Trinitonian
Sophomore Kickstarters
“Bad Feminist” author visits Trinity community and discusses finding humor in life.
James Procter and Sarah Fordin use Kickstarter to fund their new hammock business. PAGE 10 PULSE
Volume 114 Issue 22
Athlete spotlight
Roxane Gay
PAGE 11 A&E
Serving Trinity University Since 1902
Senior pitcher Chris Tate shines during final year with the team. PAGE 14 SPORTS
MARCH 24, 2017
Fraternity under investigation Concerning video surfaces of Phi Sigma Chi orientation, active members explain BY JEFFERY SULLIVAN
NEWS EDITOR Over Spring break, the Trinitonian received an 11 second video clip of Phi Sigma Chi orientation chairs Jake Spitz and Michael Hernandez inside of an offcampus garage with a lineup of blindfolded new active members. The university began an investigation into the potential hazing violation on Monday, March 20. The video starts with a selfie shot of Jake Spitz and turns towards new active members Saul Malek, Brett Mahfood, Kiko Macias, Joshua Lee, Duncan Gary, Jason Francis, Zach Davis and Cameron Bibb. After the pan over, the camera focuses on Michael Hernandez and ends with another selfie shot of Spitz. Most of the blindfolded new active members are singing and strumming to the song “You Never Even Called Me By My Name” by the country musician David Allan Coe. As the camera turns onto Hernandez he kicks a door behind him before audibly adding his voice to the chorus of new active members. “This is just an orientation activity where they learn David Allen Coe,” said Jake Spitz, a senior business major and co-orientation chair of Phi Sigma Chi. “It’s a song that means a whole lot to the Phi Sigs.” All individuals shown in the video were asked to provide comment for the story. Saul Malek, Kiko Macias, Joshua Lee, Duncan Gay, Zach Davis and Cameron Bibb were unavailable to comment.
It’s kind of just like an additional excitement to something being revealed to you “Immediately before the singing, like before the video, we present them with these optional blindfolds,” said Michael Hernandez, a senior biology major and coorientation chair of Phi Sigma Chi. “The boys accept them if they feel like it. And then, we begin to sing. Spitz and I sing with them. Then they take off the blindfolds and they sing together as we sing with them. I jump in the line with them and I sing with them. And then after that they just go home.” Trinity’s policies on hazing list “costuming and alteration of appearance,” “line-ups and berating” and “degrading games, activities or public stunts” as violations. In their interviews, Spitz and Hernandez offered two reasons for using blindfolds. “It was so they could focus on the song,” Spitz said. “Stupid idea and we fully realize how it looks.” Hernandez stated that the blindfolds were used to enhance an element of giddy surprise. “We build the event up as a surprise, so like most of them want to be surprised,”
Hernandez said. “It’s kind of just like an additional excitement to something being revealed to you. So they’ll put them on if they feel like it. They’re waiting for what their surprise is. We put the song on, and we’re like singing and stuff and they just kind of start to sing along. If they haven’t taken their blindfolds off, we’ll tell them, ‘Take that off, dude.’” The arrangement of the lineup is purported to be in pledge-class order by Hernandez and Spitz. Pledge-Class Order, or PCO, is an alphabetical organization of the new active members. “They line up so you memorize your guys, because you’re never supposed to forget your brothers,” Hernandez said. “You always want to remember the brothers you joined the organization with. And so we have them learn their order. They’re just in alphabetical order.” “I think in the Trinity hazing policy, the examples of hazing say lineups and berating,” Spitz said. “We don’t berate people. In that policy list it says that this is not an allinclusive list, but like I don’t feel like having people in pledge-class order is hazing.” The video was filmed in the garage of the house on Bitters Rd. where several of the Phi Sigma Chi members live. New active members knew that it was the location of the orientation event being held that night. “That night, some of my housemates had exams and stuff,” Hernandez said. “They can’t have guys singing in the house. So that night we went out to the garage [...] Spitz let them know that he would probably record snippets of them practicing.” Two of the new active members shown in the video responded to interview requests by the Trinitonian. “They told us there was going to be a surprise, then they had the bandanas and said, ‘you guys can put these on as blindfolds if you want,’” said Brett Mahfood, an undeclared first-year member of Phi Sigma Chi. “[They said] you guys just go into the garage and put them on and we’re going to bring the surprise out for you guys, which ended up just being the speakers with music and them singing along with us.” However, Mahfood said that he was unaware that he was being filmed due to the blindfold. “We had blindfolds on and couldn’t see,” Mahfood said. The other new active member who spoke with the Trinitonian emphasized that they were not forced to put on the blindfolds. “We weren’t coerced to put on the blindfolds,” said Jason Francis, a first-year finance major and member of Phi Sigma Chi. “We were given the choice to put on the blindfolds.” All those interviewed were asked whether or not they believed that the activities they participated in constituted as acts of hazing. “I kinda heard stuff about frats and greek life hazing,” Francis said. “Coming to Phi
A screen shot from the video shows active member MICHAEL HERNANDEZ excitedly singing the song while a blindfolded new active member strums an imaginary banjo. The video was provided by an anonymous source . Sig, they didn’t really do anything against my beliefs. My pet peeve is disrespect, and they never disrespected me once.” “I can see where people from the outside may say this looks like hazing,” Mahfood said. “But in context, it was an activity I’m grateful to have experienced. I definitely think all the new pledge classes would love to experience this as well. It really brought us together in that moment.” On March 20 the Office of Student Involvement released a statement to the Trinitonian which said “Student Involvement is aware of the video and we are currently in the process of collecting additional information.” Jeremy Allen, assistant director for fraternity & sorority life, affirmed that the investigation was one for a potential hazing violation.
“We’ve collected information, but we’re in the process of finalizing it,” Allen said. “Once that’s complete, then in the next couple weeks we’ll have our finalized approach as to whether policies were violated, and if so any steps that would be appropriate thereafter.” The Greek Council Executive Board released a statement on March 21 that stated they were also looking into potentially inappropriate organizational orientation activity by Phi Sigma Chi. “Greek Council Judicial Chair Caroline Hernandez, has collaborated with Student Involvement to conduct interviews and collect information regarding this incident. Together we will strive to seek appropriate measures that guarantee safety and respect for all active members of our community,” Allen said.
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WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • MARCH 24, 2017
Photo of the week
• NEWS
Sophomore out fielder JAKE MARTIN swings while up to bat against Our Lady of the Lake University. photo by OZVALDO VELOZ
INDEX
BRIEFS
News............................................................ 3-4
TUPD
Opinion...................................................... 5-7
03/20/2017 12:19 a.m. Location: 538 K ings Court Information: Public Intoxication
Pulse............................................................ 8-10 A&E.......................................................... 11-12 Sports........................................................ 13-15
03/10/2017 1:07 a.m. Location: Off Campus Areas Information: Consumption of Alcohol & Tampering With Governmental Record
CLASSIFIEDS
03/10/2017 9:14 p.m. Location: Albert Herff-Beze Hall Information: Fire Alarm
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NEWS • MARCH 24, 2017 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM
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Ribbon cut on long awaited B-Cycle initiative
photo by HENRY PRATT
Trinity’s B-Cycle station is now open for use and is located outside of McLean residence hall.
BY MONTY MCKEON
NEWS REPORTER
SGA unveiled the B-Cycle station, located in front of McLean residence hall, this past Monday. Student day passes are currently priced at eight dollars per day. Brenna Hill, former SGA president, expressed enthusiasm that, after four administrations, the B-Cycle station had finally been unveiled. “It was exciting to see it come to fruition since I know so many SGA presidents have been working on it, and it was really exciting to see so many students so excited to get their free passes for it at the event,” Hill said. In his speech during the ribbon cutting ceremony, current SGA President Nick Santulli discussed the benefits of having the station on campus. “We’re finally getting the opportunity to dedicate Trinity’s B-Cycle station. I’m excited about these bikes for a number of reasons.
They provide a transportation option that’s eco-friendly, health-conscious, and fun. They’ll help burst the infamous Trinity bubble and connect Trinity with San Antonio,” Santulli said. Andrea Lee, a Trinity senior, hopes that the B-Cycle system will eliminate some of the strain placed on students without vehicles and on international students in particular. “I think, especially for people that don’t have a car here, it’ll make life a whole lot easier for them. Especially since it’s not that expensive, it’s not nearly as expensive as renting the cars we have here on campus. For international students, especially during breaks, when barely anything on campus is open but international students can’t leave, that will help a lot. That way, when they don’t have any options on campus, they can at least expand outside of walking distance,” Lee said. Free day passes will be distributed to students at various SGA sponsored events throughout
the semester. “SGA purchased five hundred free bike passes and we’re planning on giving all of those out this semester as well as potentially buying more passes in the future. We gave out around twenty at the ribbon cutting ceremony, and we’ll be giving more out at events throughout the semester. We’ll give them out at SGA tabling every other Wednesday during nacho hour, and we’ll distribute passes to incentivize attendance at some of our events. Next week, for instance, we’ll be having a town hall on study abroad, and you can expect to see them there,” Santulli said. Lee suggests that campus organizations use the bike system as a group, or offer lessons to those who may not have come to campus knowing how to ride one. “I like the idea of having bike riding lessons because I don’t think it’s that uncommon that people can’t ride a bike. I do think that would be really cool, especially since, if you
don’t learn how to ride a bike when you’re little, you really don’t have that opportunity unless someone takes the time to do that with you. I also think it would be really cool to use for outings with student organizations if they could get them for a discounted price,” Lee. To use the B-Cycle station, download the B-Cycle app from the app store. “You can download the B-Cycle app. As of right now, the student rate is eight dollars a day, but in the future we may be looking into subsidizing that as well,” Santulli said. The B-Cycle station represents years of work by SGA and other groups on campus. “For me, B-Cycle also has symbolic value. I hope that this station serves as a lasting, physical reminder of student government’s ability to make a positive impact and bring real, concrete change to campus,” Santulli said. The station is located outside of the McLean residence hall, near the entrance to campus, and is now open for use.
Sanctuary campus petition circulates Grassroots movement seeks to open campus to those vulnerable to executive orders
BY KATHLEEN CREEDON
NEWS REPORTER
Earlier this year, President Trump implemented a series of immigration bans that would deny a specific group of people access into the United States. In response to this, Trinity community members decided to create a petition to make Trinity a sanctuary campus. To publicize this petition, Trinity Diversity Connection (TDC) held a discussion on March 8 to discuss the effects of the travel ban and to introduce the petition to those who attended. Because Trinity has such a large influence in the surrounding community and in the city of San Antonio, many believe we should take advantage of that influence and take a stand against the ban. “Trinity is a prominent institution with a lot of resources and an awful lot of privilege with the respect to this. We’re largely populated by people who are safe and whose opinions have an outside influence in terms of policy making. Our sense of outrage would be effective,” said Judith Norman, professor of philosophy and strong supporter of the petition. Being a sanctuary campus does not necessarily require Trinity to provide shelter for vulnerable people. Rather, the petition is an attempt to show the people affected by the ban that Trinity will support them. “The idea of being a sanctuary campus is similar to the idea of being a sanctuary city in
that it is a gesture, and what you choose to do after you declare yourself a sanctuary campus is open to conversation,” said Tahir Naqvi, another professor present at the discussion. The discussion welcomed all students who wanted to express concerns, fears or questions about the immigration bans and other federal orders that have affected minorities. It was led by a handful of professors and allowed students to discuss prompted questions in small groups. “It was a relatively unique format. The professors moderated conversations among students; our job was not to direct the students or the conversations, but to make sure the conversations were going in a productive way,” said Simran Jeet Singh, one of the professors that moderated the discussion. The intent behind the discussion was to educate those who had questions and to support those who had concerns in a safe, understanding environment. By offering a place for students to discuss the influence of federal policy on their lives, the discussion allowed students to ask questions they may not have been comfortable asking otherwise. “I think discussion is important for raising awareness and opening a conversation about things like the sanctuary petition on campus. A lot of people signed the petition that wouldn’t have felt comfortable putting their name on it otherwise because they didn’t really know what was in it, and they didn’t know how it would work practically,” said Aubrey Parke, volunteer coordinator of the International Human Crisis Initiative (IHCI). The group of roughly forty students who attended was very diverse, which allowed the conversations to be shaped by many different perspectives.
“People who came to this program were very open about their own feelings. In my group, I had Latinos, Latinas, South Asians, Muslims—a very diverse group who all had very different experiences and all had interest in talking about what their lives are like and how it is affecting their families,” Singh said. The discussion, and other discussions like it on campus, allow students to open their minds about their beliefs and challenges students to support their beliefs with good reason. “It’s really easy for us to operate in echo chambers, both socially and on the internet, to surround yourself with people that agree with you. You’ll never win anyone over, you’ll never convince anyone and you never get the chance to see where you’re wrong. I think the idea of bringing in multiple ideas or dialogues is important for seeing where you’re wrong, sharpening your position, and finding the best way forward,” Parke said. By declaring itself as a sanctuary campus, Trinity will express its support of those who need protection. This decision does not bind Trinity to anything, rather it asserts our willingness to take advantage of resources to help others. “There are many reasons why I think it would be meaningful for Trinity to declare itself a sanctuary campus. As someone who is part of the many marginalized communities in our society today, I think it would be a very powerful gesture; it would demonstrate support and resources for those who need it most,” Singh said. Although the majority of Trinity students may not be directly affected by the immigration ban, those behind the petition seek to protect anyone in the Trinity community and beyond who may be affected.
“Students are not the only constituencies at Trinity. Students have families, for whom the information about immigration rights might be valuable. Trinity has employees, including custodial staff, which are not directly employed by the university but are members of the community,” Norman said. The petition to make Trinity a sanctuary campus would provide help beyond shelter to whomever is in a vulnerable situation. Trinity could offer workshops, information campaigns, brochures, legal aid and even the physical protection of the chapel. “This gesture is important, both literally, in terms of the situation, and symbolically, to know that there are powerful institutions within the San Antonio community that are looking out for them,” Norman said. The petition intends to express the campus’s understanding and willingness to support marginalized people, despite the harsh political climate. “A lot of the rhetoric around this issue politically has been fear-mongering, and I would challenge students to try to get beyond that rhetoric and to think more critically about what is going on and what the facts really are,” Singh said. Singh suggests that, though there may be people who oppose the petition on campus, Trinity must adhere to its beliefs and mission as an institution. “At the very least, this is a very good opportunity to get this conversation started. I’d really like to see that our decision is guided by our values as an institution. There are various opinions and interpretations that people have on campus; I think that s a good thing, but I think, when it comes to decisions like this, we need to lean on the shared values of our community,” Singh said.
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WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • MARCH 24, 2017 •
Mental health week raises awareness
Trinity Progressives seek to open dialogue and showcase resources BY HANA KRUGER
NEWS INTERN
The Trinity Progressives, along with Counseling and Wellness Services, will host their annual Mental Health Awareness Week April 10 through the 13. The week will consist of several events centered around raising awareness and providing resources for mental health issues. “The point of Mental Health Awareness Week is really to build awareness and decrease stigma,” said Dr. Lori Kinkler, a psychology fellow and recent addition to Trinity’s counseling services staff. “I think that just talking about these issues and talking about their prevalence will really help with that. It’s something that we don’t talk about enough.” The week will kick off with yoga on Monday, which will be held in the Bell Center, providing students a chance to relax and get some exercise. The next event planned is s’mores and a sharing circle at the Murchison fire pit on
Tuesday. Trinity Progressives will have Kinkler on site to help facilitate. “I’ll be there to help foster conversation and answer questions and be there as a support for anybody who might need it,” Kinkler said. Maddie Kennedy, one of Trinity Progressive’s co-presidents, has high hopes for the fire pit event, as it is one of the more personal events during the week. “We’re hoping that more people participate in smaller events, like the campfire, and start conversations about mental health and its effect on ourselves and those around us,” Kennedy said. “We’re really looking to start conversation and thought with Trinity students.” Wednesday, Trinity Progressives and Counseling Services will be co-sponsoring Super Nacho Hour with tables set up providing information about mental health services. Trinity Counseling Services will be showcased as the main resource, however, they are hoping to have other local mental health organizations represented as well. Cathy Walters, co-president of Trinity Progressives alongside Kennedy, noted the significance of students taking advantage of the guidance provided at tabling events. “Our goal is to help the Trinity community where they can access resources for mental
health,” Walters said. “The most important part is the tabling we’re doing at Coates. If anyone has questions about where they can access resources for mental health, we’ll have brochures and cards for counseling services there.” To finish the week, a De-stress Fest will be held at Coates Esplanade. Trinity Progressives are trying to put together different games and events, including a masseuse, yoga and petting zoo. Unlike in years past, there will be no keynote speaker. Kennedy listed lack of attendance and sensitive subject matter as reasons for passing on a speaker this year. “We looked at attendance in past years and it just wasn’t high enough,” Kennedy said. “We thought it might not be the best use of resources. It’s hard to find a speaker or entertainer who can handle this type of content in a way that isn’t offensive.” Cathy Walters shared the same sentiments about the possibility of a speaker. “Finding a speaker is a bit challenging because mental health is such a personal issue,” Walters said. “It’s better to have a more intimate setting than a very formal speaker setting when it comes to mental health.” Trinity Progressives began sponsoring a Mental Health Awareness Week in 2013 to help
combat the stigma surrounding mental health. “There was no organization on campus really doing this,” Walters stated. “Mental health is a really prevalent topic on college campuses, so I think it’s important for an organization like ours to address such issues and to make sure Trinity students know where to go if they do have concerns with their mental health.” The National Alliance on Mental Health, or NAMI, states that one in five American adults experience mental health issues each year. Trinity University is no exception to this statistic. “Last academic year, about 15.9 percent of the student body accessed our services, most often due to a mental health concern. It’s likely that there are students on campus who have mental health concerns that don’t access our services for a variety of reasons, and certainly the presence of stigma about mental health is one of those reasons,” Kinkler said. Trinity Progressives’ efforts in raising mental health awareness over the past five years have been fulfilling for not only students, but for members of the organization as well, according to Cathy Walters. “It’s an event that is very near and dear to Trinity Progressives,” Walters said. “Our organization thrives on just being what the students want and providing whatever the campus needs.”
Rent fees for City Vista released BY MONTY MCKEON
NEWS REPORTER
Several weeks after announcing the acquisition of City Vista, Trinity’s administration has released pricing information about the off campus apartments. Melissa Flowers, director of Residential Life, said they’re looking to house around three hundred students at City Vista in single, double and triple apartments. “We have 141 units, a mix of one, two and three bedrooms. The max capacity is somewhere near the 400 range, and that’s if it’s two per bedroom. I think we’re going to try and keep it around 300, however, because there’s going to be a mix of those that want a two person room for costs and those who want a one person room for privacy,” Flowers said. The breakdown of prices for the different rooms can be seen in the graphic on the right. Flowers said living at City Vista will be comparable in price to living on campus in a single room. “These numbers are looking really similar to living on campus. Of course, when you take into consideration that there’s no requirement for a meal plan, you can choose to park on site completely free, laundry is already tucked in there, all of the amenities,” Flowers said.
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Sophomore anthropology major Catherine Terrace believes that City Vista apartments are more appealing than living in a single room on campus. “I think City Vista is definitely still worth it; even in a single room on campus, you still have more suitemates than you would in the apartments. Also, after attending the on campus forum about it, City Vista’s rules seem far less stringent - I think the level of freedom there is attractive. Trinity’s dorms similarly don’t have a kitchen or bathtub in them. As such, I think City Vista definitely seems worth the cost,” Terrace said. The price being offered includes all of the amenities that would be treated separately at an off campus apartment. “This includes all of the amenities: water, electricity, A/C, heat, not that you’d need it in San Antonio and even cable and internet. The other thing is that our residence halls are priced such that you pay once per semester. So while the initial sticker price is of course going to look like a lot, it’s a one time lump sum for the semester that your financial aid applies to, so that’s definitely something to consider when looking at prices.” Flowers said. Lesley Mar, a junior hoping to live at City Vista her senior year, likes the idea of living costs being
wrapped together and paid each semester. “This is really just so much easier than having to deal with making sure that each one of your roommates pays the bills, and this way there’s only one bill to pay anyways, and you don’t have to worry about water and heat and the electric bill and everything separately. This way it’s all just wrapped into one,” Mar said. Outside of redecorating the apartment building, all of the amenities of City Vista will be kept for the first year. “The gym will remain intact, the pool will still be there. Down the line, we’ll look at usage data, see what students are telling us what they want, and make sure that the space is amenable to students’ wants and the university’s needs,” Flowers said. Reservations for City Vista apartments will not be treated differently than reservations for other dorms on campus. “We are going to do preference in the typical way we do residence hall sign up, and that’s by class year, by credit hour. If they do pick in a group, then we take the average of that group, so there’s really no way to get preference like that,” Flowers said. The reservation process for rising juniors and seniors will take place March 29, according to Residential Life
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COMMENTARY Have an opinion? Want others to hear it? For a chance to be featured as a guest columnist, please submit your article to trinitonian@trinity.edu by Monday night to be in Thursday’s issue of the paper.
Opinion
Searching for utopia in the pages of a book
BY DAVID RANDO
FACULTY CONTRIBUTOR Sometimes I think about other jobs I could be happy doing. I think I’d like a job helping needy people or non-human animals, or one in which I do something more productive with my hands than type. But I guess that is the way things work: it takes years to gather the wisdom that should have directed your decisions years ago. Borges wrote a story called “The Garden of Forking Paths” in which a character arrives at the height of his understanding — a vision of infinite possibility — at the very moment when he has run out of choices and is forced to do the single thing that he least wants to do: commit murder. Happily, things are not so dire for me. I’m satisfied by what I do: reading, writing and teaching. But in the face of the more obvious exigencies of our world, I often reflect on the value of my primary object of attention: works of fiction. Why should anyone want to study them? Some argue that literary art is valuable for its beauty. Well, I wouldn’t want to be accused of being entirely insensible to beauty, and from time to time I am even moved by it, like a day I recall in Prof. Tontiplaphol’s class on John Keats. When Keats writes, “Veil’d Melancholy has her sovran shrine, / Though seen of none save him whose strenuous tongue / Can burst Joy’s grape against his palate fine,” he tells us that without Melancholy, Joy is like a whole grape in our mouths: tasteless. Just as it is only by crushing the grape that we taste its sweetness, so is it only by enduring loss or being crushed that we are able to taste Joy when it comes. There are a million ways of expressing this idea, but few have the beauty, surprise and, perhaps, profundity of Keats’ lines. But beauty, as the title of an Ornette Coleman song tells us, is a rare thing. It comes too infrequently to justify a life of reading literature, and there are probably
graphic by TYLER HERRON
more productive ways of failing than to try to teach it. What about the idea that literature, fiction particularly, allows us to understand the experiences of others, to learn empathy and compassion? It is true that fiction, through what Coleridge called the “willing suspension of disbelief,” remains one of the most effective forms of virtual reality. It invites you to crawl around in another’s skin, to time travel, to escape from the cramped organism of the self. Ideally, we learn to respect difference and commonality, to see the self in the other and the other in the self. But empathy and compassion can surely come from other places besides novels, so I think there are limits to seeing this as fiction’s special value. Then there is the idea that novels can give us a critical perspective on the world. Novels can distill into a significant form problems
that are harder to grasp in everyday life than in fiction. Most novels do not have revolutionary effects on the world, but they can subtly change individual minds over time by making us sharper critics, keener interpreters and better skeptics. Interestingly, they can do this by being complicit with the reigning ideology, or they can do so by being, to some degree, critical of it. Either way, fiction helps to demystify the world. But this, too, falls short of what I really value in novels. I think the beautiful, experiential and critical functions of fiction must be completed with an understanding of its simultaneously affirmative function. Take Cervantes’ “Don Quixote,” the first modern novel. Arguably, every other novel is simply a variation on the basic premise of “Don Quixote”: romantic desire comes into conflict with irreducible reality. As in
all novels, something is wrong with the world; it is not as we would have it, and we bruise and beat ourselves by bucking against it. Don Quixote has gone mad from reading too much fiction. In a decidedly unromantic mercantile age, he believes that he is a knight errant. Ideologically, Cervantes uses Don Quixote’s delusion to comically savage at once an idealized feudalism and an emerging capitalism, balancing the inadequacies of one against the other. This is the novel’s demystifying function. But it is also affirmative. One thing it affirms is the wishful image of friendship between the hidalgo Don Quixote and his peasant squire, Sancho Panza, men separated by class under both the feudalist and the capitalist codes, but brought together in solidarity in one of literature’s greatest and most comic (in the grand sense of the term) images of fellowship. Another thing it affirms is hope for a better world. Don Quixote is a comic figure, but like most of us, he believes that the world should be better; unlike most of us, when confronted with inadequate reality, there are no limits to the lengths of his inexhaustible dreaming. Novels seldom show us directly what the better world looks like, except in the genre of utopian literature. But I suppose I’m arguing that all literature is utopian literature. It’s just that utopia is conveyed through the unachieved, the repressed or the negative image. But it can still provoke unexpected desires in us. Its wish images still stir us. So, yes, fiction can arrest with beauty, transport us into experiences beyond our own, and confront us with the inadequacies and injustices of the world, but it can also show a shadow-image of a world more adequate to human needs. This is the “forward-dawning” of fiction that keeps me turning pages, typing and teaching.
David Rando is an associate professor in the English department.
EDITORIAL
Getting it together after break By the time this paper reaches the stands, each student on Trinity’s campus will have successfully made it through their first week after spring break. This deserves a congratulations! While many — if not most — of us are coping through the “spring break blues,” we must remember that spring has sprung, and we have plenty left to do. It might seem difficult to drag up the motivation to combat our feelings of apathy and exhaustion, but chin up. As of March 20, spring has sprung. With the excessive amounts of pollen piled outside our windows, spring has also given us a fresh beginning. Nowruz, also known as the Persian New Year, is celebrated on the vernal equinox of each year (March 21, this year). This day celebrates the new beginning brought
by the longest day of the year, as well as the start of spring. Traditions of Nowruz vary depending on culture, but there is a world-wide attitude of starting fresh and looking forward to what is to come. Use this celebration to change the attitude of trudging through the semester to one of looking toward opportunities ahead. You might be looking forward to graduation and experiencing the socalled freedom of true adulthood, or an exciting summer internship that will give you a glimpse of your future career or, if you’re lucky, to a lazy summer with no concrete plans. Whatever your plans may be, use them to motivate you during these last few weeks of our spring semester. Before you know it, this semester will be over and you will be starting fresh, yet again, in the summer.
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WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • MARCH 24, 2017 •
OPINION
Five secrets to good conversations
Among the many spices of human life, conversation is among the zestiest. Good conversations can come in many forms. Sometimes a good conversation GABRIEL LEVINE OPINION COLUMNIST means that the conversationalists were able to stay focused on a specific topic and, through discussion and argument, discover some greater truth, nuance or perspective on an important issue. By contrast, sometimes a conversation might be good, not because of its focus, but because of its lack thereof. There is great joy to be found in an eclectic, branching dialogue wherein the brain’s free associations lead to a maze of tangents and digressions that frequently result in the utterance of the words, “Wait, how did we get here?” At other times a conversation may be good merely because of its simple casualness, such as in the easy back-and-forth of two friends catching up, whether after a few days or a few years apart, where the conversational flow and the familiar humor comes as easily as sinking into an old,
comfy chair. Yet, despite the numerous ways in which a good conversation occurs, we all know someone (or more likely, many people) with whom a good conversation remains elusive. Indeed, with such people even routine, bland conversation can be difficult, yet alone good conversation. This strikes me as a tragedy worth understanding. After all, conversation is that unique instance of human brains, the most sophisticated and complex isolated systems on the planet, interacting directly with one another. The failure of so many of these interactions is as disappointing and surprising as the fuse of a firework failing to ignite on the Fourth of July. A simple diagnosis of this issue would be to say that some people are just boring or dull and there are always bound to be a few duds. Such a view is too simplistic. From personal experience, I have had delightful conversations with very dumb people and have found it nearly impossible to get more than two sentences out of very smart people. I follow politics extensively, but often become bored when other people talk politics. By contrast, I don’t care at all about sports, but occasionally I’ll find someone else’s sports talk engaging. Bizarre, huh?
Clearly, single intuitive predictors of what’s likely to make for a good conversation are insufficient. Instead, I would propose five main traits that conversationalists have to varying extents: intellectual dynamism, overlapping interests, familiarity with the other person(s), personality and sincere curiosity. The extent to which someone is likely to be a good conversationalist depends upon their status for each of these five traits in relation to the person they will be conversing with. Naturally this list is not exhaustive, but I’m not writing a dissertation here. What is important is the interplay of these five traits, how deficiency in one area can be compensated by proficiency in another and how that compensation shapes the conversation. Moreover, some of these traits are linked to one another. For example, familiarity naturally increases over time and, along with it, overlap of interests increases as two people come to know what they have in common. The encouraging thing about this framework of conversational potential is that it provides the ability to diagnose, in terms of both their traits and your own, why conversations with certain people my be dissatisfying. For example, I have a friend that isn’t especially curious about politics
but is quite smart when it comes to sports, and I know that my personality can get condescending when I talk about politics. With this friend, then, maybe it makes sense to ask questions about the scientific elements of sports that I find interesting or to broach politics through the lens of Spurs’ coach Gregg Popovich’s statements about Trump. Of course, truly great conversations are still much more likely to occur between two people who are proficient across all five traits while some people genuinely are hopeless dullards. I once sat next to a guy in a high school class and, after a year, I had become convinced that his sole ability was to recount the previous night’s football games on a play-by-play basis. Familiarity only goes so far. True, in most cases a categorically rigorous analysis isn’t necessary to figure out how to improve a conversation, because most people are decently functional human beings. However, I’d hope my proposed five-trait theory can be useful where it is most needed: situations where conversation becomes less a smooth exchange of thoughts rather than a mutual pulling of teeth.
Gabriel Levine is a junior chemistry major.
Finding old books and new thoughts Becker’s Books is a seemingly small bookstore a few lights south of my childhood home. I’ve driven past it for years and didn’t stop JOY LAZARUS in until recently. The OPINION COLUMNIST shop has an outdated exterior and is located by the side of a moderately busy road. The color scheme is a muted red and green, with maroonish wooden siding and a dark green roof and numbers indicating the location. Inside, past the entrance where a desk and register sit underneath a window, veering left, there are rows and rows of shelves and books. The shelves trail up the height of varying sizes of walls with books piled high on top of them, touching the ceiling. The abundance of books cannot be overstated. Books are stacked everywhere: on chairs, shelves, some with spines facing the viewer and others not. The serpentine halls weave in and out of nooks where books surround all four sides. Every room is filled with books. The remodeled house hosts close to a million books. These books are the excesses of the Becker family’s collection, books that were
spilling out of their houses, finally made to use in a house-turned-store in 1993. Online, the bookstore’s motto is “find what you don’t know you’re looking for” with a byline that encourages customers to “pocket the phone and discover what it really means to browse.” That’s precisely what happened over spring break, where a friend and I spent an extended amount of time losing our sense of day in those walls. What I loved about this bookstore that is different than any other bookstore I’ve been in was the lack of commercialism in the building. The ambiance was the books themselves. There wasn’t any music playing overhead or a gaudy children’s section or an entire display devoted to digital readers. It was completely quiet. I lost track of time because I was hidden in a corner, surrounded by books, the only light coming from the ceiling above. No baristas were waiting on standby with blaring blenders unless you counted a Keurig for customer use. I loved it. I never felt obligated to buy a book. People came in to look and marvel at the store’s uniqueness just as much as the antiquated books themselves. While I was trying to process densely written essays picked from a shelf, a suburban family of three walked into my domain. The
Where thoughts fuel stories ...
silence was suspended by the chatter of the family and I tried to imagine what they looked like without lifting my eyes from the page. Blonde, I thought. I looked up. Nope, they were a family of brunettes: mother, son and daughter. They came closer to my reading area, looking around in awe. The mother’s phone rang and she announced to her kids that they had to leave but could stop by again, because the store was two minutes away from their house.
Online, the bookstore’s motto is “find what you don’t know you’re looking for” Right as I was relieved that these intruders were leaving the very private public space, the older boy remarked, “A bookstore is one of the only pieces of evidence that people are still thinking.” He said this with great respect to his
surroundings. His mom laughed in agreement. “I don’t get it,” said his younger sister, who looked to be about seven. “Yes, you do,” their mother said. As they turned the corner to exit, I heard the mother use the words “screen” and “laptops” and “lack of imagination,” her voice trailing through the doorway. The situation was a gentle nudge that allowed me to ponder my place in life. There I was, sitting in a chair, wrongly assessing people I didn’t know because it was easy to do. It feels nice to be wrong once in awhile. Not only about strangers, but what they are and are not capable of thinking. In my head, the family was tampering with my quiet time (or my inability to comprehend a sentence) when in fact, a young boy knew exactly what I was doing. The future isn’t as bleak as adults like to forecast, especially if there are more thoughtful kids like him out there. I am so grateful that wisdom isn’t beheld to one generation or confined to one individual. Instead, it weaves its way through humanity, springing forth when least expected.
Joy Lazarus is a senior art and communication double major.
... and stories fuel thought.
Join the campus discussion. The Trinitonian is seeking opinion writers who are passionate about bringing fresh perspectives to current events around campus, in San Antonio, and across the globe. Dire times call for voices to speak up in defense of the values that we collectively value. You want to be heard, and we want you to speak up. Accepting columns and opinion piece submissions today. Contact us at trinitonian@trinity.edu for more.
OPINION • MARCH 24, 2017 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM
Beware the madness of March I love March Madness. It’s so ridiculous, yet a wonderful embodiment of all the best things about college sports. CALLUM SQUIRES Excitement, upsets, OPINION COLUMNIST passion and genuine emotion — joy and despair in equal measure. Without emotion, sports are pointless. The swings and runs in the first two rounds of games this past weekend gave me endless excitement. Things started well. I was a perfect 13-0 to start my bracket, using my tried-and-tested method of picking winners based on school colours, mascots and my general biases toward and against various schools. Then it all went downhill. FSU beat FGCU, a travesty for fans of high-flying dunk action. The Nevada Wolf Pack (best mascot name in the entire tournament) fell to the Iowa State Cyclones. I refuse to root for any team from Iowa. Ever. And then the next day, SMU, one of my final four teams, decided to choke against USC. This just tells me I should never cheer for a Texas team other than Trinity. They’ll only let me down … Every year I pick a 16 seed to upset a number 1 seed. Call me hopeless, but I want to see the greatest upset in the history of college basketball. Kansas, this year’s victim, decided to beat UC-Davis by 38 … maybe next year! But, as it stands, I’m doing alright. My bracket is still alive thanks to my championship pick Oregon’s huge fightback versus Rhode Island on Sunday evening. We still believe! Go Ducks.
But all the excitement and fun I get from this tournament is tempered by my frustration with the Institution itself. This might sound strange, given that I’m a proud intercollegiate athlete, but the single biggest problem in collegiate athletics today is the NCAA. The organisation is so focused on generating money for itself that it neglects to recognise that it is nothing without the athletes who sacrifice so much to compete for their universities. The entire Trinity community was left speechless a few weeks ago when our women’s basketball team, who were 26-1, was sent on the road to UT Dallas as opposed to being allowed to host the first two rounds of NCAA Tournament play. Look, I know that Division I is a bigger deal than Division III, there’s no disputing that. But surely it’s beneficial for everyone to use the success of Division I to improve the reputation and standing of Division II and III? How much money does the NCAA make off the men’s March Madness tournament every year? An astronomical amount. Therefore, it really angers me when they neglect to spend a little money to fly a team into San Antonio and allow the rightful number one seed to host. This is a constant issue with Trinity sports teams, being penalised for not always having other nationally ranked teams located close to us. And yet still the NCAA ticks on, making its money and devising its own rules and regulations. The debate about whether or not athletes playing big Division I sports should be paid or not continues to rage. I’ve always been of the opinion that no, they shouldn’t, but Dr. Jacob Tingle made some very valid
Louis H. Stumberg
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points in a conversation we had this weekend. The NCAA is able to profit off the likenesses of these athletes, selling their name and image to a video game, which generates profit for the corporation. The universities themselves can sell T-shirts and other merchandise with a player’s name and number on the back, yet the player themselves gains no legal revenue from this. I think back to Johnny Manziel at the height of his A&M fame, or Tim Tebow before that. The NCAA has set up a monopoly on college sports in the USA that will likely never be overturned or changed. I love the intercollegiate athletics system in America, and think the world on the whole could learn a lot from it. But it’s not perfect. The NCAA needs to be more human and understanding. Not all players from Division I schools go on to have six- or seven-figure contracts in the NFL and NBA. Why not allow them some revenue from their team’s merchandise successes to go to the athletes? Why not let them earn some money for their likeness and name being in a video game? March Madness is wonderful and seems to be sport in its purest form. Yet the true madness is the nonsense that the NCAA is polluting the system with. The NCAA should take the initiative in reconciling the inequalities between the collegiate sports they sponsor. Whether this is male versus female, or Division I versus III, I think the NCAA has to do more, and should be held accountable until they do.
Callum Squires is a German studies major with a sports management minor.
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Pulse
FACULTY SPOTLIGHT “Just power through this semester and keep your heads down, Fiesta is just around the corner!” Eduardo Balreira, assistant professor of mathetmatics
Check into Trinity’s apartments The accomadations have impressed guests, most of which are interviewees and visiting lecturers BY JULIA WEIS
PULSE REPORTER Walk down Oakmont Court and all the way down the street to the left, you’ll find a few small apartments behind the mysterious William Knox Holt Center. These apartments house the visiting staff and lecturers that come to Trinity so that they can live practically on campus and get multiple chances to interact with the community. Ellen Barnett of the department of education enjoyed staying at an apartment when she was being interviewed to work here. “When I came to Trinity for my on-campus interview, I stayed in that apartment and it was really nice. It has a bedroom, a bathroom and a walk-in closet, a little living area and a little kitchenette with a table, so it feels like a little apartment. It was just really nice. On-campus interviews are nerve-wracking, and it just made me feel like I had a little place to stay; it was like a home away from home,” Barnett said. Barnett enjoyed how wellfurnished the apartment was, saying that a couple or single person could easily live there comfortably. “There are drinks in the refrigerator, which was nice, like cocoa and coffee and soda. I guess I was supposed to drink those. It has wifi, and literature too; it has copies of the Trinity In Focus magazine, I think it might have the Trinitonian in it. There’s some books, so you can kind of relax,” Barnett said. Members of conferences and special programs, a department that is housed in the Holt Center, is in charge of scheduling each of the visitors’ stay in the apartment. “All the requests come from different faculty and staff members. It’s usually speakers that are being brought in or candidates for job positions that are being brought in. Whoever has actually invited a guest to campus submits the request through T-SPACE. And so then I’m the approver, and I go and make sure it’s available, confirm it and follow up by sending them a confirmation email back,” said Lois Garza, the officer manager at conferences and special programs. Garza works with TUPD to issue the keys to the guests, and ensures that a housekeeping company comes and cleans the apartments in between each of the stays so that the rooms maintain their high quality. This housing opportunity allows the school to limit costs for transportation and hotels; the rooms
are also affordable, as the guests are only charged $50 a night to cover the costs of cleaning the room after their visits. According to Garza, the location of the guest apartments have changed over the years. “We actually had a guest house, which is where Sheryl Tynes is living now. So we actually had three bedrooms up on the second floor which were fully furnished. We went out and bought furniture and the house was redone. After the engineering department moved out, it became a guest house. And then Sheryl Tynes moved in and it went back to a residence,” Garza said. Today, the apartments continue to be a great resource for professors who want to invite a lecturer to speak on campus or for department chairs who are interviewing their various job candidates. Chris Pursell, the chair of the department of chemistry, has used the guest apartments for faculty candidate interviews over 10 times. His guests often mentioned how impressed they were with them upon their departure. “They are impressive facilities and I think that they give people the feeling of being special while they’re on campus. [It makes visitors feel] that the university is a nice place and treats people in a special way and that they are super close to the campus,” Pursell said. Barnett agreed that staying in the apartments when she was interviewing allowed her to get a better grasp of Trinity’s campus. “It was particularly nice on this interview with Trinity because you usually will stay in a hotel or a Bed and Breakfast in the area, which can be nice too, but staying here lets you learn a little bit about the community. I really appreciated being able to stay on the campus. I felt like I got a better sense of what the campus was like by being able to stay on campus. I walked around a little bit during the downtime, and it was easy to do that too because I was right there,” Barnett said. Unfortunately, the apartments are for guests only, and can’t actually serve as housing for students. “It’s not for personal use, it’s not for staff use, it’s mainly for the guests. I get reservations from all of the departments on our campus. Most of the time this is for anyone who’s bringing a candidate in for a job interview. There’s a web address, you just search ‘guest apartments at Trinity’ and then it just gives you the houses. There are some conditions to staying here. Three days maximum, no kids, no pets and just some small things about check-in time, check-out time, where to get the key, and wireless activity and access to it and things like that. I guess the apartments are just not really advertised, but it is probably known by the people who have already been here for a while,” Garza said.
TOP: The living room of the guest apartments features an open space decorated with several couches so that visitors may welcome guests or family members to see them while they’re at Trinity. BOTTOM: One of the bedrooms at the apartments features a large bed with multiple nightstands and dressers to create a homey feeling for those traveling far from home. photos provided by LOIS GARZA
PULSE • MARCH 24, 2017 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM
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Happy Holi days: annual festival of colors to include off campus community organizations South Asian Student Association prepare celebration with pigmented powders and Bollywood music BY EMILY ELLIOTT PULSE EDITOR Colorful powders of bright hues fly through the air, sticking themselves to the faces and clothes of students who prepare to toss another fistful of the dust. These rainbow participants are celebrating Holi, a Hindu holiday. The South Asian Student Association (SASA), previously known as the Indian Student Association, has hosted Holi; some members have celebrated the event for years. “Holi is the festival of color. It is a Hindu holiday but it has been widely celebrated by the many cultures living in India. For example, my family is Muslim, but when my dad’s side was growing up in India, he and his family were really involved in the larger community and would celebrate Holi with the rest of Gujarat, a northwestern province of India,” said Aroosa Ajani, a junior urban studies and business analytics and technology double major. As president, Ajani hopes SASA will make Holi a more inclusive event. “We asked the Center for Refuge Service (CRS) and their World Mosaic Market to showcase their cloth-work, as well as the children’s music class at CRS to perform. Also, kite festivals are very customary in Afghanistan and Pakistan; that would be cool to incorporate in the future,” Ajani said. Other members are looking forward to introducing Holi to unfamiliar participants. “It is incredible that so many people who are not of Indian descent love to immerse themselves within other people’s cultures. I am a huge proponent of venturing out and I would be ecstatic to see people doing that,” said Shivani Desai, a junior biology major. Previous participants enjoyed attending, and didn’t find the powder too difficult to remove. “It was pretty fun, and everything came off after one long, long shower,” said Cameron Martin a senior math and physics major. For the time being, other members of SASA are still looking forward to the camaraderie. “Holi is a festival that brings people together. Who doesn’t like a colorful mess and Bollywood music?” said Natasha Muppala, a first-year student. Holi will take place on the Prassel Lawn at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 25.
TOP: POOJA BOLLAMPALLY tosses a vibrant purple powder onto AMULYA CHERALA’s hair while celebrating at the 2016 Holi celebration. BOTTOM: BOLLAMPALLY, CHERALA, CAROLYN YOUNG and AROOSA AJANI throw colorful powder together while celebrating at Holi 2016. Photo provided by SEAN WATSON
Nontraditional students feel supported by Trinity as they complete their degrees After taking time off from college for various reasons, undergrads enjoy returning to school BY CLAIRE NAKAYAMA
PULSE REPORTER
When asked to think about the average Trinity student, one might picture a young adult taking several classes and participating in many organizations. This idea, however, isn’t applicable to some of the nontraditional students attending Trinity, like Jessica Cortez a Spanish major and education minor, who will be entering the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program after she graduates in May. She returned to school after recognizing the benefits of a college degree while trying to support her family.
“I was working two jobs to support two kids, and was never really given the opportunity to move up because I didn’t have a degree. I decided to go back to school and started going to San Antonio College at the Northeast Lakeview campus,” said Cortez. Cortez isn’t alone; Jennifer Noriega-Steers, a junior mathematical finance and economics double major, returned to Trinity after giving birth to her son, Oliver, last November. “Due to pregnancy complications, I was forced to take off one semester. Luckily, Trinity has been gracious enough to allow temporary withdrawal and gave me some extended deadlines on courses during my healthinduced leave,” she said. Noriega-Steers was already familiar with Trinity, but for those who aren’t, returning to school can be nerve-wracking. “I felt as though Trinity students were lightyears ahead of me, academically speaking. The classroom setting was foreign to me, and I thought that taking on the role of a student again was going to be difficult,” said Leticia
Argueta, a sociology major. “However, the students and professors were so kind and welcoming, which made the transition process much easier. They made me feel as if I had a special place in the class.” Cortez went through the same anxiety about starting classes again, but found the people at Trinity to be supportive and helpful. “It was hard at first. I’m a really shy person, so being out of school for so many years and coming back to school with students who are mostly half your age is kind of intimidating. Dr. Tynes helped me and arranged for me to meet with another staff member who is also taking classes so that I could have a kind of support group once a month. We talked about issues, how school was going, our families, so that was one way that I could make friends.” Argueta also thinks the support of the Trinity community has made her return easier. “Time can be a bit of a stretch, as I have to juggle school, taking care of my family and working,” said Argueta. “My professors were flexible and worked with me to meet deadlines.
Some even matched me with students who could help with assignments. Their concerted effort to work with my schedule in order to see me excel has meant the world to me.” Noriega-Steers is thankful for the support of her family while she pursues her degree. “Now that I’m back at Trinity, I’m loving every second, even if it is much more difficult with my three-month-old son. But I wouldn’t change it for the world; I’m much more driven now. I wouldn’t be able to be as productive as I am without the loving help from my parents and husband though,” said Noriega-Steers. As she prepares for graduation, Cortez has used her story to motivate struggling students who may be considering taking some time off of school. “Whenever I have the chance, I will tell students to never give up on school. Sometimes they talk about taking a year off; I tell them to just keep going. I use my experience to tell others to not give up or take a break and to take advantage of the opportunities they have,” said Cortez.
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WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • MARCH 24, 2017 •
PULSE
Hang out with some young entrepreneurs: students develop hammock business Sophomores Jamie Procter and Sarah Fordin are using Kickstarter to fund their new company BY JULIA WEIS
PULSE REPORTER If you’ve seen someone taking a nap in a brightly colored hammock hanging from trees, it might have been Jamie Procter. The sophomore entrepreneurship major began a hammock company with Sarah Fordin last year to help students relax between classes. Their brand? Relax and Do Designs, or RADD. Inspired by his parents’ high-quality hiking equipment from the 80s, Procter wanted to build something that would last throughout his frequent hiking trips. The pair have frequently revised their designs and business models over the past year in order to make their hammocks ideal for a travel - and hikeloving Trinity student. “A lot of it comes when we’re on sporadic camping and road trips. We’re sitting there in the car for hours and thinking, ‘The hammock feels comfortable, but it doesn’t attach to gear well. Let’s change that. Let’s redesign the entire hammock.’ But a lot of it also comes from when you’re camping, you have issues and you think of how you could solve them. What could we make that is better for us and for everyone else?” Procter said. For Procter, the business was always his goal, even before coming to Trinity. “I came into Trinity knowing that I wanted to pursue that career afterwards, so I was thinking, ‘They have engineering, they have the entrepreneurship department and I can
JAMIE PROCTER talks with his RADD co-founder SARAH FORDIN as she relaxes in one of their handmade hammocks on campus. Photo by CLAUDIA GARCIA
start [the business] while I’m in college and not even have to wait to start until after I have graduated,” Procter said. Fordin, a sophomore studying computer science and biology, was not expecting to become an entrepreneur. “I never thought I would be in a hammock company. I never even knew that they had travel hammocks before coming to Trinity. It was definitely something that I had never planned on before,” Fordin said.
O-REC climbs to new heights on Big Bend trip Students with various levels of experience were welcome to attend the excursion BY CLAIRE NAKAYAMA PULSE REPORTER Spring break presents an opportunity to travel for the busy Trinity student; whether students are going home or visiting a foreign location, the chance to travel is one taken advantage of by many, including members of Trinity’s Outdoor Recreation group (O-REC). Twelve students signed up with O-REC to go to Big Bend National Park over break. “I was interested in going because I did their Thanksgiving trip, so I decided to go on this,” said Madison Matthies, a junior Spanish major. “I heard good things about the spring trips, and Big Bend was on my bucket list.” O-REC has provided several opportunities like this one in the past for intrigued students. “I went on the spring break trip to the Ozark, a trip to Lost Maples and a backpacking trip to Lincoln National Park,” said Mikki Hoffman, a junior business analytics and technology and urban studies double major. The adventure involved three full days of canoeing down the Rio Grande River, which gave students the chance to view landscapes they’re not regularly exposed to in San Antonio. “We kept going by all these camping spots where we wanted to stop for the last night and there were a bunch of groups that had taken
all of them, so we just had to keep going,” said Nathan Dullea, a senior computer science major. “Eventually we found a spot on the Rio Grande and at the end of the night we looked at the stars. We saw Cassiopeia, Scorpio, Orion, the Big Dipper. There were more stars than I had seen in a long time.” For others, little funny moments made the trip worthwhile. “My favorite memory is probably when we went canoeing the first day and had to deal with 60 mph winds in the canyon. I got stuck in my boat with my friend in the mud and we had to army crawl through the mud to get out, which was crazy,” Matthies said. “It was one of those experiences where it’s terrible in the moment, but it’s hilarious once it’s over.” The opportunity to visit these unique places and use high-quality equipment at a low price was an enticing reason to sign up for the trip. “The trip was only $40, and to do that myself and pay for all the gear would be impossible for me to do as a college kid,” Matthies said. Previous camping experience is not required to attend O-REC trips, an additional benefit to signing up for the programs. “There were several people on the trip who had never gone camping before, and I think it was a good way for them to get outdoors and have fun with a great group,” Dullea said. O-REC offers many chances to visit various locations in multiple states during the school year that students should take advantage of. “Someone else takes care of all of the planning and preparation, and it’s easy, fun and you always make great friends. I just love to unplug from my phone and escape on a journey,” Hoffman said
The two relied on friends to help make a video to advertise their Kickstarter. Sophomore music education major Ana White helped her friends with the music for the video. “Sarah said they needed background music and she was having trouble finding stuff, so she asked if I could do it. I play baritone ukulele, and Sam [Ellisor] plays guitar, so I came up with a chord progression,” White said. White also tested the product, as she received one of the first original hammocks.
“I’ve been using it a lot. We got it around Christmas. I have mine and I hang it on my balcony. Over Christmas break, there were a bunch of us that tied them all together in the trees on campus,” White said. The entrepreneurs said that while they have not faced explicit opposition to the project from any peers, they have taken advantage of the constructive criticism that has been offered to them. Fordin described critique as essential to the designing process. “You make something, you test it, you see what’s good and what your friends think. Then you go back to the drawing boards and you just repeat it about five different times. You think you got the solid, final design, and then you decide, ‘Let’s just redesign everything! Why not?’” Fordin said. “Yeah, criticism really got us figuring out as a company, as a group, who we really are. It was helpful.” Currently, RADD has a Kickstarter that you can visit online and show your support. The company has about $4,000 of their $10,000 goal, and they have until the end of April to raise that money. “If all goes well, by May people that backed the kickstarter will have their hammocks and we will have an inventory built up to where we can start selling hammocks. We’d like to build a booth and go to music festivals and sell them in person as well as online. We have other designs in the works, but we really wanna make sure that this goes off well and is a solid product before we move on with things,” Procter said. If you’re interested in a RADD hammock or want to show support for some of Trinity’s entrepreneurs, go to https://www.kickstarter. com/projects/relaxanddodesigns/radd-thegrom-hammock.
AE &
Almost 25 percent of Americans choosing marijuana over beer According to the Cannabiz Consumers Group, this change comes with rising cannabis sales in states with legalized weed. What this will do to the breakfast cereal and cartoon industries is unknown.
Music icon and legend Chuck Berry passes away Rock-and-roll pioneer and creative genius Berry died on March 18, leaving behind a legacy of transcendental melodies, solos, rhythms and inspiration unmatched. He will be missed.
Roxane Gay lecture packs Ruth Taylor Recital Hall, covers safe spaces, activism At about 6:55 p.m, p e o p l e started being directed to the overflow room, since every seat ALEJANDRO CARDONA in the Ruth A&E WRITER T a y l o r Recital Hall had been filled by an eager, talkative crowd. The stage was not set for a traditional lecture: instead of a podium or a lectern, there was a brown leather couch and a small coffee table. From this cozy setting, feminist essayist and writer Roxane Gay invited the audience to have a conversation. Gay opened by reading a few stories from her latest collection, “Difficult Women,” which included playful anecdotes on open marriages and yogurt, as well as colorful vignettes about gated communities in Florida. Although Gay described herself as a fiction writer first, she is also a an
opinion writer for The New York Times, a professor at Purdue University and a best-selling author for her essay collection “Bad Feminist.” The tone of the talk changed after Gay read a separate essay entitled “The Age of American Disgrace,” which advised against believing pretty slogans like “Love Trumps Hate.” Last November, as Gay reminds us, it didn’t. “We need to get uncomfortable,” Gay said. “That means moving beyond tidy words that make us feel like the world is a better and more unified place than it actually is.” Gay similarly disagreed with the one-sided call for liberals to attempt to understand the conservatism of rural America. “These people are not mysteries,” Gay said. “Our journalists and coastal people need a far stronger and more complex understanding of what happens in every other state but New York and California, and yet it is also on us in the more conservative states to
Students, including ALEX URI, line up post-lecture to ask questions of Roxane Gay
photo by OSVALDO VELOZ
understand what people in more liberal places are like.” Roxane Gay believes that the words we use matter, and that racism should be met with ruthlessness and protest. She expressed her sadness at the fact that Michelle Obama’s motto of “When they go low, we go high” has turned into an excuse to not react to instances of discrimination. “When they go low, we have to go lower,” Gay said. “There can be no purity in fighting fascism.” For the majority of the evening, Gay opened the floor to questions from the audience, which covered all kinds of topics, including sexuality and comics, but mostly veering towards activism. When asked about politically correctness, Gay suggested to look at actions. “Sometimes we see people using politically correct language but behaving in absolutely culturally incorrect, ethically incorrect ways,” Gay said. “Politically correct language only matters as far as people’s actions support that language. Otherwise it’s just playing a game.” Gay had a few thoughts for those who are content with sharing articles on Facebook without following through with those ideas in their lives. “Are you doing the most you can do?” Gay said, “Are you taking a stance in your everyday life? Support community organizations, and if you can afford it, give money to organizations that are doing really good work, like the ACLU, Meals on Wheels any organization that is doing work with LGBT advocacy — the list is very long.” Organizers from the department of women and gender studies were thrilled by the success of the event. “I
ROXANE GAY, pictured, discusses conservatism, political correctness
photo by OSVALDO VELOZ
found it reassuring and informative to have somebody articulate in really meaningful accessible way why feminism is still important,” said Dr. Amy Stone, associate professor of English and co-director of the department of women and gender studies. “I think that we lose a lot when we think that feminism is white and middle class and something that happened a long time ago.” “It was a huge honor to have her speak at Trinity, especially in the current campus political climate, which sometimes seems to be more about being inflammatory than about having an actual conversation,”
said senior Robyn Wheelock, who introduced Gay’s lecture. “Roxane Gay was, as always, intelligent, hilarious, and honest. She expresses pride in regards to her own achievement, acknowledges the complications in the world around her as well as within herself and also admits that she doesn’t have all the answers.” Roxane Gay is unafraid of getting uncomfortable, must have our own awkward talks. “You may not like the answers you get, but we have to have these conversations,” said Gay. “I want your fight. And I want to hear everyone’s voices.”
“Miscast” swaps actor stereotypes and creates controlled chaos on the stage
Experimental student-led theater performance allows students to perform in unconventional roles For the second year in a row, members of Trinity’s theater department NABEEHA VIRANI are putting on the show A&E WRITER “Miscast.” “Miscast” is a different type of theater production — one that isn’t placed into a single category and has a variety of talents and interesting messages to convey. “It’s really untraditional. It’s not a play with a storyline or a plot or even really characters. It’s really just a celebration of musical theater and everything that it is,” said Aubrey Kehn, sophomore psychology major and actor in the show. “Miscast” takes on an unconventional approach
compared to other plays, and allows for students to play roles they normally wouldn’t be able to. “A lot of us have roles in [other] shows that we love but we would never be able to play because of our gender or of our race or of our age, and “Miscast” is our opportunity to play those roles and get into those mindsets, which is really something we strive to do as actors,” Kehn said. “Miscast” also gives students a wider range of roles to play, which expands their growth and development as actors. “When we’re putting on a play it’s for an audience and we have to fit into the roles that we play, as opposed to in “Miscast” when we can really be anything and specifically try to be the opposite of what we are,” Kehn said. Though there will be music in the
show itself, “Miscast” is more of a production that demonstrates the diversity of musical theater. “It’s not so much a musical as it is a showcase of different songs from musicals, so we do some classic musicals, some contemporary musicals, some Disney, all kinds of stuff,” Kehn said. With a variety of songs and musicals in the show, the cast will be miscast, or will play unconventional roles, frequently. “I’m playing boys mostly, at the risk of spoiling some of our song choices,” the psych major said. I asked Nico Champion, sophomore co-director and soloist in “Miscast,” about his role both co-directing and acting in the unusual production. “Being able to see the entire process through was pretty rewarding, and to see it work out
and come to fruition was pretty nice. I feel excited and ready for the show to happen, because I’m ready for a lot of people to see the work that the actors put in. So I’m excited to showcase all their stuff.” Because of the diverse opportunities Trinity Theater provides for students, it’s easy for them to create their own opportunities and showcase different ideas, cultures and issues. Not only is “Miscast” an example of that, it is also a student-led production. “It’s produced by TUP, the Trinity University Players, which is the student-led theater production on campus,” Kehn said. Though this is only the second year “Miscast” is being produced, it combines music, theater and comedy and is bound to be memorable.
First-year Alexandra Parris is performing in the show and shared her thoughts about what “Miscast” changes about casting. “I’ve always enjoyed singing a range of parts. There have always been a bunch of male songs that I’ve loved to sing and I just haven’t gotten a chance to, so things like ‘I’ll Make a Man Out of You,’ that’s just like a lot of fun to sing that.” She adds that Miscast isn’t just fun and games, but makes a real difference in allowing actors to play off-limit roles. “I think [the play] really does challenge gender roles,” Parris said. “Miscast”’s first and only show will be held on Saturday, Mar. 25 in the Attic Theater inside the Ruth Taylor building at 8:30 p.m. Some last thoughts from Champion: “Come out and see it. Certified fresh.”
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WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • MARCH 24, 2017 •
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
“Logan” finishes off Hugh Jackman’s almost two-decade run as Wolverine BY JACOB ROSSITTER A&E WRITER
“Logan,” starring Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart and directed by James Mangold, is the final chapter to a character that has been a theatrical presence for 17 years. Although released under the “Marvel” brand, Logan comes across as ostensibly a stand-alone film. And it’s fantastic. In fact, I would argue that it is not crucial to have seen any of the other “X-men” films to enjoy this movie, although if you do have a connection to these characters, the emotional punches that the filmmakers deliver here are bound to hit you particularly hard. To give you a brief set-up, “Logan” follows the life of Hugh Jackman’s titular character as he lives out his days years after the events of past films. Set in the near future, Logan now works as a chauffeur in Texas, living day-by-day as a shadow of his former self. Old, haggard and irrevocably exhausted physically, mentally, and spiritually, Logan is a superhero from an era long gone. We learn early in the film that the rest of the mutants are gone, excluding a handful of characters including Professor Charles Xavier (Stewart), who has been reduced to a senile old man with whom Logan is tasked to take care of, due to the fact that Charles now suffers from a neurodegenerative disease which causes him to lose control of his telepathic abilities to calamitous effect. A turn of events comes when Logan is given the job to transport a young girl
with mutant powers identical to his own across the United States, in search of a socalled “Eden” where mutants can escape the threat of a government who seems hell-bent on eliminating them. Along this journey, Logan is pushed to the edge both physically and mentally. Healing powers that he once possessed are fading. For a reason later revealed in the movie, Jackman’s character is deathly ill.
Although still immensely powerful, he is not the man he once was. Although still immensely powerful, he is not the man he once was. For this reason, the violence in this film is all the more brutal and effective. The Wolverine is no longer on Invincible Unstoppable Force. As a result, the action sequences carry a weight that was not present in previous “X-Men” films. The first “X-Men” film was released in an era where the superhero genre was nothing like it is today. Back in 2000, the film industry was a place where the thought of crafting a “serious” superhero film was a fairly alien idea. The film was rated PG-13, and featured a pretty violent character lofted from the comic books, the source material.
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However, due to the softer PG-13 rating coupled with the perceived idea that audience members were not ready at the time to witness a superhero character that featured any level of serious violence or gore, a lot of potential was lost throughout the series. Jump to 2017, and the success of films such as “Deadpool” as well as Netflix series like “Luke Cage” and “Jessica Jones” shed light on the fact that making a big budget superhero movie R-rated is one of the best decisions one can make. “Logan” is a hard R. The brutality in this film alone will come as a shock to audience members who are so used to directors of past X-Men films having to cut around the fact that this is a character whose power is to rip through his enemies with razor sharp claws that protrude from his knuckles. In addition to a higher level of violence, the emotional substance and depth is much more pronounced. Director James Mangold plays with incredibly powerful themes of loss and alienation, so much so that it’s a marvel that the movie still manages to retain a sense of fun and adventure. While unquestionably dark at times, there are so many moments of humor and joy that work so well because they feel earned every time. I don’t wish you to read this review and have the idea that Logan is devoid of any kind of fun; Rather, it is simply incredibly refreshing to see a movie depart from the familiar formula of so many of its contemporaries Within the superhero genre. overall I would give “Logan” 9.5 out of 10.
Telescreen Channel 1 Media is pleasant, but it becomes a replacement
I thought I had it made. I had a Kindle, a bag of mixed nuts and a jukebox worth of songs downloaded for the eight-hour flight. But the kid sitting next to me DYLAN WAGNER obviously had flown A&E EDITOR a few more times than I had. He turned on “Hangover: part III” when the plane hadn’t even left the ground, and before the credits rolled he was tapping on the seatback screen, “Moana” this time. “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” next. “The Accountant” followed. I watched nothing. This might be an archaic sentiment, but I like the isolation of planes. The cramped conditions? Not so much. I’m not a Zen monk looking to escape from material trappings, just a guy trying to appreciate what is, for me, an unusual occurrence: sitting at 32,000 feet in a vehicle designed to, in the words of Tim Allen’s Buzz Lightyear, “fall[] with style” for roughly 6,000 miles. Not that a constant low-level rumbling is that entertaining, but seeing everyone around me trying desperately to forget where they are and what they were doing made some decrepit part of me very sad. And the backseat screens certainly helped that escapisms along; even I figured “Why not?” and tapped around the menus, killing a half-hour given the thousands of entertainment options. But I ended up leaning my chair back the .2 degrees allowed and staring at the monumental cloudscape torn to bloody shreds by the sun. My thesis is sophomoric, I guess: stop and smell the roses. But I have to wonder if, besides how his bladder felt until ascent, whether that kid will remember where he was at all.
FEATURED SHOW
KRTU’s Spring Membership Drive KICK OFF Party & Concert Join KRTU for a special night of music and community at The Hoppy Monk, as we celebrate the start of the Spring Membership Drive! The party starts at 8 p.m., and we’ll be broadcasting live from 9 p.m. with host Jeannette Muniz of Indie Overnight’s Live & Local show on Thursday nights. Enjoy fusion-inspired music that appeals to both jazz and indie listeners. The event is free and open to all 21 years of age and older.
EVENTS
The Psychedelic Furs April 1st, 8pm Paper Tiger 2410 N St Marys
Explosions in the Sky April 6th, 8pm Paper Tiger 2410 N St Marys
NEW MUSIC
Jay Som - Everybody Works Jay Som has just released a new album. Why am I excited about it? Because she is making her way into the current, creative pool of femalebedroom-pop artists, like Mitski and Japanese Breakfast. Jay Som’s pop is a little poppier in my opinion, but her guitar riffs, vocals, and lyrics make you zone in and think. That’s when you feel it. On top of that, this album is released from Polyvinyl. - John Morgan, KRTU Indie Music Director
2/28 at 5:00pm: Studio 21 3/1 at 5:00pm: EndZone 3/2 at 5:00pm: The Not-So-Late Show 3/3 at 3:00pm: Newswave KRTU Beat sponsored by...
March Means Madness FEB. FEB
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This season of sports is dedicated to Division I college basketball’s big, yearly event, a 68 team tournament that starts on March 14 and culminates with the national championship on April 2. The event thrives because of its inherently chaotic nature. Just last week, defending champion Villanova University lost in an upset to the University of Wisconsin, and Duke University fell to the University of South Carolina on Sunday. March means madness for basketball fans, and people looking for a race to enjoin their hat to. It’s time to soak up the magic.
Sports
photo by OZVALDO VELOZ
Tigers fare well in Arizona during spring break After finishing the tournament 4-2, softball team prepares for their series with Centenary College BY SHELBY DeVORE
SPORTS REPORTER
Over spring break the softball team traveled to Tucson, Arizona, to compete in the Tucson Invitational Games. Despite the heat and exhaustion of playing several games, the team played some of the best softball they have had all season. They not only walked away with a 4-2 record for the tournament, but they walked away with confidence that they can compete with other well-built teams. “I think we did really well over the spring break week,” said senior outfielder Mackenzie Hill. “We made a lot of improvements over a short period of time. We have had a slower start to our season than we wanted, but I think the Arizona tournament was a turning point. As a team, we look more confident and are playing closer to the level we want to be at.” The first day the team won against Eastern Connecticut State University and Augsburg College. The Tigers beat Eastern Connecticut 7-1 during the first game of the tournament. First-year third baseman Adrienne Edwards scored the first run for the Tigers of the tournament off first year outfielder Leah Rubio’s hit. After junior outfielder Sara McCarty and senior second baseman Hillary Hoffman scored in the third inning, to put the Tigers up by three. In the top of the sixth inning, Eastern Connecticut had two doubles, allowing one player to cross the plate. The Tigers countered with four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning.
In the second games against Augsburg they took a 4-1 lead after the third inning. First-year outfielder Cameron Lavergne later scored another run off Hill’s double in the sixth inning but Augsburg scored two runs in the seventh. The game ended 5-3, giving the Tigers a five-game win streak. Senior pitchers Katie Castillon and Katie Glomb had a combination of 11 hits for both games. “I think our main strengths from Arizona was that we minimize our errors, and worked really hard to score our base runners with timely hitting,” Lavergne said. “Another key aspect of our success was our pitching staff. Katie Glomb and Katie Castillion did a great job of pitching and being able to close out the games.” During the second day, the team walked away with a win and a loss. In the first game they played Greenville College, winning 4-0. Sophomore outfielder Marisa Trevino scored the first run off first-year first baseman Danielle Ruiz’s single hit. Three runs were later scored by Edwards, Hoffman and junior shortstop Rebecca Berreth. In the second game the Tigers were beat by one run against Stevens Institute of Technology. Stevens scored two runs in the first inning, but in the second, Ruiz scored off Lavergne’s hit. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Berreth singled, knocking Hill in, and in the sixth inning, sophomore shortstop Devon Potter scored, tying up the game. No runs were scored by either team in the seventh inning but in the top of the eighth, Stevens scored a run. The Tigers were unable to score in the bottom, allowing Stevens to walk away with the win.
On the last day of the tournament, the team walked away with another split. Playing University of Wisconsin at LA Crosse, the Tigers scored two runs and only allowed the other team to score one. McCarty scored on Berreth’s double in the third inning and then Ruiz scored off Hoffman’s single in the fourth inning. In their last game of the tournament, they fought hard against Central College but came up short with a loss of 5-4. Central scored three runs within the first four innings. The Tigers later scored three runs in the bottom of the fourth, but fell behind when Central scored two runs in the top of the sixth. Trinity scored one more run in the sixth but were unable to defeat their opponents. “Before our next games we are going to work on keeping our mentality from this past week and thriving off of it to continue winning games like we know we can,” Castillon said. “We have the talent, and we work on both defense and offense everyday in practice. But before our next games against Centenary College on Saturday we need to focus on keeping our positive energy and charisma on and off the field as a team.” Not only did the team walk away with several wins, they were able to spend time together off the field celebrating a birthday, playing miniature golf, and even riding mechanical horses. After fighting through some losses and working through some challenges, these Tigers are stronger than they have been. The team will compete at home this coming weekend against Centenary as part of the SCAC conference play. They will play on Saturday at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. and on Sunday at 12 p.m. and 2 p.m.
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WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • MARCH 24, 2017 •
SPORTS
Tigers’ pitcher Chris Tate; alone and above Awarded SCAC pitcher of the week, Tate discusses the intricacies of pitching, and the ongoing season BY ELISE HESTER
SPORTS REPORTER Calls of support for outfielder Wesley Moss ring out from a small group of Sul Ross State University (SRSU) fans are swallowed by the enormity of a worn down stadium in Alpine, Texas. As the SRSU sophomore steps into the box, the voices of the scattered spectators mix with cheers, jeers and muted laughter from both dugouts. Standing on the mound, Trinity senior Chris Tate cannot hear them. As Tate begins his windup, time suddenly slows down for both Tate and Moss. As if pitcher and batter are alone in Kokernot Field, Wesley stares down the blurred ball, and in a split second he attempts to analyze the pitch and act on his decision. The strike hurled from the hands of Tate barely misses Moss’s swinging bat, before landing in Parker Cormack’s outstretched mitt. Thud. “The competition between me, the pitcher, and the batter, is the most competitive one on one standoff in sports,” Tate said. In the blink of an eye, this moment is over, and with it the eleventh inning, but it is this moment of standoff that Tate loves most about the sport of baseball. “I used to kind of sit back and not treat the altercation as something aggressive,” Tate said. “If you sit back you’re going to get beat. In a sense you have to have the confidence and the aggressiveness to go after people. Talent won’t win you a game alone.” Pitchers exercise control over much of the outcome of games, but baseball is not just a battle between the man on the mound and the one in the box. Despite his position, alone and above the field, Tate explains that a pitcher’s performance cannot be attributed to the pitcher alone.
“Sometimes I think people forget that when you’re pitching you have eight other people behind you who are going to be able to help you out,” Tate said. “[Junior] Parker Cormack and [alum] Drew Butler, are both really good catchers and it makes it really easy to trust what they’re doing, to know they’re at their best. And then it’s simply up to you to go with them and they kind of lead you. The catcher is literally the captain of the team. So like when a pitcher pitches well it’s not just because the pitcher’s pitching well, there are other people that are involved. Especially the catcher.” The strike against Moss was the third strike of the third out of the eleventh inning in a close matched game, for which Tate ultimately took a win. However, the Trinity career of this Arizona native did not start out with strike outs. In the first half of his time at Trinity, like many of the pitchers on the large Tiger staff, Tate was rarely afforded time on the mound. Coming from a large high school where he played varsity since sophomore year, Tate found this frustrating. “I had never been around a team and not played on it so this was really difficult for me in the beginning. So coming here I had pitched well, I had success [in high school] so I was assuming: ‘Ok keep working hard, keep doing what you’re doing and you’ll be able to pitch.’ That obviously wasn’t the situation so it definitely tested my character,” Tate said. “Two years of it was obviously frustrating but at the same time, it just makes being able to play junior and senior year and make an impact, makes it more real and meaningful.” Tate got his first real chance to pitch last year, taking the mound for a team that would prove themselves the greatest in the Division. “Last year was the first year I consistently got on the mound and every time I got out there it was just about ‘Wow I’m on the mound. This
is awesome’ and enjoying it,” Tate said. Competition is not just against the batter, Tate explains, but against your teammates as well. On a team with a staff of 24 pitchers — and 20 position players — competition is stiff. “We always support each other, we want the best for each other, but it is dogfighting trying to get onto a travel roster and then from there trying to pitch.” Tate said. “People get frustrated sometimes, but overall the large group breeds a very competitive dynamic that pushes people.” Tate credits a friendly rivalry with sophomore LHP Andrew Hoffman for pushing him to throw better. Tate explains how, in the pin, instead of focusing on how well they were doing, they instead looked at what each player could do to one up the other. “Hoffman pitched Friday, how did he do? He came out of the pen, saved the game, I wanna do better,” Tate said. At one point the two southpaws had near identical ERAs and it became a constant back and forth between the pair to best one another. Ultimately this rivalry led to even more success as members of the pitching staff pushed one another, giving accountability to whoever is on the mound. “I want him to throw great because that sets a bar and then I have to meet that bar,” Tate said. “We were successful last year and I think a lot of it was from this inner competition.” That year the team went into their second World Series fresh off of a third place victory the year before. “So coming back you’d think there was a lot of pressure but I think we were honestly so relaxed and there was this inner confidence and we just knew that we were good. We didn’t know we were gonna win every game. We made that happen, but there was this inner confidence that allowed us to be extremely
Cold shoulders... and knees... and ankles: all about athletes and ice
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How much frozen water really melts on swollen skin? BY SHELBY DeVORE
SPORTS REPORTER
If you are an athlete, then you have spent at least some time in the trainer’s room. If you have not spent much time or any time in there, then you should know that the trainers do a lot of work that people do not see. They wrap up wrists and ankles, conduct stem on sore muscles and call specialists in to take a look at strange injuries. What most of you probably do not know is that they have a lot of other jobs, such as filling up the water buckets during practice. If you are one of those athletes that has spent a lot of time going to the trainers and asking for help, then I have a question for you. Have you ever thought about how much ice they go through? If you go in there a lot, my guess is the most common thing you get is a bag of ice to help stop the swelling of your overly worked muscles. Think about it: How many athletes come through a day to get a bag of ice? Now multiply that by the amount of months we are in school. Don’t forget there are some sports that use it more than others. Several weeks before school even starts, the football, volleyball and cross country team are here preparing for the upcoming season. During practice, specifically football, the trainers set out 20 gallon bags of ice. How many do you think they set out? Well they set out 100-120 bags a day. They go through about 200 bags of ice in two to three days. That is about 400 to 600 bags a week. They continue to do this from Aug. 11 until Sept. 11.
Where does all of this ice go? They put them in four 40 pound tubs, along with two trashcans filled with 40-50 gallons of ice in each, all along the football field. They also use two different types of ice. The large ice is for the big jugs and the small ice is used to put in small water bottles and plastic bags for injuries. During football practice, they would bring out twelve racks with six bottles in each rack, equally 72 bottles. Once football season wraps up, things begin to slow down in the training room. Around November, they stop using big bags of ice and now just use the ice machine that produces the small crunchy ice that is used for injuries and water bottles. Ice is not the only thing the trainers use to help injuries. They use hydroculators that are heated to soothe muscles after practice. They have about 20 heating pads in the training room ready to be used whenever an athlete needs one. A lot of athlete have to get wrapped up in tape and pre wrap to prevent injuries or to help prevent pain. In the cabinets of the training room, there are 18 boxes of tape with 32 rolls. There are also 8 boxes of pre-wrap with 48 rolls in each box. That is 576 rolls of tape and 384 rolls of pre-wrap. That does not even include what they have in storage. So next time you walk into the trainer’s room, don’t take for granted the perfectly chilled and frozen ice or the materials that are used to help keep our athletes healthy.
relaxed and just back each other up,” Tate said. After losing a line up of strong seniors, the team faces a difficult season in the shadow of last year’s success. “At the beginning of the season and up till now there has been a little bit of, ‘we’ve got some big shoes to fill’ kind of mentality and I think that’s hurt us thus far, but I think we’re just starting to realize last year is last year,” Tate said. “People want to compare us to last year and it’s confusing because it’s only one year, but it’s such a different team. There’s a different dynamic and so like yes there is I guess there’s roaming thought of ‘Oh wow. We won the national championship last year,’ but I don’t think anyone at this point is saying ‘Oh, we have to do it again.’ I think it’s about focusing on ‘ok how can I win this game?’”
Apply for a MAS Alvarez Internship Grant Summer or Fall 2017 You may qualify for a $1500 grant if:
Your internship is carried out with a non-profit agency that serves the Latin@ community Your internship involves at least 120 hours of unpaid work during the Summer or Fall semester
You have a minimum GPA of 3.0 For Summer Internships 1 semester hour of tuition-free academic credit On-campus housing through the SURF program
Agencies that have mentored Trinity interns include: Esperanza Peace & Justice Ctr. KIPP Academy Guadalupe Cultural Art Ctr. MALDEF Mi Familia Vota PEACE Initiative San Antonio Foodbank San Antonio Museum of Art RAICES Witte Museum
Application Deadline: April 3, 2017
For more information and application procedure go to the MAS website: http://gotu.us/k3fce or contact Elseke Membreño-Zenteno at: emembren@trinity.edu
SPORTS • MARCH 24, 2017 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM
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Swimmers finish strong BY HALEY McFADDEN
SPORTS REPORTER
The Trinity swimming and diving teams have just finished up an amazing season. Both teams are walking away with a men and women’s SCAC championship, and five All-American statues or honorable mentions. The Tigers sent four swimmers to represent at nationals. On the women’s side, Lindsay Hagmann represented the swimming team well, with a third place finish in the 100yard freestyle with a time of 50.38 seconds. In prelims, Hagmann swam a 50.32, breaking the previous school record. She also swam the 50-yard freestyle, where she got ninth place, swimming a 23.29. Hagmann’s third place finish made her an AllAmerican, her second time in a row to receive the honor in the 100 free. She received honorable mention AllAmerican honors in the 50-yard free. Junior Sarah Kate Mrkonich represented the women’s dive team. She received 11th place in the three meter dive, getting an honorable mention All-American status, and then turned around later in the week to snag eighth place in the one meter dive, getting the last All-American spot. The success was well-earned, but still came as a bit of a surprise to the diver, who was concerned a semester abroad could put her behind. “I studied abroad last semester, so I didn’t have a lot of expectations going into the meet. I had the goal of making it on the podium like last year and making All-American, but beyond that my goal was to just relax, have fun and do my best,” Mrkonich said. “As a group, I knew we could do well and with all of us, hopefully score in the top 20 teams.” Also diving for Trinity was senior Mollie Patzke, who received 22nd in the three meter prelims and 19th for the 1 meter dive. This marked the senior’s first time at NCAA Nationals, and a culmination of four years of hard work, and she was very excited to get to experience the unique meet
before her graduation. “My goal all season was to make it to nationals so I was very happy just to be there. My coach and I also sat down before the meet and talked about the scores I should aim for on individual dives and as a final score,” Patzke said. “Nationals is a completely different experience than our other meets during the season. The NCAA sand the city of Shenandoah seemed to put a lot of effort into making the meet more than a meet. Also, perhaps more obviously, the competition is unparalleled. Along with girls just doing harder dives for better scores, the other competitors are very focused. I enjoyed how the other competitors were friendly and eager to meet other divers from around the country.” Swimming for the men’s team was first-year Russell Hurrell-Zitelman. Coming off of a SCAC victory and record, he swam the 1,650-yard freestyle, the longest event open to swimmers. He swam an impressive 15:51.82, receiving 16th place and honorable mention All-America recognition, which, while very impressive for a first-year, left him hungry for more. For most people, swimming for that long continuously sounds crazy, much less racing it, but for Hurrell-Zitelman, all it takes is a lot of practice and a little bit of genetic predispositioning.” “I accomplished what I needed to do for my team to win the conference meet, but on a national scene I know I could have represented better. ,” Hurrell-Zitelman said. “My sister was a successful distance swimmer at Texas A&M, so I guess it kind of ran in my family. Over the years I’ve found that the longer I go the better I fair against my competition. I would say that I and all distance swimmers are of a different breed: although we ruthlessly fight against our inner passion for tough practices and long races, we really do love it more than any other type of training or racing.”
The Trinity women’s basketball team lost to Whitmann College in the sweet sixteen. photo by OZVALDO VELOZ
Women lose in sweet sixteen BY ELISE HESTER
SPORTS REPORTER Trinity women’s basketball capped off a historically successful season this year by making it to the round of 16 at the NCAA tournament. The seventh ranked Trinity team started strong in the post season playoffs by eliminating Hendrix in the first round. In the first quarter of play, the Tiger defense held the Warriors to less than 40 percent scoring, while scoring themselves more than 50 percent. “Hendrix played hard, they are a good team,” said senior Monica Holguin. “It was about wanting to win more than they did. We stayed poised and never gave them the opportunity to take control.” The Warriors picked up speed throughout the half, and in the whole of the first half, both teams shot at 60 perceent. The Warriors gained their first lead at the start of the third quarter, but a strong fourth quarter performance by the Tigers earned Trinity a place in the second round of the playoffs. “[Hendrix] played harder than any team we have played all season. They challenged us the entire game. They made huge plays and they made us self evaluate. Once we came to grips with the fact that we were going to have to earn this win, we did,” said head women’s basketball coach Cameron Hill. “That is March, you have to earn every win.” Despite smart defense on the part of Hendrix as well as excellent performances on the part of Sara Dyslin, the Tigers proved their ability to hold their own in the NCAA tournament, defeating Hendrix 7766 in the opener. “It’s difficult for teams to guard us because we have so many different weapons,” junior Micah Weaver said. “Hendrix came out that night covering Monica and Allison really well since they present such a strong offensive threat which ended up leaving me open at guard.” Continuing the weekend at the University of Texas at Dallas, the UTD Comets fell to ClaremontMudd-Scripps, leaving Trinity to face off against CMS for a place in the NCAA tournament round of 16. Trinity came out of the gate strong against Claremont-M-S, ending the first quarter up 18, the score 18-26. “Claremont was aggressive on both ends of the floor from start to finish,”
Weaver said. “They had a lot of height and were loaded with experienced seniors which always makes things a little more difficult. We were able to make key adjustments late in the game that helped us secure some huge stops that put us ahead for good.” Claremont Athena’s gained steam throughout the second quarter and the start of the third, but Trinity never allowed the Athenas to take the lead, ending the game with a score of 66-77 in favor of the Tigers. Despite the defensive prowess of the Athenas, TU managed to earn their spot in the round of 16. “We played with supreme confidence in the Claremont game,” Hill said. “Getting out of the first round, playing the first game and being able to watch the second game and really dig into what both potential opponents do well, really helped. Even when they made runs, we responded with solid team possessions. Our ball movement and our defensive intensity was sharp. Our girls did a great job taking their top performers and making other players make plays.” In the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference, basketball teams play back to back games. Not all conferences play in this manner. It was the stamina gained from back to backs that Hill believes made a huge difference in the final outcome of the game against Claremont. “Being in rhythm in any sport is key. We play back to backs all season long, so our team understands the demand on your body, they way we need to rotate players to save legs when we can, and how we can change how we play on offense to make sure we are fresh for day two,” Hill said, “We are a very aggressive team, and we make you play fast, and I really think we were able to wear Claremont down in the first half and get control in the second half. It was not the determining factor in the game, but it was a factor for sure.” The women boarded the plane for St. Paul, Minnesota for the sweet sixteen competition against Whittman College of Washington. “The most exciting part was knowing that we had one more week as Together Tigers,” Holguin said. The Tigers started the game strong and with a lot of energy. At the half, Whitman led by one point. After returning from the half, the Blues stormed ahead, upping the score.
The game was highly defensive on both sides of the court, and despite a strong performance from Micah Weaver, Trinity fell to the Blues, completing a historic season of Trinity basketball. “This season was really a culmination of the last five years of work. Recruiting through a coaching transition takes time, we have been so fortunate to have had great players along the way, but this was the first team that was completely built by the current coaching staff, and I think it is a fabulous reflection of what our former players have meant to our process of building this program. This team broke so many records, made history in a lot of ways, and because of that, and obviously the personal relationships that are so meaningful, this team will live into Trinity Women’s Basketball history.” Not only was the season one of historical proportions but it was also one that meant a lot to the players. “I love everything about being a Trinity Tiger. Having played for another collegiate team during my freshman and sophomore year, I can say the greatest thing I have gained is pride in the university and team I’m playing for,” Weaver said. “I love every single person on this team and I’m just extremely proud to have been apart of a record-breaking season with such a special group.” “By far the best season of basketball I have ever been a part of. It is one that I will remember for a long long time. I couldn’t be happier with the effort from my teammates and the incredible coaching staff,” Holguin said. From the beginning of this season, the team has focussed on playing one game at a time, something they did till the very end, never quitting and getting Trinity basketball to the farthest point in the tournament in over a decade. Game after game, the Trinity women’s basketball team played the game they loved with the people they loved and gave us a team of which we can all be proud. “They walked the walk,” Hill said. “They never backed down from a moment. They had incredible poise under pressure all season. We lost two games this year, both came at the end of 14 game winning streaks. They played every weekend of the year, except for one. They defined what we have worked so hard to build here. Yeah, pretty proud. Together Tigers!”
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WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • MARCH 24, 2017 •
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