The Commonwealth Times; November 14, 2018

First female headliner Ella Mai rocks RamFest

Historic concert, victory over Pirates mark homecoming weekend

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“Boo’d Up” singer Ella Mai performs “in the spirit of cuffing season.”

See RAMFEST on page 11

Men’s Basketball downs Hampton 69-57 in homecoming game. •

See BASKETBALL on page 7

The 13th annual homecoming concert sold more tickets than last year’s event. Photo by Jon Mirador

Sophomore forward Sean Mobley had seven points, three assists and three rebounds Nov. 9 against Hampton.

Photo by Erin Edgerton

Senior Jonathan Brooks won homecoming king. Senior Kyla Garland was named homecoming queen.

Photo by Erin Edgerton

Stories of the week

national: The largest wildfire in California history “Camp Fire” has killed 48 people as of Tuesday, with more than 200 others reported missing. international: During Paris celebrations on the 100-year anniversary of Armistice Day, President of France Emmanuel Macron condemned Donald Trump’s claims of being a nationalist.

Sessions’ firing stirs protests in Richmond

CHIP LAUTERBACH

Contributing Writer

QUENTIN RICE

Contributing Writer

A crowd of about 100 protesters gathered Nov. 8 outside the U.S. Federal District Courthouse in Richmond to express their collective discontent with the firing of U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

“If you look through history at other countries, when their leaders decide that they can choose their own judges and prosecutors that is a slippery slide to dictatorship,” said protest host and VCU Ph.D. candidate Adam Blakeney. “We have had presidents in the past — [Richard] Nixon comes to mind — that tried to select their own investigators, and look how that turned out.”

Many fear President Donald Trump’s decision to fire Sessions is an attempt to obstruct U.S. Department of Justice Special

Counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential elections, given that Matthew Whitaker — serving as acting U.S. attorney general since Sessions’ resignation — has been openly critical of the investigation. On Aug. 6, 2017, Whitaker wrote an op-ed titled “Mueller’s investigation of Trump is going too far.” Whitaker suggested Mueller may be looking into Trump’s finances that have nothing to do with the 2016 election, and that “Mueller has come up to a red line in the Russia 2016 election-meddling investigation that he is dangerously close to crossing.”

In February 2017, Sessions recused himself from Mueller’s Russia investigation. Sessions’ resignation came at Trump’s request less than 24 hours after the midterm elections. His dismissal triggered protests across the country — demands that Whitaker recuse himself from the investigation as Sessions did to ensure the investigation’s credibility and Mueller’s place as overseer.

Blakeney said it was important that Richmonders showed solidarity with the rest of the protesters around the country.

Protesters carried signs with demands such as “Whitaker must recuse” and statements like “the president is not above the law.” Drivers honked their horns in solidarity as they passed. Throughout the two-hour long event, the crowd’s energy remained high. Protesters also came from neighboring areas, including College of William & Mary law student Megan Tholen.

“This transcends [political parties],” Tholen said. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re a Republican, independent or Democrat; it is an American issue. If either side tried this, it is a threat to the Constitution — it is a threat to the American people — and we need to make our voices heard.”

Protester Michael Grabow said he hopes both U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi keep up pressure on Whitaker to re-

cuse himself from the Russian investigation.

“I just hope that Mueller’s investigation is unimpeded until completion,” Grabow said. Patience Armstrong, who led some of the chants at the protest, said she fears the country is becoming an oligarchy.

“We’ve got people who are making millions off of being in government instead of being servants to the nation — which is what we elect them to do,” Armstrong said. Among local community leaders present was Rabbi Michael Knopf of Temple BethEl who said he wanted to show his support for the Constitution and rule of law.

“We are in a real moment of crisis for our democracy,” Knopf said. “Firing Sessions and replacing him with Whitaker is essentially an attempt by the president to escape the eye — and ramifications — of the law. The American people can not stand idly by while our democracy is ripped away from us.”

Richmonders responded to the firing of U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions with concern that his replacement poses a potential threat to the Russia investigation.

Photo by Erin Edgerton

Participants, who carried signs and chanted “the president is not above the law,” included local students and religious leaders. Photo by Erin Edgerton

Cracks in Medicaid expansion leave some Virginians without care

MACY PRESSLEY

Contributing Writer

Many Virginians will remain without access to healthcare in January, despite the General Assembly passing Medicaid expansion in May according to the Virginia Health Care Foundation.

Though the expansion is expected to bring healthcare to 400,000 Virginia residents, the work requirement — currently up for public comment — may present a challenge to residents with poor health or disabilities. Furthermore, the expansion does not address issues some may have with the affordability of transportation, co-pays and prescription drugs.

Altogether, about 323,000 Virginians will still not have health care come January, according to the Virginia Health Care Foundation.

Tracie Deinhardt is a Richmond resident who can’t access healthcare because of financial issues and homelessness.

“It’s not good — because I have cancer in my left knee [the government] won’t give me Medicaid or Medicare,” Deinhardt said. “It’s like now to even get Medicaid or Medicare you have to be 50 or older, or work up to 20 hours.”

Deinhardt is one of many who will be impacted by the work requirement, which mandates that Medicaid recipients work on community engagement activities for 20 hours a month for the first three months. While the requirement is not anticipated to take effect until after the expansion period in January, the mandated hours would increase in stages over time. It would eventually reach a maximum of 80 hours a month, according to the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services.

Another group who will still lack access to healthcare is immigrants — both docu-

2019 Virginia Medicaid eligibility : family size by yearly income

For additional family members after 8, maximum yearly income increases by $5,962 each

Source: Cover Virginia Infographic by Ryan Rich

mented and undocumented — according to Tiffany Green, a VCU professor of health and behavioral studies.

“Legal immigrants cannot access most public benefits for at least five years,” Green said. “So that is going to include Medicaid expansion.”

She also warned of the consequences for not having care.

“Access to healthcare is a really critical thing,” Green said. “It means that we can address issues that arise, like chronic disease issues, before they get worse. Illnesses such as diabetes are particularly important to stay on top of, and so not having access to care means that sometimes you go to medical care [a] little too late.”

Daily Planet Health Services works to address these concerns. The free clinic has treated nearly 38,000 Richmond residents.

Beth Merchent, the clinic’s CEO, understands how hard it can be for some of their patients to access care.

“If you have poor health, it’s gonna be hard to get a job that pays a fair wage, so you’re not gonna have secure housing, you may not have transportation,” Merchant said. “It’s a whole cycle.”

Advancement Coordinator for Daily Planet Susan Sekerke said she remains confident they will be able to overcome these challenges and continue to provide care.

“We’ll be here for people,” she said. “We are really the one place, regardless of your housing status, your financial situation, or your insurance status [that] you can come and get healthcare services from us when you need it.”

While Gov. Ralph Northam acknowledges the current plan is not perfect, he said

he is proud of the state’s ability to overcome partisan divide and pass a bill for the benefit of Virginians.

“As a doctor and a public servant, I believe making sure all Virginians have the access to the care they need to be healthy and productive is both a moral and economic imperative,” Northam said in a statement June 7. “We can get a lot done if we continue to work together in good faith, with our goal always being to do what’s best for Virginia. We still have important work left to do and I look forward to more big accomplishments that will improve the lives of all Virginians.”

Enrollment for Medicaid began Nov. 1 and will close Dec. 15. To find out more information, visit dmas.virginia.gov.

Journalist panel discusses perception of Muslim-Americans

ZACH ARMSTRONG

Contributing Writer

A panel of Muslim journalists visited the University of Richmond Friday to discuss the roles of Muslim writers as a normalizing force in portraying Muslim-Americans as regular citizens, rather than others.

The discussion was sponsored by the Virginia chapter of the nonprofit Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America. The four journalists told stories of their experiences as Muslims growing up in America and how public perception of their demographic can be improved.

Carmel Delshad, an editor and reporter at WAMU 88.5, described stories of students at her middle school giving her the nickname “terrorist” after the 9/11 attacks. One student said “let’s drop bombs on all of them,” in reference to people of Middle Eastern descent. The bullying, Delshad said, made her stop wearing her hijab to school.

The panelists also discussed how news media covers the Muslim community in misleading ways. Buzzfeed reporter

Hannah Allam said “there is no so much thing as the ‘Muslim community,’” since all Muslims are not one homogeneous group. Allam also discussed how she refrains from writing the words “hijab” and “Allah” in her reporting, saying they come across as “scary words,” and chooses to say “head scarf” and “God” instead.

Islamophobia has spiked in recent years. According to FBI data, there was a 99 per-

cent increase in Muslim-targeted hate crimes from 2014 to 2016. In January 2017, President Donald Trump issued an executive order — colloquially known as the “Muslim ban” — barring residents of seven Muslim-majority countries entry to the U.S., as well as limiting the number of accepted refugees to 50,000.

According to recent surveys by Pew Research Center, half of Americans view Muslims as not being part of “mainstream American society,” and 41 percent said Islam is more likely than other religions to encourage violence.

The 2018 midterm election showed positive signs for Muslims in the U.S. with the election of the first two Muslim women — Rashida Tlaib, D-MI, and Ilhan Omar, D-MN — to Congress.

Omar, a Somali refugee, opened her Nov. 6 acceptance speech with the Islamic greeting “Assalamu alaikum,” which means “peace be upon you.” She also danced to Somali song “Dirgax.”

According to Allam, many people watched Omar’s speech on social media and commented Islamophobic remarks, including “I’ve got some bacon for you,”

mocking the fact that Muslims do not eat pork.

“I think [the election of Omar and Tlaib] inspired the death rattle of white supremacy,” said New York Times contributing writer Wajahat Ali. Ali also added that many Trump supporters are a base who “see Ilhan Omar as a direct threat to their identity.”

Ali said Omar and Tlaib should send a message to constituents that they are public servants first, who simply happen to be Muslim, to create a more positive view of Muslim Americans.

Allam said many people interpreted Omar’s victory as either the end of the world or a wonderful phenomenon. Few online comments on election night were simple congratulations of their victories.

Ali said news media should make people aware that the Muslim experience in the U.S. is not negative — it is one of joy, hope and success. Ali told the story of his uncle, a Middle Eastern immigrant who raised a family in the U.S. and felt he achieved the American dream. But the public perception didn’t change.

“When I turn on the TV,” Ali’s uncle said, “they either see me as a terrorist or a taxi driver.”

Illustration by Mai-Phuong Bui

Coalition urges RPD, mayor to make policing data public

WALTER CHIDOZIE ANYANWU

Contributing Writer

An organization has called on citizens to sign a petition asking Mayor Levar Stoney to release policing data from the Richmond Police Department in an effort to boost police transparency and accountability.

The Richmond Transparency and Accountability Project (TAP) is a col laboration between the Southerners on New Ground, New Virginia Majority, Legal Aid Justice Center, the Advancement Project, and concerned citizens attempting to ensure fair and equitable treatment of the Richmond community.

ton said that TAP’s goal is to “make our communities healthier and safer by trying to disrupt mass incarceration at its source.” They added that over-policing is a major issue in a lot of minority communities.

“Essentially, we are trying to stop the policing practices that kind of push people into the prison pipeline,” Coston said. “Things like stop and frisk or pedestrian stop, traffic stops and examining whether there are racial disparities going on in those kinds of things in Richmond.”

VCU sociology professor Liz Coston has been working closely with TAP. Cos-

The data TAP is requesting includes common policing practices such as traffic stops and police contact with pedestrians, as well as details of the frequency of those stops, the demographics of the citizens involved and the locations where they occur.

“The community has been asking for this — and the history dates back about seven years — but there’s been a very strong push in the last year or so to get data released about policing practices that are occurring here in Richmond,” Coston said. “New Virginia Majority did a door-knock campaign on the Southside asking residents what problems they experience in their communities.”

The door-to-door campaign covered more than 700 residences — and the majority of the responses said the most significant problem is negative interactions with the police.

TAP members say if they have access to the data, it could be used to boost transparency and encourage a better relationship between community members and police.

However, RPD is demanding a fee of $4,500 to release the data. RPD said the fee is for the labor necessary to produce the data.

The petition, which TAP is mobilizing citizens to support, requests all fees be waived and all the data pertaining to policing practices be made public.

According to Coston, RPD agreed to release some data earlier this year.

In February, the department released “complaint” a nd “use of force” data — which included citizen complaints about police and the frequency of police use of force against civilians, respectively.

The department failed to release all of the data TAP requested. In response, TAP filed a Freedom of Information Act request, which was not approved.

“We believe in the power of storytelling and in the community generating its own data and speaking its own truth,” said Kim Rolla, attorney with the Legal Aid Justice Center. “But we also started to think of buttressing that with some more quantitative data that could tell us what is happening from the police department’s own perspective.”

Following the FOIA failure, TAP filed more requests and made several attempts to meet with the chief of police and the mayor to resolve the issue — the meetings were ultimately inconclusive.

Lecturer discusses impact of menthol cigarettes on black community

WALTER CHIDOZIE ANYANWU

Contributing Writer

Companies have intentionally marketed menthol cigarettes to African-American communities for more than 50 years, according to a lecture presented Nov. 5 at the Institute for Contemporary Art.

The VCU Psychology Department hosted presenter Phillip Gardiner, program officer of the Tobacco-Related Disease Program at the University of California at Berkeley. Gardiner referred to the marketing techniques as the “African-Americanization of menthol cigarettes.” Such tactics, Gardiner said, included predatory marketing strategies in which brands used the African-American identity as a selling point for menthol cigarettes.

The issue is especially pertinent in Richmond, given the large number of smokers and prominent black population.

“Unfortunately, we have a lot of smokers in the Richmond community. We have a lot of African-American smokers,” said Thomas Eissenberg, VCU psychology professor and Center for the Study of Tobacco Products project and core director. “Probably 80 to 90 percent of them smoke menthol cigarettes.”

Menthol cigarettes are easier to inhale and therefore more dependence-inducing and harder to quit, Gardiner said.

In his lecture, Gardiner pointed out that menthol is the only cigarette flavor allowed in the U.S. The user demographic for menthol cigarettes is largely — but not limited to — people of color.

The possibility of banning menthol in the near future is “wishful thinking,” given the power of the tobacco industry, Gardiner said, but momentum against the issue could start with youth education against smoking.

“It should start locally,” Gardiner said. “Given that we have less control over politicians in Washington than we do in our own localities, it should start from there.”

Yolanda Hall, prevention coordinator with Henrico County Mental Health, attended the lecture and said it is important to take steps toward countering the use of tobacco products in young children. One way to do this is to prepare them for peer pressure and anything that might push them towards smoking.

“There are many organizations around providing platforms for young kids,” Hall said. “If we could bring all those different groups together and unite them around this one cause, it could make a big difference.”

Phillip Gardiner said cigarettes containing menthol, the only legal cigarette flavor in the U.S., are more likely to lead to dependence. Photo by Jon Mirador

The coalition lobbies for improved access to policing data in order to foster a better relationship between officers and the community. CT file photo

We believe in the power of storytelling and in the community generating its own data and speaking its own truth.”

Kim Rolla, attorney with the Legal Aid Justice Center

Volunteer organizations lead training seminar on helping refugees

Distribution of 2016 refugee resettlement across Virginia regions

think about that person? All these qualities in one person: will you be a friend to them? Will you hire them?”

“This is why we’re here,” one attendee replied. “Because we all have something to give to that one person.”

Khairi revealed she was that person.

Though Richmond doesn’t compare to larger cities like Boston and New York in terms of having a historic immigrant population, a number of organizations work to help refugees who have recently arrived to the area. The seminar, held last Saturday by three local refugee aid organizations, included English-as-a-second-language lectures and discussions on working with refugee communities and services for immigration and resettlement. Many attendees were volunteers already working with one of the host organizations.

The nonprofit ReEstablish Richmond, one of the groups that hosted the training, focuses on transitioning, empowering and connecting refugees to resources. Executive Director Kate Ayers said Richmond’s refugees are mostly from Afghanistan, Bhutan, Myanmar, Iraq and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

30,000 in 2019.

“The community impacted the most is our Syrian families,” Ayers said. “There were probably seven or eight families in Richmond before the ban came down …[now] they’re seeing and hearing about their family members in danger.”

Ayers said ReEstablish Richmond has several volunteer teams who help people look for employment, buy homes and study for the citizenship test.

“One person we have is from Pakistan,” said volunteer Ed Meyer, who meets with the Pakistani refugee every week. “As soon as he gets all of his paperwork he’s going to be working seven days a week.”

Meyer said he has only been volunteering at the International Rescue Committee — another organization that helped host the training — as a mentor and driver for a few weeks, but said IRC’s work is “tremendous” and he plans to teach ESL in the future.

RACHEL RICHARDSON

Contributing

Writer

At a training seminar to teach volunteers how to work with refugees, Elham Khairi, who spoke about cultural awareness, asked attendees to read phrases on slips of paper

from a basket.

“This person cannot make eye contact,” one statement read. “This person walks five miles a day,” read another. “This person is known as a troublemaker.”

“What if all those sentences [are] all in one person?” Khairi said. “What do you

Immigration and refugees have been controversial topics since the inception of President Donald Trump’s 2017 travel ban on a number of Muslim-majority countries. The president has continued to reduce the number of refugees allowed into the U.S. every year, with plans to cap the number at

“I’ve been a volunteer for almost two and a half years,” said Cary Hintz, an ESL teacher with Church World Service — the training’s third host group. “I go into people’s homes. When people first come, they don’t have cars, they can’t get to those classes, so we go in their homes and teach them.”

Hintz described the work as rewarding, but challenging.

“It’s hard, it’s heartbreaking because of their stories,” Hintz said. “You cry with them.”

Yemeni student impacted

ASHLEIGH CHRISTOPHER Contributing Writer

The war in Yemen has created a historic humanitarian crisis, uprooting the lives of millions of Yemeni people, including 20-year-old VCU student Asma Raseem who is stuck in the U.S. after her program refused to send her back to the war-stricken country.

Raseem came to the U.S. from Yemen in 2014 with the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) program. She was supposed to return to Yemen after completing her senior year at a university in Colorado, but had to stay in the United States after war broke out in her country in March 2015.

“My program had never had this happen before,” Raseem said. “They’re always able to send students back. So this was a unique situation where they didn’t know what to do. At first they told me I would be staying for one more semester until things calmed down, and then they would send me back.”

Because she was not able to return to Yemen, the YES program had Raseem repeat her senior year.

“Everyone graduated and I just had to do it again,” Raseem said. “And I had to explain to everyone why I was there again after I was supposed to have graduated. Then, I kind of got used to it, and I tried to make the best of it.”

She remained in Colorado for two years. Then, her program — along with the Community College Initiative Program — placed her at Northern Virginia Com -

munity College. Since then, she transferred to VCU, has been living in Virginia for three years and is in her fifth year as a student in the U.S.

However, after Raseem’s third year in the U.S., the academic program told her it could no longer give her money to live here.

“I had to pay for everything myself,” she said. “After my third year, I had no place to stay, and I couldn’t afford to live by myself, so thankfully my social host family took me in for a year and a half.”

Although Raseem said she has adjusted to life at VCU, she said she still misses her family.

“The hardest part now is definitely my family, and the fact that I haven’t seen them for four years,” Raseem said. “As years go by, I think it gets harder because everyone is growing up. My younger siblings are growing up, my parents are getting old. I have a niece that I don’t know.”

Raseem left behind her parents, four sisters and one brother in Yemen — as well as her entire extended family.

Four months ago, her family had to leave their city of Al Hudaydah because of the

heavy bombing from the Saudi coalition. The movement has made it much more difficult for Raseem to contact her family regularly. But she has been able to communicate with her family occasionally when

they have electricity, and she has to pay for the calls, Raseem said.

As an international studies major with a focus on international justice, she said she wants to work with nonprofits to help countries impacted by war, starting with Yemen.

“I always get the question of, ‘Do you want to go back?’” Raseem said. “I’m in the middle of my studies and the only reason my family is taking all of this is because it contributes to me having a better future. In Yemen, I won’t really have any future. I want to see my family, and I really don’t know when I’m going to see them, but it is what it is.”

Raseem said she wants to educate people in the U.S. about the conflicts in Yemen.

“I always feel sad that people don’t know about the war in my country, but I take it upon myself to educate people,” she said. “I try to stay positive because I know I’m not the only person in this situation. There are so many people that aren’t able to go to their countries, but I’ve been so lucky to find a good support system.”

“I want to see my family”:

by conflict overseas

Photo courtesy of Asma Raseem

Source: The Virginia Department of Social Services

NOTHERN VIRGINIA 10%

RICHMOND NEWPORT NEWS HARRISONBURG CHARLOTTESVILLE ROANOKE FREDERICKSBURG 10% 8% 5%

Infographic by Mai-Phuong Bui

Wondering how you're going to get home for Thanksgiving Break?

RamAway provides free transportation during most University holidays and semester breaks to and/or from the Richmond International Airport, Greyhound Bus Station and Amtrak at Main Street Station and Staples Mill Road.

To reserve a seat:

1. Select the day of your departure after signing in with your eID and password.

2. Required information: Name, cell phone number, VCU email address.

3. Select appropriate shuttle time (suggested 2 hours prior to departure).

4. You will receive a confirmation email at your VCU email address.

5. You MUST present your VCUCard and confirmation email to board the shuttle.

For more information visit: go.vcu.edu/ramaway

Stat of the week

Indianapolis Colts tight end and former VCU forward Mo Alie-Cox scored his second career touchdown Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Rams force 44 combined turnovers, improve to 3-0

NOAH FLEISCHMAN Staff Writer

ADAM CHEEK Staff Writer

Men’s Basketball improved to 3-0 with a pair of com fortable, double-digit wins. The Black and Gold defeated Bowling Green 72-61 and Hampton 69-57. VCU forced a combined 44 turnovers in the matchups. Recovering from an Achilles injury, redshirt-junior guard Marcus Evans played in both games, scoring 13 against HU and 12 versus BGU, but has yet to start.

BOWLING GREEN

As the story has gone many times before, Men’s Basketball earned a win almost entirely off the strength of its robust defense. The Rams forced a season-high 27 turnovers and scored 30 points off of miscues by Bowling Green en route to a 72-61 win.

“Your defense gets better when the players see it working in games,” said coach Mike Rhoades after the game. “When the coaches are yelling and demanding so much from them in practice, you know they are true believers when it carries over into games and is working … it makes them look good.”

The Black and Gold’s 27 forced turnovers was the most the team has procured since it forced 31 against Buffalo in 2015. The Rams made much of the 15 errors they forced out of Bowling Green in the first half, as they scored 15 points off turnovers in the first 20 minutes of play.

“Late in the first half we heard the crowd it was just like an extra boost,” junior guard De’Riante Jenkins said. “We kind of seen it in them that they didn’t want to play then, so we just put it away from there.”

Freshman forward Vince Williams added three points to the run that the Rams went on at the end of the half. He finished the game tied for the team high with 12 points and three rebounds. Williams shot 6-7 from the free-throw line.

“Pound for pound, he is one of the best players on the team,” Rhoades said of Williams. “He does some things that veterans do, he’s got a really good feel [for the game].”

Redshirt-junior guard Marcus Evans — who recently recovered from an Achilles injury — turned the volume level up in the Siegel Center in the second half as he hit a long three while being fouled. He went on to hit the free throw to complete the fourpoint play. He finished the night with 12 points, three assists and five steals.

Redshirt-sophomore forward Corey Douglas had one of his four blocks down the stretch as he denied a Falcon inside the paint with about six minutes left. Douglas finished the night with seven points and nine rebounds.

“The last two games we kind of relaxed a little bit [in the second half],” Douglas said of the Rams’ second-half defense the last two games. “The main focus today was if we get up we’ve got to put our foot on their necks.”

VCU shot 8-29 beyond the arc — Rhoades thought there could be improvement in that category.

“We need to shoot the ball better from three,” Rhoades said. “I think we’ve got to get our teammates better shots from three. We’re not making enough threes, if you’re shooting 29 threes, you’ve got to make more than eight.”

VCU has allowed an average of 58.3 points a game and the Falcons were the first

to score more than 57 points against the Rams. This was the third game that the Rams held their opponent to 61 points or less — a mark they only reached twice last season.

played at VCU from 20052009 and was drafted 20th overall by the Utah Jazz in the 2009 NBA Draft.

HAMPTON

The Rams lit up the Hampton Pirates for 35 first-half points, eventually taking home a 69-57 win in front of the 119th consecutive sellout crowd at the Siegel Center Nov. 9.The packed Stu watched as VCU forced 17 turnovers, limited the Pirates to 29 percent shooting and improved to 2-0.

The Rams’ sophomore forward Marcus Santos-Silva racked up a career-best 16 points along with 4 rebounds, 1 block and 1 steal. Redshirt junior guard Marcus Evans added 13 points of his own. Evans grabbed 5 rebounds, recorded 3 assists and 2 steals. Seven Rams scored 5 or more points on the night. Redshirt-junior forward Issac Vann contributed 7 points in addition to four rebounds, three assists and four steals.

“[Our depth] is big this year,” Evans said after the game. “Last year we had injuries that hurt us and it was a new roster with a new coach. This year we have what we call a whole army. We can go deep on our bench, especially the way we play with pressure and keep the pressure up all game.”

After the Pirates scored first, VCU went on a 14-4 run, extending its lead to 22-8 as the clock wound down. After a Hampton 3-pointer, the Rams went on another run, this time scoring 13 to Hampton’s three. The Black and Gold took their 20-point lead into halftime.

A brief rally from the Pirates highlighted the beginning of the final half, but redshirt-sophomore forward Corey Douglas kicked off a seven-point run by the Rams with a layup. The momentum shifted back and forth as Hampton went on a 5-0 run and VCU answered with a 7-0 burst.

The Pirates eventually rallied to cut the lead to seven, but Evans knocked down three and Santos-Silva slammed in a dunk, extending the lead to 12.

The Rams shot 42.6 from the field, netted 18 points off turnovers and scored nearly half their points in the paint.

“[Defense] is what we did all summer,” said sophomore forward Sean Mobley. “That’s all [assistant coach Jamal Brunt] emphasized because defense leads to offense.”

VCU Athletics announced in a second-half media timeout that former Rams guard Eric Maynor made a generous donation to the athletics department. Maynor

VCU will take on Temple Nov. 19, with tip-off set for 9:30 p.m. The Rams will face the Owls at the Barclays Center in New York for the Legends Classic and will play the winner of California vs. St. John’s the following day.

Redshirt-junior guard Marcus Evans has recorded 40 minutes this season after returning from an Achilles injury he suffered over the summer Photo by Erin Edgerton

This year we have what we call a whole army. We can go deep on our bench, especially the way we play with pressure and keep the pressure up all game.”

Marcus Evans, redshirt-junior guard

Tuzzolo’s 17 kills lead Rams to regular season title

Rogers said. “We came back and we really worked hard this past week in practice. We re-evaluated what we needed to work on as a unit, so they came out really strong today.”

The Rams opened the first set with five consecutive points, including three aces in a row from sophomore outside hitter Paula Neciporuka. VCU strung together another five points in the set to pull away from the Wildcats. The Rams took the first set 25-16.

Neciporuka finished with three kills, one assist and three service aces.

Davidson came out firing in the second set as it took an early 3-1 lead on the Rams. VCU answered the Wildcats’ strong start by scoring five points in a row with two aces from junior outside hitter Vicky Giommarini.

“It was great, Davidson’s a good team,” Baldwin said. “I know we had to win this game and beat this team to be regular season champs, so to win here against a good team is fun.”

Junior middle blocker Jasmin Sneed added eight more blocks to her season total — she now has 163 blocks this season and 489 in her career.

The victory clinched the regular season A-10 title for the Rams after they finished the campaign with a conference record of 13-1.

Volleyball finished the regular season on a high note as it took down Davidson 3-0 Saturday afternoon at the Siegel Center.

On the Rams’ senior day, the seven juniors got the job done as they combined for 26 kills, 30 assists and four service aces. Junior opposite hitter Gina Tuzzolo led VCU with a season-high 17 kills in the win.

“She’s been the unsung hero all season,” coach Jody Rogers said of Tuzzolo. “She just does her job day-in, day-out and I couldn’t be happier for her. This is nothing new with her, she does a lot of great things on the court and the girls rally around her. She’s an integral part to our roster.”

VCU came off its first Atlantic 10 loss of the season, falling 3-0 to George Mason Nov. 3.

“We needed that [loss]. We needed to get our feelings hurt a little bit,”

The Wildcats looked like they would claw their way back into the set as they got within two points, but the Rams responded. VCU took another five points from Davidson to go up six in the set. The Black and Gold took the set 25-18 to go up 2-0 in the match.

VCU trailed by as many as five points in the final set, but the Rams used a mid-set surge to win 25-20.

Senior middle blocker Tori Baldwin finished with four kills and four blocks in the win.

“They wanted some energy and to come out really strong before the end of the season, just because we are going to have to start preparing for the Atlantic-10 [Tournament],” Rogers said. “They really wanted this. We got the Atlantic-10 regular season championship, so that was a huge goal for us throughout the season. When you attain goals you kind of get excited, they did that today.

The Rams will be back in action Saturday at 1 p.m. in the A-10 Tournament at the Siegel Center against the winner of No. 4 George Mason vs. No. 5 St. Louis match.

Executive Editor

SEVENTH? EIGHTH? … NINTH?!

Blasphemy, I tell you.

Ram Nation was collectively dumbstruck when this year’s preseason polls placed us near the bottom half of the Atlantic 10. Last season, Men’s Basketball missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2010 and failed to win at least 20 games, a feat VCU had accomplished every season since 2005-06. Despite the anticipated fallout, nobody thought expectations would be this low.

The conference poll, chosen by a panel of the league’s head coaches and select media members, picked us to finish seventh. NBC Sports has us at eighth. A10Talk had the audacity to rank us NINTH.

Not today, Satan.

Alright, fine, we get it. We took a huge step back in coach Mike Rhoades’ first year at the helm on Broad Street. After finishing 9-9 in conference, good for eighth place, and bowing out in the quarterfinals of the A-10 Tournament, the skepticism surrounding the probability of a bounceback campaign is understandable.

But it grossly undersells the pedigree of this program. We’re not your average mid-major. We will get up off the mat, fists raised, guns blazing, with hellfire in our eyes. We’re gonna fight like crazy, damnit. Right, coach Rhoades?

“At VCU we’re not making excuses … You fight for your culture. You fight for your approach. You fight for the attitude you want in your players,” Rhoades said. “We could sit here and talk about the things that occured [last season], but that isn’t gonna help us.”

… what he said. Nobody is feeling sorry for us — frankly, it seems the rest of the A-10 is quite amused that we’ve finally been knocked off our 2011 Final Four highhorse. But we need to acknowledge what Rhoades is trying to impress on his players, that to qualify for the NCAA Tournament, we’ve got to earn it every day. We’ve got to fight like crazy.

We don’t just put on a VCU shirt or jersey and two-step our way into the Big Dance. We can’t just yell “HAVOC” and chant “You don’t wanna go to war with the Rams” and produce the most electric environment in college basketball.

We used to have a chip on our shoulder. Somewhere in those seven-straight NCAA Tournament appearances, we lost our tenacity and desperation among the shiny new buildings and banners. We started to take the success of this program for granted. We needed last season to make us remember who we are.

“People can say it was a punch in the face, and I’m not happy that we had a tough year last year, but man I’m glad it happened for all of us,” Rhoades said. “Be-

cause nothing is guaranteed, we don’t have a right to be in the NCAA Tournament, that’s not how it’s supposed to be. You’ve gotta fight and earn that every day, and that’s the lesson we’ve got to teach our guys.”

The talent is there, we’ve just got to recapture our infamous attitude. Where are the Broad Street Bullies we know and love? The days of HAVOC are long gone, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still be a bunch of feisty MF-ers on the hardwood. Even those outside the program know this is the key to VCU’s hopes of returning to the promised land.

“VCU has more questions than answers at this point, but when healthy, the 3 player core of Marcus Evans, De’Riante Jenkins,

and Issac Vann could be the best in the league,” A10Talk’s Grant Labedz wrote in the website’s preseason rankings.

“VCU’s success will ultimately come down to defense. Last year was one of the first in a long time where the Rams diverged significantly from their feisty, lockdown ways on that end of the floor. This year will need to be different. Long are we from the Havoc days of Briante Weber and co., but that doesn’t mean this Rams team can’t get stops and use that momentum to create offense.”

Granted, redshirt-junior guard Marcus Evans needs to fully recover from his Achilles injury. He hasn’t started the first two games, but he played in both. When healthy, Evans — who averaged 20.1 points and 3.3 steals per game under Rhoades at Rice and was named to the All-Conference USA First Team his freshman and sophomore years — could be the best player in the A-10.

Junior guard Jenkins needs to take on more scoring and leadership responsibility. Redshirt-junior wing Vann needs to stay healthy and consistently display the dynamic presence he flashed last year on both ends of the floor. Sophomore forward Sean Mobley has got to be the top-tier facilitator and jump shooter we all know he can be. Sophomore forward Marcus Santos-Silva had better be taking some names down low. It’d be really nice if redshirt-senior forward Michael Gilmore can finally realize his immense potential.

These are all keys to VCU’s success this year. But they cannot culminate to lead us back to the promised land without one key ingredient — we’ve got to fight like crazy, a la Briante Weber in the opposing team’s backcourt.

“I didn’t complain, I knew what I took over,” Rhoades said. “It wasn’t the VCU basketball program, it wasn’t the same one, it was a skeleton. But you know what, what were we gonna do? Were we gonna complain and cry about it? No way man, no way. We get to wake up every day and be VCU basketball players and coaches — fight like crazy.”

NOAH FLEISCHMAN

Staff Writer

ZACH JOACHIM

Illustration by Nan He

Junior outside hitter Vicky Giommarini (14) had four kills against Davidson Nov. 10.

Photo by Jon Mirador

Press Box: “Fight like crazy” — VCU’s struggle to recapture HAVOC

Ram in Action: Dylan Sheehy-Guiseppi

NOAH FLEISCHMAN Staff Writer

Sophomore guard Dylan Sheehy-Guiseppi walked onto the Men’s Basketball team last season as a freshman with little interest from any other college basketball programs. He appeared in four games with the Black and Gold last season, logging four minutes, and had three assists and a steal. This season, Sheehy-Guiseppi played four minutes in the exhibition game against UVA-Wise on Oct. 30, he recorded a layup in the final minute of action against the Cavaliers.

Why VCU?

I picked VCU because I really liked the history of the program. They were one of the few schools to offer me a spot to play as a walk-on and give me a chance. I was really all for that, to have a chance be able to play [collegiately], and a chance to be a part of something that’s much bigger than myself. VCU has had 16 NCAA appearances, which is very good. I was grateful to get the opportunity and as soon as they gave me the opportunity, I took it.

What was the walk-on process like?

I was at a prep school in Vegas and I was emailing a bunch of schools and [VCU] got back to me, [but] not right away. When [VCU] did get back to me, they kept giving me more and more interest and when they offered me a walk-on spot, I took it immediately as soon as they offered it.

You played four minutes and scored two points in the exhibition game against UVAWise on Oct. 30, what was it like hearing the crowd’s reaction to your bucket?

In the moment, you don’t really think about it because you’re just in the game, so I didn’t really get to hear all that. Afterwards, you realize ‘Oh that’s pretty nice,’ it feels good, but then you want more.

What has it been like to be on a Division I Basketball team like VCU?

It’s nice, really nice. They take care of you, the fans are great, the atmosphere is great. We are treated like rock stars or celebrities. It’s very nice. [The best feeling that I can relate it to is] getting a dub in Fortnite. When you get a dub in Fortnite, you’re like ‘Wow, this is nice,’ but you want more. It’s like that. It’s like when you get a dub in Fortnite, that’s what it’s like to be playing for VCU. It’s just a great feeling.

Is Fortnite something that the entire team plays?

Oh for sure. We all play Fortnite on the team, I stopped playing, I retired from Fortnite and retired No. 1, that’s all I’m going to say. I retired because I have been studying really hard and I haven’t played in about two months. I got to make sure I get good grades.

How many Fortnite wins did you have?

I honestly don’t know, but I have a good amount, upwards in the 50’s.

So if you are the No. 1 Fortnite player on the team, who is the worst?

I have to give it to [sophomore forward] Marcus Santos-Silva because he’s trash. He’s not very good [because] he always tries to rush people, never communicates with his teammates, it’s ridiculous. My strategy is work with my team, I’m a team player. I’m for the team, if my team says relax, I’m going to relax, if we’re going to rush the people [then] we’re going to rush. [It is similar to basketball because] I’m for the team and whatever the team needs, I’m going to be there for them.

What is your favorite thing to do around campus?

I don’t leave my room much. I go to my classes, my room, and the gym. My favorite place to eat is The Village Cafe. The Village is a go to, the buttermilk pancakes, very good. I would recommend it to anybody honestly.

What do you want the fans to know about you?

I wish there was unlimited words that I could say, but there’s not. If I could only pick one word it would be SYWK: Soon You Will Know

What’s the story behind your nickname, Yay-yay?

Growing up people used to call me yeah-yeah from The Sandlot, so that’s where it’s from. I always talked a lot, so they would say ‘yeah-yeah, yeah-yeah.’ I love The Sandlot, [my] favorite movie.

What are your goals for this season?

Whatever we can do to win. I just want to win and if that means I play, I play, but if that means I don’t play then I don’t play. Whatever I can do to help the team. I just want us to win a lot of games. I want us to get to the NCAA tournament and make a deep run. That would be the dream goal. I don’t care if I play at all, I just want to win games.

This season the team plays Texas and Virginia on the road, what do you think that is going to be like?

I think it’s going to be a very intense atmosphere, but I think this year we are going to be ready. We just have to execute, stick to whatever coach says our game plan is and play within ourselves. Don’t let the outside noise get to you because at the end of the day you still have to step on the court, they still have to step on the court, and we still have to play basketball. It doesn’t matter what [other] people say.

Atlantic 10 Volleyball Chamionship preview

VCU will host the Atlantic 10 Volleyball Championship at the Siegel Center Nov. 16-18 as the Rams look to defend last year’s conference title.

The Black and Gold took the crown last season, knocking off Dayton in five sets in the championship match, 3-2.

The Rams enter the tournament as the No. 1 seed after clinching the regular season A-10 title with a 3-0 victory over Davidson Nov. 10.

VCU’s defense has been a key factor in its run this season, as the team combined for 283 blocks. Senior middle blocker Tori Baldwin wrote her name in the Rams’ record books, as she became VCU’s all-time leader in blocks. Baldwin is the first Ram to eclipse 500 career blocks — she has 507 heading into the A-10 Tournament.

“That was crazy [to eclipse 500 blocks], honestly I don’t know how to describe it,” Baldwin said. “I’m lucky that I was able to do that and I thank everyone who pushed me to be better.”

Junior middle blocker Jasmin Sneed ranks third in the NCAA with 1.65 blocks

per set. This season, Sneed has logged 163 blocks. As a team, the Rams are seventh in the NCAA at 2.88 blocks per set.

Junior opposite hitter Vicky Giommarini has been a dominant offensive force, recording 273 kills this season, an average of 2.81 a set. She ranks 41st in the NCAA with an average of .41 aces per set.

“I’m looking forward for the girls to really be focused in on the first match and then for the second,” coach Jody Rogers said. “We don’t want to be looking for the championship yet. We want to play each game and work hard for winning another championship or at least contending for one. We really want to be in the championship match.”

The biggest competition for the Rams in the tournament will be No. 2 seed Dayton. VCU knocked off the Flyers twice this season, 3-1 on the road Sept. 30 and 3-2 at the Stu Oct. 26.

Dayton won three A-10 tournaments in a row until the Black and Gold defeated the Flyers last season in Pittsburgh. Overall, Dayton has won 11 of the last 15 A-10 tournament titles.

This is the first time the Siegel Center

will host the A-10 Volleyball Championship — and the team hopes for a raucous atmosphere.

“It’s going to be hype,” Baldwin said. “I’m so excited, we are trying to bring everyone out. The fact that we get to fight for

a ring here, that’s amazing. Let’s hope we win double time.”

NOAH FLEISCHMAN

Staff Writer

The Rams will face the winner of No. 4 George Mason vs. No. 5 St. Louis in the semifinal Nov. 17 at 2 p.m.

Photo by Jon Mirador

S ophomore guard Dylan Sheehy-Guiseppi logged four minutes and two points during the UVA-Wise exhibition. Photo by Jon Mirador

Women’s Basketball opens season 2-0

DANIEL PURYEAR

Contributing Writer

Women’s Basketball opened its season at home with the second-most attended game in program history at nearly 3,800 fans. Teachers, students and fans who made it to the Siegel Center during Education Day witnessed a 84-55 victory over the Longwood Lancers.

LONGWOOD

High schools, middle schools and specialty schools came out Nov. 9 and made it one of the loudest games in Women’s Basketball history.

The Rams hosted the Lancers’ first game of the season. Longwood recently hired Rebecca Tillett as its coach. Since 2014, Tillett coached at the U.S. Naval Academy and led the Midshipmen to back-to-back 20-plus win seasons.

The Lancers scored the first points of the game, but the Rams did not let them see the lead for the rest of the contest. After an 11-1 run, the Black and Gold dominated the Lancers all the way to a 40 -16 lead. Longwood did not come within 20 points of VCU for the remainder of the game.

Sophomore guard and New Zealand native Tera Reed put up 15 points and four rebounds with sophomore forward Sydnei Archie following close behind at 13 points and five rebounds.

Redshirt-freshman Madison Hattix-Covington from Killeen, Texas secured 13 rebounds and scored six points.

Women’s Basketball coach Beth O’Boyle opened her post-game press conference giving credit to the fans and students who

came to the game even if there was “too much energy” at times. O’Boyle also touted her team’s ball movement.

The Rams displayed depth in the contest, with every player on the team scoring.

“It’s one of the things going from last year to this year — experience out on the floor — and the competition we have in practice really makes a big difference,” O’Boyle said.

Reed and Hattix-Covington attributed the performance to team chemistry and communication. Reed said they are trying to learn from the previous season.

“This year, we’re all family, we all have the same goal,” Reed said. “We’ve got to tell each other what we need to work on and just get to it.”

WILLIAM & MARY

Starting their season in Williamsburg at William & Mary Nov. 6, the Rams made easy work of the Tribe with a 72-55 win. Archie tallied a career-high 15 points by shooting a perfect 7-7 in the paint.

Sophomore guards Taya Robinson and Reed both scored 11 points and combined for nine rebounds. VCU shot 49 percent from the field and 86.4 percent from the line.

The Black and Gold dominated the entire game after giving up the first basket. Rebounding and sound shooting kept VCU ahead by at least three the whole contest. Sophomore center Sofya Pashigoreva managed three offensive rebounds along with nine points.

William & Mary comes off a 16-14 2017-18 season. The Tribe also lost two seniors, Abby Rendle and Jenna Green.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Rams head to an away game against UNC-Chapel Hill with a 2-0 record. After playing the ACC team Nov. 14, the Rams host another ACC team, Wake Forest, at home Nov. 18.

Current senior, Bianca Boggs led the Williamsburg side with 15 points and five steals.

Junior center Danielle Hammond started 16 games during her sophomore season

Photo by Teresa Bricker

RamFest 2018 features first female headliner, outsells last year’s concert

WALTER CHIDOZIE ANYANWU

Contributing

Writer

Concert-goers began trickling into the Richmond Coliseum at about 6 p.m. Saturday for VCU’s 13th annual RamFest concert — the culmination of a week of homecoming activities — featuring Young Crazy, Isaiah Johnson, A-Game, Saweetie and the first female headliner in the concert’s history, Ella Mai.

Organized by the Activities Programming Board, the event kicked off with a 20-minute set by Isaiah Johnson. The Richmond native’s versatile performance included a combination of dramatic, mellow and energetic songs, most of which had a political twist.

Following Johnson was DJ Camo, whose eclectic mix of songs punctuated the night and kept the crowd hyped.

Up next was rapper A-Game, aka Anthony Ellis, whose fresh sound featured a narrative style of rapping. His set also included some crowd interaction, and mini performances by fellow St. Louis rapper MC Tres and a taste of his new single “Cross the River,” featuring rapper Real Early.

“This is a high energy school, a lot of good people here,” Ellis said. “Throughout our performance we just wanted to inspire people to have a good time, be who you are and hustle for whatever it is you’re going after.”

Norfolk rapper Young Crazy took the stage next and was no stranger to Richmond, referring to the city as his “second home.” His explosive performance and hyper-confident nature was all too familiar as he worked the crowd like a pro. Starting his career at Virginia State University where he attended school, Young Crazy has since toured nationally with some well-established artists.

The first heavyweight performance was Diamonté Harper, better known by her stage name Saweetie. Along with her dance crew — which one concertgoer called the “icy mob” — they came out to a roaring crowd of eager fans.

Performing songs like “23” and “Good Good,” her set closed out with the 2017 breakout hit “ICY GRL,” an ode to positivity and self-motivation. Saweetie was one of two female acts at RamFest, a first in the event’s history.

“Being here with Ella Mai is amazing because I feel like she has a long and promising career. She is extremely talented,” Harper said. “It was such an honor to open up before her and it makes me feel like I’m doing the right thing because she’s hot, and I’m hot right next to her.”

She also expressed her gratitude for the opportunity to perform at RamFest. As a recent college graduate herself, she could relate to the excitement surrounding homecoming.

“I’d like to come back. Richmond is a city that’s full of love and that’s really rare. I like the energy out here,” Harper said. “I’m just really happy to be a part of this homecoming.”

The event headliner Ella Mai took to the stage just past 9 p.m. She was met with screams from the crowd who had been waiting all night for her.

Performing for just over an hour, Mai belted out numerous songs including “Don’t Want You,” “Makes Me Wonder,” “Breakfast in Bed” and, of course, the international hit, “Boo’d Up.” She prefaced the popular track by saying she just found out that Virginia is for lovers, and “in the spirit of cuffing season, this one is for all the lovers out there.” She closed her set with “Trip” off her debut album “Ella Mai.”

Mai is the first female artist to headline RamFest. Past headliners include Tory Lanez, Travis Scott and Drake.

“It’s taken a long time for us to have a female headliner, it’s not like female musicians are a new concept. There’s no shortage of them,” said Mikaela Murdock, APB communications coordinator. “In the future we’re going to continue trying to be as inclusive as possible with our shows.”

There was a bit of negativity surrounding the RamFest lineup earlier this year, as some students wanted the event to be headlined by a rapper instead of a singer. This sentiment similarly surrounded last year’s RamFest.

“People weren’t too happy when we had Tory Lanez last year because he was more of a singer and not so much a rapper,” Murdock said.

But APB sold more than 2,000 tickets for the event, more than they sold for RamFest last year.

“We did a good job of appealing to people with different tastes,” Murdock said. “Ideally, we’re always trying to find as many way to appeal to the student body as possible.”

On this day

Puerto Rico voted against becoming the 51st US state on Nov. 14, 1993.

Top: English singer Ella Mai is the first female to headline RamFest in the concert’s history.

Above: Saweetie’s debut album “High Maintenance” was released earlier this year. She closed out her set with the breakout hit “ICY GRL.” Left: MC Tres joined rapper A-Game on stage. The St. Louis natives opened for the other headliners. Photos by Jon Mirador

RAMFEST

Last Home : Student

gallery explores familial link to Jewish history

ANDREW RINGLE Contributing Writer

Nearly 80 years after the Holocaust, surviving stories have started to fade into history. Marissa Alper intended to preserve those testaments by following the footsteps of her Jewish ancestors and photographing the landscapes they once called home. In “Last Home,” her most recent show at the Anderson gallery, Alper uses abstract photography to explore familial intimacy, friendships and personal relationships.

“It got me talking to my grandmother,” Alper said. “I had known that she was a Holocaust survivor, but I’m just now old enough to fully understand the gravity of that. I became interested in her story and I made some work about her experience.”

Alper studies photography at VCU, and she enjoys using film to tell stories. Over the summer, Alper visited Berlin, Germany, with the photography department. Hoping to explore the country of her Jewish ancestors, she enrolled promptly.

“It was perfect because it was a photo study abroad program and also my family immigrated from Berlin and around that area,” Alper said. “I wasn’t really sure what I was going to make there, so I started visiting the locations that related to my family’s past. It’s really hard to track where everybody is and where everybody is from, but I did as much as I could.”

I tried to make ‘Last Home’ something that didn’t just spoon-feed information. If you really wanted to understand, you’d have to walk around, think and look at the plaques. It was more of a connect-thedots, so that even if your family didn’t have ties to the Holocaust you could relate to it in some way.”

Marissa Alper, artist

Alper found the site of her grandmother’s last apartment in Magdeburg, Germany. A McDonald’s now stands in its place. She also found the home of her great-great-grandparents, which was the last place they called home before their records disappeared. Alper believes they were likely sent to a concentration camp, lost among the millions who met the same fate during World War II.

“I started by just visiting and sitting in those locations,” Alper said. “I realized that there were so many unexplainable feelings that I felt, which I couldn’t really grasp at all … I still cannot fully grasp them. So that’s what I started making work about.”

To guide her exploration of Germany, Alper searched for her family members’ Stolperstein, small concrete bricks adorned with brass plaques which commemorate the victims of Nazi persecution. The Stolperstein project, which began in 1992, marks the last homes of over 70,000 people.

Alper’s great-great-grandparents have a Stolperstein marking their last home. Aside from the plaque, the landscape was mostly barren — but on her grandmother’s former homesite, golden arches stand as the only monument in sight.

“It’s confusing,” Alper said. “I’m angry, but I bet you every McDonald’s is built on top of something really intense. So it’s just a strange feeling, and it’s really indescribable. It’s a McDonald’s and it’s also my grandmother’s last home, but it’s really hard to merge the two.”

Alper visited the McDonald’s and ordered french fries. In “Last Home,” the cold, empty fry box was displayed like a historical artifact.

“I think it’s like an access point,” Alper said. “I started using those objects so that others could understand the mixed emotions I was feeling. It’s not just McDonald’s, it’s a symbol for this place that means a lot. And it’s not just about my grandmother. This is a place that so many people had to leave from, and now there’s this huge chain built on top of it.”

Alper’s visit to Berlin helped her reflect on the effects of the Holocaust within the Jewish community. Although she had visited the country on a backpacking trip when she was younger, she said visiting the sites of her family’s history taught her more about the traumatic memories shared by her ancestors.

“I tried to make ‘Last Home’ something that didn’t just spoon-feed information. If you really wanted to understand, you’d have to walk around, think and look at the plaques,” Alper said. “It was more of a connect-the-dots, so that even if your family didn’t have ties to the Holocaust you could relate to it in some way.”

One image in “Last Home” is of Alper and her grandmother. It’s an intimate portrayal of their relationship, produced with a medium-format Hasselblad camera. In the shot, Alper is resting her head on her grandmother’s lap. They are relaxing in her grandmother’s sunny apartment.

“I get a very specific feeling when I want

to be photographing something,” Alper said. “I saw the light streaming in through the window and I had this instinctual urge to capture the moment. My grandma has Parkinson’s disease, so she had to be sitting down. And we weren’t posing, we were just sitting with each other, so it didn’t take hours of planning.”

When she returned from Germany, Alper shared the images she captured with her grandmother. Because she fled the country as a child, Alper’s grandmother was able to see the landscape for the first time in decades. Alper said her grandmother was shocked but glad to see her story preserved.

“I think there’s a fear that people will start forgetting about the Holocaust, since many survivors are starting to die,” Alper said. “So it’s important to capture these stories before they’re gone.”

The site of Alper’s grandmother’s last apartment in Magdeburg, Germany is now home to a McDonald’s, which Alper sat in and ate fries. Photo by Raelyn Fines

Left: Seniors Bella Jenkins and Isabel Griffin flip through pictures in Marissa Alper’s “Last Home” exhibit. Above right: Alper poses in front of an intimate portrait of her and her grandmother. Below right: This piece represents Alper’s great-great grandparent’s last home in Berlin, Germany. Photos by Raelyn Fines

“Star Wars” professor brings comics experience to students

Contributing Writer

Christopher Irving says he took a “long, winding road” to end up where he is today. That road brought him to an interview with Stan Lee, four book publications and a plethora of odd jobs.

Today, he teaches a class at VCU on “Star Wars,” in Franklin Terrace, the same building where he attended studio classes more than 20 years ago.

Irving is teaching his “Star Wars” class with the help of VCU Communication Arts chair TyRuben Ellingson. Ellingson worked with Lucasfilm producing special effects for “Star Wars Episode IV — A New Hope.”

The class examines the influences which led George Lucas to create the film, along with the media that resulted from its massive success, such as the “Star Wars” radio series from the 1980s.

“By the time the students leave, they’ll have their own opinions on George Lucas, for better or for worse. It’ll hopefully give them a better appreciation for what type of director he is in comparison to the type of director he began as,” Irving said.

Next semester, Irving will teach class on the science fiction film genre in which students will watch “A Trip to the Moon,” “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” “Avatar” and “Terminator 2: Judgement Day.” The class will explore the roots of the genre and the way science fiction films reflect social themes throughout history.

“I am super grateful,” Irving said. “Everyday I get to go into the classroom, and it’s a gift. Teaching my students everyday, I almost feel like I’m the one who’s getting more of an education.”

Irving attended VCU from 1995 until 1999. In 1997, Irving was Spectrum editor for the Commonwealth Times. He wrote comic book reviews and once interviewed the author of the DC miniseries “Kingdom Come,” Mark Wade. After graduating with a bachelor’s in fine arts in art education, he started writing for various comic-based publications, including “Comic Buyer’s Guide,” “Comic Book Marketplace” and “Alter Ego.”

“Nowadays, anyone starts a blog and they’re like, ‘now I’m a comics journalist,’” Irving said. “But back then, I was on the tailend of feeling like I really had to prove my-

self. I wanted that gold star from an editor that showed me they liked what I was doing.”

In his 20s, he sought out other jobs to help pay his bills and try new things. In doing so, Irving acquired a variety of unique experiences.

For one year, Irving taught English at his former high school as a long-term substitute. Then Irving applied to be an art teacher at a nearby elementary school. He says he enjoyed these experiences, but that he still wished to pursue comic book journalism. He left elementary art to work a variety of odd jobs, including at a pen store where he discovered his love for fountain pens — he has used them ever since.

After that, he moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, and published his first two novels, including his first comic history book “The Blue Beetle Companion.” After returning to Richmond and working for two years as a copywriter at Circuit City, Irving left for New York. There, with partner and photographer Seth Kushner, Irving launched “Graphic NYC,” a website based on the history of comic books.

At “Graphic NYC,” Irving interviewed more than 70 comic book legends, including Frank Miller, “Captain America” co-creator Joe Simon, Stan Lee and Brian Michael

of American Comic Books.”

As a child, Irving said he gained an interest for comics when his father gave him a copy of “The Great Comic Book Heroes” by Jules Feiffer. Along with Kushner in New York, Irving visited Feiffer’s studio for an interview.

“It was a beautiful studio, like you’d see in movies,” Irving said. “He made me coffee and I played with his dog. I was thinking, ‘this is amazing.’ These were experiences that I couldn’t get anywhere else.”

After the book was published in 2012, Irving went to Brooklyn College for graduate school where he began to miss teaching. He returned to his alma mater to teach comic book history.

“I had several different experiences under my belt,” Irving said. “I think they informed me in ways that someone with just one career would not have had. I’ve published books, I’ve edited books and I’ve even sold fountain pens. So when I came to teach in a classroom at VCU, it all finally made sense to me. All those experiences informed my teaching.”

UPCOMING EVENTS

WED. 11/14

Wellness and Art Pop Up: An herbalist-inspired #shopsmall event

Laura’s Botanicals, which specializes in herbal remedies using local and certified organic resources, is sponsoring an herbalist pop-up. Several local and regional companies and shops will sell materials and provide information on their unique natural products.

9 a.m.–3 p.m., The Broken Tulip (3129 W. Cary St.)

FRI. 11/16

Science After Dark: Playdough Night

Learn how to make your own playdough Science Museum of Virginia for hands-on activities with 400 pounds of playdough.. There will be Cosmic Exhibition shows at 6:30 p.m. and 7:15 p.m., and a showing of “Guardians of the Galaxy” at 8 p.m. The Richmond Astronomical Society will also be stargazing with telescopes on the front lawn. Admission is $10 for the general public and free for museum members and college students with a valid student ID.

5–8 p.m., Science Museum of Virginia (2500 W. Broad St.)

FRI. 11/16 – SAT. 11/17

InLight Richmond 2018

This is a public exhibition of light-based art featuring performances, sculpture, video and interactive projects illuminating the outside of the VMFA. This year’s focus is on community and the idea of “ONE Richmond.”

Fri. 7 p.m.–midnight, Sat. 7–10 p.m., Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (200 N. Boulevard)

WED. 11/14

Making Fairyland in Twentieth Century Miami: Gender, Sexual and Racial Transgressions

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

This is a talk by Julia Capó Jr., associate professor of history at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst as part of the ongoing speaker series “Gender TRANSgressions, Past and Present.” Capó’s book explores Miami’s queer past from 1896 through 1940 and how “gender and sexual renegades made the city their own.”

4–5:30 p.m., VCU Globe (830 W. Grace St.)

THURS. 11/15

Covering the Opioid Epidemic in Virginia Seminar

Join the Virginia Pro and VCU chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists in a facilitated Q&A regarding the opioid epidemic in Virginia. This is designed for working and student journalist who wish to deepen their understanding of the crisis in order to efficiently cover the issue. Speakers will include top state regulators and content experts.

6–9 p.m., Edward T. Temple Building room 1165 (901 W. Main St.)

SAT. 11/17

The State of Criminal Justice Reform in Virginia 2018

Join the Virginia State Conference, NAACP Criminal Justice Committee, Virginia Civic Engagement Table, NOVA Coalition and ACLU VA for a conference regarding the state of criminal justice reform in Virginia. The event is free and includes panel discussions, speakers and group work.

7:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Greater Richmond Convention Center (403 N. 3rd St.)

ANDREW RINGLE

Bendis. Kushner photographed the subjects and Irving wrote critical essays on their lives and careers. They compiled that work into Irving’s novel, “Leaping Tall Buildings: The Origin

Christopher Irving was an art student at VCU in the ‘90s and has since interviewed prominent comic book artists and writers, including Stan Lee. Photo by Erin Edgerton

Irving’s class examines the influences that led George Lucas to create “Star Wars” and allows the students to form their own opinions on the famous director. Photo by Erin Edgerton

Student exhibition showcases black and brown experience

KATIE BASHISTA

Spectrum Editor

Black Art Student Empowerment at VCU, also known as BASE, held its fourth annual showcase Friday at the Anderson gallery with the theme of Afro-Futurism through Artistic Eyes.

BASE aims to promote creativity and advance awareness of black artistic ability. Corey Lightner, the organization’s president, describes it as a community where people work together to make bigger and better art.

“As long as you have a creative mind and you want to inspire people and you want to make stuff, come on in. That’s what we want,” he said. “That’s what BASE is all about, you don’t have to be an artist just to make creative things.”

The majority of participants in this year’s showcase are BASE members, and some

of the artists paid a fee to display their art. Exhibits included videos, photographs and mixed-media displays.

Daniel Diasgranados showed a piece called “lazer fade” — part of a larger photo series called “Voyager.”

“It’s a mixed-media photography, design and video piece that contemplates growing up, being black and brown in the DMV,” Diasgranados said.

Diasgranados uses scientific language, fantasy and fiction in his work and merges his early practices with his new projects. He has experience in album art and art direction, working for XO Records, and he takes the visual language from his designs and applies it to his photography.

“[Lazer fade] is basically a photograph that operates like a still image … almost like storyboarding,” he said. “So you’re basically seeing a scene from a thought form,

a combination from experiences my friends and I have, normal mundane experiences like getting your haircut. And then I combine those experiences with science fiction language or surrealist language.”

Photography and film major D’Anna Johnson based her work, “The You are Special Project” on a children’s book by the same name, which centers around the idea of embracing one’s uniqueness.

“It’s a portrait project [featuring] a collection of black models of all different skills and comfortability in front of the camera,” she said. “When I was shooting these men, I wanted it to be open and vulnerable and give them their freedom to express themselves in a way in front of the camera that shows who they truly are.”

VCU student Chris Stapleton revealed an intimate part of his life in his piece “Semicolon.” Stapleton’s piece was an ex -

act replica of his room from 2012 to 2014, when he suffered from depression.

“Music got me out of it, so essentially that’s pretty much my whole take on what depression really feels like deep down inside the worries, the messiness, the disorientation. All that is pretty much what I felt,” he said. “And I feel like a lot of people feel that, so I kind of wanted to give artwork that people can really relate to and not feel like they’re all alone with it.”

Stapleton said BASE is all about empowering black artists and giving black students a voice. He said the artists involved are talented and use art as a vehicle to express their struggles, giving people something to relate to.

“What I want people to really take away from this is to just kind of relate as best as you can. Open up,” Stapleton said. “Avoid all the [categories] like black, white, and just really embrace art and see what you feel.”

seems to be a cheap laugh. He disappears as soon as he enters the story, making the audience question the point of his introduction.

The characterization of Whoville and the world itself feels empty and boring. The surreal illustrations in the Dr. Seuss original are watered down in this version and it takes away the whimsical feel of the town itself.

LANDON ROBERTS

Contributing Writer

Dr. Seuss’ “The Grinch” is a story of heart, forgiveness and unity. However, the 2018 adaptation on the holiday story abandons these themes and, instead, leaves an empty shell of immature jokes and half-baked attempts at emotion.

The plot of the story recounts the Grinch’s typical attempts to ruin Christmas for the village of Whoville.

While this iteration of the classic tale follows this plotline, there are too many useless filler scenarios that don’t drive the story forward. Many of these scenarios are beautifully animated, but it never distracts from the mindless actions.

Even characters like Cindy Lou Who, who tends to be the heart of previous adaptations, are subject to these side stories that lead to nothing. If more time was spent establishing her friendship with the Grinch, the ending’s payoff might have felt more earned.

The one satisfying relationship is that between the Grinch and his dog, Max. Al-

most all of their interactions are adorable and provide for the most laughs. However, this relationship contradicts the idea of the Grinch being sinister and heartless. So when his heart grows three times its size, the change isn’t noticeable.

The relationship between Max and the Grinch is derailed with the introduction of a reindeer character, whose only purpose

The only whimsy found throughout the film is with some of the voice performances. Benedict Cumberbatch’s Grinch may not be completely sinister, but he brings a wheezing voice to the character that fits well with the animation

Kenan Thompson seems like he is having the most fun as Mr. Bricklebaum, an especially joyous member of Whoville. The energy he brings to the voice is contagious and it’s hard not to smile when he speaks about his love for the holiday season.

While these voice performances added some sort of energy to the film, the boring filler sequences made up of joyless action are a husk of the classic story. Without the heart or surreal nature of Dr. Seuss’ original, the audience is left with a drag of an experience.

“The Grinch” fails to live up to meaner, greener previous adaptations

LANDON’S OUTLOOK

Illustration by Kayleigh Conroy

Left: Black Art Student Empowerment is a student organization that aims to promote Black artists and enrich creatives in the community. Right: “The You are Special Project” by D’Anna Johnson features black models with different skill levels being vulnerable in front of the camera. Photos by Raelyn Fines

Plastic Nancy, doe deer and Toward Space give powerful performances at the Plastic Palace

ALEX BIRCH

Contributing Writer

Doe deer, Plastic Nancy and Toward Space played a house show in a small, crowded Oregon Hill apartment called Plastic Palace Nov. 9.

Doe deer is a four-piece band based out of Fredericksburg, Virginia, composed of Nabeel Mirza on vocals and guitar, guitarist Matt Leibowitz, Paul King on bass and drummer Forrest Fallon. They describe their sound as somewhere between jangly surf pop and lo-fi.

Most of the inspiration for their music comes from underground indie bands and much of their sound can be attributed to the lead singer’s vocal style.

“Some Teen Suicide, maybe some Quarterbacks,” King said. “We just try to match Nabeel’s energy.”

With the exception of Fallon, the band is still in college — Leibowitz, King and Mirza are finishing up their senior years at University of Mary Washington, where they all originally met. While they were friends for some time, doe deer’s current lineup only recently came to fruition. Their first live performance was at the Songbyrd Music House and Record Cafe in Washington, D.C. at the end of August.

“We opened for a solo act. I guess they didn’t realize how loud we were,” Mirza said. “We also almost sold out a DC9 [Nightclub] show opening for Slaughter Beach.

It’s been interesting.”

Doe deer has never played a show in Fredericksburg — and does not expect to in the future. They have performed in Richmond a few times, but a majority of their performances are in D.C.

“The Fredericksburg music scene died … they got all these new noise ordinances,” Leibowitz said. “So no house shows, and even the parties get shut down by 9:30 p.m. So kids at UMW have no reason to stay in

VCU’s newly-established drumline seeks place in community

WALTER CHIDOZIE ANYANWU

Contributing Writer

Students have tried to start a VCU drumline for years, but their efforts never came to fruition because of a lack of proper leadership, enthusiasm and resources — that changed in 2017.

Larry Cauley — who worked with drumlines at the University of Virginia and started one with the Philadelphia Eagles — along with a group of students, decided to take another shot at starting a drumline. By September of last year, they assembled a baseline troupe of two cymbals, six snares, three tenors and six bass players.

A year after assembling, the drumline is trying to expand its band of percussionists and solidify its position on campus as a bonafide musical ensemble.

All the band members have some level of prior experience with percussive instruments. Some of them have even played their instruments for more than a decade, including sophomore Mack Shank, the drumline’s captain.

“I started playing drums when I was 4 on a drumset, and I fell in love with the instrument,” Shank said. “My dad played drums all the time so it was in my blood I guess … it’s a really good stress reliever and it’s really good for little kids with a lot of energy.”

For two years, Shank honed his skills by participating competitively in what he described as a “military-style” summer-long program with a highly regimented drumline. His time in high school inspired him

to take steps toward establishing a drumline at VCU.

“It was a big thing for me,” Shank said. “We got some drums, got some people and started from the ground up. We played a bunch of gigs, that’s kind of how we got on our feet.”

VCU’s pep band, The Peppas, has been around much longer, is well established and recognized and is an important part of the athletics tradition and culture at VCU.

“It’s not necessarily a competition,” Shank said of the dynamic between drumline and The Peppas.

“I wouldn’t actually say we’re any different from them because a lot of the people in drumline play with The Peppas in the games, too,” said Samuel Lewis, a junior at VCU and one of the clarinet players. “We’re more of a supporting group for them. We work hand in hand with them, and I feel like we’ve built a good relationship [with] them now.”

The drumline has already collaborated with The Peppas, playing at the last year’s Christmas parade and at the opening of the Institute of Contemporary Art at VCU earlier this year.

As the drumline goes on, the group looks to carve out a niche for itself and establish new traditions at VCU. Shank compared the group to the 2002 film “Drumline.”

“It’s really that style of playing [from ‘Drumline’] because that’s what appeals to VCU kids,” Shank said. “We don’t want to go and be too serious about it. We want to have fun and we want to put on a show for people.”

Fredericksburg over the weekend.”

The four-piece wants to go on a U.S. tour with Plastic Nancy, another band that performed at the Plastic Palace — and also, the owners of the house.

Local four-piece band Plastic Nancy is comprised of lead vocalist and guitar player Sam Schneider, drummer Brian Albertson, guitarist John DeGarmo and bassist Mike Reyes. They define their sound as their own flavor of psychedelic rock, taking inspiration from “the confusion of existence, and the profound disorientation that comes from being alive,” according to DeGarmo.

They also cite major influences from

iconic ‘60s musicians, such as The Beatles, Neil Young and Grateful Dead, which led to their peculiar name.

“There’s this band from the ‘60s — kind of a folk-psychedelic band called Love,” Schneider said. “On their most famous record, they had a song lyric that went ‘Plastic Nancy, she’s so fancy.’ And I felt that captured the influence of that era in our music.”

Plastic Nancy’s performance lived up to their influences with a wall of skull-crushing sound. The band even played some new material for the first time.

Doe deer followed with a stellar performance combining tight playing with rock ‘n’ roll showmanship. A highlight of their set was Mirza leaning backward into the frenzied crowd, relying on their support as he blazed through a crunching riff on guitar. The last act, Toward Space, was just as lightning-packed.

Doe deer is in the process of re-recording old material and hope to release an album with new songs by New Year’s. Plastic Nancy also plan on releasing an album soon, but no hard date has been announced. Toward Space released an album in September, which is available on all music streaming services.

VCU’s drumline was established in 2017 with the help of Larry Cauley, an experienced instructor who started a drumline with the Philadelphia Eagles. Photo by Michel Maulding

Fredericksburg-based band, doe deer, consists of four members, three of which attend the University of Mary Washington. Photo by Alex Birch

Quote of the week

Respecting all identities: LGB don’t forget the T

BRIANNA

Staff Writer

SCOTT

In October, the Trump administration’s plans to crack down on transgender rights and policies were leaked to the public. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services plans to redefine gender as strictly biological, which would roll back the definition of gender as an individual’s decision, removing civil rights granted to transgender people under the Obama administration.

Furthermore, the Trump administration wants to remove “gender” from UN human rights documents, and the Department of Justice is trying to declare that businesses are allowed to discriminate against transgender people — because transgender doesn’t adhere to the standards set under “sex.”

None of this is necessarily shocking, since after President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence were sworn into office, all mentions of LGBTQ issues were removed from the White House website.

Trump and Pence never had the interests of LGBTQ people in mind, even if Trump keeps saying his decisions are the best for everyone.

The administration wants gender to be defined so it is “biological, grounded in science and administrable.”

But gender isn’t something that can be controlled by outside forces. Without jumping too far down the rabbit hole, gender and sex are two different things. Gender is fluid and based on spectrum. It’s how a person identifies and has noth-

ing to do with your genitals. Even so, the administration trying to define gender in a binary, narrow way would exclude intersex people who don’t have reproductive or sexual anatomy that fits into the traditional definitions of female or male.

Plans to redefine gender as strictly biological and “grounded in science,” would invalidate and endanger nearly 1.4 million Americans who identify as transgender.

Transphobia and anxiety around trans folks stems back decades and decades.

Trans men and women led the fight in the LGBTQ liberation movement, spurred by the 1969 Stonewall Riots.

People don’t like what they can’t understand and when people can’t get outside of

their binary box, they oppress those who are simply trying to live their truth.

Of more than 6,000 hate crimes reported to the FBI in 2016 — a five percent increase from the previous year — more than 1,000 were based on sexual orientation bias, and 124 were based on gender identity bias.

During this “Trump” era, the president has emboldened people who already embraced transphobic and homophobic ideals. His future plans pertaining to trans people will only further that hate. Trump wants to make it illegal and almost forbidden to identify outside the binary, and he’s trying to make it legal for people to discriminate against them.

It’s a scary time to be trans right now — but when hasn’t it been?

We often forget trans people in the queer community because marriage equality has been achieved — but hate crimes and discrimination against gay couples didn’t cease when they were able to marry. The struggle to achieve freedom in the queer community is an ongoing fight.

I’m calling on the LGBTQ community and cisgender people to embolden trans voices during this time and use any privilege you have to protect them. As a black, cisgender queer woman, I still have a lot of privilege because I’ll never know what it’s like to be trans.

I’ll never know what it’s like to fear coming out as trans to a partner because they may kill me.

I’ll never know what it’s like to figure out which bathroom I should use for my own safety and comfort.

I’ll never know what it’s like for people to misgender me and invalidate my gender and call me an “it.”

A lot of us will never know this and we have to be mindful of our cis privilege during these times and how we can leverage that to uplift trans folks without speaking over them or for them.

I’m not sure what will happen under the Trump administration to trans folks, but I do know that I have to ask myself what I am I willing to do to protect them and stand in solidarity with them.

Because we cannot be truly free from the chains of oppression until everyone is free.

VCU dining fails to accomodate student diversity

ORIZO HAJIGURBAN

Contributing

Writer

VCU takes great pride in the diversity of its student body. But when it comes to food, it does not accommodate that diversity.

A lot of people are familiar with the term halal, but many people don’t know what that term actually means — halal meat encompasses kosher and zabiha. Here’s a little crash course: halal, literally meaning “permissible,” is when the animal is raised and slaughtered in a humane way. In both zabiha and kosher preparation, blood should be completely drained from an animal because of the toxins, germs and bacteria in the blood. The two types of meat are prepared exactly the same, except with zabiha, a prayer is said in Arabic before the animal is killed. And for kosher, the meat must be slaughtered by a ritual slaughterer, according to the laws of the Torah. Typically, Muslims make a personal choice of the type of food they wish to eat; some eat food that is only zabiha, others eat anything that falls under the all-encompassing label.

Many Muslims I know consider zabiha and kosher interchangeable, so they do not limit themselves to eating only zabiha meat. But other Muslims, who only eat zabiha food, are limited when it comes to food options on campus. For example,

I have many friends that only eat zabiha food, yet they eat Chick-fil-A in the University Student Commons because the chicken is kosher. The lack of zabiha options on campus causes students to make a decision — either change how they observe their religion or struggle to find food that accommodates it.

Although we may have some zabiha and kosher options nearby, the same incessant menu becomes mundane. Some of the most well-known restaurants on and around campus with kosher and zabiha options are Chick-fil-A and CAVA’s lamb. On the flip side, non-halal options are abundant and don’t cost extra (unlike the lamb at CAVA). The lack of available and affordable variety often forces Muslim students to seek meal options outside of the university’s dining plan.

There are many ways for VCU Dining Services to provide more inclusive dining options on campus; a great starting point would be Shafer Dining Hall. Every year, we get new food options. Maybe instead of the new smoothie bar, Shake Smart, students could benefit more from a Halal Guys — the fast-casual chain based off the well-loved New York food cart. Zabiha and kosher grab-and-go options in the Commons would be another step in the right direction, especially for students who just need a quick bite to eat between classes.

Adding a few more dining options on the meal plan to accommodate for incoming students of different religions and cultures is necessary. As a freshman, starting college with a halal dietary restriction can be nerve-wracking, especially if your university, which prides itself on diversity, does not offer a wide variety of dining options.

Ultimately, everyone’s diet should be accomodated — especially if the group makes

up a large part of the student body, as well as the country. It is VCU’s responsibility to support its students’ diverse nutritional needs. Coming into a diverse university, people expect accessible nutritional freedom. With a hefty tuition bill and heavy academic load, finding a source of food that fits a prominent lifestyle should be the least of anyone’s worries.

“I’ve been the luckiest man in the world because I’ve had friends, and to have the right friends is everything: people you can depend on, people who tell you the truth if you ask something.” — Stan Lee

Illustration by Lindsay Hart

Illustration by Steck Von

Referrals: VCU counseling’s solution to long-term care

MOIRA SNYDER

Contributing Writer

VCU is home to more than 30,000 students — each of whom have their own personal struggles and strifes. It is the job of University Counseling Services to address those struggles, but that is not always the case.

Through individual and group therapy sessions, UCS attempts to handle the university’s large population of individual needs, but students are often referred to practitioners off campus. Although the office has some programs and treatment efforts in place to support students the department is not large enough to properly support a student body of VCU’s size and diversity.

surance that covers mental health care.

When students go in for a first appointment at UCS, they are asked a list of questions about their safety and the safety of others, as well as why they are seeking counseling. At the very end of the questionnaire, students are asked about health insurance.

who cannot properly afford them if they do not have health insurance. It discourages students from going to UCS for support, making the students’ struggles more difficult.

If the physician working with a student thinks the work of practitioners outside the university is necessary, the student is evaluated and then often referred elsewhere. The problem with students being referred to off-campus therapists is these services cost money and require students have health in-

The last question is to make sure that one of the therapists on UCS’ referral list is covered by the student’s healthcare provider. If a university therapist sees fit, they may refer students to an outside practitioner if the student needs more long-term treatment than UCS can offer. However, this decision is completely left to the student’s therapist.

Referrals to off-campus services are impractical and expensive for students

The reason behind UCS’ inability to continue treatment is due to a lack of clinicians to support the large student population. UCS should offer long-term treatment services for all students on campus because students pay tuition, as well as for housing and books, among other fees — all fees that support living a sustainable life at VCU for a majority of the year. Because of all the fees students pay, the university should provide long-term care, not refer students to

An Ode to Self Care

to tell who you’re attracted to that you’re attracted to them? Playing hard to get only works if you don’t have to ask how to do it, in my humble opinion. You’re not the main bill in a rom com, cut it out. Playing hard to get is extremely overrated. Try being vulnerable instead.

How does one navigate running into an ex who clearly has feelings for you but you’ve moved on (either in your mind or heart or both)?

for more than I’m willing to give. Is the problem really me here?

practitioners where they will have to cover additional costs for treatment and care. Students’ mental health is important and should be considered when being seen and before being referred to outside, off-campus services.

For students who do struggle with mental health and find themselves without a regular physician to turn to, the VCU Police crisis hotline is (804) 8281234 and licensed therapist is available 24/7 for students in need. The number for the national suicide hotline is 1-800237-TALK (8255).

SHAUN JACKSON Staff Columnist

How do you become hard to get? Do you just have to be an amazing, cool person and choosy about who you date?

I don’t think having standards — to a degree — has ever hurt anyone, but there is such a thing as being too choosy. Moreover, I am having difficulty trying to decipher why you would want to play hard to get. Wouldn’t it be much easier

Hmmm, this can be tough depending on how amicable things were when it ended between you two. Usually, I like to contend that when a relationship is over, you no longer owe that person a damn thing. Believe me, this is easier said than done. (I’m the queen of replying to texts I know damn well I shouldn’t give the time of day.) Ultimately, that person’s feelings are just that. It does not fall on you to navigate those feelings or even explain them. That’s for them to navigate, and you should not be held back in any way because of it.

My boyfriend makes me feel that I owe him sexual favors in return for how much he’s been there for me emotionally. When I don’t comply with everything he requests, I’m told that I’m asking

Girl, I love how you bought this. NO! You probably needed to hear it from an external force, but the same thing your best friend, cousin, mom, and guidance counselor probably told you is true: the problem isn’t you, it’s him! First of all, he is not there for you emotionally; he is tolerating you so he can emotionally blackmail you for sex later. He sounds like a petulant, fedora-clad manchild that is probably posting on a “Not All Men” subreddit as we speak. Do yourself a big favor and remove him from your life. No one needs that kind of vindictive manipulation and toxicity in their life.

I recently met someone who I feel I connect with on a deep personal level and share oddly similar life goals and views with, and as a result would like to ask out. The problem is, I don’t think she would ever feel the same and even if she did, we are both at a bad time in our lives to date with traveling and post-grad plans interfering with any dating. Should I risk ruining our possible best-friendship by asking her out or just be content with being single and developing a close friendship?

Honestly, no one will ever know until you try. If you guys are as close friends as you say, this will be but a bump in the road that you guys will laugh about later. On the other hand, maybe she’s feeling the same way and she’s just as afraid — if not more so — than you and now you guys are stuck in this limbo of “will they or won’t they.” It’s probably killing you both but you’re both too oblivious to see it.

Recommended listening while reading:

“THANK U, NEXT”

Ariana Grande

Illustration by Summer McClure

Referrals to offcampus services are impractical and expensive for students who cannot properly afford them if they do not have health insurance.”

Moira Snyder, contributing writer

Mindfulness: a simple solution to complex problems

MARGARETTA SACKOR Contributing Writer

Practicing mindfulness has become more popular in recent years.

Mindfulness is the idea of being present wherever you are. It’s keeping a calm mind and not overreacting to situations around you which might cause stress. It’s being internally calm and allowing that to reflect on the outside.

While being mindful includes the basic practice of meditation, some people don’t really understand what it fully encompasses. Mindfulness can help ease anxiety, lower stress levels and mitigate depression; it amazes me that people don’t practice it more often. Doctors don’t teach mindfulness because it isn’t something pharmaceutical companies can sell — but in my opinion, it is the best medicine around for mental health issues.

I struggle with severe depression that keeps me down for months at a time and sometimes, it feels almost impossible to get back on my feet. By practicing mindfulness, I get through my depression without losing my sanity. It helps me focus on what’s really important, instead of stressing over things I can’t control. But during an anxiety attack, it takes a little extra time to get there.

My anxiety attacks make me feel like I can’t breathe and I’m about to pass out. My heart speeds up and it feels like I’m losing control. My breathing accelerates even as I try to control and level it. Sometimes, the only thing that works is mindfulness; medical practitioners should take that into account when addressing mental health.

When I practice mindfulness, it doesn’t require too much. But regardless of how far you immerse yourself in it, you have to be dedicated in order for mindfulness to work.

My mindfulness consists of simple breathing exercises that I typically do a few times a day. At the end of the night, I

sometimes do mindful yoga — which focuses on breathing and centering yourself — and meditate before going to bed. Meditation further helps me remain present and clears my head of a stressful day.

Mindfulness can be as simple as going for a walk and, instead of focusing on your problems, focus on the sounds around you; the wind hitting your face; the smells in the air. Simply taking a walk gives you a chance to focus on something other than your problems — and keeps you from making any impulsive decisions.

Even journaling can be a form of mindfulness, because it allows you to focus on one thing at a time. You can put

your thoughts on a page, clear your mind and think freely. One thing that makes the mindful experience even better is getting away from technology. Turning your phone off for a while can be refreshing, because you won’t be tied to the social media world. The need to know everything going on outside of your own life is simply a distraction that technology fuels. When you focus on your phone instead of tackling your problems, it only delays the solution.

Now while this won’t magically make all your problems disappear, it will help you feel more confident facing those problems with a clear mindset.

Last year, I worked a teaching assistant for a professor who started each class with short-guided mindful meditation. Afterwards, some students reported feeling better and thought it was beneficial.

These couple of minutes gave the students time to put all their problems to the side instead of focusing on them during class. If more professors implemented similar mindful tactics, it could help students succeed academically.

There are several studies that prove mindfulness reduces stress levels and mitigates anxiety, but somehow, it isn’t the first choice in the medical field. I, for one, don’t take anxiety medication — because I’m privileged to not have severe anxiety.

But mindfulness is another option to helping anxiety, depression and stress rather than taking pills that suppress your emotions and turn you into a walking zombie. Even people who do not have mental health issues can benefit from mindful practices and the weight it can take off your shoulders.

Gaining independence and realizing fear

MARLON MCKAY Contributing Writer

problems, consider them one-off situations that you don’t have to worry about ever happening to you. I used to think like that, and sometimes I still do — most of the time I tend to see the world through rose-colored glasses. I wouldn’t say I ignore harsh news stories; I’ve just been lucky enough to not experience racism first-hand, so I never really considered how deeply it affected me or my community.

What began to change my naiveté was a combination of the increased reporting on police brutality against African-Americans and the independence college gave me. I wasn’t under my mother’s watchful eye anymore and I quickly realized what it meant to be a black man in America. I had to take care of myself; and that meant taking into account the world around me.

With how many social advancements the U.S. has made from desegregation in the 1950s to the election of our first black president in 2008, it’s disappointing how much progress is still needed for everyone to feel equal.

Before, it was easy to ignore these

My behavior began to change. When I went out at night I started to think twice before wearing a hoodie. I made excuses to call my mother whenever I was walking just to feel like I’m not walking alone. I can’t help but feel like there’s always a

chance that I might be attacked — or worse, shot — by somebody because of the color of my skin.

news breaks. The truth is, we aren’t. Recent events are just a reminder about how far we are from really getting past these issues that are rooted so deep in our country’s culture.

Even here at VCU — where I’ve come to feel safe and welcomed in a diverse campus setting — there still exists racism, including the recent allegations against a professor for calling security on a black colleague in the art school. Even though it wasn’t in my department, it took away some of the security I felt when on campus. Now there’s this added chance above my head of being persecuted while waiting for a class or simply walking across campus.

It’s gotten to the point that I’m not even that shocked anymore when I see a new headline about a racist or otherwise prejudiced crime, such as the recent shootings in Kentucky and Pittsburgh.

People often say, “I thought we were past this,” whenever this type of

Any sense of security I had is quickly fleeting away. As people protest the presence of Confederate flags and statues because of links to slavery, white supremacists are trying to gain power. If you aren’t a white “American” there are no safe places to turn.

Illustration by Steck Von

I can’t help but feel like there’s always a chance that I might be attacked, or worse, shot by somebody because of the color of my skin. ”

Marlon McKay, contributing writer

Illustration by Julia Gilbert

Doctors don’t teach mindfulness because it isn’t something pharmaceutical companies can sell but in my opinoin, it is the best medicine around for mental health issues. ”

Margaretta Sackor, contributing writer

When the bread gets you by Georgia Geen

Playlist by Madeline De-Michele

THE CT STAFF

EXECUTIVE EDITOR

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MANAGING EDITOR Georgia Geen geengr@commonwealthtimes.org

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