseverance. We want to find out who we are while simultaneously learning practical things about the world and our future. A popular outlet for this desire is the classic college trip over spring break. It’s a collegiate tradition for U.S. students go to party the night (and day) away in some of the most beautiful and relaxing places in the world, surrounding themselves with rich cultures and awesome displays of nature’s beauty. Some of the best destinations include Miami, the Bahamas, Las Vegas, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Vallarta, Daytona Beach, Iraq, South Padre Island, Acapulco, Jamaica, Cabo and Iran. Back in October, a few high school friends and I who went to college in Texas resolved to go to Austin City Limits to enjoy ourselves for the weekend. It was a fantastic weekend of great music and enjoying each other’s company. By the end of the trip we had enjoyed hanging out together so much that we had to figure out another trip for our next vacation. So, my friend Matt listed off some of the options we had for spring break. It included most of the places from the above list, and we narrowed our trip down to three options: Daytona Beach, Cabo and Baghdad. After some final heated arguments about which had the hottest girls, best bars and most beautiful scenery, we finally agreed on Baghdad. So fun! Nov. 8, 2016 marked the beginning of the end of my spring break plans for my first year at college. Donald Trump, a racist, xenophobic, sexist, not to mention Baghdad-hating bigot, was elected as president of the United States. I have no idea how this happened, I guess people just have the IQ of a walnut and hearts of stone. I cried for literally three hours straight and skipped classes for a week. Luckily, many of my teachers felt my pain and allowed me to miss class. They moved tests around and were very accommodating of my depression. A lot has happened since this point. Most importantly, Donald Trump banned all Muslims from
immigrating to the United States. He banned all the Muslim countries and pretended like he was just banning people from the countries, but really he was banning all Muslims because Muslims are only located in these countries. The wonderful inhabitants of Iran, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Iraq (so all the Muslim countries) were banned from coming to the U.S. These countries are of enormous beauty and are home to the most peaceful people on earth. It is such a shame that Trump would ban all Muslims. Now to get to the part where Trump ruins my spring break (which he already has, because my entire life is ruined because he was elected). Because of this ban, Iraq has decided to retaliate with a devastating blow to the United States and many of its citizens: they have banned Americans from coming to Iraq. This makes perfect sense because of the racist decisions of not-my-president Trump. However, I wish they could make an exception for me and my friends. We spent approximately $20 on the nicest hotel in Baghdad, and they do not offer refunds for Americans, presumably because of not-my-president Trump. Yes, the hotels can be expensive, but it is worth it for the amazing food, incredible buildings, beautiful women whose faces you can always see because they are never covered up with black polyester to keep them submitted and hot in the Baghdad sun, and all of the incredibly nice people. Although Baghdad was our first choice for many obvious reasons, my friends and I have managed to change our plans to go somewhere that didn’t quite make our first pick: Cabo. Cabo has great beaches, great food, great nightlife and just like Baghdad, incredible people. Yes, it is a little boring compared to our primary choice, and it will be much quieter due to the lack of AK47s going off around you and the lack of shouts of “Allahu Akbar” followed by suicide bombs, but it will suffice. Oh, and Donald Trump is still #notmypresident.
Alexander Jacobs is an undeclared frist year.
OPINION • FEBRUARY 10, 2017 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM
7
Picture Jesus at Trinity Wisteria and hysteria
MIA GARZA
OPINION COLUMNIST
I often regard Jesus of Nazareth as one of my role models. Despite whatever religious standpoint you may have, Jesus’ overall value as a person during his life on Earth was one of
undoubted goodness. I myself wasn’t raised to have any religion, but thanks to Catholic school education, I know a whole lot about Jesus. People of faith now are often pegged as celibate, non-partiers who judge anyone who partakes in such actions or events. It’s easy to forget Jesus’ most basic and more emphasized teachings. As a college student, I sometimes ask myself what Jesus would do in my situation. It’s almost comical to picture Jesus in a dorm room, going to classes in Chapman. Jesus’ adolescence is almost completely void in the Bible. In fact, one of the few events in the Bible from Jesus’ college-aged years is when he accompanied his mother Mary to a wedding and turned the water into wine, at his mother’s request. And that’s pretty frat if you ask me. First off, Jesus was undeniably inclusive. He often associated himself with the most hated people of his time — the tax collectors, the poor and the diseased. He did not judge them. Often he spent his days with them, getting to know them and teaching them his message of salvation, but also of tremendous love. Thus I would conclude that if Jesus went to Trinity he wouldn’t be a part of the elite. He would go to all those events in the Fiesta room that are attended by under five people because one too many Trinity students, whether they’d admit it or not, consider themselves too good to lend some time to small organizations. I think you’d find Jesus there, having a great time. I think Jesus would have a lot of friends. I think he’d get to know each and every person he met. I don’t think Jesus would care what that person’s reputation was on
campus; if they were a 4.0 student who spent free time on the internet alone in their room or a drug user who went out every night of the week. In fact, I think Jesus would go to parties. Afterall, Jesus went to social gatherings in the Bible. The more people to teach his message of love and acceptance, the better. Jesus emphasized that it is of the utmost importance to treat others how you’d like to be treated, not, may I remind readers, how they treat you. That leads me to think that Jesus would not have one bad thing to say about anyone on campus — no matter how much their views differ from his or how they acted towards him. Jesus would see the good in every student, professor, staff and the like. Jesus would volunteer, I’m sure … but he’d also help those in need without the formal structure of a volunteer excursion. There’s a passage in the Bible that says: “‘For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” Jesus would use all of his bonus bucks on you regardless of if he needed them or not. This is how I’d like to imagine Jesus, although I’m sure there are thousands of others’ interpretations. If you’d like to share yours, I’d be happy to hear it.
Mia Garza is a senior communication and business double major with a minor in creative writing.
In this month’s Sleep Strategies New recipes Workout Routines Managing Stress http://readsh101.com/trinity.html
@TUWellnessServices For questions or to contribute content contact Wellness Services at khewitt@trinity.edu
continued from FRONT The order calls for changes to how some non-U.S. citizens can enter the country. It is pretty clear that more thought might have been given to how the executive order might have been implemented. Regardless, a form of hysteria had taken over: exaggerated excitement and uncontrollable emotion. As a singular event the Jan. 27 executive order might be considered a bump in the road. However in a historical context this executive order is thought to personify other possible transgressions or mistakes. Rhyming wisteria and hysteria is trivial. My approach for recalling the story of the naming of wisteria the way I did serves a greater purpose. A dimeless German immigrant comes to the U.S. shores 300 years ago. With help from his Quaker friends, he becomes a prosperous citizen of Philadelphia. Nearly 70 years later his American-born namesake earns his medical credentials at a Scottish university. Later, Wistar the Younger takes over the American Philosophical Society from Thomas Jefferson and the Society for the Abolition of Slavery from
Benjamin Rush, a physician and signer of the Declaration of Independence. Wistar, the grandson, provides the impetus for the establishment of one of the great medical research institutions. Gerd Maul was born in Nazi Germany in 1940. Gerd and I were graduate students at the University of Texas at Austin in 1965. We worked together as teaching assistants in the Mammalian Physiology lab program. Gerd later was employed at the Wistar Institute for nearly 40 years and produced exceptional research. If immigration practices had restricted Caspar Wistar or Gerd Maul from entry, the United States would have been the lesser for it. If Thomas Nuttall had been denied entrance to the United States and its territories, what name would that climbing vine bear today? Is there a Caspar Wistar waiting to leave Sudan for the promise of America? What if Mary Anne MacLeod was from Iran? The hysteria must be controlled so that the fragrant deep lavender flowers of the wisteria can continue to bloom. Robert Blystone is a professor in the biology department.
VALENTINE’S DAY ISSUE
9
The great Sweetheart debate Sweethearts ... more like broken hearts BY SOLEIL GAFFNER Each popular U.S. holiday has a specific type of candy attached to it. Christmas has candy canes. Easter has chocolate bunnies. Hanukkah has chocolate gelt. Even Halloween has candy corn (even though its taste is debatably bad). Valentine’s Day has been known for rich, decadent chocolate. So why do Sweetheart candies even exist? Why would you want a powdery pebble that tastes like a vitamin that expired 50 years ago on a day celebrated with chocolate? I am more than happy to argue for the protection of our tastebuds during this very difficult season of love. Sweethearts are good-for-nothing more than poisoning your obnoxious next-door neighbor, and I’ll tell you why in three succinct reasons. The first reason why Sweethearts are overrated is simply because of their abominable taste. Sweethearts, supposedly, come in a variety of flavors. I thought their only flavor was Bad. But apparently they attempt to create the impression of green apple, blue raspberry, strawberry, lemon, grape and orange. Sounds fake but ok. The other problem with Sweethearts is their composition. On the Necco website, the main ingredients listed are sugar, corn syrup, cornstarch, flavors (who knows what these are), gums and colors, in that order. So really, when you put a Sweetheart in your mouth, you’re subjecting your delicate and precious palette to a hunk of sugar with added Bad Stuff. The side effect of this mistreatment? A raw, burning, sore tongue. No one should live through that (first-world) pain. After one Sweetheart, you think you can handle it. After two, you start re-thinking your confidence.
After three, you realize it’s not worth it, it never was. There is no “after four” because most don’t survive that long. Let’s move on to their selling factor: cute, sweet sayings stamped on each candy. In theory, their messages are perfect for any situation. “Call me” you say flirtatiously. “Be mine!” you exclaim. “Kiss me” you whisper. “Let’s get busy” you text (through emojis). But Sweethearts’ words are simply words, mass produced and distributed to fit your heart’s needs. Where’s the sincerity in that? Valentine’s Day is meant to celebrate the genuine love you feel for another person. Would you really want to express your love and desire for your significant other through a chalked-up excuse of a stale vitamin? Flirting, whispering, exclaiming or any other original interaction you have with your partner are more genuine than a cliché candy. Finally, the entire concept of a Sweetheart candy is so far from the traditional theme of Valentine’s Day. You expect your significant other to spend a little extra and buy those overpriced Godiva chocolates wrapped in red. Sweethearts might be shaped like hearts, but their relationship with love ends there. If you really want to show your partner that you love and appreciate them, go all out or not at all. Valentine’s Day doesn’t need candy, it just needs a genuine show of love and appreciation! If you’re not the biggest fan of chocolates but still need some sort of candy, I’d recommend Nerds and jelly beans over Sweethearts any day. As a substitute for Valentine’s chocolate, Sweethearts are a sad excuse for a candy to represent your love (your partner deserves much better).
Sweethearts... more like neat hearts BY NICHOLAS SMETZER
I’m a little rusty; it’s been at least a decade since I’ve been involved in a classic “your candy sucks” debate. In fact, I’m not entirely sure how to begin this argument — mostly because, in all honesty, I had no idea that there were people who were against tiny, heart-shaped sugar clusters with cutesy sayings written on them. I’ll admit it: Sweethearts aren’t the best. They’re chalky and tart in a not-quite-right kind of way. But the same kinds of things could be said for all kinds of candy — there’s a reason nobody feels great after a Kit-Kat and Nerds-Rope binge. It’s impossible that everybody hates these little things, otherwise they wouldn’t sell so damn well. And while they may not be on the level of Swiss chocolates in terms of delicious, quality ingredients, it’s not like their cheap cost doesn’t reflect this. If you’re disappointed in candy that is quite literally less expensive than dirt, then you might have your standards set a notch or two too high. When arguments about sweetheart candies arise, the focus will inevitably turn to the sweet nothings that are inscribed on each sugary heart. God forbid that our chaste eyes be subject to scandalous phrases like “be mine,” “crazy 4 u” or God forbid, “xoxo.” Of course these sayings are insincere and meaningless — but then again, so is the entire idea of the modern Valentine’s Day. I hate to break it to you, but there isn’t a candy on the
market, heart-shaped or otherwise, that can sum up the feelings of love and adoration that people can feel for one another. To claim that Sweetheart candies are a disgrace because they fail to do so is to suggest that there is some alternative that has actually met this standard, and despite all of it’s efforts, I don’t think that the capitalistic exploitation of holidays and tradition is that good — at least, not yet. There’s no point in acting like there isn’t a very real place for shallow expressions of affection in our world. Grand gestures are heartfelt but exhausting, and I doubt that it’s healthy to expect every single encounter between you and your lover to culminate in Say-Anything-Peter-Gabriel-jukebox-scene levels of romance. Not every gift needs to be a diamond ring, not every date one to the Maldives. We can all agree that sweetheart candies are a half-hearted (har-har) romantic gesture, but is receiving a box of candy from your significant other really going to be something that makes your day worse? In the end, Sweethearts are just pieces of sugar with words painted on. No, they’ll never be the catalyst for true love, nor will they cause anyone to rethink those divorce papers. They’re a harmless, cute little product that are by design as inoffensive and unchallenging as possible. Either you like them or you don’t. But life is too short to be upset by candies with compliments attached. Can’t we all just let those poor folks at Necco be?
Terrible comedies that we can’t help but love Five cringe-worthy romantic comedies to watch while hiding from all of the love BY SHELBY DeVORE Whether you read In Touch Weekly to see what the Kardashians did this month or watch “The Bachelor,” secretly hoping you were one of the lucky girls to score a rose, it’s no secret that everyone has a guilty pleasure. For some, watching awful romantic comedies to cure a bittersweet loneliness may be the perfect treat. These films have horrible acting, cheesy lines and unrealistic plot lines, but let’s face it, that is what makes us love them. There is nothing like watching a horrible romantic comedy on your couch, after a breakup, with a scoop of cookie dough in one hand and ice cream in the other. Some people who love to watch these movies may think they are funny, but there are also those who watch them so they can feel better about themselves. So what are some of the worst romantic comedies? Here are five that I am sure you all have seen; if you have not, you’re welcome for providing you with your new plans for Valentine’s Day. Starting off, there is “Never Been Kissed” with Drew Barrymore, a cinematic classic. It is always good for those of you who have never made it to first base and need assurance that you are not the only one. For those of you who have not seen it, don’t
graphic by KATIE GROKE
worry: she ends up getting kissed at the end. And ladies, who doesn’t want to watch Gerard Butler, especially when he is putting Katherine Heigl in her place? “The Ugly Truth” is one to keep you laughing but also makes you feel super uncomfortable with its sexual content and heated arguments. But hey, maybe you can take some notes. This one I recently watched and I have to say is one of the top worst romantic comedies
probably in history; if you have never seen “Love Potion #9,” then you are missing out. It stars Sandra Bullock and Tate Donovan, a psychologist and chemist, respectively. They are not the most attractive people, and have the worst people skills, but with their brains and skills they create a potion that causes people to fall in love with the first person they hear. Cheesy right? It is a great way to get a laugh in just because it is so weird, plus
you can see Sandra Bullock actually look unattractive for a change. They’ve been costars countless times, but Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson’s “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” is by far their best film together. Hudson’s character uses her good looks and charming personality to pick up one of the hottest bachelors, but then later tries to get rid of him all for an article. Who does that? Not the Trinitonian! But don’t worry, she comes to her senses and realizes he just may be the one for her, (shocker). The last film is one that has so many plot lines that I can’t even keep up, but I am pretty sure almost everyone ends up happy. “Valentine’s Day” has so many different versions of love that it is almost sickening. You have the girl who leaves the fiancé because she is nervous about marriage, Taylor Lautner and Taylor Swift as a pair of high school students who are head over heels for each other, a gay football player who is contemplating on leaving the job and coming out, a mom coming home to see her son from overseas and, my personal favorite, Jessica Biel’s character throwing an annual “I Hate Valentine’s Day” party. You know what all of these movies have in common? The couple always ends up together and lives a happily ever after. I wish it was that simple. For those of you who are single, or maybe taken, you are all probably shaking your heads saying “not realistic.” Who knows? Maybe it could eventually happen! But for now, I recommend a dozen chocolates, a fully charged laptop to watch Netflix on and a locked door so you can escape the atmosphere of love.
VALENTINE’S DAY ISSUE
10
Valentine’s Day on a budget Show you care without breaking the bank BY NABEEHA VIRANI
As college students and humans in general, we often find ourselves wanting things we don’t have — namely money. Valentine’s Day is around the corner and in order to keep yourself from going bankrupt, here are a few tips on how to (cheaply) treat your significant other or yourself. If you want to give your date the impression that you’re trying really hard, but don’t want to spend a lot of money, I suggest taking a quick trip down to the P.O.D. Find the freshest looking packets of sushi, then present them on a plate so it looks like you ordered takeout. Since sushi won’t completely fill you both up, make some ramen and add eggs and
pepper to make it look extra fancy. Your date will be impressed. Since bouquets are often pricey, pick flowers from around campus or invest in some fake flowers or succulents. If you know your significant other won’t be able to take care of real plants, don’t bother picking some, especially if you’re trying to find some on private properties, which is illegal. You don’t want to get fined for something that stupid. Succulents or fake flowers are cheap, cute and easy to find. As for chocolate and sweets, if you were smart and bought Halloween candy last year and still have some leftover, this would be the perfect time to finish it (if it’s not already expired). The dollar section at Target is the best place to find cute little gifts and candies for yourself or for your significant other. For a beautiful view of the city, head up to Skyline. Since Valentine’s Day is next Tuesday, Skyline is open until 2 p.m. It’s pricey, but if you only order appetizers, you’ll fill yourself up enough for dinner. I suggest eating outside
on the balcony to have a clear view of San Antonio. It’s less romantic than “Sleepless in Seattle,” where Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks meet on top of the Empire State Building on Valentine’s Day, but it’s close enough. If you don’t want to be cooped up on campus but don’t want to go too far away for food, grab some tacos from Tacos El Regio or pizza from Pizza Classics. For under $15, you can have great meals that will fill you up. Pizza Classics also has a buy-one get-one-free deal for any size. Since you can’t eat outside of the taco truck and probably don’t want to eat at Pizza Classics, head back to your room and watch a cheesy movie on Netflix. To make things more romantic, buy some fake candles from the dollar store and turn them on for some ambiance. As always for any occasion, homemade gifts or cards are the best way to go. Even if you’re not artistic at all, the message and thought is what counts. Spending time with the people you love and telling them you appreciate them and care for them.
Coming up aces: Asexual and sexy as heck BY ELISE HESTER
When I was in Kindergarten, I had a best friend. I wanted to marry him, but elope, because I did not want to kiss him. Today I am 20 and I still have not kissed anyone. When I wondered why, my mother said I was too cutting, aka too savage. I was the girl that guys want to hang out with, but would never date, and though she meant it as a criticism, that type of dynamic is something I strive for. Growing up, when I was drawn to a boy, I buried my admiration. I would not even tell other girls for a deep fear that the boy would not like me back, and deeper still, the fear that he would. Recently, I realized something. If I had wanted to kiss someone, I would have done it by now. There were glances I saw and I knew what they meant. I swiftly shut down every single opportunity, even when I liked the guy and I finally know why. I am asexual. Ew. The word seems so sanitary and boring, so devoid of passion, which is the farthest thing from who I am. Asexual people are called aces, which is cool I guess. I have only “known” I am an ace — that feels weird to say — for two weeks. Defining “my sexuality” is weird, but here goes: I am heteromantic and asexual, experiencing romantic attraction to men and no sexual attraction. Sexuality and romanticism are different things. (Who knew? Not me two weeks ago). Despite being really helpful in understand myself, this jargon is boring and annoying, if I am completely honest. My mom said she loves me no matter what, but only after asking if I wanted to have a doctor check my estrogen levels. She does not want me to miss out on a really great part of life, but you can only miss the bus that you wanted to take. I am missing nothing. I am full and I will live a full life. I have a lot of issues that I need to work on. But in the case of my sexuality, I do not need to be fixed, nor do I want to be. I have a heart full of love, a mind full of ideas, a soul full of joy, a spirit full of ambition and a life full of purpose — to glorify God, to be a blessing and to make a difference. I will live a full life with its full share of unique challenges, the same as anyone else. I will still love deeply. I will still make sex jokes, because they are funny. I will still flirt because flirting is fun and maybe I will kiss a few boys. I don’t know and that is fine. I will still wear dresses because pants are awful and I enjoy looking real nice. I will still catcall baseball player’s butts because that is what bros are for. I will still live my life in the exact same way I did two weeks ago because nothing has changed. I am exactly the same as I was two weeks ago, only now I know why.
VALENTINE’S DAY ISSUE
Alex and Emily’s epic romantic adventure BY ALEXANDRA URI & EMILY ELLIOTT
Last semester, Alex and Emily went on a ghost-hunting adventure to determine which places on campus were the most haunted. What started as a simple joke developed into a loving friendship. No one predicted it, yet Alex and Emily’s love burns as brightly now as it did last October. ALEX: So we decided to go on three separate dates this week. One cheap, one medium priced and one bougie.
EMILY: In the spirit of our ghost-hunting article (ha, get it?), we decided to explore which dining locations on campus were the most romantic. A: We ranked them on atmosphere, cuisine and our overall love-meter. E: We had high expectations for all of the locations we visited. A: They were not met.
All locations were graded on a one to five cupid scale
11
Cheapest option: JavaCity AKA Ecogrounds E: Alex and I came here to review material for a science class we have together. I honestly wasn’t expecting this to be delicious or romantic, but I was pleasantly surprised. A: We decided to split a Javalanche and a cookie. The Javalanche was romantic, the cookie tasted like banana cardboard. E: Alex and I shared the javalanche by drinking it with two straws; it was sweet, just like my boo. The library was also quiet, so I really enjoyed having an intimate conversation about acceleration and centimeters. A: Honestly, one of the best dates I’ve been on. E: I think a second date here awaits us!
Medium option: Coates University Center A: Honestly, I was just in a really bad mood for this date, so my judgement was a little bit clouded. E: I got Freshii and Alex got Taco Taco, and we sat in a secluded booth. The potential for romance was there, but unfortunately our food was distractingly bad. A: My order was messed up, and it was really hard to focus on anything other than that. I also feel like there wasn’t a lot of opportunity to share food, which was a big plus for EcoGrounds. E: Also, all of our friends sat a few booths away from us and were being loud. It kind of made me miss the single life, so that put me in a bad mood too. Overall, Coates was just too social for me to enjoy sacred time with Alex. A: Romance was not on the menu here.
Expensive option: Skyline
E: I’ve never been to Skyline before, so I was excited to experience this with Alex for the first time. A: This was the most typical date setting. I really felt like I was treating my lady right. E: Alex and I were starving, so unfortunately we forgot to share our food together, except for one french fry. The food was good; I got a salad and Alex got some kind of sandwich. A: The food was good, but not great. The atmosphere really did it for me though. E: Even though I was craving a Javalanche the entire time, it was really nice to talk with Alex about things that mean a lot to us, like Greek life. A: Who would have thought an Alpha Chi and a Beta could have found love? E: Well, I did. I knew this was destiny.
ALEXANDRA URI (left) shares a Javalanche with date EMILY ELLIOTT (right) at Ecogrounds in the Coates Library. photo courtesy of ALEXANDRA URI
Overall, we recommend going to the surprisingly cozy and tasty EcoGrounds for a romantic on-campus date with your boothang. However, it doesn’t matter where you are, as long as you’re with the person who makes you happiest.
Should I stay (with you) or should I go
Graduation is daunting for many reasons, but even more so for couples who might find themselves wondering if they should break up prior to walking across Laurie’s stage. I’m not eligible to answer this question, but I can tell you what I think I know about falling in love. It’s all consuming, and wonderful, and pretty scary and nerve-racking and, more often than not, fleeting. It doesn’t last forever. Sometimes it’ll stay around for a few weeks or months, years, even decades, varying in degree and intensity over time. But romance does fade. Companionate love (friendship) tends to last longer. Ideally, love is a combination of friendship and romance. When the mystery is gone and the person you’ve been on the journey with is still beside you, that’s when the fun begins. It’s loving someone through the routine, the monotony of life, that’s actually valuable. Anyone can tell you they love you, or that you’re beautiful or “different” or have made them a better man or woman. But words are pretty empty in those regards, because they’re generic and commonly used, and actions hold more weight.
BY JOY LAZARUS When you near the end of your college career, and you’re contemplating if you should continue sharing your life with someone, consider what is best for the two of you. The famed Jerry Springer gave some wonderful advice. He posed, at the closing of one of his shows, that when it comes to relationships or break-ups, you have to ask yourself one question: at the end of the day, when everything is said and done, do you want to continue to be with the person you are currently with, despite the inevitable ups and downs? Because if it’s not, then what’s it all about. Now, a note on break-ups. It’s a loss that is immeasurable in comparison to the situation. It can feel like you’re dying or mourning the presence of someone who is no longer there. Like you’re dying to yourself and to the thought of what once was. It’s a gnawing, aching feeling, which like love, consumes you. It’s the potential side effect of coupleship, the everhaunting possibility of love lost. However, don’t let fear suade you. There’s pros and cons to staying in a relationship post graduation. The ‘what if ’ question might arise; as in, ‘What if
we broke up and I married someone else’ or ‘What if I didn’t follow you after we graduated?’ The answer is: I don’t know. There’s security in staying with the person you’re currently with. It’s also limiting, too, if you perceive others as options that are no longer at your disposal. You could be selling yourself short by staying committed. Or this relationship could be the best bet of your life. Only hindsight will provide that perspective. It’s a choice. Life is riddled with them, although senior year makes them seem much more real. But when things are really considered, saying that we all live for a few more decades, there’s going to be a lot of changes ahead of us: location, jobs, kids, diets, inevitable sagging of the flesh. There’s a paradox to most things, most life situations. However, consider the mutual decision that both of you want to be together. If you both decide, unanimously and without hesitation, that your lives are better intertwined until no specific date, and the relationship is no longer a variable but a constant, the stability should provide you with a sense of relief. How much do you value your relationship?
12
VALENTINE’S DAY ISSUE
VALENTINE’S DAY ISSUE
Wait...you’re married?
13
BY JULIA WEIS
Those were the words that fell out of my mouth when I stumbled across professors Andrew Porter and Jennifer Rowe at the Pearl a few weekends ago, hand-in-hand with their two young children. The professor couple laughed at my discovery, but were surprised that I had never found out through my previous interactions with the two of them. As it turns out, several professors and faculty members at Trinity find themselves working alongside their spouses. Depending on if they choose to change their name while getting married, the professor couples may not be so easy for students to discover, as is the case with Porter and Rowe. With others, like Benjamin and Kathleen Surpless of the department of geosciences, it is more obvious and occasionally leads to confusion. “What’s funny is that we still get emails and mail on campus delivered to the wrong person. But what’s really interesting is that it usually comes to me,” said Benjamin Surpless, professor of geosciences. “Students sometimes get a little bit confused if they say ‘I’m in Surpless’ class,’ and someone else will say ‘Wait a minute, I’m in Surpless’ class.’” Similar moments of confusion happen to Colleen and Cameron Hill. Colleen Hill is the dance and yoga instructor at Trinity, while Cameron is the head coach of the women’s basketball team. Having the same initials can often lead to misunderstandings. “There were two athletes who saw that “C. Hill” was teaching Aerobic Dance … When they came to the first class, they were a little surprised to find out it was me and not Cam. I am not sure that they paid attention to the course name, just the instructor. They were good sports, but quickly dropped,” Colleen Hill said.
Dance and yoga instructor COLLEEN HILL is married to women’s basketball coach CAMERON HILL. photo courtesy of COLLEEN HILL
The professors I spoke to almost all met in graduate school and one way or another, both made it to Trinity University. Often one of them was hired, and a few years later the other was too. “We ended up here because we were both living in Baltimore and in either 2003 or 2004, Andrew, who had been teaching at Johns Hopkins [University] at the time, got the job here. He called me one day and said ‘Guess what? I got a job at Trinity!’ Neither
Sidewalk symposium
What’s your worst V-day experience?
Ottila Willis, Sophomore “I didn’t really care, but remember in middle school when people would get balloons from their moms? My mom never got me any. But she did get me chocolate!”
Clint Schroeder, Senior “I started cooking Valentine’s Day dinner, and I then had to leave suddenly, so I had to cancel, and my girlfriend was not happy. A lot of flowers made up for it.”
Zach Acevedo, First Year “Not having a Valentine.”
Sam Afshari, Sophomore “The lack of one.”
Anonymous “One time, in high school, I got flowers from an anonymous person, and I thought they were from a guy I really liked, but they were from my dad.”
Ashley Debauge, First Year “Not getting candy from my class.”
Compiled by Kathleen Creedon News Reporter
of us had thought about moving to Texas. We weren’t even engaged at the time, but I sort of knew that we were going to be eventually,” Rowe said. Kyle Gillette and Rachel Joseph of the department of theatre met as two out of the three people entering the Ph.D. program in drama at Stanford University. Gillette, as well as the other professors, mentioned married professors can enjoy seeing each other during their breaks.
“Sometimes we’ll be able to grab lunch or something and it’s very nice. And you know, we share a car and everything,” Gillette said. For the couples with young families, professors can even find more time at Trinity to relax than at home. “One of the best things about working on the same campus is that we get to have lunch all the time. We have two little kids, so we can barely talk to each other at night, so it’s really nice to be able to have a lunch date any time that we want. That’s probably the best part,” Rowe said. And often when they work in similar disciplines, it affects their interactions outside of work. “I’d say as we both have very physically active careers, it definitely influences how we spend time as a family. We are very active with our boys, always outside playing, riding bikes, coming to Trinity to shoot hoops, watch games, play disc golf...We don’t really have an off switch!” Hill said. For the couples in the same academic field, this leads to many work-related conversations. “We’ve been doing this for more than 10 years now, but we’re on the same hall of the same building in the same department…. So we work together and go home at the end of the day, and sadly, much of the time we talk about work, but that’s just what happens,” Surpless said. Whether you know about them or not, the Trinity professor couples live among us and are very thankful for having the opportunity to work together. “I would add that we’re very lucky. It’s rare for academic couples, especially in the same discipline, to end up in the same place, and so we’re very, very fortunate and grateful for Trinity and that it worked out,” Gillette said.
Pulse
FACULTY SPOTLIGHT “Critical thinking has never been more important. Your Trinity education can help you change the world.” Claudia Stokes, professor of English
Need a study buddy? Ask a professor Faculty members gain a different kind of teacher’s pet experience by enrolling in courses BY JULIA WEIS
PULSE REPORTER Paul Myers, chair of the computer science department, wouldn’t strike you as the kind of person who has read “Ulysses” five times. Yet each semester, he takes at least one class in the department of English and has done so for over a decade now. Myers is one of many Trinity faculty members who takes advantage of the policy that allows staff to enroll in one free class per semester. During his many years at Trinity, Myers has almost built up an English major, as well as engaged in classes for fun, like Trap and Skeet I and II. What started as rekindling a love for literature has evolved into pure joy and fascination for the subject. “I no longer feel like an alien in the room, and I feel like I’m just one of the members of the crowd,” Myers said. Myers also enjoys the chance to experience a different kind of class environment compared to the usual STEM lectures he delivers to his computer science students. “For me and people like me, it’s especially useful and interesting to take real discussion classes and seminars where you really talk about life and literature and art and society, because otherwise I don’t really get much of a chance to do that in most of my classes and lecture,” Myers said. Some professors, such as Nina Ekstein in the department of modern languages, are only able to take a class at Trinity while on academic leave. Because of her teaching, research and committee obligations, Ekstein
PAUL MYERS is one of the many professors students may recognize as one of their fellow classmates. photo by MIGUEL WEBER
doesn’t participate in Trinity classes all too often, but when she does, she carefully chooses a course she believes she will be able to utilize in future situations. “I can counsel my advisees really well about all of the classes I took. The logic class I took definitely enabled me to think more clearly about the project I was working on at the time,” Ekstein said. Mario Gonzalez-Fuentes, a professor in the business department, also takes a class every now and then. For him, it is more about learning from the different teaching methods of that professor.
“When I first arrived at Trinity in 2011, I thought to myself, ‘Okay, if Trinity hires some of the best educators in the country and in the world, then I’m definitely among some of these best educators in the country and the world. So I better learn from them while I can,’” Gonzalez-Fuentes said. Gonzalez-Fuentes has taken several classes of various topics, including Stephen Field’s class in Elementary Chinese to Kathleen Denny’s class about the Self in Society. He was particularly inspired by the methods that Denny used in her sociology class to inspire all of her students.
“One of the greatest outcomes is seeing how a professor here at Trinity organizes their class throughout a semester and uses a bunch of very creative activities to transmit the knowledge that they need to teach their students. All of those activities gave me a lot of ideas I wanted to incorporate into all of my classes,” Gonzalez-Fuentes said. Kathleen Denny, visiting assistant professor of sociology, remarked that his presence in her class was somewhat daunting at first, but she ended up benefiting immensely from having him enrolled in the course. “Where he was really able to bring his professorial expertise to bear was in his ability to encourage quieter students to share their thoughts. Often, we discussed topics in small groups of two or three and then came together as a full group to share the highlights; it was here that Dr. Gonzalez-Fuentes would encourage his group mate(s) to share with the whole group their interesting contributions when they otherwise may not have without him there to support them,” Denny said. “I’m indebted to Dr. Gonzales-Fuentes for his encouragement and endless support of my teaching styles.” In addition to learning from the professors teaching the class, faculty members noted that their interactions with students were surprisingly remarkable as well. “One of the big advantages for me enrolling in courses is that it’s just one more way to keep in touch with the students. I really get a major dose of the zeitgeist, the contemporary culture and all,” Myers said. Other professors agree that there are invaluable benefits teachers have on other students who are enrolled in their class. “That’s just one of the things that I have loved about the classes here; not only the enrichment I get from the other professors, but the enrichment that I get from helpinng to develop the other students’ opinions.” Gonzalez-Fuentes said.
Staff and students protest the travel ban The Trinity community responds to Trump’s controversial decision to bar the entry of some foreigners into the states
BY CLAIRE NAKAYAMA
PULSE REPORTER
Amidst rising concerns and worries from the community, Trinity students and staff have found ways to reach out to the concerned community and raise awareness to assist others. On Sunday, Jan. 29th, an estimated 250 people came together at the San Fernando Chapel in the main plaza of downtown San Antonio to protest against the Muslim ban executive order. The event had been organized by members of the group MOVE San Antonio, which is a nonprofit dedicated to promoting the involvement of young adults in policy-making processes. “We organized it in less than 24 hours. I had gotten some text messages from students that were affected or felt personally alienated
by the Muslim ban, so I suggested in the group that we find a way to reach out to them somehow, and from there that kind of blossomed into the idea of the rally,” said Chiara Pride, a first-year political science and anthropology double major and member of MOVE San Antonio. Pride found the various responses of the supporters and attendees to their event overwhelmingly positive and exciting. “It was pretty remarkable because we posted the Facebook event for the protest at around 8 the day before and only a couple of people were interested. By the morning of the protest, 500 people were interested in attending, and hundreds did attend.” Pride said. Some people in the crowd may have been familiar faces, as Trinity students who wanted to stand up against the travel ban attended the protest event. “Someone I knew shared the Facebook event, so I reached out to a couple of my friends and the four of us ended up carpooling,” said Will Farnell, a junior physics major. Farnell personally felt that the recent actions of President Trump
conflicted with values he believed in, which motivated him to attend the event. “That’s not who we are as a country and it felt really important for me to stand up and say that,” Farnell said Pride also cited her desire to assist struggling people outside of the country as her personal reason for attending the event. “They’re just not getting the support they need right now, so I think we should be that support for them,” Pride said. Some students on campus feel directly targeted as a result of the executive order, such as Yara Samman, a junior biology major. Samman is a green card holder and worries about her ability to travel as a consequence of the ban. “The federal judge did repeal that decision for green card holders since they are legal residents, so I can leave and come back, but I know I’m still not going to do that now that I know that something like this might happen again.” Samman said. Simran Jeet Singh, a professor of religion, also observed how many students in and outside of his classroom were affected by the ban.
Singh has since been vocal about his desire to help those affected. “Either the students are personally affected, or their families are abroad at one of these several countries. I’ve heard from a number of students who have had to change their travel plans because they don’t know if they would be let back in once they leave,” Singh said. He has also felt the impact of the ban within his own classroom during discussions. “We’ve been talking about these issues in my classes a lot lately, and I think that it’s changed my class structure quite a bit. You can’t teach Islam today without talking about this stuff,” Singh said. The Trinity community has also found ways to extend their support directly from campus. During Nacho Hour on Feb. 1st, students wrote notes of support on index cards that will be delivered to local mosques; Singh was responsible for organizing the event. “I just thought it would be powerful to think of something actionable, something that people could do to be positive during this time,” said Singh.
Some students have found other ways to get connected to current events and stay involved in rising issues. Samman is the co-founder of the International Humanitarian Crisis Initiative, which raises money for refugees, and Farner is a member of the LGBT organization on campus, PRIDE. “I think that it really helps to find one cause that you’re really passionate about. Find one thing to focus on so that you don’t feel overwhelmed by the amount of organizations and opportunities that are out there,” Pride said. Regardless of what you choose to support, it’s important to remember that at the end of the day, we are all members of one unique community, and our actions can have great impacts on the opportunities available to others. “What I’d really like for Trinity students to think about is how they can guard themselves from falling into the trap of dehumanizing other people. There are different ways to do that, but it takes conscious effort to not fall into that trap, so I’m very hopeful that people are thoughtful and aware of that,” Singh said.
PULSE • FEBRUARY 10, 2017 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM
15
“A Clock Stopped (Flowers After Manet)” is an acrylic on linen piece modeled after “13 Bouquets”, painted by Edouard Manet during the last years of his life; the large piece is 139 x 48 inches long. photo provided by JESSICA HALONEN
Art professor featured in new exhibition Jessica Halonen’s work will be on display in Blue Star, a contemporary museum BY EMILY ELLIOTT PULSE EDITOR After several years of painting and sculpting across the globe, Jessica Halonen, an art professor, unveiled her newest collection, “The Blue Hour (a clock stopped)” on Thursday, Feb. 2 at a local San Antonio museum.
Q: What are the pieces in your new presentation about? A: It investigates the historical intersection between art and science through the exploration of the pigment Prussian blue. This exhibition includes all new works that have not been previously exhibited. I began this project (the Blue Hour) in 2015 during a three month residency in Berlin. This is where I first learned about the accidental discovery of Prussian blue. Q: How long did it take you to complete everything? A: The planning of the works in this exhibition has been in process for over a year;
the physical making of the individual works varied dramatically. The largest painting took me about eight months, while the sculpture was built on site in the gallery over the past two weeks. And although the cyanotype included in the show took only hours, I spent all of last summer experimenting with this alternative photographic process with the help of Sasha Faust, my Mellon summer research fellow. Sasha will be showing a series of cyanotypes she made in “the Mini” student exhibition at the Neidorff Art Gallery in the Dicke Art Building opening March 2! Q: Do you have a favorite portion? A: The relationships between each of four
works in the exhibition is my favorite part. The show presents four works completed with four different processes and a range of materials. The show includes a mural sized acrylic on linen painting, a 7 by 4 foot sculpture made from marble and 2 by 4’s salvaged from a 1940’s home and cyanotype (the blue of cyanotype is the pigment Prussian blue). I select my materials and imagery for specific reasons, the historical research and exploration of materials is an important and exciting part of the process for me. “The Blue Hour (a clock stopped)” will be on display until Sunday, May 7 in the Middle Gallery of Blue Star Contemporary.
16
WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • FEBRUARY 10, 2017 •
PULSE
Senior works out her fitness trainer snags Becca Bond discusses challenges she faced as she gains Instagram fame in her fitness journey BY JULIA WEIS
PULSE REPORTER From Trinity swimmer to CrossFit enthusiast to FitFusion trainer and growing Instagram star, Becca Bond’s fitness career has developed and changed extensively throughout her college years. Her love for working out and living healthy has developed into a passion that she now wants to share with others. Her competitive drive and ambitious goals have always pushed her to excel, but through her journey to become a fitness trainer, Bond has dramatically changed her views on food and fitness. Bond credits her passion for competition and sport to her many years as a competitive swimmer. After over a decade of her life spent swimming, Becca reached a point where she knew it was time to move on. “Becca was a talented swimmer and a terrific competitor. She took no prisoners. She came and gave it her best shot for three seasons. She won a conference championship and that was a personal goal of hers” said John Ryan, who coached Becca during her Trinity swimming career. Bond left the world of swimming behind for CrossFit and weightlifting, eventually transitioning into High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and cycling workouts, which is how she found the gym where she works.
“I knew it was exactly what I wanted and I found that same, ‘Gets your heart racing, really pushes you’ competitive spirit that I had had with swimming. And so after few days, one of the owners of the gym said, ‘Hey have you ever thought about teaching? And I was like, ‘Actually yes!’” said Bond, a senior engineering major. After about six months working as a trainer and over a year of sharing her fitness journey through her Instagram account, Bond has now grown accustomed to the challenges of finding the right eating habits to balance her intensive workouts. “I would say the biggest challenge I had at first was understanding that food is fuel. I think healthy options and more knowledge about healthy food is becoming available, but it’s still kind of ingrained in us that food can make you fat, food can make you unhealthy. And that’s not necessarily true. I did a lot of research on nutrition and healthy eating. I thought, ‘I can eat all of this healthy food and it will help me and it will heal me and it will help me reach my goals.’ That’s probably the hardest thing that I overcame,” Bond said. Trinity students who have participated in Becca’s various classes appreciate her passion she puts into the workouts. “I’ve known Becca for a long time and she’s always been super dedicated to health and fitness. Her 45 minute HIIT class kicked my butt. I don’t know how she does it, but she was able to do the workout with us, keep up with the music and motivate us throughout the whole thing,” said Abigail Sheppard, senior psychology and sports management double major. Although Becca is very dedicated to teaching fitness and staying healthy, her true love is
BECCA BOND, center, poses with some of her students following one of her workout classes. Bond’s Instagram account has garnered almost 1,000 followers, which has helped bring in more attendees to her classes. photo provided by BECCA BOND
engineering. Because engineering and fitness cannot easily be matched up, Becca says that she plans to pursue a career in engineering while keeping fitness as a hobby on the side. Becca also highlighted the difference between a healthy and unhealthy habit of working out. “It’s a habit that I love and am passionate about and I love being able to help other people, but I will say that another challenge is that a lot of people think it’s obsessive. And some people
when they first see the instagram or hear about it and don’t hear the full story, think it’s unhealthy habit, which it definitely could be if you don’t go about it the right way. But my main focus has been whole foods, working out to strengthen my body, not to lose weight, not to get skinnier, and stuff like that,” Bond said. Check out her Instagram fitness account (@ bbond_fit) or catch Becca at her FitFusion studio for a workout you won’t forget.
Student leaders earn thanks for involvement Recipients of the High Paw award share their reactions to receiving the distinction BY EMILY ELLIOTT PULSE EDITOR Between the rush of scrambling to get to class, leading meetings for our extracurriculars and looking for precious moments to eat and sleep, it can be easy to forget about how much Trinity students have piled on their plates. To ensure that every student has the opportunity to be acknowledged for their commitments to various educational and extracurricular activities, Student Involvement has introduced the High Paw award as a distinction receivable by students. Faculty, staff and students are eligible to nominate any young leader on campus they feel deserves recognition from the community, and reasons for nomination may vary. Many of the past recipients have expressed gratitude for the acknowledgment from their peers and professors. “I felt very appreciated after I found out I was nominated. I do a lot of work, sometimes more than I should, so it was a good feeling to know that someone was noticed,” said Maia Ogembo, a junior biochemistry and molecular biology double major. Although unsure, Ogembo suggests her club’s faculty advisor may have nominated her for the substantial amount of work she’s done to help her organization. “I’m pretty sure I was nominated for extracurricular involvement by Stacy Davidson, the faculty advisor for Black Student Union (BSU). As public realtor, I have
done my best to make BSU visible on campus. Also, as the co-Mocha Month coordinator, I have also tried my best to plan a great month with a small budget,” Ogembo said. Other recipients have also been excited to earn the award for their participation in various demanding extracurriculars while balancing a rigorous class schedule. “I felt good to know that the organizations I am a part of actually value my efforts. I am on the football team and participate in intramural basketball, but I was nominated for my involvement in Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). I have been leading the worship songs since the beginning of the fall semester,” said Samuel Hinojosa, a first-year engineering major. Hinojosa was aware that he had been nominated by one of his FCA peers, and he hopes her kindness doesn’t go unnoticed. “Shelby DeVore nominated me; she’s the student leader of FCA. I actually think Shelby deserves a nomination. She works really hard to make sure FCA goes smoothly, and she always tries to give everyone the best experiences during clubs. She also presents us with opportunities to interact with other groups,” Hinojosa said. DeVore, who has not received the distinction yet, was honored to hear others felt she deserved the acknowledgment. “I was really flattered to hear that Sam thinks I should be nominated; I am involved with a lot of things on campus, like yearbook, golf and intramurals. Even though sometimes I sometimes feel overwhelmed, I’m grateful for the opportunity to be involved,” DeVore said. If you are interested in nominating a student leader to receive a High Paw, contact getinvolved@trinity.edu with a brief description of why you believe that student should receive the acknowledgment.
Treat your Valentine to Menchie’s this year!
Get 10% off with your TU ID Menchie’s at the Shops at Lincoln Heights 999 E. Basse Rd. #177, 78209
AE &
Falcons fail to peck out Patriots’ eyes, Tom Brady’s head inflates In the American Gladiatorial Arena known as the Superbowl, the Atlanta Falcons squander a huge lead and the Patriots slam them in the 2nd quarter.
Rosie O’Donnell interested in parodying Steve Bannon on SNL
In a move straight out of “Game of Thrones,” O’Donnell seems fed up with her verbal treatment by Trump and responded positively to a tweet suggesting she play the white nationalist on a future episode of SNL.
World Hijab Day both “Presidency: Trump” unites and divides borrows from reality As many of you may have heard, “World Hijab Day” (WHD) took place on Feb. 1. WHD is a movement that began in 2013 NABEEHA VIRANI by Nazma Khan. A&E WRITER According to the project’s website, the mission of WHD is to “create a more peaceful world where global citizens respect each other.” Khan began this project after years of being physically and verbally harassed for wearing the hijab, and wanted to “introduce her pain to others in hopes that no one will ever have to go through the same emotional trauma simply because of the love they have for their faith.” Khan’s experiences are commonplace. The rise of hate crimes and attacks on Muslim women who wear the hijab have drastically risen after 9/11 and more so currently, due to the President-elect and his administration’s rhetoric and actions taken against Muslims. The media also has a strong influence as to how Muslim women are viewed by the larger and majority of the public. The most infamous narrative about Muslim women is that they are oppressed, and forced to cover their heads. This narrative sprang along with the rise of modern day “feminism.” Many feminists believed Muslim women needed to be rescued from the oppressive regimes of Islam during the “War on Terror” the Bush administration enacted. Laila Alawa states that there isn’t one way to be free, and that the stories of all Muslim women aren’t the same in her piece for the Huffington Post, “I am not Oppressed.” Alawa also states that the women who wanted to save Muslim women from wearing the hijab were acting on their own stereotypes based off of colonialism and orientalism. To Muslim women in this country who wear hijab, it stands for Muslim female empowerment. The media is now realizing and capitalizing off of this. WHD is getting attention because
the media is recognizing that Muslim women can be feminists. In a time of such political discourse, it seems that the media is finally choosing to shed light on a topic that needs to be talked about and understood by the public. However, there are many criticisms of WHD. Asra Q. Nomani and Hala Arafa explain the importance of not using the hijab as a way to stand with Muslim women in their piece for the Washington Post, “As Muslim women, we actually ask you to not wear the hijab in the name of interfaith solidarity.” They state that this “modern-day movement spreads an ideology of political Islam.” They argue that WHD promotes the idea that all Muslim women choose to cover their heads and disregards those who are forced to do so. The media has taken to representing the bits and pieces of WHD that promote positivity and acceptance, despite the movement’s criticisms. There have been pictures of nonMuslim women covering their heads on Time, USA Today and state news sources. The issue that arises is why the struggles of Muslim women have to be invalidated through the perpetuation of non-Muslim women’s experiences on covering their heads for one day. WHD is a prime example of just how biased the media is when it comes to displaying unity but not recognizing how terrifying society is for Muslim women who wear the hijab on a daily basis and who have been bullied and harassed because of it. Just watch “Women wear Hijabs for a Day,” a Buzzfeed video that has over 7 million views, to see the type of coverage and acceptance non-Muslim women get for doing something out of their comfort zone, when actual Muslim women are looked down upon. It’s clear that Khan began WHD to allow women to literally walk in the shoes of Muslim hijabis. The questions that need to be asked are about how the media is portraying this movement, why the public values non-Muslim women’s experiences more than actual Muslim women’s life experiences and what steps need to be taken to promote a more empathetic and respectful society.
SATIRE: The hit political satire airing on almost every network reaches further than most using brilliantly timed outrage
I was excited to see the pilot of “Presidency: Trump” just so I could see it drop onto the pile of cancelled garbage now that the new DYLAN WAGNER season is swing. A&E EDITOR But after giving the blowhard host a shot, and after taking a few shots myself, I saw that the show has the potential to go far beyond the outrage-of-theweek standard in political reality TV. For those out of the loop, the America Network has run a season of Presidency every four years for as long as I can remember. The spinoff AN released this season follows the (literal) trials and tribulations of the President’s cabinet picks. The show is hard to describe, but imagine a three-part mix of “Big Brother,” “Wife Swap” (for four years) and “Survivor.” First off, the contestants. Any real fan will remember many familiar faces from the “Election” miniseries last fall. Where that show was nail-biting and soul-crushing, this show projects lighthearted cynicism in an “Arrested Development” fashion. When I saw my favorite love-to-hate character from “Presidency: THE ELECTION,” former Governor of Texas Rick Perry, appear as the secretary of Energy, my jaw dropped. Of course bringing back celebrity favorites is a staple of reality TV, but Trump’s media strategist and social justice warrior Steve Bannon is a genius at knowing just who to pull out of the shadows. I mean, Perry? The guy who forgot the
Department of Energy when he was listing executive agencies to cut? The way Trump’s team assigned departmental picks may seem random, but it’s not. Each person was placed at the head of the department he or she was meant to destroy. Plot. Twist. I’m not exactly sure about the creative choice bringing Ben Carson back into the mix. As much of the “weird dude everyone agrees should be voted off” role he takes on, he’s just not charismatic enough to survive for the season. What’s even more effective about these characters is that they’re set up to be bombastic and forgettable at the same time; after all, who remembers who Obama’s department heads were, even six months after he was elected? I think the main problem the show might run into, despite the gut-busting Senate hearings last episode, is stagnation. People are bored of politics that don’t make them fear for the future of their nation. Whether the fear “Presidency” capitalizes on is a horde of immigrant zombies taking their land or the next Third Reich rising up, if the ratings drop, the messages will change. It’s already happening. Trump promised huge tax cuts for the wealthy while also stating his disgust with American debt. But to pay for these tax cuts, his administration will have to borrow trillions of dollars, which increases the debt the last time I checked. But I shouldn’t pick apart the little things: it’s just a show, after all. But I think Trump is just buying time because he spent his whole show budget on naked paintings of himself and couldn’t afford writers to finish off the season. By focusing on a new statement each day that doesn’t just possibly but definitely contradicts yesterday’s, he keeps the public squabbling and guessing, mystified at the grand plan Trump has to tie together all the plot holes, story contradictions, differing promises and unrealistic expectations he’s released over the course of this season. I, for one, am tuning in to find out how.
Reclusive Alpha Chi reveals crafting secrets Mysterious crafting guru clad in purple and yellow exposes dark secrets of sorority crafts BY EMILY ELLIOT PULSE EDITOR ‘Twas the night before Bid Day, when all through the dorms, not a single girl was sleeping, despite potential storms. Their tutus were hung by their mirrors with care, in hopes that new members soon would be there. The girls were covered in paint and glitter, as they crafted items for the little that would best befit her. In the months leading up to Bid Day, members of Greek Life sought new participants to join their beloved organizations by enduring countless rush dates, informal events and formal events with near-strangers. Regardless of whether you were an Alpha Chi slipping and falling on your face in a rollerrink, or you were a Sigma donning your best animal print, chances are the thoughts of finding your perfect little likely filled your head. Now that we’re a week into pledging, chances are, you’ve already gotten your little or you’re in the process of figuring out which
member of your club’s newest active class will join your line. As one of my sorority’s many self-appointed “Pinterest Queens”, I began crafting for a potential little as soon as I got my hands on some acrylic paints this summer. I made enough to fill a bin for one perfect little, but shortly before Bid Day, I realized my heart was set on having, not one, but two girls. Suddenly, I found myself scrambling at the last minute to craft the prettiest paddles and swankiest bubba kegs possible for another girl. So, if you’re anything like me, struggling to craft something you know another girl will love for the sake of your sorority, you might benefit from three key pieces of advice handed down to me from sorority experts across campus. 1. Craft with your sisters We’re all in this together after all, right? A couple of weeks before Bid Day, members of my sorority, Alpha Chi Lambda, organized craft nights for actives to attend. We’d put on the cheesiest movie available on Netflix, pool our Bonus Bucks to buy the guiltiest pleasures and swap colors to create the cutest crafts we could think of. Hanging out with my sisters is always fun, but when we’re all grouped together, I had access to way more paints and tools than my personal craft bin could offer.
We also were able to enlist the help of each other; some girls can’t draw sunflowers, our symbol, for the life of them, but others can. These craft nights helped immensely, and I already can’t wait for our next one. 2. Don’t craft for a specific person Although some organizations have already determined which girls will be paired together, others haven’t. If you’re still waiting anxiously to see which new member you’ll call your little, try to avoid getting your heart set on crafting for a specific person. It can be difficult to tell which girl will end up with an active, and if the girl you think you’ll get ends up in a different line or sorority entirely, it could be awkward for your little to receive a bunch of items that had been specifically made to impress someone else. If you craft a little more generically - using your sorority’s colors, symbols and motto - you’ll also create sentimental items your little may eventually be able to will-down to someone special to her next year. 3. Avoid glitter I knew I wanted to make a tutu for Bid Day almost immediately after I joined Alpha Chi; seeing my new sisters and members of other organizations running around in these crazy hoops looked so silly; I had to join in. I started
crafting my tutu during winter break, and I mistakenly only used glitter tulle. In addition to the glitter I dusted some of my canvasses with, it was only a matter of time before my kitchen floors were covered in specks of purple and gold. Transporting the items only made my crafts shed even more, and now my dorm’s carpet is covered in a permanent layer of ugly, evil sparkles. If I could go back in time, I’d put back the sparkling tulle and jars of glitter, opting to use plain colors instead. Rumor has it that the combination of shed glitter from all of the Alpha Chi’s outfits has stained Coates permanently as well; while I’m glad we left our mark on campus, I think we could have found more positive, less messy ways to impact Trinity. We have about 358 days until the next group of girls comes running up Cardiac Hill, excited for their new sisters, but painfully unaware of the commitment they’ll make to orientation; the least we can do to encourage their excitement and reassure them about their dedication to sisterhood is greet them with ridiculously pretty paddles, colorful canvases and impressive sets of wooden letters. Here’s to all of us getting started on crafting way more in advance than we actually did, and here’s to a glitter-free Bid Day 2018.
18
WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • FEBRUARY 10, 2017 •
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
We’ll call it a draw, and other art puns I would like to expound upon my experience thus far in Drawing 1 here at Trinity university. Being a second semester senior and the natural slacker TYLER BOELTS that I am, I believed FORMER EMPLOYEE that drawing would be the perfect class for me. I tell myself I have an aptitude for art, considering both of my parents were studio art majors in college. It seemed to me a perfect fit for my mornings on Mondays and Wednesdays. What better way to start the week than laying some sweet, sweet charcoal lines on paper and making magic with your hands? Well, I was wrong. I could not have been more wrong. And please don’t misunderstand me here, I think Drawing is a great class that any interested party should partake in. However for me as a completely untalented individual, it has been a struggle. The people in my class have creativity that seems to be endless. When we are assigned to draw a leaf in class they take the challenge head on and whip
up wonderful creations that push the limits of light and line weight. And then there is me, stuck in the back perpetually drawing and erasing the same motherfucking line over and over and over until half of my page looks grey and used like some type of sad old dishrag, covered with faint lines that will never make it into the final drawing. I think the true struggle of taking an intro to art class in the fashion which I have is that you go in thinking it’s going to be fun and easy because back in high school art class meant using the pottery wheel and making cool stuff with clay. However I grossly underestimated the caliber and overall success of our art department here at Trinity. Even intro level courses demand dedication and true effort. It is not wrong to take an art class and believe that it will mesh well with you; it is wrong to take an art class and assume that you will succeed without putting forth any effort. During a time when Donald Trump is my president, graduation looms ahead, Betsy DeVos now handles my loans and the Patriots have won — I need a place to escape and create something with my hands (to the best of my ability). Walking into the class and having the
opportunity to simply leave everything and anything at the door (including my breakfast, which is a huge bummer by the way, sometimes I want to eat toast and draw), gives me a sense of peace throughout the rest of my day. To be honest with you, while I originally started this piece to tell you all why Drawing 1 has not been a success with me, I end it in a completely different position. Drawing and studio art in general has allowed me to see what my parents saw, and what attracts so many other people to the arts. The ability to express yourself without saying a single word, leaving it all on the paper, the good the bad and the ugly (but for real, what is line weight? I still don’t know), is a gift that Trinity has given to me in my final semester here. So that being said, I would highly recommend Drawing 1 to anybody that is interested, you may find out you’re incredible at drawing. For my fellow non-artistic folk, you will discover a newfound sense of humility as you tack up the drawing up that you spent an entire weekend on, right next to a gorgeous piece that took somebody less than two hours to complete. Drawing is legit and you should try it. It’s huge.
A few reasons why your texting skills need some re-examining
There is a slight panic that comes after sending a text and realizing that its meaning or intention might be horribly misunderstood by the receiver. We have ALEJANDRO CARDONA to sit in silence, with A&E WRITER our thumbs hovering over the screen, waiting for a response that will confirm or deny the potential slip. “I should have added an emoji,” we think. “The period makes it sound too harsh.” Texting is complicated, and everybody has their own approach to solving the quandaries of getting your message across a foggy, everinformal communication system. To add to the problem, everybody has a different approach to the medium. Whenever you start texting someone new, there is an awkward acclimation period to their particular style and quirks. We all have texted someone who uses full sentences and perfect punctuation, and we’ve all been made to feel un-hip by an endless string of unknown abbreviations. The reason, as far as I can tell, is that everybody carries their personal linguistic baggage into the land of texting. When faced with a new medium, we will invariably approximate to the closest other conduit we’re familiar with. For members of a generation that grew up writing letters, preserving the integrity of the written word would remain just as important on a
smartphone. Meanwhile, younger users who text as much as they breathe have no problem making their texting speech-like, with all its slangy abbreviations and regional stylizations. These opposing ideas of “what texting should be” are a source of contention and frequent misunderstanding. Some think sending three consecutive texts (instead of one longer text) is rude. Others judge punctuation as overly formal, or associate it with a harsh, serious speaking tone. All-caps is definitely screaming, and you can’t tell me otherwise. The right way is unknown, without an ultimate arbiter, and no stylebook on instant messaging. The autonomy of texting speaks volumes to what our relationship with digital media has evolved into. I can only speak for myself, but I feel as if our generation somewhat tried (though not for long) to preserve the conventions of face-to-face communication in the metaphysical realm of phonedom. As an extension of oral communication, replying to a text as soon as possible was then not only polite, but to be expected. That’s definitely not the case anymore, as texting soon acquiring a marked desire for self-governance. The rules and expectations have deepened in their nuance, becoming a nightmare for anyone who lags behind. Texting a crush on a dating app, for example, is the rubix cube of the texting-impaired (and I count myself among them.) Appropriate paragraph length is a perpetual mystery, and choosing the right emoji-per-line ratio is an absolute horrorshow.
5%
95% of 18-29 olds use the text messaging feature on their phones
Many times have I brought a flowing conversation to a screeching halt by sending three chunky texts in a row. I have learned to live with that shame. If I’m making it sound too complicated, look into your own texting practices - you might be surprised by how normative it can get. I know people with convoluting texting idiosyncrasies which they feel. One particular friend staunchly believes that when it comes to dating apps, sending more than one message in a day (even after receiving a reply) is a crime, and a clear sign of desperation. Whenever languages collide, a pidgin is formed — a grammatically simplified form of communication that partially mimics the two parent tongues. To me, that’s where we are with digital communication. We are all foreigners to each other, with individual accents and grammars, some more compatible than others. It’s just a natural stage, often accompanied by the mild frustration of being potentially misunderstood. Thankfully, just like spoken languages, we will eventually emerge into the creole stage: a stable, grammatically consistent form. We might already be there — after all, language is constantly being shaped and negotiated by each one of its speakers. The fog seems to be clearing, and I have no doubt that digital natives will have far greater confidence in their digital voice. As for me, I’ll try not to give up hope — perhaps my Tinder game can be salvaged yet.
Users send or receive an average of 87.7 messages per day
graphic by TYLER HERRON
graphic by TYLER HERRON
19
WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • FEBRUARY 10, 2017 •
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
“Meet the Press”
Find out what the editors of the Trinitonian have to say about current events and pop culture trends. If you were on “The Bachelor” or “The Bachelorette” what would your job description be?
“One-time comic artist”
“Cool artist”
“Aspiring muse”
“YouTube DJ”
SOLEIL GAFFNER COPY EDITOR
TYLER HERRON GRAPHICS EDITOR
ALEXANDRA URI MANAGING EDITOR
DYLAN WAGNER A&E EDITOR
“T-shirt enthusiast”
“Aspiring Dallas Cowboys cheerleader”
“Word changer”
“ISTP”
JEFFERY SULLIVAN NEWS EDITOR
KATIE GROKE LAYOUT EDITOR
NICK SMETZER COPY EDITOR
JULIA ELMORE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Have a question for the editors? Tweet us @Trinitonian with #TUMeetThePress
Paid Summer Internships in San Antonio You can be any major at Trinity. All you have to do is be interested in working at top local organizations for 10 weeks this summer. Live on campus for free. Get paid $4,000.
Interested in nature? The environment? Green Spaces Alliance
Interested in social justice? Battered Women’s Shelter
Nature Conservancy
Esperanza Peace and Justice Center
San Antonio River Authority
RAICES
Interested in music?
Interested in writing?
Opera San Antonio
Gemini Ink
San Antonio Symphony
The Rivard Report
YOSA
Trinity University Press Trinity University Marketing & Communications
Interested in theater? The visual arts?
Interested in politics?
ArtPace
Office of Texas Representative Diego Bernal
Blue Star
Office of US Senator John Cornyn
Classic Theatre The Playhouse Other internships available. For a complete listing, and for application information, contact Jacob Tingle (Jacob.Tingle@trinity.edu) or Carl Leafstedt (Carl.Leafstedt@trinity.edu) by email.
Deadline to apply: Friday, Feb. 17, 6 p.m.. Application requests no longer accepted after Thursday, Feb. 16 at 12 noon.
Brought to you by the Arts, Letters, and Enterprise program.
Sports
The Littlest Slam Dunk Champion FEB.
10
It’s a stigma that may be impossible to escape. The short basketball player finds himself put in a box by fans, critics and other players — just ask 5’10 point guard Isaiah Thomas of the Boston Celtics or the legendary Allen Iverson. One of the best ways for a sub-6 foot NBA professional to overcome the shortsightedness of onlookers is to win the slam dunk contest, and in 1986 that’s what 5 foot 7 Spud Webb did. In honor of the NBA’s upcoming perennial all-star weekend, this week we remember the “Spuds” and “Nate Robinsons,” players who are frequently the smallest in physical stature, yet somehow discover ways to out-fly the giants they’re surrounded by with flair.
On the right, junior point guard MATT JONES pulls up for a floater over two defenders. On the left, junior guard MICAH OWENS shoots a teardrop from the center of the floor. photos by OZVALDO VELOZ
Tigers sweep opponents over the weekend BY ELISE HESTER
SPORTS REPORTER Both the Trinity men and women’s basketball team swept their games during the final weekend of January. The women went into the weekend of home games ready and excited for the awaiting competition. “I think Coach Cam and Joe did a great job of preparing us for Dallas and Colorado. We had a great week of competitive practices that got us ready for the weekend and we were excited to be playing at home again,” said junior Micah Weaver. “It’s always nice to have home court advantage because you’re playing in the gym you practice in every day and you’re excited to be out in front of your fans.” They began the weekend strong, leading Colorado College 23-6 after 10 minutes. Despite some later momentum on the part of Colorado, Trinity won their third consecutive game with a score of 95-52 and the Colorado Tigers returned to Colorado Springs empty-handed. “Our energy against Colorado was was a fun game and everyone was having a good time,” said senior Monica Holguin. Cameron Hill, coach of the women’s basketball team, utilized the depth of his team in a game that saw great performances from a large number of players. Senior Elizabeth Balido scored 17 points, Holguin 15 and Weaver 13. “I think my performance was mainly a combination of teamwork and my abilities,” Balido said. “A lot of my points came off of rebounds and second-chance opportunities. My teammates made it easier for me to get inside and really make a difference on the boards.” With the University of Dallas in town on Saturday, the Tigers were able to continue their winning streak, defeating the Crusaders by 40 points. Dallas started strong and managed to bring the score to a 27-27 at one point. However, Trinity had increased the lead
to 51-32 by the end of the half. It was the beginning of the second half when the Tigers pushed forth with overwhelming momentum, scoring 21 points to Dallas’ 4. “It was exceptional,” said senior Grace Horn, “It is fun to be a part of a team that enjoys watching each other succeed and participates in selfless celebrations.” The women’s spectacular performance gave the dominant Tigers confidence for the upcoming competitions. “It was a great confidence booster for all of us going into next weekend,” Weaver said. In addition, the games of that weekend allowed the Tigers to prepare for the rest of the season. For the men, the weekend also opened up against Colorado. Trinity began the game with aggressive offensive and spectacular defense, with a score of 33-14 at the half. “Colorado had good shooters so we knew we had to play harder defense and limit good shot opportunities,” said junior Aaron Knopp. Colorado outscored Trinity in the second half, but not enough to win, as the Tigers emerged victorious. “I was very happy with the way our team played against Colorado,” said junior Matt Jones. “Any time you can beat the best team in the conference it is a good feeling.” The Tiger men faced off against the Dallas in a tense matchup that left the audience dizzied. After losing to Dallas during as the away team, the Tigers were ready to take control against the Crusaders. “We had a bad game at Dallas’ court so we picked up our intensity for our home game,” Knopp said. Tigers started strong, leading at the half 39-27. “Whenever you have a large lead going into halftime, teams tend to play to protect the lead rather than play to beat them by more next half,” Knopp said. The Crusaders, a team which has typically been difficult for Trinity to beat, came back with power in the second half.
“Dallas closed the gap because we lost a little of our focus and intensity that had gotten us the big lead in the first half. That has been our Achilles’ heel all year and we need to figure out how to stay focused and engaged all 40 minutes,” Jones said. Maintaining focus throughout the second half has always been tough for the men’s team. “Dallas was able to close the gap because we took our foot off the gas a little bit offensively since we were playing with a decent lead most of the game,” said Brooks Mays. The game came down to the buzzer, going into overtime after a 66-66 score. In the first overtime both teams scored 6 points. “There was a lot of tension but we all trusted in each other to pull out the win at the end,”said Knopp. Emotions were high going into the second overtime. With one second left on the clock, the Crusaders had seemingly won with a score of 91-90. That is, until Mays made a basket as the buzzer rang out. “I saw that we had a few seconds on the clock with the length of the court to go but knew it was enough time for somebody to get a shot off so when the ball came to me I knew I just had to get down the court as fast as I could and see what happens,” Mays said. “Luckily I got the shot off just in time and we were able to get the win. I felt pretty good knowing we had lost to them just seven days earlier after not giving our best performance in any aspect of the game so it was good to refocus and put together a good effort.” The Tigers rushed onto the court to congratulate Mays as the fans cheered, the Dallas players standing there stunned. “My first feeling after we won was just relief,” Jones said. “That team has seemed to be our kryptonite the last couple of years and I was glad we pulled it out and beat them this time.”
21
SPORTS • FEBRUARY 10, 2017 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM
When life throws a changeup Hop, skip, jumping to victory BY ELISE HESTER
SPORTS CONTRIBUTOR From an early age, Mark Tindall lived and breathed baseball. “My mom actually has a picture of me when I’m like a little baby and I got on like a little helmet and a bat,” said first-year transfer Mark Tindall. At age four, he had the dream of playing in the major leagues and at age six he started in his first Little League game. Raised in Houston, the right-handed pitcher grew up around the game. In a life centered around baseball, hours were spent in the bullpen and nights at the ballpark, Tindall’s hard work led to his recruitment by Villanova University and the 18-year old Houston native moved to the Philadelphia suburb to pitch for the Division I program. But as Tindall followed the typical ballplayer career path, life threw him a changeup. “They had too many kids on the team,” Tindall said. “It was a good wake up call that I can still work harder. I wouldn’t say I’m sad about it. I think it’s overall good that it happened to me.” Cut from the program, Tindall first thought of Trinity University, the school where his brother, Matthew Tindall, had pitched. “Since my brother had been here, I already knew the program fairly well and I already knew the coaches,” Tindall said. “I had talked to the coaches before and it was always kind of like if it doesn’t work out like they said they would really like to have me here.” Seven years separate Mark from his older brother Matt, who is currently pitching for the Washington Nationals organization. Growing up, the youngest Tindall watched his brother’s games and is still inspired by Matt’s work and focus. “I’ve always kind of strived to be like him and he’s playing professionally right now,” Tindall said. “He’s like my role model. I see
how hard he’s worked to get where he is.” “I’d always go to his games and stuff and recently, over winter break, I’ve been working out with him. “ The pitcher has been at Trinity for three weeks and he likes it so far. Tindall relishes the opportunity to be more than “the kid from Texas” on a team stacked with Houston boys. It’s hard not to like Trinity, with helpful players, better academics and nice facilities. “At Villanova, the field was off campus so we took vans to practice and back. It was a lot more difficult to do work on our own,” Tindall said. “One of the nice things about [Trinity] is we’ll all go and do our work on our own. We’re able to get a lot more out of practice.” The last few months have been full of curveballs, but Tindall does not let these affect him. “With every sport, there’s times when you’re good and there’s times when you’re bad,” Tindall said. “Confidence is a pretty important thing for playing sports so you kind of always gotta think that you’re good or else you won’t be successful.” Tindall finds inspiration in his older brother and in his faith. “On my glove I have Philippians 4:13 stitched into it,” Tindall said. “it reminds me to stay positive.” Tindall and the Tigers baseball team begin their season this weekend in Jacoskson, Mississippi, in tournament play. Their first games is against Texas Tyler on Feb. 10. QUICK FACTS: Position: Right Handed Pitcher Year: First-Year Favorite baseball team: Houston Astros Favorite baseball player: Clayton Kershaw Favorite baseball movie: Field of Dreams Life motto: “Never say I wish I had. Say I’m glad I did.”
BY ELISE HESTER
SPORTS CONTRIBUTOR As a child, junior Brittney Sullivan played soccer, basketball, softball. The long jumper started participating in track and field the summer of fourth grade with her older sister, with whom she has a seven year age gap. “I always started out long jumping because my sister long jumped,” Sullivan said. “I wanted to be like my sister.” Sullivan attended a private, all girls high school where she graduated with 200 girls, running and jumping at a school that did not have a track. “We used to practice at the guys’ [school], but then we got kicked off their track — one of the girls got hit in the head with a lacrosse ball and parents got upset, so we couldn’t practice there anymore. We actually practiced at a park my junior and senior year which was hard,” Sullivan said. Though she had done track and field since fourth grade, it was not until her senior year that she started triple jumping. “I’d tried triple jumping in the past and it was too complicated for me. It’s a lot of fun but when you’re first learning, I had no idea what was going on so I didn’t think I was very good at it and I didn’t want to do it,” Sullivan said. “I started out jumping 31 feet, which is really bad, and then by the end I was jumping like 37 feet so it was like a six foot increase in one season. It was pretty fun.” The triple jump, takes a great deal of athleticism, reach and speed, but it is the intricacy and mental side of the triple jump that Sullivan loves. “It’s really hard and it’s really interesting and I think that’s why I like it. In a lot of events in track and field, you can’t really think while you’re doing it. Sprint events are so short you don’t think while you’re doing it that you don’t necessarily think at the meet, but
at practice you are thinking, ‘Ok what do I need to do to make this phase better?’ and sometimes at meets it’s weird because you don’t think you’re thinking but you actually are,” said Sullivan. “It’s more fun. It gets my braining going more than other events.” Sullivan is not the type of athlete who gets hyped up before competition. Instead she gets in her zone. If someone tries to talk to her, she will respond, but she keeps it short. “To prep, I just concentrate. I get very silent, I get very keyed into what I’m doing. I get very serious about it,” Sullivan said. “I’m in my zone, I’m ready to compete, I don’t much to say.” It was at the suggestion of a jumping coach that Sullivan, who had never planned on jumping or running collegiately, decided to look at Trinity University. As a Tiger, Sullivan placed 10th at nationals last year in the triple jump. The now-junior was less than inch away from making it to the national finals, and only two people away from making AllAmerican. “I was really proud of myself. I think that’s the best I’ve competed at nationals,” Sullivan said. ”I was maybe an inch or half an inch off of my season PR.” This past season, Sullivan was named SCAC Field Woman of the Year. Sullivan was shocked when she received the title. “I was pretty surprised. I didn’t really expect it. I was excited,” Sullivan said. “I mean they’re telling you that you’re the best in the conference for the entire year.” Despite doing well and going to nationals every year during her time at Trinity, Sullivan is unclear as to what this season bring. “It’s always weird when the season starts ‘cause you never know what’s in store,” said Sullivan. “I’m just really excited.” Sullivan and the rest of Trinity’s track and field team will participate Sunday, Feb. 12, in Houston at the University of Houston indoor meet against several schools from Texas.
Trinity athletes share about pre-game rituals BY ELISE HESTER
SPORTS CONTRIBUTOR
In the same way that teams warm up their bodies before competition, many Trinity teams have established traditions that mentally prepare, relax, hype and unite the athletes before games. Athletes from several Trinity teams give a glimpse into the heartbeat of teams and individuals as they prepare for games. Men’s Soccer Callum Squires: “We watch YouTube videos in the [Bell Center] classroom. Either soccer videos or funny videos just to get us in a good mood. Some players take a shower.”
Women’s Soccer Kali Dawson: “The team does a clapping routine to ‘Wake Me Up’ by Avicii and prays in the locker room before each game.” Volleyball Rebecca Hayes: “We play music and sing, we go into our meeting room and watch dumb, funny videos (JUST DO IT) or music videos. Jade Schoenberger draws LeeRoy eating and or killing the opponent’s mascot and writes a poem about the death of the other team.” Men’s Basketball Taylor Kim: “I put my left shoe on before
my right shoe. [Unnamed player] takes a poop. Kevin [Owens] does something stupid.” Kevin Owens: “I do a dance in my underwear, but my shoes are still on.” Women’s Basketball Kate Irvin: “Grace Horn was in a vocal class last semester and they had a vocal warm up that goes ‘Tabaketah, tabaketah, hay yee, tada.’ We do it in the locker room before each game. The coaches are standing outside the locker room and they probably think we’re summoning Satan. Then we dance to this weird song about Candy.”
Baseball Blake Frampton: “I don’t think you’d want to print this…”[summary: players bond in what may be an excessively intimate manner] Holden Nix: “I say a prayer while sitting backwards on the toilet and taking a poop.” Softball Leah Rubio: “We all do our hair and makeup on game days. If you look good, you play good. Then we get in a circle, hold hands and pray. We sway and do a chant in Spanish: ‘Vamos, vamos tigres, esta noche, vamos a ganar’” [which means. “let’s go, let’s go Tigers, tonight, we are going to win.”]
22
WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • FEBRUARY 10, 2017 •
SPORTS
Sports-talk and the language of culture BY MARKHAM SIGLER
SPORTS EDITOR
Professional athletes are contemporary America’s pseudo-holy men. They are born with physical gifts that predetermine their fate as linebackers, power forwards and pitchers. In accordance with Malcolm Gladwell’s theory, many spend around 10,000 hours in various modes of self-punishment, modes manifested through excessive wind sprints, weight training and ball drills that erode the averagehuman-within-them’s rambling consciousness until they live in the light of the zone at all times. If they’re truly worthy, they become the contemporary American’s most beloved outlet when the contemporary American wants to escape to a world where rules are followed, good and bad distinguished, and winners rewarded while losers turned away. The athletes in America’s Big Four — basketball, baseball, football and college football — are a part of the fabric of the modern American’s life in ways that may be unparalleled by other cultural identity behemoths like Netflix, “League of Legends” and Christianity. Even non-sports fans know
who LeBron James and Tom Brady are. Why? Because they’re omnipresent. Or at least, they’re as close to omnipresent as a man can become through various media and public relations tactics that are probably much more sophisticated then we, the consumers, realize. They’re on advertisements of all colors, the front page of your local newspaper, and most importantly, the minds and lips of your more up-to-date relatives and work acquaintances. The “Bradys” and the “Jameses” and the “Williamses” have, for the sake of natural human need to put it rather darkly, transcended mortality’s boundaries and become ideas. Ideas that embody ubiquitous tropes like attained aspiration and received exaltation more visibly than any idea entertainment culture has had in a long time. It’s beautiful and off-putting that we ended up here, but the reasoning is clear. For many, sports fill the universally voided emotional space that desires to be filled in with some sort of meaning. This linguistic reality applies most obviously to those who follow radio hosts like Colin Cowherd with a somewhat cultish fervor, but it exists in non-fans as well, who use their more limited knowledge for more subtle, yet equally strange reasons. More on non-fans later.
So we crown them, revere the power and subsequent majesty of the phenoms, who sport unironic nicknames like “The Chosen One,” “The Truth” and “The Machine.” What else do we do? We personalize them. We conform the unique splendor of their personas and capabilities into quasi-real characters we can connect with. It doesn’t matter if you’re an NBA Calvinist bashing Kevin Durant the traitor or an NBA Arminian celebrating Russell Westbrook the loyalist. Or maybe you’re a friend attempting to involve herself in a conversation about red zone strategies beyond her expertise at a Super Bowl party you attended for the social capital. Avid sports fans and the layman alike “organically” seek to derive not only aesthetic and mental pleasure from the on-screen game’s transpiration. We want to fashion boxes in which we can place the greatest athletes, because definitions inculcate a more tangible sense of meaning, which we can use for our own personal gain. Whether you’re a diehard Spurs fan or my mom watching a Rockets game with my brothers, dad and I because she wants to “be with us,” we use sports in an indirect way to feel closer to friends, family and even total strangers on the subway in Beijing.
I’m not a sports alarmist. It is common enough for some intellectuals to denounce the sports realm and its fans as mindless skeletons, products of an amoral capitalistic society. These responses are extreme, and may come from adults who were picked last at recess soccer (when they were kids). But the eerily unchecked route sports have taken into the psyches of Americans of all shapes, sizes, affiliations and interests seems to me to be … eerie. References to famous athletes and teams are breezed through in dialogues, in classes and at lectures when the topic itself is not regarding even merely the basic events of yesterday’s game. Sports, and the organizations and individuals that exist within professional leagues, have become an empty yet significant piece of currency, whether in an effort to selfvalidate or engage in a conversation you have no business being a part of. Can such a bizarre and unnatural “phenomenon” be considered unhealthy in contemporary America, or is this part of the new normal, where reality TV show hosts run the most powerful country in the planet’s history and people have their most heartfelt interactions in virtual worlds. I can’t tell.
23
SPORTS • FEBRUARY 10, 2017 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM
Trinity softball gearing up for season opener
The Lady Tigers are looking for redemption following last year’s bitter loss in the SCAC Championship
On the left, sophomore shortstop DEVON POTTER tosses the ball across the diamond. On the right, sophomore catcher STEPHANIE CRUMRINE prepares to stop a ball in the dirt. photo by OZVALDO VELOZ
BY SHELBY DeVORE
SPORTS REPORTER
It is almost time for the Tigers to set foot on the freshly raked field to begin another eventful season. They have been working hard to try to win prepare for the SCAC conference tournament, scheduled for the end of April. After seeing first-hand the challenges of playing top-level teams last season, these players know what they have in store if they want to make serious noise in the postseason. What makes this team different than any other is not only the skills they have but also the unique bond they have with one another. “As a team I think our biggest strength is our unity. This team truly is a family, there is no question about that. You can see it everyday
at practice but it can be seen off the field as well, whether it’s interacting with one another on campus or spending time together on the weekends. We really just enjoy each other’s company and I think that say a lot about who we are. We have even had outsiders comment on how supportive we are of one another and all of that love and support really does carry over onto the field and I believe will make us an even stronger competitor this upcoming season” said junior shortstop Rebecca Berreth. Last season, the young team gained a large group of first years. They worked hard and had one of the best seasons in Trinity history. They made it to the SCAC Championship, where they lost to Texas Lutheran University. It was the fourth consecutive year they’ve been in the championship.
This year’s team is consisted of mostly returners, with the exception of three new first years. Brandi Crnkovic, the head softball coach, has returned for her fifth season with the addition of first-time assistant coach Megan Hill. This year the team’s goal is to continue developing their skills, and ultimately to take the conference title at the end of the season. “As a team, our overall goal is to win SCAC. Every game we want to win every inning. Personally, I just want to step up for my team. I want to do whatever is needed of me and leave everything on the field since it’s my senior year,” said senior pitcher Katie Glomb. The work ethic and willingness to improve is what makes this team valuable. When they are not practicing as a team, they are putting in extra hours to hit, pitch and get in shape for
the upcoming season. Their constant drive and encouragement is what sets them apart. “This year’s team seems to have a lot more energy and excitement than last year’s team. Like I mentioned, we have phenomenal team chemistry and that is very evident on the field. We have a good mix of personalities and everyone brings something unique to the team. Everyone also works extremely hard. We are confident in each other and in ourselves, and I think our team has the potential to do huge things this year,” said sophomore second baseman Hailey Wilson. The team begins their season at home on Feb. 14 against Mary Hardin-Baylor University at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. They will begin conference play on Mar. 4.
Love and sweat are in the air simultaneously Student athletes give their opinions on the nature of intersports relationships, as well as “teamcest” BY HALEY McFADDEN
SPORTS CONTRIBUTOR
Valentine’s Day is rapidly approaching, meaning most of the population is currently prepping to be either super obnoxiously in love for 24 hours, or super obnoxious about how not-in-love they are. Trinity athletes are no exception to this, although being a serious athlete may add an extra crinkle into getting out into the dating world. When examining the dating habits of the typical athlete, the question of whether athletes are more likely to date other athletes, especially those that play the same sport, must be examined. For some, the answer is absolutely. It makes sense that, if you love a sport enough to dedicate hours upon hours of your life to it, you would want someone else who is just as dedicated. Some people claim that their sport
helped them meet their significant other, and that it became a common ground they were able to bond over. “I met my boyfriend through cross country and we started bonding over our shared enjoyment of running, which I think helped progress our relationship a lot,” said senior Natalie Belew. “It was also convenient, because we got to travel together and we had all the same meets so we got to support each other in that way. Even now that he’s graduated we’ll still do races and such together so it has been a major part of our relationship.” However, not everyone is entirely on board with the idea of athletes dating each other. Relationships between two members of the same team, commonly known as “teamcest,” seem to come under the most fire, with criticisms that they are too risky for team dynamic, or cause cliques.
“I don’t think it’s a huge issue if athletes date each other, although personally no, I would not be any more inclined to date someone because they were an athlete versus someone who was not,” said sophomore Rachel Hanes. “When it’s within teams though it could be tricky because then if the couple breaks up then that could put pressure on the team or people could feel like they needed to pick sides, which would then be bad for overall dynamic. So it could work out but you’d need to be careful and make sure that there isn’t any animosity on the team because of it.” Another interesting view is from the point of view of the non-athlete. While movies and popular teen books seem to play up the dream of dating the star football or basketball player, making it seem like going after athletes would be all the rage, that may not hold as true in real life. Whether or not athletes are actually
sought after is up for debate, with the majority of non-varsity athletes not really seeming to care too much. “I can’t say that athlete-status would really be something I would consider when considering a possible partner,” said junior Zeina Zayat. “I don’t think it matters if they’re an athlete or not, it’s really more important if they’re a good person. Also I wouldn’t want to deal with the stinky clothes.” As far as Valentine’s Day goes, dating an athlete may become slightly trickier, but still totally possible to work through. While many athletes may be less willing to take the sugary, treats that you would buy for the average date, they will be in love with a cheesy valentine or one of those ridiculously soft bears that holds a heart in its tiny paws. Throw in a protein bar, and you can probably win their heart forever.
24
WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • FEBRUARY 10, 2017 •
ADVERTISEMENT