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‘We should not be daunted’ Students, community Walk a Mile in Her Shoes
Photo by megan thorne | The Shield
After speeches about sexual assualt and gender violence, male audience members walked a mile in bright red high-heels to raise awareness for violence against women and men during the 11th annual “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” Tuesday evening. Students, professors and community members walked from the UC, past the Orr Center and ended at the College of Liberal Arts, where members of the community, officers and Dean Beeby spoke about their experience walking in the heels, before the participants took a pledge to never “commit, condone or remain silent about violence against women.”
by riley guerzini news@usishield.com @rguerzini
In its 11th year, “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” once again attempts to tackle an ongoing issue. The event featured male students, faculty and community members who walked a mile in high heels and pledged to never “commit, condone or remain silent about violence against women.”
Also known as the National Men’s March to Stop Rape, Sexual Assault and Gender Violence, the event was organized by the Sexual Assault and Gender Violence Prevention Group and the Albion Fellows Bacon Center. “This event is communicating that people, particularly men, have the ability to put themselves in survivors shoes, literally and figuratively. It makes people feel they have been
heard, even if they have never come forward about it; it makes them feel like their situation is relatable to others,” President of the Students For Gender Violence Awareness Kiara Perkins said. The Albion Fellows Bacon Center is a local nonprofit agency that works with victims of domestic and sexual violence offering safe shelter, individual counseling, support groups, legal advocacy
and 24 hour response to victims needing to talk, report a crime or seek medical care. According to the organization’s website, they have served 687 primary and secondary victims of sexual assault. The event began with four student speakers presenting information on gender violence. “As a man, I grew up in this world seeing women being trivialized and
treated as sexual objects by men, and I feel that this is rather important that you see me standing here in front of you today,” SGA Representative for the Liberal Arts college Tiye Garrison said to a room of men and women in Carter Hall. “To you women out there, men are the ones who haunt you in your worst nightmares of being victimized and assaulted, but today we are here to show you that we
men are not your enemy. We are here to show that we care about you and that we want to help fight for a cause that is oh so great.” The speeches ended with sophomore criminal justice and journalism major Gabi Wy telling her experiences with sexual assault. Wy, who is also the features editor at The Shield, said she has contemplated suicide five times since she was sexually abused at
Walk a mile, PAGE 4
Empire Contractors awarded PAC construction
Day of Silence to promote bullying awareness by riley guerzini news@usishield.com @rguerzini
photo courtesty of university communications
by riley guerzini news@usishield.com @rguerzini
The Board of Trustees Finance and Audit committee elected to award Evansville construction company Empire Contractors the contract for the renovation of the Physical Activities Center (PAC). “The project is without a doubt going to be a transformational moment for our campus, our students and this community,” Vice President for Finance and Ad-
ministration Steve Bridges said. The construction bid was for Phase I of the PAC renovation, which includes an additional 4,000 seats for a new arena and 5,000 feet of space for the renovation of the kinesiology lab, along with more concession space and the addition of a spirit store. Empire Contractors was the lowest of three construction bids for the PAC renovation. The other two bids came from RiverCity Construction and Weddle
Brothers. The total bid for Phase I from Empire Contractors is $25,690,000, which is a little less than $2 million from the next lowest bidder. State appropriation for Phase I is $16 million. Bridges said they are also using $1.6 million in state funded Rehab and Rehabilitation money for utilities, $2 million in campus store reserves for the spirit store, $1.5 million from food services for concessions, $1.4 million in student fee debt service money and $3 mil-
construction, PAGE 3
After a short hiatus from the university, the national Day of Silence has returned. After a three year absence, the Day of Silence, which intends to bring awareness to the “silencing” effects of anti-LGBT bullying, will be held in Carter Hall Wednesday April 19 from 7-9 p.m. The event is sponsored by the Sexuality and Gender Alliance (SAGA) and the Students For Gender Violence Awareness (SFGVA). The two new organizations have teamed up to collect artwork and art donations from students and community members for a silent auction that will express LGBT bullying. The variety of artwork will include digital prints, paintings and drawings. “We are also wanting to open the mic up to students as well if they want to tell their stories,” SAGA President Kayla Dick said. “A lot of times they might have stories to tell from their high school years, and this can be a platform for them to express them-
selves.” According to the Center for Disease Control, LGBT youth are four times more likely to commit suicide than straight youth. Dick, a junior psychology major, said people usually only recognize the Day of Silence from the people who wear duct tape over their mouth all day. “That’s really all people know about Day of Silence, and even back in highschool I don’t think I knew what Day of Silence was, so we are really trying to remind people why we are having Day of Silence,” she said. Dick said SAGA planned on having a speaker for the event but was not able to get one. National Day of Silence is actually April 21, but Dick said she scheduled it Wednesday because they thought not many people would show up for an event on a Friday. The event is free and open to anyone who wishes to attend, not just university students. “We hope to raise awareness and we also hope to raise some money for SAGA, which will hopefully raise aware-
ness,” SFGVA President Kiara Perkins. “We are also hoping to give people a voice to make them feel heard.” Perkins said the LGBT community is a large focus of their organization, and she hopes to educate people “People are out there getting murdered as a result of this bullying that seems petty; it seems not important, but it’s a societal issue,” she said. Perkins said she is proud of the progress both the organizations have made and she is looking forward to bringing awareness to LGBT bullying. “After the gay marriage decision by the Supreme Court came out, a lot of people think that LGBT people have won and there is nothing else to fight for or talk about, and there are still a lot of things that need to be done,” Dick said. “Bringing awareness about the issues can help these people and being there to support them is something that is really important, and I care about being able to show that USI does support you and we are here for you.”
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The shield | April 13, 2017 | Usishield.com
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briefs Students to receive free exhibit admission
Tri-State Tradition continues in New Harmony
Deadline approaching for adult learner scholarships
The Evansville African American Museum will present African Americans and the Disability Experience: From Colonial Times, Desegregation, Advocacy and Achievement. The exhibit, co-sponsored by the Southwest Indiana Area Health Education Center, will run April 7-26. It is free to all enrolled USI students and museum members. Non-USI students are $1.50 and $5 for non-museum members. The exhibit is originally from the Museum of disAbility History in Buffalo, New York. It covers the first African slaves brought to America, Brown v. Board of Education, civil rights and medical accomplishments.
Historic New Harmony will host its 33rd annual “Heritage Artisan Days� from April 19-21. The event celebrates 19th century crafts through demonstrations and activities. The Heritage Days will feature a presentation on the role of bees in ecosystem and their importance to New Harmony along with a gun duel, a popular way to settle disputes during the era. An average of 3,000 visitors from across the Tri-State visit New Harmony each year for the event. While the majority of visitors are gradeschool classes, the event is open to the public. School groups must register in advance online. Tickets are $5 for adults and $4 for children.
The deadline for adult learner scholarships is April 17. There is $500-$2,000 available for tuition, fees, books and other university related expenses. Students must be 25-yearsold or older and currently enrolled at the university to be eligible. They must also have at least 30 semester hours completed with a completed FAFSA on file. There is a minimum GPA requirement of 3.0 and the applicant must be in compliance with the satifsfactory academic progress guidelines. Apply at www.USI.edu/ Adult-Learner-Scholarship
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News
The shield | April 13, 2017 | Usishield.com
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LSAT prep course to be offered in summer by riley guerzini news@usishield.com @rguerzini
Pre-law coordinator Nick LaRowe is offering a Law School Admission Test preparation course from May 8 to June 2. The four week course will include logic games, reading comprehension and practice exams, and the registration fee is $990. The Shield sat down with LaRowe to talk more about the course. ThE SHielD: When is the registration deadline? Nick LaRowe: May 1 is the deadline. It’s a week before the class starts, which is on (May) 8. ThE SHielD: What are logic games? LaRowe: Those would be like there are seven students that need to sit in these six chairs. Rebecca can never sit next to Steven, Steven will only sit in the third chair and Joe likes to sit in a chair between him and somebody else, and you have to tell what are all the possible
Construction
orders they can be in. It’s about getting a set of rules and conditions and deducing the possible outcomes from that. We have class for four weeks, which is about 20 days, and eight or nine of the days will be devoted to logic games, which is one of the four sections of the LSAT. It’s usually the most difficult section of the test. ThE SHielD: What are logic games meant to test? LaRowe: So, if you get a set of rules, if you can deduce possible outcomes that is a particular intellectual skill that you need in the law when you are dealing with legal codes, which often have a logical structure to how they work. The better you are able to comprehend and analyze those situations, the better you are going to be at understanding legal codes. ThE SHielD: Could you explain your reasoning behind offering this course? LaRowe: Law school is a fairly straightforward application. It’s grades, LSAT
scores and recommendation letters. I have heard from law school representatives that they have been complaining about the LSAT scores students are coming in with, and they believe the reasoning is they are just not doing the proper preparation. There is an area where we can do a lot to improve the quality of our students applications. Also, there is nothing like this in the region. I think the nearest one might be Louisville. It might be Indianapolis. I know for sure there is one in Chicago. Also, a lot of times these in-person courses will cost you about $3,000 to $3,500. We are offering it for about a third of the cost. So this is meant to lower financial barriers, which is good for a lot of our students, whether they are first generation college students. Maybe they aren’t at the top of socioeconomic ladder. This is something that can make law school entry a little bit easier for them. ThE SHielD: Do students also have to purchase text-
ing the September or June LSAT, which is when most of them do.
books? LaRowe: They do. There are textbooks for this course like there would be for anything else. All together they are about $110.
ThE SHielD: Is this the first time you have offered this? LaRowe: Yes, I worked with Outreach and Engagement last spring to put this together and think it up, and then we will be offering it for the first time ever this summer. Also, there are five LSAT fee waivers that students can apply for if they want to be apart of this course. Taking the LSAT costs about $120. Students that take this course are eligible to apply for those, and they are awarded on a GPA basis.
ThE SHielD: Is this offered to more than just USI students? LaRowe: It’s primarily aimed at USI students, but it is intended to be an asset for the region. Because Chicago has something like this, we would like Evansville to have something like this as well. Even students that are from Evansville but are going to IU or Purdue; if they are home for the summer this could be good for them too.
ThE SHielD: Is there a limit on how many people can take the course. LaRowe: The course will be topped off at 25.
ThE SHielD: When is the LSAT? LaRowe: Well, it’s offered about five times a year. Two of the most popular times are early-to-mid June and mid-September. The days vary a little bit every year, but it’s the same general times. We wanted to offer it at a time that would help students who are either tak-
ThE SHielD: How many applications do you have currently? LaRowe: We have about seven or eight.
LaRowe
benefit of taking the course and what are some things students will learn and prepare them for the LSAT? LaRowe: One thing is it will just help with the studying discipline. It’s one thing to have good intentions about having a studying schedule, and it’s another thing when you are forced to go. The typical class will be about half lecture and half practice problems and discussing the problems. They are going to get a lot of work looking at types of problems and learning how to diagnose and solve them. It’s just lots and lots of practice.
ThE SHielD: What is the
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lion from special projects. “Empire contractors has worked on campus on several occasions,” Bridges said. “They are the low bidder and we like the quality of their work, we are comfortable with their work.” Bridges said he is also comfortable with Empire’s subcontractors including Jerry David and Alva Electric. The budget for state funding for Phase II of PAC renovation is currently in the state senate committee. The legislative session will end April 21 and the budget is expected to be passed by then before moving to the governor’s office.
USI Security Incident Log 4/4/17-4/11/17
Phase II of PAC renovation will be for updating the existing PAC along with funding the construction of a Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s office on campus. “We are optimistic at this point that there is hope for that phase as well,” he said.
Construction is expected to start in May and completion is expected by October of 2018. The groundbreaking for the PAC will come after state appropriations have been finalized.
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Injury Report Residence Hall - Ruston Hall - 1818 Rochelle Ln. 4/4/17 3:47 a.m.
Traffic Accident University Boulevard 4/5/17 4:53 p.m.
Traffic Accident - Hit & Run ODS East Parking Lot 4/9/17 3:40 p.m.
Criminal Mischief OʼDaniel South Apartments - ODS East Parking Lot 4/4/17 7:52 a.m.
Injury Report Campus Property - Broadway Recreational Complex - 7560 Broadway Avenue 4/5/17 8:56 p.m.
Property Damage Parking Lot D 4/9/17 5:52 p.m.
Injury Report Physical Activities Center 4/4/17 10:30 a.m.
Theft - University Property Ceramics Studio 4/6/17 9:41 a.m.
Fire - Alarm - Cooking McDonald West Apartments - Marshall Building - 936A Eckels Ln. 4/4/17 1:42 p.m.
Theft Ceramics Studio 4/6/17 9:41 a.m.
Theft Art Studio 4/4/17
Injury Report Orr Center 4/10/17 11:06 a.m. Illness Report Education Center 4/11/17 9:04 a.m.
Traffic Accident - Hit & Run Parking Lot G 4/6/17 10:03 a.m.
Possession of Paraphernalia OʼDaniel South Apartments 4/11/17 6:27 p.m.
3:06 p.m.
Fire - Alarm - Cooking OʼDaniel South Apartments - Boon Building - 8029A OʼDaniel Ln. 4/5/17 4:49 a.m. Injury Report Campus Property - Bent Twig Outdoor Education Center - Bent Twig Trails 4/5/17 8:50 a.m.
Injury Report Counseling Center 4/7/17 12:28 p.m.
Drugs - Possession OʼDaniel South Apartments 4/11/17 6:27 p.m.
Incident Report Parking Lot C 4/7/17 10:01 p.m.
Traffic Accident University Boulevard: Roundabout 4/11/17 7:15 p.m.
Disorderly Conduct Governors Hall 4/8/17 2:01 a.m.
Illness Report Arts Center 4/5/17 11:16 a.m.
Underage Possession Governors Hall 4/8/17 2:01 a.m.
Injury Report University Boulevard 4/5/17 4:53 p.m.
Visitor Violation Governors Hall 4/8/17 2:01 a.m.
Property Damage - University University Boulevard 4/5/17 4:53 p.m.
Drugs - Incident Governors Halls 4/8/17 2:01 a.m.
Harassment Non Campus 4/10/17 10:00 a.m.
Fraud Recreational Fitness and Wellness Center 4/11/17 8:45 p.m. Injury Report OʼDaniel South Apartments 4/11/17 8:51 p.m. Injury Report OʼBannon Hall 4/11/17 10:16 p.m.
Information gathered from USIʼs Public Crime Log, provided by USI Safety and Security.
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Features
The shield | April 13, 2017 | Usishield.com
Jonestown survivor shares story
Photo by Megan Thorne | The Shield
Laura Johnston Kohl, a Jonestown survivor talks about her experience in the People’s Temple Monday night in Carter Hall.
by Taylor O’Neil Hill sports@usishield.com @TaylorOHall318
Laura Johnston Kohl warned the audience at Carter Hall Monday night she was prone to randomly crying because of her PTSD or “Peoples Temple Stress Disorder.” Kohl, a former member of the Peoples Temple and survivor of the Jonestown Massacre, came to USI to present her lecture titled “Peoples Temple and Jonestown in Historical Perspective of the 1960s and 1970s.” In the lecture, Kohl explained how she became a member of the Peoples Temple during March 1970 and stayed until the massacre took place Nov. 18, 1978. After spending a weekend at Woodstock and six months with the Black Panthers, both of which didn’t work out, she was still searching for a way to be an activist. Kohl said her sister convinced her to move to San Francisco, and the following Sunday after she moved she met Jim Jones, the leader of the Peoples Temple, in Redwood Valley. “I liked his whole congregation that was totally
integrated and wonderful, and I became committed to Peoples Temple for the next seven years,” she said. Kohl said seeing a group that promoted racial inclusion and accepted the literate and illiterate made her want to join. Once she joined, some of her duties consisted of working at the welfare office by day and driving a Greyhound bus and writing letters to judges and probation officers on behalf of the Temple at night. “I ended up driving all around the country, and when it was my turn for a break, I slept underneath the bus in the luggage compartment,” Kohl said. This went on until 1974 when one of the Temple’s members died of a drug overdose, which sparked the discussions about moving to Guyana and forming their own community in the rainforest. She said her first trip to Guyana took place around Christmas of 1975 and she fell in love with it from the first moment she saw it. “Everything about it was so spectacular and had so much potential,” Kohl said. Exactly seven years after she joined the Temple, Jim Jones asked her if she would drive the boat from
Jonestown to Georgetown and bring back any goods the commune required to function. Part of her responsibility was also meeting Temple members at the airport who traveled to Guyana
a day off until the summer of 1978, when Marceline Jones came down and talked Jim into letting us have Sunday afternoons off.” Kohl said the exhaustion from working so much was the price they
‘
Con men like Jim Jones and others always know how to hook us.
-Laura Johnston Kohl Jonestown Survivor
from the States to live in Jonestown with the other members. Kohl said she held that job for close to a year before being sent to live in Jonestown with the other members of Peoples Temple, where she lived for around nine months. “We stayed very busy; every minute of every day we were working,” Kohl said. “We never had
’
paid while building their “promised land.” The exhaustion led to the Temple members being less concerned with Jones’s behavior, and Kohl said that’s what led to them being blindsided when Jones called for “Revolutionary Suicide” and decided to poison to the people of Jonestown. She was able to avoid being one of the over 900
victims because she had been relocated to Georgetown in October 1978, a month before the mass murder took place. Kohl said the people who want to make a change are the ones at risk of joining groups like People’s Temple because they realize there’s more power in numbers. Kohl said everyone is vulnerable, and a person never knows what they may join. “You can never fall asleep at the wheel,” Kohl said. “You always have to be a critical thinker. Life is never so sweet and pure or good that you can trust the driver and just move on. It’s never that way, and con men like Jim Jones and others always know how to hook us.” Aleisha Jones, who was listening to Kohl speak from the crowd, said the event was powerful. “It was eye opening to see the evolution of how innocent this seemed and then the gradual transition to becoming deadly,” the senior business administration major, said. She said what surprised her the most is how easy it can be for people to be involved in something dangerous and not be able to realize until it’s too late.
Instructor of English Jenn Horn said she thinks the main point of the lecture is that people need to pay attention to what’s happening around them. “The idea that you need to be informed and think for yourself is maybe more relevant than she made it out to be,” Horn said. “I think she emphasized that point, but I think she could have emphasized it even more, especially in today’s political climate.” She said something she felt was interesting is that Kohl didn’t speak negatively of Jim Jones to the degree she expected, except to say he was egotistical and a religious charlatan who used religion as a tool to control people. “She constantly referred to him as Jim, and her time in Jonestown wasn’t really negative,” Horn said. “As a folklorist, we always look at those grains of truth in legend and history, and this idea that Jim Jones was a mad man and all these people fell to a mad man’s power is commonly discussed, but she said people were there because they wanted to do this great thing for the world.”
Walk a mile continued from Page 1
seven years old. “When I was at my darkest, I told people I wasn’t going to live past 18,” she said. “Last month, I turned 19.” Wy said she told her story to illustrate the effects that sexual assault can have on an individual. “It isn’t always a man in a mask in a dark alley; it isn’t always a vicious predator,” she said. “Sometimes, it’s a classmate or someone you know. Sometimes it’s some-
one you look up to. Sometimes it’s someone you really, really like.” The route for the mile passed through the University Center Breezeway, along University Boulevard and through the Quad, ending outside of the Liberal Arts building, where participants were met by speeches from influential members of the community. The community members included Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke, Vander-
burgh County Sheriff Dave Wedding and Chief of the Evansville Police Department Billy Bolin. “How we treat our fellow human beings is more important today than it ever has been,” Winnecke said. “Nice matters, respect matters and anything less than that should not be tolerated. We know the statistics are staggering; they are overwhelming and sometimes they can be daunting, but we should not be daunted.”
zimride.com/usi
The shield | April 13, 2017 | Usishield.com
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REVIEW
h l t y n o M as h
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a i d e m u
One week each month The Shield will focus on reviewing a variety of mediums within entertainment.
Mid-series book falls short Available on Amazon
As a college student and avid bookworm, it is typical for me to read books that fall into the category of young adult or new adult. However, once in a while, I pick up a middle grade novel to get a taste of the colorful and rich worlds of fiction that younger readers are exploring these days. But that is only one of the reasons I picked up the Magisterium series by young adult authors Holly Black and Cassandra Clare; the other reason being that these authors are two of my all-time favorite writers. So of course when I found out they were collaborating on a story for middle grade readers, I had to give the series a try. The series follows a young boy named Callum Hunt who attends a magic school by the name of the Magisterium. While attending this school, Call makes lifelong friends, learns how to harness elemental magic, goes on adventures that get him and his friends into trouble and learns shocking secrets about his true identity. The first two installments to this series, The Iron Trial and The Copper Gauntlet, did a great job getting readers into the story and introducing what potential the rest of
the series had. However, after recently finishing the third installment, “The Bronze Key,” I have to say that things have gone a bit . . . flat. It took me quite a bit of time to finish this book, and I’m not sure if that is due to my busy flow of class work or simply the fact that this book wasn’t thrilling to me, though it’s not that I didn’t enjoy it. The story just felt lacking in this installment. It felt as though not enough action and adventure took place. On top of that, I realized this book lacked character development. Since one of my favorite things about both of the authors is their talent for creating influential characters and using those characters to build strong relationships and epic storylines, I was surprised to find that there wasn’t a very strong depiction of the relationships between the main characters. While the characters themselves have great qualities and chemistry, there are hardly scenes where that chemistry is shown and developed. The development of relationships between characters is one of the most important aspects of a story. So when one of the main characters died at the con-
clusion of the book, I was shocked and disappointed to find that the death didn’t upset me as much as it should have. Despite my disappointment with this installment, I still think that the remainder of the books have potential due to the nice groundwork the authors have laid out. This series has good elements going for it, even if the third book a bit lacking in substance. The main character has a disability with his leg but refuses to let it bring him down and keeps on living life with determination and courage. His best friend displays qualities of kindness despite having a tough childhood, and his female friend exhibits great characteristics of strength and intelligence. Along with this trio, the books hold magical adventures that would entice many young readers. Perhaps this book simply suffers from middle-booksyndrome and is just meant to carry the story on toward the climax of the remaining two books. Whatever the cause for “The Bronze Key’s” shortcomings, I am still looking forward to seeing what the authors will do with the rest of the series.
Rating 3/5 BY darrian breedlove
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The Maine stays vulnerable with latest album release Available on Spotify I’m a sucker for a wellwritten lyric. That’s exactly what The Maine delivered in its sixth studio album. The band celebrated its 10th anniversary with the release of “Lovely Little Lonely,” a 12-track album that showcased its continued ability to be vulnerable. The album had a similar sound to its 2015 release “American Candy,” but was more mellow than than its pop-adjacent predecessor. The best track on the album is the finale, “How Do You Feel?.” Lead singer John O’Callaghan asks the listener that question in multiple ways as a slow, steady beat paces along below his vocals. The song serves as a reminder that living authentically is your best option and tells the listeners that they are not alone in their daily struggles.
The Maine continuously writes lyrics that are honest, but pushed along by happy beats that sometimes distracts from the topic of the song. This was the case with “Taxi”, the fifth track on the album. The song describes a conversation between the lead singer and a female that takes place in the backseat of a taxi. The woman is asking him if the sadness she feels will last forever to which he basically responds, “probably,” as he outlines how sadness and anxiety can creep in against your will, even into the “flawless parts” of your life. He later says he can’t promise to fix her worries, but he can say she will never be lonely again. The listener has to stay focused on the lyrics or could find themselves simply humming along with
the music. The one thing I would say is this album made me miss some of the early grit of The Maine. The mellow beats sometimes left me looking for the sound of early tracks like “My Heroine” or “Misery.” This album sent me back into the band’s discography searching for its older sounds. It’s amazing to see a band progress and develop different sounds; it’s simply younger me wishing for a new anthem with a throwback feel. Overall, The Maine seems to be sticking to its vulnerability which is an amazing draw for people who like an honest sound. The album is lovely and could be a good option for those days where you find yourself feeling a little lonely.
Rating 4/5 BY Sarah Loesch
‘Bordertown’ fails to keep out bad animation, lame jokes Airs on Fox Fox’s new failed attempt at humor, “Bordertown,” is like what would happen if one took every failed joke in “Family Guy” and cut them into a 22 minute sitcom. In the fictional border town of Mexifornia, a border guard named Bud Buckwald (Hank Azaria) deals with the supposedly endlessly frustrating fact that he lives next door to a family of immigrants. “Bordertown” feels like someone threw every show Seth McFarlane has produced so far into a blender and called it a new show. Bud’s wife Becky (“MadTV” alum Alex Borstein) is equal parts Lois Griffin (“Family Guy”) and Francine Smith (“American Dad”). A flawed straight character whose main joke is to say something as a voice of reason, then after a pause say something outrageous to undercut their moral high ground. The animation style is the same style as I would imagine a show would look if you hired a “Simpsons” animator and asked them to draw in the “Family Guy” art style. In short: it’s a hot mess that’s hard to look at occasionally.
Bud is a basic idiotwho-wants-power character with a dead-end job. I genuinely can’t figure out who this show is supposed to appeal to. Reading an NPR preview of the series published back in February, when the show still thought it had a chance in hell of getting good ratings, it seems as if the show’s writers feel “Bordertown” is a hilarious show lampooning the systemic racism of America and our attitudes toward illegal immigrants. I get the impression the show was originally pitched as this edgy comedy that takes politically incorrect shots at both the left and the right, something to make someone laugh at the other side then reconsider their own views when criticized by the same show. When fed through Seth McFarlane’s Fuzzy Door production company, we get this final product. One can get whiplash from scenes that in the same shot jump between poking fun at conservatives to making fun of liberals. In any given scene in which Bud is at home saying something conservative, it’s likely his daughter Gert (Missi Pyle),
Rating .5/5 BY gavin gaddis
a misshapen overweight social justice warrior with a speech impediment, enters the frame and shouts something vaguely liberal. There is a potential for comedy, but each joke is such a cheap shot or relies on such leaps of logic that when it’s making fun of something I identify with, I’m just confused. When it’s making fun of something I dislike, I’m pissed at the show for going with a cheap shot that could’ve been written in five minutes. That, and most of the show’s supposed jokes are simply a reference to a thing, and the show relies on you letting out a quick one-hah laugh in recognition of you getting the reference. String enough of these jokes together and there’s a chance the viewer will think they’ve been laughing for several minutes. It’s as if I’m watching an episode of “South Park” that cut away to a parody of a bad cartoon, but they fail to cut back to the “South Park” world and let it run for 13 episodes. This show is nothing if not an abject failure. Someone owes the gods of animation and comedy apologies.
6
Opinion
The shield | April 13, 2017 | Usishield.com
Group Projects | alex adams | The Shield
Writing: going by the wayside? by sarah rogers opinion@usishield.com @suruhgrace
There is an ethical and moral distinction between a diary and a journal. A diary is covered in pink taffeta with a heart-shaped lock keeping its 9-year-old secrets from the prying eyes of 7-year-old brothers. A diary is the essence of petty problems and frivolous dreams. A journal is home to slightly less frivolous
dreams. I started keeping a journal in sixth grade, around the time most girls discard theirs in the wastebasket, proudly proclaiming they are much too grown up for that childish pastime. Such statements make me cringe inside. There is nothing childish about writing; in fact writing daily is encouraged to keep mental strength, maintain writing abilities, and detangle the mess of thoughts that cloud the minds of busy adults.
What does it mean when those that need to be documenting their days the most are the ones who are made to feel such endeavors are for children? For college students, developing a habit of writing is pivotal. The habits created, or not created, in these crucial four years will form the adults we become. For many college students, writing is not their major. College for most is the sweet freedom from the clutches of essays and cre-
ative writing. Hair is smugly flipped as students announce they are on to real academic rigor, leaving that pointless writing stuff in the box of things not important enough to bring to college. Writing is not a secondclass citizen, and there is nothing unacademic about keeping the most fundamental part of your intelligence sharp. Too many extremely intelligent students have a writing ability much lower
than their capability. This is not due to innate talent, but simply a lack of practice. Somehow writing, which was once considered one of the most rigorous and prestigious majors one could obtain, has now been treated as something you have to get out of the way freshman year with the rest of your pointless requirements. Writing is not just for English majors. Buy a journal, gosh dang it. Write something in it
This could Assessing the mean war assessment by Gavin Gaddis by osman bien aime orbienaime@eagles.usi.edu
It’s not very often that something our nation does fills me with a feeling of dread, but the news of our recent missile strike in Syria managed to do just that. I know we’ve all gotten tired of discussing politics, and I’m not going to criticize our government for what was probably a difficult call to make. Instead, I want to talk about why, in times like these, we owe it to ourselves to care about politics. I remember coming home from school September 11, 2001 to my parents frantically calling their families in New York. Months later, the U.S. began what would be a decade-long campaign in the Middle East. For much of the past 16 years, war was just a simple, self-contained thing to me, this romanticized idea of two opposing forces trying to come out on top. Even when my best friend joined the Army and was sent to fight in Afghanistan, I was divorced from the farreaching effects of war and the politics behind it. And then he came back. Even the wildest battle-
field story couldn’t distract me from the slight unfamiliarity I had with the person talking to me. When he returned from a second deployment, that gulf between the person I grew up with and the one I could see now only widened. It was with that revelation that my attitude toward politics changed. When politicians act, it can mean you get increased benefits, your streets become safer, or your friend and their partner can legally marry. Or it can mean your relative suffers a massive pay cut, your healthcare gets compromised, or your entire city gets its water supply poisoned. The missile strike in Syria is so worrying to me because it could be the precursor to yet another war. It could mean another 16 years of conflict for nations that are already fatigued by the whole miserable affair. Even the smallest decision can change you or people close to you. That’s why I care so much about politics. And that’s why I think you should as well.
gkgaddis@eagles.usi.edu
After three years at USI as a transfer student, the Assessment Goblin finally got me. It was only then I found out the major field assessments are basically pointless in reflecting one’s educational development. Now I know that I shouldn’t have bothered caring about the assessment, and neither should anyone else. I used to give students guff for scoffing at assessment days. Of course they’re important; the university needs to know how everyone is performing if they’re to report any sort of success to the room full of old white men who decide if we get funding next year. Then I learned the truth. The big day came. I clocked out early from work knowing that, even though I was walking away from $62.50 of potential hours at my job (specifically organized so I could work on days when I don’t have class), I would be helping the college provide quality education for future students. It was time to do the Goblin proud. Then, after three years of attentive studying and reading anything I could get my hands on, I would’ve failed the exam
if there had been any, y’know, weight behind it. I’m sure the company that sold the testing program to USI had an arsenal of figures and statistics ready to prove their test would be the one to accurately measure how students are retaining information in their major. There was probably even a pie chart. Then their fancy testing system elected to slam an English senior, who’s never taken a single course designed to teach the intricacies of poetry, with an assessment that focused almost entirely on the intricacies of poetry. Somewhere in cyberspace the Assessment Goblin reached his hands into a bin labeled “300 level poetry questions” and flung handful after handful at a man who’s written two poems in the last decade, a man who took three minutes to remember the word “stanza” a week prior. I was slammed with questions on the intricacies of poem structure, the mechanics of how a stanza is organized and the names of methods used to construct poems I’ve never read before. The questions were so bizarrely specific that I made a mental note of two more difficult ones and
texted a poetry nerd friend about them as I walked to my car. The response was the verbal equivalent of a shrug. The next day I asked anyone who would stop to listen how the assessment went. Either they were in the camp of people who tried and failed like I did, or they were among the masses of people who clicked randomly and finished the test within 20 minutes. I envy the second group. Here’s a free tip for the university from an exeducation major: if one is to appropriately assess a student’s development, one needs something more targeted than what is currently being used. There were questions on my test that felt like they existed purely because they were in a bank of pre-written questions that came with the software. Until then, students are going to fight the Goblin the only way we know how: answer randomly so we can go home and eat fast-food while trying not to feel bad about a score on a meaningless test. Now feel free to go write a condescending letter to the editor explaining how I’m wrong.
everyday. Write what happened. Rant about the professor who has it out for you. Write about all the songs you just listened to;, write why you liked them. Being able to formulate words and articulate feelings is a skill you will need for the rest of your life. Go to Wal-Mart, buy a leather bound stack of paper and promptly correct anyone who dares to call your journal a diary.
THE
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The Shield accepts original, unpublished letters for all of its readers. Letters should be no more than 250 words, signed and have a telephone number for verification. The editor reserves the right to edit for length, style, and grammar. Pieces will appear in The Shield online. Letters can be submitted online or via e-mail.
Illustration by Philip Kuhns | The Shield
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Sports
The shield | April 13, 2017 | Usishield.com
7
Softball sweeps Indy as Wind takes Leonhardt earns 20th win round two
of golf tournament
by taylor O’neil Hall sports@usishield.com @TaylorOHall318
Photo courtesy of photo services
Freshman Jennifer Leonhardt winds up to throw a pitch during a game last weekend. Leonhardt was named GLVC Pitcher of the Week for the third time this season.
by taylor O’neil Hall sports@usishield.com @TaylorOHall318
After going 5-1 last week, including a doubleheader sweep of No. 14 University of Indianapolis, the No. 10 Southern Indiana softball team is one game away from matching last season’s win total. Four of the Eagles’ five wins came when freshman pitcher, Jennifer Leonhardt (20-1), stepped into the pitching circle. Leonhardt was named GLVC Pitcher of the Week for the third time this season after she added two complete-game shutouts to go along with a 1.09 ERA and a .211 BAA in the four wins. After pitching once Saturday and twice Sunday, Leonhardt said she’s surprised with her success because she didn’t expect to pitch that much this season, but she’s learning her role. “In the past, I (was) used to throwing until I (couldn’t) throw anymore,”
Leonhardt said. “I haven’t had to do that this year, so now I need to get back into that conditioning shape.” Leonhardt said she’s noticed her pitches become less sharp once she starts tiring down in games. In two of the last three games she’s pitched, Leonhardt allowed two earned runs each game. “The goal is not to have anybody score, but it’s the game and people are going to score,” she said. With the 5-2 win in game two Sunday, Leonhardt is now five games short of tying the all-time single-season win record by an university pitcher. The record was set in 1998 by USI Hall of Famer, Amy Stetler. To secure her 20th win, Leonhardt needed some help from sophomore utility player, Caitlyn Bradley, who knocked in three RBIs with a second inning home run and pitched in the last 2 ⅓ innings, allowing no runs for her second save of the season.
“I just knew that I had to go into the game and keep UIndy down because Jenn did a nice job in the first game, but they were starting to gain on her in the second game,” Bradley said. She said head coach, Sue Kunkle, told her about entering the game in relief before the fifth inning started, which helped her prepare mentally for when the ball and the game would be placed in her hands. Kunkle said the decision to pitch Leonhardt in backto-back games stemmed from how well she pitched in the first game and what her pitch count was at the end of the game. “I’m not that coach where I’m going to put her in a danger zone,” Kunkle said. She said Leonhardt kept UIndy’s offense offbalance, but she made sure both Bradley and Courtney Atkisson were available if needed. “(Leonhardt) started throwing a few too many
balls, and they had a couple hard hits off her, and it was starting to get into the fourth or fifth inning and we knew it was about time to switch it up,” Kunkle said. She said, after seeing the UIndy batters, she knew Bradley was the pitcher she wanted to relieve Leonhardt. With Bradley’s save, USI moves to 34-8, 13-5 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. Kunkle said every win is necessary as the team battles for first place. “There’s a lot of season left, and anything can happen, but we have our eyes on the prize,” Kunkle said. “The prize is first place and the post season. We want to make it to the big dance.” The Eagles enter this week of play sitting at second in the GLVC standings behind Rockhurst, a team they split with March 19.
The USI men’s golf team competed for the final time before the GLVC Tournament in the Midwest Regional #3 Sunday and Monday. Only the first round counted in the final score because of unplayable wind conditions Monday. With 314 strokes after round one, USI finished 21st out of 29 teams. Head coach, Daniel Wyatt, said the team is still young with only one senior, Grant Saylor, on the roster, and it is improving with each tournament they play in. “I would say it’s a learning process for them more than anything,” Wyatt said. “It helps them understand what it is to be in pressure situations.” He said, even though the team finished in the middle of the pack, he’s satisfied because of what the team had to overcome with the weather playing a factor and one of their “better players,” Preston Van Winkle, having to withdraw due to an injury. “Round one, it was a little more calm and not nearly as bad,” Wyatt said. “Round
two, in the early morning, we were dealing with 20 or 30 mph wind gusts, and it definitely makes the game harder.” Van Winkle, who shot a 78 in the first round, finished tied for 74th and said he started feeling pain in his left side during round one on the 13th hole, but he was able to “gut it out the last few holes.” He said the muscle spasms started getting worse a few weeks ago and the pain is always there, but sometimes it hurts worse than normal. “It started in our first tournament of the spring when we were in Florida,” Van Winkle said. “I’ve been to two doctors and a chiropractor and had x-rays, and they’re stumped.” Van Winkle tried to compete in round two, but only made it through four holes before withdrawing. With the GLVC Tournament beginning in two weeks, Van Winkle said he hopes to be healthy by then, which is the first thing he needs to focus on. “I have two weeks to heal up,” Van Winkle said. “I have to get healthy; that’s the main thing. I’ve been playing pretty well lately; I just have to stay healthy.”
‘
It helps them understand what it is to be in pressure situations. -Daniel Wyatt Men’s golf head coach
’
Baseball back to winning ways
Photo courtesy of photo services
Senior Jaylen Quarles gives teammate Buddy Johnson a high-five after he walks off the field.
by taylor O’neil Hall sports@usishield.com @TaylorOHall318
After completing a fourgame sweep of the Univer-
sity of Wisconsin-Parkside Sunday, the USI baseball team is over .500 for the first time this season. The series offered little drama as the Eagles out-
scored the Rangers 31-7 over the two days of play. Game three, a 4-3 victory, was the closest of the weekend. Senior Jaylen Quarles, designated hit-
ter, finished the game with three RBIs. Two of them came off a triple to centerfield in the fifth inning, and the other was the gamesealing run. With the bases loaded and the count full, Quarles stayed alive long enough at bat to get the fourth ball, sending him to first and shortstop Angel Torres home for the walk-off in the seventh inning. Quarles said moments like that are part of the reason he wanted to transfer to USI from Southeastern Illinois. “Coming out of (junior college) my sophomore year, USI was my number one choice,” Quarles said. His only hit of the game came off a pitch he said he didn’t know he would be able to make contact with. “Coach Arch had been telling me I’ve been too close to the plate, so he scooted me back. I didn’t think I would be able to reach that pitch (in the fifth),” Quarles said. Quarles missed the entire 2016 season due to flat feet, or having a collapsed arch in his foot, and instead opted for a medical redshirt, and said he’s “blessed” to be healthy now and contributing to the team.
Sunday’s second game was the most lopsided victory USI had all weekend. They outscored WisconsinParkside by 11 runs in a 14-3 win. USI knocked the ball into play 16 times in game four. Three of those hits came from junior right fielder, Nick Gobert, who went 3-for-4 and brought in four runs after going 0-for-3 in game three. “I tried to simplify things. I was trying to do too much in game three,” Gobert said. “I was swinging at balls I normally wouldn’t swing at. Game four was about hitting my pitch. When I got a hitter’s count, I made the pitchers pay for it.” Gobert said the team felt good going into the last game and its main goal was to drive the ball. “It was a contagious feeling,” Gobert said. “We all thought we could follow up the guy in front of us and just smack the ball around. It’s all about confidence. Once we built that, we weren’t afraid to go up there and swing and hit the ball hard.” Head coach, Tracy Archuleta, said he felt the team did a great job pitching throughout the series, and on offense the team
took the pitches they could hit instead of trying to force something that wasn’t there. For the series, USI put up 16 more hits than Wisconsin-Parkside in two fewer at bats. They hit 39-for-114 (.342) compared to their opponents who hit 23-for-116 (.198). Archuleta said the team hasn’t necessarily been thinking about how many wins they need to be above .500, because its focus is to win as many games as possible. “Our job is to go out and win series. We can’t worry about what everyone else is doing,” Archuleta said. “The job is ‘hey, when you go out, you’re going to win that baseball game.’ Where we’re at when the year is over is where we’ll be at. We’re going to have to keep grinding and winning pitch by pitch.” Archuleta said the team is starting to get better, and though it’s unfortunate they couldn’t string together more wins sooner, the team can’t dwell on that. “You build from the wins and how you’re able to win,” Archuleta said. “You’re concentrating on the adjustments you make in order to get w’s.”
8
The shield | April 13, 2017 | Usishield.com
scoreboard men’s Tennis
woMen’s Tennis USI
April 7 9-0
Saint Joseph’s College
USI
April 8 6-3
Taylor University
USI
April 9 1-8
Bellarmine University
April 7 9-0 April 7 8-1
USI USI
USI
Bellarmine
baseball USI
April 5 1-5
softball USI
Saint Joseph’s College
University of Evansville
April 8 1-4 5-2
Saint Joseph’s College
USI
April 8 7-1 6-0
University of Wisconsin Parkside
April 9 4-0 5-2
University of Indianapolis
USI
April 9 4-3 14-3
University of Wisconsin Parkside
USI
April 11 5-3
University of Missouri - St. Louis
men/woMen’s Track and field
woMen’s golf
Men: No Team Score Women: No Team Score Marian Knights Classic
2nd of 12 teams Triton Invitational
Men’s golf Midwest Regional #3 21st of 29 teams
Upcoming Games Men/woMen’s Track and field Women’s Tennis
Baseball
All Day April 13-14 Walnut, CA Mt. Sac Relays
2 p.m. April 14 University of Indianapolis USI Tennis Courts
2:00 p.m. April 14 USI Baseball Fields Mckendree University (DH)
men’s tennis
11 a.m. April 15 Lewis University USI Tennis Courts
Noon April 15 USI Baseball Fields Mckendree Universiry (DH)
Softball
6 p.m. April 18 Kentucky Wesleyan College USI Baseball Field
2 p.m. April 14 University of Indianapolis USI Tennis Courts 10 a.m. April 15 Lewis University USI Tennis Courts
Noon April 14 Univ. Wis. Parkside (DH) USI Softball Field Noon April 15 Lewis University (DH) USI Softball Field
LIGHT IT UP
BLUE 5K RUN FOR AUTISM AWARENESS April 21, 2017 9 p.m. - 12 a.m. Meet at RFWC
Sign up at: https://orgsync.com/46768/forms/251085