The Commonwealth Times; November 13, 2017

BEST SMALL, NON-DAILY —2017 Virginia Press Association The independent press of Virginia Commonwealth University

November 13, 2017 • Vol. 59, No. 12

SPORTS Volley• 5

SPECTRUM Yesika Selgado• 8

OPINIONS 2017 Election• 11

Democrats sweep statewide elections Governor

Ralph Northam 1,404,573 53.90% Ed Gillespie 1,173,222 45.02%

Lt. Gov.

Cliff Hyra 27,972 1.07%

Attorney General

HIBA AHMAD News Editor More than 34 percent of college students showed up to the polls Nov. 7 and voted overwhelmingly democratic, according to Virginia Public Access Project. This comes as a stark increase to the roughly 26 percent of college voters in 2013.

Roughly 72 percent of registered college students voted for Lt. Gov.

Justin Fairfax 1,362,124 52.70% Jill Vogel 1,222,790 47.30%

Ralph Northam, the democratic candidate for governor, compared to the 26 percent who voted for republican Ed Gillespie.

For the first time, the Student Commons was a voting location where students living in campus dorms could cast their ballots.

“VCU had people outside offering to help us register to vote for here and they obviously had it close to our living quarters which made it

Mark Herring* 1,380,022 53.33% John Adams 1,207,503 46.67%

Virginia Voter Turnout

2013 42.7% really easy,” said freshman Patrick Williams.

Forty-seven percent of Virginians voted in this year’s statewide elections. Democrats broke barriers after they flipped traditionally red districts blue and elected a more diverse set of state legislators.

Northam defeated Gillespie with 53.9 percent of the vote versus Gillespie’s 45 percent. Virginia also elected its first transgender woman,

2017 47.6% first openly lesbian woman and flipped traditionally Republican districts Democrat.

Danica Roem (D-13) took home a historic win Tuesday night when she defeated long-time 13th district delegate Bob Marshall who is known for his anti-LGBTQ comments. Marshall fell under national scrutiny when he tried to pass a bill that would discriminate against transgender people from using the

House Partisan Split Change: +15 Democrats

PHOTO BY ERIN EDGERTON

NEWS Sam Quinoes• 2

Seats: 51 Rep.49 Dem.

bathroom of their choice in public spaces.

In a press call, Roem said she was grateful for the awareness that this year’s election to her district, but wants to focus on the issues that won her the seat in the first place.

“Be who you are and be well,” Roem said. “It’s okay to champion who you are and while you are doing it make sure you’re relating to issues that affect the people in your

district. The core quality life issues in your area.”

The number of women elected to state legislature also came as a surprise to many of their incumbents in historically republican districts.

As of now, 11 women have won seats in the House compared to the 17 from previous years. continue on page 3

SIONA PETEROUS Spectrum Editor

NICK VERSAW Staff Writer VCU basketball put on a dominant showing Friday night in their season opener as they dismantled visiting Grambling State University 94-55 at the Siegel Center.

The game marked a significant milestone for the Black and Gold, as it was the program’s 100th-consecutive sellout. Newly-crowned coach Mike Rhoades — who was with the program at the sellout streak’s onset in January 2011 as part of Shaka Smart’s staff — said it was an honor to open his VCU’s head coaching career on such a

momentous occasion.

“It was a big night for VCU basketball,” Rhoades said. “I’m totally honored to be the coach here in our first game…when I was walking out, I was like, ‘This is really happening. I’m the coach at VCU,’ and I don’t take it lightly.”

The Rams were led by senior forward Justin Tillman and senior guard Johnny Williams, as the duo — along with sophomore guard/forward De’Riante Jenkins — led the team in scoring with 14 points each. Tillman also slotted in 10 rebounds in just 17 minutes of action to tally the game’s only double-double performance. continued on page 6

VCU’s student-led chapter of Amnesty International hosted a community engagement panel on Nov. 7 to discuss how the public education system targets minority students, especially young black men, for the prison system.

The school-to-prison pipeline is a discussion throughout the country, but Monica Kelley, president of VCU’s Amnesty International, said the panel was crucial in Richmond because Virginia has the highest rate of incarcerated youth in the United States.

According to a 2015 Center of Public Integrity report, around 10,000 youths are incarcerated every year in the state.

“Out of school suspension, police presence in schools, zero tolerance policies all are factors that push stu-

dents out of school due to discriminatory application of the rules,” Kelley said. “This disportionately affects the most vulnerable in our community -- children with history of abuse, neglect, brown and Black children and disabled children.

Kelley moderated the hour-long panel which featured four Richmond based community activists and educators who work within youth prison system.

“A lot of school environments, the architecture itself, resembles a prison.” said panelist Rebecca Keel.

“They are concrete, there are metal detectors, there are more school resource officers than counselors and teachers at times. It primes our young people how it is to be heavily surveillanced like a prison.”

Keel is a juvenile justice organizer at the Legal Aid Justice Center in Richmond who works on creating alternatives to youth incarceration. continued on page 3 The panel featured four Richmond based community activists and educators who work within youth prison system.

PHOTO BY RAEYLN FINES

Basketball keepin’ Panel tackles high incarceration in minority communities it a hundred

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news

The Commonwealth Times

CRIME LOG Monday, November 8 Theft Pollak Building 325 N. Harrison St. Pending Larceny 801 W. Franklin St. Pending

Pornography/Obscene Material 711 W. Main St. Closed Burglary - Residential 5 S. Morris St Outside Agency Swindling Aladdin Express 801 W. Broad St. Outside Agency Destruction of Property 200 S. Laurel St. Outside Agency

Major tech companies invest in Richmond, but is it paying off?

Swindling 518 W. Grace St. Outside Agency

ILLUSTRATION BY IIAN DUFFUS

Shoplifting 520 W. Broad St. Outside Agency Hit and Run 800 W. Broad St. Outside Agency Tuesday 11/7

Hit and Run 100 N. Cherry St. Pending Drug Violation Cary & Belvidere Residence Hall 301 W. Cary St. Closed Simple Assault 421 W. Grace St. Outside Agency Shoplifting ABC 1217 W. Broad St. Outside Agency

Tuesday, November 9 Drug Violation 400 Shafer St. Closed Burglary 1420 W. Clay St. Outside Agency Destruction of Property 715 W. Leigh St. Outside Agency Larceny 1510 W. Broad St Outside Agency Hit and Run 400 N. Belvidere St. Outside Agency Shoplifting ABC 1217 West Broad St. Outside Agency Theft 1020 W. Franklin St. Outside Agency

Wednesday, November 10 Drug Violation 400 Shafer St. Closed

SARAROSE MARTIN Staff Writer Silicon valley giant, Facebook recently announced plans to build a $1 billion data center in Henrico County that will bring roughly 100 jobs.

The social media and networking company based in California will invest the $1 billion in a 1 million-square-foot data center in White Oak Technology Park, located in eastern Henrico. The center will cost $750 million to build and is expected to create thousands of jobs.

Henrico Deputy County Manager for Community Development Randall Silber said a minimum of 100 jobs will be created when the data center goes online in 2019.

Hundreds of construction jobs will be created over the next few years. The project that they will be working on will consist of three buildings that are up to 2.5 million square feet, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Quinones sheds light on national opioid crisis

Burglary 1420 W. Clay St. Outside Agency

SAFFEYA AHMED Contributing Writer

Destruction of Property 715 W. Leigh St. Outside Agency

Author and investigative journalist Sam Quinones urged the community to change how they address the ongoing opioid epidemic facing the U.S. on Nov. 6 during his talk at VCU. Quinones, renowned author of “Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic,” proposed solutions to the widespread crisis he addressed in his book. Ultimately, Quinones said the solution cannot come from drug antidotes, restrictions and regulations.

The solution lies in rebuilding community.

“Dreamland,” published in 2015 and chosen as VCU’s Common Book for the 2017-18 school year, tells the plaguing tale of the opioid crisis in America through the narratives of people living in Portsmouth, Ohio.

Opioid overdoses remain the leading cause of death for Americans over 50. With nearly 64,000 overdose fatalities in 2016, a 22 percent increase from the year before, the epidemic is on the rise.

Deaths from prescription opiates have quadrupled since 1999, according to the Center for Disease Control.

Opioids are drugs used to relieve pain by slowing down the body’s nervous system. The epidemic in the U.S. encompasses legal drugs such as fentanyl, morphine and codeine, as well as illegal drugs like heroin.

Larceny 1510 W. Broad St Outside Agency Hit and Run 400 N. Belvidere St. Outside Agency Shoplifting ABC 1217 West Broad St. Outside Agency Theft 1020 W. Franklin St. Outside Agency

Thursday, Novemer 11 Trespassing Grace E. Harris Hall 1015 Floyd Ave. Closed Hit and Run Main Street Deck 801 W. Main St.

Download the VCU LiveSafe mobile phone app to report crimes anonymously.

To contact the VCU PD: (804) 828-1196.

For an on-campus emergency: (804) 828-1234.

For an off-campus emergency: 911.

“The impact will be large from a tax revenue perspective and not heavily impact county services such as schools, roads and public safety,” Silber said. “Adding Facebook to the county’s portfolio of quality businesses will be significant and place Henrico ‘on the map’ for other data centers looking for new locations.”

Henrico County Manager John Vithoulkas is most excited for Facebook’s interest in community involvement.

“They are a values-based organization that wants to become part of the community and so for us, the biggest opportunities exist within our K-12 schools,” Vithoulkas said.

“Having their knowledge, participation, expertise and commitment I think is going to be incredibly beneficial for our school system.”

According to Vithoulkas, most of the jobs in the center will be highly technical, dealing with maintaining computers. Fabrizio Fasulo, Director of the Center for Urban and Regional Analysis

(CURA) at VCU, said data center jobs typically require a medium to high level of skill.

Of the $750 million invested for building the center, some may go into other states but plans to benefit Richmond’s regional economy as a whole.

“It looks like a bulk of work is going to be subcontracted with local firms from the Richmond MSA, so the whole regional economy is going to benefit from it,” Fasulo said. “And then there’s a fraction of the investment of the $750 million that are going to go in other states , Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Tennessee and so forth. So not all investments are going to stay here but for sure it’s going to have a ripple effect and we’re going to see a sizeable economic impact.”

Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced $250 million of the investment will be allocated towards new solar activities in the Commonwealth, so the data center will run on 100 percent renewable energy. “$250 million investment in re-

newable energy in Virginia means that we’re going to have a sizeable boost in that industry sector and that’s an industry sector that right now is making the fortunes of countries like Germany and China,” Fasulo said. “That’s going to be the economy of the 21st century.”

Most recently, Amazon has proposed their second headquarter location in Virginia. The company is looking at 10 sites in Virginia, three of them in the Richmond-area. The proposal states the headquarters would bring over 50,000 jobs and expects to spend over $5 billion on assets such as land and construction.

Attracting economic development projects to the Commonwealth is part of McAuliffe’s “New Virginia Economy” plan. According to a report by the governor’s office, since taking office in 2014, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped from 5.4 percent to 3.7 percent in May 2016. McAuliffe closed 851 economic development projects and created more

than 167,100 jobs in the past three years.

The data center’s announcement comes at a time when big tech companies are scouting out Richmond and neighboring counties for a home. Last year, CoStar Group Inc., a company that operates the largest commercial real estate database in the country, made Richmond their headquarter of operations. The company promised 730 jobs ranging in salary from $40,000 to six-figures.

Fasulo said to continue attracting sustainable, high-skill jobs to the region, the state needs to work on retaining young graduates and closing the gap in IT and STEM jobs.

“Regions have to attract local talent - that’s what’s going to make a difference in the future for this kind of economy, the economy that invests in high-skilled, high-quality jobs and also high paid jobs,” Fasulo said.

In his talk at the Singleton Center for Performing Arts, Quinones addressed the severity of the opiate crisis by outlining the history of the epidemic’s development. Following the expansion of the opioid drug market and major changes in pain management beginning in the late 1980s, a rhetoric of “more pills equals less pain” spread.

In Sam Quinones’ “Dreamland,” he proposes solutions to the opioid crisis facing America.

For decades the opioid market was concentrated in the Far East, making opioids expensive and said. ate a presumably unbearable pain, “I think the end of Dreamland hard to obtain, but the market si“They began to make the argu- Quinones said. spelled the end of community in lently expanded into the U.S. and ment that pain should now be “This is a story of the private sec- Portsmouth, Ohio,” Quinones said.

Mexico American society caught considered the fifth vital sign,” tor, creating the worst drug night- “Stripping away of the societal imup dealing with the “bigger” hard Quinones said, “A vital sign is mare in our country’s modern his- mune system, in a sense, leaving a drug problems, Quinones said. something you cannot live without. tory.” town vulnerable.”

Along with the slowly expand- You cannot live without a pulse, a Speaking to over 500 VCU Quinones said the key to aiding ing market, Quinones said doc- pulse is a vital sign. Pain, we can students, faculty and community the epidemic is recreating a sense of tors got behind a movement where live with.” members Monday night, Quinones community. Whether it be through opioids, narcotics and other painBut rather than living with pain, said society’s short-term solutions forming task forces, working tokillers became the tools to safely a fear was created, Quinones said. and proposed ‘‘silver-bullet’ solu- gether on community projects, or eliminate pain, despite addictive “We came to believe we were a tions fall short of improving the simply bringing people together, side effects. culture entitled to a life free of all state of the opioid epidemic in this he said eliminating the dangerous The liberal use of prescribing pain, but not just physical pain, country. isolation that is our reality because these pills only resulted in society’s emotional pain, psychological “We have to depend less as a so- of the widespread opiate addiction. overdependence on them, he said. pain.” ciety on pills.” Quinones said.

“We’ve spent the last 35 years Doctors and others in the mediWith the introduction of OxyHe said we have to stop de- destroying community,” he said. cal field bought into an idea that Contin in the late 90s, a revolution manding doctors magically elimi- “Heroin is what you get when you there was too much unnecessary of pill prescription and distribution nate our pain through easily pre- destroy Dreamland.” pain tormenting American society, spread like wildfire throughout scribed drugs.

After speaking, Quinones took Quinones said. the nation. The reason the epiIn his book, Quinones details questions from the audience along“Our doctors began to buy the demic developed so gradually and a place called ‘Dreamland’ — a side of William Hazel, Secretary idea that we were a country in silently, Quinones said, was be- community swimming pool in of Health and Human Resources pain, and that they were the ones cause it didn’t develop violently. He the heart of Portsmouth. Through for the Commonwealth of Virrequired to fix it,” Quinones said. said the problems of addiction and the narratives the book followed, ginia. Following the Q&A session, “We increasingly demanded doctors overdoses became easy to ignore people watched as their commu- Quinones spoke with audience to fix us. Doctors were car mechan- because they were never associ- nity was shut down and replaced members and signed books at the ics, our bodies were cars.” ated with crime. Instead of starting by pill mills and manufacturing reception.

The ease of eliminating pain cre- through drug mafias, the opioid companies. The result, he said, left ated a society fearful of anything epidemic is rooted in the millions Portsmouth at the heart of the pain associated with pain, Quinones of doctors who wanted to allevi- revolution.

PHOTO BY JACOB MEDLEY

Drug Violation 900 Floyd Ave. Closed

www.commonwealthtimes.org

Monday, November 13, 2017

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continued from page 1 “It’s also important to note that in a lot of Richmond schools the enrollment is almost 100 percent all other low-income children who live in public housing.” Keel said.

Another panelist, David Coogan, focused on how internal familial structures and cyclical violence exacerbates issues of youth imprisonment when the school system isn’t designed to help students.

“One of my co-authors, Andre, said he dropped out of school because his father got him hooked on heroin when he was 12 years old,” Coogan said. “So think about that, what choices can a 12-year-old or any child really make and who is helping them when they aren’t home.”

Coogan is a VCU professor who founded the Open Minds program which lets students take courses within jails and prisons and work alongside incarcerated populations.

The program focuses on the role of internal family issues exacerbating external policing and housing divisions. He is also one of the authors of “Writing Our Way Out: Memoirs from Jail.”

The relationship between housing segregation, lack of access to education, increased youth imprisonment and internal familial violence is a topic that has been heavily discussed in Richmond with the increase of what community advocates have labeled gentrification.

Richmond based professors and researchers led a report that confirmed a relationship between an increase in segregation and youth incarceration and a decrease in academic or financial success.

Sharon McDaniel, Richmond

native and graduating senior at VCU, is a long time community advocate who educates youth on their legal rights and pushes for community engagement to prevent recidivism.

“Look, most people go back to jail within six months of being released so if you make that six months mark that in itself is a celebration.” McDaniel said. “So we need a holistic approach to understand why something happened, the first solution can’t be we just get kids suspended and expelled for minor infractions like talking back or wearing a hat. We want to have restorative justice.”

McDaniel said another aspect of the pipeline is there aren’t enough resources for teachers to address issues.

“These teachers have full classrooms, not enough money and strict guidelines they have to meet and dealing with a student is just another thing they have to get through,” McDaniel said.

“So it can just be easier to call the resource officer and get the kid dealt with.”

According to the same CPI study, Virginia uses out-of-school suspension (OSS) and expulsion in disproportionate numbers against Black children with disabilities.

Overall, Virginia suspends an average 16 out of 1,000 children in public schools depending on this district. The average number of OSS in the nation is 5 out of 1,0000. The suspensions disproportionately target Black male students, according to CPI. The panel echoed the CPI’s concern on how OSS leads to students being more likely to end up in juve-

Democrats elect a more inclusive House continued from page 1 Dawn Adams (D-68) also made Virginia history when she became the first openly lesbian delegate in the Virginia state legislature. She flipped the 68th district in Virginia from red to blue when she beat Manoli Loupassi (R) by less than 400 votes.

Virginia also elected its first two Latina women and one Asian-American woman to office.

Elizabeth Guzman (D-31) and Hala Ayala (D-51) beat their white-male counterparts in each of their prospective districts.

CASA in Action, a non-partisan group that works to garner the Latino and immigrant vote in Virginia and Maryland, said this election was a direct refusal to accept anti-immigrant rhetoric prevalent in this year’s campaigns.

Gustavo Torres, President of CASA in Action, credited their endorsed candidates which

included Ayala, Guzman and Northam for diverse and inclusive campaigns.

“This victory demonstrates how critical it is to engage with voters from their perspective and early in the process,” Gustavo stated in a press release. “If we want greater voter participation, we must connect with people meaningfully and positively.”

Kathy Tran (D-42) became the first Vietnamese-American woman to secure a seat in the House after she beat Lolita Mancheno-Smoak (R) in her Northern Virginia district.

The newly elected state officials will take office in January 2018.

MaryLee Clark contributed to this report.

“We each got our role, know your role and do it,” said Jihab Abdul Mumit, a community organizer. nile detention.

For Jihad Abdul Mumit, who was formerly incarcerated for 23 years for his involvement with the Black Panther Party, ending the school-to-prison pipeline involves

heavy community engagement.

“We are sitting in this room right now but how many of y’all will actually go into the communities and ask them what is happening,” Abdul Mumit asked. “We each got our

PHOTO BY RAEYLN FINES

School-to-Prison Pipeline targets Black youth

role, know your role and do it. If to people. Do your part, don’t just you’re a writer, then write about it leave this room with all these reand help other people tell their sto- sources and not do anything.” ry. If you’re an educator than give out a reading. If you know how the hood works then go in there talk

All the hottest takes from last Tuesday’s election FADEL ALLASSAN Managing Editor at Large

Forget the governor’s race, the House of Delegates was the real story

Everyone was talking about Democrat Ralph Northam’s landslide in the Governor’s race. The real story, however, was in the House of Delegates, where Democrats may have picked up more than 15 seats in a sweep — their largest pickup since 1877. Northam will find it much easier to push his agenda if Republicans have a majority of a single seat, as opposed to 16. He’d prefer yet if the two parties were tied in the chamber and had to come to a power sharing agreement.

One thing is for sure, the House will look like a different place when

it reconvenes in January. Eleven women picked up seats from white men in the election, which means 27 women will serve in the body next year, the most ever. Danica Roem will be the first transgender state legislator in the country when she is sworn in.

Young people turned out and it helped Democrats A boosted turnout among young voters was the focus of efforts by outside groups like NextGen America, whose aggressive campaign to turn out college students was the subject of a CT investigation in October.

Maybe NextGen’s ends justified the means. According to a VPAP generalization, districts which are located on or adjacent to college campuses had almost a 35 percent turnout, compared to 26 percent

in 2013 — A whopping 72 percent of those voters went for Northam.

39 percent turned out in districts where voters less than 40 years old account for 60 percent of the registered population, more than eight percent higher than in 2013. Those voters went for Northam by more than 64 percent.

The suburbs made up their mind No one would have guessed 15 years ago that Virginia’s suburbs would deliver the race for a Democratic candidate in governor’s race, but here we are.

59 percent of voters in the once red Loudoun County went for Northam -- This was a district Democrats won by 5 percentage points in 2013. Northam also won Virginia Beach by 5 percent, the first time a Democrat won the usually-red city since Tim Kaine did in

his gubernatorial run 2005. Fairfax and Prince William Counties typically vote for Democrats, but shifted even more toward Democrats by almost seven points this year.

When Gillespie ran to take Sen. Mark Warner’s seat in 2014, he won in Chesterfield by more than 8,000 votes. This time around, he barely won the Richmond suburb by 300 votes.

It’s possible Gillespie’s strong anti-immigrant stance during the campaign, which hit its zenith when the famous “MS-13 sanctuary cities ads” aired, alienated Virginia’s ever-growing and everdiversified suburbs.

2017 Virginia Election Results college 72.1 Northam 26.3 Gillespie

Mark Herring Attorney General (D)

Kathy Tran Delegate (D-42)

Hala Ayala Delegate (D-51)

Dawn Adams Delegate (D-68)

Justin Fairfax Lieutenant Governor (D)

Danica Roem Delegate (D-13)

millennials 81.4 Northam 17.3 Gillespie

34% of college students voted in this 39% of millennials year’s election (people under 40) voted this year

Ralph Northam Governor of Virginia (D)

Elizabeth Guzman Delegate (D-31)

PHOTOS BY ERIN EDGERTON. DELEGATE PHOTOS PROVIDED BY: KATHY TRAN FOR DELEGATE, DANICA ROEM FOR DELEGATE, HALA AYALA FOR DELEGATE, ELIZABETH GUZMAN FOR DELEGATE, DAWN ADAMS FOR DELEGATE.

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sports

The Commonwealth Times

Stat of the Week

Despite falling by a final of 3-1, men’s soccer outshot UMass in the A-10 title game 20-10.

Press Box

The sudden, meteoric resurgence of VCU’s sports teams

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kids,” Bean said to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “And, credit to them, because it doesn’t matter what we say as a staff or what we try to do in training as a staff. If they don’t buy in, then none of this happens.”

The women’s soccer team — who finished 7th in the conference — deserve credit as well for a phenomenal run to the tournament final where they lost to La Salle University.

If VCU students are keeping count of their blessings, the sports teams should definitely be considered a part of those.

T he y ’ve not only b e e n entertaining, but have had

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Women’s basketball home opener spoiled by Spartans shooting

Sophomore Bryce Catlett finished as VCU’s top runner six times this season.

VCU’s top runner for the sixth JESSICA WETZLER time this season. Catlett crossed Contributing Writer the line at 30:38.5, placing 52nd out of a field of 230 runners.

Cross country finished their Catlett’s finish was 64 spots season at the NCAA Southeast higher than his finish a year ago.

Regional Championships in Freshman James de la Rama Charlottesville. VCU fielded a was the second Ram to cross the mere four runners, making the finish line with a time of 33:51.1. team ineligible for team scoring, Senior Bismillah Alidost and but as a squad the women aver- junior Michael Villagomez placed aged 22:24.3 and the men aver- 201st and 212th, respectively. aged 33:17.2 Women’s cross country will Sophomore Judith White graduate Gardner, Holleran and led the way for the women for senior Lindsay Seeley this year, the second time in three meets. while the men will say goodbye White finished the 6,000-meter to Alidost and fellow senior Anrace in 22:45.1 placing 121st out drae McGowan. of a field of 257 runners.

Alidost departs VCU after a Sophomore Ashley Brown decorated career for the Black and was the second Ram to cross the Gold, boasting personal career finish line with a time of 23:06.9 best times of 21:11.8 and 27:07.0 good for 150th. Senior Courtney in the 6K and 8K, respectively.

Holleran followed Brown four Gardner and Holleran likeseconds later, finishing with her wise contributed successful cafastest time this season at 23:10.7. reers for Ram Nation. Gardner Holleran placed 153rd. graduates with personal bests Senior Kathleen Gardner fin- of 19:30.7 and 22:58.0 in the 5K ished it out for the Rams with a and 6K, respectively, while Holtime of 24:34.5 placing 214th. leran moves on with top marks The men competed in the of 19:07.7 and 23:37.0 in the 10,000 meter race with sopho- same competitions. more Bryce Catlett finishing as

PHOTO BY CASEY COLE

PHOTO COURTESY OF BY VCU ATHLETICS

Cross country concludes season with Catlett on top

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other backheel from the touchline by sophomore forward Siad Haji was arguably a Top-10 contender in its own right.

But spectacular goals are only one distinguishing feature of an exciting season for the soccer team.

Another is the strength and caliber of the schedule and wins. In October, the team thrashed the now-No. 9 ranked University of Maryland by three goals to none.

A little less than a month earlier, the Rams beat No. 15 University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

No matter what happens in the NCAA tournament, the team can look back at their second-place finish in the A-10 regular season as an accomplishment. It was the team’s highest-ever finish in the A-10 and its best since 2010, when they finished second in the Colonial Athletic Association.

Among this season’s best Rams teams is the field hockey team, which finished the season with 14 wins, its most since 1992.

What first-year coach Stacey Bean called a rebuilding year certainly didn’t pan out that way. The Rams may have been disappointed to lose in the A-10 semifinal against UMass, but should take solace in the fact that it’s their first time reaching the tournament since 2013. It may not have been a ring-winning year, but the foundation for one may have been laid in 2017.

“We just had such a strong core to work with, that the only thing it took was the buy-in from the

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As the Atlantic 10 conference heads into its tournament championship games, it may have flown under the radar how well this year’s crop of VCU athletes managed to represent the student body in their respective sports. 2017 has been a season hallmarked by a winning culture on the field for Black and Gold.

Perhaps no one has been more emblematic of this rise than the women of the volleyball program.

The team recently won the Atlantic 10 conference’s regular season title — their first since 2009 — with a perfect 14-0 record. They now head to the A-10 tournament amid the nation’s longest winning streak, 25 games and counting.

How does a team come to win so many games? Junior middle blocker Tori Baldwin explains.

“The amount of time, dedication and love this team has for this sport is the reason we are doing so well,”

Baldwin told the CT last week.

“We all are rising as one, everyone is on the same boat paddling at the same time. When one falls, we all pick her up, there is no one left behind.”

While Baldwin reflects the team’s exploits have been an all around effort, it’s fair to point out some fantastic individual play has been crucial in this run. Baldwin has four A-10 player of the week honors this season. Sophomore middle blocker Jasmin Sneed and senior libero Rebekah Strange are right behind her with three. Two outside hitters, senior Alica Kandler and sophomore Vicki Giommarini, each have weekly titles under their belt.

It’s needless to say their No. 40 ranking in the RPI rankings is a travesty to say the least. An A-10 tournament win, which comes with a chance to play in the NCAA tournament, will likely rectify that.

Then there’s the men’s soccer team. The previously No. 19 Rams got all the way to the A-10 final before falling to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst 3-1.

This was only after a 2-0 win against the University of Rhode Island Friday in the Semi-final.

Senior midfielder Rafael Andrade Santos notched his 12th goal of the season in emphatic fashion — a backheel finish from outside the penalty box which was grand enough to earn a spot on ESPN’s Sportscenter Top 10 countdown.

VCU’s second goal, an-

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FADEL ALLASSAN Managing Editor at Large

Sophomore guard Nyra Williams compiled five assists and five rebounds Sunday against Norfolk State University.

Maddox led all players with 18 points — no other Ram finished in double figures. Maddox drove the Women’s basketball had its lane aggressively all afternoon, alhome opener spoiled Sunday by lowing her to compile the impresthe Spartans of Norfolk State Uni- sive point total despite shooting just versity, as the Rams’ in-state rivals 2-15 from the field. Maddox drew from the seven cities downed their nine fouls Sunday, resulting in a 13Black and Gold opposition by a fi- 18 tally from the charity stripe. nal of 66-52.

Despite Maddox still being Norfolk State opened the game an underclassman, she said she on an 8-0 run and never relin- expects to take on an increased quished their lead. NSU starting leadership role following the deforward Alexys Long led her team parture of longtime floor general in scoring with 17 points on 5-7 Keira Robinson, who graduated shooting from beyond the arc. The last spring.

Spartans shot 11-26 (42.3 percent) “I think I am definitely going to from outside as a team. have to step up in a leadership role, VCU sophomore guard Jailyn more of a scoring role and improve ZACH JOACHIM Sports Editor

on my defense this year,” Maddox said. “We are definitely a lot more competitive this year. We are definitely young, but even when we might not know what we are doing, we are still going hard at it.”

Maddox said she’s confident in the young group around her despite their lack of experience. The 201718 Rams consist of six freshmen, four sophomores and two juniors.

“We are definitely young, but even when we might not know what we are doing, we are still going hard at it,” Maddox said. “I think that’s what’s really fun about it. When we get into competition drills, you can see the competitiveness come out of everyone.”

VCU freshman guard Tera Reed fell a point short of her first career double-double, tallying nine points on 4-11 shooting to go along with 12 rebounds. Junior forward Bria Gibson was likewise a monster on the glass, racking up 15 boards to accompany nine points.

The Rams will return to action Thursday, Nov. 16 for a road matchup at the University of Minnesota. Their next home game is not until Dec. 6 when the Monarchs of Old Dominion University come calling.

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Monday, November 13, 2017

5

PHOTOS BY SHAYLA BAILEY

Volleyball serves Davidson on senior day, captures 25th straight

Volleyball went undefeated (14-0) in A-10 play this season. They lost a mere four sets in their conference matchups, sweeping their opponents 3-0 in all but three contests.

ADAM CHEEK Contributing writer Volleyball recorded a 3-1 win over Davidson University Saturday, capturing their 25th consecutive victory and finishing off a perfect A-10 season on senior day.

The Rams won in four sets over the Wildcats Saturday afternoon, improving to 28-2 on the season.

The Black and Gold will enter the Atlantic 10 tournament this com-

ing Friday as the top seed.

VCU is undefeated in the Atlantic 10 Conference with a 14-0 record and undefeated at home with a 12-0 mark. The Black and Gold also ended the regular season with an 11-1 record on the road, and a 5-1 win-loss ratio on neutral courts, good for a .933 winning percentage over the entirety of their season.

VCU clinched the regular season crown in the A-10 for the first time with their undefeated record.

Sophomore middle blocker Jas-

min Sneed provided the standout performance for VCU against Davidson, recording 14 kills and eight blocks in the four-set win. Sneed hit an impressive .500 with no errors in 28 swings.

Senior libero Rebekah Strange, honored in a pregame ceremony as one of the team’s three seniors, recorded 34 digs and three aces, and served for the Rams over an 8-0 run during the fourth set that sealed the match for the Black and Gold.

Junior middle blocker Tori Baldwin tallied six kills and six blocks, with sophomore setter Dajah Ard adding 29 assists and 12 digs. Fellow sophomore opposite hitter Gina Tuzzolo added six blocks and 15 kills of her own, turning in a .297 hitting percentage for the Rams.

VCU won the first set 25-10, easily handling Davidson with the 15-point win. The Wildcats charged back to win the second set, but the Black and Gold shut

Davidson down in the third and fourth sets, winning by 10 and three points, respectively.

VCU recorded 52 kills to Davidson’s 40, dropping the Wildcats to a 10-17 record. The Black and Gold limited Davidson to negative hitting percentages in two of the four sets, while tallying all positive percentages throughout the duration of the match.

The Black and Gold’s next match will be Friday, Nov. 17, against an opponent to be announced, at a time to be determined. This will be the quarterfinal of the A-10 tournament, with VCU three matches away from capturing their first ever A-10 championship.

Ram in Action: Angelica Martinez ZACH JOACHIM Sports Editor VCU junior and mixed martial arts amateur Angelica Martinez won her sixth consecutive bout last month when she defeated Fotini Kandris for the Bar Battles Women’s Flyweight Championship at the “Rumble on the River” in Little River, South Carolina Oct. 7.

Martinez (6-2) defeated Kandris by second round armbar submission. With little time to prepare for the fight, Martinez said she didn’t have a plan of attack for Kandris coming into the bout.

“I took the fight on four days notice, so since it was last minute I didn’t have much of a plan,” Martinez said. “I knew she was a wrestler and would be going for the takedown, especially since I am much taller, so I really wanted to keep it standing.”

The first round went according to script for Martinez, who attempted a string of high kicks in an effort to utilize her height and reach advantages. The two fighters

I have a good mix of coaches for striking and ground game, and I like to go to open mats at other gyms in the area to get experience working with different body types.

Angelica Martinez Amateur MMA artist

traded blows in a hectic but relatively uneventful first round.

Kandris entered the second round with a renewed commitment to taking Martinez and the fight to the ground. She was successful, but the move would prove to be her undoing.

With under a minute left in the round, Martinez attempted a triangle submission, but Kandris blocked her. With less than 20 seconds to go, Martinez switched to an armbar, forcing Kandris to tap with a handful of seconds remaining in the second round.

“When it went to the ground, I started playing jiu jitsu and went for a triangle,” Martinez said. “When she defended well, I switched to an armbar and got the finish.”

Martinez, who turned 20 on Sept. 18, is already making a name for herself in the MMA world. Weighing in at 125 lbs and standing 5’8,” the Richmond area native and RVA MMA member looks toward a bright future in professional fighting ahead of her with an already im-

PHOTO BY ALI JONES

VCU’s MMA star wins sixth consecutive bout

pressive collection of wins under her belt.

“I just train every day,” Martinez said. “I have a good mix of coaches for striking and ground game, and I like to go to open mats at other gyms in the area to get experience working with different body types.”

Martinez is ranked third pound-for-pound out of 61 active Virginia women competing in MMA and 26th out of 308 US Southeast women, according to Tapology.com. Martinez has held the Sprawl and Brawl, Revolution Fight Series and Spartyka Fight League 115 lbs title belts over the course of her career.

She said a professional contract is the next step in her progression.

“I don’t have any fights lined up yet, but I am doing a jiu jitsu tournament in December,” Martinez said. “I will know in a couple weeks if I am picked for an MMA tournament in Florida in February. The winner gets a professional contract with Invicta, so right now the goal is just to train as if I were already picked.”

sports

The Commonwealth Times

Rams dominate, hit 100 mark in home sellouts

Soccer heartbroken in A-10 final

Sophomore forward Siad Haji scored twice in the A-10 semi-finals. His first goal made ESPN Sportscenter’s top-ten plays of the day.

FADEL ALLASSAN Editting Manager at Large

PHOTO BY CAMERON CLEONARD

The soccer team came up empty in their third consecutive visit to the Atlantic 10 tournament final in as many years this week. The final score was 3-1 as University of Massachusetts clinched the championship ring and an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.

VCU may have outshot the Minutemen 20-10 over the course of 90 minutes, but UMass redshirt goalkeeper Bardia Asefnia was a standout on the night — making a few critical saves to help keep his team in the game.

The Rams started out with three corner kicks in the first three minutes of the match in what was an otherwise uneventful half.

VCU had more possession and chances in the first half, but the best opportunity of the half went to UMass freshman forward Davis Smith, who put the shot high above the crossbar.

The game had little action until the 55th minute, when UMass senior midfielder Matthew Mooney finished off a pass from junior

Senior guard Johnny Williams scored 14 points and compiled five assists against Grambling State. was especially happy with the way his team moved the ball to find the open shot.

The senior big was placed on a “I want our guys to have a green minutes restriction by the coach- light and to play with freedom,” ing staff due to a lingering foot Rhoades said. “The ball was hot injury during the preseason, but and moving around and multiple Rhoades said he was thrilled with guys made shots and that creates the way Tillman played in his great confidence. We want to allimited action. ways play that way.”

“Twenty (minutes) was the number, but we got 17, which was even better,” Rhoades said. “But I asked him after the game and he said, ‘I feel good, coach. I’ll be able to go on Monday.’ So he’ll be good to go. I mean, 14 and 10 in 17 minutes — those are pretty good numbers.”

The Rams, behind five doubledigit scorers, dominated the game in just about every statistical category. They out-rebounded the Tigers 49-35 while shooting over 45 percent from the field and 44 percent from three.

Despite the dominant performance from the Black and Gold, Rhoades said he’s always looking Mike Rhoades for ways to improve.

“It was good for the first Coach night, but we have to get better,” Rhoades said following the win.

Fan-favorite Williams was “As we move along, there’s a lot of perhaps the catalyst for the Rams, things we have to work on, but it as the Richmond native put up was definitely a good start.” an impressive 14 points and five Friday night was the best assists. Williams — who has, in shooting performance the Rams the past, not been known for have had to-date under Rhoades, his shooting ability — sank his as the team made 15 threes on fourth and fifth three-pointers of the night. Jenkins, fellow sopho- his career Friday night in front of more guard Malik Crowfield and the home crowd, showcasing the freshman forward Sean Mobley senior’s continuing drive to imeach chipped in with three made prove as both a player and a leader. threes Friday. Rhoades said he Rhoades said he was thrilled

It was a big night for VCU basketball. I’m totally honored to be the coach here.

with the way Williams took command Friday night.

“I couldn’t even get a word in every timeout,” Rhoades said.

“Johnny was running the show. I could have gone up and sat in the crowd today. He was just telling the guys to keep it up and motivating them and that was great.”

Friday’s big win gave several of the Rams’ new faces an opportunity to show what they can do in front of the home crowd, and Rhoades said he was overjoyed with the way his new guys played in their first taste of regular season action.

“I loved how a lot of guys played and gave us some really good minutes,” Rhoades said. “The young guys got some really good minutes right out of the gate, so it was a good team win.”

Overall, Rhoades said he was thrilled with his team’s performance and his players’ willingness to get their teammates involved.

“What I was most impressed with today was, when we were pushing the ball and our offense got hot, that ball was hot and guys were sharing that,” Rhoades said. “That’s good basketball... we harp on that all the time. If you make your teammates better, that’s coming back to you tenfold...It was a great start.”

against the University of Rhode Island a couple days earlier in the tournament semi-final.

Senior midfielder Rafael Andrade Santos notched his 12th goal of the season in emphatic fashion — a backheel finish from outside the penalty box which was grand enough to earn a spot on ESPN’s Sportscenter Top 10 countdown.

VCU’s second goal, another backheel from the touchline by sophomore forward Siad Haji was arguably a Top-10 contender in its own right. VCU outshot Rhode Island 17-14 overall, while Rhode Island had more shots on goal 6-4.

The Rams finish the season with a 12-6 record. Despite not winning the regular season title or conference tournament, the Rams could find themselves in the NCAA tournament come the selection. The team is hoping famous wins against the 9th ranked University of Maryland in October and 15th ranked University of North Carolina at Wilmington in September will be on the selection committees mind when the time comes.

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— continued from page 1

defender Conrad Gorich after senior defender Steven Dal Molin couldn’t get a clearance out of the defence. Gorich headed the ball across the six yard box to Mooney who tucked the ball away calmly.

VCU’s redshirt junior midfielder Peter Pearson had a couple looks but couldn’t put his chances away to tie it up for the Rams.

The Rams continued to get chances, and in the 70th minute they finally got their break. Redshirt senior Francesco Amorosino tucked home a pass low and right from sophomore midfielder Fortia Munts.

VCU continued to knock at the door thereafter, but couldn’t put away a bevy of opportunites.

The Minutemen took the lead back in the 77th minute, however, when Smith tucked the ball home as the Rams looked visibly frustrated with their defense.

UMass didn’t stop there. Senior forward Alex DeSantis put away the Minutemen’s third goal of the night to effectively dash the Rams’ hopes of winning the title.

The Rams scored two phenomenal goals in a 2-0 win

The Rams continue their 2017-18 campaign as they take on visiting North Florida University Monday, before hosting in-state powerhouse, the University of Virginia, Friday night at The Stu.

VISIT HOUSING.VCU.EDU FOR MORE INFORMATION.

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Monday, November 13, 2017

The Commonwealth Times

On this day

Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, was born in Scotland in 1850.

He introduced psychological fiction to a wider public.

Poet Yesika Salgado brings activism to VCU campus

PHOTOS BY MICHEL MAULDING

Yesika Salgado is a poet using social media to talk about body positivity.

MADELINE WHEELER Contributing Writer El Salvadoran poet and YouTube sensation, Yesika Salgado spoke at VCU Nov. 8 on issuess such as self publishing, branding and identity in the creative field.

Salgado toured college campuses for decades and is poet by trade, she told the audience, but never felt the need to attend college. After Salgado noticed the number of people who expected her to have a college education to be a successful writer, Salgado performed a social experiment to see how many of her Uber drivers would ask her what her degree was after telling them her profession.

She found most of the drivers, who were white males, asked her about her degree.

“We’re told that we’re supposed to be professionals,” Salgado said.

Salgado created self published zines of her poetry entitled “WOES,” “Sentimental Boss Bitch” and “The Luna Poems.” Her talent secured a spot on Da Poetry Lounge Slam Team. The team participated in the National Poetry Slam competition and became finalist in 2017.

Salgado said she also has other avenues of group poetry.

Chingona Fire, Salgado’s Latina feminist collective, curates monthly poetry events and writing workshops for women of color. The workshops are produced solely by women of color.

“I consider myself much more of a writer than an activist,” Salgado said. “I try to get people to become activists with my writings.”

Salgado revealed pieces of her history and heritage before delving

into reading her emotionally revealing and frighteningly relatable poems about love, childhood and the progression of her outlook on her body throughout the years.

I write from the longing of wanting to know more about home. I write about feeling displaced. About my migrant parents. Their sweet Spanish.

Salgado said. “Poetry is a constant reminder that we are not alone in this world.”

The poet’s Twitter account reveals some of the things that drive her to pump out rich poems constantly.

“I write from the longing of wanting to know more about home.

I write about feeling displaced.

About my migrant parents. Their sweet Spanish,” Salgado tweeted.

Salgado is a nationally awarded slam poet and uses poetry to address social issues.

Yesika Salgado Salgado said life in El Salvador was occasionally a struggle, but her experiences there are still one of her main sources of inspiration for her poems. She told the audience about her father’s alcohol dependence and subsequent erratic behavior. Salgado touched on cyclical poverty when telling anecdotes about her parents who worked harder than almost anyone she has ever known but who still lacked the financial means to show for it.

“I’m someone who’s constantly writing about feelings and embracing having too many of them,” Salgado’s talk was organized by the Zeta Alpha Chapter of Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority, Inc.

A twisted American dream come true NYASIA MILAN WILLIAMS Contributing Writer Bertram Ashe, author of “Twisted: My Dreadlock Chronicles,” focused on the role of hairstyle-based identification during a talk to VCU honors students Nov. 8th.

Ashe, an English professor at University of Richmond, discussed segments of his book and his personal dreadlock journey in relation to the Americanization of AfricanAmerican hair culture.

Ashe described African -American hair as a virtue and influencer on personality and identity perception. Ashe said he didn’t quite find himself until he started the detailed and long process of having dreadlocks.

He said he is aware of the negative stereotypes of those who wear dreadlocks and the style itself is considered a reflection of people being unclean, lazy, criminal and foreign, but he is not immune to making assumptions of someone’s lifestyle based of their hair. He

recalled a conversation in his book where he tried to guess the sexuality of black women in association with their hair.

“I couldn’t help but wonder if the Black women who were wearing the closely cropped hairstyle we’re queer,” Ashe said. “Is it a hairstyle for Black lesbians?

The book explores the connections between symbols and groups and how this relations is used to identify the hairstyles worn by people of color with specific groups in often negative ways.

Like Ashe’s “dreadfully conventional haircut,” neat dreadlocks were considered preferred in American culture, differentiated from the Rasta or Jamaica style dreadlocks, said Ashe. The provocative days of dreadlocks have passed and the hairstyle has grown into more of a conversational sign, Ashe said.

Ashe decided to lock his hair at the age of 33 — His decision to do it later in his life is tied to the the influence of his family’s idea of middle-class success which revolved around the assimilation

ideals from Cosby show in the 1980s. The idea of a clean cut, conventional, high-success family like the Huxtables who wore standard clothing became the mold of success for many African-American families Ashe said.

Ashe said locking his hair later in life made it a center of academic research and the intellectual contemplation he does today.

“If I would have grown them earlier that would not have happened,” Ashe said.

Ashe is also aware of how so-

cial status in higher education shields him from the negative consequences of being an AfricanAmerican working professional in the corporate world.

“It’s way easier, nobody’s ever given me any push back,” Ashe said.

“At least not to my face.”

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Monday, November 13, 2017

9

PHOTO BY SOPHIA BELLETTI

The inspiration behind Hibachi Box

Brothers Paulo and Nelson Benavides opened Hibachi Box in fall 2015 and has had steady business from students and locals ever since.

BEN MENDEZ Contributing Writer Near the intersection of West Grace Street and North Harrison Street sits a restaurant that draws people in, with the neon lettering shining bright, as it displays the acronyms for the word Hibachi Box. Hibachi Box is the brain-child of brothers Paulo and Nelson Benavides. The restaurant is a hybrid of a teppanyaki grill and casual restaurant offering an affordable take-out or sit-down meal, with prices averaging $10. Although it

is primarily a Japanese style restaurant, Hibachi Box also draws inspiration from the brothers’ wordly traveling experience, which range from England to Japan.

Nelson and Paulo started working in the restaurant business when they were children helping out in their father’s restaurant. Nelson said their family has run restaurants for generations. They immigrated to Richmond from Mexico when they were 9 and 10 years old — When they were 18 and 19, both brothers bought a one way ticket to London, where they worked at sev-

eral restaurants and learned foundational skills of a restaurateur.

Nelson said working in London allowed them to explore Europe, learning more about the different types of cuisines offered on the continent. He noted the time they both spent in London showed them hipster and urban culture and that food can be fresh.

“It is not hard to do something [creating a restaurant] with quality, but can also be local,” Nelson said.

The brothers said they wanted to make the atmosphere of the restaurant hip and laid back and incorper-

ate the smell of dishes cooked into atmosphere of the restaurant in the evening. Paulo notes the inspiration for the designs of the restaurant comes from Japanese culture.

“The design of the place is very Japanese, it draws from the open kitchen where people can see it and see open prepping,” Paulo said.

Nelson said Hibachi Box is Americanized compared to traditional Japanese hibachi. Nelson explained Hibachi Box is not a true hibachi grill, rather it is based on eppanyaki, which is food cooked on an open grill or open flame. They

decided to name the restaurant Hibachi Box because it is a more recognizable term in America.

The duo wanted to incorporate their own taste, creating a restaurant reflecting their own ideas and experiences rather than trying to repeat a traditional style.

“The food is really great; like you can’t find a restaurant like this just anywhere,” said Thomas Abraham, a VCU student.

The brothers recently bought a property in the increasingly popular Scott’s Addition area — Nelson said they do not currently have set

plans for the place, but they’re open to ideas such as expanding Hibachi Box around Richmond, or opening a new restaurant in cities like Charlottesville or Raleigh, N.C..

find out who the killer is as his skills are put to the test.

Despite my lack of knowledge Hollywood embraces an over- with the source material, it is clear abundance of adaptations, with from how the story plays out that many lamenting the death of everything in this film has been original ideas. It’s gotten to a point done before, to the point where where we now have remakes of few aspects of this adaptation feel previous adaptations — many of noteworthy. which were already considered perfect by critics.

While adaptations are inherently problematic, adapting a classic and influential work to the modern day can be disastrous.

If one tries to stray too far, the adaptation is flawed, missing what made the original great in favor of unneeded change. If one tries to bring every word onto the screen, then the film is cliched and tired, as the original’s influence can still be felt today.

This conundrum leads us to the unnecessary “Murder on the Orient Express,” which suffers from the latter instead of the former. With Kenneth Branagh at the helm as director, producer and lead actor as Hercule Poirot, it’s Samuel Goodrich, not surprising that this version feels authentic. Although, I must Staff Writer admit I cannot speak to the film’s faithfulness to the 1934 Agatha The actors do little to stand out.

Christie murder mystery of the Everyone plays their part with a same name, as I’ve never read it or reasonable mixture of drama and seen the 1974 film adaptation. realism, although some, like PenéPoirot is a world famous Bel- lope Cruz, are too dramatic at gian detective with an eye for detail points. The only one who escapes and a perfectionist attitude. While mundanity is Branagh himself as riding the Orient Express for a Poirot, who clearly is having the much needed vacation, the train is most fun portraying the character, stopped by a snow avalanche and a while everyone else sticks to their mysterious murder. With everyone tired archetypes. on board a suspect, Poirot must On the other hand, the cameraSAMUEL GOODRICH Staff Writer

Many shots are cleverly symbolic or simply eyecatching, but these serve as mere decorations covering the bland foundation.

work and cinematography are consistently impressive, utilizing long shots and beautiful sets to show that the love and care put into the production. Many shots are cleverly symbolic or simply eye-catching, but these serve as mere decorations covering the bland foundation.

What hinders “Orient Express” is its source material is so influential that everything making it unique has been done before. Unless the viewer has never read or heard the story, or only wants to appreciate how well the book is adapted, there’s nothing to really see here. Neither the actors or the scenes go above what is expected, turning the intriguing mystery into a mundane affair. The film did just enough to maintain my attention the entire two hours, culminating in a finale that is as impressive as the film thinks it is.

And that is the ultimate sin of this film: it thinks it’s more important, grand, and classy than it actually is. It is difficult to put my finger on what exactly doesn’t work or what could have been done better, but many shots and sequences feel like they are supposed to be more meaningful. It feels as if the movie is just going through the motions with no big surprises, no grand twists beyond the final 20 minutes.

“Orient Express” is as basic as Hollywood murder mysteries go, and it tries to hide this with a classy style and a nostalgic tone. Yet, it never quite comes together, culminating in a movie not worth watching. At most it exists as a possibly good adaptation, but a forgettable viewing experience.

ILLUSTRATION BY IAIN DUFFUS

Sam’s Take: “Murder on the Orient Express” is classically frustrating.

spectrum

10 The Commonwealth Times

achieve, the added duets solidifying that relationship.

Madison Hatfield’s perforLegally Blonde: The Musical, mance as Paulette was phenomenal. based on the cult-classic movie, In the film Paulette is a loveable which featured Reese Wither- but ditzy figure. Hartfield’s perspoon as the lead, opened Nov. formance added more depth and 10 at the Singleton Center for the quite frankly her performance was Performing Arts. better than the Hollywood version.

The musical follows sorority girl She brought life to a character and Elle Woods and her quest for love. created a loveable, funny and caring After her soon-to-be-senator boy- friend to Elle. friend, Warner, breaks up with Elle because she isn’t “serious” enough for him. She follows him to Harvard Law School and becomes a law student, all while staying true to herself.

Turning the film into a musical enhanced the story. Director Patti D’Beck did a splendid job conveying the true character and spirit of Elle Woods, her sorority sisters and the myriad of law students. D’Beck’s vision for the cast added more depth and substance to the characters in comparison to the movie, creating a spectacle the big screen couldn’t handle.

Kaitlyn Tate’s portrayal of Elle was so spot-on; Her performance could give Witherspoon a run for her money. Tate plays Elle like Witherspoon does, but Tate can belt out a tune and kick up her Emiley Bagalawis, heels. Tate portrayed Elle as bubbly and confident and brought in Contributing Writer a new layer to the character with the help of Austin Chance MyHappy Mahaney portrayal as ers as Emmett Forrest. Compared Professor Callahan was excellent. to the movie, Emmett gets more He added professionalism to the character development in the mu- character and eventually played sical. Tate and Myers’ chemistry a convincing antagonist to Elle. creates a coupling the movie didn’t Anna Grey Hogan’s performance EMILEY BAGALAWIS Contributing Writer

The show was brought together with a wonderful cast, great choreography and a beautiful and flexible set design.

as Elle’s temporary rival Vivienne and TJ Vinsavich’s portrayal of Warner were both terrific. Hogan was convincingly rude towards Ella and Vinsavich was selfish and unsympathetic when interacting with Elle during the course of the show and Warner is in the films.

As for the other law students, sorority sisters and ensemble, they did an exceptional job at keeping the show’s energy up and filling in last-minute roles. Jocelyn Honore played Serena, one of Elle’s sorority sisters in act one and was able to shift to playing the character Brooke Wyndham in the second act with fluidity despite it being her first performance with the role.

The show was brought together with a wonderful cast, great choreography and a beautiful and flexible set design. The musical really enhances the story of Elle Woods and brings that Broadway spirit to a story that was already brilliant.

Shows run from Nov. 16-18 and 30 and Dec. 1-2 at 7:30 p.m. and Nov. 19 and Dec. 3 at 3 p.m.

Tickets are $10 for students with a valid ID, $20 for seniors, VCU staff, faculty and alumni and general admission is $25.

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Review: VCU Theatre’s Legally Blonde is legally excellent

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opinions

Monday, November 13, 2017 11

Quote of the week

“It’s easy to consider this election a success, but don’t overestimate how much of a victory it is.” — Katie Bashista

ILLUSTRATION BY LIZZY COX

After last week’s election, we need to keep fighting

KATIE BASHISTA Opinions Editor A year after the shocking 2016 presidential election, the United States saw a Democratic sweep in elections across the nation. Politicians and political analysts are calling the results of this election “a message” to the White House and Pres. Trump, but it’s more complex than that.

This “message” is multifaceted. It goes beyond not giving into Trump’s fear tactics and policies filled with hatred and intolerance. This was an election of firsts and it shows where the majority of us are, mentally and politically, when it comes to minority issues and policies in this country Democratic New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio easily won a second term, which is the first time a Democratic mayor has done so in the state in 32 years. Marty Walsh was re-elected in Boston after running on a platform to expand affordable housing in the city and Democrat Phil Murphy beat out his Republican candidate to succeed Chris Christie as New Jersey governor.

Vi Lyles was elected Charlotte,

ILLUSTRATION BY IAIN DUFFUS

An ode to self care

North Carolina’s first female African-American mayor and Andrea Jenkins made history as the first openly transgender Black woman to be elected to public office.

Finally, the state every news outlet is talking about. Virginia had record firsts and major Democratic wins throughout. Ralph Northam beat Ed Gillespie in Virginia’s gubernatorial race without much of a struggle. Northam led by a 53 to 45 percent margin.

The two navigated this campaign with a series of attack ads and the soft-spoken Northam came out on top. Gillespie ran his campaign with Trump-like tactics. Attacking Northam on issues like immigration and the removal of Confederate statues. Trump endorsed Gillespie, but after Gillespie’s loss Trump tweeted “he did not embrace me or what I stand for.”

Perhaps even more exciting is the election of Danica Roem to the Virginia House of Delegates. She is the first openly transgender person to be elected a state representative, defeating Bob Marshall, Virginia’s self proclaimed “chief homophobe.”

While myself and the majority

o f Americans see this election as an overall success, this “message” sent to Trump can’t be fully counted as a victory.

Nate Cohn of the New York Times warns Americans from letting the wins this year get to our heads.

He says the elections were “held on neutral or even Democratic-leaning terrain” which was the major difference between this election and last year’s presidential election.

Cohn writes Northam didn’t come close to matching numbers with Gov. Terry McAuliffe, former Pres. Obama or Senator Tim Kaine in rural areas of Virginia. Democrats are going to have to work even harder in 2018 to have the same success and reach the 24 seats needed to flip the House.

Young people have been inspired to vote and become more politically

active since last year’s election.

The Washington Post exit poll results show people age 18-29 made up 14 percent of the vote in Virginia’s election, although this generation is supposed to be big enough to out-vote baby boomers.

Campaigners constantly congregated VCU’s campus in the weeks and months prior to the election urging students to register to vote. Also, the university encouraged professors to be lenient with class attendance on Election Day. This election is proof young voters are key. This age group needs to keep the same momentum going. It’s easy to consider this elec-

tion a success, but don’t overestimate how much of a victory it is.

John Sides of the Washington Post writes we shouldn’t expect this to be a sign there’s a turn away from “Trumpism.” Sides argues the trend of voter identification and racial issues predates the Trump Era which means the Republican Party’s stance on immigration and other racial issues have been fundamental in their platforms and it will continue.

Although the Democratic Party was successful this year, our role as citizens to fight for what we want our government to do is nowhere near finished. The political participation

many of us were inspired to take up after Pres. Trump was elected cannot go away. Continuing to vote, calling your representatives and participating in political rallies or protests is vital.

Remember how you felt when Trump was confirmed president.

Think about how you feel every time he makes a decision you disagree with. Use it as fuel to stay politically active.

Does physical affection equate I think that for you this isn’t to feeling attraction towards an- something that will work for you. other person?

Especially if you know you have the I’ve been in more relationships proclivity to develop feelings for with people of a different race than Absolutely not. Firstly, acaNot always. It definitely equates whomever you are involved with. me; this is not intentional. Should OkCupid, Tinder, Bumble and demics and collegiate settings to a physical attraction, but this Throw in neither of you wanting a I try harder to make connections all things of the like can work for do not work with everyone, and can’t speak to emotional or other relationship or commitment of any with people of my own race? people who maybe find them- some people prefer going into the types of attraction. It’s best to find sort and you’ve got a recipe for a selves in awkward social situa- workforce, taking a break or go- out for you as a person whether or hot mess. Spare yourself the extra If it is not intentional, I wouldn’t tions or people who get nervous ing through community college not these are linked or if you can calories. say you actively have to make con- when they try to approach some- before going to a university. Hell, have one without the other. nections with people within your one they are interested in. How- some people get where they want If you’d like to send Shaun a race, but you should take time to ever, I don’t necessarily think ro- and need to be with just an AsDo you believe, “friends with question you can submit them via sit down and unpack any internal- mance boots up through modems sociate’s degree. There is nothing benefits” to be impractical? Espe- email at Jacksonsk@commonized prejudices that may be subcon- and wifi signals for certain types wrong with not going to college cially, if you have yet to, but fear welathtimes.org or anonymously sciously telling you to date outside of people; those who prefer face- and I know we live in this culture you may develop romantic feel- at Lascivious-Witch.Tumblr. your race. Always remember who to-face contact and can communi- of a college degree being needed to ings for this person - even though Com/Ask you are, where you came from and cate in social situations. get anywhere in life, but that’s not neither of you want a relationship what people have done to ensure you necessarily true for everyone. right now. could be with whoever you choose.

SHAUN JACKSON Staff Columnist

In your opinion do you think Okcupid is an accurate gauge of who your match might be and is it a good way to meet people?

Is college the best thing an 18 year old can do with their life after high school?

comics

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